The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-15 00:00:00

he said that, with regard to the first three counts of
the indictment, it would be for them to say whether
that portion of the article in question which com-
mented upon the result of the trial for seduction
contained comments such as might be reasonably
made upon such a case, or whether it amounted to a
libel, and this was a question entirely for them, and
he should offer no opinion respecting it. The other
question, however, that they would have to decide
was of a much more serious character, and they
would have to say, by their verdict whether the
evidence for the defendant satisfied them that Dr.
Godfrey had been guilty of the disgusting conduct
attributed to him by the alleged libel. His lord-
ship then proceeded to comment upon the evidence of
the several witnesses, and he particularly called the
attention of the jury to the fact that Mrs. Lewis, in
speaking to one act of indecency on the part of Dr.
Godfrey, had vouched the sister of Mrs. Godfrey as
being present, and she must have been aware that
she might have been called to contradict her if she
had not been speaking the truth. His lordship
concluded by stating that if the jury should be of
opinion that Dr. Godfrey had acted in the manner
attributed to him, there could be no doubt that one
portion of the plea of the defendant, that it was for
the benefit of the public that it should be known
that a physician who was admitted with confidence
into the interior of families was in the habit of so
conducting himself, was abundantly supported.
The jury retired at half-past four o'clock to con-
sider their verdict.

The jury returned into court in a quarter of an
hour, and gave a verdict of Not Guilty upon all the
issues.

There was a burst of applause when the verdict
was pronounced, which was with difficulty repressed
by the officers of the court.

THE MURDER IN SOUTH STAFFO.RD-
SHIRE.

BILSTON, TUESDAY.
The excitement respecting this atrocious affair
(the particulars of which have already appeared in
our columns) continues unabated. The six prisoners,
Thomas Wilkins, Edward Acton, William Acton,
Richard Castor, Joseph Allen, and Edward Fere-
day, were brought up here, yesterday, at the public
office, before Messrs. Fletcher, Best, Bagnall, and
Ward.

Mr. Townshend prosecuted ; and Mr. Water-
house defended the whole of the prisoners.

The evidence taken on the last examination was
read over, and several additional witnesses were
examined. The statements made by several of
them were revolting in the extreme. Of the wit-
nesses not previously examined,
James Preece deposed to seeing the deceased at
about 11 o'clock on the Sunday night on which she
was murdered. She was near the Moat Colliery,
about the spot where the body was found. There
were were eight or nine men with her. Two of
them were holding her down whilst the others
violated her. She screamed out as if she was hurt.
She appeared to be intoxicated. She resisted all
in her power. Pie remonstrated with them, but
they took no notice of him. He saw Allen and
Wilkins strike her several times.

Robert Bale deposed to hearing a cry of murder
on the night in question. He proceeded in the
direction of the cry, and saw the prisoners Castor,
Fereday, Allen, and E. Acton, have improper inti-
macy with the deceased. He afterwards saw Allen
strike deceased in the face several times.

James Perry deposed to having held a conversa-
tion with Fereday, whilst at his work, in the course
of which he said that he had improper intercourse
with deceased four times during the Sunday night,
against her will.
The police-officers, Tubman and Williams,
deposed to finding the body, with the marks of vio-
lence on different parts of the person.
This was the whole of the evidence.

Mr. Waterhouse, for the prisoners, admitted that
he saw no alternative but to commit three of the
prisoners ; but he considered that there was a wide
distinction, as shown by the evidence, between the
conduct of some of the prisoners compared with the
others.

The prisoners were then charged in the usual
form.

By the advice of their solicitor they made no
reply to the charge.
The Chairman said that as in their opinion the
charge of murder was not quite clear against the
prisoners, the Bench had decided to commit the
whole of them to the Stafford assizes on the charge
of ravishing the deceased Mary Hughes, where he
hoped they would meet with the amount of pun-
ishment their unmanly, revolting, and disgusting
conduct deserved.

The Bench agreed to accept heavy bail in the
cases of William Acton and Castor.

CHARGE OF MANSLAUGETER AT
FERNY ST.RATFORD.

The following evidence was adduced before the
coroner, J. Worley, Esq., and jury, at the Swan
Hotel, Fenny Stratford, on Monday, touching the
death of Rebecca Porter, who it was alleged had
been killed by a blow given by a travelling photo-
grapher, named Inskip, with whom she cohabited,
on Saturday night last.
- After viewing the body which presented the
appearance of a fine, healthy, strong-looking young
woman, of about 20 years of age, the jury took
their seats, and selected Mr. Alfred Harris as their
foreman. The first witness was—

Isaac Twist, who deposed as follows :—I am an
artist in photography, and reside at No. 12, George-
street, Suffolk-street, Borough, London. lam now
travelling as a photographic artist. I came to this
Inskip The
d
n Wednesdaycameselastw hereitht onh
heplsounresld.,ay from
Jameso
Bedford. I do not know if she was married or
single. Inskip lived with her as man and wife.
On Saturday evening, after we had done our work,
me and Eliza Faulkner, a young woman who came
to see me from Leighton Buzzard, Inskip and
the deceased all sat down in the gallery to
have some tea, when I heard some words of
a disagreeable nature take place between them.
I then turned away and began to talk to Eliza
Faulkner, and instantly afterwards hearing a
scuffle, I turned round and saw Inskip force the
deceased from him with both hands, and she fell
back into a seat and began to groan. I did not see
or hear a blow struck. After this the deceased
slipped down off the seat and uttered a loud scream.
I then ran out for a doctor, and when he came he
said that she was dead. Other words took place
between them, but what they were I am unable to
say, as I was slightly inebriated. I should say
that neither Inskip nor the deceased were quite
sober at the time. I have no reason to say that
Inskip struck the deceased, but will not swear that
he did not.
Eliza Faulkner corroborated the above,

Ann Watson, wife of Wm. Watson, stated—l do
not know any of these parties. I was standing by
the side of the van on Saturday night, sometime
after eight o'clock, looking at the portraits hanging
outside, when I heard a man inside ask a woman
what she had been doing whilst he had been gone
to buy some meat. She said "Nothing." He
replied, " The man looked very sweetly upon you ;
is there any intimacy between you, or has there
1:
been any ; if there has tell me, for e was looking
very sweetly upon you." She replied, "If he did,
that is no more than you do very often.'7 I then
heard the tea-things go over, and went round
to the other side of the van and looked through a
crevice, and saw her fall down on the floor., The
prisoner then rushed towards her, but I cannot say
whether he struck her or not. I only heard a blow
struck as if on the bare flesh, and she said, " You
hit me, if you dare, you hit me." I then heatd a
groan. I could not tell where the blow was struck,
or whether the man's hands were clenched at the
time. I then heard another man in the van ask the
psis iner what he had been doing, and he replied,
" I have ruined us all for ever ; that is what I have
done." I afterwards saw the deceased brought out
of the van dead, and the prisoner in the custody of
the police. The woman was the same as I saw fall,
and the man the same that I saw rush towards her.
I do not know if the blow was struck with the fist
or with the open hand. It was a very heavy-
sounding blow.
William Lucy, Esq., surgeon, of Fenny Strat-
ford, deposed that he had made a post-mortem
examination of the deceased, and found that death
had resulted from rupture of the heart. Did not
find any marks of violence whatever. His opinion
was that the rupture was caused by excitement and
passion rather than from a blow. Did not think it
was probable, thought it might be possible, for a
blow to have been struck on the deceased without
leaving external marks.
The jury, after some deliberation, returned a
verdict of manslaughter against James Inskip for
causing the death of Rebecca Porter, a warrant was
instantly issued by the coroner for his committal
to Aylesbury, to await his trial at the next Mid-
summer Assizes for the same.

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