The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-19 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—LEICESTER, JULY 18.
On Saturday evening Mr. Justice Williams
arrived here, and opened the commission. This
morning Mr. Chief Justice Erie opened the Crown
court, Mr. Justice Williams presiding on the
"cause" side. The borough calendar contained.but
'three cases---::ne of stabbing and two of felony.
Joseph Mousley, 41, coal merchant, was indicted
for feloniously stabbing John William Keen.
Prisoner had been to an inn in the town, and the
company were chaffing him about his treatment to
his wife. He became excited, and on the party
leaving he followed prosecutor, and inflicted a
wound two inches in length in his left side.
He was found guilty, and sentenced to fifteen
months' hard labour.

The county calendar contains eight cases and 13
prisoners, all of ordinary interest.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—WORCESTER, JULY 18.
Business commenced in both courts at ten o'clock
this morning, Mr. Justice Byles presiding in the
Crown Court and Mr. Justice Wines at Nisi. Prius.
Altogether there were 33 prisoners for trial (city
and county), and some causes, three of which are
inserted for special juries.
(Before Mr. Justice Byles.)
Theophilus Dunn, engineer, was charged with
uttering forged Bank of England notes at Dudley.
Thle prisoner bears a very indifferent character.
Ell the month of October last he made a
descent upon Dudley, and passed off several forged
Bank of England notes upon the tradesmen. Two
cases were proved against him, and a former con-
viction also being proved he was sentenced to ten
years' penal servitude.

(Before Mr. Justice Willes.)
His lordship has been occupied nearly all day in
hearing an action for assault, which was not con •
chided when our report was despatched.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—Yore, JULY 16.
(Before Mr. Justice Hill.)
Lars Peter Nicholie Ernst and Thomas Walton
were arraigned on the indictment for burglary in
the house of John Crossley, Esq., at. Manor Heath,
near Halifax. The former prisoner had pleaded
guilty to the burglary, as well as those at Head
ingley Parsonage and Bardsey. Walton was tried
on the indictment of receiving some of the property
which had been stolen at Manor Heath, the charge
of burglary being abandoned against him. It was
clearly proved that he had dealt in the stolen pro-
perty ; and the jury, therefore, found him guilty,
and he was sentenced to two months' imprisonment.
In passing sentence upon Ernst, who is a native of
Denmark, and. who has earned the title of " The
Danish Jack Sheppard," the learned judge said
that, on referring to Ernst's past history, besides
the three burglaries for whioh he was about to be
sentenced, he was ordered to be imprisoned, in
1856, for burglary, at Worcester assizes. He served
his time ; and in Gloucester, in the same year, he
was again convicted; and in the latter part of the
same year he was again punished for being found
on board a vessel, where he had gono for the pur-
pOse of committing a robbery. It appeared that
imprisonment was perfectly useless in Ernst's case,
and he should, therefore, rid the country of him for
ten years, by committing him to penal servitude for
that period.
(Before Mr. Baron Watson.)
POTTER V. BLAND.—LIABILITY OF INNKEEPERS.

Mr. M: Potter, commercial traveller to Messrs.
Ellis and Co., of London, sued Mr. Bland, of the
Old George Inn, York, for £Bl 95., which, it was
urged, he ought to pay by reason of his liability,
in common with other innkeepers, to make good
anything lost at his house, if there was no negli-
gence or other circumstance on the part of the person
losing property which put an end to that liability.
The plaintiff was staying at the house of the defen-
dant on the 29th of April, and on his retiring to
rest that night he bolted his room door. On the
following morning he found the door slightly open,
and his money gone ; and it therefore appeared that
the thief had been secreted in his room. A person
mimed Clark, who has figured a good deal lately in
the metropolitan and other prints, left the house
early that morning. He was apprehended in Lon-
don on suspicion of having committed the robbery,
but from want of sufficient evident he was dis-
charged by the York magistrates. The plaintiff
had exposed his money in the commercial room in
the presence, it is thought, of Clark, who is a
yi)ung man of very respectable appearance, and it
was consequently submitted that he had been neg-
ligent, and not entitled to recover.
The Judge, however, was of opinion that there
hid been no negligence on the part of Mr. Potter,
and _ _ _

The jury, therefore, under his lordship's direc-
tion, found a •verdict for the plaintiff for the full
amount claimed.

JULY 18.
(Before Mr. Justice Hill.)
THE HULL MURDER.

John Riley, 36, was charged with the wilful mur-
der of Alice Riley, at Kingston-upon-Mtn, on the
3d of July inst.
The prisoner, who is a thin, sallow looking man,
adressed in fustian trousers and a short white smock,
hd has an obliquity of vision, pleaded not guilty.
Mr. V. Thompson and Mr. Cross (instructed by
Messrs. C. and F. Ayre, solicitors, Hull) prose-
'
cuted ; Mr. West, by request of the learned judge,
defended the prisoner.
I Mr. Thompson stated the case. The prisoner
4nd his victim were man and wife, and had lived
together for about 12 years, as they had children
nearly that age. They had resided for some time
in Lincolnshire, where they had a serious quarrel,
when, in consequence of the prisoner taking a knife
and threatening his wife's life, she left him and
went to reside in Hull. Her husband visited her
from time to time while she was living there, and
finally went to reside with her altogether. The pri-
soner now seemed to be very indolent, doing nothing
for the support of his wife and family, but depend-
ing entirely upon the exertions of his wife for his sus-
tenance. Mrs. Riley seems to have been very
clever as a sempstress, and she earned in this way
money sufficient to keep her and her family and
her wretched husband for some time, and the latter,
when all honest means Tailed, actually forced his
unfortunate victim to prostitution to acquire money
to satisfy their daily wants. It seems about this
time they had frequent quarrels, the husband ill-
using the wife for not earning money enough to
keep him in idleness, and she on the other hand
resorting to drink to drown her sorrow. In May
last they had another quarrel, and the neighbours,
on going into the room, found that the poor woman
had been very badly used, and was with some diffi-
culty recovered. The prisoner was brought before
the magistrate for the assault, when he was sent to
prison for one month. On being liberated in June
last, he returned to his wife, but did not seem tt,
have had any affray with deceased up to the time
of the murder, which took place a fortnight since.
The eldest boy had gone out for the day, and in
his absence the prisoner and his wife had breakfast
together, and in the course
of the morning had
some drink, both husband and wife seeming to be
in very good tempers. The woman, it appears,
always went to bed when she had got any drink,
to sleep off the effects, and having had some on the
Sunday morning, in
bed, previously the afternoon she retired to
however, telling the woman who
kept the lodging-house to call her at five o'clock, as
she wanted to go out to take tea with a friend.
Soon after this the prisoner told a little boy, his
eon, to go out and play, and he did so, not return-
ing until three o'clock, the same afternoon. The
prisoner being now alone, locked the door, and it
is presumed proceeded to commit the dreadful act
of cutting his wife's throat, for within a short

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period from this time, a neighbour wknittl:ttz;frtte ' t?',l'7,L
borrow a saucepan, or something for donieStrel.,OKlc - 4t—ii
and she, finding the, prisoner's--room doprtr_ , 44-,=„7,---: .-1,,.-7,
1
4),..
shouted "Alice, Alice," but received ficl *WV
She then went - round to the, room wind() - :-;-----.- --, -
~...-.----- ....
called out the' woman's name again, but 1- • , -- -
success. Just at this time, however, the tiro Si:it
S
heard- a crack, or a-noise resembling it, inside LI e .
room, and 'she, then opened the window an, it
looked in. To her horror she saw the prisonei r
hanging by the neck. She immediately alarmei I
the neighbours, and a man named Richardson pry :
ceeded into the room. , He had no suspicion 01
anything being wrong with any but the prisoner,
and of course proceeded quickly to cut him down.
Life was not extinct, and so he left him in the care
of some other -persons, while he and a man named _
Balgarno went Fto the bed to awaken the wife,
whom they found with her throat cut in such a
manner that death must have been instantaneous.
On a table near the bed, but out of the reach of the
deceased, was found a common table knife, covered
with blood. The prisoner on being charged with
the crime said nothing. On being searched and
examined at the station-house, some spots of blood
were found on his clothes, and he (prisoner) said
they had been the result of accident •a few days
before. Riley afterwards asked another policeman
named Pearson where his little boys would be sent
to, and afterwards added, " The knife I cut her
throat with was the same she attempted to cut my
throat with some time before." The prisoner'
further explained that the blood on his smock and
shirt sleeve was from a cut in his head some time
before, and was there When the" row" commenced.
;The prisoner also at the time added, "It's no use
saying I'm innocent when I'm not."
The witnesses for the prosecution fully proved
the above facts, and Mr. West addressed the jury,
contending that the unfortunate event had occurred
in' a quarrel, and therefore that the offence -wan
manslaughter only.
The jury found the prisoner guilty of murder,
and sentence of death was accordingly, pronounced.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONi-July 18.

-
The July adjourned 'Quarter Sessions commenced
yesterday morning at the Guildhall, Westminster,
before Mr. Bodkin, Assistant-Judge, Mr. Payne,
deputy, and a bench of magistrates. The calendar
was very light, there beinc, but 39 prisoners for
trial-36 for felony, and three for misdemeanour.
The Assistant-Judge delivered the charge to the
grand jury.

• BARMEN USING FALSE CHARACTERS.-CAUTION.
John Gieen, 23, a barman, was indicted for steal-
ing 3s. 6d., the monies of William James Smith,
his master.

Mr. Cooper prosecuted. Mr. Ribton was counsel
for the prisoner. •
The case in itself was very simpler ;but after
it was over statements were made, which
rendered it an important one, particularly
to licensed victuallers employing barmen. The
prosecutor, Mr. Smith, was the proprietor of the
King and Queen at Paddington, and the prisoner
had been his barman since February last. Finding
a diminution in his receipts, although he had had
more beer in than usual, he came to the conclusion
that he was being robbed, and accordingly took
means to detect' the thief. 'Marked money was
used for the purpose, and the prisoner was detected
with 3s. 6d. in his waistcoat pocket. The prosecu-
tor had lost, he calculated, about £4O during four
weeks that he had been laid up with illness. -
The jury found the prisoner guilty, and a 'firmer
conviction was proved against him. In August,
1856, he was convicted in this court of a like offence
and sentenced to a m'onth's hard labour.

Mr. Cooper then said he considered' it his duty
o inform the court that there was no doubt the

prisoner was in league and mixed up with a gang
of persons who went about getting situations as
barmen
.by means of false characters, for the. sole
purpose of robbing those who employed them. In
this case the very person who gave the prisoner the
character upon the strength of which Mr. Smith
took him into his service, wrote to the prisoner,
asking him to let him have as much money as he
could, as he was about to take possession of another
house, and wanted to pay the brewers.
The prosecutor, on being called back into the
witness box by the learned judge, said in answer
to his lordship, that the person who gave him a.
character for the prisoner was Mr. John Newman,
who kept the Sun Tavern, in Gray's-inn-road, and
now kept the Golden Lion, in Dean-street, Soho.
In the prisoner's drawer. he found a letter from
Newman, beginning " Dear Jim," asking for as
much money as lie could lend him on Sunday, as he
was going to take possession on Thursday, and had
to pay the bmwer on Monday.
The AssiStant-Jtidge—Had the prisoner been in
his service ?

Prosecutor—lie said so, and that he • had no fur-
ther need of his services, as his son, 16 years old,
was coming home from school. The prisoner lived
at the Eight Bells _at Greenwich, but was dis-
charged on suspicion of robbery, and it was New-
man who gave him his character for that situation.
That was about a week before I took him into my
service. I intend to prosecute Newzn'an for giving
false cl:aractcrs.

Mr. Ribton objected to the introduction of this

matter. It was extraneous to the prisoner's case,
and had reference to a contemplated charge against
some other person.
The Assistant-Judge said he thought it had a
direct bearing on the case, as it tended to show
that the prisoner was mixed up in a system of
robbery by weans of false characters; and in this
instance there was written proof of the person who
had given the cLaracter by which the prisoner got
this situation, asking the prisoner while in that
situation to supply him with a loan of as much
money as he could to enable him to pay his brewer.
Where could he think that money would come from,
the prisoner being but a barman ? It was clear that
there was a system, and it must be stopped, so far
as the court had the means of stopping it. The
public at large were most deeply interested in pre-
venting dishonest persons getting situations of
trust by false characters, and as the prisoner had
already had one conviction for the same sort of
offence, the sentence was that he be kept in penal
servitude for three years. Having perused the
letters which the prosecutor had produced, the
learned judge directed them to be returned, and
told him they would be important evidence against
the giver of the false character.
Mr, Cooper said this Was a matter deeply affect-
ing the interests of the whole body of licensed
victuallers of the metropolis.
The prosecution was at the instance of the
Licensed Victuallers' Protection Society.

111YSTERIOUS OCCURRENCE OJVTIIE
NOR2II LONDON RAILWAY.

Yesterday a very painful feeling was created
throughout the northern districts of the metropolis
by a.rumour that a very mysterious crime had been
committed on the previous night (Sunday) in a
train, whilst running on the North London Rail-
way, and that the probability was that the victim
had been pitched out of the carriage over the
arches or into some ditch running along the em-
bankment of the line. It appears that in con-
sequence of- the immense traffic on the line on
Sunday, extra trains had to be put on, and run
left Fen-
wph:sethe-leven, did
later than usual. The last train,
terminus at Chalk
not
trcrlei
a- scthr e et
ht
ea b
No uotrttwh e minutesni,toyndn
Farm till some few minutes before twelve, and it
is stated that this train was by no means crowded
with passengers. The porters, as usual, as soon as
the passengers alighted, looked
carriages to see that no into the various
one was sleeping there, or
that any property wasleftofbeahsienedo.ndspenlasospeeanr-
ing one of the compartments -
riage for this
purpose, one of the porters disco-
vered, by the aid
of his lantern, that it contained
an immense pool of blood, described as amounting
bloodtf
for
1 . at
th
e Wlcearsretetatulo hrsrnee quarts, and in the midst of the
foundjourney two
on thehalves inolfre. o
railway tickets
moretickets
minute inspection of the carriage the blood
was
found smeared about the seat and sides; and be-
spattered over one of the carriage doors. The
discovery was immediately made known to Mr.
King, the superintendent, who, bearing in mind_
the circumstances connected with an outrage
attempted robbery which, it will be and
remembered,a
took place on this line some months back, when
a passenger was stabbed and seriously
injured, was
at first impressed with a notion that something
similar had taken place, and that the party in-
jured had been pitched out on to the line. Under
his direction, an inspector and several porters pro-
ceeded at once along the line from Chalk Farm up
to Bow, making inquiries at every station, and
minutely examining the embankments and other
likely spots, with a view of ascertaining any traces
of blood, or any circumstances likely to throw a
light on the discovery. There was only one in-
stance of a passenger having lost his ticket, and
that was a respectable-looking man who got out at
Camden-road station, and who paid his fare.
Neither of the porters or officials at any of the
stations remembered having seen any male or
female helped out at any of the stations
they hadtationsi lostnsuch as
state as would have indicated that
quantity of blood.
Yesterday morning the inquiries were renewed,
and investigations and searches made along the
whole line from Chalk Farm to Fenchurch-street,
but without ascertaining anything calculated to
elucidate a circumstance which, to say the least of
it, is not only of a most mysterious but suspicious
character.