The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-16 00:00:00

rflE SUN, LONDON FRIDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 16, 1859.

of rifle volunteers at Bradford. A third company is
in cuurse of formation, and the expectation is held
out that there will soon be a fourth company, when
the corps will be entitled to receive a major and
adjutant from the authorities of the War Depart-
me

BURLINGTON.
The movement for the formation of a corps of
volunteer artillery, to be called the East York Artil-
lery, goes on well here. Upwards of 80, the full
complement for a company, have given in their
names.

CAMELFORD.
A meeting has been held at Camelford at which
it was agreed to fo.rm a rifle corps within the hun-
dred of Lesnewth.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENOE.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—Yottx, Dec. 14.
(Before Mr. Justice Wightman.)
Frederick Holmes Johnson, aged 23, was indicted
for the manslaughter of John Fletcher at the
borough of Leeds, on the 14th of November last.
Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Bruce prosecuted ; the
prisoner was undefended, but after one or two
witnesses had been examined, his Lordship passed
die depositions to Mr. Campbell Foster, and re-
qucstect the learned counsel to defend the prisoner.
The cit cumstances of this case were such as to
involve the inquiry in very considerable difficulty.
The only witnesses who could speak with certainty
to the cause of the death of the deceased were the
prisoner himself, his mother, Mrs. Johnson (with
whem the prisoner resided, and who kept a brothel
in Templar-street, Leeds), a girl of the town called
Rhodes, who lived at Mrs. Johnson's, and another
unfortunate girl who was there with the deceased
on the night of the occurrence. All these (includ-
ing the prisoner himself) had been examined before
the coroner, and their statements were extremely
contradictory and inconsistent. So suspicious, in-
deed, were the jury with regard to the evidence
that, as will be seen, they refused to believe them
on the one point on which they all agreed.
Aeoording to the evidence it appeared that the
decea,ed left his house on the morning of the 14th
of Noeeelber quite well ; his course during the
fl:tv not traced ; but in the evening he was
found, partially intoxicated, at the Templar
publichouse, in Templar-street. Annie Green, a
girl of the town, brought him, shortly after 12
o'clock, from the tavern to Mrs. Johnson's. The
deceased was then asked to provide drink for those
present, Mrs. Johnson, Annie Green, Elizabeth
Rhodes, and prisoner. He refused, and then pri-
soner took him by the shoulders, lifted him out of
his chair, and turned him out of the front door,
which the prisoner then closed. Five minutes after-
wards the deceased was found lying senseless at
the door. Prisoner brought him in and laid him
" half on the carpet and half on the hearthrug,"
where he lay all night before the fire. They did not
seem, according to their own account, to have sus-
pected that he was hurt, and he was believed to be
only drunk ; but in the morning Rhodes took him
home in a cab. He was examined that afternoon by
a surgeon, who found on the left side of his head a
large fracture of the skull, and another distinct
bruise over the right eye. He died the same day
from pressure on the brain resulting from the frac-
ture.
The widow of deceased was called to prove that
her husband was brought home insensible and with
empty pockets. Hawksworth, a waiter at the Tem-
plar Inn, spoke to having seen the deceased in com-
pany with Rhodes and another girl of the town
about 12 the night before. Annie Green, Elizabeth
Rhodes, and Mrs. Johnson gave accounts of what
took place at Mrs. Johnson's, which agreed pretty
well together. Caroline Bennett, a neighbour, spoke
to hearing a great quarrelling at Mrs. Johnson's
backdoor at 12 at night. Mr. Brass, also a neigh-
bour, swore that he heard a great disturbance in
Johnson's house shortly after 12 o'clock that night,
throwing about chairs, and a fall as of a table
knocked over, and male and female voices elevated
to a high pitch, and finally, a great scream as of a
woman in fright. Cromack, a policeman, proved
that he was called to the house by Elizabeth
Rhodes about a quarter to 1 o'clock, because she had
been struck in the face by the prisoner. The de-
ceased was lying on the floor. Mrs. Johnson said he
was drunk, and her son had brought him in and laid
him there to come to himself. Mrs. Butler, a
neighbour, swore that she was called in the next
morning by Mrs. Johnson. She describedthe appear-
ance then presented by the deceased. He was
snoring very badly and in a stupor. Mr, Price,
surgeon, described the injuries received by the de-
ceased ascertained by him on a pest mortem exa-
mination. On the left side of the head there was
a serious fracture of the temporal bone, part of the
skull was detached and driven inwards, and there
was a bruise over the right eye. Both of these in-
juries could not have been caused by one blow, but
the fracture might have been made by a heavy fall
down the three stone steps of the front door if the
side of the head came in contact with the edge of
the bottom step, and a convulsive attempt to rise
might have caused the deceased to " flounder" for a
minute or two, and to fall on his face and cause the
other bruise over the right eye.
Mr. English, the chief constable at Leeds, de-
tailed a statement made to him by the prisoner, and
Mr. Blackburn, the coroner, verified a voluntary
statement which he made on the conclusion of the
inquest.
The learned counsel for the prisoner objected to
the introduction of this evidence, on the ground that
it was a statement made at an adjourned inquest ;
that, being an adjournment, it related back to the
commencement, and was, in fact, part of one and
the same inquiry, and that, as the prisoner had been
formally sworn at an earlier stage of the proceed-
ings, that oath must be considered as covering all
that the prisoner said at that adjourned inquest ;
and he referred to Smith's case (1 Stark.), River's
case (7 C. and P.), and Pikesley's case (9 . and P.).
His Lordship, however, ruled that the statement
was admissible as a voluntary statement, and it was
accordingly put in and read.
Mr. C. Foster, for the defence, complained that
this police-officer should have been called to repeat
what was afterwards to be put in as evidence in a
much more authentic form, and expressed his
opinion that it had all been done with a view to
get in the words "I should have been off in three
days if you had not come." But the real question
was, what was done, and not what was said, by the
prisoner. The facts proved in evidence were that
Mrs. Johnson, the mother of the prisoner, was the
owner of the house—a disreputable house,certainly,
but that did not affect her dominion over the house,
or alter her legal rights and privileges as its mistress.
Elizabeth Rhodes (who came into the box evidently
with no friendly feelings to the prisoner, who had
struck her on the mouth that very night) had con-
curred with all the witnesses in showing, what was,
indeed, further corroborated by the prisoner's own
statements—viz., that Mrs. Johnson requested the
deceased to leave the house ; that the others joined
the mistress in that request ; that when deceased
refused in a half-drunken stupor to go away she
insisted on his doing so ; that the deceased became
obstinate and doggedly refused to move; that then
she directed her son to turn him out, as she had a
perfect right to do, and the deceased accordingly,
without any unnecessary violence, was lifted up by
the shoulders, walked across the room, and put out
of the front door. No one at the time perceived
that any injury had been done to him. The law
required that in order to convict the prisoner of man-
slaughter it should be shown that homicide had oc-
curred in consequence of some unlawful act of the
prisoner's. Where was the unlawful act in this case ?
A drunken man came out from the light into the
dark, he forgot the steps or missed his footing, and
then falling with hif head against the corner of the
step he received the injury of which he died. But all
this pointed to accident and not to manslaughter.
It had been suggested that there were more wounds
than one, and the inference which the jury were in-
vited to draw was that there had been a previous
fight, but this had been altogether disproved; and
the evidence of the surgeon established that all the
injuries might have been caused by a heavy fall first
and then by a floundering fall on the flags. Several
of the neighbours had been called to support a sug-
gestion that there had been a fight heard in the
house, but the cross-examination had shown that
that was after deceased was turned out, and was not
at the door at which the fatal event really occurred.
The high words to which Bennett swore evidently
referred to the quarrel between the prisoner and
Elizabeth Rhodes, and not to what took place be-
tween the prisoner and Fletcher, and all which was
substantiated by the evidence of the policeman who
was called in consequence of it. The evidence of Mr.
Brass was all in the same direction, and was far more
easily explicable on the hypothesis that the dis-
turbance was among the inmates of the house, and
not an attack on Fletcher. Further, there was no
motive for the crime. Some suggestion of a robbery
had been thrown out, but it had altogether failed
in the attempted proof. But with tkat the learned
counsel and the jury had nothing to do. The real
point at issue was, did the deceased person receive
his deatti wound at the hand of the prisoner ?
I'h
e showno evt,Ta, srit
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hohefei
his fall,
anything
dwo f the
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h e
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s
ssttat itieprisoner
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not and
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for than
Th
thate
neglcelearned counsel concluded a protracted defence by
reviewing the arguments he had used in the course
of it, and referred his lordship for the confirmation
of the law he had tentured to lay down for the
complimentary
spokeguHidisaueleorodfsthhiepjtiry
in a very

manner of the defence, which the learned counsel
had made, under circumstances of peculiar diffi-
culty, and finally requested the jury in returning
their verdict to prepare a special answer to the fol•
lowing question :—Did Fletcher receive the fatal in-
juries in the house, but not in putting him out of
the house, as represented.
The jury retired for consideration, and on their
return into court very shortly afterwards said they
were of opinion that the deceased received the fatal
injuries in the house, and not in being expelled
from the house.

His Lordship—Then you can have no difficulty
in returning a simple verdict of guilty of man-

slaughter.
Foreman of the Jury—That is our verdict, my
lord.

The learned Judge expressed his firm opinion
,hat the verdict was correct, and sentenced the pri-

to be made a victim of a conspiracy of the wife '
and the other witnesses, to save her from losing the
allowance made by the. husband.
Mr. Justice Williams summed up the evidence
commenting upon the absenee of Lakin, who was
also said to have looked through the key-hole.
The jury found the prisoner guilty, and his
lordship sentenced him to 18 months imprison-
ment with hard labour.

The trial of this case brought the Assizes for-the
county to a close, at a little after seven last night.
At the sitting of the Court this day, the little
boy, named Wm. Osborne, who had been convicted
of setting fire to two ricks, was brought into court.
Mr. Justice Williams said he had made inquiries
into the ease of the prisoner, and he thought the
best course he could adopt would be to sentence
him to two years' imprisonment in the common
gaol, where he would receive good instruction.
Sentenced accordingly.

The cases in the city ealendar were then taken.
William Watkins, 20, sweep, and Edwin Mow
bray, 31, labourer, were charged with breaking
into the counting-house of William Price, at Wor-
cester, on the night of the 2d of December, 1859,
and stealing Bs. in silver and 7s. 6d. in copper
money, the property of William Price.
Mr. Best appeared for the prosecution ; and Mr.
V. Richards defended the prisoners.
It appeared that about half-past eight on the
night in question the prosecutor left his shop and
counting-house quite safe, but on going there at
between two and three in the morning he found
that an entry had been effected by removing an
iron grating which led into the cellar, and that they
had then broken through various doors into the
counting-house. The desk had been broken open
and ransacked, and 7s. 6d. in copper was missing.
The iron safe, weighing between two and three
, cwt., had been removed from the counting-house to
the warehouse, and from it Bs. in silver had been
taken, which had been seen there a few days pre-
viously. The younger prisoner, who passed by the
name of Tiny Watkins, was taken into custody the
same morning, and some copper coins were found in
his pocket, and some silver and copper coins in a
teapot on hi 3 mantelpiece. Four of these copper
coins were clearly identified by the prosecutor's
brother, one of them being a Jersey halfpenny with
a hole in it. Evidence was given to show that the
other prisoner had been seen in company with
Watkins at about eleven o'clock on the previous
night, when they made an agreement to meet again
at from half-past two to three o'clock in the morn-
ing. They were seen together again at ten minutes
to twelve, and when Watkins was taken into cus-
tody in the morning Mowbray was coming oat of
his house.
Mr. Richards, having addressed the jury for the
prisoners, called two showily-dressed prostitutes,
who swore that the prisoner Mowbray spent the
night of the burglary in bed with both of them in
a brothel kept by- one of them.
The jury acquitted Mowbray, and found Wat-
kins guilty.
Mr. Justice Williams sentenced Watkins to ten
years' penal servitude.
George Farrell was charged with burglary in the
house of Mrs. Stillingfieet, and stealing a silver
sugar basin and tongs, on the night of the 14th of
September, 1859, at Worcester.
Mr. Byrne appeared for the prosecution ; the pri-
soner was undefended.
It appeared that the prisoner had been dis-
charged on the morning before the burglary from
Worcester Gaol, and two days after was taken into
custody by a Birmingham detective, in a pawn-
broker's shop in that town, while in the act of pawn-
ing broken metal. He was taken into custody and
searched at the station, and in his pockets was
found the silver basin, with one of the handles
broken into three pieces, the basin itself being
beaten together- The crest by which it was iden•
tified was distinctly visible.
The jury found the prisoner guilty, and
Mr. Justice Wiliams sentenced him to three
years' penal servitude.
The trial of this case brought the assizes to a
close at about 12 o'clock.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.-LINCOLN, DEC. 15.

(Before Mr. Justice Crompton.)
The following case occupied the attention of the
Court during the latter half of yesterday, and did
not conclude until after our despatch left :
Eliza Thacker pleaded not guilty to the charge
of setting fire to an outhouse at Hainton, in the
possession of Thos. Cooke, on the 13th Oct., and to
a further charge of setting fire to a stack of straw
at the same place, the property of the same person,
on the 14th October.

Mr. Boden conducted the case for the prosecution;
the prisoner was undefended.
The facts relating to the two charges being so
intimately connected as to render inquiry into the
whole of them necessary to enable the jury to
arrive at any full understanding or reasonable con-
clusion on either case, the learned judge permitted
the counsel for the prosecution to adduce the evi-
dence immediately relating to the first charge in
support of his case upon the second, upon which
alone he directed that the prisoner should be tried.
The facts proved were these :—The prisoner was a
servant of Mr. Cooke, a blacksmith, and her mis-
tress had on the 13th October complained of her
having gone out with a man named Robinson,
and threatened to turn her way if she did so
again. On the morning of the same day Mrs.
Cooke after breakfasting below went upstairs, leav-
ing the prisoner sngaged in washing the break-
fast things, and remained above for about half
an hour ; on going down she heard an alarm of
fire in the cow-shed, and on going thither, some
14 yards from the house, she found that a quantity
of straw placed on a tub that was in the crib had
been on fire, but was extinguished by Mr. Cooke,
who then removed the straw from the crib, placed
it on the floor, filled the tub with water, and left all
apparently safe. The prisoner followed Mrs. Cooke
when sbe went to the cow-shed, and returned with
her to the house, where she remained about an
hour ; she then told the prisoner to go and see that
all was safe. The prisoner went out, and had but
just come in again when Mrs. Cooke heard a second
cry of fire raised by Mr. Cooke ; she pumped water
for the men who brought buckets to her, and going
again to the cow-shed found that the straw which
had been thrown out upon the floor had been burn-
ing, and was extinguished. On the following day
the prisoner told her mistress that she had seen a
boy going along the garden, and that she noticed
the mark of a boy's footstep where she had seen
him. She took her mistress to the place, and pointed
to a footmark, which Mrs. Cooke did not particu-
larly notice at the time, but which was subsequently
compared with the impression made by the pri-
soner's own boot, with which it corresponded as
nearly as possible. On the same morning she re-
lated to some men who were at breakfast in the
kitchen that she had on the night previous seen two
men come from the shop end to two who stood
against the front gate, and that she had upon that
endeavoured. to knock them up, and asked them if
they had not heard. her, which they said they had
not. Shortly before 6 p.m. she accompanied her
mistress to feed the pigs, and afterwards to milk
the cows, and while going about this occupation,
Mrs. Cooke saw the straw stack, which was then
all right, and went back to the house with the pri-
soner. Mrs. Cooke's brother, William Smithson,
came in to tea, and while he was taking it the pri-
soner told him the same story as she had told the two
men in the morning, and asked him if he heard
her knock him up, which he said he did not. She
then went out, partly closing the outer door, from
which to the blacksmith's shop was about 14 yards,
and thence to the straw stack 14 yards more. She
remained out about five minutes, and was in that
interval seen by a person in the blacksmith's shop
to look in at the door, which was only a step or two
out of the direct way from the house door to the
stack. On coming back into the house she partly
closed the door, and stood behind it, and directly
afterwards, hearing a man named May cry " Fire!
Mrs. Cook ran to the door and saw the straw stack
in a blaze, which consumed the greater part before
it could be extinguished. Subsequently, about 8
o'clock, on the policeman arriving and asking to
speak with Mrs. Cooke, the prisoner, who was told
to get to her 'work, left the house, but was followed
by two men ; and she was on the next morning
found by her mistress lying on her bed, fully
dressed, and with her boots on.
The learned Judge having summed up the evi-
dence, the jury returned a verdict of guilty.
The prisoner was sentenced to four years' penal
servitude.
The learned Judge took his seat this morning at
9 o'clock and tried the only two cases that remained
to be diSposed of, the details of which are unfit for
publication. In one of these the jury acquitted the
prisoner, in the other found a verdict of guilty of
the misdemeanour only; the third case was disposed
of by the grand jury ignoring the bill.
Sarah Ann Bellamy, against whom the bill for
murder was ignored, pleaded guilty to the charge
of concealing the birth of her infant, and was sen-
tenced to two months' imprisonment with hard la-
bour.

The Court rose t.,-day a little after one, hating
disposed of all the business.

WESTERN CIRCUIT—EXETER, Dec. 14.
(Before Mr. Baron Channell.)
Wm. Taylor was indicted for administering to
Mary Ann Hector a noxious drug with intent to
procure abortion.
Mr. Bere prosecuted, and Mr. Carter defended
the prisoner.

It appearcd that the prisoner filled the situation of
clerk to Mr. Badeock, a wine merchant at Crediton.
He was a married man with four children. At the