The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-24 00:00:00

THE CASE OP DE SALYL

The course that was taken by the legal advisers
eti the prisoner, upon his being brought up to take
his trial last week at the Central Criminal
ue Cour_t
for the murder of Mr. Robertson in the
use'sQ
-
Bench Prison, appears to have been ci
peoted ou the part of the prosecution, and the cue
from this fact, and the other peculiar circumstances
connected with it, appears to excite a great deal of
Interest. There can be no difficulty . now in stating
that there is no doubt that the m o tivo for the _
com-
mission of the desperate act, which has placed the
prisoner in his present position, was a feeling of re-
venge against the deceased in consequence of his
having repudiated a debt due to De Salvi, and
which it is said involved the whole of his savings
period he was in service, and amounting
&trine the
to betweeu eight and nine hundred pounds. The
prisoner mutt, however, still have considerable
enearo, or else have very powerful friends to assist
him in his defence, as the fees paid to Mr. Edwin
James, the leadi ug counsel, who attended on his
behalf at the last two sessions, amounted altoge-
ther to one hundred and sixty guineas, and Ser-
geant Parry was also paid special fees to a large
amount, a third counsel, Mr. M‘Mahon, being also
retained on hie behalf: The public is aware that,
the prisoner having been acquitted, at the August
session of the Central criminal Court, upon that
count of the indictment which charged him with
feloniously wounding the deceased with intent to
murder him, and convicted. upon the minor charge
of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily
harm, and thereupon sentenced to 15 years' penal
servitude, at the late sessions, upon the prisoner
being arraigned for wilful mut'der, a plea of sutra-
biz acquit 'was recorded for the prisoner. This
plea being of a very novel character, it may be as
well to state it in the following terms :
"The said Antonio de Salvi in hie own proper per-
son cameth into court here, and having heard the
said indictment read, saith that our lady the Queen
ought not further to prosecute against him so much
of said indictment as charged him with having, of
his malice aforethought, murdered the said Robert
Bonderson Robertson, because he saith that here-
tofore, to wit, at the general session of the delivery
of the Queen's gaol of Newgate, holden for the ju-
risdiction of the Central Criminal Bourt, at Justice-
ball, in the Old Bailey, in the suburbs of the City
of London, on Monday August 17, 1857, before Sir
Samuel Martin, Kt., one of the barons of our said
lady the Queen of her Court of Exchequer ; Sir
Richard B. Crowder, Kt., one of the justices of our
said lady the Queen of her Court of Common Pleas,
and others, their fellows, justices of our said lady
the Queen, assigned to deliver the said gaol of New-
gate of the prisoners therein being, he, the said
Antonio de Salvi, was in due form of law indicted,
arraignei, and tried upon a certain indictment
'which charged him by the name of Antonio de Salvi,
for that he on July 8, 1857, in the county of Sur-
rey and within the jurisdiction of the said court,
unlawfully and feloniously did stab, cut, and wound
one Robert Henderson Robertson, with intent
thereby then and there, feloniously, wilfully, and
of his malice aforethought, to kill and murder the-
said Robert Henderson Robertson, against the form
of the statute in Buell case made and provided ; and
that he, the said Antonio de Salvi, further saith
that ueon the trial of the said indictment he was
lawfuby acquitted of the saidoffence therein charged
as aforesaid, as by the record in that behalf more
fully and at length appears. And he further saith
that he is the same person as the said Antonio de
Salvi in the said last-mentioned indictment named
and not another and different person, and that the
said Robert H. Robertson in the same indictment
named is the same identical person asis named in the
indictineut to which he, the said Antonio de Salvi,
is now here pleading, and not another and different
poison, and that the cause of the death, and of the
said supposed killing and murdering of the said
Robert Henderson, was certain stabs, cuts, and
wound., for the inflicting of which, with intent to
murder the saidß.l3 .Robertson, he, the said Antonio
De Salvi was indicted, tried, and acquitted as afore-
said ; and not any other stabs, cuts, and wounds,
or stab, cut, or wound whatsoever, and not any
other cause or injury whatsoever. And this he,
the g said Antonio De Salvi,' is ready to verify.
Wherefore he prays judgment, and that by the
court here he may be dismissed and discharged of
so much of the present indictment as charges him
with having of his malice aforethought murdered
the said Robert Henderson Robertson ; and as to
the murder and felony of which he, the said An-
tonio De Salvi, now stands indicted, he saith that
he is not guilty thereof, and of this he puts himself
upon the country."
It is understood that on the part of the Crown
a demurrer will be entered to this plea, the effect
of which proceeding is that the facts stated in the
plea are admitted ; but it will be contended that
they do not make out that the prisoner was ever
placed iu jeopardy upon the charge of wilful murder,
and that consequently the plea of autrefois acquit
cannot be supported. This will be argued on the
first day of the judges taking their seats at the Cen-
tral Criminal Court next session ; and if the point
should be decided against the prisoner, he will at
once be tried upon the charge of murder. The
opihiou in legal circles is, that the fact of a man
having
been tried and acquitted of wounding with
intent to murder, is no answer to a charge of mur-
der where the wounded person afterwards dies, and
it is believed that the only object of the course
taken on behalf of the prisoner is that the jury may
have formally brought before them the facts that
tlve pri'oner has been already tried and convicted
ol• an offence arising out of the same transaction,
and sentenced to a very severe punishment, in the
hope that it may operate on their minds, and induce
them to return a verdict that will not affect the life
of the unhappy prisoner.

THE MURDER IN LEIGH WOODS,

CLIFTON.

IDENTIFICATION OF THE BODY.

The efforts ot the police with a view to clear up
the mystery in which this murder has been veiled
have at length met with some success. The ideu-
tity ot the murdered woman has been established
beyond doubt.