The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-28 00:00:00

SPRING ASSIZES.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—NEWCASTLE, Feb. 25.
The Commission was opened here yesterday after-
neon by Mr. Justice Willes, who came over early in
the day from Carlisle.
This morning Mr. Justice Willes took his seat on
the bench in the Guildhall to dispOse of the town
prisoners, and Mr. Justice Byles sat in the Moot-
hall to dispose of the county prisoners.
The town calendar contains the names of five
prisoners, and the county calendar the names of
nine. None of the offences were of very grave im-
portance.

The cause list contains an entry of six causes for
the county, and four for the town ; of these two are
marked for special juries.
(In the Guildhall, before Mr. Justice Willes.)
Ann Tulloch, aged 39, and Matthew Wilson, aged'
44, were indicted for the manslaughter of Joseph
Scott, at Newcastle, on the 14th January last.
The Hon. A. Liddell and Mr. Church appeared
for the prosecution ; Mr. Davison defended Tulloch,
and Mr. Price the prisoner Wilson.
It appeared from the evidence of the witnesses
that the deceased, accompanied by some men
named Cameron, Ratcliffe, and O'Neal, went to the
house of the female prisoner, who lives in a street
called Peel-street, in Newcastle, about half-past two
in the morning, and knocked at the door. They were
let into the house by the female prisoner, and found
there the male prisoner and a young woman named
Miss Willens. Mrs. Tulloch asked them " what
they were going to stand." The men ordered beer
—the female prisoner made use of some bad lan-
guage, and wanted ss. for a bottle of whiskey.
The money was not given to her, and at this time
the prisoner Wilson and Ratcliffe went out of the
room. Mrs. Tulloch and the deceased were then
talking together, and she was seen to give him
a blow on the nose. Scott got into a passion at
this, and on Tulloch rushing towards him,
he struck at her, and hit her on the eyes.
Tulloch then got into a great passion, and swore
she would murder the before he left the house.
At this time Scott was very drunk. The other
prisoner, Wilson, then entered the room, and Mrs.
Tulloch pointed to her eyes and said, "see what he
has done to my eye." Wilson then immediately
struck at Scott several blows in the passage near
the taproom, in which the female prisoner was.
She cried out, " Push the -- into the room."
Wilson then pushed Scott into the room, and con,-
tinned striking him and driving him into a corner,
when Tulloch seized hold of a quart glass decanter
and struck him a blow on the back of his head with
it. She repeated the blow, and it fell on Scott's
hand which he had raised to protect his head. On
removing his hand the female prisoner gave him a
third heavy blow on the head with the glass
decanter. Blood flowed, and the deceased fell on
his face on the seat. One of the witnesses present
cried out they had murdered him. Wilson then
pulled him off his seat, and he fell with his face
in the blood on the floor. The female pri-
soner then seized him by the hair of his head,
and lifting him from the blood gave him a
kick in the side, saying, "Is the not dead
yet ?" The police shortly after entered the house,
took the prisoners into custody, and removed the
deceased. The policeman said it was a bad job,
and the female prisoner produced a decanter, and
said, " She did not care a , she would kill a
better man than him," and Wilson, the other pri-
soner, said, " It served him right ; look at her eye."
The deceased was found insensible, with a deep
wound at the back of his head about an inch long,
which bled profusely. He died about a week after,
and a post mortem examination discovered his skull
to have several fractures running from two centres.
These fractures and extravasated blood on the brain
had caused his death.
The learned counsel for the female prisoner
having addressed the jury,
His Lordship summed up the evidence, and left
it to them to say whether Wilson had not assaulted
the deceased, exasperated by the blow he had given
the woman, and without any design of assisting in
the attack which the female prisoner afterwards
made upon the deceased.
The jury found ~.the female prisoner guilty, and
acquitted the man.
His Lordship, in passing sentence, said the pro-
vocation the prisoner had received was very great ;
but he could not overlook the brutal manner in
which she had assaulted the deceased. He should
not inflict so severe a punishment on her as he
would have done on a man under the same circum-
stances, and he thought justice would be satisfied
by her being sentenced to twelve months' imprison-
ment with hard labour.
The case seemed to excite a great deal of feeling
in a very crowded court against the female pri-
soner, and the passing of this sentence was followed
by hisses and murmurs of disapprobation in court,
which were with difficulty repressed, notwithstand-
ing the threat of his lordship to send to prison any
one who was brought before him for committing
such a contempt of Court.
SATURDAY, FEB. 26.
(In the Moot-hall, before Mr. Justice Byles.)
Luke Skelly and Charles Richardson were in-
dicted for shooting at James Gibson, with intent to
murder him, or to do him some grievous bodily
harm. .
Mr. Davison prosecuted, and Mr. Price defended
the prisoners.
It appeared that on the 23d Feb. last, as a man
named Lloyd, gamekeeper to Earl Grey at Howick,
accompanied by two watchers, named Gibson and
Darling, and a gamekeeper of a gentleman named
'Crasters, were out -watching at a place called Low-
stead Farm, about half-past 11 o'clock at night, they
saw two men enter the field and set a net. They
then saw a dog run, and heard a hare scream, and
the prisoner Richardson then came to the net, in
which there was a hare. The keepers and watchers
then got into the field and endeavoured to arrest
the two men, when a voice called out " Shoot the
," and immediately a gun was discharged by
the prisoner Richardson. No ono was hit, and
after a fight the two men were mastered and taken
into custody.
It was contended by their learned counsel that
the gun had gone off accidentally, and that there
was no intention on the part of the men to shoot at
the watchers.
His lordship having summed up,
The jury acquitted the prisonerS.
They were again indicted for night poaching,
and found guilty., and sentenced by his lordship to
12 months'Anipnitallent,