The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-14 00:00:00

IN RE L. ALEXANDER AND CO.

His HONOUR
thisgave judgment this morning. on a dis-
puted question inold bankruptcy, the proceedings
under which are still lingering on. Mr. Morrison, a
director of the Britannia Life Insurance Company, had
petitioned the court, setting forth that the company had
advanced 2,1001., in 1845, to Mr. Bardgett, one of the
bankrupts, who was also a director of the company, for
which 350 of the company's shales were deposited with
Mr. Morrison as security. There was now due, as
principal and interest, 2,3081. The prayer of the peti-
tion was that the company might be declared equitable
mortgagees of the shares so held; that they might be
sold on the Stock Exchange, and the proceeds applied in
the discharge of their debt. This was opposed by
the assignees, on the ground that the property
in the shares was in them. The case of the Lancaster
Canal Company had been much relied on in the argu-
ment, where it was ruled that shares held by bankrupts,
if not fully transferred, passed to their assignees. In
this case there had been no actual transfer, nor had it
ever been contemplated, beyond an agreement on the
part of the bankrupt, to transfer when called
upon to so. The whole thing was in fieri; and
when the loan was made, the (limy in the company's
book contained no mention of Mr. Bardgett's name. It
was clear the intention was that the ownership and dis-
position of the shares should remain in Mr. B3rdgett,
who continued to receive the dividends, and to vote as a
proprietor. The case of the Lancaster Canal Company
had never been overruled; this case came entirely within
that rule. He must, therefore, hold that the property
vested in the assignees, and the result would be that the
petition would be dismissed with costs.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
OXFORD ClRCUlT.—Gloucester, Aug. 12.
(Before Mr. Justice WILLIAMS.)
THE CASE OF STARVATION.—[WO brought up our
report of the trial of Sarah Bubb for the murder of Maria
Hook in yesterday's paper up to the departure of the
latest available train on Monday. We now resume the
report from the point where we broke off yesterday.]
Mr. Humble, surgeon, and medical officer of the
Westbury-on-Severn Union, deposed that he first saw
the deceased in November, 1348, when the prisoner and
Ann Apperby brought her to him. He examined the
child, and prescribed a slight aperient fur her, directing
that she should have port wine and norishing food. lie
found that she was afflicted with prolapsus ani, a disease
not uncommon to children, but not of a dangerous cha-
racter. In 1849 (January) he again saw the deceased
at her father's house. She was huddled up over some
ahses, and was naked with the exception of a small rug
over her shoulders. There was no fire in the room, and
the child seemed emaciated from want of proper food
and clothing; made a post mortem examination of the
body, and found it in an excessive state of emaciation; it
only weighed Gibs.— (Sensation in the court.) A child
newly born would usually weigh from 6lbs. to Sibs. This
child was four years old. It appeared ebout the usual
height of a child of that age. but was a complete skele-
ton. Death from starvation would present such ex-
ternal appearances as the body of the deceased Maria
Hook presented. The body internally was healtby;
the lungs were rerfect, and there were no symptoms of
consumption. The heart and viscera generally were
small. The stomach was perfectly empty. Looking
externally and internally at the appearances presented
by the body, witness was of opinion that the child died
from want of sufficient food and clothing.
Charles Bampton, huckster, proved that Hook and
Bubb bought goods at his shop to the amount of 10s. to
14s. per week.
After an address of two hours from Mr. Pigott, who
dwelt especially on the absence of motive for murder,
his Lordship summed up in a speech of an hour and a
half, and the jury, after retiring for ten minutes,
returned a verdict of Guilty of aggravated man-
slaughter, and the prisoner was sentenced to transporta-
tion for life.

The trial occupied exactly twelve hours, having closed
at nine o'clock P.M.

Augult 13.
(Before Mr. Justice WILLTAms.)
THE STARVATION CASE.—llichard Hook was charged
with the manslaughter of his daughter Maria Hook,
at Churcham, by omitting to give her proper food and
clothing.
The particulars of this case need scarcely be repeated.
As will be seen above, the prisoner's sister-in-law, a
woman named Bubb, was convicted of manslaughter, and
sentenced to be transported for life. The prisoner Hook
was charged with being a party to the manslaughter.
The evidence was similar to that given on the trial of
Bubb yesterday, but it came out that when the prisoner
Hook was at home the deceased was generally better
treated than in his absence.

In his defence, the prisoner said be had always pro-
vided sufficient food and clothes for the child, and had
directed Bubb to attend to her.
The jury found him Not Guilty.
POISONING CAsE.—Hannah Curtis was charged on the
coroner's inquisition, with the wilful murder of Thomas
Harris, her former husband, at the parish of Frampton
Goitre]. The prisoner was formerly married to Harris,
eho died after a short illness, and in a month after his
death she married a man named Curtis, who used to
visit her during the lifetime of her husband. On open-
ing the body, there were traces of arsenic discovered in
the deceased.

A great number cf witnesses were examined in sup-
port of the indictment, but the case for the proszention
had not closed when our report Was dispatched.

WESTERN CIRCUIT, Wells, Aug. 12.
CROWN COURT.—(l.lefore Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.)
henry Hillier, alias Henry Axford, was indicted
for the wilful murder of Thomas George, at Nunney,
on the 3d of April, by cutting him on the throat with a
knife.
Mr. Phinn and Mr. Everett were counsel for the pro-
secution, and Mr. Edwards defended the prisoner.
The only mode of making this case understood is by a
narrative of the facts, as the case only rested upon cir-
cumstantial evidence. It will first be necessary to state
the facts under which the body of the deceased was
found ; secondly, the circumstances attaching them-
selves to the prttoncr about
pthriesot o
indicating
t h the murder;
the and,
nirnere,
mo-
tive
thirdly,
he
prisonerexpressions
for 0 f the
wishing
to get rid of the decased.
The deceased was a lad shout 17 years of age, and he
lived with his parents at Nanney, near Frome. He was
in the habit of working fur Messrs. Hoddinot, for whom
also the prisoner worked. The prisoner also lived near.
On the night of the 3d of April the deceased left his
work with his father about seven o'clock. The prisoner
left about the same time. The deceased went home,
and having washed and dressed himself, as was his habit,
he went out, and he was heard talking to the prisoner
and some other persons in the shed adjoining the house
of the father of the deceased. He was seen there up to
eight o'clock. A little after eight the deceased was seen
passing over the bridge which was between the house of
the prisoner and that of the father of the deceased, and
the prisoner was seen looking in the direction in which
the deceased was going; that was the lust time the de-
c•mssed W 33 seen alive. The mother of the deceased sat
up for him, and about five o'clock in the morning she
became co uneasy that she awoke her husband, and
begged him to go and look after their son. The husband
got up and went to the cart-shed, and upon going in he
saw the body of some person reclining on the left side.
The head was bent under the shoulder, and the face was
so much covered with blood that he could not recognise
whose body it was. He rushed out, and at that early
hour in the morning he saw the prisoner standing at his
door completely dressed. He called to the prisoner to
come to him. He came and went into the shed, and at
once recognised the body, and exclaimed, " Poor Tom
has cut his throat at last." The body was brought
out on a hurdle on which it was found lying, and it
WAS found that the head had nearly been severed from
the body by a wound across the throat. In the course
of the day the body was washed, and on the sth an in-
quest was held; but it was to be regretted that the co-
roner would not allow any surgical investigation, and the
jury came to no verdict ac all. On the 7th the surgeons
were called in to look at the body, and they found the
gullet and windpipe cut completely through, and they
discovered that there had been two cuts on the throat;
that there was first a stab, and then a cut, and they said
it was quite impossible that the person who inflicted the
first cut could have inflicted the second—that is, under
the supposition that it was suicide. The cuts were so
neck. They also fund a wound on the temple, which
violent that the knife scraped the bone at the back of the
had fractured the skull, and which must have been
given before the throat was cut. The smallelothes
and waistcoat were open. On the right-hand pocket
were the marks of three bloody fingers, and on the
loft-hand pocket also were the marks of blood, rA
if done by the hand. There was no blood on
the hands of the deceased, and the smockfrock was
pulled close down. The surgewis were of opinion
that the deceased met his death from the violence of
cut, the father, thinking, as
some other person, and not from his own band. At the
time the body was brought
la&cl been suggested by the prisoner, that the boy had
committed suicide, was anxious to find the instrument
with which it was done, and the prisoner found the knife
of the deceased near the spot where the body was found.
From a superstitious idea this knife was first put in the
coffin that it might 11,1 t cut any more throats, and the
blade was broken. The prisoner and the deceased and
other persons had been in the habit cf occasionally
sleeping about the outhouses of the farm, and that night
the prisoner saw a man of the name of Whittaker, who
worked for Messrs. Hoddinot, and who c:oxte to his
heuso that evening to wait for his master'l, horse, tmd