The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-09 00:00:00

to be "rather heavy," and said she was not well. Ile
saw her again in the evening, about six o'clock, in the
shop with a person named Mary Ann Bryant. She
tried to take some breed out of toe wiedow, but as she
turned round the fell down on the floor clear of every
thing. Trio prisoner was there, and Mary Ann Bryant
asked him to lend his assistance to lift up his mistress,
when the prisoner replied, " Let the d—d le-- wait
there till she comes to herself." Mary Ann Bryant,
however, lifted her up, and he then left the shop. He
never saw his mistress again. The next day (Sunday),
between nine and ten in the morning, he saw the pri-
soner, whom he asked how his mistress was, and the
prisoner replied that she had been in a very bad state
all the night, and he did not expect her
to live, adding that ho v, as astonisht d that
"it " had lasted as long as it had done. Before this
occurrence he had only teen in the prisoner's service a
week.
Cross-examined—The family of the prisoner consisted
of his wife and a couple of children, two boys, the
youngest seven and the oldest thirteen. Thoy occupied
the ground-floor and the bakehouse. They kept no
servant. Ile was the prisoner's journeyman, and not
his apprentice, as the Learned Counsel on the other side
had supposed. It was usual for a man to be left in the
bakehouse all night. During the week he was there he
saw the wife of the prisoner the worse for liquor, but he
could not say that it was the day before this happened;
it was either on Wednesday or Friday, between three
and four o'clock. She came down to him in the bake-
house to give some instructions about the bread, and it
way her thick speech that showed him she was drunk. She
did not stagger at all, but her left eye was black.
Mary Ann Bryant, examined by Mr. BODKIN—She
was a married woman, the wife of a carpenter and
joiner, and second cousin to the prisoner's deceased wife.
The shop, parlour. bed-room, and kitchen of the priso-
ner's house in Brydges-street were all on one floor, and
the bakehouse was underneath. The children slept in
the kitchen. She remembered calling there about one
in the afternoon of Saturday, the 23d March. The pri-
soner and his wife were there. His wife appeared very
ill indeed from being knocked atiout. Der face was
swollen, and her hands of a dark colour, as if they were
bruised. She wore spectacles, and she, therefore, could
not say whether her eyes were black. Witness cooked
the dinner for the deceased to give her time
to rest, and whilst she was so engaged
the prisoner came, in when the younger child told him
that the elder child would not take out the
bread as his mother had desired. The deceased
was there, and upon hearing this the prisoner
s :id d— and b— her oyes, and began hitting
and kicking her on the back, and boxing her ears with

his open hand. He must have struck her a'lczeu
times, and the blows were of such violence that the y
were sufficient to knock her up for the afternoon. Be
said he would make her remember not sending the man
with the bread instead of the boy, and she replied that
she thought she should have done wrong had she sent
the wan, as he was making York biscuits. lie then sat
down to dinner, and on eating a mutton chop
he said to his wife, " Oh, this is something
like gravy, not the watery soup you make," and then he
began beating her again. Afterwards he threw about a
quarter of a half-quartern loaf at her, which hit her in
the forehead; the eldest child took it up and placed it

on the table, when the prisoner threw it at her again,
but it did not hit her that time. Before they sat down
the prisoner told her that he had been very much put
out by her, as on the Friday evening previously she
came home drunk, and refused to shut up the shop as
he ordered her. He had t 3 do it himself; and on
going into the parlour he found a ginger-beer
bottle under the pianoforte, full of gin, which
made him very vexed. He asked her where
she fetched it from, and she told him from the Cheshire
Cheese pubiic•house. The deceased, who heard this,
said she did not fetch it from the Cheshire Cheese, but
from a house in Middle-row, Holborn. After the bread
was throw❑ the deceased got_up,when the prisoner said,

"If you don't sit down, and finish your meat, I will seed
for a rolling pin, and force it down your throat." She
:at down, but she could not eit the meat, which made
the prisoner get up, and kick and beat her again about
her sitting-place. She said, " Man alive, don't beat me,
don't kill me," and he replied, " I will nut murder you
outright, but I'll murder you by inches, so that the law
shan't touch mr, for I can cheat the devil, and I am
d—d if I don't think I can cheat the Government over
ou." She afterwards went into the bed-room, and the
prisoner sat down by the fire, smoking a pipe. He now
told witness that he thought he had hurt her head very
much indeed, and he, therefore, wished witness to get
some water and bathe it for her. Witness then went
into the bed-room and examined her head. It was in a
dreadful state, the colour of a sheep's liver, and
in some places it was terribly swollen, cut,
and bloody. Her hair was clotted with blood,
and witness having got her some water, she
told :her she must bathe her head herself, as
it was so dreadful a sight she could not do it. She
then returned to the prisoner, who was still smoking a
pipe, and told him that he had better let her go to bed,
but the prisoner said he could not spare her from the
shop. She then went away, about three o'clock, and
returned about a quarter past five. She found the pri-
soner and his wife in the shop. The deceased appeared
to Le very stupid indeed, as if she had been drinking a
good deal. She took her into the parlour, and soon af-
terwards the prisoner came in and asked his
wife if she had sent the twopenny loaf, as he
had ordered. The deceased replied that she
had not, when he asked her about a great many loaves
which were to have been sent to a Mr. Robinson. She
replied, " No, it had not come up stairs, but she would
send the twopenny loaf then." The prisoner replied,
" No, it's of no use now, it's a d--d shame;" and
boxed her ears, telling her to go and put the bread in
the window. lie struck on this occasion about a dozen
E.

mes, and immediately afterwards she saw her fall down,
and blood flowing from one of her eyes. Witness said
to the prisoner, " Why, good God, she is is a
fit ;" when the deceased looked up and said, " Yes,
Mary Ann, I am in a fit that I shall never
get over; for God's sake, don't leave me." She
asked the prisoner to assist her in getting the deceased
up, but the prisoner only made use of some bad lan-
guage, and saying she was drunk, told her to let her be
there. The sight was so horrible that it made witness
faint, and she was obliged to go out into the open air.
On her return in a few minutes she found the deceased
in the kitchen standing at a sink, where she fell Own.
She was now quite insensible, and the prisoner was
still in the shop. She asked him to lift her
up and put her on the bed, but he said,
" No, she shall never lie upon a bed of mine again." He,
however, went in to look at her, and in trying to arouse
her he kicked her several times, saying, "You drunken
b—, get up." The deceased could not get up, and she
lay there fully two hours. About eight o'clock witness's
husband came in, and washed her lace, but she never
came to again. Her husband afterwards put her in the
children's bed. Witness repeatedly asked the pri-
soner to send for a doctor, but the prisoner said,
" Oh, no, there is no occasion for one," and
none was sent for. Witness end her hus-
band waited till between one and two o'clock
in the morning, when the prisoner told them that if his
wife got no better he would send for a doctor, and he
asked witness to come early in the morning. About
eight o'clock the next morning witness returned, and J
found the deceased still in the same insensible state. She
asked the prisoner if he had sent for a doctor, and he
replied "No." She said " You had better send for one
directly," and eventually a Mr. Watkins was sent for.
She remained there till half-past twelve that night, the
deceased still continuing in the same state, and when
she got there the following Monday morning, between
leven and twelve o'clock, the deceased had been dead
two or three minutes.
Cross-examined—She had never mentioned the con-
versation of the prisoner about murdering the deceased
inch by inch till to-day—that was publicly and in the
presence of the prisoner—nor had she mentioned about
the rolling-pin.
Amelia Mendez, the wife of Abraham Mendez, who
had lodged in the priscner's house, the front room en
the first floor, remembered coming down stairs on Sa-
turday, the 23d of March, when she heard the deceased
crying and screaming dreadfully. She said, " Oh,
you'll kill me, you'll kill me ;" to which the
prisoner replied, " and I'll murder you be-
fore I have done with you." One of the children
was in the room at the time, and witness heard him call
out, " Oh' don't father, you will kill mother !"
Alexander George Muir, the eldest son of the pri-
soner, aged 13, was next examined. lie said he remem-
bered the Saturday before his mother died. He was in
the parlour with his father and mother at dinner time.
His father threw bread at his mother twice, saying
that he,could murder her, but he would not do it direct,
because of the laws of the country, he would Co it by
inches; he could cheat the devil, and he would cheat
somebody else.
Cross-examined—He bad repeatedly heard his
father any he would murder his mother during the
of his grandmother. He heard Mrs. Bryant re-
peat her evidence to a gentleman yesterday.
By the COURT—His mother was always sickly.
Mr. Watkins, the medical gentleman who was called
in on the 24th of March to see the deceased—He was
called in about eight o'clock. She was lying on a bed.
He examined her head and neck, which were covered
with contusions. Her features were swollen and dis-
torted, and she was perfectly insensible. He appre-
hended a fatal result from the first. She died on the follow-
ing Monday morning. He made a post nior tem examination,
and found that she died from compression of the brain.
produced by the contused state of the head and neck.
•fhe brain itself was in a remarkably healthy state, but
the liver was rather paler than usual, but that probably
was produced when death took place. The viscera
was generally healthy. There were bruises on the
back, but the death he attributed to the
bruises on the head. He discovered no alcoholic smell
about the viscera, nor did the appearance of the liver at
all indicate that the deceased was a drunkard.
This was the case for the prosecution.
Mr. BALLANTINE then addressed the jury for the de-
fence, stating that it was impossible fur him to answer
the charge of manslaughter preferred in the verdict of
the coroner's jury, eo unjustifiable had been the
conduct of the prisoner, but he did most
particularly insist that the evidence as produced
did not make out a case to justify the jury finding
j the prisoner guilty o! the capital offence.
The Learned JUDGE then summed up the whole case,
after which
Tho jury found the prisoner Guilty of manslaughter,
committed under aggravated circumstances.
The COURT sentenced him to transportation for life.