The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-24 00:00:00

THE DOVER MURDER.

At the Maidstone Assizes on Thursday, Thomas Walls,
18, railway porter, was indicted for the wilful murder of
Edward Adolphus James Walsh, at Dover, by shooting
him with a gun on the Ist of May last. Prisoner
pleaded not guilty. Mr. Serjeant Sleigh was specially
retained, with Mr. Straight, to conduct the prosecution,
by the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Com-
pany, in whose service both the deceased and the prisoner
were engaged at the time of the unhappy occurrence. The
Prisoner was defended by Mr. Ribton and Mr. Biron.
The facts of the case were very few and simple, and the
evidence in support of the charge was most conclusive. The
deceased had been for several years the station-master at
the Priory Station of the London, Chatham, and Dover
Railway at Dover, and he was 3 man of kind and inoffen-
sive habits, and very much respected by all who came in
contact with him or were acquainted with him. The
prisoner was employed at the same station as a porter and
carriage cleaner, and it appeared that for some time
previous to the Ist May, the day on which the deceased
lust his life, he had been in the habit of discharging a
pistol within the station buildings. He was requested
by deceased not to continue such a proceeding. This did
not seem to have any effect, and the deceased felt it his
duty to communicate with Mr. Cox, a superior officer of
the company, upon the subject, and on the Ist of May that
gentleman went to the Priory Station, and in the presence
of the deceased he told prisoner that he must apologise,
and promise not to repeat the act complained, or he
should be compelled to report him. The prisoner was
evidently in a state of great excitement and anger at
having been reported by the deceased, and refused to
apologise. Mr. Cox then read the report he intended to
send in against him, which recommended that a slight fine
should be imposed upon him. Mr. Cox having done this,
left the office, and he had only gone a very short distance
when he heard the report of a firearm, and it turned out
that the prisoner had deliberately aimed a gun at the
deceased, and discharged it at a very short distance from
him, the ball passing completely through his head
and killing him upon the spot. Immediately after
committing the dreadful deed, the prisoner ran
out of the office, and jumped into one of the rail-
way carriages that were standing upon the line,
where he was taken into custody with the gun in his
posssession, and upon the weapon being secured it was
evident that it had only been discharged immediately
before. Where the prisoner obtained the gun from did not
appear. Several of his fellow-porters were called to prove
that very shortly before the occurrence the prisoner had,
been heard to utter deadly threats against the deceased,
and that upon several occasions he had openly declared
that if the old (meaning the deceased) interfered any
more with him, he would have his life. For the defence
an attempt was made by Mr. Ribton, in cross-examinati o
to shew that some short time previous to the Ist of May
the prisoner had received an injury on the head by being
jammed between the buffers of two carriages. None of
the witnesses, however, appeared to have the least know-
ledge of such an occurrence having taken place, except
one, who said that he did hear something about the pri-
soner having sustained some slight accident, and remem-
bered that he was away from duty for a few days, but
after he returned he appeared to be just the same as usual
in his conduct. The father and mother of the prisoner were
examined, but their evidence mainly tended to show that
the prisoner was brought home last July in a nearly insen-
sible condition, in consequence of his chest and head
having been struck by the buffer of an engine. They
stated that after this the prisoner appeared very flighty,
and conducted himself in a curious manner ; bnt it
appeared that he resumed his occupation in a very few
days, and no medical man was called in to attend him.
Mr. Justice Willes, in summing up the case to the jury,
said it was no part of his duty to answer the speech of the
learned counsel for the prisoner, but he felt that it was
his duty—and he should not shrink for a moment from
performing it—to inform them that the law of this
country was that any man who deliberately killed another
was guilty of the crime of wilful murder ; and they must
find the prisoner guilty of that offence or acquit him
altogether.
The jury, after an absence of not more than five
minutes, found the prisoner guilty of wilful murder.
Mr. Justice Willes warned the prisoner to give up all
hopes in this world, and turn with bitter repentance to the
God of mercy for pardon. He then proceeded to pass the
formal sentence of death, directing that it should be
carried out according to the statute.
This will be the first prisoner executed within the walls
of the gaol, pursuant to the new Act of Parliament passed
during the present session.