The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-28 00:00:00

THE WIFE MURDER AT WELLS.

- Mrs.-Parker, thelvomaii -verd-iias so horribly ili-treated
by her husband on Tuesday, the 10th inst., lingered until
the next Monday, but was never able to utter a sound that
was at all intelligible. The prisoner, since his committal,
seems to have become perfectly sensible of the fearful tra-
gedy of which he has been the cause.
On Wednesday, at the reopening of the court, the coroner
stated to the jury, that by the courtesy of the mayor he was
enabled to have the prisoner brought before them. He was
then ordered to be brought up, and his first appearance ex-
cited a feeling of commiseration, as supported by two po-
licemen, pale as death, with his eyes closed, he was led into
the room. Upon his entrance, the coroner informed him
that he had no wish to cause him unnecessary pain, or to
have him male a spectacle of ; but that he deemed it proper
that ho should have an op ortunity of hearing the evidence
brought against him, so as to be able to confront his aeon-
sers ; however, if he wished, he might retire.
Prisoner, in a sad tone—l know lam guilty. I mean to
plead guilty at my trial. I don't wish to live. I've brought
rain and desolation on all my family. Let the matter be as
short as you can, and have no more ceremony than is re-
quisite. I shall plead guilty at my trial. In the same
mournful tone he said- I was urged to it. I was worked
up to madness by an accessory. That accessory has mur-
dered my wife. We ought to be hung aide by side. I don't
want to save my life ; I would not raise my finger to save
it. The man who urged me to it always heard alike could
and published it. I was driven to it.
The Coroner —Will you name him ?
Prisoner—lt is of little use ; the whole world knows it. I
have nothing more to s ty.
i The jury, after five minutes' deliberation, returned a
I verdict of wilful murder aainst Josiah Parker, and he was
ordered to be committed for trial.—Wilts Independent.

THE EXPLOSION AT THE POG SIGNAL PAC.
TORY OF THE EASTERN COUNTIES RAIL•
WA Y.

The inquest on the bodies of William Beckingham, aged
25, John Jackson, aged 14, servants in the employ of the
Eastern Counties Railway Company ; and Jas. Beckwith,
a master blacksmith, killed by the explosion of the fog-
signal factory, was held at Stratford, on Thursday night.
Mr. Bell, of the storekeeper's department of the com-
pany's works at Stratford, stated that Beckinghan2 super-
intended the manufacturing of the fog-signals, and that
Jackson was the only boy employed under him at the time
of the accident. The witness produced a fog-signal, which
when empty is a circular tin case about half an inch deep,
and said that it was the boy's duty to fix three percussion
caps or three nipples in the interior of the cases; that
Beckinghatn then filled up the cases with gunpowder, fas-
tened on the lids, and returned them to the boy, who se-
cured them with tape, and they were then complete.
There were about 12 gross of signals manufactured and
stored on shelves round the interior of the building. On
a moderato calculation the 12 gross contained 441bs. of
powder and 5,184 percussion caps. Besides the fog-signals
there were about 1201bs. of gunpowder in the building in
21b. zinc cases. _

In reply to the Coroner, the company's storekeeper at
Stratford stated that the distance from the signal-house to
the centre of the rails of the Cambridge line was 170 feet ;
to the Colchester line 157 feet ; to the nearest point of the
general stoles 37 feet ; to the public high road 102 feet ;
and about 371 feet to the Stratford Station ; and that there
were usually from GOO to 700 people employed at the
works. The witness further stated that about 2001bs. of
powder was kept in the engine-house, but every precau-
tion was taken to prevent accident. In his opinion the
explosion resulted from the ignition of the powder, and
not from the manufacturing of the fog-signals, the whole
stock of which, 12 gross, with the exception of about half-
a-dozen, was fcund uninjured and unexploded.
The Coroner suggested the propriety of an adjournment.
Ho put it to the jury whether the existence of such a
building, and the quantity of powder which it was admitted
it had containe•l, close to works where some hundreds were
employed, and the constant passing of trains on the Col-
chester and Cambridge line, was not fraught with con-
siderable danger to the lives of the public.
Several of the jury acquiesced, and it was agreed to ad-
journ the proceedings for a few days, in the hope that the
Board of Trade would direct their attention to the case.

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(From the Tit
fiviV"
We and bold enough to thin\ -
can concern the public at large ingitp in imay_
than that which Lord Campbell molOted Tast nig
with direct reference
the press, and we are ,
re-
joiced to see that he had the support of Lord Wens-
leydale. The interests at stake are certainly not
those of journalism alone, but those of society. It
has recently been declared as the law of the land
that if a reporter makes a bona fide report of the
proceedings at a public meeting, and this report is
published in due course, the publication,
supposing
it to contain slanderous words spoken at the said
meeting by A B against C D, gives C D the right
of an action, not against AB. Ole author of the
slander, but against the journal in which the speech
is reported, although no plea of malice may be set
up. We have already expressed our doubts whe-
ther this decision was so absolutely and manifes'ly
in ace rdance with the old common law of Englaed
as to deserve an immediate and unhesitating deli-
very, -but we nliv omit this pent of the question,
and address ourselves to that elem eat of cornin,m
reason which is taken to be the basis and esseuce
of law itself,
Under certain conditions we can underst Ind
both a charge and a pen ally at-aching not only to
the author of slander, but t' the person or persons
who gave that slander a currency
which it would
not otherwise hive obtained, and rendered it,
therefore, proportionately more injurious to its
object. The distinction drawn between spoken
and writt,n words appears to have had its origin
in some such assumptions as those to which we
are alluding. The great element of slander is
publicity. We express the unbounded libery of
purely private opinion by the c minion proverb
that " thoughts are free." We enlarge the
limits of this freedom a little by all 'wing lati-
tude to private cenv,rsation, as also to conununi-
catioes professedly private t4etween one person and
another ; and as no such interchange of ideas
could attain the publicity which f )Ilows upon cir-
culation in print, it may have been argued that the

person who g4ve thispublicity t, tlic matter—in
other, words, -the publisher—was ausitteratb!s, for
more of the damage occasioned than the anthor '
himself. Some such idea as this was ira9ressed,
we presume, on Lord Campbell's mind, when; on
introducing the subjeot to the notice of the Lords a
few days since, he ob,ervad, "It has been said that
the person calumniated may bring an action against
the man who makes a speech; but it must be re-
menibered that a speech sp:,lien is a smaller clfatc,e
than one that is published and sent all over the
world."

We now proceed to show how entirely reconcile-.
able is this view of the case with that which would
exempt the press from the liability attaching toe it,
and in support of our proposition we will appeal,
not to our own intere-ds', but to ihose of all parties
alike.. In a few.words, 'we admit that publicity
constitutes the gravarnen of slander, but we affirm
that the publication in qu=.sion should be cbarged
to the man who knowingly utters such slander at a
public meeting, and not to the journal which me-
chanically, without feeling, and in the course of its
duty, reports the proceedings. Doubtless, the sys-
tem of reporting adds to the publicity of opinions
so delivered, but that is simply an incident of the
times iu which we live, and, unless it is itsef in-
jurious, cannot be more accountable for the results
than any other of the agencies, such as steam, rail-
ways, and so, forth, by which the circulation of
opinion is facilitated. We maintain that when a
man rises to speak at a public m-et;ng he does so
with all the obligations of the position, including
that of being reported. He knows and should feel
that his words will be taken down, and that, if the
subject or the speaker be of sufficient importance,
they will come in a few hours to the knowledge of
millions. We say that a speaker in public, under
these conditions, is himself the publisher of his
speech. He is the author not only of
the slander, if slander it contains, but of the pub-
licity too. He took all the steps required for its
publication when he uttered it knowingly within
reach of an echo which would repeat his words a
thousand times. The newspaper represents nothing
but the rock 'from which the voice reverberates,
nothing but the substance on which the photograph
is taken. All the consequences attach to the speech
alone. If there is a difference between spoken and
written words, it prevails equally between words
spoken in private and spoken in public. When
they are spoken in public the speaker speaks them
and writes them too. He speaks, as it were,
through a speaking tube, which, as he well knows,
will and must carry his words over the whole face
of-the country. Whatever noVelty or aggravation
_character may be imparted to speech by theae—
results is imparted by the speaker himself when he
deliberately resorts to a public meeting for tlae H
de-
livery of his opinions.
Will anybody urge that this system of publica-
tion and repotting is undesirable in itself; and
should therefore be deprived of protection i We
think not. The gentlemen with whom we have
had the greatest differences about the functions of
the press are precisely those who uphold this one
function above every oth r. , We recollect when
Mr. Cobden seemed disposed to limit the duties of
newspapers to reporting public speeches, and, if
there is one point in which the instrumentality of
the press is more prized than another, it is that by
which every public speaker is enabled to address
not only his own audience, but his countrymen at
large. We cannot, indeed, pretend to doubt the
opinions of the country in this respect, and we
ask therefore, with entire confict.nc s in the jus-
tice of our claim, for simple protection in the
discharge of a public and a serviceable. duty.
As it is, the. responsibility is shifted from those
who should bear it to those who are in no
way chargeable with it—who have no malice,
and no intent, indeed, of any kind, except
that of professional accuracy. In reality, it is quite
impossible for us, even if it were so unreasonable
as to demand it, that we should supply that caution
which speakers ought to exercise themselves. With
reports from all quarters and on all subjects pour-
ing in upon us ; with sometimes a total absence of
information about the parties or politics locally con-
cerned, and with a few hours only in which to re-
dnce all these materials to order, it is out of the
question, if we are to be responsible for anything
said about anybody, that we could steer clear of
offence ; in fact, if the law is held to be as it is, and
advantage were commonly taken of it, newspapers
would be compelled to give up repotting altogether.
We hold to this one proposition—that the publi-
city of the meeting and the bona fide character of
the report should decide the whole case. If the
meeting were not a public meting, or not such an
one as would be reasonably thought open to the
publication of its proceedings, then there would be
good ground for argument against any journal
which, by publishing such proceedings out of the
common course of its duty, had given extraordinary
currency and effect to any slander which might
have been uttered. If, again, the report could in
any way be convicted of malice in the prominence,
colour, form, or any other attribute given t.) the
words of the speaker, an action might fairly lie
against it ; but these are precisely the points for a
jury to consider. We do not ask to be relieved of
fair responsibility. We ask only that in the dis-
charge of a duty which the country expects at our
hands, and which is admitted to be a great public
benefit, we should be protected against_ charges
which properly appertain to others. This would be
justice to the press ; as justice to the press it would
be an advantage to the public ; andif, as regards
speakers at public meetings, it should impose upon
them the obligation of a little more care, We do
not think anybody would be found to regret the
result.