The Sun.
London, England, 1810-03-21 00:00:00

BICH COURT OF JUSTICIARY.

• On Mond came on the trial of Robert Rotert-
, son, accused of the murder of Janes Bryce, shoe-
maker at Jarg, in the parish of West Calder, on
the evening of Thursday the 2(1-at June las%

The prisoner pleaded not guilty to the charge ;
and Mr. DICKSON, as his Coun-el, stated, in de-
fence, that, although unfortunately the deceased
had met his death on the occasion libelled, yet.
that ,no criminality could attach to 'the prisoner, as
he had aded only in self defence.
George Gray, farmer at Rusha, who should have
entered to possession of the prisoner's house, stated,
that he had bad a, good deal of altercation with him on
the subje& ; but he neither authorized the deceased,
nor any person else,' to interfere respecting it. He,
himself had said to the prisoner, that he would,
shoot a bullet through him, it he did not giVe up
the keys; but this was only done to intimidate
hime as he was sometimes silly in his mind, al-
though at other times he" was perfedly correa.
William Scott, procurator-fiscal, had known the.
prisoner upwards of twelve years, having been em-
ployed to condud a process fur him before the She-
riff.' During its.dependence, he had ftequent op-
?
portunities of conversing with him, from which he.
was of opinion that he was 'deranged and' unsettled
id his rhind. He' often repeated pa ages from
the scriptures; which were tery ill applied ; but,
when examined before the Sheriff, respecting the
deceased, he seemed to understand the qu,-stions
which were put to him, and 'answered them very
distinetly._ _ _ _

Jame; Grant, coal-grieve, Longford, was stand-
ing at his own door, on the evening of 'the fnd June
last, when he observed the prisoner coming doWn
the road, at whieh time he tilso saw the dceased,
and a young woman very near him. Witness then-
went. into .'his own house ; but he had not been
many minutes there, until he heard the prisoner cal-
ling out murder. He then went. to.the door,, When"
he perceived the prisoner- lying upon the ground,
about the distance of a :gun-glint from where. he.
stood, and the deceased above him, who was beat-
ing him with his fist. The prisoner, after this, Q4l-
- out murder twice ; and having extricated himself,
from the deceased, he rose up, and taking up some
keys from the ground, which appeared to hambeen
the cause of the, varrel, • he went .away, looking
several times back while on the road, ai if expect-
ing that the deceased, would follow hiw. All this
happened within..the. space of tcii minutes ; and
during the scuffle, being an old man, he was at first:
afraid-of interfering.;! and, when at last he wished
to go; 'his wife prevented him. When the witness
went up to theispot, where, Bryce lay, be found
that he was dead, • having been strangled by his
neckcloth, which . was drawn. extremely tight.
Witness never observed any derangement about
the: prisoner; he was rather. high-minded about re,
'••' . • •
Walter Muir,- collier, having been alarmed by:
the cry of murder, ran to the ~pot where the de-
ceased lay, and found him in the.situaton described
by- the preceding witness. It was the opinion of the
country that the prisoner was deranged-,
.and' the
witness thought so himself, as he ,hadknown him
during a winter night, preach in
.the open fidc6.-7--
He wag in other respeds a. quiet man, and lid .ways
quarrelsome:

Andrew Purdie, farmer, Roughside, was sent for
on the evening of the 22d Sotte, to' see the deCrat.
ed, as he knew a little of the
.prailiCe of skirvy.
This was about two hours after the,.scullb with the
prisoner, and he ordered the body,to be bathed and
rubbed. He also tried to draw btond,, but this was
without effeaf, as he had been dead for some time;
and the witness was of opinion his death was oc-
casioned by strangulation. He knew the prisoner,.
who was always a quiet map, but,not so balanced in,
hi s mind as other people.
The Rev. James Muckersey, minister of ,Wcst
Calder, stated, that betwen seven and eight, o'clock
in the evening of the 22d June, the prisoner called
at his house, and told him that there had been an
attempt made to take the keys of his:house from.,
him, but without effeat. On this occasion he
was much agitated, and had received a severe bloW
on his eye, and a cut across his brow.. He at first
refused to tell who had injured him, but afterwards
said it was Bryce ; and on the witness asking him
how he had been able to prevent the deceased from
taking the keys, seeing be was the strongest man of
the two, he answered, that cs' the battle was not to
the strong." ' He then said he had come to the wit-
ness's house for proteetion, and that he would sleep
on the kitchen floor, or on the staircase,
,as he was
afraid of another attempt -to take the keys from
him; although he had left Bryce incapable of mak-
ing any resistance. -The prisoner then went to the:
barn; wher6 he slept. all 'night. Witness was of
opinion, that the prisoner's state of mind proceeded
from hiS thinking that he bad met with injusrice from
some Of his relations, as he had heard him. say so;
and excepting when this was the topic of Conversa-
tion, he always spoke with good sense. He had
heard that the deceased was turbulent, and even
dishonest, but he never knew that the prisoner
was, mischievous, although it was reported he
had frightened people, and had been once hand-
cuffed:

1
Dr. William Farquharson was -direded by the,4l
Sheriff to wait upon the prisoner, along With Nit%
Andrew Inglis, Surgeon, in „order to a,certeity the
state of his mind, in consequence of which they- re-
ported that his disorder was.of, an .uncomnion hind;
that alt hough he sometimes appeared wrong-headed•
regarding religious matters, he seemed -Otherwise to
be very,sensible, and made very nice distinaions,
tar above his rank ;n life and appearance. At first
he considered the .Doctor and Air., Inglis: as spies. set
upon him by the' Sheriff, in order to entrap. him
but having afterwards learned their trut.. Olittra6er,
he gave them a most distind account of the, whole
transadion.with the deceased„ and stated particularly,
how he had strangled him: The. scuffle,. he saic4
began first about the keys, but it afterwards became
a matter of selkietence. On a question from the
Bench,.the Dodor .stated; that although the prisoner
at times was capable of discrimioting bet ween right
and wrong, yet he had birano notions about religion .
and he, rather supposed that he was not,inleenced
by the SLIITIC motives with Other minds.

i'.-

prisouvr, stated, that, at duit: on the evening 01 the
22d June, the prisoner called at his house, wht.o
there were marks of blows and some blood on his
face'; that he was Always a quietand harmks3 man,
-whereas the deceased was rather pas4ionat,t, dad
stouter than tha prisoner. Had heard the prisoner
say, that illyce, on a former o'ccasion, had threaten-
ed .to beat him, and he appeared to stand much in
awe of the deceased.

The Jury were then addressed .by HENRY C %cx.,
BURN, Esq. on the part of the Crown, and by JOHN
DICKSON, Esq._ for the prisoner. Afier which the
whole was Summed by LORD JUSTICR' CLERK,
when the following verdict was returned : All in,
one voice finding it proven:that the panne), time and
place libelled, did strangle the deceased John Bryce;
but find, from the peovocation he ieceiveti,. and
from the general insane state of the pannel's nand,
that he, was not guilty of feloniouily murdering',
him.

In .the. course of his charge; the LORD JUSTICE
CLERK severely censured the conduct of those per•
sons who, from timidity or cold-blooded indiffer-
enCe, .kept aloof in case.; like t;:e present.. The cry
of murder should operate as a general alarm ; and
it was the duty of every one to press. forward brit)
their assistance on such an occasion.
Counsel for the. Crowll,. HENRY COCKBIJRN,, Esc'.
advocate; Mr. HtGH WARRENDCR, W. S. agent...,
Counsel for the pannel, JOHN DiCKSON, Eiy. ad,
voCate; Mr. JOHN DICKSON, jun. W. S. agent
The trial of John- Macfarlane, which should have
taken place on Tties-day, was. posipuned nil Tuas7
day next.

HAL EN, MARCH 19.

The cannonading at .sea,, NVltch so-eated- same
alarm to the Mhibitants of Seaford, as stated in, a
former paper, it his been since ascertained, was rho
effect of an atition between the Alphea .schoonoer,
and: two French privateers, during which- one-of 'the
later suddenly disappeared ;:.but whetuer she,stokfill
off unperceived, by the help of her swe-ps,, QV
dere'd, is not known, as the fog was.very
Some sail.; and dead bodies were afterward'sfpickd
up, but they led to nothing-from which any conclu-
sions, as to the fad, crtiiird.l)%s drawn.
Last Wednesday the brig Tyrole, from. Yarmouth
to Gibraltar, witlya generaf.c,rgo, was captuied by .
a Prench'priVateef Off Fuidight." The enemy took
the whole of -tthe -crew- from, the brig, and put-on
board: her 15 Frenchmen,' who.had. Really reached
the French coast, when one :of our cruizers, the
4eculaiar lugger, luckily in with the Tgio/e,
and, re-captured her. .0n Friday ;he lugger: brought
her prize into Newhaven harbour, i-1:11 cielivered -
her up to Messrs. Brown and-T.isker, agents for the
captors,. The Frenchmen, who "are all very tin 6
young fellows, were lau,ied, and escorted to 8.1.:1ch7-
ingtou 'harraCks, 'where they are pLce,t "null :;ro-
pa guard, to toe otherw,sedrspos,..d of:, as the.Trahs-
port Bparcl may difecC -

- ,
rri ;Jell privateers tnrto no,w aproach our coast
with more e?oti-on than
_they hdi.e hitherto &tie, or
they will, probate y, pay !t:c,,.-.ly for 111.:ir teal.•rt,,i, as:,
the fol:owing cfuiseri ha, e - t .1;(-0 !heir st,t6o..i
t !Pie I i z :-:-The 5.,(7; 10 , „S'o••••
do)1 sloops ; the Co'rdelia aoti Svzimph cuttcts ;
autt-Aiphea schooner. • •• •

MANSION-HOusE.--John was ebarged by
several wornen.wit:: indecent t;
daughters as they passed the strvets to s.hool, u, ft:2.l
practice he had cohtinued for some tno;:tths;
hithertoescaped, an al am-being given by i.no
who are-!about the age of 10- or r 2-. Onetot
mothers; however, going wit tk.latr ti,ingliter,•was
eye,witt,tess of his very indelicate condud, and iour-,:
sued hitn:to, a cuurt is Aldgater where he w:is
prthenclod.l The pris6ner said lie was a-
had a wile and five childrO, and denied the
.charge. fie. was remanded tor 'farmer exarnina
Lion, when the children and;tht:ir parents are to at
tend. He appears to be upwards of 60 years of age..

SNtr IVE Wb.

ORAVIL3IiND, MARCH 19./

. ,
Arrived—the Fancy, Mare, foul Valencia ; Brilliantt:
Luckland, from Smyrnl • Atalanta, Pincher, and Lotilsat f
Moor, from hlaita ; and the Charles, Lark,'lrom Palermo-. ,
Sailed—the Preston, Sturrock, tarincha ; linske I, tlogo
for Quebec; Young Charles; Pitcher, for St. filichacd's;..
and the Manla, Lambert, for lamaiLa.