The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 22, 1844.

ASSIZE INT ELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT, Lewes, March 20.
CROWN SIDE.---(Before the LORD CHIEF JUSTICE.)
The business for the county of Sussex, owing to the
Winter Asize, has been remarkably light. Thre were
only thirty-one prisoners for trial, and the only serious
case, except one of burglary, was the charge against the
man LaA rence for the murder of Mr. Solomon, the chief
officer of Brighton.
The Court sat on Monday, . but none of the cases dis-
posed of on either side possessed the least feature of pub-
lic interest.

THE MURDER AT BRIGHTON.
In the course of the day the prisoner Lawrence was
called up to plead, and, on the indictment being read, he
said, in a firm tone, that he was guilty of striking the
blow with the poker, but that he had no intention to
kill Mr, Solomon.
Lord Chief Justice DENMAN said that this amounted
to a plea of not guilty, and he therefore directed that
plea to be recorded.
(From the Brighton Gazette.)
John Lawrence was placed at the bar, charged. " for
that he, on the 13th March, at Brighton, upon Henry
Solomon, feloniously, wilfully, and of malice afore-
thought, did make an assault, and with a certain poker
in his right hand, did feloniously, wilfully, and mali-
ciously strike and produce a mortal fracture, rupture,
and wound on the said Henry Solomon, of which mortal
fracture, rupture, and wound the said Henry Solomon
died." The prisoner was also similarly indicted on the
Coroner's inquest.
The prisoner at this time betrayed considerable emotion.
Mr. Clarkson and Mr. Cobbett conducted the prosecu-
tion ; Mr. Chadwick Jones appeared for the defence.
Mr. CLARKSON rose and spoke as follows:—It is im-
possible to conceal from oneself the importance of the me-
lancholy case to which your attention and that of the
public by whom we are surrounded has been directed.
I am instructed by the Commissioners of the town of
Brighton, with the assistance of my Learned Friend,
Mr. Cobbett, to lay the short and melancholy facts be-
fore you. It appears tkat no longer ago than last Wed-
nesday, a week only from -the present time, the deceased,
Henry Solomons, in the discharge of his public duties, was
found in the office which belonged to him in the Town
Hall of the town of Brighton. Between seven and
eight o'clock on that evening, the young man at the
bar had been apprehended for the commission of some
felony—shop-lifting, I believe—at no great distance from
the spot. An officer of the name of Barnden had taken
him into custody, and had brought him to the police-
office, as it is called, of the Town Hall of Brighton,
where the chief constable Solomon was sitting in a
chair ; and whilst he was there waiting for the arrival of
the witness by whose information the charge was to be
given, Solomon, the officer, put a few questions to him,
one of which was how long he had been in Brighton. I
think he gave a reply which, from information given to
Solomon, he believed was untrue—namely, the prisoner
said he had been there two days, whereas there is
reason to believe he had been there many months ;
and upon Solomon saying, " That is not true;
we know you have been here a fortnight or more,"
the prisoner drew the stock from his neck, threw it
down before him, and said, " I'm tired of my life ;
give me a knife that I may make away with myself,"
and appeared in a state of considerable excitement. So-
lomon offering him no affront, making no suggestion
of the smallest provocation, on the contrary endea-
vouring to soothe him, besought him to compose
himself, told him he was not to be tried there, but
that he: was merely waiting the arrival of a witness
to enable the charge to be made. He then turned
from the spot where the prisoner stood ; he im-
mediately placed himself in a large chair, which was
nearly opposite, on one side of the fire-place--I don't
know which. There were some other gentlemen in
the room, whom I shall call before you ; and Solomon
was engaged in conversation for a few minutes with those
gentlemen. I believe I have detailed to you everything
that had passed up to this time. In the course of this
conversation the son of Mr. Slight, known to all of you
as the highly respectable clerk to the Commissioners
of the town of Brighton, who happened to be in the
room, was leaning on the hatch door by which you enter.
He was on one side—his back somewhat turned to the
door. The prisoner rose from the chair, seized the
poker that lay in the fireplace behind him, raised his
hand with the poker in it, and struck a blow on the
uncovered head of Solomon that felled him to the
ground. The poor fellow fell on his hands and knees;
he Has utterly incapable of helping himself; and he
had at that moment received his death-blow.-
But he was raised by the gentlemen, supported in a
chair, and he became insensible. The man at the bar
made this observation—" I know I have done it; I hope
I have killed him; I hope I shall be hung," or, "I hope
I shall be hanged." I should have told you before, that
which you would expect should immediately follow
such an act, namely, the act of the use of the poker
on the unfortunate Solomon; he was seized by the
young man. Slight at the moment. Mr. Slight did not
see the blow struck, for it was struck from behind
him ; but he did see the poker descend on the head of
Solomon, and he did at the moment turn round and seize
the party who must have struck it, and saw the upraised
poker, bent as you will find it was by the force of
the blow, in the hands of the man, and the moment

it was taken from his hand he used the expres-
sions I have named. In these short observa-
tions are contained the whole transactions as
respects the prisoner at the .bar. Desirous not to say
anything to aggravate the facts, I shall simply lay the
melancholy case before you ; and you will discharge,
under the direction of his Lordship who presides, a duty
serviceable alike to yourselves and the public.
The witnesses examined before the magistrates and
coroner were then called, and they repeated their former
evidence, which fully corroborated the statement of facts
made by the learned counsel for the prosecution.
Mr. CHADWICK JONES then addressed the jury for
the defence, and contended that the expressions used
by the prisoner in Solomon's office, together with the
entire absence of any conceivable malice or motive,
showed that the prisoner was acting under a sudden
impulse or frenzy, which deprived him temporarily of
reason, and made him an irresponsible agent.
Lord DENHAN then proceeded to sum up, and con-
cluded his observations as follow :—" You will weigh
the whole matter in your minds ; and unless it is clearly
made out to you that the prisoner was actually deprived
of reason at the time he struck the blow, he is clearly
guilty of murder. If you think he was deprived of
reason, he .will not be guilty of murder, and you will
acquit him of murder on the ground of insanity. But I
need not say you must be fully convinced of that, before
you say he is -not guilty of the murder."
Clerk of the Court—Consider your verdict,
The jury turned round in their box for about 12 mi-
nutes, when they resumed their seats. There was a
breathless silence in the Court, as the Clerk of the
Arraigns inquired, Do you find the prisoner, John Law-
rence, guilty of the murder of Henry Solomon, or not
Foreman—Guilty.
Clerk of Arraigns.—Prisoner at the bar, you have
beent 3?
' convicted o
sentence
etnhtee
nc crime of ofw deathi l fuslhmo
uulrdd murder; wbheapra shavesed
youupon
r he you.
The to sar
prisoner, who had been greatly agitated duringywhy
the time the judge was summing up, was now supported
by the turnkeys ; and
Lord DENNAN at once proceeded to pass sentence.
He warned the prisoner to make use of the few days
which remained to him in this world, in seeking
that repentance which should prepare him for the
next ; and told him that there was not the slight-
est chance that the extreme penalty of the law
would not be inflicted. The sentence of the Court is
—" That you be taken from hence to the gaol for this
county, at Horsham, and thence to the place of exe-
tion, and that there you be hanged by the neck till you
are dead, and may God have mercy on your soul ; and
that your body be afterwards buried ix the precincts of
the prison.
The prisoner was then assisted out of the dock in a
highly agitated state; anttas he descended the stairs he
gave an earnest gaze on the crowd, as if looking for some
one, but he made no sign of recognition. The trial lasted
three hours.