The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-26 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

DISASTROUS OCCUSIRENCE.-Mr. Charles Taylor, a
master plumber, was placed at the bar before Mr. Bingham,;
charged with having incautiously iischarged a rifle, loaded
with ball, and dangerously wounded a man named Charles
Chapman, a wheelwright, living in Great Cambridge-street,
Hack ney- road.
It appeared from the evidence, that between nine and ten
o'clock on Sunday morning, the prisoner, accompanied by
another man, was seen to enter a vacant piece of ground at the
back of Great Cambridge-street, and after chalking a mark to
serve as a target, upon a small buttress projecting from the
railing at the side of a grs factory, he retreated back about 70
paces, and discharged the piece in that direction, but the report
was instantly followed by a loud shriek from the wife of the man
Chapman, who occupied a small detached cottage at the end of
the field, and who was at that moment engaged in gathering
vegetables in his garden. Some of the w itnesses imme-
diately hastened to the spot from which the cry proceeded, ard
discovered the unfortunate man lying upon the ground, with
his shirt and waistcoat stained with blood, which was flowing
profusely from a wound in the head, behind the lobe of the
right ear. He was instantly raised and carried into the house,
and two surgeons having been sent for, they pronounced, upon
examination, that the ball, after penetrating the head, had
dropped into tke neck, and that the wound would most proba-
bly be attended with a fatal termination- The prisoner, in the
meantime, was about to leave the field, apparently unconscious
of the injury he had oecasioned, when he was stopped by a shoe
maker, named Buckley, and informed of the disaster, on which
he immediately surrendered himself, and expressed his anxiety
to be taken to the station-house, declaring, in a state of ex-
treme agitation, that. he had shot his beat friend, but that the
occurrence was purely accidental.
Sergeant Godfrey stated that he had examined the ground
where the unfortunate transaction had taken place. and was of
opinion that the rifle must have been very carelessly or unskil
fully discharged, as the ball, instead of reaching the mark, had
struck the wooden railing of the gas factory, passing over the
heads of some children who were at play in the field.
Thomas Richardson, one of the boys referred to by the ser-
geant, said that he distinctly heard the whistle of the bullet as

it passed cloe to his bead, and saw the man Chapman fall to
the ground immediately after.
A medical certificate, signed by two surgeons, named Hooper
and Chambers, was handed to the magistra:e, which stated
that the injured man was suffering from a gun-shot wound in
the neck, from which the ball had not yet been extracted, and
that his life was in considerable danger.
In answer to the charge, the prisoner, who was greatly af-
fected, said that having sold the rise to a gentleman, he had
gone to the field for the purpose of testing it, but from the
unsteadiness of his hand the bullet had taken a wrong direction,
and struck the unfortuna,a man Chapman, who was one of his
most attached friends. He had been ever since exceedingly
grieved at the melancholy occurr«,hce, and could assure the
magistrate that it was whofly accidental.
Mr. BINGHAM said it was his duty to remand the prisoner
until the result of the injury the wounded man bad received
could be ascertained ; but he would accept bail for his future
appearance, himself in 1001., and two sureties in 50/. each.
The bail was immediately procured and the prisoner libe-
rated.