The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-31 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING. MARCH 31, 1842.

from the wound. On the following morning he made a
post mortem examination of the body, and found a con-
tused wound on the left side of the forehead, under
which, and on the dura mater, was a quantity of extra-
vasated blood, which would increase the cause of death.
When he first saw the prisoner, she at once admitted to
him that she had been delivered of a child. He then
asked her whero it was, when she said that it was dead—
that she had put it into a pail of water, and had
afterwards thrown it down the water-closet ; ;he
admitted that the child was born alive, but said that it
was net full-grown. She also stated that she was
standing at the time it was born, and that it fell upon
the hearthstone. The wound upon the neck could not
have been caused by the scraper with which it was
taken from the soil. The knife produced was a more
likely instrument to have caused such a wound. It was
a clean cut. Should say, from the appearance of the
wound, that it had been inflicted whilst the child was
alive. Had it been inflicted after death it would have
had a very different appearance. The child was full-
grown.. •
.

- Mr. Baron GURNEY* Might not the contused wound
you have described have been caused by the child falling
upon its head, as stated by the prisoner ? Witness—
Certainly.
Mr. Baron GURNEY—Supposing the child had died
from the effects of the injury on the head, and if the
wound in the neck had been inflicted immediately after-
wards, might it not present the same appearance as if it
had been inflicted during life ? Witness—Yes, if in-
flicted immediately after death.
Mr. JONES addressed the Jury on behalf of the pri-
soner, and contended that the charge of murder had not
been established by the evidence adduced. There was
another charge upon which they might find her guilty,
viz., that of concealing the birth of the child ; but upon
that subject he would not trouble them with any obser-
vations.

Mr. Baron GURNEY having very minutely summed up
the case,

The Jury acquitted the prisoner of the murder, but
found her Guilty of concealing the birth of the child.
The LEARNED JUDGE immediately sentenced her to
two years' hard labour in the House of Correction.
Thomas Courtney, aged 19, was indicted for wilfully
inciting and counselling the last named prisoner to
murder her child.

Mr. CL.inxsow said, as the Jury had acquitted the
female of the charge of murder, the prisoner could not
be convicted as an accessory, and, therefore, he should
not trouble them with any further evidence.
•The Jury, therefore, under his Lordship's directions,
acquitted the prisoner.
Samuel Cooper, aged 19, and George Boseley, aged 19,
were inflicted for feloniously wounding Robert Branford,
police constable, No. 101, with intent to do him some
grievous bodily harm.
Mr. Clarkson prosecuted, and Mr. Charnock defended
the prisoners.
It appeared that on the night of the 11th of February,
the prosecutor, who was on duty in Mint-street, Bo-
rough, was called to_the assistance of a gentleman, who
was beset by two,. females of loose character. Upon the
prosecutor's interfering, Cooper seized him by the neck,
andstruck him several times over the head with his fist.
Bosely then ran up and struck him a violent blow across
the head with a life preserver, which felled him to the
ground, and inflicted such a severe wound as to render
him unable to attend to his duties for some time. Cooper
was taken into custody on the spot, but Bosely was not
apprehended for some days.
The Jury found Bosely Guilty, and acquitted Cooper.
The latter was then indicted for the coran3on assault,
to which he pleaded Guilty.
Boseley, with a female of the name of Sarah Pearce
who had before been convicted of felony, was then in-
dicted for stealing two waistcoats and other articles, the
property of Charles Padden.
The case was clearly proved against the prisoners, and
the Jury instantly found them Guiliy.2
Mr. Baron GURNEY sentenced the prisoners to be
severally transported for 15 years ; and Cooper to be
kept to hard labour, in the House of Correction, for two
years.
_ _ _

Cooper, on hearing his sentence, became extremely
violent ; and it required the assistance of several con-
stables to remove him from the bar.

Mr. Baron GURNEY told the prosecutor that he had
conducted himself in a very praiseworthy manner, and
had risked his life in apprehending some very suspicious
characters. He should, therefore, order him to receive
a reward of 10/. beyond the usual expenses.

he wished to save his friend he must be back by two
o'clock. This statement was also confirmed in some par-
ticulars by another witness, the partner of the plaintiff.
Sergeant CHANNELL then replied upon the whole
case, and commented upon all the circumstances that
had been adduced, contending that the present defence
had been got up to deprive the plaintiff from obtaining
the debt which it was admitted was j 'stly due to him.
Baron ALDERSON was about to sum up when the Jury
intimated that it was unnecessary, and they retu •neu a
verdict for the plaintiff, the Foreman at the same time
stating that the Jury considered the defendant had failed
to make out to their satisfaction that Massey had been
duly surrendered in accordance with the terms of the
bond.

OXFORD ClRCUlT.—Monmouth, March 21%
CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice PA2TESON.)
Benjamin James was indicted for the manslaughter of
Sarah Sophia Fleming, at Chepstow, on the sth of Sep-
tember last.

Mr. W. H. Cooke and Mr. Hanmer conducted the
prosecution ; Mr. Keating defended the prisoner.
The prisoner was originally indicted for murder—that
verdict having been found upon the Coroner's inquisi-
tion ; but the Grand Jury threw out the bill as regarded
the heavier charge, and it was, therefore, abandoned by
the prosecution.
It appeared from the statement of Mr. COOKE, as it
.was supported by the evidence, that the deceased, a
young girl, aged nineteen, a native of Bristol, bad, for
more than twelve months before her death, been coha-
biting with the prisoner at Chepstow. On the evening
of Sunday, the 29th of August, they walked together
over Chepstow-bridge to Tidenharn, in the county
of Gloucester, where they met some young men
of their acquaintance, with one of whom, named
Edward Jones, the deceased left the party for some
minutes. Her absence roused the jealousy and anger
of the prisoner, who was—slightly intoxicated, and on
their rejoining the party he attempted to strike her. He
was held back by Jones, and the deceased ran away in
company with the other girl. Upon her coming back
again, a few minutes aftewards, the prisoner ;,ran at her
and struck her with his fist on the right side a violent
blow, which made her stagger. The prisoner, who was
much excited, swore he would murder her, but the de-
ceased kissed him, and succeeded in pacifying him, and
they went away together apparently good friends. It
was shown that they slept together on that and the fol-
lowing night in the fields. The deceased complained of
great pain in her side from the time she received the blow,
and though the prisoner, who seemed very sorry for the
effects of his violence, showed her emry kindness in his
power, she gradually got worse, and entered the work-
house at Chepstow on Wednesday, the Ist of Septem-
ber, where she died on the following Friday. Upon a
post mortem examination of the body, it was found that
the immediate cause of death was acute inflammation of
the liver and lungs, and the surgeons gave it as their
opinion that that inflammation.was caused by the blow
which the deceased had received from the prisoner. It
'lilts shown that when the prisoner was told of the danger
of the deceased, and that the constables were after him,
he replied that they might take him, and that he was
willing to suffer anything which Sarah (the deceased)
wished him to suffer.

Mr. KEATING, for the prisoner, endeavoured to elicit
from the witnesses for the prosecution, that the deceased
about a month before her death, had had a severe fall in
the ruins of Chepstow Castle ; and he argued that the
injury then received, aggravated by her dissolute life,
and exposure to cold, had been the cause of her death,
rather than the blow given by the prisoner.
The Jury, however, returned a verdict of Guilty, and
Mr. Justice PATTESON, after an appropriate address,
sentenced him to 12 months' imprisonment.

POLICE IN TEL lIIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.
A young man named Robert Fairfax, was charged
with having committed a robbery in the house of a gen-
tleman named Osborne, and with having struck a lad,
who detected and pursued him, with a hammer on the
forehead.
The nephew of Mr. Osborne having heard a noise on
the landing place, went to see what was the matter, and
observed the prisoner endeavouring to hide himself.
The prisoner, who was a stranger to every one in the
house, upon being asked what business he had there,
muttered something about a lady, and was secured by
the witness (a lad sevent,en years of age), who suspected
that the fellow had property about him belonging to the
house. The prisoner, finding that his departure was
likely to be impeded, struck the young gentleman with
a large hammer on the forehead, and covered him with
blood, but as the latter was extremely resolute and
spirited, the chase was' followed up, and the prisoner
was caught by a policeman, who found several silk
handkerchiefs and other property, which were owned by
the prosecutor. upon his person.
The prisoner, upon being charged with having used
so murderoes a weapon as the large hammer produced,
solemnly protested that he had no notion of doing the
witness any serious injury with it, All he wished was
to get away, as he knew that, as appearances were so
much against him, he should stand no chance, at the
Old Bailey.
The policeman' produced a chisel, which had been
found in one of the rooms of the house into which the
prisoner had entered, and from which the property had
been stolen by him. The door of one rcorn had, he said,
been evidently opened with the chisel.
The prisoner—Not at all ; I never used the chisel.
There was no occasion.
The Loan M.Kiroa—What do you mean by saying
there was no occasion ? I suppose you job on without
using it ? Prisoner—Certainly, my Lord, I did. I
opined the door of the work-room with a key which I
found in the other. I used no violence at all.
The LORD MAyon—Well, you make a very candid ad-
mission, at any rate ? Prisoner—l don't like people to
tell lies. Now here ia a regular lie. I never used the,
chisel, but I certainly went in and took the thing, and as
for theyoung gentleman, I never meant to hurt, though
he happened in tl.e scraltnage to gee an unlucky knock.
The LORD MAYOR—We shall, I trust, get rid of you
for ever.—Committed for trial.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
Henry Stokes, a yoreg man, in the working dress of a
mechanic just having left off work, was charged with
uttering a counterfeit shilling to a boy named William
Bryant, aged between seven and eight years.
It appeared that on Tuesday the scoundrel went up to
the child, who was standing with some onions to sell in
Odoi-J-market, rid asked him if he could give change
for a sh;llirg if a pennyworth of onions were bought of
him. The poor little fellow, who was anxious for and
proud of a customer, joyously answered in the affirma-
tive, and directly held out sixpence in silver and five-
peace in copper, wfiich the prisoner snatched from him,
at the same time piling the shilling in his hand, and
set off running, without waiting to take the onions with
him. The boy instantly put the, shilling into his
mouth, and, finding he could bend it easily, wAs con-
vinced it was a counterfeit one and ran after the pri-
soner, crying out " Stop thief I" The latter was
stopped, but the sixpence in silver was:not found on him.
Mr. MALTBY o•Alered a good shilling to be given to
the boy, r- d remolded the prisoner until the Solicitor to
the Mint could att nd.
W 0 R SHIP- STREET.
Richard Botto.nley, a young man with a pale and hag-
gard countenance, and of very dissipated aspect, was
placed at the bar, before Mr. Broughton, upon a charge
of having attempted to murder his wife and to commit
self-destruction.
The wife was prevented by illness from attending, but
from the statement of the father, a respectable looking
old man, and the evidence of other witnesses, it appeared
that she had been married about eighteen months to the
prisoner, and had lived in constant misery during that
period, in .sequence of the drunken and dissipated
habits to which he was addicted. The prisoner had on
two occasions sold off every thing they possessed, leaving
his wife in a state of utter destitution, and the last time
he did so she sought protection under the roof of her
father,- where she had since remained. On the pre-
ceding evening the prisoner called at her father's
house in Ramsay-street, Spitalfields, and knocked vio-
lently at the street door, which was opened by his wife;
on seeing whom, the prisoner drew a shoemaker's knife
from under his coat, and made a rush towards her, but
she slammed the door against him, and succeeded in fas-
tening him out. A few minutes afterwards, police con-
stable Metcalfe, H 123, was passing the house, when he
saw the prisoner standing on the step brandishing the
knife, and declaring, with dreadful imprecations, that
he was resolved on murdering his wife, and afterwards
cutting his own throat. The policeman seized hold of
his arm, and, after wresting the weapon from him, con-
veyed the prisoner to the station-house. After being
locked up, the prisoner made a desperate attempt to
strangle himself with his handkerchief ; and he after-
wards dashed his head against the wall, and broke out
into such frantic excesses, that it was found necessary to
handcuff him, and to strap him down at full length upon
a stretcher.
The knife, a sharp-pointed and most deadly instru-
ment, which had been recently ground, was produced by
a policeman.
Sergeant Coleman stated that the prisoner was in cus-
tody some time ago for, threatening the life of his wife,
and the term for which he was held to bail had not yet
expired.
Upon being asked if he wished to say anything, the
prisoner made a long and rambling statement, to the
effect that the father and friends of his wife had fomented
discOrd between them, and been the chief cause of their
unhappiness. He admitted being a drunkard, but said
that his wife had no right to complain of his infirmity, as
she was aware of it before she married him.
The MAGISTRATE admonished the prisoner in forcible
language, and said that he should remand him until Sa-
turday next, to consider what would be the best mode of
dealing with hitn.

PITCHING the droppers in at Nisi, on the
Western Circuit, know that Mr. Erle, the eminent
Counsel, is not less renowned for his peculiarly
happy command of good mother English, and close
and forcible reasoning, than for shrewd and quaint
humour, as racy as it is overpowering, when the spirit
is on him, and he flows out i' the vein." He re•
lieved the Court the other evening, in the midst of a
hard dry historical case, with a joke that fell like dew
in the desert. A. learned brother had risen to ad-
dress the jury. Some momentary interruption pre-
vented him from proceeding—at the very instant that
he was to roll forth the opening period of his
exordium a calf bellowed out a most extraordinary
note, from a spot immediately, contiguous to the
court, which re-echoed the sound. Mr. Erie, in his dry way, exclaimed, "it is the key note, my lord,'my friend
may go off !" Taking all the circumstances of •the time
i
and ncident-into account, it was a most happy saying,
and the court roared stain. So general was the mein-
nation that we • fancied we saw gentle clouds of povqer
floating round the judicial wig.— Western limes.

ELECTION COMMITTEES.

(C•ntinued from our A.fte noon Edition of yesterday.)
WIGAN.

It appeared that the voter (John Bart) had originally
registered out of two houses, one of which he had sub
sequently given up the possession of.
The Committee, after the case had been before them
during the whole of the day, unanimously decided that
the vote was a bad one.

Mr. Crosse, ono of the sitting. Members, and Mr.
Standish have been placed on an equality by this decision.

GREAT MARLO T.
The Committee decided that the vote of James Curtis
was a good one.

The vote of William Hall was next objected to by the
Counsel for the sitting Member, on the grounds of non-
occupation and insufficiency of value.
It was proved in evidence that the voter had let a part
of the premises out of which he registered, and that the
part let was kept locked, and remained entirely distinct
from the house which he inhabited.
The Committee decided that the vote was a good one.
The sitting Member still continues in a minority of one.

WHAT THE MIDDLE CLASSES
HAVE DONE.

The Reform Bill put it into the power of the middle
classes to elect represe tatives fo tl em in the House
of Commons. What use did they make of this power
at the last election ? They ele:ted a house, the great
majority of wnich consists of members of the aristo-
cracy, who have a direct interest in the perpetuation
of the present system of misgovernment. The House
of Commons, as elected by the middle classes a few
months ago, contains 3 marquisses, 9 earls, 23 vis-
counts, 27 lorc:s, 32 right honcer-ables, 6? honor c-
ables, 58 baronets, 10 knights, 2 admirals, 8 lord lieu-
tenants, 74 deputy and vice-lieutenants, 1 general,
1 lieutenant-gEneral, 7 major-generals, 22 .colonels,
32 lieutenant-colonels, 7 majors, 67 captains in array
and navy, 12 lieutenants, 2 cornets, 53 magistrates,
63 placemen, and 108 patrons of Church livings,
having the patronage of 247 livings between them.
There are, in fact, little more than 200, out of the
658 Members of the House of Commons, who have
not either titles, office, place, pension, or Church pa-
tronage.
When the middle classes, therefore, elect such a
body of representatives, they at least can have no just
reason to complain of their legislation. If they will
have aristocracy, they must pay for it ; if they will
lend themselves to prop up the fabric of corruption,
they have no reason to complain, if they find the
burden to be a heavy one. When such men as the
electors of Leeds, Bradford, and the -West Riding,
consisting chiefly of merchants, manufacturers, trades-
men, shopkeepers, and farmers, determine on return-
ing Tory and aristocratic representatives to Parlia-
ment, surely it is foolish in them to growl, if they
find that their representatives have resolved to maintain
the Corn-laws, and to saddle them with a cruel and
inquisitorial income tax ! They who have chosen
a Tory Government, must be contented to reap its
fruits. " They cannot expect to gather grapes of
thorns, or figs of thistles." •
The income tax will fall with extreme pressure
upon the middle classes, already suffering severely
from the hardness of the times, while the great landed
aristocracy of the community will scarcely feel it.
Their Corn-tax will afford them the means of pay-
ing it a hundred times over. The want of discrimi-
nation between income arising from industry, and
income arising from property will also operate greatly
in favour of the propertied classes. But all this is
only the legitimate result of aristocratic legislation.
The middle classes now stand in a most humili-
ating position. Their apathy and indifference to
the political emancipation of the working-classes as
well as the mislegislation of the middle-class Parlia-
ments of the last ten years, have in a great memure
alienated from them the sympathy of the great mass
of the people ; while the aristocratic class, into waose
arms they have thrown themselves, have repaid
their slavish subserviency by imposing on them a
swingeing income tax !—Leeds Times.

HEARN'S EFFECTS of MONOPOLY

Mr. Hearn, whose statistical labours on the subjec
of the Bread-tax have already justly received the apt
probation of the Anti-Bread-tax Journals, has jus-
published a broadside, entitled, " What does the
Bread-tax do for London ?" in which he states the
expenditure of several families, and shows in detail
the amount they pay to the State and to monopoly.
The following is a specimen of one family :

_
For the
Tax.
Six 41b loaves at fd.=4s. rd. being 2s. rd. for the bread, and Is. Gd.
1 %lb. butter led.= t 0,4 0 8% butter 0 31i
11b. sugar 7d.=o 7 0 132 sugar G 534
2oz. tea 54. t d.= I 73 0 4 % tea 0 3%
Glb. meat Bd.=4 0 2 0 meat 2 A
7 pints beer 21=1 2 0 1034 beer 0 334

11 5

4 10

This small family, consisting of a mother and two boys
(under ten years of age), pays on the weekly expenditure of
1 Is. 5d., 4s. 10d. in taxes. This for the, year is 121. I Is. 4d.
out of 29/. 13s. ad. Of this, the Government gets 11. 65., and
the monopolists 11/. ss. 4d. ' Thus the monopolists wring from
the consumer nearly nine times the amount the Government
does. Is not this oppressing the widow and the fatherless ?
Here is another :

The taxes paid by this family, are considerably more than a
third of their expenditure, 13s. Oid. per week out of 345. 3d.,
that is, 33/. 17s. ld. per annnm out of 891. Is. Of which the
Government receives 4/. 18s. 7d , and the monopolists 28/. 18s.
6d., nearly sit-fold.
For the
Tax.
Nine 4,b. loaves at 80. =fls. 4 being 4s 1 for the bread, and 25. vd.
201 b. meat njd.=ls 10 9 2 meat ti 8
41b. butter 14d.=4 8 3 8 butter 1 0

31b. cheese 106.=.2 6 2 0 cheese 0 6
11b tea 58. rd._s 6 3 3' tea t 21,4

11b. raw sugar 7d.=o 7 0 1g raw sugar 0
: lb. loaf ditto 101.=2 6 1 Iyi loaf ditto 1 4
14 pots beer 4d.=4 8 3 6 beer 1 2

42 7% 27 O 15 714
The expenditure of this family presents the largest outlay we
have yet examined, amounting to 1101. 16s. 6d. for the year.
The exactions thereupon by taxes, are to the amount of
401. I Is. 54., that is above one-third ; the sum the Government
gets is Sl. Is. 5d., not quite a fifth of the whole. The mono-
polists grasp all the rest, viz. 32/. 10s. We perceive, that as
the outlay increases, the ratio of taxation diminishes, thus con-
firming the oft asse. ted truth, that the poor pay threefold in
proportion to the rich.

After giving a number of instances, assuming that
the population of the metropolis is 1,878,000, he comes
to the cone!usion that the annual taxation levied on
the metropolis by the moncyolists is not less than
7,108,394/. ; that a family of six persons pays them
22/. 14s. ; and an individual 3/. 15s. Per week this
amounts to Is. 54d. per head, and six persons pay
Bs. 9e.. per week to maintain such persons as Sir Ed-
ward Knatchhull in their "station in society." Sub-
sequently Mr. Hearn enters into a number of calcula-
tions to show how much employment would be multi-
plied for all were this unjust appropriation of the pro-
perty of individuals now ordained by the selfish land-
lords to be done away. We quote the first example :
See the " effects of monopoly." The whole family might
be well clothed—)ea, much better than the majority are—by
the taxes which the landed interest wrings from them. This
221. 14s. 3d. would provide them with all the above articles
every year. The weekly expenditure of each individual, at
the prices paid for his food, as exhibited in the Family Tables,
amounts to 3s. 9d., and he is taxed to the amount of ls. 51d.
out of it, very nearly two-fifthsl I !
Let us now take another view of these " effects," and see
how =any hands of various crafts the taxation to which the in-
habitants or the metropolis are subjected thereby, would give
employment to.
The male population amounts in round numbers to 876,060.
The female to 1,002,000. Let us suppose two-thirds of the
males to be youths and adults, and one-third children. This
will give 584,000 for the former, and 292,000 for the latter.
Allowing two hats in the year to each man and boy, the num-
ber will be 1,168,000, or 97,3331 dozen. Each dozen of hats
will employ one pair of hands for a week ; consequently these
would give employment to-1,870 hatters for the year. Finer
goods will employ double the number.
Theeffects of these monopoliei on wages is thus
briefly depicted :
A master shoe-manufacturer who has employed from one to
two hundred hands per week, tells me, that in 1812 (before
the Corn-law), he paid men from 21. 10s. to 3/. per week ;
and women from 17s. 6d. to 235. per week, for the came work
he now pays the above 12s. 10d. and 3a. 9d. His attestation
follows. Talk of machinery reeucing the rate of wages indeed !
What machinery is employed in making shirts and shoes ? Or
where is steam power applied to the manufacturing of trousers
and waistcoats? Has wages fallen in any of the manufacturing
districts equal to this?
Wages, then, where no machinery is employed,
have fallen to one-fifth of what they were. The toil
of both sexes, and their scanty rewards, may be known
from the following :

Women me making men's trousers for shops at 6d. per pair;
waistcoats at 4d. each ; and shirts at lid. a piece.
We would gladly quote some more of these facts,
but our space fo!bids, and we earnestly recommend
Mr. Hearn's broadside, which costs next to nothing, to
the ser'!oty s consideration of all the working classes of
the metropolis and of the empire.

ABDUCTION.