The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-14 00:00:00

fell; and, en actually rising, fell a second time. She di,e•
covered her husbano, and with much difficulty got from him a
hammer about a foot long, weighing nearly a pound, with
which the blow had been infliomd. The hammer was pro-
duced in Court, and there was on the handle, just under the
iron, a slicht and very faint trace of blood. The osecutrix
c..uld not tell ith which e:d she had been struck, whether by
the w ed or the m.• al. The prisoner took her handkerchief
off her bosom, and tied it on her eyes, telling her he was going
to wipe them, when she replied that he need not wipe her
eyes, itf.er treating her as he had done. She went down stairs,
and endeavoured to get out through the back door, but it was
blted, and while she was trying to open it, the prisoner took
the hammer from her. He then tkok something out of a box,
in which he kept razor% went up stairs, and was seen no more
that evening by his wife. The prosecutrix at length opened
the bark door, throu2h which, however, she did sot then leave
the house, but went to the front door, and called out to her
n..iehb 'or, Mrs. Johnson, for help, but no one heard her.
She then returned to the back door, and through it made her
way to Mrs. Johnson's house. Mr. Johnson, who saw her,
said she was in a very fainting state, and bleeding profusely
from some wounds in the head. He took her into his house,
and at once sent for medical assistance. The surgeon described
the Hurl to be a narrow contused wound on the back of the
head, two inches long, going to the bone, and a small bruise
adjoining it. just such as might have been inflicted with the
hammer produced in Court. It would not appear that the
prisoner made y attempt to escape, as he was on the follow-
ing day apprehended in his own house.
Mr. WILLIAMS addressed the jury for the defeace, and con-
tended that there could have been no intention to commit
grievous bodily harm, serious as the injury was, and that the
nrisoner, who was a earnenter by trade, and therefore must
have a hammer frequently in his hand, had in all probability
been irritated by the dispute about going to church, and then
by the accusation respecting the box, arid had followed his wife
up stairs, and in this excitement had struck her with the
wooden handle. It was quite clear that had he aimed a blow wi, h
the iron end, no human skull could have escaped being frac-
tured, and death must in all probability have been the result.
Mr. Justice PATTESON having summed up, the jury, after a
very short deliberation, acquitted the prisoner of the felony,
and found him guilty of a common assault only.
His LORDSHIP then addressed the prisoner, and told him
that he had had a very narrow escape, as, if his wife had died
of the wounds, his crime would have been murder, and he most
certainly would have been executed for it. As it appeared,
however, that while working on a railway, and also while in
prison, he had suffered from most violent headaches, which
almost deprived him of his senses, that would be taken into
consideration in meting out the punishment, though it was no
defence whatever for the brutal a...sauit he had committed. The
Learned Judge then sensenced the prisoner to nine months'
imprisonment and hard labour.

HOME CI RCUlT.—.Fleptforl, July 11.
This circuq eommencod on Thursday, on whieh day the Com.
mission was opened with the usual form. The business is very
light, there being only seven prisoners for trial on the Crown
side. Twenty-•,ne caves are entered on the civil side, but the
greater tart of them are undefended, and there are only three
special jury cases.
CROWN COURT.

Mr. Justice COLERIDGE presided in this Court; and after
the grand jury had been sworn his Lordship proeeeded to de-
liver his charge to them After congratulating them upon the
small number of prisoners for trial and the probability that
their I bours would be of very short duration, his Lordship
-aid that having made all the remarks that appeared to him to
he neeessary with respect to the cases in the calendar, he
wo'ild procee I to offer a few observations to them upon the im-
po taro subject of the state of crime in the county. He had
barite him the criminal return. for England and Wales, upon
which his observations would chi, fl- he founded. By these re-
turns it appeared that the number of prisoners committed for
trial, or baited, during the pa.t year. in the collet), of Hert-
for'. was 271. if they went back for ten years, they would
find that the number at that time, for the same period, was
1 3 ; and ever since there had been a steady increase; and it
we.s wierthy of consideration whether this could be accounted
for by the increase of the p pul 'lion during the same period, or
whether it was owing to the m dcterioration of the popula-
ton of the county. He observed t' at in every other county in
Eovland. during, the last two years. there had been a decrease
in the number of committals. and &though the increase in this
county was certainly hot small, yet he thought they ought to
regard the gut ject wiih a very jealous ey , and endeavour if
possible to trace out the caus's i.f that increase It was satis-
factory to a certain extent to perceive that although there was
an increase in the number of committals in the county, yet that
there were very few cases of violence to the persnii, and the
trim's mostly consisted of common larceny and larceny by
servants; and while upon this part of the subject he would
mention one circums ance which in their capacity of strigis-
trstes. he thought very important for their consideratinn, He
perceived by the returns that out of 271 prisoners who were
committed or bailed to take their trial. onl% 177 were convicted,
and as many as 94 were either acquitted, not prosecuted, or
the hills against them were ignored by the grand jury. Now
he should not he so unjust as to found, upon such a return as
this, a complaint of the manner in which the m gistrates per-
formed their duty ; hut at the same time he must take the
liberty of calling their attention to the very great proportion of
persons who had been sent to prison for a greater or less period,
and who were eventually acquitted of the charges brought
again thron. It might be the opinion of some that with re-
cord to a great many of those persons, although acquitted, yet
there Was ne moral doubt of their guilt ; hut if they placed any
faith in the due administration of the laws of the country, they
would see that tt ey ought not to place much weight upon that
opinion. and he, therefore, begged to impress upon them the
importance of not sending persons for trial upon slight grounds.
In all ca-es of imprisonment it wag a great evil to the party
who suffered it. and however improved their system of prison
discipline might be, yet if any one was confined upon slight or
insufficient grounds it could not fail to be a source of great in.
justice to himself personally, and very probably of evil to that
society which he afterwards joined. His Lordship then pro-
ceeded to observe that it was gratifying to see by the returns
that generally throughout England crime was on the de-
crease ; in the mining districts there had been
an increase, which was probably occasioned by the
strikes of the workmen for higher wages, which hail always
been productive of crime ; and he said he would here
remark that the mere improvement of the physical condition of
the people did not appear to have any tendency to diminish
crime. As an instan-e of this he would state that when he
was at the last winter circuit in the county of Durham, i ap-
peared that in the coal mining districts the workmen were get-
ting four or five-and-twenty shillings a week, with hou.e rent
anal coals for nothing, while in the other districts no more than
the ordinary agricultural wages were being paid ; but yet the
far greater proportion of crime ap,teared to have been com-
mitted in the firmer, and the extent of crime in the latter was
comparatively trifling. God forbid that he should wish to de-
press the physical con iitinn of the working classes ; but be
wag quite certain they would only half do their work
in the reoression of crime if they neglected their moral con-
dition at the same time. It was melancholy to see that,
+hone' there had been a general diminution in the amount
of crime, vet that cases of violence against the person had
v"ry much increased, and particularly one class of offence•
connected with the game daws, which he thought he ought
not to pass over. In addition to the ordinary cases, of
being armed at night in pursuit of game. tresspassing, &c., it
appeared that during the year 1844 there were three cases of
murder, nineteen of shooting at keepers or other persons with
intent to commit murder, and two eases of manslaughter, all
arising out of nfroiccs connected with the game.laws He
thought this afforded matter for very serious consideration;
and without wishing to say anything invidious, he could not
help remarking that it was impossible not to lament that the
present system of protecting game led to such serious results.
Having made these observations, he would now express his
opinion that the only mode by which crime could he surely re•
pressed was to improve the moral condition of the people. It
had been urged by the advocates for the abolition of capital
iiiinishment. that th certainty of severe secnnitary punishment
would certainly tend to diminish crimes of that character, but
he regretted that the returns before him, and his own expe-
rience. did not bear out that expectation, and he was sorry to
ay that the crimes from which capital punishment had been
taken away had increased more in proportion than any others.
The offences of cutting and wounding, attempts at murder, and
the crime of murder itself, hail increased thirty per cent.
There appeared to he a very great increase among the prisoners
of persons who were able to read and write, but this showed
that such an education was not sufficient, and that it was of no
avail unless the persons who received it were taught to employ
it properly, and that it would be of very little use to improve
the physical condition of the people, or to give them education,
unless education was founded upon morality and religion.
The grand jury then retired.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.— W inchester, July 11.
The Commis ion was opened here yesterday by both the
Ju 1g.., Mr. Justice Erie and Mr. Baron Platt. Their Lord-
.hir attended Divine service in the Cathe Iral this morning,
zfter which they proceeded to enter upon the bu-iness of the
a+sizes about one o'clock. The calendar only contains twenty-
eight cases, but exhibits a proportion unusually great of atro-
cious crimes. Two persons are charged with feloniously
wounding, six with manslaughter and child murder, while there
are no less than four cases of bestiality.

TYE DUEL AT PORT SUOUTH.

Although it is known that the parties concerned in this
lamen,able occurrence will not surrender to take their trials at
the present aisizes, yet, as the depositions have been returned,
and a bill of indictment prepared for presentation to the grand
jury in the usual manner, Mr Baron Platt made some obser-
vations to that body upon the subject upon the present occasion.
His Lordship observed that the law up6n the subject of duelling
was extremely clear, and had been distinctly laid down in the
several text books upon the subject. His Lordship then pro-
ceeded to read from Russell upon Crimes the several principles
upon the subject which were applicable to the present case;
and the general effect of which was, that a party who had caused
the death of another, under circumstances which disclosed a
deliberate purpose upon the part of the slayer to gratify a feel•
ing of revenge by inflicting grievous bodily mischief with a
deadly weapon, was guilty of murder. With regard to the case
where the infliction of death was preceded by the circum-
stances of great provocation having been given to the
slayer by the deceased, it hail been laid down that in order
to reduce the offence in such cases from murder to man-
sl:ught,r, it was essential that the wounding, battery, &c..
should have been inflicted immediately upon the occurrence of
the provocation. for if there were a sufficient coding time for
passion to subside and reason to interpose, and the person so
provoked afterwards kills the other, this is deliberate revenge,
and not heat of blood, and accordingly amounts to murder.
If, therefore, two persons deliberately fight a duel, and one of
them be killed, the other and his second are guilty of murder,
no matter how grievous the provocation, or by which party it
was given, and even the second of the deceased is guilty of
the same crime, as being present aiding and abetting. It may
perhaps be suggested that, in the case under consideration, the
woend inflicted in the duel was not the immediate cause of
death, and that it had, in fact, resulted from the surgical ope-
ration. But this would not be an available defence, if the
wound originally given was mortal, and if the effect of the
surgical treatment had only been to hasten the decease. The
jury would take care, as it was their duty to do, that they
should not suffer their minds to be in any degree influenced
by anything which they had previously read or heard upon any
part of the case, and although they may not be able, upon the
evidence before them, to decide with perfect certainty as to the
real character of the offence, yet if they considered that there
were different grounds for putting the matter into a course of
more minute and searching examination, their duty would be
to return the bill. and leave the merits of the case to be finally
deciiied upon a full investigation o! all
o
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in
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The jury having retired, returned
common larcenies, which occupied the Court fur the rest of
the day.
Mr. Justice Erle sat at Nisi Prius, and disposed of two cases
totally destitute of interest or importance to anybody except
the parties immediately concerned
Hertford July 12.
CROWN COURT—( &tore Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.)
An application was made to his Lordship to dispose of an
indictment that was preferred at these assize: in 1844, against
eleven persons fatunlawfully keeping booths for the purposes of
gaming, at the Gorhambury Races of that year.
The indictment in question was preferred at the summer
hdii:.htm oeencat
whose
swinon would names
Clarkson
c
assizes, and the grand jury returned a true bill against all the
defendantsisi:Pnears-d upon it, and the trial of the
indictment
onmrkt‘na
aptpetahreedl:fantr ssinirminegofasstihzees,do,n
w.
i,,et.updsant,t,sl,,rhouv,eitth.,:; m-meadst,ehr ~ 'he " prosecutor" had not taken any
brought before the court, and Mr.
Ciarkson thereupon obtained-an -acquittal. The judge who
presided inqui-ed whether the prosecutor had been
soiled with the usual notice of the intention of the