The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-15 00:00:00

SENTENCE UPON BELL AND OTHERS.

The prisoners who pleaded guilty, on Wednesday,
to an indictment charging them with a riot and con-
spiracy at Eccles, were brought up for judgment.
Lord A BINGER, in passing sentence, said the pri-
soners had been indicted for a conspiracy and riot,
and they had pleaded guilty to the indictment against
them.—The sentence upon John Tootle and William
Forrest was, that they should be imprisoned for nine
months, and afterwards to enter into sureties to keep
the peace, and be of good behaviour for the space of
two years—themselves in 1001., and two sureties for
each in 251. The sentence upon Andrew Shearson,
John Ben, Thomas Hughes, Edward Williams, John
Eccles, and George Grimshaw, was, that they should
he imprisoned for six calendar months, and enter into
like recognisances, with sureties to the same amount
to be of good character, and keep the peace, and to
continue in prison till they found the sureties. As to
Alexander Baird and Leonard Boardman, against
whom the Attorney-General did not pray judgment,
they would have to enter into their recognisances to
appear and receive the judgment of the Court when
called upon. They would have no sentence passed
upon them at present, but would have to find two
sureties in 25/., and enter themselves into recogni-
sauces of 1001. each.
ASSAULT AND RIOT.
Thomas Holt, 35, was indicted for riot, and with
having maliciously and unlawfully wounded William
Cheetham with a stone, with intent to do him some
grievous bodily harm. He was sentenced to be im-
prisoned for two years, and kept to hard labour.
CHARGE OF CONSPIRACY AND RIOT.
John Ward, 20, was placed at the bar, charged
with rioting and conspiracy at Staleybridge, and, by
force and violence, compelling her Majesty's subjects
to desist from working, but no case was made out
against the prisoner.
Having ascertained that there was no other case for
trial,
Lord ABINGER, addressing the Jury, said he was
happy to inform them that they were now discharged.
His Lordship retired a few minutes before one.

MEETING OF MIDDLESEX MA-

GISTRATES.

After the disposal of some routine matters on Thurs-
day, the Report of the Visiting Justices of the House
of Correction was read. The Report stated that the
number of prisoners confined in the gaol was 1,058,
of which 761 were males, and 297 females ; in addi-
tion to whom there. were, 13 children. The Visiting
Justices congratulated the Bench as well as the public
on the extremely healthy condition of the prisoners,
there being not more than one (as we understood) in
the infirmary.—(llear.)
Mr. Wir.K.s, in moving that the Report be adopted
-and printed for circulation amongst the Magistracy of
the county, begged to call the particular attention of
the Bench to the highly gratifying statement with
regard to healthiness. It was not long since a person
who was now carrying on (as was understood) a
prosperous business as a miller, had come up to town
and expressed his gratitude for the good principles
which had been infused into him during his confine-
ment as a punishment for a crime of a minor character.
Mr. HALL seconded the motion.

In answer to a question put by Mr. LAURIE,
The GOVERNOR replied that the silent system had
been in operation in the House of Correction between
seven and eight years, and that he had not had a single
case of insanity arising from its adoption.—(Hear.)
Mr. LAURIE thought that the Court would most
readily concur in the motion of the Hon. and Learned
Magistrate. The present was a period when the
public were particularly alive to the sanatory condi-
tion of the people—(Hear)--and the statements con-
tained in the Report would be hailed by all parties.—
(Hear.) Statements of a similar nature, if he re-
membered rightly, had been made by the Visiting
Justices of the Westminster New Bridewell—(Hear)
—and he was happy to add that the same satisfactory
results had come to pass in the City of London.—
(Hear, hear.) Indeed, he found, on a reference to
the reports of the Inspectors of Prisons, that a vast
improvement had taken place in the healthiness
within prisons in most parts of the country ; for, out
of 81,000 persons who had been committed in execu-
tion of their sentences, there hid been but 246 cases
of illness, being something less than one quarter per
cent. in one year. With these facts before them,
there could be no doubt but that throughout England
there was a greater state of health within than out of
ttl(tieo
hear.) With respect to that
system, it had come to his knowledge that the King
apptreidso.f.(Hear, The system of separation they had not
of Prussia had sent out an agent to Philadelphia to
i
in that country ; and that
gentleman, examined most minutely into
the results of its operation, had made a Report
luire into
wherein he had reprobrated the plan in the strongest
i t
after i ts `corking
having
terms.—(Hear, hear.) But it was not necessary that
they should go so far as America to prove the cruelty
and impolicy of that system. The system of separa-
tion had been introduced into the Penitentiary at
Millbank, about six years ago, and he held in his
hand a return of the number of prisoners who had
been sent to Bethlehem Hospital from that prison in
an insane state during the six years preceding the in-
troduction of the solitary
.system, from which he
found that during that period there had been seven
cases ; whilst in the six years of
its operation the
number of victims had amounted to twenty-seven.—
(Hear, hear.) There could be no doubt as to the ac-
curacy of this statement, because the return he had
read from was that of the steward of Bethlehem Hos-
pital, made under the Act of Parliament. This, then,
was an increase of something like 400 per cent. They
could not, he lamented to say, take up y a paper with-
out meeting with some wretched instance of the pain-
ful consequences of the system ; and only yesterday
he had seen that the varlet Bean was now suffering
alarmingly from its effects. It was indeed frightful.
It was a matter of surprise to him that the Coroner
for Westminster, and the juries who sat on inquests
taken in the Penitentiary, should go on case after
case returning lerdicts of " p!ed hy the visitation of
God"—(Hear, hear)—when it was impossible for
them not to see that many, if not all of the deaths,
were the immediate result of the solitary system.
Mr. TuLx could not go quite so far as his Hon. and
Learned Friend in opposition to the solitary system,
nor could he ascribe all the illness in the Penitentiary
to its adoption. With respect. to the Penitentiary,
and the lamentable results which had befallen some
of its unfortunate inmates, -be was inclined to ascribe
them to the separate system, coupled with the bail
situation of the building. He had recently been to
Shrewsbury, where lie found that the separate system
had worked most beneficially.
After some further discussion, the motion was
agreed to.

aged ten years, the daughter of
at o. 4, North-street.
ing.l,3est‘t\i-seaenn
ps:itxrkearn,d seven o'clock on Thursday even-
resl)ectable parents, living
Dean's-yard, Westminster, was brought into West-
minster Hospital, with a compound fracture of the
right thigh, both her jawbones broken, the whole of
the lower front teeth forced into her mouth, and her
face frightfully lacerated. She had met with these
injuries by falling from a second floor window, out
of which she was leaning, and had overbalanced her-
self. The height sh© fell is about thirty feet, and she
came down with the whole impetus of her weight on
the stone pavement of a yard. She remains in
nearly a hopoloss gate.