Star.
London, England, 1807-11-05 00:00:00

MALICIOUS SHOOTING.

yobs Rigby flood capitally iodide& under the El
lenbnrough lift, for maliciouQy, wilfully, and un-
lawfully shooting at Edward Ives and Charles MiP.s,
on the sth of Odober laft.
Edward Ives depofed, that he was in the fourteenth
year of hi% age, and had been on the day mentioned
in the indidtment on liking with one Thomas Price,
a butcher, at Limehoufe ; Charles Mills was alfo in
the fame employment ; and about four o'clock, on
the sth of Taft month, went with wirnefs up the yard,
in which the flaughter houfe was ; witnefs placed his
hand upon Mills 's (boulder, vilio was fpeaking to a
women then looking out of a window ; fuddenly

witnefs felt Ma& wounded with fume Ihot about
the face and head ; he was fo thinned as not to hear
the report ; Mills was alto much wounded. He had
been firing at fparrows in a walnut tree, which find
ed the 11,indow of the prifonet's apartment, about
n'elrck that day. Witnefs then prndaced the
hat he 114c1 nn that evening; it was n►uch matked
with the

Eliv.heth Cihfort denoted, that the tended next
door to the houfe in which the psifoner lived. She
was looking into the :yard where Price's (laughter
houfe was, about four o'clock that evening ; the
obferved the two boys, Ives and Mills, there ; the
latter was fpeaking to a woman in a window of an
adjoining houfe. At that moment the beard the
report of a gun, and law the frnoke come nut of the
prifoner's window. The boys dropped their heads,
and when they recovered, the obferved their faces
covered with blood. Previous to the pun being
fired, witnefs heard, she prifoner curling and (wear
ing in his own room ; and a little time before the
report of the gun, the heard him d—n their eyes, and
fay he would blow their brains out.
Anne Crips (aid, the was fitting in her own room
in converfarion with the boy, Mills, who was in the
yard underneath, concerning the danger of letting
out a mad bullock that was then in the (laughter
houfe. She law Ives put his hand on the thoulder
of Mill., immediately heard the report of a gun, and
fonn after law the boys' faces covered with blood.
Thomas Price, the matter, fail, that he was in bed
when he heard the report of the gun, being much
fatigued after his labour ; he got up, and having
fern the fituation of the boys, fent for a furgeon.

Reber' Barretty, a w tterman, was attracted to the
door of the hook, where the prifoner lived, in eon-
feyttence of feeing it furrounded by a great coneeurfe
of people. Witnefs went up (lairs into the prifoner',
apartment, and afked him how he valid do hell a
ra(h act ? He was very uncivil, and d—d and
blaßed the winters for daring to intrude. Witnefs
told him he mull go with him. On there words, a
young man came up into the renm, and walking to
the bed fide, Paid, here is the pm. Yer, anfwered the
is/ironer, that is the gun, and I would do it again.—
On his way with the witsefs to the Magi(trate, the
prifoner condutted himfelf in a very violent manner,
(wore at him, and exclaimed that he cared nothing
for any Judge or Juilice. The gun feemed, from
the dampnefs of the pan, to have been fired within a
lima time, and the prifoner appeared rather intoxi-
cated.

George Fletcher, a furgeon, law the boys loon
after they were wounded. Mills was hit in the centre
of the right eye, and ■as not yet out of danger ; the
fight of dna eye was gone far ever. The buoy Ives
was much wounded in the face, and bad a tooth
knocked out.

The cafe here was doled on the part of the pr• fe
cntinn, and the prifonet% Counfel called a number of
witnetTes to prove his Infanir

William Prance, a milk'vright, was acquainted
with the prifoner more than 3o years ; recoileOed
that about 27 years agn, the prifoner received a fever e
hurt on his head, and in his opinion has not been
the fame lane petfon fiuce. The prifoner is about 84
years of age.

Thomas Cowper, a millwright, refiding in Old.
greet, knew the ptifoner for the 'aft 35 years ;
recolleCted that he received a molt violent blow from
the (napping of one of the !pokes of a mill where he
was at work ; believed that his brain was much in
jured by the concuffion. The prifoner has never
fince been fo (harp in his work, but he lid confidered
him a perfon who knew right from wrong.
John Gillins refried in the fame neighbourhood
with the prifoner for the IA fifteen years. Always
conficlered him a madman. Has often overheard
him (Nearing and teal ing in his garden, and menac-
ing fome isogon in the garden, at times when the
prifoner was entirely alone there. For the IA year
he has been continually exprefling his indignation at
this mere creature of his own imagination.
William WielcHead, a publican at Poplar, depofed,
that he was brought up by the prifoner and his wife.
He has, when a boy, frequently nbferved the prifoner
to work himtell fuddenly into a violent paffion, and
without the lean provocation, knock down his wife
with the teakettle. He has often kncwn him to have
gone up to his garret and compor t himfelf, though
alone, in the moll violent and infane manner.

Wm. Harvey, and Ann his w fe, have frequently
feen and heard the pi ironer beat and d—n himfelf in
the moll unarcAuntable manner. They always con.
fidered Irim deranged.
Lawrence Sullivan, his landlord, lived in the fame
hnuk with him for 24 years, and always obferved,
that he was not of found intellect. Whenever he
WAS contradicted, or drank any thing, be was beyond
all rellraint. At one time the "rimers contradicted
bin!, and he purfued him in a violet manner, with
a haft in his hand, round the garden.
The COMMON SESJEANT charged (he Jury, and
faid it was a cafe perkelly within the fcope of the i
Itatute under which the indittment was laid. By
that ilatute it was net neceffary to prove any Jireft
malice againli a particular perfou. It was fully
fufficicnt to prove it an at dune v ith a general in-
tention to do injury ; and toppling that, in the pie-
fent cafe, death enfued, according to the evidence
produced, lithe Jury credit it, it would be unquef
tionably murder. it was true that a defence was
fit op, which, if founded in faet, totally exculpated
the prifoner from all refponfibility. But though, it
true, it was a valid defence, yet it was the duty of
the Jury felioutly to confider whether it was fully
fupported by clear and unimpeachable teltimony ?
Was it otheraife, any ill minded pettln might, by
the occafional exhibition of fome unufual pranks,
commit the molt horrid climes, and efcape with iat.
punity. However, there was this confolati‘n, that
if it.lhould appear to the Jury, that the unhappy
prifoner4as not, at the pet iod of this occurrence, a
human being confcious of his adliens, the power was
vetted in the Court to prevent the tubjeels of the
King from being injured by derangement.
Verdict—Not Guilty, upon the grounds of the pri
toner's infanity ; whereupon the Court ordered him
to be continued in ctifiody.
The unhappy man exhibited doting his trial the
fullenaefs of a creature not alive to the Serious pre
dicament in which be boa. Confider ing his advanced
age, and the mental inquietodes to which he Iva•
fubjeft, he is in external appeatanCe very able an
healthy.

San3e day the Seffinns ended, when fentence of
Death was paired on—
Andrew wen, for ftealing property at Hate!sett's Mid other
Hotels. He kid a few words, fignifyint that an erroneous ac-
count had gone forth, as to the meaning a what he laid in his
defence at the trial, and by which it would fecm, that at thetrial
he meant to inflauate, that he and his wife bought at reenlist-hand
the identical gJoas which he wa: ledided for (testing. He had
intihtiOn-td-mote Fitch an affertion He admitted his guilt in

that refpeet, and implored mercy What he meant was, that both
bluetit and wife dealt in :mond hand goods, and that many of the
things pawned be had got in that manner. As to his wife, the belt
of women, the was emir: ly innocent 34 werehic children, although
thus involved in two ruin King, alias 8.-njamitt Gibbs;
Henry Jeffop, and Richard brown, (w Bleep-Resting.
Twenty-one were order ed to het rad-ported beyond
the leas for the term of foren rears, sig.
John Sheen, William Wilmot, Margaret Moira% Moms Ad-
difon, Jofepb Francis, Sarah Lyon. ‘etiliarn Atkins, Wm. Sharp,
Ann Gill Wm. Montague, John Gadfby. fames Ludford„ Thos.
Slater, Charles Milltr. 111:.ry Neale, Flit. Burke, John cooper.
Mary ( bapnian, M.iry Ann Mrrgaret Re's y, IrOtardGuppy,ard
Jofeph Stanley, whore judgment was refpit:-.1 laft
Eleven were ordered to be i'nprifoottl Gs tal.n.la7 mouths each
in the Houfe of Cor r_, lion at Ckrkenwell.

Four toheimprifoix.lin the fame gao: fur one year each.

Five to be irnriremed in Newgate for various periods.
hrce to be publicly wlippcd—one of them at Edmonton en
Saturday acct.—Four tope pri7ately whipped.
infcph Stanley. a boy of the age of to years, who was esinvleted
left Seflions, wa• fralleller.d t., be tratalponcd for 7 years
• Two judg mciit s refpited ►iU ■eiu Seffion ; and s 6 were difcharsed
by Proclamation.—Adjourna to the sd of December next

MUNDFR IN Sussex —Yetierday we gave an account
of a r.bbery which took place on Sunday Leff at
Chichefler, and of the murder of Mr. Sergeant, who
joined in purfuing the culprit. The following parti-
culars caned on this melancholy event :—On Moo-
day afternoon, in coofequence of: the murder of Mr.
Sergeant, near Chicheffer, the preceding day,a party
of dragoon; pr -ceded from that city in fearch of the
murderer : they arrived at the coppice where he bad
concealed hitnfelf, which is near Petworth, and fume
furrounded it, while others difmnunted, and entered
every avenue. After a Itri6l March they difeovered
him, and drove him out, wit h-mt any frock, hat, or
(hoes on : he then ran ft; irtly f.me diaanee, but find-
ing his-purfueis to be dole at his heel*, he ran into
a pond, when they immediatly fired at him, andihot
him dead. He was taken nut of the pond, fearched,
and the watch, of which he had robbed Mr. Rhode.
the day hef•ire, found on him• On examination of
the body, he proved to be a labourer, living at a
village called Graffham, near Petworth ; his name
is Jam.: ; he had two loaded piflols about him,
but from the clofe purfuit of the dragoons, he had
no power to tire them.—Mr. Sergeant was, we un-
dern . and, the Jecond l'on of Mr. Sergeant, formerly
;Seer...tary to tl:e Treafury, and now one of the Au•
ditors of Public Accounts.

A dreadiul cucumflance took place at Chener.
field on Friday evening :—Two French ptifonere
had arrived there a few days back on their parole,
and took up their abode at the Falcon Inn, where
they remained during three days, when having
procured lodgings, they returned to the inn to
difchaxge their bill, when one of them, a Colonel
in the -French army, and a Member of the Legion
of Honour, difcovered his flrong box to have beets
opened by a falfe key, and his property, to the
amount of a thoufand pounds, betide plate, jewels,'
and other valuable's, to the further amount of five
hundred pnunils, itolen. In a grange country,
without either friends or money, And a prifoner, his
filtration may be eafily conceives: his only refource
in this diftrelling dilemma was an applicatt. ti to his
fellow trAvslier ( who alto potidled confiderabla
property), from whom he obtained the loan of two
hundred pounds. On application being made to the
Commillary for French prifoners, a flatement of the
above was tranfinitted ro the Tranfent Board, and
an immediate (cards was let on foot for the deteltion
and recovery of the unfortunate gentleman'. property.
Having been delayed on his journey from the coati,
by indifpolition, at Athenflone, in Warwickihire, the
agent employed in this affair naturally fuppufed the
roperty mutt have been purloined during his con-
finement at the inn, where the Colonel and his friend
had been detained. The fetvant. having been exa.
mined and proved innocent of the charge, it was
littpeeted, from the evidence of the chambermaid,
and many circumftances which fhe related, that the
Colonel's fuppufed friend had committed the robbery.
A fearch was then made in a private place belonging
to the houfe, and a handkerchief, containing a
pocket.bnok, with French paper money inclnfed to
the amount of 9001. and a variety of other articles
were fount'. The Agents, accompanied by the
landlord of the inn, then proceeded to Ctuefterfield,
and with the Magiltrate, Commiffary,and Conitables.
loft no time in waiting on the fufpeeted perfon, who,
as loon as he recognifed the landlord of the inn, be-
trayed evident marks of guilt, by an immediate ex-
clamationof " You have bufinefs with me. I fuppote?"
The Colonel being fent for, and having defcribed the
pocket book and its contents, it was produced, and
found to anfwer Isis defcription. During the exami.
nation, in which the prifoner made a full confefflon
of Isis guilt, and unformed the Colonel where the reft
of his property was to be found, he was obferved to
take a bottle from she Made piece, and repeatedly
to chink of the liquid it contained, which was by
the gentlemen prekot fuppufed to be tinEture of la-
vender, or tome cordial. but which proved to be pni-
fon. Fearful of this failing in its effed, the wretched
man, driven to defperation, attempted to feize a cafe
knife within his reach, but was prevented. In a fhort
time the poifon beginning to affect him, medical
afliflance was immediately procured ; but every at-
tempt to make him fwallow, or pals any thing clown
thi oat, was found impilfible, (torn his obainacy,
and twinning Ito ength. Between the paroxyfms of
remorfe and pain, Ise appeared calm and collated,
and requefted pen. ink, and paper, for the purpofe
of making his will, winch he at:Nally completed, and
havi:ig obtained torgivenefs of the Colonel. whole
forrow on this melancholy occafion did honour to
his feelings, and recommended his wife and children
to his proteftion, fhould he return to his native
c untr y, he firddetly feizeci a knife which lay unob-
fnved on the mantle piece, and plunged it feveral
inches in his left breaft. The unfortunate man ltd.
feted the greaten agony for feveral hours, and then
expired.—A Coroner's Inquelt was held on his body,
and the Jury returned a Verdi& of Self murder....
line deceated was immediately placed In a &ell, and
buried on a wage piece of ground near the town.._
The deceafed was an athletic, handfoine man, and
has left a wife and fix children. He was taken by a
privateer on his return from abroad, where it was
undernood be had acquired coufidetable property.

1

ro THE EDITOR OF THE STAR.

Ma. EDITOR,
The impolicy, not to fay impropriety, of withhold-
ng Brevet Rank from Officers of Veteran Battalions,
may have a very bad teneency with refpea to the
general good of the Service; inafmuch as it may
probably difeourage, in Tome meaftne, thnfe firong
and united effort:, now become fn neceffary towards
combating the enemy with faccefs—an enemy Raiding
over the acknowledged rights of mankind, threaten
ing the diffolution of all the ancient Governments,
Religion, and virtucus Sr.ciety, and, lake a whitlwind
or a deluge, to overwhelm all that is good, or held
facred, in the world; Icaving the almoß only confo.
lation, that &kaki may, by the wifdom of her 0 on.
cils, the experiecce of her Officers, and under the
blefliag of Cat o, " ride triumphant in the Roam," and
by ber manly efforts, and in His gond time, rellore
Jullice and Liberty to the Eartb, at4t.l itop the career
of lawlefs Power, in the purfuit of univerfal and un-
controulcd Dominion.

In this view of things, it behoves our Rulers to
give every poffible degree of energy and fupport to all
the centlituent parts of the Militat y of there kingdoms,
Brevet Rank to thofe who have fo well earned it, by
fuccefsfully lighting the baffles of former timer, thofe of
the immortal Wm.?, GRANBY, and other celebrated
Commanders! or the term Veteran is more like unto
•4 founding brats, or a tinkling cymbal," than any
thing elfe ; and, inflead of conveying ditlinaion, or
fomething of fuperior worth or merit, as it ought to
cin, the Veteran is kept in the back ground, with the
mortification of being every day liable to the command
of inexpetienced young men, by the lately adopted
meafure of fending thefe battalions, equally with re-
riments of the line, to foreign fervice. Convinced,
that his Royal Highnefs the Commander in Chief,
upon due confideration of the cafe, will, conformable
to his unwearied attention to the good and comfort of
his Majefl y's Service, confer that which will give fuch
univer fal fatisfalion, • WATARAN.
Oetober as, tBa7. •