Star.
London, England, 1823-08-08 00:00:00

ASSIZES.

MAIDSTONE, AUGUST G.
MURDER.
Joseph Bell the younger was indicted for the wilful
murder of Joseph Bell the elder, his father, at Deal,
on the 16th of April, by shooting him through the

body with a loaded gun.
Evidence was adduced of the crime charged, hnt
the prisoner, on being called on for his defence, be-
trayed an unconsciousness of what was passing.
There was a vacant stupidity in his countenance, and-
his gestures were those of a person bereaved of in-
telligence: when Mr. Agar, the Governor of the jail,
interposed, and expressed his• belief that the prisoner
was not sensible of 'what was passing, and informed
the Learned Judge, that during his confinement he
had had frequent similar aberrations of mind.
Mi. Serjeant Owe Low said, if he had known this
fact before, he should not have suffered the prisoner
to be put on his trial until he was in a fit state to
make his defence.

The visiting surgeon of the jail, Mr.Whatman was
then called, and stated that he had strictly watched
the prisoner, and had reason to think that he was not
at all times sane. He was now directed to examine
the prisoner, and give his opinion as to his present
state. Accordingly he went to the dock, felt the pri-
soner's pulse, and expressed his conviction that his
present state of body and mind rendered him incapa-
ble of understanding what was passing, or of making
his defence. His pulse at that moment was 195.
Mr. Serjeant ()snow said that but one course of
proceeding was open—namely, to discharge the Jury
from giving any verdict, an ct postponing the case
until the nett jail delivery. This was not a matter
of frequent occurrence, hut he had no doubt of his
authority so to 'shad with the case.
The Jury were then discharged from giving any
verdict, the prisoner was remanded to jail, and the
recognizance* of the witnesses respited till nextAssises.
William Donallan, alias Donally, was indicted for
the wilful murder of Bridget Donallan, his wife, at
Chatham, on the 19th of September, 1818, by drown-
ling her in a well.
Mr. MARSUAM stated the case for the prosecution,
and called several witnesses, to the following facts :
In the year 1816, the prisoner, who had been previously
a soldier, was brought as a deserter from Portches-
ter Gaol to the depot of the 98th regiment (to which
he belonged), at the Isle of Wight. The regiment
being then in Canada, he, together with his wife and
two children, was sent to-America; and in 1818 he
returned to this country, and was quartered at Bromp-
ton. Italpeptember in that year he was billeted atthe
Duke of York public-house, and a back-kitchen, to
which was attached a bed-room was assigned to him
and his family. His wife (who; was represented to
be a very respectable woman) was then in an ad-
vented state of pregnancy. On the morning of the
19th of Septembei, the deceased was missing, and
the prisoner being asked by the wife of a serjeant
, who was abroad what had become of her, said she had
gone off with at soldier of his regiment, and taken ES
with her, and her clothes, leaving him but 15s. He
then proposed to the serjeant's wife, who was pre-
paring to join her husband at the Cape of Good
Hope, that she should cohabit with him. 6he treated
the proposition with derision, and told him she had
no doubt his wife would return to him in a day or
two, knowing her to be a woman of correct habits.
Pb, however, said, be would be d--d if his wife
'would ever be seen in Chatham again. On the saute
day, the serjeanes wife: greed with the publican to
take the apartmenti *hi-eh had been occupied biii
the prisoner, who, was .let into possession of aiei '
other room in the house, Upon examining the
prisoner's bed there were stains of blood updit
the bolster, the sheets, and the ticking. This
circumstance excited no suspicions against' the plii•
toner; and he remained in the house for a week
After. Immediately under the °window of the meat
was a well. In a few days after the deceased war
Massing, it was observed that the water was tainted,
mid unit for use. At the tad of three weeks some-
thing was discovered in the well, which excited en-1
r nasty, and a man was sent to examine it ; and the
result was, that the body of the deceased was brought ,
in a state of nakedness and putridity. No malts
violence were discernible, from the length of time
the body had lain in the water, but no doubt was en-
'tertained of her identity. It was admitted on the
Ipart of the prosecution, that nothing would turn upon
tbe-nakedness of the body, as it was the practice of
the lower orders of Irish to- sleep in that state. At
this time the prisoner had left Chatham, having been
discharged from his regiment, and no trans of him
'Quid be obtained. In the year 1819, a private in the
2d %Vest India Regiment, named Thompson, who
'was stationed in the island of Barbadoes, and had
been a serjeant in the 98th in the year 1816, when
the prisoner was received at the depot in the Isle of
Wight, happened to pick up at the guard-room door,
a piece of an old newspaper, eontaming an account
of Mrs. Donallan's murder by her husband, which
brought to his minci.the conviction that the prisoner
was the niaa. In the month of March, 1622, Thump-
son happened to be quartered at Clanmorris, county,
of Mayo, in Ireland, where the prisoner then resided.
Being on duty one day, the prisoner passed the bar-
racks, and he recognized him as his old comrade.—
They fell into conversation, and Thompson asked
hint how Biddy and the children were? meaning the
prisoner's wife. The prisoner became much agitated,
and answered, that his wife died, or that he had
buried her (which. the witness could net say), at
Chatham, in 1818. In a day or two Thompson com-
municated his suspicions to Captain Smith, and in
consequence of his information he and two other
soldiers were sent by the Honorable Dennis Browne
to desire the prisoner to attend him. The prisoner
being informed of the message became very violently
agitated, and expressed a wish first to put on a clean ,
shist, which he was iacapable of doing without assist-
ance, from extreme perturbation at the commuuita-
don which had been made to him. Upoolait appear+.
ing before Mt. Br et' he was sent to this citantry
to *osier tbis abuse. Tbs priwaer btoo4 Cmtrial;
the last Assizes, but in consequence of she absence of
material witnesses his trial had Wain postponed. Two,
eircumstanees were admitted to be favourable to the
prisoner—first, that within a week aftet his wife wall
missed, he had drank of the water of the well ; and se-i
condly; that he had made no attempt to escape when
suspicidn was attached to him.
The prisoner, who was without Counsel, cross-ex-.

.
mined several of the witnesses with tentenm, tine
gl
nothing was elicited tending to relieve him from hi
perilties situation. lie handed id a written defence I
wherein he solemnly protested his innocence. ,:biri
few wends which he addressed to •the Jurpritie
earnestly appealed to them, if it was possibkhe *owlet
be guilty of any violence towards a womanly whom'
he hact had tiro children, and who had accompanied,
him through England, Scotland, Ireland, Erauce,
and America, in all his c.tmpaigus? lie hoped the
Jury would strictly examine their own conscienceS,
before, under such circumstances, they would. finel
'urn guilty of so atroc ions a crime. . ..„
•-

Mr. Serjeant Oxsrow recapitulated the evidene
and left the Jury to deterryine three questions—first,
whether they were satisfied of the deceased's identity ;
second, whether the prisoner was the author of the
death; and third, whether the deceased came by her
death in the manner charged in the indictment? •
The Jury deliberated for some time, and found
the prisoner—Guilty--Death.

The prisoner being called upon in the usual Man-
ner, to say whether he had anything to argue why
sentence of death should net be passed upon him,
again solemnly declared his innocence.
Mr. Serjeant ONsLow then passed the awful sen-
tence of the law, and ordered the prisoner for execu-
tion on Friday morning next.
BIHDGEWATER (SOMERSET), AUGUST 5.
•
BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE.
EDGEHILL V. HAYS&

Mr. Serjeant Pi LL stated the case for the plaintiff,
who was the daughter of a publican, living in the
town of Glastonbury. The defendant was a farmer
in the same neighbourhood, and'a man of consider.
able property. The plaintiff was now in her 27th 'year;
the defendant was about fifty. Ten years ago the
parties first became acquainted, and the defendant,
who is a man of some talents and acquirements, and
calculated from his accomplishments to make an im-
pression on a youthful female, had, by a long train
of attentions, won the affections of the plaintiff: The
plaintiff's father could not but be pleased with the
alliance of so respectable a person as the defendant
appeared. In •the beginning of the intimacy of the
parties, the plaintiff's mother fell ill, and finding, as
she apprehended, the approach of death, she sent for
the defendant, and stated to him her anxious fears for
the future fate of her daughter. On that solemn oc-
casion the defendant repeated his assurantes
_that he
would make the plaintiff his wife. Soon after this in-
terview the plaintiff% mother died, and shortly after
the defendant, without any assignable cause, broke
off his acquaintance with the plaintiff. Miss Edge-
hill, perceiving from this unaccountable conduct of
the defendant, she must despair of forming any alliance
with him, received the addresses of a respectable per-
son, named Wood, from Bristol, and matters bad pro-
ceeded so far, that the arrangements for a marriage
with him were agreed upon. The defendant. how-
ever' as if resolved that no one else Should appropriate
thathiessibg which he had himself refused, then in-
timated to thefamily of the plaintiff, that he wished
to marry her. He again renewed his visits, and re-
iterated his promises to make her his wife, bat up to
that hour the defendant had not thought proper to
perform his promise, though repeatedly pressed so to
do, and althoughdo, the unfortunate young woman had
new proved pregnant by him. Such was the case
that he (Serjeant Pell) would have to substantiate to
the Jury, and it was one that they would at once per-
ceive was of a most aggravated description. This un-
happy young woman was ruined, and all her pro-
s,peets is life blasted, by the heartless conduct of the
defendant ; but he trusted the Jury would make
him feel he could not, work such ruin with impunity.
James Edgehill examined.-1 am the father of the
plaintiff. She was my only daughter. I have known
the defendant for about 20 years; he visited at my
house about nine years ago, when I found that he
kept company with my daughter. I asked him what
his intentions were; and if he did not mean to marry
hes, tO gait her company. He replied that he had.
a right to eome to my public-house to smoke his pipe
but he added, he would not hurt a hair of her head;
I am married now to my fourth wife. The defendant
and my daughter kept company after this, and .I
main spoke to him and desired him to quit the house
if he did sot intend to marry her. Atter this my
danghter refused to see him, and it was then that Mr.
Wood visited her, and it was understood that she and
Mr. Wood were to be married. Boon after which the
defendant sent for me, and said he wanted my con-
sent to marry my daughter. I replied, not to such a
man as his behaviour bad shewn him to be. • He said,
he would have-married her before, if it had not.been
her own fault. I said if he intended to act an honest
part I should have no objection. This conversation
took place in July, 1822. I told him that Mr. Wood
was paying his addresses to my daughter, and Imust
break off ray engagement which .she was under to
him. The defendant replied, that was my affair.. He
then kept company with sufdatighter t and Au-
gust he Would marry her: when he. returned
from Bernet fair, si pffered4o g 8 !wit t.
cense, but he said slier.: was trosocitsioatAr that,.
all he wanted was my Cement: defatilant too-
tinned his visits for a moUdr or siv•weekettftet,thirt:
Cross-1481-444 bir41.4,40",--71144..41.2144•!0f
terve' of twelve Ulnittlia. dating "IWO thentiani
did not visit inpdvag_htini. : • .1 4,-
Ann Windrpßl•esehtineig..tej
204 ItAlve kilPvtol4oY 48041Viii\ce 4104.40 a:
1 kaaw:tise sietoulaut. 1 vas with kirs...*sialkill:ssa
iota 111.1.110 wheat she died. Mrs. Edgehill tattler use
.4,effqffaert atront.a fortnight beforesdifit etent., 'The
defenclarit•Carsielirid-sat down on' thb 'go of the bed,
'and site said, " I am very, very uneasy. .I, fair you
will tveat my seaughtss as you bass many others be-
fore." . He said I will neither leave her nor slight her.
She replied, thin she was satisfied: lie went away
after staying. about half an hour: The defendant
estrtinued his visits to MistEctgehill, and I heard hi di
say to her in the bait; sotiet youisilf ready to'be mar-
,ried en the !Ws of Angtot-.. The-plaintiff replied,
the 10th of August is of *Saturday, and the defend-
ant then ppt WI the. Martiage to a. Monday: Miss
4041 4t4 m ike preparations. I- 4w the defend-
atit Iri riihruary lase. and info:Med-him that Miss
Eclareial was iu 4441144 way ibis* ii);!` Is a so?"
and .4. assisted him of the lam
u:scsossresansined by Mr. Wit.LIAMS.—I have been
acquainted a long time with the family of the Edge-
-116041, • thaw/ had two child en, but I never had the
&mow of being rnarried!--,-(A laugh).- The bar wa,
the place where the courtship w.r3 ritd on pretty

. .
mfacb. When-1 informed the &fondant of 'Miss lodge.
hill's pregnancy, he said shelhould never want.
.John liasvkips, the defendant's partner,. an.]
Thontas.Court,,Troved the attention paid by the do,
fondant to the praintiff.
ADAM .addressed the Jury, on the part of the
defendan, in mitigation of damages, although lie
adt*ed. thisA his conduct had -been highly col pable.
,m Justice fir!wr summed up the evidence to the
jury, Isho, After a.hriefdeldieratiom returned A ver.
dict for !he .:plain4-7Damages •

• irpurermmis sm..•••
POLICE INTRLLIGEIOCE.

•
IQ% RV- LA. BONNE OFFICE.— Jr: Ilarm.s and T IFeedwend were
charged with robbing Barnett, who stated, !that on Tues.
day he was coming down Liston Grove, Adary-laTßrinne, when
the priseners knocked him down, and after gleing bins some tre.
mendous blows, Woodward snatched his hat,'and retreated. He
pursued them to the Tunnel of the Bermes ('anal, and re.
<Twitted the restoration of his property, but Woodevard dashed
him into the Causal. lie however succeeded in petting
when they were again about to immerse hint, but on 'ais implo!.•
ing them to spare his !ife, they threw him on the ground,
1 large dog, when be made a hasty retreat. On appl!iig
at this ()nice Buckridge and Staples were .efispritched. Herby
been informed the ofrenders were navigators, working on
Canal, they folind them in two barges, which they boareed. (b. •
making known the nature of their erram!, an attempt war TA de
by other navigators to cnt the barge :.drift; hut the °Sten •
produced their fire-arms, and threatened destruction to any one •
VAkOrefsisted. This induced than to desist, and the prisoners,.
pasig st.despqrste struggle, were secured. The prisoners made'
no defence, a!KI were fully committed.
citE4UQ. ill. •
A yt.—Yeiterday, fimpson, a glazier, in Orchard.
street, wan' ilidrged with Violently assaulting his wife. It ap.
peered that setsame of murder had been heard to proceed front
the house, and, no come of the nen,Mbours entering. they found
her on the floor, in a gine of blood, and senseless. Gilmore, the
()facer, took him into custodyt aryl sent toe a medical matt, whose
opinion was, that she was in a dangerous state. The Niagistrate
went to the house to take her 'examination, preskotts to her being
sent to the Hospital, and Simpson undergoing an examication....
Hie excuse was, that she admitted-the emits of a young ton, in
his absence. He only struck her with his fist. re was commit-
ted til! the fate of the womau is known.

WORSHIP-STREET.—YeateVidy, J4/7W3 charged wilt
robbing the caravan of John Kitson, the rray.•lling doctor, was
brought before &Der roan, Esq.— Ifni. Kitson, the doctressvap.
peered, and stated, that on the 7th of May hst, she found the
prisoner in the van, who, on seeing her, jumped down and ran
away. She found the drawers broken open, and a bag costsintsg
X 126 in silver, and a silver watch, and also a-quantity of wear-
ing apparel, were gone. Part of the property vas found in the
prisoner's apartments in Stewart•street, Old Artilleryqtround.—
The van was stationary at the time in Unicorn-yard, Blackman.
street, and the Doctor having no other dwelling, the prisoner was
committed for trial at the next §urrey Assizes for stealing In the
dwelling-house.