Star.
London, England, 1807-03-21 00:00:00

MURDER OF PETER WILLIAMS, A Seaman.

john Auguflus, a Negro, was indicted on a charge
of the wilful murder cf one Peter Williams, late a
feaman on 13;:atd the Corn Planter, lying cif Bte.-
mondley, in the river "Thames.
Mr. Lewes, for the profecution, Rated the general
fa&s of the cafe, and then called the witneifes in Cup-
port of his ofening.
John Maxwell laid, that on the igth of January
the Corn Planter was lling on the Sartey tide
of the River, th-h•the prifiiner Icund Come dirt or
nuirante in his bed, and that on that account force
quarrel aiofe betv-een him and the dcceafed. The
priforser held Peter Willi ems round the middle, woen
the lattet had the fife-rail in his hand. An iron foike
was dropped, and tileTe was a fcuffle between them,
on which the wi•nef: rarrie up to Ice what was the
matter. The v afterwaids Caw the prifinter
raife the deceafed above the fife-rail, and pitch him
o-erb d, I,elV(tfll the Corn Planter and the next
fltilt fi';ng e., the fame time, " theme, you b—r,
overhoar .1." •
Richai d Ma' (lon, a filierman, fait!, that he picked
up the body tie next morning between 'even and
&ill; o'clock
Matthew Ta)lor, a wi•ners for the prifoner, laid
that lie was a to .n of a r-matkaLlc mild difp-frion.
The (Hiss L' :RUN, ID tilinmirT up the evidence.
ol.‹erved, that t'.e prifoner at the bar was indl.fted
for murder, and no doubt cohld he entertained ee•
(peeing the faft of hi, having occafiolied the death
of leer Williams. In order to make it a clefr cafe
of milide,, theme mutt have been no (corning and
ft:ll.tinif ; butt ttere there was a contell between the
rifoner ard the decealed, and it was impoffible for
the pity to fay who was the aggreffor. Under thele
circiintUances it would be tight that the ptiforier
Should be :-c.q.liced as to the murder, and that he
fit be found guilty of marifloighter.
The Vettila was according given—Cui!ty of 31an-
flabs
(71\11. StDT:, MARC}' t 9.
MASTERS V. REYNOLDS AND OTHERS.

This was an seion of alfault andfalk imprifonment. I
Mr. Se jeans BEST hated the circumflances of the
cafe, %arch were as follows :—The Plaintiff was a
F. nit Meter under the City of London, and the De-
fendants we:: the Overfeers, the". •Beadle, and other
Officers of tf.e Parifh of St. George the Martyr in
the Borough. The Plaintiff was charged with having j
gotten a girl r ith child, which was likely.to become I
chargeable to the Parilb, and the Magifirates at
Union Hall had in conlegneoce granted their warrant
for the apprehending the Plaintiff, which was put
into the hands .4 the Defendants to be executed.—
'1 hey accordingly, ~.lowing the Plaintiff, took an op-
portunity, when he was going to the Circus one
evening in 0:lober, to apprehend him. But they did
thi, in a rude and violent manner, feizing him by the
collar, and dragging him away from an old Lady,
whom he was efcm tint to the Circus. When they i
had thus apprehended him, they did not immediately
carry him before a Magillrate, which they ought to
have done, but they kept him 24 hours is candy,
in order to extort from him the firm of 701. which
they pretended was neceffiry to indemnify the parifh.
lahltn a Futon was aliened under a charge of ibis
fort, there were but two regular modes of proceeding
—the one war, to take a bond of indemnity for the
parilh, or to go before a Magill ate, who would take
a recognizance from the Defendant to appear at the
Seflions, and abide fuch order as the
_lnflicts fhould
then make. It was wholly irregular, and had often
been reprobated by Judges, that a patifhlhould take
a grofs fum, in their r•wn cifcretion, for an indemnity.
Mr. Serjeant, and another Gentleman, friends of
proved, that when the Plaintiff was in enf.
tody, they 4 ffered to become bail for his appeaeance,
they applied to the Overfeer, but he laid he did not
know them, and would not accept their bail. • Mr.
Serjeati told him that he was a houfekeeper, and
lived and paid rates in the patifh fur five years, and
that the young man in cutiody was a ptincipal fruit-
meter under the City of London, and his being de-
tained in cuffody would be ci moil lesions injury to
him. The Defendants were, howercer.
They all, apt lied to another of the Pali& Officers,
who u•as at a seal! in Well-fquare, but he laid he
could not fuffer the harmony of a parilb dinner to be
(piled by their intrulion. Other perfons were then
offered as bail, but they were alfo rehired, and no-
thing would be accepted but the depofit of a fum of
money, which they fixed at 701. The Plaintiff not

being able to produce this fuFn, was kept in a lock-np
hnufe all that night, and until the next evening.
Mr. Sajeani SHEPHERD, for the Defendant., made
a very ingenious addrefs to the Jury, in which he re-
prefented the conduct cf the Pat ilh Officers as indul-
gent to the Plaintiff, in ant cauting him to be publicly
cipifed at a Police Office, which would have fur.
'tithed a paragraph for all the newfpapers, and bla-
zoned his fault through the whole town.
The Learned Judge reprobated the conduit of the
Parifh in taking a grofs fum fe.r the Itipport of thefe
illegitimate children, by which their lives were with.
out protedi.in, for it became the interell of the parilh,
when the fine was paid, that they ih uld die, and be
no more expence to them. Vsrith refpe& to the cafe
itlelf, the plaintiff was cleatly enaiiled to a Verdia.
—Verdid for the plaintiff, damages 501.

On Wednefday the Affixes for the • Catinty of
Lancetier commenced before Sir Guts Rona E, and
Sir Sitarist LFBLANC. Vie cannot but remark upon
the melauch,lv instances of human depravity exhi
hilted in the calendar, which contains the names of
55 prifoners for the following offences :—Murder,
3 ; unnatural prattices, 7 ; forgery, r ; tittering and
having forged notes in poffeffion, 9 ; killing and
flaying. 3 ; returning from tranfportatinn, 2 ; divers
robberies, &c. 30. There were 134 males and 2 t
females, committed to Lancalter Cattle, for felonies
and milderneanors, during the year 123c6.
At the Worceiler Atlizes, a traverfe was tried up-
on an indidment againft Jnhn Letter, late of Coven-
try, for enticing and inveigling from the guardianthip
of her father, Sufannah Hyett, the being under 21
years of age ; and procuring the folemnization of
matrimony between himfelf and the laid Sufannah
H)ett, in a fecret and clandefline manner, againtt
the will of her father. The Jury pronounced him
Guilty ; and the Learned Judge, after declaring the
marriage null and void, fentenced him to be impi &gad
in the Worcelier gaol for the (pace of twelve calen-
der months, and to (land in the pillory for one hour
on a m,rrket day, dining the faid term.
On Wednefday, Imes Fenton, Efq. of Evefham
Lodp,e, and formerly of Rothwell, near Leeds, ap-
peared to an indiament found againit him at the
prefent York Affizes, for a rape, committed on the
pert rn of Elizabeth Bruff, an aged widow, and of aa
appearance by no means prepoifeffing. The Court,
during the trial, was uncommonly crowded. After
the examination of the pre fecutrix hed been gone
through, the Judge laid that her conduft had been
I inch, to render it impoffible for a Jury to fay that
the crime had been committed ; of comic, it could
not be attended With any advantage to proceed fur-
-1 they in the trial. .

Seijeant Parker, of the 3d Dragoon Guards (now
in cultoiy in Norwich), denies any knowledge cf the
alledged murder of Elizabeth Hedgely, an unfortu-
nate girl at Bi ighton, in May 179 i, wh-le ba;ly was
afterwards thrown into a well, where it was
Parker IMO( r lays, he never had any convcif:::ion on
the fubjea with Cobb, his acculer.

Among the difMrders of health we dais an habi-
tual coitiyenef, and °Libations in the vel:cis cmt-
netted with digeilion, which, from the ufe cf ritrg,a-
tives, are not relieved, but they become a conititu-
Unita) comptai.a. Cahmel, alitibi.ious tri,d enes,
and various formula have been employed, but they
certainly ,nly difchiuge the accumulated matter,
leaving the caule Itill exialing ; and every one, under
their operation, finds the necelfity of continuing, and
periodically inerrafing the dofe, front the tone and
fenfitivenefs of the stomach and itttefiines beinr, par-
tially dellroyed The fuccels of SPI L3BURV'S Patent
Antifcorbutic Dropi, in removing glandular obitruc-
lions, improving the appetite, and &aro) ing that
irritation canting head ache, fenfe of weight, net vous
affc,flions, Sec gives full vatue to theft antifewbutics,
as when employed in Gaut, Rheum uifm, Ulcera-
tions, or Scrophula.—Mr. SPILSIII.7aV is not account-
able for any mirure fold, lintels the words " By thf
King's Patent" are infected at length on the bill oe
direetions, bottle, and wrapper; the 'damp alfo (th,
King's duty) is printed in black ink inftead of red
—Sold at the Dilpenfary, No. 15, Sato 6:1 lare,
London, in bottles of ss. 6d. los. and 11 2s. duty
included. Compound Eirence Bs.