Star.
London, England, 1812-07-04 00:00:00

CID BAILEr, JUL?' s:
TRIAL OP THOMAS BOWLER.
On the Bench, Justices Sir Stator LE fiLAkt,. Zri
Gistg, the RECORDER of Loratijii, and seve-
the magistrates.
Bowler was brought to the" Bar, indicted
wilfully. maliciously, unlawfully, and feloniously
rung, with a blunderbuss, at William Burrows,
h intent to murder him.
The riaoner is about siry.five years of age, and
Is become somewhat bald. He is •of a stout,
etic make, and possesses a resolute countenance.
, was dressed in a light drab• great coat, a darker
e boy coat, •light-coloured cross-striped vest,
..;4a red under vest, light-coloured breeches, and
silk handkerchief tied round his neck.
'oti the part of the prosecution appeared Mr.
tooisand r. A:...
the paMrt of theDOLPHU prisoner, Mr. ALLEY, Mr.
row, Mr. Guravcr, and others appeared.
'To the indictment the prisoner pleaded—Not
Goal*
MG ADOLPHUS opened 14)e case on the part of the
*yeas followed, and said that the prisoner,
lusts Bowler, stood, indicted at the Bar, under
authority of an Act of Parliament, passed in his
r.....„..ttkesty's reign (called Lord Ellenborough's
ict) which made it felony to attempt the commis-
ite;•a crime which had for its intention the de-
sueerion of the person against whom it was directed;
and although the weapon dropped short of the life,
yet that circumstance, which, according to former
hw, was an extenuation of the crime, did not now
cosvibuto to lessen it in the least. The prosecutor
ens a respectable farmer at Alpurton, near Harrow,
within a short distance of London, and for a long
Fogression of years had been accustomed to carry
rye produce of his farm, which was meadow hay, to
it Haymarket of London. His way lay along the
kluge of Alpurton, and he wept regularly three
*la week. The prisoner was a farmer of a re-
wectable fortune in the vicinity of the same place,
gins well acquainted with the days and with the
iaeof the day which Mr. Burrows usually passed
II the bridge. Before that he entered upon a
motive of the circumstances of that detestable
nee which brought the Prisoner to the Lar, it
gold be incumbent upon him to prove that the
for which he was indicted was done with malice
ought, and with a sensible consciousness of the
uences. When a person committed an act
which he stood, it`i the eye of the law, criminal—
it was shewn that his mind was in a condition
We of judging between right and wrong, and
the performed it in such' a state of coolness and
Oection as made him amenable to the law, then it
'tame the duty of his •friends to prove that his

at the time he committed the deed, w•as in a

tt. of insanity, if they were desirous to spew that
wai not amenable. Upon the 30th of last May,
eptisoner at the Bar was discovered, early in the
ming, with a blunderbuss in his hand, walking to
td fro beside the bridge of Alpurton. A black-
with of the name of Jones, who had his shop beside
[abridge, happened to be departing frrm his shop,
and met the prisoner with the weapon in his hand.
They entered into conversation, and Bowler, holding
'phis blunderbuss, said it was out of repair, and se-
'teed that Jones would return to his shop, lot the
Ippose of mending it. When they arrived at the
ish he desired the blacksmith to be wary how he
Ladled it, for it was loaded, and he carried it' for

!the purpose of shooting a dog. During this time he
tamed to be anxiously awaiting the coming of some
person, and going out to the road he perceived Mr.
Burrows coming riding towards the bridge in a
staing.cart. He ran into the shop, and snatching up
the blunderbuss, stationed himself underneath the
foliage of an old elm, screened in such a manner,
'that a person passing along.the bridge could not be
able to disc, ver Min until close behind him, while he!
multi see the ptr'on who approached from the mo-
ment he came to the top of ih kriJge. Mr. Bel--
,
rows approached within a few yards. Bowler, who I
kept himself in a ready posture, raised his blunder-
buss. and, with an imprecation, discharged it. In a
Moment he dashed his weapon on the ground, and ,
causing his grandson to dismount from awed which !
lahad prepared for the purpose, Ire leaped into the
saddle himself, and disappeared at the gallop. This
yam the 30th of May, and he could not be.appre-
skarded until the 6th of June. Throughout the whole
lithe case which he would submit in evidence to
the Court, there would appear a reflecting and syste-
matic plan for the perpetration of the atrocity, and a
caution, and alertness, and pre-meditation, in the
flight which he made, that would fully prove that
he was. a person fully capable of employing his fa-
tuities. The defence, he understood, that would be
set up for the prisoner, was mental derangement, at
the time the deed was committed. But the behaviour
of the prisoner, when he pleaded to his indictment,
was an undoubted proof that he enjoyed at least a
lucid interval at that time, .and the consciousness of
the mischief the blunder buss would commit appe ir-
al in his knowledge that it would kill a dog. He,
therefore; set about the crime with a consciousness
0 eheeril the engine was capable of dbmniitting,
amipertormed an escape afterwards, in the glancing.
!lid accomplishment of which appeared a full use of
Power of reasoning. He would now proceed to
ley the evidence on the part of the prosecution before
the Court.
William Burrows said, he was a farmer at Alpur-
rat.e_ti Middlesex, and had lived there for the most of
atswe. He was a neighbour to the prisoner, who
was acquainted with the time of the day usual for the
Prosecutor to go to the Haymarket. Upon the 30th
oMay last, he was proceeding towards the City, to
nd the market, as usual, in a chaise cart. A
blacksmith's shop lay in his tray, newly.erected, and
144essed by Henry Jones, adjoining the canal bridge ;
,beside a hedge, adjacent 40 the shop, he perceived
sae prisoner, and stopped his horse before him to
Teak, to him. He lifted a blunderbuss to his shottl-
6/2
d ~ancl, exclaiming d.--n your eyes," instantly
!weThe neck, off ftill speed. lie WAS
wounded in the and in the back. Na. balls
_ere extracted, but sothe were found about his hat.
sometime before the attempt happened, he had sorre
altercation with the son-in•law of the prisoner, in
of seyience of lopping a few trees during the Month
March last. No words had ever passed between
aim and Bowler on the
subject. - •