The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-08-06 00:00:00

TRIAL OF ARCHIBALD BOLAM.

NEWCASTLE, WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.—The jury,
after an absence of three hours, returned with a verdict of
guilty of manslaughter.
THURSDAY.—The business of the assize terminated to-day,
and at its conclusion the prisoner, Archibald Bolam, was
placed in the dock to receive sentence. No alteration had
taken place in his appearance. He still preserved the same
cool unmoved demeanour.

On being asked by the clerk of arraigns if he had any thing
to say why sentence should not be passed on him for the of-
fence of which he lad been convicted, he replied in a firm,
clear voice, "My lord, I declare before GOD and you 1 am
innocent of the death of Joseph Millie."
His LORDSHIP then passed sentence in the following words,
" Archibald Bolam, you have been found guilty by the jury,
after a full inquiry into the evidence, of the offence of man-
slaughter. The jury have certainly come to the most miti-
gated and mild conclusion they could arrive at, upon the con-
viction that you caused the death of Joseph Millie. They
must have believed you caused that death, and I hope the be-
lief was well founded, from sudden excitement on a provo-
cation arising from some unforeseen quarrel. You protest
you are innocent. lam entirely unable to give the smallest
weight to that protestalipn, as you must be well aware I am
bound to act upon the verdict of the jury, and it is a verdict
with which Ido not see any reason- to be dissatisfied. It
seems to me the facts proved you were engaged in the man-
slaughter."
The prisoner here said,—" I beg yourpardon, my lord, but
your lordship speaks so low I cannot hear you."
Mr. Baron MAULE-It is not of much consequence, but I
will speak louder.—Considering this is a case in which the
jury have considered you committed the offence of man-
slaughter, I can now consider only the mode in which Joseph
Millie was killed and the circumstances under which his death
took place. Now, it appears, it must have taken place upon
some quarrel arising between the hours of half-past three and
half-past five o'clock. In that short time some quarrel, some
strong excitement in your mind—strange indeed for a person
of your habits and character—must have arisen to cause you
to take away his life. The jury must have come to some
conclusion of that kind, or they would have found that there
was previous malice. and then your life would have been for-
feited. Now, considering that you killed this unfortunate
man by striking him with a poker, breaking his skull to pieces,
and shedding his blood in a most frightful way, it is a case
of most aggravated manslaughter. Nobody can doubt the
person who committed the offence—and you are found to be
that person—did commit the offence of aggravated manslaugh-
ter. I feel bound, therefore, to give you the extreme pun-
ishment of the law for that offence. The sentence of the
court is that you be transported beyond the seas for the term
of your natural life.

The prisoner—My lord, I regard that sentence as my death.
• He was then removed from the dock, amid the hisses of
the persons assembled in court.

The commission of assize opens at Carlisle to-day, and the
business will commence to-morrow.