The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-04-02 00:00:00

Anne who has told me that lie. The deceased went into the
bed-room. He came back and said to the prisoner, " B—t
you, you have been shamming ill all week, and now you are
kicking up your rows !" The prisoner had the knife in his
band. When the son h—ed him, be seemed so exasperated
that he struck at him. He ran at him. He struck and
drew back his hand. The deceased turned himself'and said,

" 'Oh ! father, you have done my job now !" He struggled
against the wall, with his fingers all over blood, and there

fell on his face.'
out of the house.

I never heard him speak again. I wens
The old man followed me down stairs

I said, " What's to do that you follow me ? Have I done
any thing amiss ?" He said, " B—t him I'll let him know."
I called the son-in-law, and returned to the house. I found
the deceased then dead. Deceased was quite sober that
night. Prisoner was quite drunk.
Cross-examined.—No other words passed from the son
to the father than you have stated, when he said the father
was shamming. He raised himself on his toes, as if to rush
at him, but I did not see him strike.. The son is rather a
slender man, and lower than the father.
Sarah Taylor.—l knew the parties. There had been a
few words between them a little after 12, and they went,up
to bed. I went up stairs with them, and helped Charles (the
prisoner) to undress, as he was ill " tossicated" in liquor.
There was some words between them. He attempted to
strike his wife, but I prevented him by getting between them.
The wife sent Mary Anne for the son, who came and began
to strike his father while he was in bed, so severely, that he
could hardly speak. The son was in a great rage, and
banged the old man's head against the wall. The old man
said, " What are you striking me for ?" He' said, `•
you, I'll let you know." The prisoner crept out of the bot-
tom of the bed, and went into the middle room.
Cross-examined.—The• son, I thought, would have killed
his father. He struck so violently and so fast I cannot tell
how many times. I saw the father taken out of the house
into custody. He seemed to be very ill put about. He had
been so ill about the head that I do not think he knew what
he was doing.
Re-examined.—l was not examined before the coroner. I
did not wish to appear against the prisoner. I had known
him long. There was not a better or a kinder father to his
children.

Thomas Hatton.—l was called in that night. I went up'
stairs. I saw the son dying on the floor. The prisoner held
his wife by the throat. I parted them, saying to him " Are
you not ashamed of yourself?" He said " No, why should I
be interrupted in my own house." I said " Are you not
sorry for what you have done ?" He said "He has got what
he deserves." He seemed to me to be sober enough. I de-
tained him till the constable came up.
Cross-examined.—l am a currier. I had no quarrel be-
fore with the deceased.

- Mr. WILKIN s proceeded to address the jury on behalf of
the prisoner, and began to contend that there were circum-
stances in the case which went to shew that the prisoner acted
in self-defence, owing to the violent conduct and assaults of
the deceased. He attended chiefly to the testimony of Sarah
Taylor, who had swore that she considered the prisoner's life
to be in danger while he lay on the bed. He also referred to
the evidence adduced that the son raised himself on his tip-
toes as if to run at and attack him.

The learned JUDGE here interrupted the counsel, by stating
that it was impossible to make the case out anything less
than manslaughter. The prisoner did not stab the deceased
while he himself was in bed, and there was no justification
for afterwards stabbing him deliberately merely because he
stood on tip-toe. (The learned counsel did not therefore
continue this line of defence, but left the case in the hands of
the court.

The learned JUDGE summed up, and the jury immediately
found the prisoner guilty.
His LORDSHIP, in passing sentence, dwelt upon the griev-
ous nature of the offence, and he hoped the prisoner would
throughout the remainder of his life t!eeply lament and re-
pent of his conduct. He was an old man, and he should, as
some blows were previously struck by the deceased, give him
some chance of re-visiting his native country after the term
of his punishment. Some allowance, he (the judge) should
also make in consequence of the prisoner being intoxicated at
the time, and therefore more infuriated ; but no allowance
could be made in law for this, and but for these considera-
tions the sentence would be transportation for life. Under
all the circumstances, the sentence he should pronounce was,
that the prisoner be transported for the period of 15 years.