The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-12-15 00:00:00

ALLEGED CIIILD MURDER AT LIVERPOOL.

Ann Dillon was indicted fur the wilful murder of her
illegitimate female child, by throwing it into the river
Mersey.
Mr. Hulton and Mr. Fletcher conducted the prosecu-
tion, and Mr. Brandt, by the intimation of his lordship,
undertook the defence of the prisoner.
The circumstances of this case have very recently been
published. Early in the morning of the 11th of August,
the dead body of a female child was found on Bootle
shore, which, upon being examined by a surgeon, he came
to the conclusion that suffocation from drowning had been
the cause of death. The prosecution went to show that,
shortly before the body was found, the child had been in
the care and keeping of the prisoner ; and, to prove her
intentions of destroying the child, evidence was called to
the effect that the prisoner, in the course of a conversa-
tion at Dublin, had spoken of the incumbrance the child
was to her making a livelihood.
Mr. Brandt addressed the jury in behalf of the prisoner
at considerable length. He commented upon the discre-
pancies in different points of the evidence, and submitted
that, first, there were doubts as to the subject of death—
it was not shown that the child was the child of the pri-
soner : there wet doubts as to the mode of death—there
was no proof that death had been the result of suffoca-
tion ; and there was still graver doubt that death had been
occasioned by an act of the prisoner.
llis lordship, having summed up, instructed the jury
that it would be for them to decide whether the child was
the child of the prisoner, and, if so, whether its death had
been occasioned by any act of hers. If they had any rea-
sonable doubts upon these points, they must be given to
the benefit of the prisoner.
The jury retired from court, and returned with a verdict
of not guilty.
MURDER OF THE EARL OF DERBY'S GAMEKEEPER.
Our readers will remember that a man, named John
Roberts, with others, was tried at the winter assizes of
1843, for the wilful murder of Richard Kenyon, a game-
keeper in the service of the Earl of Derby. The circum-
stances, as they then transpired, were these. On the
night of the 149th of November, 1813, Kenyon and others
were out in his lordship's preserves at Knowsley, and
hearing the report of fire-arms, proceeded to the spot
whence the firing proceeded, and there found a body of
poachers pursuing their lawless avocation. A scuffle took
place between the parties, during which Roberts was seen
to level a gun, which he fired, and Kenyon fell, mortally
wounded, and died four days afterwards. Roberts and
others were apprehended, and tried on the capital charge.
They were all found guilty, and Roberts was condemned
to death, a sentence which was carried into effect. The
sentence of the others was commuted to transportation
for life. A short time ago, a man named Henry Robin-
son, a soldier, in barracks at Dublin, impelled by re-
morse, detailed the particulars of the affray alluded to,
and stated that he was guilty of the murder of Kenyon.
A police-officer was sent to Dublin to apprehend the pri-
soner, and the latter revealed circumstances connected
with the affair which agreed in every particular with the
facts elicited at the trial of Roberts. Robinson was tried
yesterday for murder, and found guilty, but was strongly
recommended to mercy by the jury, as well as by the
Earl of Derby. The judge said these should be placed
before the Secretary of State, but advised the prisoner to
prepare for the worst, as it was probable the sentence
might be carried into execution.

NISI PRILTS COURT.-FRIDAY.

ROBBERY AT WARRINGTON.
Samuel Bell. 31, was indicted for having, on the 19th
August, feloniously broken into and entered the ware-
house of John Tickle, at Warrington, and stolen a large
quantity of tea, tobacco, and other articles, his property.
Mr. Pollock stated the case to the jury. On the morn-
ing of the 19th August the warehouse of the prosecutor
was entered, and a large quantity of grocery stolen, under
circumstances which showed that several persons had
been concerned in the robbery, and that they must have
had a horse and cart. The evidence against the prisoner
was that he was seen in a spring cart of a peculiar de-
scription, at Warrington, on the night of the robbery, and it
was discovered that the cart came from Liverpool, and had
been hired by the person under pretence that he wanted it
to fetch a chest of drawers from a place called Kirby, and
the prisoner was traced to and from Warrington on the
ni_ht in question. Upon the prisoner's cellar being
searched a tea chest belonging to Mr. Tickle was found,
and it was proved that the prisoner and another man had
sold a quantity of tobacco, similar in quality to that stolen
from Mt. Tickle. A long written document was read,
purporting to be a confession by the prisoner, in which he

stated that he was engaged by two men at Liverpool to go
to Warrington, and that they brought back a quantity of
tea and other articles, which the other men took away.
Mr. Atherton addressed the jury for the prisoner, con-
tending that the prisoner had nothing to do with the rob-
bery, and that he had merely been hired by the other men
in the ordinary course of his business as a porter. The
prisoner was found guilty, and his Lordship sentenced
him to seven years' transportation.