The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-11-08 00:00:00

Mr. Councillor. 11. LAWRNNCti begged to prupose Mr. Alder-
man Stuart as an amendment.

Mr. Alderman STUART begged to decline. . -
Mr. Councillor J. HEY woRTH. said that, notwithstanding the
remark of the Mayor—

__, •
The MAYOR said he would assure Mr. Heyworth that his ok-
servation only applied to the occasion which bad called it forth.
Mr. Councillor HEYWORTH (continued).—He was about to
allude to the singular nomination which had taken place. lie
did not mean in the slightest degree to impugn the right of
every individual present to exercise his own judgment, and give
what preference to individuals he thought proper. But he must
confess, whilst he bad great respect for that assembly, and for
the private opinions which every individual had a right to ex-
press, that he should like to see an individual independence of
conduct unconnected with party. Several of the individuals
who had been proposed on that occasion were, he would beg to
say, as competent to discharge the duties which devolve on the
members of the dock committee as those that bad been elected.
He hoped he should not infringe on any vile laid down in that
council, if he alluded to a report which bad reached his ears—
that a very large body of that council did assemble, preparatory
to that meeting, as he. conceived irreg,ularly, for the purpose of
nominating certain individuals, and forming &list, for the pur-
pose of carrying the list in the council. He did think that the
honour and the credit of the council of Liverpool would be bet-
ter consulted by making the council-room the proper place for
deliberating, and that out-doorproceedings should, as much as
possible, be avoided. He considered both the individual inde-
pendence of the members of the council and the independence
of the council itself would be better maintained, and the public
at large would-be better satisfied by the open proceedings which
he suggested. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Councillor RATHBONE begged to say, in reply, that he
had his own individual opinions as to the course he would pur-
sue, and he did not consider it derogatory to the honour of that
council, if, previous to coining there, he conferred with a few
friends on what waq the best means of promoting the welfare of
the town at large. That course had been pursued by both sides,
and he believed itery wisely ; and he had uo hesitation in avow-
ing.that he should dolt again—not in disrespect to the coun-
cil, but from a feeling that his own opinions could be better con-
sidered.

Mr. Alderman Evaats said that there was no legislative as-
senibly on'earth where that was not practised. It was practised
in Londou, where the members of parliament on both. sides had
their previous meetings. It was the sante' at Washington,
where they held what they called caucases ; and he 'would* con-
tend that this proteditre was of grP:t h:!netit; they cattle there
prepared—they knew their subject', and they were hot, all " at
sixes and sevens-" "Who is it that is talking to'us. about our
b, hour-?"--(turning. round, and addressing Mr. Reyworth)--
. 'Phe MA you interrupted Mr. Evans, and begged him to ad-
dress himself to the chair.

Mir. Alderman EvaNs--(continded )--'°.l apprehend that it
hass-not wanted the advent of any one member to dictate propriety
on the subject of our iio:;.ntr: -It is the height of presumption
to rise up and do so." (Mr. Evans sat down apparently labour-
ing udder grea'ttexcitenient.)
M fon n Rt. EA LAWRENCE agreed with Mr. It at CI -
bone that a previous preparation was of service.
Mr. Councillor LAWRENCE lIEYWORWki said he was g lad to
hear the observathin of Mr. Charles Lawrence.

Mr. Councillor JAMES HEYWONTII then rose, but was greeted
with a storin of cues of "vote, vote, vote, vote," which was
quelled by
The Mayon, who said he begged pardon, but Mr. Heyworth
was a new member, and might,not be acquainted with the rules
of the council. He should be allowed to state to him that no
member was allowed to speak more than once, except iu reply,
unless he had something to explain.
Mr. Councillor JAS. His:YWORTH said he rose simply to state,
that he did not mean any personal allusion to any individual.
He had only stated what. he thought would be for the independ-
ence of the council, with no view whatever of censuring any
party.
The Mayo!' said he was sure that he did not mean to censure
any individual : when they spoke of the body corporate and its
acts, no individual was alluded to.

Mr. Councillor HENRY LAWRENCE said, that although it was
stated by a member on their side of the house (laughter) to be
customary, it %%mild have been more satisfactory to them as a
body, if they bad gone through the individual nomination by
some other mode rather than having a list brought before them
by parties who said they had consulted as to that list: because
every member on the list handed in had been elected.
The election of Mr. M`Gregor was then agreed to.
The Mavott said the Town-clerk would now read over the
names of the 13 members who had then been elected, after
which it would be their duty to elect a chairman.
The TowN-cLattx having read over the names, _

Mr. Councillor RATHBON2 begged to propose Mr. Thomas
Leatbom as chairman of the committee. He begged to say
that in the list which had been selected, the interests of the town
of Liverpool had been well kept in view.
Mr. Alderman BROWN begged to second the proposition. In
his opinion Mr. Leathoin would make a most efficient and
valuable chairman.

The election of Mr. Leathom, as chairman for six years, was
then agreed to.
The council then separated shortly after 12 o'clock.

MURDER OF A WIFE BY HER HUSBAND.

On Friday last an inquest was held before Phillip Finch Cu-
rrie, Esq., coroner, on the body of Diana Culbertson, the wife of
a mariner residing in Bispham-street, and who died in conse-
quence of ill treatment received from her husband on Wednes-
day. night last. The husband, who is a short thick-set man,
about fifty years of age, was on Wednesday taken into custody
in consequence of his treatment of his wife. The following evi-
dence was brought forward on the inquest.
Elizabeth Clozier, being sworn, said—l am the wife of Tho-
mas Clozier, a sailor. We reside in Bispham-street. The de-
ceased, whose name was Diana Culbertson, and her husband
lodged in our house. They came on Tuesday fortnight. They
were both addicted to drinking, but the deceased was worse than
her husband. They were constantly quarrelling during that
time, and I have many times interfered between them. I have
seen the prisoner, who was the deceased's husband, very fre-
quently strike her. On Wednesday last the deceased was very
much in liquor; she could not stand. About eight o'clock in
the evening of that day I heard the prisoner ask the deceased
to go to. bed, and she used bad language to him- and .refused to
go. He asked me, "What shall Ido with her, Mrs. Clozier ?"
The deceased was at this time lying down in the passage. I
saw the prisoner strike her several times. I begged of him not
to strike her. He jumped upon the breast and belly of the
deceased with his feet; he had not any shoes on. He then
opened the door, and pushed the deceased out. Some of the
neighbours insisted upon her being taken into the house again;
the prisoner again jumped upon her breast; I said to him,
" John, you will kill that woman." He answered, " I don't
care if Ibe hanged for it." Several of the neighbours came in
and carried her into my bed-room, and laid her down by the
bed side. I put my hand' upon her mouth, and ascertained that
she was dead.

Dominick Fee, being sworn, said—l am a labourer, and live
in a cellar under the house of Mrs. Clozier, the last witness.
The prisoner and the deceased, who was his wife, lodged in the
house above my cellar. On Sunday week last I saw the de-
ceased very drunk. I have often heard them quarrel, but I
never saw the prisoner strike the deceased. Between eight and
nine o'clock on Wednesday night last I was lying in bed with
my wife, when I heard a great noise in the street; I beard the
prisoner in loud conversation with some of the neighbours, who
insisted on his taking the deceased into the house. In about
five minutes afterwards I heard something fall in the passage
overhead, 'and I heard a noise which t took to be kicks, and so
violent that I thought the ceiling would conic in. I jumped out
of bed and put my clothes on, and went for a police-officer.
Michael Garvey came to the house where the deceased was.
When we get in, we found the deceased lying on her back. She
breathed three or four times, and then died.

Michael Garvey, police officer, confirmed in part the evidence
of the last witness. He took the prisoner into custody, and
give him in charge of another officer, while he went to apprize
Mr. Davies, his inspector, of the circumstance. He then went
for a doctor, but the woman was dead when they returned.
Mr. Davies, inspector of police, heard the alarm while in
Marybone. He proceeded to the house, and asked the prisoner,
" what he had done that for ?" He said, " D—n her eyes, it
served her right." Mr. Davies then took him to Bridewell.
On examining the deceased, a piece of stick which served as a
bone for the front part of her stays fell out; it was broken at
the end, and corresponded with another piece which he found in
the stays.

Mr, Cooper, surgeon, said—l opened the 'body of the de-
ceased yesterday, and. found four ribs on the right side of the
chest fractured ; points of two of them protruded into the'
chest. The lungs opposed to these points were wounded with
slight punctures. 'I here was about a pint of fluid blood in the
cavity of the chest. I then opened the abdomen, and found on
the upper surface of the liver three ruptures or slits of its sub-
stance ; the spleen was also ruptured extensively, and there was
likewise a large quantity of fluid blood in the cavity of the ab-
domen. These injuries were the only ones I discovered, and
which I considered quite sufficient to cause death; they must
have been occasioned by violent blows. 'All the viscera seemed
healthy.
The jury then deliberated for a little time, and returned a
verdict of " Wilful Murder" against the prisoner.
On the coroner communicating to him the result of the ver-
dict, the prisoner merely said, that she behaved very ill, that
she was constantly drunk, and used to blackguard him very
much. Ho was then committed to Kirkdale gaol, to take his
trial at the next assizes.