The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-08-27 00:00:00

and saw the I

myself, thinking t
stairs I saw my

kad burned him,

" mixed up
naked,

sleeping. I noticed that the prisoner was quite dressed, ex-
cept his hat. There is a door to the cellar which communi-
cates with the street. It was half-past three o'clock when I
saw the prisoner run down stairs into the cellar and out at
the door. My wife went to get a shirt for the deceased, after
I had cleaned him as well as I could, in the kitchen. I then
went to fetch a doctor, and returned in five or six minutes.
After putting the deceased into another room, I went into
that in which the prisoner and the deceased had slept. I
found some of the mixture upon the bed, and some in a
bucket at the foot of the bed. The mixture upon the bed
was just like that which I saw upon Toscani, and think it
was the same. The bucket was usually kept in the kitchen ;
there was only one fire in the house when I went to bed, and
it was in the kitchen, " made up" for lighting in the morn-
ing. It was smouldering when I left it. At four o'clock in
the morning I saw that it had been made up again. I no-
ticed a little iron pot near the fire, which pot I had left in the
scullery with the bucket when I went to bed. There was
nothing in the iron pot in the morning, but it was dirty with
the same sort of mixture that was upon Toscani. I had
cleaned the iron pot the
,night before. The mixture was
made of oatmeal. I received a knife that day from Domenic
Basini, one of the inmates of the house. I knew the hat the
prisoner was accustomed to wear. I saw him run out of the
door of the kitchen, without his hat, as fast as any man could
run ;he did not return that day. His hat I found on the
table, and it has been in my hands since. The deceased was
. taken to the Infirmary the same day ; I visited him there,
and he always said he thought he should die. He told me,
" I have been burned by that Capella ; he has taken my life ;
I cannot be cured; lam a dead man." Ido not know whe-
ther he said this from the great pain he was in, or whether
be said it under the impression that he should die. I cannot
tell whether he thought he should recover. The prisoner
had a French piano, which he kept the room where he
slept. • -
The prisoner's hat is not here.
cross-examined by

Mr. WiLxiNs. and he
slept in his house that night,
'akers or dealers in plaster-of:
deceased was not plaster-of-
examined the mixture
eased appeared to be on
The prisoner had borne
to this time.

said that 15

none
paris.

paris, bat oatmeal n

good cha

)keel when witness ex-

mes the food of the

prisoner.
Dominico Basini, an Italian, who spoke English. but was
examined through the medium of the interpreter, said he'
lodged in the house of the last witness. lie anti his wife
went to bed about eleven o'clock, and slept in the same room
with the prisorier and the deceased. Witness was awoke be-
tween three and four o'clock in the morning by a great noise
upon the stairs, and the deceased crying out " Capella has
scalded me !" Witness went down stairs in about a quarter
of an hour or half an hour afterwards. When he got out of
bed his feet went into some dirty mixture on the floor, an

out with his instrument. Witness told him it was not so, as
he was in the Infirmary, and he ought to go and see him.
The prisoner then said to him, " Don't take any notice of
me and I will reward you." On the morning that this affair
happened one Luigi Gasparini gave witness a knife.
The witness, in cross-examination, gave the prisoner a
good character.
Margaret Giuocchio, wife of the first witness, confirmed
the testimony of her husband. She added that Gasparini
went to bed before her husband, but rose Lgain and went out
before witness retired.
This witness, on being cros
good character.
John Baptist Massa, an Italian musician, who slept in the
room adjoining to that in which the prisoner and the de-
ceased slept on the night in question, confirmed the testi-
mony of the preceding witnesses as to hearing the deceased
cry out in Italian that he was scalded.
Luigi Gasparini said, he lodged in Ginocchio's house, and
on Sunday afternoon, before this matter happened, he saw
the prisoner come into the house from a funeral. The de-
ceased was there, and he said, if he had money he would go
to America. The prisoner said, " What have you done in
England that you (have not money to go to America ?"
They had then some talk together, and the prisoner put out
his finger towards the deceased, as in contempt. The pri-
soner said to the deceased, " You eat the blood of the poor."
The prisoner then went away. They were in partnership
together. Witness went to bed at ten o'clock on the night
that this happened, and rose again at two o'clock to go into
the yard. Saw Mrs. Ginocchio when he came down, but
she was in bed before lie came in again. Witness stayed in
the kitchen to light his pipe. There was a good fire, but
he did not touch it. lie stayed there perhaps about twelve
minutes, and then went to bed. Witness slept in a room
over Ginocchio's and under the prisoner's. At a quarter
before four he was awoke by a noise upon the stairs. The
witness here described what be heard and saw, to the same
effect as the other witnesses. Was sure he heard the de-
ceased cry out in Italian, " Cappella has burned me."
Witness went down stairs, and saw the deceased with the
mixture upon him, and he said to witness, Cappella had done
it. Ile also said to witness, "My dear Louis, if I have
done any thing to yen, forgive me, I'm a dead man." Wit-
ness could not say whether at that time the deceased was
under the impression that he would die.
Cross-examined.—Had known the prisoner nine years,
and he had always maintained a good character.
Antonio Solari, servant to the witness Massa, said, be
heard the deceased scream and use the words, " forgive me,
I'm a dead man:" Witness saw John Baptist Bisolasi, one
of his comrades, pick up a knife on the stairs. The knife
was open, and standing against the stair with the blade up-
permost.
John Baptist Bisolasi confirmed the statement of the last
witness as to the finding of the knife, and he gave it to
Basini. He also confirmed the evidence of the other wit-
nesses as to the cries of the deceased. The prisoner's cha-
racter was good. •

;-examined, gave the prisoner a

Carlo Ralioti said, he was a musician, and kept a house in
Liverpool. Ginocchio's house was about half a mile from
his. Knew the prisoner, who came to his house on the
Monday night at ten o'clock with his piano. Witness told
him if he wanted his instrument repaired the man was out.
Ile replied, that he did not want it repaired. Witness was
at supper, and asked him to have some, but he said he was
in a hurry, and he wished to go home. He said, he would
leave tha instrument there, as he had to go some where to
play very early in the morning. He left it, and went away.
The next morning he came at four o'clock, and asked for
his piano. He had no hat, and said that some blackguard
had taken it last night. Witness lent him one. He then
went away. This witness gave the prisoner a good character.
Mr. Thomas Brandreth said he was house-surgeon to the
Liverpool Infirmary, and recollected the deceased being
brought there on the 13th July. He had received a very ex-
tensive scald over the face, neck, chest, abdomen, sides, part
of the back, and the upper part of the thighs. He died on
the 25th. He died from exhaustion, which resulted from
the scalding. A patient in the same ward interpreted for
witness what the deceased said, as witness does not know
Italian. He was in a very dangerous state when he was
brought to the infirmary, and continued so till his death.
_Mr. Dowling, police-commissioner, said he understood
the Italian language, and on the 17th July he accompanied
Mr. Rushton to ie infirmary, to see the deceased, who was
then in great pain, but quite sensible. Witness asked him
particularly whether he thought he should recover or not?
He replied " No ; it was impossible ; he felt great pain in
his stomach, and he could scarcely breathe." Witness's opi-
nion was that he thought himself in such a state that he could
not recover. The examination was then taken by Mr. Rush-
ton, and witness translated it to the deceased, who then put
his mark to it. .
_ _

The examination of the deceased was here read. It has
already been published in the STANDARD.
Archibald Balfour, beadle of Liverpool, said he was pre-
sent at the inquest before the coroner, and heard the prisoner
make a statement (which was now read), to the effect that
the deceased owed him £l2, and when he asked him for it,
on the Sunday before, he said one had been put into the bu-
rial ground to-day, and there would soon be another, mean-
ing the prisoner. _

This was the case for the prosecution.
Mr. WILKINS then addressed the jury, in a most eloquent
speech, on the part of the prisoner. He commenced by stat-
ing that he trusted he should be able to convince them that
at most the offence was one of manslaughter only. They had
heard that for many years the prisoner had home an excellent
character for humanity and kindness, and if that were so was
it not inconsistent to say that he could in one moment be-
come a murderer. He contended there was nothing to prove
that the deed was done by design ; in the first place there
were fifteen persons in the house, and the instrument was
one of the most clumsy that could have been selected. Again,
if he intended to scald the deceased there were two kettles of
hot water which he might have used, without his going to the
trouble of making the mixture spoken of. He must have known
too that the screams produced by the torture of the scalding
must inevitably lead to his detection. The view he took was,
that the prisoner went down stairs to prepare breakfast pre-
vious to both going on their journey ; that when he took it
up stairs some sudden quarrel took place about money, and
in the heat of the moment, without premeditation or inten-
tion, threw the mixture upon the deceased. A knife had
been produced, but it had not been proved to belong to the
prisoner ; but it had been proved by the deceased himself
that he had told the prisoner that there had been one funeral
that day and there might soon be another. After some fur-
ther comments the learned gentlemen reverted to his original
position, and called upon the jury to return a verdict of
manslaughter.
The CHIEF JUSTICE then summed up, recapitulating all
the circumstances of the case.

The jury then retired, and after an absence of a quarter of
an hour they returned into court with a verdict of Guilty,
but recommended him to mercy on the ground of his previous
good character.
The JUDGE ordered the prisoner to be broughp for sen-
tence to-morrow morning (Friday.)

ASIITON ELECTION RIOTS

Job Tankard, 33, James Hallsworth, 25, William Mars-
land, 23, John Briggs, 26, Richard Hadcret, 34, John
Royle, 2G, and James Broster, 26, were indicted for feloni-
ously and riotously beginning to demolish and pull down the
dwelling house of James Taylor, at Ashton-under-Lyne, on
Thursday, the Ist July last.
Dr. Brown and Mr. Brandt prosecuted; the prisoners
Hallsworth and Briggs were defended by Mr. James ; the
others were undefended.
It appeared that the polling at the election for the borough
of Ashton-under-Lyne took place on the Ist of July last,
and, party spirit being very strong there, a riot took place,
in the course of which much violence was exhibited. The
prosecutor kept a tavern, which was resorted to by, the friends
of Mr. Hindley, one of the candidates, called the New Town
Hall Inn, and it was against this house that the rioters di
rected their attacks, doing considerable damage. A great
number of people were apprehended, among whom were the
prisoners.
The jury found all the prisoners guilty, but recommended
them to the mercy of the court, on the ground that it was
probable their actions had been induced by others in a diffe-
rent station of life.
The CHIEF JUSTICE said he was bound to order sentence
of death to be recorded against them, but the act which di-
rected him to do so would expire in the month of October.
Under these circumstances, he should add his recommen-
dation to that of the jury, and in all probability they would
be discharged on finding sureties for their good behaviour.
If that should be so, he trusted those sureties would never
have to be estreated.