The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-04-07 00:00:00

CHARGE OF MURDER.

Nicholas Flemming, aged 22, was indicted for having, at
Manchester, on the Ist of March, wilfully murdered Cathe-
rine Demarest. The first count in the indictment charged
the murder as having been committed by shooting at the de-
ceased with a pistol, loaded and charged with paper, card, and
wadding : the second count set forth that the pistol was load-
ed with gunpowder, wadding, and a leaden bullet. The pri-
soner was also charged with murder on the inquisition taken
before Mr. Chapman, the borough coroner for Manchester,
and Mr. S. Rutter, who claimed to have jurisdiction as coro-
ner for the county.
Mr. BRAN DT and Mr. MONK conducted the prosecution,
and Mr. WILKINS defended.

It was stated by the counsel for the prosecution, that it
was probable the injury which caused the death of Catherine
Demarest was inflicted by a pistol which was loaded with
powder and wadding only. The case would require the most
anxious attention of the jury, and they would probably have
to inquire, amongst other things, whether the prisoner was
in full possession of his faculties at the time when the act
was committed.

Mary Redmane stated, that she resided at No. 70, Thomp-
son-street, Manchester, and the prisoner lived next door to
her. On Monday morning, March 1, while she was in bed,
she heard an unusual noise in the prisoner's house. She
raised up her head to listen, and heard the screams of a fe-
male, which presently were suppressed, as if the tone were
muffled. She heard her say, " Oh, dear me !" in a tone as
if she were exhausted. The noise appeared to come from the
front room. The houie was open on Monday, and not after.
On the Friday following she went into the house with the
police. The front room floor was marked with blood, but it
had evidently been washed and scoured, and sand left upon it.
There was blood in several other parts of the house. Three
persons lived in that house, Mr. and Mrs. Flemming and
Catherine Demarest.

Cross-examined by Mr. WILKINS.—She was awakened by
the noise. Catherine Demarest got her living by making caps.
By the JUDGE.—She was about twenty-three years old,
and was good-looking.
Mary Lowry resided in Thompson-street, next door to the
prisoner, on the other side of Mrs. Redmane. She was
awakened on Sunday morning, the Ist of March, by a noise
in Flemming's house. She heard a great scream from a fe-
male, and heard some person exclaim either " Oh ! murder,"
or "Oh ! mercy." Then followed a noise as if some one had
leaped off the bed on to the floor. She heard another scream,
and then a subdued screaming as if the person had been pre-
vented from screaming. She heard a noise of some persons,
one or two, running up and down stairs several times. She
heard the back-door open and shut. On the Tuesday' follow-
ing she observed that the house was closed. She had not ob-
served it before.

By Mr. WiLxvcs.—Thomas-street is a quiet, but a public
street. Flemming had always been very peaceable. She be-
lieved the_ prisoner was a married man : his wife resided with
him.

Mary Stock, a night-nurse, at the Manchester Infirmary.
On Sunday morning, the Ist of March, at an early hour, the
prisoner at the bar, and a woman whom she had since learned
was Catherine Demarest, came to the Manchester Infirmary.
She was bleeding very profusely from a wound in her fore-
head and at her nose. Witness asked her what was the mat-
ter. She said she was shot by a gun. Witness asked where

she was at the time„ She said, -"
Oh ! 1 was in the,bed."

Witness asked her who shot her. She or the prisoner. re-
plied, " We don't know." She (witness) asked who were in
the house. The prisoner replied, " None, but my wife and
myself, and her" (the deceased.) She said her bed-room
door was shut, but not fastened. Witness asked, if they
went to bed and left the house door unfastened. The pri-
soner said she was the last up. She said, " I was the last up,
but the door was fast enough." The prisoner, in reply to a
question from the nurse, said, the girl was a widow ; lie and
his wife slept in one room and the deceased in another. The
deceased had on her night-gown, chemise, cloak, and a pair
of old shoes. The prisoner had on only his trowsers and
coat and top-coat. He had come out without his trowsers
braced.
Thomas Crompton stated, that in March last he was an
in-patient at the Manchester Infirmary. He was called into
the kitchen there on the morning of the first of March. • He
saw the prisoner and Catherine Demarest. She was bleed-
ing profusely. She said, in reply to a question from him,
that a man had shot her; and the prisoner, who was very
much agitated, said it was done by a man in a long top coat.
Mrs. Stock recalled.—She thought the girl was the pri-
soner's wife, because he was so very kind and affectionate
towards her, often repeating the words, " Catherine, my
dear."
Mary Williams, another nurse at the Infirmary, stated,
that Catherine Demarest made a statement to her.
Before this evidence was allowed, the house surgeon at
the Infirmary, William Smith, was called. He stated, that
he attended the deceased till her death. She had received a
small wound on the forehead. Her eyelashes, and her eyes,
and the right side of her face were scorched and marked
with gunpowder. He was of opinion, that the wound on the
forehead had been caused by wadding. The pistol must have
been fired in a slanting direction. The wound could not
have been caused by a bullet. The wound was not dangerous
at first. On Friday, the Gth of March, symptoms of locked-
jaw were manifested, and on Sunday they were quite con-
firmed, and he then knew there was no chance for her life.
She died on Tuesday morning, the 10th of March. He
examined her body after death, which he attributed to locked-
jaw, occasioned by the wound on the head. She might have
fancied that she had a bullet in her head, but he never heard
her express such a fancy. He thought she was never con-
vinced that she should not recover till the day preceding her
death, between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, when
lie informed her that he thought she would not recover.
Cross-examined by Mr. W ILKIN S.—He had made up his
mind, on Sunday, that she would not recover, and he in-
formed the magistrates on Monday. Had read cases of
somnambulism. He had heard of acts being done in sleep
as extraordinary as if this act had been committed during
sleep.
By the JUDGE.—He could not say, positively, that she was
convinced she should die after he told her.
Mary Williams (examination continued.)—When the girl
asked her, which she did frequently, if she thought she would
get better, witness told her that she thought she would. The
deceased several times said she was afraid she would die, as
she was sure there was a ball in her head. After Mr. Smith,
the surgeon, had told her that she could not recover, she did
not express herself more strongly on the subject.
The above witness was called to prove the statement of
the deceased. As it could not be proved that deceased was
under immediate apprehension of death at the time, the evi-
dence could not be received.
Ann Shore stated, that she knew the deceased and the pri-
soner at the bar. She saw the latter on the Thursday. He
came out of his house with two pieces of bedstocks on his
shoulders. They were Yeinoving from the house, which they
left on Wednesday.
David Lipsett, an inspector of police, at Manchester,
stated, that he apprehended the prisoner on the sth of March,
at Manchester, at a house in Fetter-lane. He stated that
his name was John Flemming, and that he resided in Hunt-
street. Witness was in search of Nicholas Flemming, and,
not finding any one named John Flemming, he took him,
telling him that he suspected that he was Nicholas Flemming.
The prisoner said, " You are right." He added, that he
could not tell what made him do it ; it was a had job. He
did not know what made him do it; he knew nothing of it
till he was awakened by the report of a pistol, and found her
in his arms. He volunteered all this. He was going further,
when witness told him it was a serious charge, and he might
have to give it in evidence against him. The prisoner asked
if witness was aware that any ball was found, as he did not
know that there was any ball in the pistol. Witness had not
mentioned the charge to him.
Cross-examined.--The prisoner was very miserable when
he found him. He said he was more sorry on account of his
wife and the deceased than for himself. His wife and he
were exceedingly affectionate to each other.
Melville Burton, an inspector of police, at Manchester,
stated, that, on the day when lie was taking the prisoner to
the inquest, he said he did not think what was in the pistol
could have shot her; there was nothing like a bullet in his
house. He had purchased the pistols in Ireland, and thrown
them away on the Leeds Railway.
By Mr. WILKINS.—When told by witness that the young
woman was dead, he fainted away. On his recovery lie ex-
claimed, " Oh ! my God, what have I done—what have I
brought her to."
Mr. WILKINS addressed the jury for the defence. He said
be approached the case with more than ordinary anxiety, as
he as firmly believed in the innocence of his unfortunate
client as he did in his own existence. He was about to set
up a most extraordinary defence, but unfortunately he was
crippled, as the only witness who could be called to corro-
borate the prisoner's story was his broken-hearted wife,
whom the law did not allow to be called. The defence set up
by the learned counsel was, that the prisoner had committed
the act in a fit of somnambulism. He remarked on the im-
probability of the prisoner committing such an act in his
senses, as no motive whatever could be found to account for
it. He commented on the anxiety and affectionate solicitude
for the unfortunate girl as proofs of the truth of his story.
Mr. Wilkins was about to read some extracts from Mac-
nish's Philosophy of Sleep, for the purpose of showing what
extraordinary acts had been committed during the state of
somnambulism, when
Mr. BRANDT, though he expressed himself loath to inter-
fere, objected. He said he would not, in this particular
case, press the objection, if his lordship thought fit.
His LORDSHIP said, it was better to be strictly regular.
His Loin:min), after a brief charge to the jury, concluded

by saying, that, under the extraordinary circumstances of the
case, he thought the safest verdict the jury could rind would
be not guilty. He did not wish to take the case out of the
hands of the jury, but if they agreed with him, it would save
the time necessary to go through the evidence.
• The jury acquitted the prisoner.