The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-01-05 00:00:00

INQUESTS BEFORE THE COUNTY CORONER

On Tuesday last, an inquest was held at Whiston, near
Prescot, before John Heyes, Esq., coroner, on the body of
Jane Mallen, aged about 25 years. It appears the deceased,

win) had been in a delicate state of health for the last twc
years, went out of her husband's house on Monday evening

lim eating his supper

es he was alarme

iy a person cal

in the lane that some one was lying on the causeway, as h
supposed, intoxicated; but, on proceeding thither, the hus
band found it to be the decea,3ed, his wife. They immedi
ately removed her, but life was quite extinct. There wa:
some clotted blood on her mouth, which was instantly wipe(
away, and a surgeon sent for. She had previously been it
the habit of vomitting blood, but before going out had ap.
peared rather more cheerful than usual. Verdict—" Diei
by the bursting of a,blood-vessel."
On Thursday last, at the Owl's Nest, in IThydock, on the
body of George Simm, a man about 28 years of age. The
deceased was met on the banks of the canal in the afternoor
of the Tuesday previous, about two o'ciock, by a man whe
was driving the horse attached to a flat. He was walking
slowly along, and appeared pale and dejected ; and nothing
more was heard of him until about a quarter before three
the same afternoon, when his body was found floating on
the surface of the water, a short distance from where he was
met, and close to a narrow bridge which be would have had
to cross; his hat was also floating on the water. his body

was immediately taken out, and eiery means used torestor
animation, but without effect. In the absence of any posi
tive evidence as to how the deceased got into the water, th
Found drowned."

jury returned a verdict of

On Saturday last, at the Bull Inn, West Derby, on the
body of Peter Thomas, whose death was caused by his being

run over by

a very infirm- old man

and was walking in the middle of the road, when the cart.
shaft pushed him dmtn, and the wheels passed over his loins
The driver was walking about four yards in advance of hit

nekihbour, when.

Fie turned his head to his hor'se, and saw the deceased in the
act of falling, but he could not stop the horse in time to
prevent the cart from going over him. Mr. Hall, surgeon,
attended him, but he died in about an hour and a half after
the occurrence. Verdict—" Accidental death."

Same day, at Warrington, on the body of a poor old man,
who came to his death in a manner which exhibits a striking
exemplification of the fragile nature of the human frame.
The circumstances are these :—The deceased was going to
his work on the morning of Thursday last, about six o'clock ;
and, while walking along Irlam-street, he was met by a young
man who was running fast for fear of being too late at his
work. The latter had just turned the corner of a street,
and it being very dark, the deceased and he did not see each
other until they came in contact, and the old man was
knocked down. Ile got upend walked home; his wife gave
him some coffee, but it would not stay on his stomach; and
after he had sat down, it was only b% her assistance that he
was prevented from falling off his chair. Medical assistance
was immediately procured, but the shock received by the
nervous system, in consequence of the sudden concussion
and fall, caused his death in three hours after. No blame is
attributable to the young man who was the innocent cause
of this sudden death; and the jury accordingly returned a
verdict of " Accidental death."—lt is desirable that, in a
thickly-populated town like Warrington, the gas should be
allowed to remain lighted on such dark mornings as that on
which this old man met his death. Had this been the case,
it is not improbable that the fatal accident we now record
would have been prevented.

LIVERPOOL EPIPHANY SESSIONS

These sessions commenced in the Court
before James Clarke, Esq., Recorder.
The following gentlemen were sworn on the

-house, yesterday

GRAND JURY

JAMES COCKSHOTT, Esq., foreman, merchant.
Ralph Abraham, salt proprietor.
William'Armstrong, merchant.
Thomas Barber, gentleman.
Charles Chaloner, merchant.
John Davies, merchant.
William H. Dolier, merchant.
Daniel Fletcher, jun., merchant.
• George Highfield, shipbroker.
William Hope, merchant.
Thomas B. Horsfall, merchant.
Peter Hope, grocer.
Thomas Jevons, iron merchant.
Alfred King, engineer.
S. 0. Percival, merchant.
Alexander Parlane, merchant,
J. M. Priestman, merchant.
Charles W. Reid, gentleman.
Richard Rathbone, merchant
John Ridgway, merchant.
Thomas Shaw, gentleman.
The royal proclamation against vice, profaneness, and im-
morality having been read:by the Clerk of the Peace.
The RECORDER proceeded to deliver the
,charge to the
Grand Jury. He said, that in the course of Saturday and

yesterday he had read most of the depositions sent in to him,
and, he was happy to inform them, that the cases were of a
description that would not cause them any embarrassment.
They were plain and ordinary cases of felony. There was
one case, indeed, which would require some consideration,
buteven that he thought would not give them much difficulty.
It was number 35 in the calendar ; the man was charged
with having received two bank of England notes, of the value
of £lO each, the property of Robert Knott Carter, knowing
them to have been stolen. The felony upon these notes was
committed by a woman of the town, not, indeed, on these
notes only, but a great many more. The woman who stole
them wert the moment afterwards to the person now pro-
secuted, Richard Johnson, who kept a public-house, and it
seemed by the depositions that the man without making any
inquiry how they had been come by, immediately gave her
sum

noney for them. What the sum stolen was he could
t tell, but if the grand jury should be of opinion that
ordinary caution and prudence had not been exercised by the
prisoner, that he had lent himself to the woman's views by
taking the notes from her without enquiry, it would be for
them to say that he had been guilty of receiving them know-
ing them to have been stolen. They would bear in mind that
if women of the town who went about robbing gentlemen of

their money, could, by going to some particular placez get
the value Of the not.., it wes giving such women, who usually
acted under the influence of excitement,*encouragement to go
into the street for the purpose of robbing. And if parties were
to be found, who in a moment afterwards and without hesi-
tation received the stolen property, that surely was giving
the greatest and most direct encouragement to the commis-
sion of felonies in the streets. He had no further observations
to make with regard to any particular case in the calendar.
He was very sorry to see that at least one half of the offenders
for trial at these sessions were young persons. Half of them
were ander the age of twenty, and many of them even much
younger. No doubt there was great difficulty in training
these offenders after their first appearance in a court of jus-
tice, but he hoped that some means might be devised tor
checking crime among this class. They were summarily con-
victed in the first instance, seven days imprisOnment was
awarded, then a fortnight, and afterwards a month. Then
the magistrate finding that this had no effect, said to them

" I have shown you all the lenity I can in the hope that you
would amend, but you have not, and now I must send you
for the felony." The consequence was that when they were
convicted, and their cases reported to the Home Depart-
ment, they were sent out of the country. Now it was very
unfortunate that those children could not be reclaimed at an
early period. They had had, however, no education given
to them, consequently they were almost incapable of amend-
ment, and they encumbered the country with a tremendous
expense, for each prosecution cost between £3O and £4O,
and occurred three or four times a-year. This was of
course independent of the expense of their maintenance.
There was also another great evil in this. Half of this class
of criminals were described as not being able to read or write.
But although they were not able to read or write he ought to
tell the grand jury that they had a great deal of knowledge,
but, unfortunately, it was knowledge of the wrong sort: it
was the knowledge of evil instead of good. They were not
deficient in understanding, but it was not an understanding
of the ways of godliness. As a very excellent man had
said, they were full of knowledge, but it was the knowledge
of evil, and they had never been taught either religion or
the influence of religion. With. these remarks he should
dismiss the grand jury to their labours.

A PERSEVERING THIEF

William Jackson, (22,) was indicted for having feloniously
stolen a handkerchief, the property of Matthew Waring.
It appeared that the prosecutor was in the gallery of the
Queen's Theatre, in Christian-street, on the night of the
2d November last. The prisoner was also there, and
whilst. the performances were proceeding several persons
missed their pogket handkerchiefs, and amongst theui the
prosecutor. It was discovered that the prisoner had committed
the robberies ; nine handkerchiefs were found upon him,
and forthwith the gods unceremoniously ejected him.
lie then proceeded to the pit, where he commenced ope-
rations with about the same amount of success, but being
detected he was turned out. The stage was next selected
for his operations, and from there he was also turned
out ; but as he was leaving the place somebody gave
him in charge to a pOliceman for having stolen the prosecu-
tor's handkerchief. The jury found the prisoner guilty. He
was sentenced to ten years' transportation.