The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-12-24 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

KINGSTON, ,FRID A Y, DEC. 20.
Benjamin Bedwell, aged 57, master mariner, was placed at
the bar, charged with the wilful murder of Elizabeth Bedwell,
his wife.
Mr. Jemmett conducted the prosecution; Mr. Clarkson and
Mr. Dowling defended the prisoner.
The circumstances that gave rise to the present indictment
occurred so recently, and all the details were laid so fully before
the public, that it will be necessary to give only a brief outline
of the evidence as it appeared at the trial.
The prisoner and his wife resided at N 0.7, Southwark-square,
Borough, and a medical student, named Plummer, lodged in the
house. On the morning of November 19, the deceased went
into Mr. Plummer's-room, and begged him to make an alarm
at the window. She had scarcely finished the words, when the
prisoner rushed iu after her, and, addressing Mr. Plummer, said
that he would not be insultectin his own house, and desired him
to leave it immediately. He then seized his wife and pulled her
down stairs. She ran into the area, followed by the prisoner,
who at last succeeded in placing her in a chair by the area door.
Mary Anne Barnes, the servant, was a witness to what took
place, and, upon her crying and endeavouring to givethe alarm,
the prisoner pushed her into the back kitchen, and desired her
to be off out of the house, and not to stop there making a noise.
After she had been there a short time, she heard her mistress,
the deceased, say, " Oh, lam stabbed—l am stabbed !" She
immediately went into the front kitchen, and observed the pri-
soner standing by the area-door, and the deceased lying on the
floor near him, and blood flowing from her side. The prisoner
had nothing in his hand, but a table knife was lying on the table,
smeared with blood from the point to the handle. she screamed
out "Murder !" and a person of the name of Leech jumped over
the rails into the area. He, seeing that the prisoner looked wild,
and was in a state of great excitement, armed himself with a
stick, and went to the deceased's assistance. She drew up her
gown and petticoat, and pointing to her clothes, which were
saturated with blood, said, " I cannot get up, he has stabbed me
in my side." Upon Leech asking him why he had done so, he
replied, "It is done—the wretches have made me do it." He
spoke to him upon the cruelty of his conduct, and that he would,
probably, he hanged ; upon which he said, in a hurried tone—
" Hanged—hanged—take me to be hanged; I'll go this minute—
the wretches knew it !" and pointed to a Mrs. Harpley, a neigh-
bour, and said " That is one of the wretches." In the mean
time Mr. Plummer had gone for assistance, others of the neigh-
bourhood came up, and a policeman was sem. for. The deceased
was taken into the house of a friend residing in the square, and
a surgeon attended her, but she died in five or six days, in con-
sequence of the wound she had received. The prisoner was
formerly the master and part owner of a vessel trading to Con-
stantinople, but, in consequence of his rash eccentric conduct,
the other owners had refused to allow him to go in command.—
The last voya,ge he took was about fourteen months since. For
some time he had been in a low depressed state, would frequently
get up in the middle of the night, and go away for two or three
days without stating where he was going to ; at other times he
would walk up and down the room, biting the flesh off his fingers,
and exclaiming " Oh, what shall I do." His friends had fre-
quently told the deceased that he would do her some injury, and
advised her to have him taken care of, but she was exceedingly
fond of him, and refused to be separated. Her manner was
always mild and affectionate, and he was generally so, but
sometimes he would not take the slightest notice of her. He
had the greatest dread of being poisoned, and always had his
beer mixed with deceased's, between whom and Mr. Plummer
(he 21, and she 63 years of age) he fancied something wrong
had taken place, an (fin consequence he went up into the former's
room, and desired him immediately to leave the house. At that
time he had only lodged there a few days. Prior to her death
the deceased frequently expressed a wish that her husband
might not be hurt, for he was still dear to her, and she was sure
he would not have done it had be been in his proper senses; and
a few minutes before she died, on being told that he was taken
care of, she clasped her hands together and said "Thank God,"
and expired. The prisoner and his wife had been married 28
years, and had a grown-up family. They always lived happily
together, and appeareq much attached. the witnesses con-
curred in opinion that he prisoner for the last 18 months had
been decidedly deranged and strange for the last eight years.
Mr. Justice Gaselee stopped the case, observing that it was
clear the prisoner at the time of committing the act with which
he was charged was of unsound mind. His lordship then ad-
verewi to the act of Puliameut which provides for persons ac-
quitted for capital offence, on the ground of insanity, and
directed them to find a verdict of not guilty, intimating that the
prisoner would be taken care of..—.4equitted, but still detained.

LONDON POLICE REPORT.

MANSION-HOUSE, FRIDAY.

The parish officers of St. Swithin,' London-stone, appeared
some days ago for a warrant against a young man, named John
Stansfield, one of the waiters at the celebrated eighteen-penny
dinner house, for having deserted his wife, and Merilies, the
constable of the parish, went to Dover to execute it. The par-
ticulars of the case were curious and comic.

Stansfield was in the habit of picking up a good many two-
pences, and dashed away in his moments of leisure in the midst
of the fashionable movements. On the 21st of February, in the
present year, he married Margaret, the present complainant,
and got tired of her in a few months. He then proposed a sus-
pension of conjugal rights, and offered his wife a separate main-
tenance, at the rate of 10s. a-week, which she accepted, for the
sake of her health.as well as other comforts. The separation,
however, in this inStance, was effected on the part of the de-
fendant as a means of accomplishing a more agreeable connex-
ion with another, ancl a second Mrs. Stansfield made her ap-
pearance. A hubbub aturally arose out of the detection, andthe defendant thought e best course he could pursue was to
cut and run. He accordingly decamped, bag and baggage,
and arrived at an inn at Dover, where he ordered the waiters
about " like a real gentleman," and strutted in a furred great-
coat and a gold watch, with the chain festooned from his neck
into his waistcoat pocket. He was not long in Dover when he
wrote the following affectionate epistle to his new enamorata :
" Deerest Wife,—l write to you wonce more hopping that I
shal not have to rite no more til I have the pleasurable oppor-
tunity of imbrasing you in my harms, I hopes cincerely from
my hart that you will Corn with the bayror of thiss note for I am
comfortable settled with regard of some things and I ham out of
all the trubbles that I was hin when I left you and I hope that
I for ever shall remain. My Deer thiss gentleman is the gard
of a coach and if you will corn with him, he will bring you safe
to me : pleas be so kind as to corn with him, for without you
there is no happiness in this life for me, so I remain your obe-
jant and kind husband till death. 4, J.S.
`• If you have no blunt, I'll pay coachman when he brings
you down with him, but I do hopu yo'll coin down whether or not."
This letter was brought to town by the guard of one of the
coaches, and delivered to the lady to whom it was addressed;
but the complainant, who had been watching her rival's move-
ments, managed to get posqession of it, and immediately handed
it to the parish officers, who, conjecturing that the 10s. a-week.
would be discontinued, toak the necessary measures to secure
the body of the deserter.

Merilles stated that he saw the woman whom he believed to
be the second wife of the defendant get upon the Dover coach,
under the protection of the guard, and that he travelled on the
same vehicle.. A good deal of caution was used by the guard
and the lady, upon the arrival of the coach at Dover, but wit•
ness followed them up close, . and, after several twistings and
turnings, he had at last the satisfaction to see the wished-for
meeting. " Oh, Nancy darling !" said the defendant. " Oh,
my Jack !" cried the lady. " Beg pardon," said witness, "but
I've got a warrant to bring you to London, to support your other
wife, Mr. Stansfield." This intelligence was received in a
valiant manner. "I am able to support them both well," said
the defendant, "and I shall give bail;" so off they came to town.
Mr. Hobler, jun., appeared for the defendant, and said that
his client was not married to the lady who went to visit him at
Dover, and that he could be charged with no legal offence, for
he had paid his wife up to last Saturday night, and had no idea
of leaving her to the parish.—The defendant was then remanded.

A JUVENILE IMPOSTOR.—The public ought to be upon their
guard against a practised young swindler, who is now layin,g
the humane and credulous under contributions, by the feigned
simplicity and artlessness with which she tells a pathetic and
plausible tale. She is remembered by many persons, who
have reasons for so doing, as long ago as twelve months, and she
has recently been repeating her depredations in the neighbour-
hood of Aigburth, where several highly respectable families
have been imposed upon by her ingenuity and consummate de-
ception. She presents a note of recommendation, purporting
to be signed by the lady of an official gentleman in this town,
but which, as there is an error in the orthography, is most
likely a fraud; and by means of this she obtains an introduc-
tion for the purpose of amusing children by playing ou the
piano and speaking French, and which, in order, we suppose,
that no part of hei performance should compromise the charac-
ter of the whole, she does, as it is sometimes said, " with a
vengeance." But in the tact of her demeanour and conversa-
tion, the readiness of her replies, and the quickness of her ob-
servation, she is represented to be a complete adept ; she
states herself to be eight years of age, but her appearance indi-
cates at least two years more; she is a neat Scotch lassie, with
a genuine Scotch name, Margaret M'Donald, a broad Scotch
accent, and professes great enthusiasm for her native bills; at
one house, where her scheme was successful, after being well
treated in the kitchen, where, it must be confessed, she least justi-
fied her own account of her age, she was presented, amongst oL: er
articles of apparel, with a pair of plaid trousers, upon seeing wh
she exclaimed with gFeatdelight, " Ah, tartan !" and kissed t'
with as much affection as if they had been worn by Prince
Charles. Her father, she said, had been a serjeant in the 42d
Highlanders, and, having undergone the sentence of 150 lashes
for spending the recruiting money, had died in consequence :
until that happened, she had been brought up and educated by
the colonel's lady ; and this was a part of her story which had
some confirmation in her appearance and address. She had on
a very elegant satin frock, which she said had belonged to the
colonel's lady. Her object, she states, is to obtain a little
money and some clothes, that she and her mother may return
to Glasgow ; but, as most of her country people find their way
here much more easily than they find it back, she and her
mother have been going to Glasgow for the last twelve or fif-
teen months. At another house she pretended to have been
directed there by a friend of the family, whose name had suffi-
cient influence to gain her half-a crown. 'We trust the good
people of Liverpool, as well as Aigburth, will in future have
caution enough with their charity to be no more imposed upon
by this precocious marauder, and that the police will take
especial care that neither of the parties are neglected.