The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-08-29 00:00:00

THE LATE FATAL DUEL.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Monday, Mr. Justice
Williams, in his address to the grand jury, made the fol-
lowing observations with reference to the late duel in
which Colonel Fawcett was killed. He said Mr. Gulliver
was charged with aiding and abetting the person who
actually killed the deceased on that occasion. The law
with respect to a person killing another in a duel was
perfectly clear : if persons met deliberately, in consequence
of a previous quarrel, after a lapse of sufficient time to
allow of the anger and excitement to cool, and the death
of one of them ensued, that constituted the crime of
murder against the person who killed him. There had
been no doubt upon that subject for some years past;
neither could there he any doubt thst the second of the
person killing his antagonist was also guilty of the crime
of murder ; but with respect to the second of the person
killed, it had been doubted by a very grave and learned
authority—he alluded to Lord Hale—whether such per-
son could be considered guilty of murder, for reasons
which he fully assigned, and any doubt entertained by
that learned authority were entitled to the greatest and
most serious consideration, more particularly as Mr.
Serjeant Hawkins, also a writer of great celebrity, did
not appear to doubt, or attempt to controvert, that
opinion ; if, therefore, that was the case, Mr. Gulliver
could not stand in a worse position than the second of the
party killed. He was aware, however, that at no distant
period, and in this very court, an opinion directly in op.
position to the dicta of Lord Hale and Mr. Serjeant
Hawkins had been expressed by two of the learned judges,
for whose opinions he entertained the greatest respect,
who stated, that beyond all doubt, the second of the per-
son killed, as well as the second of the person by whose
hand he fell, was guilty of murder equally with the prin.-.
cipal himself. The mere presence of a party at a duel
would not be sufficient to constitute him an aider and
abetter, but it was essential that he should be there
countenancing, aiding, and assisting in the duel. Sup-
posing, therefore, the dictum of Lord Hale to be well
founded, a series of questions must arise before them as
to the object of his presence, and the countenance, aid,
and assistance, which they should find applicable to the
case of Mr. Gulliver.

On Friday Lieutenant Cuddy and Mr. Gulliver surren-
dered to take their trials, when the Attorney-General
said, that the charge as alleged against Mr. Gulliver could
not be sustained; he should, therefore, decline to offer
any evidence against him ; he might, therefore, be at once
discharged, and could then become a competent witness
on behalf of the prosecution.
Mr. Gulliver then left the bar, and Lieutenant Cuddy
was arraigned and charged with aiding and abetting in the
commission of the offence. In ordinary cases of an
acquittal the precise grounds for the verdict do not appear,
but the interlocutory inquiries put by the jury as they
were about to leave the box to deliberate to the judge in
this case leave no doubt that the reason for the verdict of
not guilty was the absence of decisive evidence to show
that Mr. Cuddy aided and abetted Lieutenant Munro in
the murder of Colonel Fawcett.

Whatever may be thought of the weight of the moral
evidence in support of the charge of aiding and abetting
the murder, the legal testimony, it must be confessed,
was meagre. Not one of the witnesses swore positively
to the identity of the gentleman placed in the dock with
the person who acted as Colonel Fawcett's second, and
though Mr. Gulliver, the surgeon, believed him to be the
same, that officer seems to have seen—from defective
sight—% ery little of the conduct and management of the
duel previously to the demand for his professional assis-
tance; he did not witness the ground measured, or the
pistols prepared and handed to the principals ; all that he
could prove was, that Lieutenant Munro, on the morning
of the fatal occurrence, carried him up to the field where
it was fought ; that there he saw four gentlemen, one of
whom he believes was Mr. Cuddy ; that he heard the
words " ready—fire," given, a discharge of pistols, and,
then a summons to attend Colonel Fawcett; that lie ran
to where that unfortunate officer was lying, and found Mr.
Cuddy with two others at his side ; and that the wounded
man uttered a few words rather exculpatory of Lieutenant
Munro. The poverty of this testimony, joined to the
obvious repugnance of a jury to convict a second of aiding
and abetting a murder when the murder itself had not been
established to a deliverance jury, secured Mr. Cuddy's
acquittal; and Mr. Cuddy was immediately discharged.
Mr. Gulliver said, in the course of his examination as a
witness, that when he got to the ground he found Col.
Fawcett lying down, and heard him say something about
levelling a pistol. He said, " I was not level enough."
or " 1 did not cover you ;" to which Lieut. Munro said,
" Oh, Fawcett, I thought you were covering me." Col.
Fawcett said he bad been prac.ising.

From the reply of Sir James Graham to the memorial
of the Cheshire Grand Jury, it would appear that there is
a probability of having a w nter assize.
Sir W. Follett, says the W estern Times, netted, in
special retainers at these assizes, £4,000 in fees, and
without diminishing his ordinary attention to the interests
of his constituents.

A true bill was found on Wednesday morning, at the
Central Criminal Court, against certain merchants for
slave trading. The witnesses for the prosecution were
Colonel Edward Nicholls, R.M., the Honourable Capt.
Denman, and Captain Hill.
At the Cumberland Assizes, Lawrence Doogan, aged
16, was found guilty on a charge of breaking out of Car-
lisle Gaol on the sth of July, and was sentenced to seven
years' transportation, to commence at the expiration of
seven years to which the prisoner had previously been
sentenced.

On the Western Circuit an action has been brought by
Sir Samuel Spry, to recover the value of a race mare,
called Grateful, from a Mr. Ames and others, who, it was
alleged, had carried the mare away from the plaintiff's
stables, and while having it in their possession it died.
The plaintiff had purchased the mare of a trainer, named
Treen, at Plymouth. From Treen's stables the horse was
removed by a man named Sweatman, and this person
being indebted to Messrs. Ames, Castle, and Co., dis-
tillers, at Bristol, the mare was seized by them for debt.
On the part of the defendants, it was denied that the
mare was the same. Several witnesses, well known in
the sporting world, were examined. Verdict for the
plaintiff—damages £l5O.

AT HA
alltYhe aged
river Nidd, ,
river
RO G A 2271.--9,
on Sunday morning last, in the vicinity of Harrogate.
They went out to gather herbs, and unfortunately resolved
Rh
se° ioTr fi
liesithe
es
name
whilst ofDROWNED
T i
bathing a eAk
to bathe. The youth of 19 injudiciously jumped into a
and Three THREE
b, r o
lostt brothers IBetr
place much deeper than he expected, and having given
the alarm, his elder brother plunged in to rescue him;
but the effort was in vain, and their dreadful state induced
the younger one, in a moment of great agitation, to follow
the example of his elder brother. They clung to each
other, and all went down together.

DREADFUL DEATH OF Mll. AYMER, THE CELEBRATED
AMERICAN VAULTER.—This unfortunate man, whose
recenta
tperformanceionin his p
eactutl hi
aer Ed
enpgal
ri sthm
eOnpte, r am eel citeh isd
dseoamt
huh
onc
Thursday night at the Circus of Mr. Batty, proprietor of
the Royal Amphitheatre, where the late performer was
fulfilling an engagement. The particular performance for 1
which Mr. Aymer was announced concluded with a double
summerset, a feat
ae consideredsms rasn manner
De r
u almostcro precisely
aand
(di notfslaim,
eiis taq:Uaidtt
during
intigeyt the
. - . . -
impos-
sible, and in throwing it the ill-fated artist, instead ofs-.l*
alighting on his feet, fell on his neck, and death was that"
immediate result. Smith, a great trampoline and vaulter,
somem management
shisw ds
oe an
seasons
h of
ria ncl.
me
Tune:.

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