The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-12-17 00:00:00

CROWN COURT Y
_ ESTERD A Y

William Smith, aged 35, was charged with having, at
Manchester, through his gross negligence, caused the
death of Charles Carlisle.

Mr. Blair prosecuted, and the prisoner was defended by
Mr. Pollock.

It appeared from the evidence that the prsorer was an
engineer at the cotton mill of Mr. Charles Poole), Brad.
ford-road, Manchester, and the deceased was an assistant
engineer at the same place. It was stated that there were
seven boilers working three engines. The fourth was
cracked, and had been patched in an inefficient manner,
by and under the directions of the prisoner. On the 10th
of October, two or three nays after these repairs had taken
place. the boiler in question exploded, the pressure of
steam then upon it being twenty-two pounds to the inch.
The deceased was in the boiler-room at the time of the
explosion, and was so frightfully scalded that he expired
in a fortnight afterwards. It was shown that the crack in
the boiler was 14 inches in length, and it was proved that
the prisoners had been forewarned by a Mr. Swain, a
boiler maker, that No. 4 boiler was in a very unsafe and
dangerous state. _ _

In cross-examination it was elicited that the prisoner
had himself narrowly escaped the fate of the deceased.
For the defence it was contended that the prisoner had
exercised as sound a judgment as any man under the
circumstances, in having these repairs made, and that, as
they had been made by the boilermaker, Swain, he could
not he held responsible for any defection in his work.
The learned counsel contended, that if the prisoner had
not believed in the sufficiency of the repairs, he would not
have exposed himself to the imminent danger which
he did. He argued most pointedly that the whole
casualty could be regarded as nothing but an accident.
and at most it could be regarded as but an error of judg-
ment. He hoped, therefore, that the jury would return
a verdict of acquittal.

His Lordship having summed up, the jury at once re-
turned a verdict of not guilty.

Thomas Calderbank,- Thomas Jones, and James East-
ham were indicted for haring, on the 10th of October, in
the township of Bickerstaffe, on the ground of the Earl of
Derby, been caught poaching, and with assaulting Henry
Prescott, a game-keeper, upon that occasion.
Mr. Blair prosecuted, and Mr. James defended.

At the clove of the case, Jones was found guilty, and
sentenced to two months' imprisonment. Calderbank
and Eastham were acquitted.
This was the last case before Baron Alderson,—the
court rose at two o'colck, and his lordship proceeded to
London.

NISI PRIUS COURT-YESTERDAY,
ROBBERY FROM THE PERSON.

Thomas Robinson, Eliza Robinson, and Ellen Miller,
found guilty of robbing a man of a watch, at Manchester,
were put. up for judgment.

The Judge, addressing the male prisoner, said,—You,
Thomas Robinson, have been found guilty of a very atro-
cious crime. and one, I fear, that is very common, viz.,
of enticing a man into a house for the purpose of robbing
him; or, if you did not so entice him into the house, of
laying a scheme, when the party was in that house, for
opposing his leaving it, and then robbing him. The male
prisoner was greatly affected, and with tears begged for
mercy, never having been in a prison before, and having
lived in one situation, in the service of Mr. Green, of the
North-western Railway, Manchester. The learned Judge
having made some remarks relative to the part taken by
the women in the robbery, passed sentence. Thomas
Robinson, 18 months' imprisonment, with hard labour;
Eliza Robinson and Ellen Miller, 12 months' imprison-
ment, with bard labour.

M ACAULAY'S CASE

Mr. Pollock applied to the Judge to ask whether pro-
perty found on Macaulay's premises, not stolen, but
belonging to parties who had entrusted it to the prisoner
to repair, could be recovered.

The judge thought there could be no doubt that these
parties were entitled to their property, but considered he
had no control over any but the stolen property.

MANSLAUGHTER

Edward Moran was put up on an indictment charging
him with causing the death of Andrew Murphy, on the
18th September, at Manchester.
Mr. Aspinall appeared for the prosecution. He said,
addressing the jury, the case was one of some importance
as showing the sort of treatment the destitute poor, who
were obliged to apply for relief, are in the habit of receiv-
ing. He then went on to explain that the deceased, An-
drew Murphy, was a tailor, who had lately arrived from
Bradford ; on the 17th he arrived in Manchester, and in
the evening slept at a place called the Tailors' Club-house,
being entitled to this accommodation on producing a card :
when he left the place on the following morning he ap-
peared to be in good health. He (the learned counsel)
should show that at about ten o'clock on the night of the
18th September deceased applied at an establishment in
Tib-street, called the Vagrant Ward, and which was a
night asylum established within the last few years by the
guardians of the poor of Manchester, for the purpose of
relieving destitute persons with a night's lodging, and a
portion of coarse food, in return for which they were
required to perform two or three hours' work. When the
deceased applied at this establishment, he was put with
other persons into a narrow passage to be searched. At
length the prisoner Moran, who acted as an assistant
at the establishment, began to search him, and having
done so observed that he (deceased) held something
in his hand, which was tightly closed. Moran at-
tempted in vain to open his hand, but succeeded with
the assistance of Mr. Hollis, the superintendent, and
others, when copper money amounting to 10d. or 11d.
rolled out upon the floor ; such was the violence used
towards deceased that the next day his hand was found
to be seriously injured. The learned counsel here drew a
distinction between the circumstances of the administra-
tion of permanent relief under the poor-law, and those of
the temporary relief referred to, where he contended that
applicants, as it were, sold their labour for the consider-
ation of shelter and food ; under such circumstances, the
deceased felt naturally indignant at the treatment he had
received, and immediately threw one of his boots at the
officers, but which struck a pauper ; upon this Moran
attacked him, striking him on the head and other parts
of the body. After this he went to bed, having previously
compla!ned of his thumb ; he passed a restless night, and
on the next day was so bad as to render it necessary he
should be taken to the workhouse, when he died a few
days afterwards. At the post mortem examination, an
injury was found at the back of deceased's head ; there
was no external mark, and the surgeon would show that
the wound had been caused by a blow on the eye, from
the effects of what is called the counter stroke. Mr.
Aspinall contended that the persons who had searched
deceased had done so illegally ; he quoted the statute 11
and 12 Vic. chap. 110, sec. 10, by which it appears that
the master of any workhouse, or his assistants, has the
power of searching applicants for relief, but he contended
that the Tibb-street establishment was not a workhouse ;
and, moreover, that if they chose to impose a labour
test they could not apply any other, inasmuch as by re-
quiring applicants to perform a certain amount of work
for the food and shelter he received, the applicant dis-
posed of his labour just as much as though he sold it for
sixpence.
The learned Judge interposed, to draw Mr. Aspinall's
attention to the statute of Elizabeth, which expressly re-
quire. that funds be raised to set the poor to work.