The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-08-19 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

BILL FOR CONSPIRACY.—On Saturday a bill for con-
spiracy against Inspector Muir and officers Threlfall,
M`Farlane, and Nl' Loughlin, of the borough constabulary,
was sent before the Grand Jury. The conspiracy was
alleged to have been entered into for the purpose of
lodging informations against Mr. John White, publican,
of Copperas-hill, for infractions of the Improvement Act,
in permitting drunkenness on his premises. The Grand
Jury threw out the bill.
THE JUDGES. —On Sunday forenoon Mr. Baron
Rolfe and Mr. Justice Cresswell attended Divine Ser-
vice at St. George's Church, in the Crescent. The
Mayor accompanied by the usual civic retinue. was pre-
sent; so, also, were the High Sheriff, Under Sheriff, the
Recorder, the Town Clerk, Sir Thomas Brancker, and
many other gentlemen. The congregation was exceed-
ingly numerous and resecptable. Prayers were read by
the Rev. Mr. Brookes. jun., and the service was
preached by the Rev. Rector Brookes senior, and the
High Sheriff's Chaplain. The text was taken from the
14th chapter of Proverbs and the 12th verse :—" There is
a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death." The discourse was very
appropriate to the occasion. In the afternoon their
Lordships took a walk through the town, and dined in
the evening at their lodgings in St. Anne-street.
ALLEGED ASSAULT.—On Friday, at the Police-court.
Mr. G. Wright, brewer, of Union-street, was charged
with assaulting police-constable, No. 244. It appeared
that Mr. Wright was coming from a ride with his three
sons. Two of them were some distance in advance and
riding smartly ; himself and a little boy, about seven
years,were riding ata walking pace,when the policemen , from
some unexplained cause, suddenly charged Mr. Wright
with riding at a furious rate, and demanded his name and
address. Mr. Wright gave his name and said he lived in
Union-street, but that he did not know the number, as in
fact there was none. The policeman kept hold of the
reins in an offensive manner, and Mr. Wright threatened
to strike him if he did not remove his hold on the bridle.
The policeman behaved very ill, and refused, upon which
Mr. Wright struck him several times across the arm with
his cane. The policeman then seized him by the collar
and pulled him off. It was distinctly proved that Mr.
Wright had not ridden faster than a walk from Mile-end,
and the policeman's testimony was distinctly contradicted
in other points, and the magistrates dismissed the case.

IMPROVEMENT OF LIVERPOOL

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Sin,—lt is to be hoped that by a timely application to
Parliament for an extension of their powers, our Town
Council will supersede the necessity for government ir.ter-
ference with our local concerns. Whilst on this topic
permit me to inquire why so many streets, for which an
improvement act was obtained some eight or ten years
since, are suffered to be in abeyance, or to remain in
statu quo. I could name half-a-dozen where the parapet
is set back, to indicate the intention of the Corporation :
to wit, Paradise-street and Hanover-street, Shaw's-brow,
Bevington-bush, the lower part of Dale-street, and last,
not least, the upper end of Cook-street. The last-men-
tioned is a sadly mismanaged affair. No doubt at some fu-
ture period, it will be essential for public convenience to
form a twenty-yard street from thence across to Man-
chester-street, when it will be requisite to pull down the
costly buildings now in course of erection. I should re-
commend, before proceeding further, that an arrangement
be made with the owners, to purchase the needful quantity
of land for this purpose. And let me also urge upon the
attention of the Markets Committee the absolute want of
better accommodation for the residents of Pownall-square,

and Cleveland-square and vicinity, by the enlargement an
covering in of the aforesaid markets.

It might be advisable for these persons to petition or
memorialise the Council on the subject.—l am, sir, &c.
CIVIS.

Aug. 14th, 1845

DOCK COM MITTEE.-THIIRSDAY

Present : Messrs. Moore, (in the chair,) Molyneux,
Middleton, Horsfall, Smith, Mann, Henderson, Aikin,
Royden, Tobin, Houghton, Bold, Shand, Kendall, Sand-
baeh, Evans, and Ripley.---It was agreed to allow Messrs.
James Hodgson and Co. the sum of £95 towards the ex-

pense of making a launching slip on the land recently let
to them.—The sub-committee reported that they could

)orway

SOUTH LANCASHIRE ASSIZES.

The judges reached Lime-street Station, from Lancas-
ter, on Wednesday afternoon, a little before four o'clock,
and were conveyed to their lodgings, in St. Anne-street,
in the mayor's state carriage, and, having robed, they
proceeded to the Crown Court, where the commission was
opened, and the court was adjourned until eleven o'clock
the following morning. Their lordships, after opening
the commission, went to St. George's Church, accompa-
nied by the High Sheriff, Rector Brooks, the Mayor, the
Town-clerk, Deputy-sheriff, &c. TIE; Rev. Rector
Brooks, chaplain to the high sheriff, officiated.
The calendar contained a list of 89 prisoners, of whom
26 can neither read nor write, 23 read, 30 read and write
imperfectly, 7 read and write well, and 3 read and write
in a superior manner.

CROWN COURT—THURSDAY.
(Before Mr. Baron Rolfe.)
The following gentlemen were sworn on the grand jury :
Sir Thomas Bernard Birch, Bart., Hazles, Foreman.
Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood. Bart., M P., Fleetwood.
Peter Greenall, Esq., M.P., St. Helen's.
William Birley, E,q., Kirkham.
William Bolling, Esq., Briton-le-Moors.
William Brown, Esq., Liverpool. -
Elias Chadwick, Esq., Swinton Hall.
Edward Every Clayton, Esq.. Carr Hall.
Thomas Eastwood, Esq.. Brindle Lodge.
John Fletcher, Esq., Vale Bank.
William Gale, Esq., Lightburne House.
Joseph Langton, sq , Liverpool.
Thomas Littledale, jun., Esq., Claremont.
John Naylor, Esq , Liverpool.
Richard Newsham, Esq., Preston.
William R thb -ne, Esq., Grcenbank.
Alfred Hudson Royds, Esq., Brown Hill.
Samuel Sandbach, E-q., Aigbutth.
John Swainson, Esq., Halton Hall.
Samuel Taylor, Esq., Ecclestone Hall.
Joseph Brooks Yates, Esq West Dingle.
Joseph Ridgway, Esq., Wallsuches.
Sir Thomas Braneker, Knt., Liverpool.
His Lordship, in delivering his charge, dwelt, in his
opening remarks, on the unusual number of prisoners, and
the brutal character of the offences to be tried at the pre-
sent assizes. His lordship then referred to education as
tending to humanize the mind, and prevent crimes of that
description, and proceeded to observe, on the cases of ho-
micide, (twelve in number,) in the calendar. The learned
baron said that it appeared to him that almost all the cases
are nearly of the same description—all cases of death
resulting from brutal violence. These are often cases
which it is exceedingly difficult, by any satisfactory deci-
sion a priori, to class either within the crime of murder or
of manslaughter—the distinction in such cases being one
not so much of principle as of degree. Parties may act
with brutal violence towards one another upon little pro-
vocation. They may quarrel, go out and fight, and the
result may be death. Is that manslaughter or murder ?

It is a question often very difficult of solution. The only
way to decide it is this, to say that in those cases where
the violence has been of a character that to any man, ra-

tionally reasoning, it must be evident the result would be
death, undoubtedly that is murder. It is commonly said
the distinction is where a deadly weapon has been used.
That is perhaps an illustration of the rule instead of the
rule itself, for there may be brutal violence used without

any deadly weapon, and in my opinion, that is as much
murder as if a dagger or pistol had been used. On the
other hand, there might, by possibility, be other cases
in which death may result from violence with a stick or
stone, and in which it is not safe to charge it as a
case of murder ; for although death may ensue, death
does not ordinarily ensue, and the parties may
have intended to resort to violence and not have

contemplated

murder

bought up, charging

the grave offence of murder, and the evidence goes to sa-
-
tisfy you there was not any such extreme violence as to
lead to the probability that the party must have contem-
plated the probable fatal result of the violence, it will be
your duty to return it as manslaughter only. On the
other band, if by the use of a deadly weapon, or extreme
violence by a stick or stone, such as would lead you to
suppose a fatal result must have been contemplated, and
death ensues, then, undoubtedly, you must find a bill for
murder. There is one case of a woman charged with the
murder of her child by drowning. In that case there is
no doubt of the act being done perfectly deliberately, but

there may be extreme doubt whether that woman was not
in a state of entire insanity. If the grand jury do not see
their way to that conclusion, they must find a bill for

and witnesses were called, several of whom gave an
opinion as to the market price of iron about the time of
the sale and immediately afterwards.
Mr. BAINES. on behalf of the defendant, said, the
question would be whether Andrew had the authority of
the defendant at the time when the contract with the
plaintiff was made to bind the defendant for the 400 tons.
which he refused to deliver. He thought he should be
able to show that Andrew had no such authority. He
called Mr. Andrew, whose evidence, however, went to
show that the bargain had been effected in the manner
alleged by the plaintiff.
His LORDSHIP consielered the defence had failed, and
directed the jury to give damages for the difference be-
tween the contract price, and the value of iron the 9th
October, which was 9s per ton. The jury returned a
verdict accordingly.—Damages, (9s per ton on the 400
tons undelivered). £lBO.
The cases subsequently tried were of no interest
--a--
CROWN COURT

-FRIDAY,

George RuftisPerkin;,;YOuli man of respectable ap-
pearance, pleaded guilty to a charge of forgery, in which
the prisoner put off a forged order to William Edmond-
son, at Liverpool, with intent to defraud him of its value.
—Sentence deferred.

Thomas Phillips, 20, and James Dixon, 20, were
charged with burglary at Bolton. The jury dismissed the
case against Dixon, but found Phillips guilty, and he was
sentenced to ten years' transportation.
Thomas Whittle, 21, was indicted for having assaulted
and robbed Joseph Oakes, at Ince-in-Mackerfield. The
prosecutor was drunk at the time.—Acquitted.
Patrick Lennard, 34, was indicted for stealing four
cows, the property of Henry Clayton, of Kenyon. The
prisoner was acquitted on the ground of insanity, and he
was ordered to be confined during her Majesty's pleasure.
[ln the course of the day his lordship had occasion to
complain of the few bills which had been sent before the
grand jury, and expressed his determination, in all cases
in which bills were in the hands of attorneys, to disallow
the costs of prosecution.]
_ _ _

Patrick Chapman, 23, was charged with having inter-
married with Elizabeth Jackson, his form
then alive. The jury found the prisoner gu

ilty. Fifteen

months and hard lab Our. _
James Fletcher was charged with wilfully damaging a
silk warp, at Leigh, on the 16th of January, the property
of Messrs. Walker and Co. Mr. Monk prosecuted, and
Mr. J. Pollock_defended.—Acquitted.

BIGAMY.--UNUSUAL APPLICATION. --F
Bradbury, 27, pleaded guilty of having at Eccle,

James
feloni-

ously married Ann Lindsay, Elizaheh his former wife
being then alive. At a later period of the day, Mr. Sow-
ler applied to his lordship for permission to withdraw the
plea, as he was instructed to defend the prisoner, who had
pleaded auilty by mistake. His lordship, after looking

'ere. forthcoming.