The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-03-28 00:00:00

CROWN COURT.-YESTERDAY,

His Lordship (Baron Alderson) entered the court at a
quarter past nine o'clock, when he proceeded to pass sen-
tence on the following prisoners, who had been previously
convicted :

Thomas Kaye being placed at the bar, his lordship ad-
dressed him thus :—You were convicted, on very satis-
factory evidence, of having stabbed a person named
Mawdesley three or four times, and ultimately deprived
him of the sight of an eye. I have taken your case into
consideration, and I have hesitated whether I should not
transport you. However, the sentence of the court is,
that you be imprisoned for twelve months and kept to hard
labour.
James Willis, Henry Finegan, and Mary Williams,
who were convicted on Saturday of robbing a man named
Holt, at Manchester, of the sum of seven-pence-halfpenny
and an ounce of snuff, were thus addressed :—You were
all convicted of a robbery, in the dead of the night, on a
person whom you all set upon, and having violently
abused him, you robbed him in the street. You, James
Willis, I am afraid, have been in gaol, accused, and tried
before, as you very well know, though it has not been in
this county. I heard this on Saturday ; but then I hesi-
tated about your sentence till to day, in order that I might
make some inquiry into that matter, and I have now to
say that I find it to be so. You Finegan, and you Mary
Williams, both of you, I find, have been residing in a
house of extreme bad character in Manchester. It is ne-
cessary, therefore,—and I regret it much in the case of
youthful persons like yourselves,--that I should be. obliged
to pass so severe a sentence, You, Willis and Finegan,
shall each be transported for seven years. (Sensation in
the court, in which the cries of the prisoners' relatives
were commingled.) And you, Mary Williams, who,. I
find, have also been convicted before, I find it necessary
to separate from the rest of society ; therefore, in your
case, I must also pass the sentence of transportation for
seven years✓ (Sensation.) I am sorry to be obliged to'
perform this painful duty, but still it is your own conduct
alone you have to blame.

STABBING,

Henry Meditows. 2', was charged with having, at Sal-
ford, stabbed one Thomas O'Hara, with intent to do him
grievous bodily harm. It appeared, according to the pro-
secutor, that late on Saturday night, or early on Sunday
morning, the 19th. December, the prosecutor and another
man (Jackson) were going home, when they saw the pri-
soner falling out with a woman. The prosecutor's com-
panion told the man not to strike the woman. Upon this
interference the man said " I'll strike you,'' and after a
lapse of some time,. during which the prosecutor and his
friend watched the man and woman, a mutual challenge
took place, and the prisoner and O'Hara fought. After
some blows had been struck, O'Hara found he was stab-
bed in the abdomen, He lot the wound dressed, and
afterwards went to the Town-hall to give information.
There a man named Salter was brought up, and prosecu-
tor stated that he thought he was the man. The prose-
cutor, on cross-examination, admitted that he was drunk
at the time ; that he was a fighting man, and had, fought
for prizes ; and that he had frequently been in gaol, and
on one occasion had been committed for two months for
assaulting a police officer. Jackson, when before the
magistrates, said that he believed Salter was the man ;
but he could not say yet. Salter was afterwards dis-
charged. On the prosecutor being recalled, he in several
parts gave a different version of the affair from that given
by his companion, Jackson. A police officer found
O'Hara wounded, and sent for a doctor, who dressed the
wound. On apprehending the prisoner, and telling the
charge against him. prisoner said he had used no knife,
and that the parties had maltreated him, and knocked out
one of his teeth. He had previously apprehended Salter.
He produced the knife, which he found three hours after
the fight, on the footwalk, and on the spot where the
affray took place. This knife was stated, by several of
the police officers, to be the same which had been found,
upon the prisoner when he was apprehended some four-
teen months before. The only manner in which it was
identified was by a slight stain on the ivory handle. Mr.
PoLLocic ably addressed the jury on behalf of the pri-
soner. He endeavoured to show that the knife (the find-
ing of which was the strongest circumstance against the
prisoner,) might have belonged to some other person, as
there were thousands of similar knives in constant use
amongst all classes. His LORDSHIP summed up with
great care, and the jury found a verdict of guilty. Sen-
tence was deferred.

FELONIOUS-ASSAULT,

John Brotherton, 44, was indicted for having, at Old-
ham, assaulted John Mellor, with intent to commit a rob-
bery, and with having at the same time wounded the pro-
secutor, causing him to lose his right eye. Mr. James
conducted the prosecution. Prosecutor, who is an opera-
tive cotton spinner, said that at midnight on the sth of
January he was going home along West-street, Oldham,
when he heard a noise in the prisoner's house, and
knocked. The prisoner opened the door, and asked pro-
secutor for a shilling, which he would not give him. Pri-
soner then ran at him and gave him a kick in the eye,
which burst it. The jury found the prisoner guilty of the
assault ; and his Lordship said the prisoner had certainly
been provoked, and as he had already suffered nearly three
months' imprisonment, he must be further imprisoned for
one month.

MALICIOUSLY :WOUNDING

Richard Jackson, 44, was charged with having, at
Newton Heath, on the 13th of February, maliciously
wounded his step-daughter, Catherine Harrison, with in-
tent to do her grievous bodily harm. It appeared that
the prisoner and his wife lived unhappily,and that a quar-
rel had taken place between them on tho proviouca day,
arising from some foolish remarks made to him by the
wife. Prisoner went out next morning and got drunk,
and on going home attacked the prosecutrix most vio-
lently, striking her on the head with the poker, so that it
was at first thought that she was killed. The prisoner
said he had no animosity to the prosecutor, and neverhad.
He had brought her up from the time she was six years
old, along with his own children. He added that he had
been extremely ill used by his wife, so that after doing his
best he found he could no longer live at his home. He
had in his passion flung the poker, and, he was sorry for
it. He spoke in rather superior language. The jury re-
turned a verdict of guilty of the assault, but not of the
felony. Sentence was deferred.
STABBING FELONIOUS
James Campbell, 30, was charged with having, at Pres-
ton, feloniously stabbed John Tipping, with intent to do
him' grievous bodily harm. Prosecutor said that on the
15th of February, he was going along Sedgwick-street,
Preston, with two others, Barton and Parkinson, when
they met the prisoner. Barton remonstrated with the
prisoner for committing a nuisance which he saw him
doing, in the footpath of the street named, in which pro-
secutor and the two others lived. Prosecutor went up
to him, and said, "-If I knew you, I would have you
summoned." The three had been to school, and each
had a school slate. They laid down their slates, and said
let us rub his nose in it. The prisoner ran at Barton with
a knife in his hand. Barton got out of the way. Pro-
secutor tried to secure him but could not, and ran away
to escape, but fell. Before he could rise prisoner came
up and kicked him. He, Tipping, got up and collared
the prisoner, who made a blow at him, and soon after he
(Tipping) found he was stabbed in the abdomen. Par-
kinson said he saw the prisoner take a knife from his
pocket and run after Tipping. It was a moonlight night.
Barton swore to the prisoner being the man. None of
the three had before known him. There was another man
named Bateson with the other three before the stabbing
took place. A witness deposed to finding a knife, which
was produced' One of the bladas was stained with blood
at the point.-31r. Booth, surgeon, said the wound might
have been dangerous, but he did not probe it.—The
Judge, after hearing some cross-examination respecting'
the knife, said it was of no importance whether it was
the identical knife or not. The probability was that it
was not, but the case did not hinge upon thatt—Mr,
Pollock addressed the jury for,the prisoner in a very able
manner.—The learned Judge said it did not follow that
because a man drew a knife and used it he was 'guilty, of
a felonious assault, for if the prisoner did so in self-
defence, being attacked by several others, he should be
acquitted. He noticed the provocation given by the four
witnesses, who threatened to do towards him an act more
indecent than that of which they had accused him. On
the whole his Lordship took a view of the case, so far as
the evidence would permit, in behalf of the prisoner, the
main point being that he ran after Tipping who was
endeavouring to escape.—The jury requested to be allowed
to retire. On their return they brought in a verdict of
" guilty of assault." The learned Judge sentenced the
prisoner to a month's imprisonment, without hard labour.