The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-07-15 00:00:00

KIRKDALE QUARTER SESSIONS

The Kirkdale Quarter Sessions commenced yesterday, in
the Court-house at Kirkdale, before the Rev. JONATHAN
BROOKS, and a very full bench
,of magistrates, amongst
whom were James Heyworth, Esq., the Rev. T. Horton,
John Formby, Esq., Peter Bourne, Esq., Richard Earle,
ESQ., Rev. Miles Formby, &c., &c., &c. The following
gentlemen were sworn on the grand jury :
Thomas Harrison, Esq., of Maghull, Foreman.
Henry Underwood, of Houghton.
Charles King, of Houghton.
Henry Mawdesley, of North Meols.
William Garside, of Ormskirk.
James Edge, of Ormskirk.
Henry Barton, of Ormskirk.
Thomas Aspinall, of Magbull.
James Watkinson, of Maghull.
John Bradshaw, of Great Crosby.
John Christopherson, of Great Crosby.
William Hughes, of Great Crosby.
Thomas Prescot, of Lathom.
William Smith, of Lathom.
James Green, of Knowsley.
James Rawsthorne, of Knowsley.
Henry Rimmer, of Knowsley.
James Caddick, of Lydiate.
William Owen, of Ormskirk.
George Hurst, of North Meols.
James Bryers, of Ormskirk.

Mr. Peter Bancroft, of Great Crosby; Mr. Jos. Russell,
of Fazakerley ; Mr. Richard Bond, of Halsall; and Mr. W.
Jolly, of North Meols, were fined £5 each for nonattend-
ance. Mr. Richard Reynolds, of Halsall, was excused on
the ground of illness.

The CHAIRMAN, in his charge to the grand jury, said he
was sorry he could not congratulate them upon having few
cases to come before them, for he observed that in the ca-
lendar there were no less than 106 prisoners for trial at these
sessions. He had looked over the cases, and he found that
they consisted of those common cases which were continu-
ally coming before grand juries, and with which, he dared
say, several of them were acquainted. There was one case,
however, which he would mention, because they perhaps
might not be quite aware of the law upon it. It was the
case of a person borrowing property and afterwards selling
it, converting it to his own use. It was No. 86 in the ca-
lendar, where the prisoner, Thomas Swift, borrowed from a
fellow-servant a coat, which he did not return ; his fellow-
servant inquired after it, and then found that the prisoner
had sold it. It', at the time, it was done with an inten-
tion to make money by it, it was a decided felony ; and
that was the presumption, unless the party accused could
prove to the contrary. With regard to the other cases, he
was not aware of any which required notice from him ; but
if, contrary to his expectations, the grand jury should find
any difficulty in them, the court would be glad to give them
any assistance. Since the last sessions, a change in the law,
so far as it was connected with the Court of Quarter Sessions,
bad taken place. The legislature bad thought proper to
withdraw from quarter sessions the power of trying several
offences which hitherto they had the power to try. He
believed that in the present calendar there was none which
would come under that description; though, if there were,
the act of parliament only came into effect to-morrow, so
that it would not effect the court to-day. He believed,
however, there were no cases. Cases of burglary, and
other offences where the sentence was to be transportation
for life, were now directed by act of parliament to be sent to
the assizes instead of to the sessions. Cases of that descrip-
tion seldom came before them in that court, and they were'
cases in which the extremity of the law was hardly ever gone
to, except they were attended with circumstances of cruelty.
They were, however, taken from the quarter sessions, and
he for one felt exceedingly glad to be relieved from any
responsibility that the legislature chose to take from them.
The magistrates of this county sat there much to their own
inconvenience, for the convenience of the public, in the ad-
ministration of justice. They felt that in the administration
of justice there was a great degree of responsibility attaching
to them ; and any act which the legislature passed which
limited that responsibility, and threw the more heinous
cases under the cognizance of the judges of the land, the
magistrates were exceedingly glad of it. The grand jury
would now retire to their room, and send some bills into
court as early as possible.
The grand jury then retired. The trials commenced
shortly afterwards, but nothing occurred worth notice during
the day. The calendar contains the names of 106 prisoners
charged with felony, and one with misdemeanour.

DEATH BY DROWNING.--An inquest was held yesterday,
before Mr. Murray, on view of the body of Samuel Varley,
a youth of 17 years of age. It appeared that on Tuesday
afternoon last the body of the deceased was seen to rise to
the surface of the water in the Trafalgar Dock, and was taken
to the steps, and thence to the dead_ house. It appeared to
have been immersed some days. It was recognised
that of a young man (an apprentice, it is said, at Messrs.
Fawcett and Preston's foundry) who had been missing for a
week. Verdict, " Found drowned, but how he got into the
water there was no evidence to chew."
THE WELCH CONVIETS.—The following is an extract
from a letter dated Port Arthur, Dec. 14, 1841 :—" Frost,
Williams, and Jones, are in this settlement. Frost has been
sent to Hobart Town to stand a trial respecting some letters
he sent to England, which were published in the newspapers,
and got to the ears of the Government ; so he has been sent
to this settlement to hard labour. He has done a great deal
of harm to himself, as he was very well off before, being
employed as a clerk in the Commissariat's office, but now
be will be at hard labour for some time."