The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-06-02 00:00:00

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The defendant in, this 'moo; .'eonveyaneer end' simony
Molter, to floe city, was f tied guilty at the sittings after
• Hilary Term, of • conipirieg with a 'fiefs-era*, named
. Broom, to defraud Sir Alexsodereampbell of esooo/. Mr.
Brown, who was connected by marriage with some of the
. meet respectable families in Essex, heeds). embarrassed In
his eirciterretanees, and employed Mr. Whitehead to procure,
for tire the ddiasee
.„,of that ease. lo the course of. the ne-
ericidion IffttiMead repreeente.l to the solicitors of
▪ Aleitender Campbell, that Mr. Brown was possessed of
beech prefenneet to the amount of SO M. per annum, and
also of a copyhold estate in the Manor of Great Gotland, Is'
glilett, of eery considerable value. On the faith of these
'presentations, Sir Alexander advanced the money in quee-
. lion, ha the price of an annuity to be granted by Mr.
'Brown; but after some time he discovered that they ware
untrue, and that he was without any adequate oveeerity for
the• pavrneat of the annuity which he hail taken: Mr.
Brown's attain came to a crisis, he escaped to America,
. where, it is believed, he at present resides. There was no
doubt at the-trial that Mr. Brown had been guilty of a
gross fraud, but the qcestion was, whether Mr. Whitehead,
who appeared to derive no pecuniary hegefit from the trans-
-gallon, was a party to the scheme, or whether he was himself
imposed on by Prown, sod had been made the nntonscious
levrienent of deceiving others. The Jury found him guilty,
and when the corsideration of the case was poinponed last
term, in consequence of the pressure of business, its was,
on the motion of Mr. Seariett, committed to tha King's
. Vette,' prteart.
sic sit Lore Row orayed for the judgment•of the Court.
' A number of afildasits were put io on the part of the de-
fendritt, tending to show that he was himself the dope of
. ,Mr. Brown. The most important of these were the eflithil
e;ls of the defendant hionseltand his brother, which stated
That iimilnr reprrsentations• respecting the right of Mr.
Brown to the property, and the extent of his income, had
been evade to a person ',cued Hicks. which was not known
et the time of the trial, and also disclosing circumstances
which !would have supplied nt ans of effactively erdes-ega-
Train* a material witness for the prosecution, named James,
h J they previously.come to the defendant's hand'. There
were also strong testimonies.. from a number of persons
.(among *horn was Mr. Grey Bennett) to the defendant's ge-
neral lutegrity andhonpur.
The Sexterroa-d eft At, hating urged the topics which
these depositions suggested,
The COURT expressed their opinion thalthere ought to be
• a new trial on payment of costs. They were satisfied with
the verdict of the Jury as the result of the evidente on the
byt they thought the afirtavite disclosed new matter,
which might have led, to a different conclusion. Although
the defendant was now too late to move for a new trial, yet
the Court had power to grant such indulgence at sey time
when they considered it necessary to the purposes of jus-
tice. At the same time they were far from expressing ap-
probation of the defendant's conduct, who at all events had •
expressed himself with more confident • respecting his cli-
.
, ant's property than his knowledge could justify, 1.44 bad
suhiected himself. to an action on the case fee therepre-
s..ntetion which he had made, even it he was not aware of
its fsisehodd.
Mr. Scaliterr,. for the proseeutioa, declined opposing
11!:e Inclinatich of the COW, but suggested, that, as the wit-
ness James had unfurtunate:ydied sfew days ago, the pro-
secutor should, at a seeped trial, be at liberty to read his
evidende, and that the defendant should also be permitted
to read the letters now referred to 1.,1 impeaching
.his, credit.
The Count approve) of this suggestion. and directed that
there should be anew trltti. They, admitted th'e defendant to
bri:, himself In aoot., end two sureties in 2001. each. On
giving this bail he was discharged.
L tevonsiartos.
THE amp o. WIJITCONIR.
Mr. Peinsow, in Easter Term, had obtained arule call
lee. on this defeiciapt to *bow cause why a criminal lw
• formation should not be filed against him for certain cor-
rept misconduct in big office, of one of the Coroners 'for
the county of Salop, upon an inquest teaching the death
of Mrs. Newton, whose husband had. before Mr. Justice
Best, been convicted: at the last Shropshire Assizes, of
ti•e wilful murder of his wife, and executed. The grounds
of malrersation, imputed-to the defrndant, were in sub-
stance ihese :—that, 'previous to holding the inquest on
C:e body of the deceased, he had had a private interview
with her husband ; that, neon the Inquest, lie sitppressed
. the evidence of a material witness, named Edwards,
Whose teatimany tended to show that there had been a
geared between the husband and the wife, on the day of
I.'r death and that expressions hail been need by the
usband, importing. a malignant design of creiag her
• some bodily harm ; that he dismissed twelie out of the
twenty-61r jeitors summoned ; that lie allowed the
iut-
proper interference of a Magistrate, named Whitmore, in
• the deliberations. of t.he Jury ; that he would not allow
• tle *Jury to see hay other p.irts titan 'the head and face of
• ibe deceased ; that be'hianself bad examined the bode of
. the deeeaied,' before inspection by the Jury, and lad
. closed it 'o be dt-dented; ;and finally that lie hid inn-
. properly charged the Jury, •as to the cause of the, death,
's whereby they ere induee.l to return a verdictof —" Died
Pow loss of blood, bat how caused is to the Jurors
ti knovin."
~ Mr. Jean s.and Mr. CORSET now showed cause against
the rule, eel upon long affidavits addressed themselves,
aertatiin, to these several heads of accusation. The dr-
anistances disclosed upon the affidavits were to the ef-
fect,,that the defendant was himself a surgeon by proles-
e'en, and not conceits:int with the_ practice of the law;
that be was a perfect stranger to Newton, the husband
, of the deceased, and resided at Littlefurd, &very consider.
able distance from Bridgnorth, where the inquest was
held; that being summoned by Mr. iVhittnore and an-
other Magistrate of the district, to hold an inquest on the
body of Atts. Newton, he attended at Bridgnorth, on the
2.;th of January, the death having occurred Lon the Md ;
that lie went to the house of the deceased and asked for
the husband, and be was called to him by a female in
the Louse, and held a conversation with bins for shout
ten minutes in a room by themselves, hut with the Add,
'fog doors of en adjoining room open in which was.the
said female, who might overhear the conversatioe ; that
. the oily conversat.on he had with the husband, ,was to
exprees his 'sorrow at being called. in upon so painful a
lousiness, to which the husband replied that he knew no-
• • "thing about the matter ; OW the defendant was wholly
lisiorant throughout the proceedings thai the witness
'Edwards was capable of giving any evidence which at
• all related to the deaths of the deceased, although his'
,:SIIIIS srisWientioned during the inquiry as being a per-
• ;an who bad 'been in the house of the deeeased in the
.elmese of the day, previous to her death; but it
*bOt time, or millet what circumstances, be was not ie.
•'ifotate• il, al as to justify a belief that be. knew any.thisig
of the transaction ; that the defendant desired to halm
a service of experience 'called in to examine the 64'
before die inquest was held, is addition to thetssistaip
ofsnotlier surgeon, who had attended in the absent
~itpdoelpal; that eeeoratingly a gentleman nailed
Coir y was summoned; who examined and dhiseetod
She body, andsli,v, in the runts, declared 'his inabilliP'
• • '46 midge in,' laic tifectorj rause for the death of 04
••4•4leressed; that it w sateen, 34 jg run' wire stitannened, 12
-of whom wire stiliairsed la:eonsequenee of defeadeues
lelietintcs hoer the 4epeisilitution of Mr. 'Cole', that
It Was thew& tea ow so Any amisfactorycause let tit,
that_
the occasion ' -•
Magiateate
rands