The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-10-03 00:00:00

POLICE COURT

-YESTERDAY

(Before Mr. P. J. Smitl

GERMANS- nc TROUBLE.—Conrad Ponlus and Annetta
Ponlus, respectably-dressed Germans, were charged with
stealing a large quantity of bed-clothes and a gold-mounted
stick, the property of Bernard Nelson, a Jew, living in
Waterloo-road, with whom themale prisoner was employed.
The stick was subsequently found in the prisoners house,
in Sherwood-street, by police-constable 340, to whom the
male prisoner stated that he had bought it.- The prose-
cutor being unable to attend, owing to yesterday being
the Jews' Passover, the prisoners were remanded.
CAUGHT n A CAB.—James Came and-Bridget Carne
were brought up on suspicion of stealing a large quantity
,of wearing apparel, of every description, which were found
in their possession under the following circumstances :
;On Saturday night the attention of police-constables 569
and 700 was drawn to a cab in Pall-mal7q. in which the
prisoners were seated, having with them a box, which was
subsequently ascertained to contain the wearing apparel.
Officer 569 got on the box, and ordered the cabman to
drive to the main bridewell. On arriving there the pri-
soners gave several accounts of the property, stating at
one time that it was not theirs, and afterwards that they
had purchased with a view of emigrating to America. Re-
manded to endeavour to find an owner. _ _ _

DRIPPING WITH ROGITERY.—Wm. Granning, a black-
visaged-stable boy, was charged with stealing is. 41 from
a little girl, named Mary Renner, living in Sawney Pope-
street. On Saturday morning the girl's mother sent her
to fetch a quantity of dripping, and the prisoner, who was
present, volunteered to accompany her,. stating that he
knew a shop where she would get it good; He took the
girl to the Bull Hotel, in Dale-street, and having got the
money from her, he put her against the-wall, and told her
to remain there until he fetched the dripping. She waited
from 11 until 2 o'clock, but the prisoner -did not return,
and she then went home and told her mother. Informa-
tion was given to the police, and the prisoner was appre-
hended at Lucas's stables, where he, was employed.—
Remanded.
A SYMPATHISING THlBP.—Jonathan Williamson was
charged with picking the pocket of Mr. Hughes, of Mill-
street, druggist, of a gold watch and chain, value £2O.
The prosecutor stated that about seven o'clock on Satur-
day evening he was in Mack's public-house, in College-
lane,when a man asked him if he would give him sovereigns
for a£s note. He said he could, if the person would
endorse the note. This he declined to do ; and a short
time afterwards, when leaving the house, the same man
met him in the passage, and, without saying a word, he
struck him a blow on the side of the head, knocked him
down, and ran away. While still in the passage, the
prisoner came, and began to condole with him, telling him
to take no notice of the affair, when he suddenly struck
him a blow on the breast, and snatched at the watch-
guard, which gave way. and the prisoner escaped with the
watch and broken chain. He raised an alarm, and police-
constable 106, of the county force, pursued the prisoner,
and succeeded in capturing him with the stolen property
in his possession. A sharp Irish boy deposed to the
prisoner leaving the passage of the public-house with the
watch in his hand, and to the guard striking him in the
face as he passed. Mr. Bluck, who attended for the
prisoner, asked if the bench thought there was a case
against his client. (A laugh.) The magistrate : Certainly.
Mr. Bluck : Then I decline to say a word.. The prisoner
was committed for trial.

..
STEALING CATTLE.—John Latham, John Atherton,
and Henry James, were brought up under remand,
charged, the two latter with receiving, and the former
with stealing two cows, the property of Mr. Farrell,
butcher, London-road. On the 18th of September, the
four cows were taken from a field on Low-hill, Liverpool ;
and, it subsequently transpired that they were taken by
the prisoner James, who rejoices in the sobriquet of
" Toffey Harry," and Atherton, to Wolverhampton,
where they sold them to the prisoner Latham, who is a
master-drover and cattle-dealer. Latham offered the
cattle to another dealer in Wolverhamton, for £l5
a=head ; but the man knowing that this was a very
small price, and having heard of the robbery at Liverpool,
gave information to the police, which led to the apprehen-
sion of Latham, in whose field the cows were found. The
prisoners were apprehended on the following day at the
cattle-market in Liverpool. They were committed for
trial.

MYSTERIOUS CASE AT NEW BRIGHTON

A SITORT time since an inquest was held at New Brighton,
before Mr. Churton, the coroner, to inquire into the cause
of death of Mrs. Emily Watts, wife of Mr. William
Watts, surgeon, Nottingham. Some mystery appeared to
hang over the case, and from the evidence it transpired that
the deceased had had an injection of tobacco decoction
administered to her, and that she soon afterwards died,
but no charge was preferred against the husband. After
the interment of the body, which took place in Lincoln-
shire, rumours got abroad tending to implicate Mr.
Watts in having administered the injection of tobacco, or,
at all events, of having been cognizant that his wife had
been subject to such treatment, the result of which was
that, at the instigation of the brother of the deceased,
Mr. Thomas Barkworth, residing near Hull, informations
were laid against Mr. Watts, for having made false state-
ments to the registrar of deaths for the district of Wal-
lasey, touching the death of Mrs. Watts.
The case was heard on Wednesday last, at the Sessions-
house, Liscard, before Major-General Sir Edward Cast,
Bart., and Daniel Neilson, Esq., magistrates. Mr. Snow-
ball, Mr. Banning, and Mr. Phillips, of Hull, solicitors,
appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Conway, barrister,
instructed by Mr. Townsend, solicitor, conducted the case
for the defendant, who was present. The informations
were laid under the act for regulating births, deaths, and
marriages, 6 and 7 William IV., c. 86, sec. 41and 43. The
first information charged the defendant with having, on
the 6th instant, made a false statement to James Cross,
registrar of the district, that Mrs. Watts had died from
constipation of the bowels and effusion into the abdomen,
which statement amounted to perjury ' • and the second
information charged him with having wilfully inserted, or
caused to be inserted, on the registrar's book a Llse entry,
that the deceased had died from constipation of the bowels
and effusion into the abdomen, of a month's duration,
whereas he knew that such was not the case, thereby com-
mitting a felony. _

Snowball, in opening the case, said the accused
married the deceased lady on the sth of April this year,
and on their marriage a very large property was settled
upon her, which she had it in her power to dispose of by
will. After the marriage they lived in London, Chelten-
ham, and other places, and at last, about three months
previous to the 4th of September, they came to Liverpool
and went to New Brighton. On Friday, the first day of
September, the defendant and his wife went into the shop
of Mr. Albright, druggist, at that place, and she there
executed a will by which the defendant obtained a benefit
of £14,000. On that day she was in good health, having
been at the Assembly Rooms at New Brighton, where she
walked about for a period of two hours. On Saturday she
was playing at backgammon with her husband. On
Sunday she remained in bed all day, but there was
nothing material the matter with her, for at six o'clock in
the evening she dined off lamb, and had some porter. The
defendant was a surgeon, and was in practice many years ;
he was 61 years of age, and his wife was 56. On Monday,
the 4th, she was ill in the morning, but not remarkably
so. On that day one of the servants went to a shop in
New Brighton, and purchased half an ounce of tobacco,
which she said was by her mistress's orders. She took
it to the kitchen, boiled it in a saucepan, strained
it, so as to separate the fibres from the decoction,
and then took it to her mistress, who told her she
was going to use it as an enema. The door was then
closed ; and there was evidence to show that the deceased
had taken the injection. Shortly afterwards the lady
became extremely faint, from the effects of the decoction.
The accused went into the room, and was with her for
some time. After a while he gave her some brandy and
water—a proper thing if affected with faintness, but an
improper thing if he thought she was suffering from
constipation of the bowels. He also gave her some
ether. She was• Sensible at that tune, aim did net appear
to think herself in danger. Shortly afterwards her whole
body semed to be convulsed, and she screamed in a
dreadful manner. No surgeon, however, was sent for,
although Mr. Watts knew that Mr. Parker and Mr. Parr
were in the neighbourhood. The will was made on the
Ist of September, and the lady was a corpse at four o'clock
on the 4th. On Wednesday the defendant took Miss
Wade, his granddaughter, to the registrar's office, and
there he gave a surgical certificate stating that death was
caused by constipation of the bowels and effusion into the
abdomen. He said the evidence would prove that the
cause of death was not constipation of the bowels.
Mr. James Cross, registrar of deaths in Wallasey, pro-
duced his book, showing that the defendant had, on the
sth September, certified that the deceased had died from
constipation—one month, and effusion into the abdomen.
The entry was signed by Sophia Wade, but in the pre-
sence of, and with the knowledge of, the defendant.
Dr. Parr, upon being examined, said he had made a post
mortem examination of the body on Sunday, the 10th ult.,
and found the stomach and bowels in a healthy state ;
they were empty, and there were no signs of constipation.
Witness overheard, in conversation, about the enema of
tobacco water a day or two previous to the examination,
and he had heard it from Esther Winn, the servant, the
day after the examination, when she told him all the par-
ticulars. He was satisfied that the tobacco water was the
cause of death.
Mr. Wm. Hunt, solicitor, Nottingham, deposed that-he
had been an attesting witness to the marriage deed of set-
tlement, which was executed on the 27th March last, by
Emily Egremont (deceased), and Wm. Watts, the defend-
ant. (The deed was produced.)
Mr. Thomas Barkworth, brother of the deceased, stated
that he received, at Hull, a letter signed by Laura Watts,
on the 7th September, informing him of the death of his
sister. He arrived at New Brighton at five or six o'clock
on Sunday evening. Witness then entered into particulars
of the interview he had with the defendant, stating that
the latter never told him death was produced from tobacco
until the Monday evening after the funeral. Defendant
had told him previously that constipation of the bowels
had produced death.
Mr. Henry Churton, coroner, deposed to holding the
inquest upon the body of the deceased. The defendant
had told him that the deceased was troubled with consti-
pation, but said nothing about the tobacco water.
Esther Winn said she was a native of Newark, in the
county of Nottingham, and had been in the service of the
defendant and the deceased from the 5 th of April last up
to the time of the death of Mrs.. Watts. After having
breakfast, witness went to the bedroom of Mrs. Watts on
the Sunday in question, when she gave her 6d., and told
her to purchase half an ounce of tobacco. -Witness pur-
chased the tobacco at a grocer's shop, for which she paid
111, and returned the change to Mrs. Watts. , The de-
ceased told her to boil it in a pint of water, strain it
through a cloth, as she was going to use it as an enema.
Witness accordingly boiled the tobacco in the presence of
Mrs. Sergeant, Mrs. Townsend, and Hannah Day, the ser-
vant girl, and afterwards took it to her mistress in an open
pint jug. On witness leaving the.apartment, Mrs. Watts
shut the door.. In about a quarter of an hour afterwards
Mrs. Watts called her, and told her to tell Mr. Watts that
she was very faint. Witness told Mr. Watts, and after-
wards he told her to bring him some biTudy,al
Shortly before one o'clock, wit

room to props
from t 4 bear

Watts .v

s went int
Mr. Watt

do for dinuu,,,—
and Nisi Wade-145.ecillenity.iiii Inuchem in tllo

ing-room. After luncheon Mr. Watts went into the
bedroom, and in a short time the defendant called, her

to come into the room, and on entering she found Mrs.
Watts in a convulsive fit. She then called for Miss Wade,
and subsequently Mrs. Sergeant, Mrs. Townsend and

Hannah Day entered. The screams of the deceased were
heard all over the house. Mrs. Watts died at twenty
minutes, to four o'clock, Mr. Watts, Miss Wilde, and wit-
ness being the only persons in the room at the time. In

an hour and a halt after the death of the•deceased Mr.
Watts gave her £5, and said that he would give her be-
sides £lo'a sear, as Mrs. Watts had desired' him, in the
interval of the fits, to "Remember Winn." Deceased
used to take a great deal of opening medicines, and three
or four weeks before her death she complained.imuch of a
heavy weight and pain in her chest. Her stomach was
hard and full, and a week or ten days before- her death
the deceased could not lace her stays, and sometimes could
not bear them on at all. Mr. Watts recommended her to
take some castor oil, which the deceased' took, besides
rhubarb pills and Gregory's powders. The deceased told
witness that these remedies had no effect. Witness heard
Mr. Watts persuade his wife to take other remedies, but
she objected, saying that she liked to follow her own pre-
scriptions best. Upon the death of Mrs. Watts the de-
fendant appeared to be very much affected and distressed.
On the Wednesday or the Thursday aftethat death,
witness next saw the 4d. change, when r Wts was
taking-something out of a drawer, when she told him it
was the change out of the sixpence that Mrs. Watts had
given her to get the tobacco. Mr. Watts then asked
" What tobacco ?" when she gave him the- same account
of it that she had given that day. The defendant replied,
" How very odd of Mrs. Watts. Witness had no reason
to suppose that Mr. Watts knew of the tobacco water
from any other source.
Mrs. Townsend was the next witness called. She
deposed to seeing the tobacco boiled, and expressed her,
surprise at the time, but remarked that she supposed Dr.
Watts had ordered it.

Mary Sergeant, with whom the defendant and his wife
lived, said that, on Thursday, the 24th August, in crossing
the river in the steamer, along with Miss Wade and
Esther Winn, the defendant told her that his wife had"
stopped at home to draw out a draft of a will; that she
had left him £14,000, and that he was residuary legatee ;
that she had left £5,000 to Mr. Wade's family, and £l,OOO
was to be left for her funeral expenses. Mr. Albright,
druggist, New Brighton, deposed to the defendant calling
upon him to witness the will, which he attested, along
with Mr. Hill, postmaster, on the Ist September. Witness
had no conversation •with the defendant about the con-
tents of the will or the registration of the death.

Mr. Snowball put in the marriage settlement. The
property settled upon Mrs. Egremont, on her marriage
with Mr. Watts, was as follows :—£12,000 on mortgage
of freehold estates in Lincolnshire ; £3,000 on a mort-
gage debenture of the South Wales Railway Company;
£5OO on a mortgage debenture of the Eastern Union
Railway Company ; 30 shares 2.50 each, in the Stock of
the South Wales Railway Company ; 20 shares, of £5O
each, in the Stock of the Nottingham Gaslight and Coke
Company ; 10 shares, of £lOO each, in the Stock of the
Guardian Fire and Life Assurance Company; household
furniture, plate, &c.
Mr. Snowball.—That is my case.

Mr. Conway said that if the bench thought it necessary
to proceed further with the case, he would ask for an
adjournment, as all his evidence was yet to be heard.
The Magistrates retired for a few moments, and, on
their return, Major-General Sir Edward Cust said that
they had determined upon proceeding with the hearing
of further evidence ; but, it being then about five o'clock,
they would adjourn until Saturday morning.—The case
was accordingly adjourned.

The court at its sitting on Saturday was addressed at
great length by Mr. Conway for the defence. In his ad-
dress he dwelt upon the vast importance of the case to his
client, not merely on account of the legal consequences
which were implied in the charge, but as regarded his
future peace of mind and position in society. He trusted
that, for the comfort of his declining years, his client
should leave the court not merely discharged of all legal,
but all moral, responsibility ; with his name, his character,
and his life freed, from the slightest stain or suspicion.
Taking the evidence of Esther Winn, which had been
given in a manner to elicit the approbation of the court,
the learned gentleman contended that it afforded the
court a consistent, clear, and continuous account of every
thing that preceded this lamentable transaction, and that
it effectually shielded the defendant from all the charges—
charges they scarcely amounted to, but rather insinuations
and inuendos—which had been cast upon him. On this
part of the case he put it to the court whether, in the
whole experience of the bench, they had ever heard a
statement made in support of the prosecution that could
at all be compared with that which had been made in this
instance. In the place of legal evidence, they had had
inuendos ; in the place of facts, insinuations and suspi-
cions, gleaned from the gossip of a watering-place, noto-
riously prolific of scandal of all sorts, gleaned from the
tap-room, gleaned from the kitchen, one rumour dove-
tailed into another, producing a mosaic of insinuation
and irrelevant statements. Some portion of the blame
must fall upon the gentleman who had actuated and insti-
gated the proceedings, and who appeared as the prose-
cutor in this case; of whom and of his learned friend he
grievously complained for sailing under false colours.
Throughout the whole of his friend's opening it was per-
fectly clear that, with the exception of the title given to
the charge, the charge alleged, and sought to be proved,
was the more henious, flagrant, and repulsive one of mur-
der. The only motive throughout the alleged suppres-
sion, the only reason which could possibly be assigned
by the most ingenious imagination was that his client had
been guilty of the awful crime of taking away the life of
the partner of his life by his own hand, and that to shield
himself from the consequences of such an act he had pro-
cured this false register. If these were his friend's in-
structions and views, why not boldly come forward and
call the alleged offence by its proper name ? Was it very
uncharitable to suppose that Mr. Barkworth must have
felt that the responsibility of preferring so grave a charge was
too serious for him to encounter, and that, therefore, un-
der the protection of the minor charge of making a false
register, of giving a false account of his wife's death, he
insinuated the heinous crime to which he had referred.
Mr. Conway proceeded to comment upon the evidence of
Mr. Barkworth, for the purpose of throwing Eight upon
the real origin and cause of this inquiry. It appeared
that Mrs. Watts, Mr. Barkworth's sister, was a lady
of somewhat eccentric habits, but possessed of con-
siderable property. Her will had no doubt been made
mainly in favour of her husband, with whom, during
the short period of their matrimonial life, she had
lived on the most affectionate terms. Against this will,
it had transpired, a caveat had been entered, and it was
clear that ulterior proceedings were to be taken with
respect to it ; and it was not uncharitable to suggest that
the real meaning of this inquiry was not so much with a
view to convict his client of an atrocious crime, as to elicit
something favourable to the prosecution of that suit, just
as wreckers blew up a vessel, not so much for the value of
the rafters and beams. as for the hope of finding some
precious booty. It might be that Mr. Barkworth thought
that in the course of the inquiry something would turn
up to impugn the sanity of Mrs. Watts. He contended,
however, that his client was entirely exonerated from sus-
picion by the combined facts of the pre-existence of a will
of substantially the same effect as the one made a few days
anterior to Mrs. Watts' death, and the evidence of Esther
Winn, who had deposed to the prolonged illness of Mrs.
Watts, the attention of the defendant, and to his desire to
introduce additional medical assistance, but was unable to do
so owing to the repugnance of Mrs. Watts, to the deceased's
having sent for the tobacco and used the enema without
the knowledge of the defendant, and to the defendant not
knowing this fact until after he had made the certificate,
subsequently to which he had made no attempt to con-
ceal the fact, having, in fact, told Winn to state every
thing to Dr. Parr, who made the post mortem examina-
tion. With respect to the legal charge, he submitted that
he was not called upon to answer it, because it had not
been proved that at the time he made the certificate he
was cognizant of the actual cause of death ; the fact of
the self-application by Mrs. Watts of the tobacco decoc-
tion not having boon made known to him until after that
certificate had been given. Mr. Conway then proceectea
to call the following witnesses :
Mr. John Maurice Banner, consulting-surgeon of the
Northern Hospital, deposed that he had known cases in
which tobacco-water had been used as an injection in cases
of obstinate constipation ; and that the symptoms which
preceded Mrs. Watts' death were such as might be sup-
posed to follow rupture of the abdomen produced by pro-
longed constipation.
In cross-examination by Mr. Snowball, witness stated
that in a case of supposed prolonged constipation, if the
patient were seized with faintness and prostration, accom-
panied by continued convulsions, he should have used a
powerful injection, and if the symptoms continued to be
aggravated, he certainly should have sent for additional
assistance. In answer to Sir E. Cast, witness said he
should not necessarily have concluded from the symptoms
that there had been administration of poison. Had he
been the husband in the case, he certainly should not have
felt anxious for a post mortem examination.
Mr. John Parke, surgeon, New Brighton, deposed that
Mr. Watts had, during the course of his wife's illness,
spoken to him about the symptoms, and had expressed a
wish to call witness in to see her. After her death, at the
request of the defendant, who could not write well him-
self, having a paralysed hand, witness filled up a form of
certificate of cause of death. From the symptoms, which
he had heard described from other sources, he should have
thought at the time that death had resulted from pro-
..longed constipation and effusion into the abdomen. There
was not the least attempt at concealmeant on Mr. Watts'

part.
Sophia Wade, granddaughter of the defendant, gave
corroborative evidence of that detailed, on a previous day,
by Esther Winn.
Mr. Conway put in the, original will, executed at
Cheltenham on the 12th June, 1854, and a copy of the
will executed at New Brighton on the 31st of August, 1854.
They were substantially the same, both bequeathing the
bulk of the deceased's property, to the amount of £14,000,
to the defendant. The former was in the handwriting of
the deceased, and the attesting witnesses were Esther
Winn and another servant ; but the latter was drawn up
by an attorney, and witnessed by two respectable residents
of New Brighton.
Mr. Albright, druggist, deposed that on the day on
which the deceased died, Esther Winn took the prescrip-
tions produced to his shop. He remarked that the patient
must be suffering under obstinate constipation, as it was
a strong dose of croton oil. On a previous occasion, Mr.
Watts himself called with a prescription for a mild.
aperient powder. He manifested extreme anxiety that it
should be properly made, and staid until it was ready.
After he had gone, witness remarked to his own family
that " the old gentleman must be very devotedly attached
to his wife, judging from his extreme care in witnessing
the preparation of the medicine."
This closed the case for the defence.
Mr. Snowball contended that there was sufficient evi-
dence to justify, in fact to make it incumbent upon, the
bench, to send the case for trial before one of the judges

of the land.
The magistrates retired to consider their decision at
half-past three o'clock, returning after an absence of

eighteen•minntes
Sir Edward CI

1 given the case their
ad arrived at the deter-

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THOS. WINSTANLEY and SONS,

Afternoon, at the Clarei

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Previously disposed of by Privat
ALL that Piece of LAN?

;nth John-street, suln-
hen produced, if not

PORTS OF SELECT VINTAGI±S, SHERRIES
flfTiT 17,7

MESSRS. THOS. WINSTANLEY and SONS
111...1are instructed to announce a SALE of First-class
01 1,,, a 1 • _

Etooms, Church-street, on
being the private

s, which an

October instant
n in the North

of Laiicashiie,

rned Vintages and

given in future Advertiser

ents and