The Statesman.
London, England, 1819-08-21 00:00:00

SOMERSh7SIBRE ASSIZES, Avant. 111.

TILE V. O'BRIEN AND ANOTHER.
We was an action brenniht by • tortani •Rains) hit
tnatittr, whn is • Caposin in thy Pitts, •tad reside
near the city of for an sssa•lt committed un.
drr the rheum,' linens detailed in the etidrnrr.

Mr. Ssrjestit l'rt.L, who 'fated the Plaintiff's case,
admitted that the servant was not justifiable in his
conduct rower& his master, es was often the case
when dissatisfaction arise; the servant was apt to
•-k in an improper nay for his wages and clothes,
rind to Rebere in other ways disrespectful; bet still
that did lint by any means sustain the juatification
• had been pat span the ramrod. 'the Defend-
sot had violated the law; the Plelntiff was likely to
he a alifferer for this retmaiwiler of his life, and it was
r.eretore for the Joey to.award damages adequate to
the injury tusteined. '
Thomas Brooks.—l eet alcarialonn residing at Lit-
ton; in Match lest I was sent for at • quarter past
one in rho morning; I saw Vale visual:lg otivide io
the road; rler was there; there •vrer• walls and
hatches between the Defendant's house sod the road ;
Brown, who caw for mo, spoke to Vale; I went
to the boast for Captain O'Brien; be *eked me if I
was the constable of she pistil. ; I sold him I erne,
end he said, I loyal., upon you I him op; I a-td,
do yen mess, In take him ep without paling him hi,
weer.? Defendant raid. dn..% you mind that ; I and
Siteprioar mean to swear :b• t.eace acitir,-t him; Defend-
ant said, you 'toll Brno,* caohnt take him, suet if you
want sill. Soinii,4l.Bl,l I sill help you; Vale was not,
doing any thing ; we all went down into the road; I
said, "'I derv! mass. Clisien has sent for I to
take sue op," said 1,, had done nothing to be The execution of the four onfortonetp wretches
token amid...id Mr. O'Brien would pay him who were hanged, parsoant to ••••retree,e the Ennis
world g": Vele was vet,. quiet alio; he I Assizes, on Wednesday and Thursday week, is cal.
alibi he 1.411 41,1 m..ir al his things in the house, *hick Wefts to awaken those horrified feelings which sc.
were 111°114" s'ot I" I'm and I"tiseda:' h) the Plain. coons of voyage ferocity, perpetrated centuries sister,
tiff ; I larked if lie wasp in go now ;he said he W3l. ; WOl.lll fail to inspire. 1A• would almost wish to
bet he would n.,t go without I.i. wages; the Plaintiff avoid the contemplation of those SCOOes that led to
then gave the Dofrodant reversl keys very quietly ; I the fatal contamination of this miserable drama; hat
the Plaintiff said he had had • very good master, and our duty wills it otherwise; and, sickenieg at the re•
rive profeedant sail he hail had a very good servant ; , trooped, we meal still look on it, till vision, dis•
I persuaded bins to en, but be would not go without poled, refuses to perform its wonted office. The
his wiles; but the Defendant still losisted that we crispe for which the first two seff.red was murder—
slat's" sake him 1•41's• a Magistrate neat wining ;,i murder in such a shape as renders description Masons ;
we were proceeding to take him up, end hedrew bath the victim, an aufortenate female, who wet sap-
*titre or fens YHA. and said, we five should not take posed to base given information relative to Illicit dill-,
him, lion let. ; the !blend:tot then op with a Ilia tilleries in the district of Nlot tee. At the close of
and knocked him down ; t' .e stick was wooly two the everting, a few months mince, she pealed. Si woo
feet keg, and a. tog rrood as the small of way arm ; i frequently her Oretem, the house of John and Jaosell
he struck bins on the head : Mr. O'Brien got down wherein their compassion. Jobs Bern.,
we hi* body, end Simpann we; adding h:s Leash M!•4l* 11,00 was employed in making whiskey. As the
Mr. O'Brien tied his hands ; the Plaintiff begged one ar. man 11161. d, Sullivan's mother called rat is
me so move th. ir fingers oat of his ej rs ; ish„ " Tbrre gees 13.ddy the informer."--
014, '• for Gar. dole( sa• lap, or pull your , the men paused, reed at etch other, and, it
Milers out of Pas ;" after step Saud tie I him they that instant, revenge end warder 'spelled trivia
let him go ; I tend one of ida a tins, •• f.,ch •he snit humanity front their souls; the ill•starred Biddy
cord. ;" they rut the cords mood lis alma, anal he,. paranoid her course, and they resumed their illicit •
IN . Brien took one arm end Brawn the other, and work until they fean it completed, without the'
lifted him op ; he said he was Ode to wa'k, but ha hindiaoce which Bidds's eminence had led them'
*as very bad ; we then led him about a quarter of a to expect; joy at their surceas inducerl them to drink
redo, the Plsintiff then asked for anise water; he freely of the Peels •finisismi spirits, hot this only
semplaiwed 411 his beak we look him to Well's to rilded to their thirst ft., vengeance, and nought but ;
She Glotale; we engird him in the hitches ; he look the blood of their miserable violin could genii+ its
some tea and coffer, and a little loser. i fire. Armed with 'orioles seapnas, the, left theit ;
Cross-examined by !Me. Mooes.—Vale is not a dealling, sod in one shoat hoar Biddy, the informer,
Were powerful men then other m..n; he did not say, Was no mote! On 'owing her hut, which coats) not ,
as D--aa.yoer.eyes, I will cut my way through a resist them, the foremost streak her on the heed with
*sea of roe," or any thing of the kiad ; after het a atone, which fractured her skull, and laid her at
kaid he would not he taken, he sienna towards them, his feet ;a jell of savage joy announced the triumph, I
Wit sot to the Defendant in particular, she was on and the prostrate, almost inanimate being was raised'
•me side of him; Defendant ••,d witness were about from (be earth, to undergo more cruelties. She was
fun garde slaw • I don't believe the Plaintiff ad• placed against a wall,und her breasts ratrestvereal from I
elated In the Defendant when he was streak. t her hody ; trembling with agony, she showed signs of
..-- York.— I keep the Globe at Wells; Vale was life nil one, with mare pity than the rest, by repeated
brought is my house, he was very bad ; I made some incisions with a knife sod plichfotk, made in the aide
tea ; hr tried to eat, but could not; Mr. Seedling, and stomach, completed the work of carnage. Food.
the surgeon, was sent for ; Vale came ott the 17th of jog her no longer capable of ulmiuiurting to their
!!larch to the 26th of May, she, I sent she bill to horrid pleasure', they precipitated the misshapen ear.
Copt O'Brien ; and then on to the gib June, whew I case into an adjacent river, and coolly informed a men ;
look Lim to Bristol; be was wooded night and day ; who lived near to it, that there mass woman drown-
Capt. O'Brien refuted to pay ; Vale paid me for the ing. Ile, perhaps, aware of their character, or at
fanlight after 26th of May. least suspecting something, told them he would not
William Sweeting—On the leth of March i was • open the door—that if the woman was drowned, his
he , assistance could be of no am They couldisin no mi-
celle! in, @beet half-past seven, to attend Vale;
'Pittance, and they retired—their hen& and persons
had a black eye, a wound upon hit cheek, some blood
begrimed with gore. When they had grte, the man
swan his clothes, and complained of a considerable
pain his the brad
end ;ewer jaw ; the jig was Inca came out, and found "bat to hins appeared. to have
nor, been a human body, butso mutilated as scarce
torml, and he received en injury on the lies:l ; I
sod the to retain the semblance. 'they were arrested, con-
considered It to he a concussion of die brain,
symptoms proved it to be so ;I at first took him to ' and received the punishme'st they merited.
Forty-eight hours from the lime sentence was passed,
be a madman, and that the keepers were about him ;
were allotted to them. A Clergyman of the Knaves
he was in a dangerous state for ten days, and I thought
I admonitions were not Inst. Wets* them !specked
Catholic Faith attended, sod, we trust, his constant
he would bare died ; he suffered much pain; he bad
violent starting., delirium, and sickness at the its. !
before thousands of spectators, hole
math; I 'Heeded him three months; I consider him into eternity
now in very deplorable state ; Many safer has a whom so groan of dissatisfaction proceeded, sod the
enneuvtion in the brain their whole lives ; she wild lawful solemnity of which cannot fail to teach that
look would arise from a violent blow on the head ; !country a deep, long lesson. But we are fated to
sew him to-day; the effects of the concession are •
!proceed in this painful task ; the following suss be.
still in existence, held two more pay the debt of nature for a crime,
I
equal, if not superior in magnitude, to what we hate
This Was the evidence offered ou the part of the related. Singular, melancholy, and dreadful coieo
cidence—ons illy a man dire for the murder eta
On the pert of the Defendant, Mr. Moose ad. woman—the ant a woman dies for the murder eta
dressed himself to the justification; at the same time man, and that man her beshand !—her assistants, heti
ratatouille, that nn one could more sensibly regret panders in sin and guilt are—her father and her
the unfortunate conserjeences which the Plaintiff bad brother!--Oh, spirit of pity ! bast thou fled
drawn upon himself by his own improper conduct the will, or is our eaters altered—are there no
than Captain °lilies. He should be able to prove bonds strong enough to chain down this demoniac
that the conduct of the Plaintiff had been so dais- principle—has feminine tenderness been changed into
gerous end alarming to the females of the family in bloody vengeance—have those mild and heavenly
the coulee of the preceding thy, that coercive WM. bowies which raised her above the coarser qualities
sures were rendered necessary on the part of the De- of manhood, been @spelled the bosom of a woman,
fondant. The Defendant, to repress the violence In and left as nought to cheer us in the desertion of
bit family. had ordered the Plaintiff to quit his set- those beatific attributes? The emotion of this
vice that night. or go to bed, end depart in the terrific deed was unto speedy than that above. A
morning. The Plaintiff had refuted to do either; Ifavnily feud long 'titled between the unhappy he'-
sod in consequence of such refusal, Captain O'Brien baud and his wife's family, which they determined
• had be• n compelled, far his own protection, to send on concluding, by reardeting the object of their
1.. r mutilates to take the Plaintiff into custody.— sanguinary rage. The husband had been from home,
The beerned Colonel was proceeding to relate vs- and had drank somewhat too freely. On his return,
riots acts of violence, tending to show that the acci- his wife met bins, and Jocks like, gave him the
ale: t which had happened might bare arisen from the rend solototioa of a meet drew him into the house,
Plaintiff's falling ever • piece of wood, and other and tales her arms round bin, Jested him in her
circumstances, when be was interrupted by lap, whilst her brother beat out bit brains. The
Mr. Justice But, who observed, that the pre. father, we have beard, was a silent, though reloc-
aious provocation was no excuse for a deliberate act, tent spectator. Os the trial, every circumstance was
-which by the evidence of the coneallie this blow had folly proved gains' the brother and sister. We
been ; and unless that evidence could lac contradicted, need scarcely say they suffered for the derti.—(Li-
ii-jistifiatiou could be maintained. mrrit-l; .ddroliar )

A negociation was then entered into, which, after
some discussion, was brought to a tr►ate, by which
Captain O'Brien consented to a verdict •aainst him
fur •out the mama of costs, as between at.
torney anti client.

Mr. Serjeant Put. again addressed the Court and
Jury, hiring, es he se;d, desirous of trawling esury
thing like oppohrium which...Wl attach to the cha-
racter of the Delentleut ; this Defendant hid acted
hastily ; but he was mast reedy to admit that the
conduct of his Client had been most blameable.

Mr. Justice Ul.r obsettect, that the cause had
endod most properly ; the condect of the Defendant
mould io no nay be jo•tified; tbe act was nut done In
the hrat of the moment, and therefore. in every nay
the Defendant moo be held liable far CI the rou.s.
quern-oaths' ensued Irma an act not lamented by
the esigency of the c.ae.

czaas ASSIZES.
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