The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-08-17 00:00:00

Mr. Sui.trro opened the proceeding's.
The fleet count charged, that the defendant on the let
of Jaupary, 53th Geo. 111., was Keeper of the House of
Correction at Ilehester. That being such keeper, ael
a person of wicked, cruel, and malicious disposition, and
/sot regerilint his ditty as snch keeper, but unlawfully,
I wrongfully, wickedly, cruelly, and maliciously devising
and intending to huff, injure, and oppress, one Mary.
Cure, whoot the eeriest times of committing the Wenn
iiii*this count mentioned,was a prisoner in the cameleer
46fendant ; and which Mary Care then and there bad an
infant child with her of toung and tender age, of the
ate °Toil months, to suckle at her breast, and to cause
the said Mary Cure to undergo and endure great bodily
pain, suffering, and hardship, and to injure her health,
on November IS, 59th Geo. 111. and on divers days did
wickedly, maliciously, fee. without any justifiable cause,
and against the will of the said Mary Cure, did pat up,
abut, thpl confine, and cause the said Mary, &c. &c. to
endure great bodily pain and suffering, &c. fire. so that
the infant childwas deprived of its necessary subsistence,
and the milk failed, to the great damage of the said Mary
Care, contrary to the duty of defendant as such keeper,
and to the evil example, &c. Ike. The other counts fol-
lowing varied the charge, and the ninth count charged
Thos.
defendant at great length, that he did cause one
Thos. Gardiner, to endure great pain and suffering on
the 20th of December, and slid wickedly maliciously, and
without any justifiable rause. and against the will and
consent of the said Thomas lierdiner. fix a blister upon
the head of 'him, the said Thomas Gardiner, and also
forcibly put on him a straitjacket, and put him in soli-
tary confinement, by means of which, &c. the said Tho-
mas Gardiner did endure great bodily pain and suff*e-
ing, fire. The other counts charged him with assault
and battery, &c.
Sergeant Psaa opened the ease for the Crown. He
represented it as one of the most solemn and import-
ant nature. The Learned Sergeant gave a history of
'the origin of the present proceedings. la the early
part of last year, when him the representation of
Mr. Hest, Commissioners were appointed to examine
late the state of the gaol, and in consequence of their
report to the House of Commons, his Majesty through
the medium if the Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment, had gives directions for the prosecution. awl
be (Sergeant P.)had new the honour to appear as the pith-
lie prosecutor. There was nothing in the present pro-
ceedings which would in the slightest degree touch on
the chanted of the Magistrates of the county; and.
wbalnecsisitbLite idquirin hereafter inetltnied
would relate wifely to the conduct of the gaoler, Mr.
Bridle, on two particular occasions. The ease was
'certainly one which, on the part of the public, se-
tinily required investigation, and the intermeshes
oonfiaed itself to the charges against Mr. Bridle for
cruelty to two of his prisoners—the one named Mail
Cure, and the other named Thomas °Annear. The
Learned Sergeant then stated the case, which would im
given in evidence by Mary Cure; and certainly if be
rested ea this case alone, where an unfortunate women
bad been, fur some offence which she bad rive., shut i
up in a dark and solitary cell, without fire, in 'the
depth of November, with an infant at her breast, aid
in that state denied the proper sustenance, he should
have established that. for which the defendant would
be deserving of the se t punishment. But the
other case went far beyond this, and if it were true,
equalled say thing that had ever been heard of in the
angle of wanton cruelty and atrocity. In November'
1820, for some offence which Gardiner .had given to:
the Governor, Bridle, the latter bad him pat into se.'
litary confinement, on bread end water; and if the
punilhment bad been merely solitary confinement, no
one, perhaps, would have complaleed, and the law
fully sanctioned the mere confinement, though it
might be solitary; bat if such inflictions as had been
visited upon Gardiner were to be tolerated, it were
better that there should be no gaols at all, and that
people should wander about like wild beasts; for no-
thing could be more intolerable than the existence of
sbch a state of things as that he was 'beet to state to
them. The prisoner 0 .riliner was cert. inly a man
of an extremely bad character, but whatever might
have been his character er conduct; he could nut
possibly have done any thing that could justify
the treatment he bad endured. Ile was eo sooner
put into solitary confinement, than a fellow
convict was sent to cut off his hair and shave his head.
He was confined in a strait waistcoat, and after this
was done, a blister was pot en his head, of a pungent
nature, and over that was placed a can to keep it down;
and in this most miserable state he was kept for four
days, in inconceivable misery. and in pain intolerable.
But this was not all. He was supplied with soars.
and miserable food, which was laid before him on a
bench, and as his bands were tied. be was obliged
to kneel and eat it as a beast from the trough. Whilst
he was in this state in a cell of darkness, the tonnes
of the blister became unbearable. His hands were
confined to prevent his removing it, and in his agony,
he was actually reduced to rub his head against the
stone wall of the cell; and with the cap and blister,
off came the skin of the poor wretch's bead! Dryer,
the surgeon Of the gaol, who, to his lasting disgrace,
had supplied the blister for the purpose, would be cal..
led to prove that be bad done it at the request* the
defendant Bridle, and would prove; as confirmatory of
his conduct, that 110 entry was made of the fact on the
day when it took place, bat that it was entered by
Beyer. some time after, at the request of Bridle, when
the lecuiry %to the case was set on foot by Mr. Hunt.
The Learned Sergeant said be did not wish to intro-
duce the name of that gentleman unnecessarily, but,
'perking of him only as connected with this trainee-
tio,,,s he should say as long as he lived, if the present
charge were tree. that Mr. Heat had Wed. in this in-
stance, as the benefactor of his country la bringing it