The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1839-08-01

laid upon a wisp Of straw"
INTERESTING TRIAL FOR MUIR
DER.
The following 10 an extract Of an ar
,icle under The head Of The Northern Cir
euit. in The last number Of Blsekuood's
Magazine.
.The last trial that I witnessed in the
Crown Court was that Of man for the
murder OF bis wife. He seemed about
IS years old. and was dressed in respec.
nbls mourning. He stood q, the bar
with an air q, once Of 6rmness and de-
preston. He was little under The av-
erage height. and his coun,enance ra-
ther prepossessing ,nan otherwise. Frum
the evidence in chief Of the frsl two wit
nesses. il would have appeared clear that
he had been guilty Of most barbarous
murder. On their DISPOSITIONS before the
coroner, a verdic, Of granddaughter only
had been returned; bu, in reading them.
Mr. Justice Patterson had felt il his du-
ty to instruct the Grand Jury 10 bring in
bill for MURDERS step which seem
ed most amply justified -by the evidence
which they now gave. Il appeared from
testimony that the prisoner had some
dispute with the deceased-being mos.
violent man they said-and knocked her
down, her head falling against the sharp
corner of a chest OF drawers. which cut
! il open. and the wound bled profusely ;
and that while she was thus PROSTATE and
insensibls, the prisoner furiously attack.
cd and struck her repeaiedly--dea,h on
. the same evening. or The evening alter,
forget which, being the consequence.
AZ Car as this evidence went, nothing
!. of course. could have been more brutal
than The conduct Of The prisoner; bus or
cross-examination Of The first witness. Z
|. little Unlocking old woman. ihe mothe'
. Of The deceased. and who gave her ev
idence manifessly under the influence o
the most bitler resentment towards tho
prisoner. the case began TO assume :
different sspec.. II was sang from hel
under grea. prevaricstion. and was also
established BY other witnesses. that she
! had herself. on he evening in question,
; been drinking gin with the deceased, a
: the residence of The later. a miserable
: cellar. That she had herself fetched iss
qua,erns OF gin for the deceased on tina
occasion. That the deceased and ,ht
!, witness al her request. had frequently
pawned all her husbands clothes ans
those ofher children. whom she had once
or twice sent 20 bed in The afternoon, q
enable her 10 dispose Of their clolhes.-
That the prisoner wss pilot. remark
: eble steady and bard working man, ant
!; earned amply suflieien. TO enable him
Y and family 10 live in very comfortable
circumstances; bnt ihis accarsed propen
shy Of bis wife's had beegared them. ant
y driven them from their former comforts
bic dwelling TO the wre.ched cellar Il
! which had occurred the catastrophe theI
z the subject Of inquiry. That on The even
y ing in question. he had come home from
- the sea wet and wearied. but found eve
~ article of his clothing had been pawn
q ed By his wife. and that bis childrel
were lying In bed almost naked. thei
10 little clothes having shared The same fat
10 --and that his wife was drunk, as va
d also The FIRST witness. Furious words ve
d " naturally ensued, and IL was unde
y these truly exasperssing circumstances
70 that be bad struggled with his wife. 9
ID % 10 occasion--bet il wss clear uninten
y ,ionslly-.her fall and il certainly III
10 appear that. either while she vas fallin
0. OF Immediately afterwards. he had NOR
D. than once struck her with some violenct
i. but not in way TO have alone cause
IN hsy death, which the medical evidenc
% showed 20 have been occasioned by th
N injuries she had received upon her hea
in falling upon the draws, added TO d