The Morning herald., 1878-11-23
ONE CENT. .
, OUR COUNTY COURT.
4 DULL DAY IN THE HALLS OF JUsTIcE-
a THE COLLINS MURDER, CASE BEFORE
:. THE GRAND JuRY--A CASE OF ASSAULT
ADJOURNED TILL MONDAY ''a''''''''' si'i
Special Correspondence of the HERALD. = d
IL II EffHGHN

Special Correspondence Of the HERALD. -
ris NEW CASTLE, November %.
Bar The Court opened at the. usual hour this !.
morning, with Chief Justice Comeygs and, !.
Judges Houston and Wooten on the bench, ~,
The attendance, compared with that Of the !,
previous days, had a..dectdedly thinned out
appearance. -, So. -, - .F,..s, > Il
" " The first thing Of Importance, done, was
the serving Of the witnesses in..the Collins.
NcCann-M Claim murder case, and the =
sending Of Them before the Grand Jury IA
The next thing done was a listless yawn-
ing Of judge and jury, and lawyers, for the
next two hours and quarter, and at the !,
end Of that time, as there, was no bushes.
TO be done, the Court adjourned at 12.45s.
until 8. O'Clock. -. - =. s..,, .osi,,,-q,
w THE AFTERNOON SESSION. t4s.g Z
: Upon, the assembling of Court +, at 8
O'Clock, the case Of john Mealy, charged
with committing an asssult with murder
ous. intent, upon James Toner, in New
Castle, on. the, 25th of May last, was then
taken up. Henry Sharpley, Esd, appeared
for the state q. R. Pennington. Esq, for
the defense. q .sguGd >ni 10 Gbibs&a sa1 @'
James Toner, the assaulted party, testiss
fed to the attack, made son him. He said,
be was on Market street near Harmony, in
New Castle, with James Christy, on the
I,night of the 25thJ day Of May last. 10 Mealey
and young man named Clarke came up,J
and the witness and Mealy had discus
sion, the cause of which appeAred to be a
neglect. Of him (the witness) speaking to
Mealy. This discussion grew into conf
siderable fracas; officer John N Hanson,
came up and dispersed the crowd and took
l hold of me !; he released me, and afterwsrd
+ met Mealy with 8 friend named Clarke,
told him he was mean to get me arrested
and he said he did not care, that ought to,
lie arrested + then called him a, dirty
| little 81 cur :" with that he made g.
strike ut me with o sharp instrument a.
knife think--and made this wounds (herea
1.-THE witness showed o large scar extending
from the mouth and down the chin) !; I had
been drinking beer, but was'not drunk. a. -
D. James Christy testified that he saw thee
i stroke given by John Mealy. 70 ,tige .ses rs
1 DR.. Walter R. May said he had attended
1 Toner, and that the wound had evidently
been made with knife - TsfjS-F SO &sE
Officer Hanson gave In evidence that did
not throw any more light on the affair than
! had previously been given.
John Clark said that Toner called Mealy
"a dirty liItle curna just before the cutting,
and moment after kicked him without
provecation. The cutting then took place.
z Charles Conysrs testified that Toner had
bkicked Mealy before the cutting ARRAY. !,
/, A number of witnesses testified that
Mealy's reputation. for peace and order was.
very good. ,o. 4, ,.g ztaulg sIi To- a5le.3 y
Mr.. Pennington addressed the jury. The
Indictment was assault with iptent to kill
For murder. The whole case depends upon
the, ''intent," and that intent is. not proven J.
the testimony shows that Mealy was the
assaulted party, and evidently inflicted the
lwound in sef>defense. aT34 - - - T. %
l. After brief argument by the State, tho
Court charged the jury, saving that no
words would justify an assault, much lets
an infiction OF injury. The intent Imust,in
measure, be judged by the instrument
with which the wound was committed.
The case went to the jury, and they fled
out of the courtroom at 4.45 O'Clock, iiilGA
i The jury returned after being out for
short time, and rendered verdict Of i" rot
guilty in the manner and form indicted, bat
uilty of an ASSAULT, 4 .Ias.-.g.~l d Is.m
He was sentenced to pay cos.s Of pros ~
cption, to pay fine Of $500, and to be inl-
. prisoned nine months. J." 40 .@h ,NN1'-
n The Grand Jury was discharged until;
} Monday morning, upon their entrance
shortly afterwards, and sll witnesses OF
the State were discharged until Mondayiat
|, 10 O'Clock ,t. ... .ro5 ,yHa