OLD BAILEY, Wednesday, Ja...
The Times, 1824-01-15T00:00:00

TheseSessionswereopened tn-day by the LoRD.MAvoU, o r Justice Buuiouou, and lfr. Baron HULLOCK. 'Wifanz /itry ReynWlds, aged 40, was indicted for maliciously shooting at Napiier Christie Burton, with intent to kill or do bins somegrievous bodily hann. DIr. ALLEY having statcl the case for the prosecution, callcd the following witnessea:- General N. C. Burton deposed, that he had fortnerly commanded a battaiton'in wlhich Sergeant Medley served, for whem he procuted an enslgnCy. Mecdleyhadadaughter who afterwards married the prisoner. lWitness procured a pension on the Compassionate List for 3ledley's widow andchild, when thelcer wasabout8yeas o Witness never saw the child frou the time shewas 2 vearsold until a few months ago,whlien she colled u)on him about herinension. Since then he had seen her seven or eight times. He haa seen thc xui- soner niboutthree times, when he called on him to obtain some infor. moion respecting his wife,wbo had eloped from him. On the Ist of Janluary he called on witness between 4 and 5 in the afternoon. WV itness's servut annonneedhimb, and he -was shown into the room. MIrs. Reynolds was sittinlg on one side of the fire, and. ,it- ness Ont the other side nea a table. He asked the uri. soner. to take a ehhir, and he eat down at about two feet fioim the table. He then aske him if he would taee & glass ot wine? The prisoner said, Ys," and witness went to tneside.board'to ponr it out. fie was about reaching it to hibn, hisattention being fixed upon the wino that he mnight pot spill it, when the'-prisoner mevedtowards him witnout hisnoticingit, having onehashunderthotsble. Witnessheardanoiseas if of the cockingof- ipistoL and immediately afterwardftbe .prisoner fired. WIItness experiericeda'io injury from tbat shot, the ball having gone through the leWside of his coat. He then wett roand to the prisoner, laidbis band gently, 'pon him, and said, " Reynolds, for odd's sake, rm. derate your passion, ana'consider wht you are about, or-else yont will do somnething serious." At that time witness thotight.that the. prisoner. hadintended to shoot his wlfe-, Theprisoner instantly pall. ed out another pistol and disehartged it close tb the witness, who thenifclt that he was wounded. After t4e prisoner bhd firecd, his wife pushed her chair rvearcito the wall,and witness was certain that tbeIsecond sfio't'was aimed st his pe?son,ao ndxiotat his wife. He isked him iftepistolsha&heen loaded withbsal?. He replied, "Yes, r apt surtetlsteyweie fdr: IldadEdt1issmysc1f.1?WiesfaeuThbin wh&erehe bad got thewt ? Xe said, he bought them on Tuesday, at Nenonfalgate,but he did not knew of whom *-headded,that he w usc exe; wtngsa' st, and he npwi5onex) 'S nQW tPr haf,,P -Ie eqxteea tbet l %tntss a .6 ,, 5.Innr. Reyaolds,it wp es i4't. Hith ie." Hessi. s N^lamu ieiw Astbeiiseo [t,ungr aim at you." WitLess sald, " You certainly had , go nrsnnty Thereport of the Istols alannied wltetes5s's rnd MrS. Reynolds having ung tle bbll, they came into the >X. the candlt3 were then oat, A~.7>~eresrut vout he could not tell, nor did he noticc the Vx ce~ until The servants camse sn the wah W5B sent for, and nalso Mr. locke, the surgeon, wl o immediately attended. In us presence witness asked the prisoner if the pistols were loaded with baL, as he thought it prndert to get his admission ii the presence of others. He replied, "' Yen, I loaded them mnysclf- they are in yoar guts, and I am glad of it." [n about twenty minuics ZMr. Rzodie came. The prisoner was then sitting in E chair in the room. He had thrown the pistols under the table. On eXamin- ing thIe room, in prisoner's presence, it was found that a bail har perforated the 6re.screen, struck against the wall, and fallen eo the floor. Witness's servants picked it up. Witnecs felt roinetling tricklini down inside his cluthes, and putting his hand between his rira;wers and his skin, he found another ball there. The prisoner then threw a letter upon the talbe, which bis wife seized-and thrust into her pocket. Sbortly a(terwards, the prisoncr said to his wife, " WhVere is that letter ? I suppose you have burned it.' -She then produced it, and witness said, *' I suppose I mnay read it." The prisoner said, " Oh, I suppose you never saw it efore ;" insinuating that witness had seen it before, which he never had. so hlp him God. He said witness had wounded him in the mast vital pace, for he hal been criminal vith his wife. Wit- negs replied, 'Sir, you do me injustice, I never injured vou." The Prisoner said he was glad of what he had done, although he knew he hould suff'er for it. U,oon writness's honour as a man and a soldier, anud uponl hisj moat solemn oath, he never took any liberty with the Cross.examined by Mr. ADosPHpus..Witness believed that the pruoner was actuated by a feeling of jealousv. He was a single man. ad seen the prisoner's wife :sevcral timies between Sept. 1823, a Jan. 1824. e hbad only been once attheprisoner's house in Sun- street, Bishopsgate street. Hehadliead that M1rs.Reynolds wasliving apart from her husband. Ile promised hiin, at his request, that if his wife called he wvould send binm word, as he wished to persuade her to return and live vwith him. On the 28th of November, she called on witness in the morning, anl he apprised the prisoner of it by let- ter. The prisoner called in the afternoon; he was verv wild, and asked if she would return ? Witness said she seemed afraid. Wit- ness resides in New-street, Dorset.square. He could not say that i the prisoner entertained malice against him. He knew of no cause the prisoner could have for committing this act, but his jealous Buspi. cions, which he declaied most solemnly were unfouried. Upon the honour of n soldier, he never took an iraproper liberty with bin wife, so help him God. The prisoner was a carpenter, or sawyer. The letter witness wrote was not cRlculated to infuse jealousy into his m,ind; it was one of remonstrance with the prisoner for having ad- vertised his wife. Jamnes Locke stated, thtat he was a surgern. He wan called in to *atteid \General Burton on the evening of the lat of .January laft. On nering the parlour, the Genseral. pointing to theprisofre,2sald 'IV, Locke, that man has shot mne." I exazsined his person. His coat uis petforated. I found. after he was unidressed, that his riglht side fad been grazed by a ball for an inch and a half over thfe ribs. Had the ball entered the body, it ieald moit probably have occa- sioned his death. 'l'he prisoner admitted that the pistols were loaded with balL. He produced seven or eight balls, but said he had no more pistols. The witness produced the letter above referred to, which was read by the clerk of the arraigns. It was addressed to the prisoner, and was to the following efect :_ " Sir,-There is scarcely a newspaper published that does not contain an account of somebody's wir'e having left him, and always Iwithout any provocation.' The truth is, that the men are such nasty, filthv, beastly, drunken, smoking wretcbes, that the women cannot live with them: and I take you to be one of those fellows. who, so they can get their own guts filled, don't trouble their heads about their wives; otherwise your wife would not have left You." The letter was without a signature. Andrew lHawkins, a watchman, proved that he took the prisoner into custody in General Burton's parlour. He (prisoner) said he was happy at what lie bad done, althoughl he knew he shlould be hanged. His wife said "she hoped he would." The officers produced the pistols, the balls, and the powder-horn, found on the prissner. The prosecutor's servants spoke to the reports of the shots, and the orisomrrs admissior saftertheyentered the rooum. That was the case for the prosecution. Mir. Justice l3urrnouGn: having asked the prisoner what lie had to say in his defence, he seplied that he would leave it to his counsel. Mr. ADoLrPHus called several witnesses, who gave the prisoner an excellent character formildness, humanity,industry, and sobrietv, and said he was a most attentive and affectionate husband. His wife's elopemcnt from him seented to have deeply affected his mind. She was very young, ard good-looking. MIr. JusticeBusRROtuCs having chargcchhedjury, the latter retired for about 20 minutes. and returned with a verdict of Gaily ; but recommended the prisoner to mercy, on the ground of bis general *gooa claracter. Janrw Kerr was indlicted for burglariously. brcaking and entering the du'elIing-house of Robert Austin, and stealing a watch, teals, 5a:, ralue 40s., his property , and Thoias Kerr for rcceiving the same, well knowing theni to have been stolen. The prosecutor's wife stated, that on Saturday three weeks, the prisoner, James Kerr, caine to her lodgings in Westminster in the evening, and asked her to go to have something to drink. She replied that she could not, as -she expected her lhusband in shortly. H1e, however, pressd her to go, and she complied. While going along, she told him she must not stay for ary thne, ans she had left the kev in the door, and her husband's watch hanging over the chimney-piece, and it would be a bad job if- any one were to take it avay while she uas absent. They thenwent to e room where Thomas was. James ordered a glans of rum and water4 and saying he had to go after a man, went out. Aftcr anin- terval ,'f 7 or 8 minutes, he returned in a violent perspiration. Wit. nea wenthome, found her door unlocced, and the watch gone. She noon,=ri Thaetenuewate ure szwe onJy person1 who knew that the key was in the door, and the watch there. He eaid he had riot taken it: it must have been her husband who had come ho ne ard taken it. She asked him where his brotlher was ? He replied that ls was gone out on which witness told him it was a planned thins between him ana his broth er to make away with the watch. He swid he could not have gone up to her room witbont leavilig the marks of his shoes, but she answered thathe mnighthave niu1ed thtm off. Sheagain went home, nd havinglearned that her husband had not taken thewatcl,s,h returned to theKerrs,who told )ser that if she came there bothering them, they would kick her out. On her cross.examina?ion, by Mr. PHzLjLps, she denied most p'2tive1y haing ever slept in the same room with Kerr, or having ever Eived with any man but her present husband; nor had she ever gone'b the name of Pusey, or by any other name than Austin or her rmadeln name Yates. A pawnbroker produced the watch, which he swore had been pledged by thie prisoner James. An officer of Queen .suare, who took, the prisoners into custody, found aiseal and a dupLicat' of a watch on-Thomas's person. Robert Austin, the rosecutort who is a private in the Guards, identified the seal and te watch produeed tobe his propet. Several witnesses were caled for the gafendiin ho gave them a good- character. / MIr. Baron Hlu r,aoc here asked the jur if Zley sriied? 'Th2f replied that they were perfectly satisfied, andinstantlyfoemada verdict of Acquittal OLD BAILEY, Mcdnesday, Jan. 14.