Trial For Mayhem.
The Times, 1824-08-07T00:00:00

In our paper of the 26t1b of .June last, we publis'ed the p' eed-X ings upon the trial of John D. Smith, of Grand Bahl m4. mar thte atni hl crirne of MiyLieM, committed by cutting off part. of the eais of Archibald W. G. Faylor, of the same ilanid. It will be recoIjected,th4t Smith, acco panied by others, enteredI during the nigh t the hos-ic of his .ife, fti n whom be lived sepiaratc and clie. covcred Tailor inW bed wifi -ri. Smith. Thie prisolner deiiberateiy took a smsdl penknife and cutoff' both Tayloir's ears. 'T'he Jury found Smnith guilty, btit recommended- him to mercy. The follo w- inig are the subsequent proeeedings of this singular affiair * NASSAU ({New Providence,) MIAY 15. On Friday (the 7th), in the ffeneral Court, in the case of the King v. Smitb and others, who have been convicted of the crine of mavhem, the Counsel for the pristners, after their being calUea to the bar, m aoved an arrest of juxdgment onl two grounds: the fitst of which was, that tlie offenee of which they have been convicted did not come within the parview of the statute, commonly called the Coventry Act, inas'mulil as that the car was not a member of the human bodyv; the law sttinha That if any nerson or persons, on purpose and of malice aforethought, an(l by Iying in wait, shall un-! lawfully cut or disable the tongue, put oat an eye, slit the nose, cut of a nose or lip, or cut off or disable anyv limb or member of any. subject of His Majesty, with intention in so doing to maim or disfi- gure in any manner beforementioned, &c., shall be, and they are hereby declared to be, felons, and shall suffer death, as in cases of fe- lony, without benefit of clergy.' Thesecond ground upon which the Counsel argued was a want of legal formalitv in the indictment, which contained two coaunts; the first for cuttilig off the ears of Tavyor, and the second for cutting off part of the ears' That these 'two acts being entirely inconsist- ent with each other, the indictrtent was defective; as, by thic first count, if the whole of the ears vere cist off, it was impossible, as charged in the secend wount, to cut otf a part of them; or, it a part was cut off in the first ins ance, it was not possible afterwards to cut ofl'the whole. The Solicitor-General, in his reply to these reasons, com- menced tO comtbat the objection to the indictment by citing a case wvhere a woman had been-indicted for murder; the first count in the. indictment charging her with having starved hei own child to deathi; and the second count accused her of havingZ sirangledl it, no objec- tion had been raised to this indictmnent, although the counts in it were also inconsistent with each other. In answer to the first ground for arrest of judgmnent, several cases were tited to show that the facts of the case came clearly within the puryiew of the stattute; and referring to the many arguiments whichl had been used on the trials, the case was submitted to the Court, which soon atlte- wards adjourned until Friday following. Yesterday being tihe adjournment day, the Court met, and tlhc prisoners were brought to the bar, when the Court gave its decision on the arrest of judgment, quoting several authorities which applied to the case, one of whiich wa.s taken from St. Paul, in his first Epis- tle to the Corinthians, wh6rein he says- Chap. xii. v. 14._For the body is not one member, but many. " 15. It the foot shall say, because I am not the liand, I amr not or the body ; is it thercthore not of the bod,' ? " 16. And if the ear shall say, because I am not the eye, I am not of the body ; is it therefore not of the botly ? 17. If ttle whole botly 've:e an eye, where were tde hearing ? if the wh,ole were lse:aring, where were the smielling ? "18. But now hath (od set t.e members every one of theim in the boly, as it hath pleased him. 19. And if they were all one member, where were the body? 28. But now are they many members, yet but one bodv. 21. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no' need of thee; nor again, the head to the feet, I have no ueed of you. "22. Nav, minu; more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary." From the various authorities cited, and tho obvious intention of the statute, the Court was of opinion there was no ground to support an arrest of judgmnent; and proceeded to pass the awfuil sentence of the law, which was delivered by the Chief Justice with great feeling, in a very impressive and solemn manner-that thev were to be hanged on the Town-parade on Monday, tbe 24th instant (Mlay.) TRIT .tr, rOR? IJ,E.lI.