The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1833-07-26 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

SHADWELL CORONER'S INQUEST.  This inquest, which has been sitting for the-last ten days on the body of John Peacock Wood, the waterman, was after a sixth adjournment, closed on Monday. Mr, BAKER, the Coroner, summed up the evidence at great length, after which he proceeded to read the depositions of the several witnesses, in doing which he was frequently interrupted by the Jury, and particularly by the Foreman, who complained that he had not taken down the evidence correctly. They referred in several instances to their own notes, and said they differed materially from the depositions. '[he Coroner said the depositions were correct; they were the statements signed by the witnesses, to whom they bud been read over. In his charge to the Jury he concluded his address by saying—" It will be for you most seriously to consider whether any real or satisfactory evidence has been adduced, proving that such an extreme wilful and deliberate act of outrage has been committed as to justify the verdict of murder. You will further consider whether the death may not have been caused by a want of due caution, iu the discharge of a duty requiring caution, and from the neglect of which caution it was probable that death has thereby ensued. In which case it will be your duty to find a verdict of manslaughter. And here you will recollect on the one hand that the evidence of the medical gentlemen proves it to be improbable that death should have been occasioned by the fall from the door of the White Hart. Ou the other hand you will well consider the conflicting testimony of the witnesses as to what took place after the fall. You will most seriously and impartially weigh the comparative credibility of their testimony,—the one party stating that after the fall the deceased was treated with violence on his way to the station house; the other declaring that, from the time he was taken up from the ground until he was deposited in the station house, he was treated with every care, and received,no injury. If, however, after this long and careful investigation, you should be of opinion that the act which occasioned the deceased's death is still involved in mystery, and that no sufficient evidence has been adduced to satisfy your minds as to the manner in which the deceased met his death, you will give your verdict accordingly." The Jury having retired to consider their verdict, returned into court after a short consultation, when _  The Foreman addressed the Coroner as follows :—Mr. Coroner, it becomes my painful duty, after investigating the whole facts of the case which bear upon the evidence, and many of those facts are so familiar to our minds, that we can repeat them by rote, to come to a conclusion, with deep regret, that the deceased was murdered by a policeman unknown to us, and therefore we feel bound to find a verdict of wilful murder against a policeman of the K division of the metropolitan police, unknown, and we strongly recommend the government to use some means whether by reward or otherwise to elucidate this very mysterious case." Coroner—Very well, gentlemen, it is your verdict, and not mine, and I shall therefore take it of course.