The Sun. — 1844-06-17 (London, England)

WILLIAMS.) James Horsted, George Bragger, Mary Ann Ash, Rosetta Bragger, Richard Bragger, and Alexander Nicholson, were indicted for the manslaughter of Luke Williams. The particulars of the case have been very recently reported. The decosed went into a house of a disreputable description in and, while there, was robbed and beaten to such an extent to cause his death on the following day. The evidence was Of a very conflicting nature. The jury found . 1-1 corked Guilty, and acquitted the other prisoners. The COURT sentenced HorsteJ to two months' imprisoment. Richard Bragger, Mary Ann , and Alexander Nicholson, were then inicted ill for robbing tL4 deceased, but the Counsel for the prosecution stated that, as iiG had no additional evidence beyond what the jury had heard in the former case, he should not, after the verdict they had ilLt't returned, call any evidence in support of the present indictment; and The Learned JUDGE thereupon directed the jury to acquit the prisoners, which they accordingly did. John Thomas Williamson, aged 21, was indicted for feloniously killing and slaying Robert Harrison Thurlow and Julia Lane, by carrying them and thirteen other passengers in a boat on the river Thames, which boat was constructed to carry four persons only, 'fr, RYLAND stated the case on the part of the prosecution, and called several witnesses, from whose evidence it appeared that on the evening of the 18th May the prisoner took a number of very young persons into his boat, amounting to 15 altogether; and that when the boat was somewhere near London-bridge it got foul of a steamer, and was consequently upset, and precipitated the whole party into the water, by which means five of them lost their lives, and the rest were saved with great difficulty. The Beadle of the Watermen's Company proved that the boat in question was not a licensed one, and that from its small size, it was one that would not, under any circumstances, be licensed to carry more than four persons. The jury acquitted the prisoner. John Curtis, alias Johnson, Sarah Bennett, and Lucy Groves, were indicted for a robbery, attended with violence, on the person of Boulanger, a Frenchman. It appeared that the prosecutor had been induced by a very young girl to enter a house of ill-fame in the neighbourhood of St. Giles's, and that he had no sooner done so than he was attacked by the fertiale prisoners, who demanded his money, watch, &c., and on his refusing to part with them they called the male prisoner to their assistance, and the whole party then fell upon him, knocked him down, robbed him of his watch and Si., and on his calling for assistance the male prisoner attempted to cut his throat with a knife, which was handed to him for that purpose by ore of the women, and that, in his struggles, his (prosecutor's) hand was cut severely. The prisoner Curtis, in defence, said that he desired the prosecutor and the girl he brought with him to leave the house, and on his refusal to do so he tried to put him out, and in the struggle that took place between them the prosecutor's hand got cut by his having dashed it through a pane of glass. He denied having asked for or used a knife. The jury found Curtis and Bennett guilty, and acquitted Groves.  Mr. Baron GURNEY said that robberies, attended with violence, such as the prisoners had used towards the prosecutor, would always be visited with the severest punishment. He then ordered sentence of death to be recorded against Curtis and Bennett, accompanied with an intimation that their sentence would be commuted to one of transportation for the term of their natural lives.  Charles Hall was indicted for the murder of his wife, Charlotte Hall, at Wimbledon. It will be recollected that, a short titne since, the wife of the prisoner was found dead in her bed, and that he immediately absconded. This conduct on his part gave rise to a suspicion that the deceased had met herdeath by foul means; but on the coroner holding an inquest on her body, the medical gentleman, who had made a post-mortem examination of the body, gave it as his opinion that her death had been caused by apoplexy, and the jury thereupon returned a verdict of natural death. The same gentleman having now repeated his evidence, the Judge directed the jury to acquit the prisoner, and which they accordingly did.