Darlington & Richmond Herald. — 1874-01-31 (Darlington, Durham, England)

THE LATE OUTRAGE AT SPENNYMOOR. —James Welsh and John Martin, Irishmen, were brought up on remand charged with having committed. a murderous assault on a fellow-countryman named Patrick McMahon, at Spennymoor, on the 18th of December last.—Mr Maw, solicitor, appeared on behalf of the prisoners.—The prosecutor was stated, though it did not transpire in the course of the evidence, to have been connected with a secret-society ; and having left the body in con• sequence of some dissension amongst the members, a deal of ill-feeling had arisen against him. Beyond the admission, however, that Welsh had a fight with the prosecutor about a year age, and had not spoken to him since, nothing was put forward to show any animus on the part of either of the prisoners. The prisoners lodged. at the house of a cinder-drawer, James Kennedy, in Villiers .street, and the prosecutor being wishful to see Martin, with whom he had been lidrinking, proceeded there and asked if he had come in. Welsh, who was sitting near the fire at the time, no sooner saw him than he took up the coal-rake, and rushed at him with it. The prosecutor ran away, but was followed by Welsh and knocked down, and Martin coming up, the two kicked and otherwise ill-used him until he became insensible. Between 30 and 40 contused wounds were found by the medical gentleman (Mr Hefferman) on his head, and erysipelas setting in, the condition of the prosecutor at one time was exceedingly criticaL—Mr C. G. Baff, Bur' veyor to the Local Board of Health, produced a plan of the scene of the occurrence, and after tome discussion as to whether Mr Maw should cross-examine on the dying deposition of the prosecutor, which were put in, the opinion of Mr Trotter was taken, and he decided that Mr Maw was not entitled to cross-examine upon them.— Miss Elizabeth Archer, daughter of Mr Thomas Archer, innkeeper, Spennymoor, said that she heard a noise similar to what would be produced by a man falling on the ground almost oppoaite her parents' house. She went to the door, follow td by her mother, and seeing two men severely kicking another, who lay upon the ground, her mother shouted out, "Are you going to murder the man ?" The assailants thereupon ran off, and the injured man, after being picked up by a person named Turner, was taken to the Market Hotel.—Mr Henry Turner, draper, said he was siting in Mr Archer's public.house at the time of the occurrence, and, on being called out, he found it co dark that he had to procure a lighted candle in order to see where tee injured man lay. He went over the street, and found him in an insensible state on the ground, his head and face being besmeared with blood. Some other persons coming up, the poor fellow was removed to the Ma-ket Hotel, in Oxford-street, where he was attended by Mr Edward Hefferman, surgeon.— The latter gentleman, in the course of his evidence, stated that he found the prosecutor bleeding profusely from a number' of scalp wounds. Separately, the wounds were not dangerous; collectively, they were exceedingly so. His condition, in consequence of loss of blood and erysipelas setting in • on his face and head, was at one time precarious. The wounds had all been caused by some blunt weapon,—Elizabeth Ferriage and Mary Brugan having been examined, with the view of corroborating the evidence which had been given as to the identity of Welsh, Sergeant Scott was called, and stated that a few minutes after nine o'clock on the night of the outrage, he went to Kennedy's house in Villiers-street. and apprehended the two prisoners. In reply to the charge of cutting and wounding M`Mahon, Martin said, "I am innocent, I was never near him," and Welsh rejoined, "Don't take Martin, or I did it all; no one else had anything to do with it." Welsh subsequently dented having attacked him, and now pleaded not guilty. Mr Maw, in the course of some observations to the Bench on behalf of the prisoners, endeavoured to show that Martin took no part in the affair, and that, in the case of Welsh, a mistake, owing to the darkness of the night, might easily have been made respecting him. Several witnesses were then called to prove that the prosecutor was so drunk before the occurrence that no reliance could be placed on his evidence, but the Bench thought that a prima facie case had been made out, and committed both prisoners to take their tri.4l at the next assizes at Durham. Martin was admitted to hail on his own recognisance of 50/. and two sureties of 25/. each.