Glasgow Courier. — 1858-09-23 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

CIRCUIT COURT.  On Tuesday morning, at ten o'clock, the Autumn Circuit Court for the couutiet of Ayr and Wigtonshire was opened in the Court Sionse of Ayr by Lords Neaves and Ardniillan. Hugh Steven, miller, Tarbol,ton Mill, was charged with the crime of forgery, as also feloniously using and uttering the same. There were two charges in the in. ; one for a bill for the sum of £llO, to which were forged the name of Rev. Wm. Steven, Large, his brother; as also the names of Wm. Reid, farmer, Burn, parish of Stair; James Gray, farmer, Moss-side, parish of Tarbolton; David Gray, farmer, Barmuirhill, parish of Tarbolton; and Jas. Morton, farmer, Carugillan, parish of Tarbolton. The other forged bill was for the sum of £39 15s 9d, and to it the names of James Merry, farmer, Doura, Tarbolton, and James Gray, farmer, Moss-side, Tarbolton, were forged. The panel pled guilty. Lord }leaves, after a very suitable address, sentenced him to 4 years' penal servitude. James Craig was charged with falsehood, fraud, and wilful imposition, as also theft, in so far as, on the 18th March last, he forged and uttered as genuine a document purporting to be the handwriting of John Kyle, Culhorn Parks, for the prim of 12 carts of dung, the money for which he received from Wm. Stewart, clerk to George Guthrie, Rephad, parish of Inch. Also, on the 7th day of April last, he stole from the farm house of Troax, parish of Colinonel, a silver watch and brass chain. Panel, who had previously been convicted for theft, pled guilty, and was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, including six months' hard labour. James Stewart was charged with murder, or culpable homicide, in so far as, on the night of the 22d, or morning of 23d April last, within the house in Wigtown Row, Newton Stewart, then occupied by him, he attacked and assaulted Wilhelmina or Minie M'Cutcheon or Stewart, his wife, and did, with his feet, and with a clog, and with his hands, and with a stool, or pair of tongs, inflict or strike several or one or more severe kicks or blows on or near both knees, the right leg, the left foot, the left side, and the forehead of the person of the said Minie M'Cutcheon or Stewart, by all which, or part thereof, she was bruised and wounded; and in consequence of said injuries, and of congestion of the brain and of the lungs, or of one or more of these diseases, caused or fatally aggravated by the injuries and violence aforesaid, the said Minie M'Cutcheon or Stewart died on the 27th day of the said month of April, and was thus murdered by the said James Stewart. The panel pled guilty to the charge of culpable homicide. The Court, without declaring the libel irrelevant, wished to direct the attention of the prosecutor to the impropriety of including an alternative charge of honticide an a libel for murder, and also to the looseness with which it was not alleged that, in the present case, death had followed wholly or partially from the injuries received. The Court, after a very serious address by Lord Ardmillan, in which he touchingly alluded to the grey hairs and ad' vancetl age of the prisoner, about 60 years, sentenced him I to 15 years' penal servitude. John 14`Queen alias Queen, John Fergusson, and John Muir, were charged with robbery, in so far as, on the night of the 25th or morning of the 26th of June but, in or near the Capron Close, in Fore Street of Killnarnock, they attacked and assaulted Hugh Boyd, shoemaker, Kihnaurs, and robbed him of the sum of Ts 6d. The panels M`Queen and Fergusson (Muir had absconded), pled not guilty, and a jury having been impamielled, the case went to trial, Mr Guthrie Smith defending the prisoners.—After a long trial, the jury unanimously found the charge not proven, and the panels were dismissed from the bar.