The Sun. — 1869-04-09 (London, England)

BRECKNOCK PETITION.  The inquiry into the return of Mr. Howel Gwyn for Brecknock is being investigated before Mr. Baron Martin. Mr. Serjeant Ballantine appears for the petitioners, and Mr. Giflard for the respondents. In opening the case, Mr. Serjeant Ballantine said : 'The constituency of the borough numbered 794. At the last election Mr. Gwyn polled 372 votes, and Mr. Price, the Liberal candidate, 357, leaving Mr. Gwyn in a majority of 15. Mr. Price's election expenses amounted to only £250, while those of Mr. Gwyn were returned at £1,193. Mr. Price would state that this £250 was all that had been expended by him. Mr. David Thomas, a wellknown respectable solicitor of Brecon, was the election agent for Mr. Gwyn. That gentleman had originated the entire system of bribery and corruption. He found among the expenses returned of Mr. Gwyn's election the sum of £525 as paid to Mr. D. Thomas for his services. Altogether the law charges in Mr. Gwyn's election accounts amounted to £968. Among the sums paid were items of £35 and £24 for private constables. On referring to the list of these special constables it was found that several of them were children of the age of two years, who through the agency of their respective papas received the amounts set against their names. He should shew the employment of George Thomas and James Morgan. (These are the two persons against whom true bills were found at the late Brecon Assizes for bribery. The principal witness would be one John New, a railway employd, who VMS a Liberal in politics, and who voted for Mr. Price. He should show that G olden had spoken to New on the subject of his vote, and had told him that if he voted for Mr. Gwyn there would be " something coming after the election ; "that in November—the day before the election—. Golden took New to Mr. D. Thomas's house, and there told him that a gentleman would have a parcel for him. Subsequently James Morgan was pointed out to him, and New was told that he (Morgan) was the man who would "do the business." On the evening of the nomination New met Morgan by appointment on a railway bank, and Golden told him, "Go up there and there will be a person to meet you." He went "up there," and found a man whom the petitioner alleged was George Thomas, but George Thomas denied it. However, whoever it was, the person whom New met "up there" dropped a parcel into his hand, after asking him " if he was a railway man?" and the parcel, on being opened, was found to contain £5. He afterwards met Morgan, who, in reference to the £5, said it was "to keep Gwyn in." He suggested that Mr. David Thomas had set all these bribers and others in motion, and that that proved the point of agency. The learned serjeant gave a humorous account of three persons who had been treated to a champagne supper at the Castle Hotel, which had such an effect on them that one of them was heard screaming out in the night for " retsy ," and another, a clergyman, was obliged t) borrow a clean neckcloth of a waiter next day in order to make a decent appearance. Fourteen public-houses had I also been opened on the day of election. by agents of Mr. Gwyn, and others before the election. As to the allegation of undue influence and intimidation, the learned serjeant stated that a tenant of Colonel Pearce had been told that if he did not vote for Mr. Gwyn he would have to leave his house, and the tenant, one Lewis, had been taken up to the poll with forty others to vote against his convictions. He had been canvassed by Mr. Probert, an agent for Colonel Pearce, in company with Mr. Gwyn. John New, being called;corroborated the story told by the counsels. George Thomas, was, he declared, the man who had given him the money, nor was his evidence shaken in cross-examination. Other evidence, clearly establishing bribery, followed.  James M'Donald, aged 25, a labourer, residing at Stockport, has been sentenced to death for the murder of James Nally, at Murple, last December. Baron Channel, who tried the case at Chester, has recommended the prisoner tothe mercy of the Crown, inasmuch as ho was intoxicated when he took Nally's life. M'Donald and Nally had been both drinking all the evening of the murder, and when they at last reached the prisoner's lodgings, M'Donald in a sudden at, seized a knife and stabbed his victim in the neck, causing almost immediate death.