The Sun. — 1845-09-26 (London, England)

WORSHIP-STREET.  Yesterday a powerful young man, named James Aggus, described as a plasterer, was placed at the bar before Mr. Broughton, charged with cutting and wounding Frederick Stokes, a journeyman weaver, living in Spital-street, Spitalfields, with intent to murder him. It appeared from the evidence of two men, named Michael Burke and Samuel Young, that they were passing through Whiskin's-gardens, Twig-folly, between two and three o'clock the preceding afternoon, when they saw a woman, whom they afterwards found to be the wife of the prisoner, suddenly rush out of one of the cottages in a state of extreme terror and excitement, and her clothes in great disorder, and endeavour to make her escape through the garden ; but she was quickly followed by the prisoner, who forcibly dragged her back again, and, notwithstanding she appeared to be in the last stage of pregnancy, continued beating her unmercifully all the way. The prisoner's brutal treatment of the woman attracted the notice of several persons who had collected in front of the garden, amongst whom was the wounded man Stokes, and who was quietly standing outside the gate, when the prisoner, who seemed to be in a state of frantic exeitement, ran back from his house and ordered them to instantly move off. This order not being directly complied with by the complainant, among others, the prisoner struck him a violent blow in the face, and after a short encounter between them, in which they fell down together, while struggling upon the ground the prisoner exclaimed, " You I'll do for you," and began fumbling in his pocket, apparently for some weapon he expected to find there. He then hastily rose, and uttering some dreadful imprecations, ran into his house, from which he almost instantly afterwards returned, brandishing a large table knife, with which he sprang at the complainant, and while the latter was leaning against the railings, exhausted by the previous struggle, stabbed him with the knife in the side of the head and inflicted a very serious injury. Before the prisoner had time to repeat the blow, however, his arms were closely pinioned by some of the bystanders, who, after a violent struggle with him, succeeded in wresting the knife from his grasp and gave him into custody. On reaching the police -station, the divisional surgeon was dispatched to the injured man Stokes, whom he pro• flounced to have received a dangerous wound, penetrating to the skull and nearly two inches in length, and expressed his opinion that should erysipelas supervene, which was by no means improbable, it would be almost certain to result m fatal consequences. The divisional surgeon was now present, and described the nature of the wound in almost similar terms to those abovementioned. Police-constable Cobb produced the knife, which was a larger one than ordinary, the blade of it much stained with blood, and the point of it bent from the force of the blow inflicted with it. Mr. BROUGHTON inquired whether the injured man was in a fit condition to attend and give evidence in support of the charge ? Sergeant Shaw stated that the complainant had been in attendance at the Court that morning in a state of great pain and exhaustion, but the prisoner's wife had engaged him in conversation, and induced him, by the promise of a paltry pecuniary recompense, to forego the prosecution ; and the complainant being a person whose intellect had been considerably impaired by an attack of paralysis, it appeared that he had yielded to her importunities, for he was not then to be found. The prisoner said that this was perfectly true, and that his wife had actually pledged her own wedding-ring and another to raise money enough to satisfy the complainant fur the injuries he had sustained, and which he (the prisoner) could assure the magistrate would never have been inflicted if he had not been in such a state of intoxication at the time as to be incapable of controlling his actions. Mr. BROUGHTON said that this was a most deliberate and premeditated case of stabbing, and the prisoner's wife had rendered herself liable to very serious consequences by the cor duct she had pursued in attempting to compromise a felony; but, though some regard should be paid to the feelings of a wife, under such circumstances, he could not suffer the interests of justice to be so tampered with, and he should therefore direct a warrant to be at once issued to enforce the attendance of the wounded man, and bind over the witnesses to appear again on Tuesday next, when the prisoner would be fully committed for trial. _