The Sun. — 1860-03-29 (London, England)

THE ASHCOMBE MURDER. Serafin Manzano, the Spaniard charged with the murder of Anastatia Trowbridge, at Ashcombe, on the 3d of November last, was again placed at the bar this morning. The case for the prosecution closed late last night. The prisoner manifested the greatest indifference during the whole of yesterday, and frequently smiled at the witnesses and spectators around him. Mr. H. T. Cole applied to the Court to allow the prisoner to make a statement preparatory to his addressing the jury. Mr. Baron Martin, after consulting Mr. Baron Channell, said, as there were precedents for it, he would allow the statement to be made. At the same time he did so against his own judgment. He regarded it as a most dangerous practice. The prisoner then made a statement to the effect that he met a man and woman, the former of whom asked him to exchange clothes. He did so, and slept with them in a shed, but before he awoke in the morning they were gone, and he did not know in what direction they went. The man was dressed somewhat like himself:- He was a taller man than himself. Mr. Col©, in addressing the jury for the prisoner, complained that everything had been done to excite prejudice against him. He had been photographed with a policeman's hand upon his shoulder, and those photographs had been publicly exhibited in different places in the county. Even the sheriff's chaplain had assumed the prisoner's guilt, and held him up as a warning to his congregation. The learned counsel then proceeded to contend that the only fact against the prisoner was the possession of the prosecutor's clothes. The possession of those things, however, had been accounted for by the prisoner, and he asked the jury to believe the statement which the prisoner had made. If the prisoner had committed the murder he must have been covered with blood, and he argued that the absence of blood from the prisoner's clothes completely established his innocence. His lordship, in summing up, said he felt hound to allude to some observations which had fallen from Air. Cole. He was not aware whether the learned counsel heard the sermon of the sheriff's chaplain on Sunday morning. He (the learned judge), did, and he must say it contained no statement calculated to prejudge the case against the prisoner. With regard to the photographs which had been taken of the prisoner and a policeman, be said it was decidedly wrong, and.he hoped never to hear of such a thing again. He was bound to tell them, however, that neither of these facts had the slightest bearing upon the case. They were bound to try the prisoner upon the evidence, and he was sure they would not allow anything which had taken place out of doors to influence their minds. His lordship then read through the evidence, and, with regard to the prisoner's statement, he said if they believed it, they must also believe, that the person who really committed the murder must have allowed hian to take the whole proceeds of the robbery. The jury then retired, and in about half an hour returned with a verdict of guilty. His Lordship then assumed the black cap, and sentenced the prisoner to death in the usual form, and held out no hope that his sentence woultl be commuted.