The Sun. — 1844-11-30 (London, England)

THE MURDER AT DOVER.—.Tames Clark, 60, John Clark, 28, William Clark, 30, and William Smith, 23, were indicted for the murder of Samuel Couchman, at Charlton, in the borough of Dover. Mr. Bodkin and Mr. Rose conducted the prosecution ; and Mr. Horne defended the prisoners. The case occupied the Court a great many hours, but the facts upon which the charge was made against the prisoners lay in a very small compass. It appeared from the statement of the Learned Counsel and the evidence, that the unfortunate deceased was one of the police-constables of Dover, and he was engaged in that capacity at the time he lost his life, on the Bth September last. It appeared that in the afternoon of that day a number of disorderly persons had been quarrelling together, and there was fighting going on for a considerable time, the elder prisoner, the other two, who are his sons, and a third son named Thomas, eing actively engaged in the disturbance. The deceased interfered, but he was very much abused, and some of the prisoners were heard to make use of very bad language towards the police, and to threaten that some of them should be done for before night. The disturbance continued until eleven o'clock at night, when the deceased and another constable, named Smith, laid hold of the prisoner, James Clark, and one of his sons, with a view to take them into custody, when Thomas, the other son, interfered, and said that he would take his father, who was at this time very drunk, home, and he did so. The two constables were then pushed about and assaulted, and Thomas Clark was seen to come out of his house with a large bludgeon, partly concealed, by his side, and without saying a word he raised it, and with both hands struck the deceased a tremendous blow across the face with the stick. The blow literally smashed the deceased's face, and he fell to the ground as though he had been shot, and died almost immediately afterwards. The man, Thomas Clark, who was no doubt the actual cause of the death of the deceased, absconded immediately after the occurrence, and has not since been heard of, and the prisoners were charged accessorially with the murder from their having been present during the affray, and from the threats they had made use of. In addition to this it was proved against the prisoner Smith, that while the unfortunate deceased was lying dead upon the ground, he jumped up with a gesture of exultation, and exclaimed, " There you—, you've got it ; you are no good." These facts were shown in evidence, but there was an absence of any distinct proof that the prisoners were actually present when the fatal blow was struck, and the only evidence that tended to show they were aware of the fatal result that had taken place, was the fact that immediately after the death of the deceased, one of the prisoners said to the other, " Come along, my dear brother, let us bolt—we have done something to be talked bout."  Mr. HORNE addressed the jury on behalf of the prisoners, and having alluded to the more material portions of the evidence, he contended that it was not sufficient to warrant the jury in convicting the prisoners of the serious offence with which they were accused. Mr. Justice WriaaJous summed up, and the jury, after a consultation of nearly two hours, returned a verdict of Not Guilty.  MIDLAND Stoneleigh stoodtTlos Chit]. oeiomicefßahi gsoCahreUgLt oe/AebdTi gebu,ribi p, Weolyajna,soritenhpai cethi kn tdshNei Flowers, 2 S.