The Sun. — 1859-08-08 (London, England)

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—BODMIN, Aug. 6. The commission was opened on Thursday afternoon by Mr. Justice Crompton, later in the day Mr. Baron Bramwell arrived, and in the evening attended divine service. Stephen B. L. Bell, 53, surgeon, was indicted for the wilful murder of James Caddy, at Falmouth, on the 23d June. Mr. Cole and Mr. Cox prosecuted, and Mr. Coleridge defended the prisoner. The facts lie in a very short compass. It ap-. peared that the prisoner had been practising at Weston-super-Mare, and was in difficulttes in a pecuniary point of view. He had received assistance from his mother, a very aged lady, residing near the Middle-terrace, Falmouth, but it appears that his applications for further aid had been denied. On the evening in question he unexpectedly presented himself at his mother's house, and demanded money, which was refused. , He became very violent, and his sisters, alarmed at his threats, sent across the road to Harriet-place, to request their friend CapL Caddy to come and protect them, Capt. Caddy immediately came over and expostulated in vain with the prisoner, and threatened to fetch a policeman. The prisoner now became so violent that one of his sisters escaped through the window, and on Capt. Caddy attempting to leave the house for the police, the prisoner seized an Indian spear which hung as an ornament in the passage, a most formidable weapon, and struck him in the upper part of the thigh, completely severing the femoral artery. The upfortunate gentleman staggered to the porch where he supported himself for a moment and fell dead. The witnesses examined were the prisoner's two sisters. The poor ladies were deeply affected, and from this circumstance, and a natural unwillirigness on their part to inculpate their brother, there was considerable difficiiltv in obtaining evidence on some of the main facts of the case. They and their brother were the only persons who witnessed the cause of the deceased's death. Their mother, a very infirm old lady, was, at the time of the melancholy occurrence, up tairs in bed, and wholly unconsc ous of the proceedings below, whilst the servant, a, female, was at the time absent from the house. The evidence of Charlotte and Mary Ann Bell (prisoner's sisters) having been taken to the above effect, Mr. Coleridge made an admirable address for the defence. He argued that the charge of murder was far from being made out, and the wound the unfcr tunate Mr. Caddy received was the result of an accident. _  His Lordship having summed ui), thr; jury, after  half an hour's deliberation, returned a verdict of Manslaughter. The prisoner, on being asked whether he had anything to say why sentence should not be passed, ad-. dressed the Court in a lengthy oration, in which he attacked almost every one who had given evidence against him, and repeatedly called upon "the Al-, mighty and His dear Son to witness his innocence." His lordship, in passing sentence, remarked that it was a fortunate thing for the prisoner that the jury did not hear his.remarks before the delivered their ver&et, for if they had the probability was that the black malignity he had exhibited towards the witnesses would have induced them t• have found him guilty of the more serious crime of murder. His offence was as close to murder as it could be, and his punishment must be next to death. ths lordship then sentenced the prisoner to penal servitude for life.  This case concluded the busine§s of the assize. The business on the civil side was of trifling importance.