Glasgow Courier. — 1847-10-19 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

SHERIFF CRIMINAL COURT—IMPORTANT DECISION. PERTH, Ocr. 15—A case which has excited some time back a painful sensation in this neighbourhood, both on account of the respectable status in society occupied by the party principally implicated, and also the melancholy consequences involved, came on yesterday for trial before Sheriff N'higham and a jury; and although technically speaking the panel has left the bar unconvicted of the heavier part of the charge, still the verdict returned ought to operate as a warning to all parties similarly circumstanced to have a tender regard to the safety of their fellow-creatures. James Hannigan, son of Mr. Henry Ballingall, cabinet-maker, Perth, who had been out on bail since the casualty occurred, was placed at the bar, charged under a double indictment; first, of having recklessly, rashly, and furiously ridden along the public road, in the neighbourhood of Forteviot, to the danger of the lieges, and especially to the injury of a young boy about 3 or 4 years of age, named Thomas Forrester; and, second, of culpable homicide, by having caused or accelerated the death of this boy by both riding after him upon the road and following him on horseback off the road, by which the boy was so intimidated and frightened that he was thrown into a state of delirium and insensibility from which he never recovered, and by which he was cut off a month after the accident. The offence was committed on the 28th of May last, and the boy died on the 29th of June. • The panel pleaded not guilty, and the case went to trial. One of the Deputy-Advocates, from Edinburgh, appeared along with the Fiscal, for the prosecution, and the prisoner was ably defended by Mr. Patten, Advocate, also from Edinburgh. The case was a very protracted one, for it occupied the Court from 10 o'clock in the morning to about 8 o'clock in the evebing, and it is therefore impossible to do anything but give a mere outline of the evidence; which, as adduced by the prosecutor, was intended to show that Hannigan, along with another young man of the name of George Brown, clerk with Mr. Mitchell, engineer, Perth, had been out riding at the place mentioned above, on the 28th of May, and that Ballingall, being then in a state bordering upon intoxication did ride after a number of children upon the highway, and when they ran off the public road for the purpose of avoiding him, followed them up a brae to which they ran for protection, in consequence ot which the little boy Forrester was thrown into such a state of terror, that he ran home crying dreadfully, and very soon after fell into a state of delirium from which he never recovered. The evidence for the prosecution appeared to be a little defective, as the principal testimony was given by a young boy, only 11 years of age, whose evidence could not be taken upon oath, and, besides, seemed to be a little inconsistent. It was endeavoured to be shown, in exculpation, that the child, after Ballingall had passed, had first gone into the house, and returned and played for a few minutes with his companions, before he began to exhibit any symptoms of fright or delirium. There was also a discrepancy in the medical testimony—Dr. Young of Dunning holding, that the statement of the child having gone into the house and returned, if really correct, was a proof that he could not have been frightened by the horse; while Drs. Malcolm and Thomson of Perth were of opinion that this made no difference, and that it was quite possible that half an hour might have elapsed without the symptoms manifesting themselves. An attempt to prove that the child had been frightened by a cow appeared to be abortive. After a protracted trial, and an able address from Mr. Patten, for the prisoner, the Sheriff summed up, in doing which he occupied nearly an hour and a quarter, and the jury, after being absent about an hour, returned a verdict of" Not proven," as to the culpable homicide, but, by a majority, found the prisoner guilty of furious and reckless riding, to the danger of the lieges, and injury of the boy. The Sheriff, after a suitable admonition, said that he felt himself at liberty, in conformity with a sentence passed at the late Circuit Court, in a similar case, to inflict a pecuniary fine, and, accordingly, sentenced the prisoner to pay a tine of £2O, or be imprisoned for three months.