The Sun. — 1863-08-14 (London, England)

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—GLOUCESTER, AUG. 13. CROWN COURT. (Before Golding i was indicted iJusticendicted forß yl etBh murder of her .) infant child, at Stapleton, on the 16th July, Mr. Sawyer was for the prosecution; Mr. Weightman Mary Ann G e was for the prisoner. The prisoner was in service as a housemaid at Stapleton, and on the 16th, at about 7 o'clock in the evening, her fellow-servant went upstairs and found her in their bedroom. When she entered the room the prisoner loft it, and she then observed marks of blood on the floor, and, looking under the bed, saw a new-born child in the utensil in a crumpled-up state. She saw it move and gape. She at once left the room, and when sho met the prisoner said to her " Oh, 111hry, what have you done ?" to which the prisoner answered "Pray don't tell mistress ;" but she found her mistress, told her, and returned with her to the room. The child was taken out of the utensil; restoratives were applied but it was found to be quite dead. It was tben rolled up in some linen and left on the floor. The prisoner was ordered by her mistress to leave that night. Mr. Herapath, a surgeon at Bristol, was sent for the same night, and arrived at the house where the prisoner lived at about 10 o'clock. He examined her, and found that she had been recently delivered. He asked to see the child, and the prisoner then pointed to a box, locked and corded, which the prisoner had got ready for her departure, and in it the body of the child was found. Its head was extensively fractured, and Mr. Herapath observed two spots about three feet from the bed, one of which presented the appearance of the mark of a child's head, with some hair adhering to the floor. On a post mortem examination considerable fractures of the bones  ',razes of the "iing  of the cranium were disclosed, anu sion of blood beneath the scalp and the men.,._ brain. The lungs had been fully inflated, and brea.. had been carritd on some little time before death. The navel string had been cut. The delivery was not a difficult one, nor did it appear as if it could have taken place in an erect posture. The learned Judge pointed out to the jury the distinction between murder and manslaughter, and The jury found a verdict of guilty of manslaughter. The prisoner was sentenced to one year's imprisonment, with hard labour.  James Price, the elder, was charged with feloniously dis • charging a certain gun, loaded with gunpowder and shot, at and against his son, James Price, the younger, with intent to do him grievous bodily harm, at Woo]hston, on the 3d of July. The indictment contained a count for unlawfully  wounding. Mr. Sawyer was for the prosecution ; Mr. Powell defended the prisoner. The prisoner is an old man of nearly 80 years of age, and the prosecutor was his son, who, however, did not live at home. On Friday evening, about 8 or 9 o'clock, the son came to his father's house in a state of pa tial intoxication, and he went into the cellar to fetch a reaping-hook. The prisoner was there, and some words took place between them with:reference to the old man's cutting some vetches which the son had grown in a field of the old man's. The old man justified what he had done, and the son brandished his reaping-hook about, making the sparks fly from the stone flooring, and threatened his father. The father ordered him out of the kitchen. He refused to g 9, and then he took down a gun and pointed it at his son, the prosecutor, who whipped behind the settle, but he fired, and some of the shot lodged in the son's leg. The son was taken up stairs and put to bed. There was no doubt that he had given his father great provocation, and it was stated that he had refused to prosecute, but the magistrates thought that it was a case which ought to be brought to the assizes, an opinion with which the learned Judge expressed his concurrence. After his Lordship had summed up, and told the jury that though, no doubt, the provocation had been great, yet guns must not be used in family quarrels, they found a verdict of guilty of unlawfully wounding, with a recommendation to mercy. The prisoner was sentenced to one month's imprisonment in the common gaol.