The Sun. — 1847-12-15 (London, England)

WIGHTMAN.) William Newton Onstt, a boy aged about twelve years, was placed at the bar charged with the wilful murder of his grandfather, Se. m uel Nelm, by mixing arsenic in bite food of the deceased:.; and he was also charged with larceny in a dwelling-h ouse. Mr. RYLAND condi acted the ease for the prosecution. He went through 2 statement of the facts, but was, for 4 ,f ost part, inaudible to the reporters. Towards the nsiusion of his at ldregs, he said, that a question might 'arise from the isv:At .nce for the grave consideration of the jury, respecting thi a soundness of the prisoner's mind at the time when h 4 mixed the arsenic (if they found that he had mixed i t) with the arrowroot and sugar intended for his gram dfather's use. It was statedbythe prisoner's mother tb at his father was subject to epileptic fits, and that at thus time of his death he was decidedly insane. Sb.o a.Esn► stated before the coroner that the prisoner Himself 'b i ad received in very early life an njury of the lima, which she suspected to have affected his reasoning powers He had frequently strange .conversation w ith her on the subject of poisons.. Other witnesses a could also speak to strange conversations with him on other subjects. If from that evidence the jury should bob LYC that the prisoner was not in a sane state of mind A the time of the alleged a acquit hir ; but if they believed that, however theyeve must strange; his coed act mklht be upon other oceasions, ho mixed the  poison with the food for the purpose of procuring the death of his grandfather, being at that time in a sound state of mind, it would be their duty to find him guilty. The Learned Gentleman, after some objection on the part of Mr. Ballantine, who appeared for the prisoner, read two letters, addressed from Newgate by the prisoner to his mother, in which he confessed his guilt, and gave a description of extraordinary dreams or visions which he had after hearing exhortations from the Ordinary of Newgate, Mr. Davis. (These letters have already appeared in The Sun.) The Learned Gentleman then proceeded to call various witnesses to prove his case, but their evidence has been so recently given in The Sun, in the reports of the proceedings before the Coroner, and before the Magistrate, that it is unnecessary to repeat it. Mrs. Mary Louisa Allnut, the mother of the prisoner' in the course of her cross-examination, said that the father of the prisoner died about two years and a halt ago. He had been in the habit of drinking, and was subject to epileptic fits. When he died he was (we understood) in a state of insanity. At the time of the birth of the boy at the bar, the mind of the witness was much affected, and had long been so, from family troubles. The prisoner, when a year and a half old, had a fall upon a ploughshare, and when he was first brought in he was thought to he dead. The accident was followed by brain fever. The cut was above the top of the nose. In December, 1844, he had an obstinate attack of ringworm, and, singe that, manifestations of scrofula. He was a boy with whom she had had a great deal of trouble, and frequently had to remonstrate with him for misconduct. That made no impression on him, and he would say that he did lot feel that he was doing wrong. Ho had been much worse since he had a fall upon the ice in January last. Since that time he complained very much of headaches, and seemed to suffer greatly from them. When she spoke to him about the wrong things he did, he used to say that some one seemed to talk to him in his head, and to say "do it, do it; you will not be found out."  To the