The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1850-03-26 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

MOTT.—Joshua Wilson. the plaintiff in this case, was one of the sons of Mr. Wilson, nurseryman, who died at Derby in 1816, and the defendant is a gentleman engaged as district auditor under the new Poor-law A et, and also an accountant in Manchester. It appeared that the plaintiff left Derby in 1848, and, having beeh reduced to a state of destitution by his own folly, applied for admission into the Manchester workhouse, where he came in contact with the defendant, and induced him to interest himself in the recovery of £1,050 still due to him from the trustees under his father's will. The money was obtained by the defendant, and, according to his account, not only was the whole of it given by instalments, but a further sum of £l7O was supplied to him, and to this amount he was actually indebted to the defendant. The quebtion to be decided was, whether a number of payments which the defendant had made to the plaintiff on account of the sum of £1,050, an amount due from the plaintiff to the defendant for rent of some ground which the former employed as a nursery ground, and the remuneration due to the defendant for his services in recovering the money due from the trustees, amounted to the sum which the defendant had received on the plaintiff's account. The case occupied a very long time, and was ultimately adjourned.  morning of the 22d of January, prosecutrix, in company with a young woman named Williamson, was proceeding to her work, and they had occasion, in going, to pass through a field, in which they saw the prisoner standing as though waiting for some person. The prisoner took hold of prosecutrix as she was passing him, and wished her to promise him when she would become his wife; and added, " for I will either have thee or thy blood." They then scuffled together, and fell to the ground. The prisoner got on his legs, and took a " pick" which he used in the coal mine, and struck her on the head ; the blow scared off, and the prisoner said, " Have I hurt thee ?" Prosecutrix said he had. He then again struck her three several times with the pick upon her head, and inflicted wounds of a most serious nature, and from the effects of which the prosecutrix was unable to leave her house for several weeks. From the statement of the prosecutrix it appeared that the prisoner, upon various previous occasions, had threatened to murder her ; and he had been taken before the magistrates in consequence, but liberated on his friends promising to restrain him by keeping him in safe custody. In cross-examination by Mr. Pollock, the medical man who had attended the prosecutrix, stated that the prisoner was a man of exceedingly weak intellect, and, in consequence of an accident received in the colliery, he had been rendered incapable of governing himself upon occasions of excitement. Mr. Pollock rendered the facts elicited from the medical man the basis of his defence, and contended that, in consequence of the prisoner's state of mind, the charge of intent could not be sustained. He appealed to the jury to return a verdict of acquittal, on the ground of insanity, which would submit the prisoner to confinement during her Majesty's pleasure, which would be highly satisfactory to the prisoner's friends. His Lordship having instructed the jury, they retired  from court, and, after- an absence of a quarter of an hour, returned to court with a verdict of guilty. The Judge, in passing sentence, ordered death to be recorded, adding, "we shall see afterwards:what will be done with you."  Charles Hodgkinson, 29, and Joseph Green, 23, were acquitted of having, in January last, feloniously stolen from the dwelling-house of Ellis Green, at Culcheth, thriteen sovereigns, other money, two watches, and a vast number of other articles.