The Potteries Examiner : — 1880-04-17 (Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England)

EXTRAORDINARY CIIARGE ;.414. --Henry Cleft, 48, a very respectable-looking MT, was put upon his trial at Lewes on a charge of feloniously attempting to destroy his own life ; and secondly with feloniously discharging a revolver at Mary Clarke Winch, with intent to murder her, or to do her some grevious bodily harm.—Mr. Kingsford conducted the prosecution; the prisoner was undefended, and he pleaded guilty to the indictment which charged him with attempting to commit suiede The other charge was proceeded with.- -The circumstances were very remarkable. The prisoner appeared to have formerly carried on business as a pawnbroker at Chatham, and was in prosperous circumstances until the year 1871, when he got into difficulties, and employed Mr. Winch, the husband of the lady who was the prosecutrix, and who was a solicitor at Chatham, to take the neeeeitary stops to dispose of his property. Mr. Winch accordingly advertised it in the usual way, and the prisoner appeared to have taken umbrage against Ur. Winch because in the advertisement he described the property as being sold by the order of the mortgagees but the property was eventually sold. In 1873 the prisoner appeared to have brought an action againat Dlr. Winch for negligence in respect of the gale of this property, which action was tried before Baron Bramwell, who dinseted a nonmit. From this time the prisoner appeared to have tarried on a mostestraordinary system of annoyance, and twice threatened to deatroy himself. The occurrence that was the subject of enquiry took placc on the evening of February 14, when it appeared the prisoner went to the residence of Mr. Winch, at Chatham, and asked to see him. fie was not at home. and when Mrs. Winch came to the door and asked the prisoner what he wanted, he appeared to have fired four shots of a revolver at the door behind which Mrs. Winch was standing, but fortunately did not do her any injury, and the prisoner then appeared to have discharged one of the barrels of the revolver into his own mouth, sad the bullet slightly injured his tongue, and it was stated was still embedded in the back of his neck. There did not appear to be the slightest ground for the assertion of the prisoner that he had been treated harshly by Mr. Winch.—The prisoner, when called upon for his defence, reads statement to the effect that he had no intention to injure the prosecetrix, but that his object in going to the house on the evening in question was to commit suicide, as he considered he had been very much injured by Mr. Winch.—Verdict, ant guilty.—Sentence was deferred upon the chug, af attempting to commit suicide.  AN improvement is certainly desirable in the way in which Parliamentary registers are kept, A correspondent states that he might have voted thrice for Mid-Surrey and not have been detected unless a scrutiny of votes was demanded. The correspondent's name occurs on the list of voters for Coulialon district, where he voted. But he has also property in Reigate and Surbiton, and in each of these lists his name again ooeurs, the result being that he had three polling cards from each party, bearing different numbers, and stating his polling places to be Couladon, Reigate, and Kingston respectively. Might he not, if so inclined, have used all three card,? Yes; unless he had been naked to declare that be had not previously voted for Mid-Surrey. Tits Hon. T. 11PIlwraith, Premier and treasurer of Queensland, in at present in this country, and has received a -v dinner, at which