The Press. — 1858-08-14 (London, England)

788  of the defendant without, and she thought that by consenting she shoal.' have the '• pall " on him. She said that she intended to go to his house and knock at the door and then bolt into the parlour and say to the defendant, " Here are your two —, turn out whichever you like." (A latigh.) Oa a second call she Lela him that the defendant was still visiting her, and that she had got 101. out of him, and she also said that she had been in the habit of borrowing a sovereign of him whenever she wanted one. This was the case for the plaintiff. Mr. JAMES submitted that there was not the least evidence to support the assu:nption of any promise of marriage having been made. Mr. Justice WILLEs said he would rather that the opinion of the jury should be taken. Mr. JAMES then made a very able and humorous speech for the defendant. Ha said there was not the slightest pretence fur the action, and that it was merely au attempt to extort money from the defendant, who, it was thought, no doubt, would rather pay u sum of money than come into a public court and have his folly exposed. He wished that the forms of law permitted him to put them in possession of all the facts Of the case ; be., although he was prevented from doing this, he said the jury must sea pretty plainly the nature of the case. His learned friend had told them that this lady was a widow, and this was all the information he bad condescended to give ; but surely he could have told them who she was, whose widow she was, and what her real position in life was ; but he had given no such ►nformation. The story, as it appeared to him, was quite absurd. All that appeared was that the plaintiff had walked into the shop, and then it was suggested that this inflammable chemist, of fifty years of age, had fallen desperately in love with her, and had made her an offer of marriage. He admitted that ha had acted very foolishly, and the truth was that the plaintiff had endeavoured to take advantage of his folly to extort money from him. The jury immediately returned u verdict for the defendant.  TUE NAILSEA CHILD MURDER. At Wells, on Wednesday, Elizabeth Caul was indieted for the wilful murder of her sun, James Card, at Nailsea, on the 21th of July. She pleaded " Not Guilty." Mr. H. T. Cole prosecuted; and, at the request of the learned judge, Mr. Prideaux watched the case on behalf of the prisoner. This was a very sad case. The prisoner was the wife of a haulier, living at Nailsea ; and some quarrel having taken place between her and her husband on the 25th of July, she left her own home and went to her mother'., who lived at some short distance. She returned on the following Tuesday, but appeared to be very much afraid of going to her own home. She was seen by a woman named Ann Day, who lived next door, who spoke to her; and on saying, " So you are come home," she replied, " Yes, but not for long, as my husband will kill me if I ant not (lead before he comes home." She then went into the house and closed her door, and was heard to go into an upper chamber. Very shortly afterwards Mrs. Day heard the screaming of children, and on going into the house she found the prisoner on the bed with her throat cut, and her child lying on the floor in a pool of blood quite dead, and with its throat cut. Mrs. Day immediately went for assistance, and on speaking to the prisoner, she said, " I did it myself; it was not my husband." To another witness she stated that she killed the child because she feared it would be starved, and that she wished the others were lying by her side. In the window of the room a razor was found, with which it was clear that the unhappy woman had killed her child and attempted her own life. It appeared from cross examination that the husband of the prisoner was a drunken, worthless fellow, who treated her with great brutality; that tha poor creature was in the family-way at the present time ; and that a person with suicidal tendencies frequently destroyed those nearest and dearest before taking their own lives. Mr. PRIDEAUX, in a pathetic address to the jury, urged that at the time of this unhappy transaction the state of mind of the prisoner was such as to render her net responsible for her acts ; and called Mr. Nicholls, the surgeon who had attended the prisoner since her committal, who cookfirmed this view. Mr. COLE having briefly replied on this evidence, the learned judge summed up, and the jury, after retiring to consider their verdict, acquitted the prisoner on the ground of insanity. The learued judge directed her to be detained during her Majesty's pleasure.  DOUBLE CHILD MURDER AT CLEVEDON. Elizabeth Williams was arraigned, on the same day and at the same place, on two indictments, and on the coroner's inquisitions, charging her with the wilful murder of her children, Elizabeth and William John Williams, aged 'respectively eighteen months and three years. She was accommodated with a seat in 

Article type: Incident