Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

were in favour of hearing the whole evidence, the action was adjourned. The case for the defence was fully gone into, and left no doubt that the plaintiff's story was a fabrication. The jury, however, returned their verdict in the following rather singular terms:"As the plaintiff has not made out her case to our entire satisfaction, we of necessity find a verdict for the defendant."

9. CONVICTION FOR MURDER AT EDINBURGH.-The High Court of Justiciary sat for the trial of Alexander Milne, accused of the murder of James Paterson. Milne was a jeweller and artist in hair, in South Frederick-street, Edinburgh, and Paterson was a working jeweller, who was frequently employed by Milne. the morning of Wednesday, January 7, Paterson sent Graham, one of his workmen, to Milne to make inquiry as to the execution of an order Paterson had received from him. Milne asked Paterson to come himself. Paterson entered his shop about eleven o'clock, and a few minutes afterwards he was seen to come out at the area door, climb over the railings, and enter an adjoining shop, where he fell down, and in a few minutes expired, having been stabbed to the heart. There were no witnesses to the blow, but Milne was found with a dagger in his possession, which he had bought only that morning. At the trial Milne pleaded "Not Guilty," but also put in the special defence of insanity. After the evidence for the Crown, which occupied the greater part of the day, evidence was given at considerable length in support of this special defence. The facts brought out presented a case of no little difficulty. It appeared that for some days before the murder, Milne (who had for the last few years led a very dissipated life) had been drinking heavily, and had reduced himself to a state which bordered on, if it had not become, actual insanity. On Christmas night he had had a party of friends at his house, whom he horrified by the display of a drawn sword, with which he performed numerous vagaries, and shocked by a very profanelyexpressed blessing, and generally alarmed by his excited and strange conduct. On the 5th of January he was in bed, and called in a doctor, who prescribed some medicine, and censured him for his debauchery. Paterson happened to call, and took up the bottle to smell it; and Milne afterwards refused to take any, saying that Paterson had poisoned it. At night he told the porter, who put on the shutters, that robbers were watching to break into his shop; and some noises at the door that night appear to have confirmed his suspicions. Next morning, he got a smith to put on an additional bar; and Paterson happening to call, he pointed him out to the smith as one of the blackguards who had been trying to break into his shop. The same day he went to an auctioneer to ask him to take charge of some of his most valuable stock, in consequence of the suspected robbery; and to several persons he also expressed his belief that Paterson had designs upon his life, so as to get his wife and take the business. On the morning of the 7th he went out about ten o'clock, and bought the dagger-whether prior or subsequent to Graham's visit the evidence did not distinctly show.

After the murder, he waited in his shop till he was apprehended, though he had both opportunity and money to escape. To the police officials he avowed the act, stating that Paterson, only two days before, had come in and diffused vapours through the room, and, while he was blinded and overpowered by them, taken liberties with his wife, and had also attempted to poison his children. Next morning, the statement which he made in a declaration before the magistrate was that he was playing with the dagger when Paterson came in, that he told him to stand back, but that Paterson ran forward upon it, and so was killed by accident. In the first night of his imprisonment he awoke in great terror, and called out that his wife and children were being murdered. The turnkey feared delirium tremens, and took him to the padded room, but no such fit came on. Two other prisoners, incarcerated in the cell with him, testified to Milne having spoken and acted throughout his imprisonment under delusions similar to those he exhibited before the murder, and stated that sometimes he had justified his conduct in putting Paterson to death, and at other times expressed great regret for his death, which he attributed to accident. The medical gentlemen called for the defence (including Professor Christison) thought the prisoner while in gaol was insane, and acted under insane delusions; and they had detected no symptoms of feigning. They could not, however, account, by reference to any known case of monomania, for the contradiction in the prisoner's statements as to the cause of Paterson's death. The Solicitor-General (Mr. Young) addressed the jury for the Crown, and contended that the prisoner's aberrations were caused solely by drinking; that he had never lost consciousness of right and wrong, and that his declaration and conduct the day after the murder showed not insanity, but the result of cool reflection. Mr. Scott, for the defence, maintained that the prisoner was insane at the time of the act, and that the insanity still continued. The Lord Justice Clerk, in his charge to the jury, went carefully over the evidence, and especially pointed out all those parts of it which bore on the question of insanity, and supported the prisoner's plea. He also instructed the jury that they might, if they found the prisoner sane, return a verdict of culpable homicide, should they think, from the absence of witnesses to the deed, that there was doubt as to its being an act of murder. The jury, after an hour's absence, found the prisoner guilty of murder, but recommended him to mercy. The Lord Justice Clerk pronounced sentence of death, and appointed the execution to take place on the 4th of March, at the same time stating that the recommendation of the jury would be forwarded to the proper quarter.

FIRE AT THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN'S PALACE.-About eight o'clock a.m., a fire broke out in the Bishop of Lincoln's palace, at Riseholme, about three miles from Lincoln. Smoke was first seen issuing from the floor of the bed-room immediately over the servants' hall, and an alarm was at once given. His lordship

was at home, having arrived on the previous evening; and Archdeacon Kaye, his lordship's son-in-law, was also at home. The latter at once undertook the direction of the domestics. Their attention was first directed to the floor from which smoke was seen issuing, and a large quantity of water was poured upon it; but, notwithstanding the efforts to prevent it, the flames broke out with great fury, and ascended to the ceiling. Their exertions were then directed to the room above, and large quantities of water were poured upon that floor. The flames, however, gained the mastery; and soon that room was burning too. The doors were then shut, to prevent the ingress of air, and thus confine the fire to the portion of the mansion (the right wing) of which it had obtained possession. By this time the cathedral and city engines, with their respective brigades, arrived, and soon a very copious supply of water was poured upon the burning mass; and the flames were subdued about two hours after the fire had been discovered, but not before a portion of the roof had fallen in. Fortunately, there was not a breath of wind stirring at the time, and an abundant supply of water at hand from the lake in front of the palace, or the whole of this beautiful and extensive mansion might have been a blackened ruin. The fire was said to have commenced in the chimney of the servants' hall, where a fire had just previously been kindled. A wooden beam in the ceiling of the hall projects into the chimney, and it was conjectured that it had ignited.

THE "GEORGE GRISWOLD."-This vessel, laden with a large supply of provisions for the benefit of the Lancashire Relief Fund, was berthed in the Waterloo Dock, Liverpool. She is a very handsome and entirely new vessel of 1180 tons American register, but capable of carrying 1500 tons, and was built by Mr. Thomas, at Quincey, in the State of Massachusetts. As the vessel was being towed up the river, she was saluted by the firing of eighteen guns from the North Fort, the Rock Fort ensign also being "dipped " in courtesy. It was expected-indeed, a sort of semi-authoritative announcement had been made-that some public demonstration would take place on the arrival of the ship; but, beyond the courtesies above mentioned, nothing of a public nature occurred. A few days afterwards, however, the Chamber of Commerce met the commander of the vessel and the officers of his crew in St. George's Hall, when the following address was presented :"To the Commander of the ship 'George Griswold,' as the representative of the American Contributors to the Relief of the Distress in the Cotton Manufacturing Districts.-Sir,-Sixteen years ago, when our countrymen in Ireland were suffering the horrors of famine, your nation, then united and prosperous, sent across the Atlantic offerings of grain and provisions to alleviate their great distress. To-day, with your energies taxed to the utmost by the gigantic struggle through which you are passing, you have not

[ocr errors]

ceased to be mindful of the misery which this sad contest is inflicting on fully half a million of our industrious workers, and you have a second time generously contributed of the abundance with which God has blessed you to help the necessities of those among us who, through no fault of their own, are reduced to a state of compulsory idleness and destitution. We call to mind that out of the sufferings of that period there arose for us, by this emancipation of our industry, an unspeakable good, which has enriched our country, extended our commerce, banished not a few of our social discontents, and inaugurated a great moral revolution, the blessings of which have not been confined to ourselves, but are gradually working out in other countries the like beneficial results. May we not hope that the trial through which you and we are passing will be the precursor of equally great social ameliorations, and that out of the darkest hour of a nation's existencethat of bloodshed between members of the same family-there may issue for you some signal national deliverance, the benefits of which are to stretch beyond yourselves to the gain of our common humanity? Our country accepts with gratitude this noble gift. We welcome to our port the bearers of this brotherly bountyfreely given, freely stowed, and freely freighted across the seas by a commander who has given his free services to this benevolent work. Our Government and the local authorities have shown their appreciation of the act by removing every impost on the free admission of the ship and her cargo. As representing the mercantile community of Liverpool, this Chamber of Commerce asks you to convey to the donors its sense of the liberal and friendly spirit in which your merchants and agriculturists have united to send forward to our distressed cotton operatives so acceptable a message of goodwill and sympathy; and in many a home, darkened by the shadow of this terrible calamity, the silent thanks and prayers of thousands who are bearing their privations with a patience and a heroism beyond all praise, will be your best reward. Addressing you on behalf of a community among whom it is well known great differences of opinion prevail as to the causes and objects of the contest now unhappily raging among you, it would be evidently unbecoming in us to put forward any statement that would create dissension and mar the general harmony of the occasion; but we think we are warranted in saying that men of all shades of opinion would rejoice to see this war terminated in any way that would not be inconsistent with your honour as a people, and with the great and responsible position which you occupy among the nations. We shall recognize in the return of peace and prosperity among you the best securities for our own continued prosperity. We trust that nothing will arise to interrupt for a moment the friendly relations which have hitherto subsisted between us, and that no harsh judgments or misrepresentations of feelings and motives on either side will lead us to forget that

we are kinsmen, sprung from a common stock, united by the bond of a common language, and fellow-labourers in the common cause of progress. May the two great branches of the AngloSaxon family always be found generous rivals in the arts of peace, and in efforts to ameliorate the condition of mankind! And at no distant period may the sword be sheathed throughout your land, and the sounds of strife be exchanged for the conquests of industry. Signed on behalf of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce."

12. THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE FISHMONGERS' COMPANY.The freedom of the Fishmongers' Company was this day presented to the Prince of Wales. The steps leading to the Fishmongers' Hall were covered with crimson cloth, while overhead was the canopy-always significant of some City festivity. Eighteen watermen, all winners of Doggett's badge, at various periods, from 1824 down to the 1st of August last, kept guard in the outer staircase; and in the vestibule the band of the Royal Artillery played at intervals. The great hall where the presentation took place was crowded with spectators, among whom were a very large number of ladies. In the centre of the hall was a raised daïs and a crimson chair placed for the Prince of Wales. About one o'clock His Royal Highness arrived at the hall, accompanied by General Knollys and Major Teesdale. His approach was the signal for a most hearty reception from the crowd, the cheering being loud and reiterated. The Prince at once ascended the staircase in the midst of a procession consisting principally of members of the Fishmongers' Company, the band of the Royal Artillery meanwhile playing "God save the Queen." When he had entered the ante-room to the principal chamber, several of the leading members of the corporation were presented to him by the clerk of the company. Amongst those thus presented were the past wardens, Mr. Hanbury, M.P., and Mr. Western Wood, M.P., Lord Clyde, and Sir Rowland Hill. The Prince then entered the great chamber of the company, and took his seat in the chair upon the daïs, the spectators standing until they received a signal to be seated. The freedom of the company, enclosed in a massive gold casket, was presented to the Prince with the usual forms, Mr. Cubitt, M.P., briefly addressing His Royal Highness. This chaste and elegant casket is surmounted by a female figure, representing Commerce seated on a dolphin, and by His Royal Highness's coronet and feathers. It bears the Prince's arms and monogram, and likewise the company's arms. The Prince of Wales, after having shaken hands with Mr. Cubitt, spoke as follows:-" Mr. Cubitt and gentlemen, it is with the greatest pleasure that I find myself called upon to return my sincere thanks to you, sir, as prime warden, and to you, gentlemen of the court of assistants of this honourable and ancient Company of Fishmongers, for the complimentary and kind terms in which you

« AnkstesnisTęsti »