[list-cumbria] Carlisle Patriot, 28 Aug 1824 - Cumberland Summer Assizes (7)

[petra.mitchinson at doctors.org.uk]

Saturday 28 Aug 1824   (p. 2, col. 3 - p. 4, col. 5)
 
CUMBERLAND SUMMER ASSIZES, 1824. 
 
CROWN BAR: MR. BARON HULLOCK. 
 
[continued] 
 
VIOLENT ASSAULT. 
 
Mr. SCARLETT intimated to his Lordship that there was a case of assault upon
an officer of his Majesty's Customs, which he wished to bring before the
court; but the officer, who would be the principal witness, was at this time
confined to his bed, and so ill that he could not attend; though not,
perhaps, near dissolution, yet should death be the result within a year and
a day, the consequence would be of a very different nature. Mr. SCARLETT
wished to know if his lordship thought it advisable to put the prisoner on
his trial under these circumstances? 
 
Mr. Serjeant CROSS observed, that the judge had a discretionary power to
send him to the hulks for three years: the indictment was found at the
present assizes, and the right to traverse was taken away by the statute.
The prisoner, John M'GORRAN, was then placed at the bar, charged with
having, on the 31st of July last, at Kingmoor, violently assaulted and
beaten Thomas NIXON, of Rockliffe, in the said county, custom-house officer,
whilst in the exercise of his duty. The prisoner pleaded not guilty. The
prosecution was conducted by Messrs. SCARLETT, CROSS, and TINDAL. Mr.
SCARLETT explained, at considerable length, the law relating to the
transmission of spirits from Scotland to England, and from one part of
England to another. The learned counsel said that the officer was justified
in his conduct. It appeared, that as Mr. NIXON, in company with his wife and
sister, and a woman named Barbara CARTMELL, were returning home from
Carlisle on the 31st of last month, about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, they
met six persons on the road, carrying bundles and blue and green bags, which
contained whiskey in bladders: four of them leaped over the bridge; and Mr.
NIXON opened the gate, and went into the field, when the men ran among the
wheat. Mr. NIXON got one bundle, which he gave to his wife, which she placed
under her basket; he then went after the others, and got another bundle,
which were the only two he seized; and he came over the hedge again, and was
tying his shoe, when his wife called to him to be on his guard, as a dog
which the smugglers had was coming full speed towards him. The men who had
lost their bundles came running back, cursing and swearing, and both struck
at NIXON, one with a stick, and the other with his fist: the stick was
broken by the first blow. Mr. NIXON's sister swore to the prisoner as one of
the men who struck her brother, but he was not the one who had the stick.
The officer defended himself with a stick, by which he left a mark on the
prisoner's head and hand, which assisted the constable in detecting him at
the time of his apprehension. The other smuggler jumped upon one of the
bags, and burst some of the bladders; and, in the mean time, the prisoner
took up two stones, and swore he would throw them, which he did: one of them
hit NIXON between the shoulders, and the other on the head, when he dropped
down as if he were dead: then the smugglers both ran off, and the prisoner's
companion carried away part of the whiskey; but the first seizure was left.
At this time, a Mr. SKELTON came past with a cart, into which the captured
whiskey, consisting of two gallons and one quart, was put; and Mr. NIXON was
taken up, unable to speak, and had been confined to his bed ever since. Mr.
ANDERSON, surgeon, attended the officer on the 1st of August: he was bruised
on the back part of the neck, accompanied with considerable pain and fever:
he also complained of a pain in the head; and on the third day after his
memory was affected. He was confined to his bed, and had continued much in
the same state ever since he received the injury. YOUNG, the constable, had
the prisoner described to him by Mr. JACKSON, and he found him at Peggy
M'CANNON's, a woman who sold a "drop o' whiskey," in Caldewgate. When the
prisoner was apprehended, he was asked how he came by the wound on his head
(over which he had a plaster), and the bruise on his hand, which was tied
up. He said NIXON had struck him. The prisoner had no counsel, and declined
saying any thing. His lordship summed up, and the jury found M'GORRAN guilty
of the misdemeanor. To be imprisoned in Carlisle gaol fifteen calendar
months. 
 
UNNATURAL ASSAULT. 
 
JANE BRAITHWAITE was placed at the bar, charged with having on the 18th of
May last, committed an assault, on the body of her new-born female child, by
throwing it into a certain privy, for the purpose of doing it some grievous
bodily harm. The prisoner pleaded not guilty. Mr. AGLIONBY, for the
prosecution, called witnesses, who were principally the prisoner's
fellow-servants, and their testimony was very corroborative. It appeared
that the prisoner, who lived servant in the family of Mr. TAYLOR, at
Muncaster Castle, on the morning of the 18th of May last, asked a young
woman to make on the fire for her, as she had a very violent tooth ache. The
prisoner then went out about five o'clock in the morning, and remained till
breakfast was over, about three quarters of an hour, exciting the suspicions
of her fellow-servants, who went after her, and sought for her in the wood,
where there is a privy, about 100 yards from the castle. When near the
privy, one of the witnesses heard something fall: the prisoner came out of
the privy, and one of the witnesses asked her where she had been; she said,
no where, and still complained of the tooth ache. The prisoner, at this
time, was very bad, and she returned to the castle, and went to bed. Her
fellow-servants, not satisfied, went back again to the privy in the wood,
and there saw appearances which confirmed their suspicions, and they
afterwards heard the cry of a child down in the privy; but they could not
see it. They then got a light; but still could not see it, though they heard
it cry. After some time, they removed a flag stone, and found a female
child, covered with the filth of the place, in which it was found. The
prisoner, it appeared, had never communicated her situation to any one; but
owing to this providential discovery, the child was saved, and is now alive.
None of the witnesses could swear whether the prisoner had provided any
clothes or not. Mr. BENTHAM, a surgeon, deposed that he examined the
prisoner on the day after the child was found; he was convinced that she had
been recently delivered of a child: he saw the child, it was a female, and
appeared to be full grown. The witness asked the prisoner why she went there
to bear the child; and she replied, she did not know why she went there. No
violence appeared on the body of the infant. (A number of questions were
asked Dr. BENTHAM, which he did not answer decisively; but they are not at
all calculated to meet the public eye.) His Lordship went through the
evidence, making observations upon it to the Jury; and told them the
question for them to consider was, whether the child was put there by the
prisoner, and whether for the purpose of destroying it: of this they must be
satisfied before they could come to a proper conclusion. There was a
variance in the evidence, as to what the prisoner said when the child was
discovered; and any inconsistency in the evidence in cases of this nature
was of much importance. If the Jury were even satisfied that the child was
put there by the prisoner, still they must be convinced whether it was for
the purpose of killing and destroying it. The Jury, after about a quarter of
an hour's consultation, returned a verdict of not guilty. The prisoner was
discharged immediately, and left the court. 
 
 
[to be continued] 
 
 
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