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Apbix 3A 1855.] THE LEADEE. *S43
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THE CASE OF MRS. HAMS BOTH AM. At the Mi...
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TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION OF BURANELLI. At ...
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OUR CIVILISATION. Illegal Flogging of Br...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Hop Wood Wilii Case. Ojt Saturday, T...
announcing the decision , they rose en masse , and cheered vociferously for several minutes , no one present attempting tosetop this extraordinary ebullition of feeling . ¦ „ , This elaborate trial did not conclude until Wednesday , having extended over seven days .
Apbix 3a 1855.] The Leadee. *S43
Apbix 3 A 1855 . ] THE LEADEE . * S 43
The Case Of Mrs. Hams Both Am. At The Mi...
THE CASE OF MRS . HAMS BOTH AM . At the Middlesex Sessions , on Wednesday , Mrs . Kamsbotham surrendered to take her trial on a charge of two distinct larcenies—viz ., one of two sleeves on the 15 th of March last , and one of four handkerchiefs on the 27 th of March ; the articles in both cases being the property of the prosecutor , John Watkins Moule . The accused , who was accommodated with a seat , pleaded Not Guilty . The facts of the second count are so well known , that they need not be repeated ; but those connected with the first count were now for the first time stated as follows by Mr . Bodkin , counsel for the prosecution : —
" On the 15 th of March . Mrs . Ramsbotham went to the prosecutor ' s shop , and was served by an assistant named Churchouse , and he , on turning round , observed the frills of a pair of sleeves hanging from beneath her shawl on her arm . At that time the prosecutor was not in the way ; but Churchouse mentioned the circumstance to Mr . Moule , jun ., who came into the shop . The frill , however , had then entirely disappeared under the shawl , and thinking that it might possibly be a mistake , and as his father was away , Mr . John Moule did not tax her -with it . But after she was gone , the sleeves on the counter were counted , and one pair was missed ; and , as he had stated , in the conversation relating to the subsequent charge she admitted , that she did take them , and it was with this knowledge that Mr . Moule took the course he did . "
With respect to Mrs . Bamsbotham ' s denial of having been to Mr . Moule ' s shop when pursued after the second theft , Mr , Bodkin admitted that in the very same breath she corrected herself , and said , " Oh , yes , I have ; " so that it w as not contended that lier first reply was an absolute or wilful denial . The chief point in the evidence-was the-assertion by the shopman Welsh that lie had said to young Moule , on the 27 th of March , " Here is Mrs . Ramsbotham . coming in ; " and the counter-statement by Moule that he had not heard that remark , and that , though he knew it was Mrs . Ramsbotham who took the sleeves on th . edj .-5 th , he did not know it was she to whom he offered the gloves on the 27 th . This discrepancy afforded Mr . Ballantine , who appeared for the defence , the text , of the most effective argument ( as touching the matters of fact ) in his speech . He said : —
" The object of young Moule in placing these gloves before the prisoner was , not that she should buy them , but that she should steal them ; it was a trap laid for the victim , and poor Mrs . Ramsbotham fell into it . The conduct of the prosecutor had not been that which one fellow-Christian should pursue towards another . "When the affair of the sleeves took place he should have warned Dr . RamsbothamT He iliould have said ' Your Wifehas clone so-and-so ; I won ' t prosecute ; ' and then told him to take care of her . He knew who she was , and where she lived , and he could easily have done so . Did he not know that many ladies had a mania of this kind ? It was well known and notorious . Could he not then , have warned Dr . Kamsbotham of what had occurred ? Had he done so , it would have been much better than his tempting her to take the handkerchiefs , so as to make sure of her . The former would have been neighbourlike and Christian conduct . "
Mr . Ballantinothen contended that the accused was in a state of " delusion" at the time , nnd was not conscious that she was committing theft . He added :-r" There is an instance of a well-known legal gentleman taking a knife away from a shop unintentionally , and the morbid delusions and appetites which the state of pregnancy produces upon women aro not denied . Women in that condition aro guilty of acts for which they really nre not responsible ; add juries had said in such cases that they wore not criminally guilty , because the felonious intention was not prcsont when the act was
committed . A morbid affection of the bram produced in some persons ono thing , in some another . What I have snid of women in a certain condition does not apply to the prisoner . She is a woman advanced in life , and has ranched that period of existence when an important constitutional change takes placo with women . There wero women who , during that chnngo , wore in constant nervous excitement , nnder continual hallucinations , resulting from n morbid affection of the brain , superinduced by tho Change I have alluded to . It was unintelligible . , and almost incredible ; but-yet it was so . A morbid action of the brain does exist , as much as cancer or any other disease . '
Mr . Ballantine concluded by eomo indignant observations upon tho conduct of thu magistrate who committed his client ; nnd expressed his belief that in that ' court there would bo fairno 33 , judgment , and
honour . An attempt was made to cheer the speech ; but it was soon repressed . The Rev . Dr . Russell , Rev . H . Brown , Rev . Mr . Gibson , Dr . Tweedie , Mr . Lewis , attorney , a number of ladies , and several tradesmen were then called , and they spoke of the prisoner , from a long knowledge of her , as a woman of the highest honour and integrity in all the relations' and transactions of life . ' The Assistant-Judge ; in summing up , dwelt upon the morbid condition of mind to which Mr .
Ballantine had alluded as consequent , in women , upon the transitional period mentioned , and which passes away when the constitution is re-established . He also alluded to the strange conditions of mental action to which all persons are subject ; and instanced the case of the boy Jones , who , when he got into the Palace , stole nothing but an envelope , a twopenny coin , and a few other trumpery articles , though he might have taken things of great value . It was , however , for the jury to say whether Mrs . Ramsbotham was or was not actuated by a felonious
intent . The jury , after a short deliberation , expressed a wish to retire . They were accordingly locked up for nearly four hours ; at the end of which time it appeared they were equally divided with respect to their verdict . They were accordingly dismissed . After a few remarks from the Assistant-Judge , to the efiect that there was no imputation upon the conduct of Mr . Moule , and that it would be better if the editors of newspapers would postpone their comments upon criminal cases until after the trial , the prisoner was discharged , and left the court with her friends .
Trial And Condemnation Of Buranelli. At ...
TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION OF BURANELLI . At the Central Criminal Court on Thursday , Luigi Buranelli ; aged * thirty-one , was tried for the murder of Joseph Latham , and for shooting at Mary Anne Jeanes . The prisoner pleaded Not Guilty . Upon being asked whether he would be tried by a jury composed half of foreigners , or by one composed entirely of Englishmen , he said he would be tried by an English jury . The evidence with respect to the murder merely recapitulated the facts which have already come out at the inquest ' and the police examinations ; but in the cross-examination of Mrs . Williamson , the woman with whom the prisoner had for a . time cohabited , some curious particulars touching Buranelli ' s state of mind were given . She said that she went with him one evening to the theatre" The piece we saw was the Corsican Brothers . The prisoner " appeared to be very much delighted when one of the brothers shot , a man who had shot his brother , and he said he should like to appear to me after he died , the same as the ghost did in the Corsican Brothers . I told him I thought it was very ridiculous for him to talk in sucli a manner , and that I should not like him to appear to me w ^ ien he was dead . The prisoner frequently told me that lie would shoot himself , and I endeavoured to reason him out of such notions , and spoke of his soul , and that it was very wicked of him to talk in such a manner . Henfrequenfly ^ iiu ~ th " aTsince ~ hC"knew-Tne"he had forgotten his child , and he also said ho . thought that some medical man had injured him . 1 told him it was
nonsense , and that ho only imagined such things , and he said he did not . I told the prisoner that he used to read so many operas that he at last fancied he was ono of tho beings who were in them . He used to say that they were very beautiful . It never occurred to me that ho was mad , but I thought he was a man of great imagination . I do not think I ever said to any one that I thought ho was inad , but I may have said , in a joke , that I believed he was going out of-his mind Ho told mo that he had undorgone a surgical operation in the country . He frequently complained of pain in . his left side , and wet weather appeared to have an effect
upon him . The death is not occasioned in the L ' otvtwn Brothers by shooting but by stabbing , and tho ghost of ono brother appears to the other . Tho prisoner made the observation that his ghost should appear to me , in a jocular manner . Ho always spoke to me in terms of strong Attachment . lie talked of shooting himself while we were living in Foley-place . The prisoner wns jealous of me , not with regard to any particular person , but generally . Hungarians and Italians used to visit tho prisoner while he lived in Newman-street . I judged that the prisoner wns jealous from his talk , not from his actions ; he frequently expressed a fear that I should bo intimate with some ono else as well as him . "
For the defence , several witnesses wero called to prove that tho prisoner was demented . Some persons who had known him when ho lived at Penahurst deposed that after tho death of his second wife in childbed in 1854 , ho became very depressed nnd strange in his manners . He would weep all day , nnd talk of committing suicide . lie hired a little boy to be with him becauso he would not be alone . lie was continually talking of d ying , ' nnd would cxcjiiim , " Poor Louis , poor Louis 1 Many troubles—many troubles !" Oa one occasion , ho naked one of the witnesses to shoot him , and snid ho thought his doctor had
attempted to poison him . He would also ; talk of having awful dreams . Before the death of his wife , he was a very cheerful inoffensive person . Dr . Butler , the medical man who attended him at Penshurst , said that about three years ago he was suffering from congestion of the liver , and that after the death of his wife he appeared to be oppressed with " melancholia , " which the witness explained to be . in no ivay different from melancholy . He was also subject to extraordinary delusions . 'The woman with whom he lodged after leaving Lambert ' s house , stated that two or three days before the murder she heard him talking very loudly to himself , and that he
frequently complained of pain in his head and heart . One of the nurses at the Middlesex Hospital , where he had been last year , said he insisted upon several occasions that his bed was flooded with water ; and Mr . Henry , the assistant-surgeon ; stated that he was decidedly of opinion that Buraneili was of unsound mind . In this , Dr . Connolly , who was afterwards called , concurred ; but , on the part of the prosecution , Dr . M'Murdo , surgeon of Newgate , Dr . Mayer , and Dr . Sutherland disputed that conclusion , and said that Buraneili was suffering from simple hypochondriasis , which would account for his illusions , and that upon examining iiim they discovered no signs of mental aberration .
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty ; and the prisoner was assisted from the dock almost in a fainting state .
Our Civilisation. Illegal Flogging Of Br...
OUR CIVILISATION . Illegal Flogging of British Seamen . —A summons against the owner of the vessel Flora M'Donald was obtained at the Mansion ilouse on Saturday . The allegation was to the effect that four of the seamen had been charged with insubordination afc Colombo , and had been punished by twelve weeks ' imprisonment with hard labour , and the forfeiture of the wages then due to them ; and that two more of the men , having been charged with assaulting the
master , had been sentenced to hard labour and imprisonment for three months , and to receive twenty lashes on the bare back . The legality of the stoppage of the wages , and of the flogging , was disputed ; and , the master not being in England , the summons was applied for against the owner . A further summons was asked for , on the ground of the ship having ^ becu sent out % ith an ins ufficient quantity of provisions for the voyage , thus-leading to the insubordination of the men ; but this was for the present refused .
Alleged Murder at Sea . —J ohn Milligan , master of the Lord Dufferin of Belfast , has been committed for trial at Falmouth , charged with the wilful murder of William Dawson , one of the crew . The ship , it appears , made a good deal of water , and it was necessary to force the crew to work very hard . Some , however , objected ; and Dawson being particulary refractory , the captain shot him . The crew then carried the dead body aft , and said they did not like to be shot down like pigs . The captain rejoined that , if they did not go to their work , he would shoot some more of them : upon which they turned to their duty ,- andworked welli-fortUo remaiudcr , of _ . tlio voyage . On cross-examination , one of the witnesses , who had himself been ivmong the refractory seamen , admitted that , if the deceased had not been shot , the vessel would have been lost , as the crow liad
refused to work . Cruelt y to a Child . —The Worcestershire Chronicle reports a case of shocking cruelty to a child , which has just been brought to light at Stonrbridge . The sufferer was a boy , eight years of age , named Henry Edward Henefer . His mother has been dead some time , nnd his father , Thomas Henefer , haa married again . It appears that a sister of the child ' s mother , having a fear that he was not being properly attended to , had applied at the father ' s house , near the Gig Mill , to see the boy , but had been denied . Last week she went over to Stourbridgo again ; but
her approach was seen and tho door locked against her . She threatened , howei-er , to burst it open if refused admittance . With great reluctance , the wife lot her in , and she found the poor child reduced to a , complete skeleton . She insisted on taking him away , which was refused ; but nt length the clnld was rescued by force . Tho aunt at once informed tho police ; and the child was brought before tlio magistrates . A more shocking spectacle of extroino emaciation co . uhl not bo conceived ; it produced a sickening effect upon all present . Tho «>»}«! wm utterly unable to efaind 6 t sitand was carried , ni tho
, arms of his aunt . Flush there was none , and oven the bones seem to have shrunk , being fliuuUor than SS ^ V ^ 5 KSiX i % »«! S a ^ ai £ TSTr »^^ ™ to bo brought before the guardians , that thoy might call the parent and his wife to account . When taken to' the union , the child , though eight years old was found to weigh leas . than Hlbs . lixtrcnio weakness prevented him from giving much
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1855, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14041855/page/7/
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