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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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No . 386 , Amtot 15 . 1857 . 1 KH E . ' . . J . B APBB . 7 rS
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f « he eould give no . evidence respecting it , and yet he was perfectly * a position to identify the two hammers ftmndin the cottage . Suppose for a moment that Spollen had committed the murder , and that the bemiaer waieh fitted the wounds -was the instrument of deatu , would he not have said to himself that he would not take his own razor with him ? He would have taken a strange razor . He was in the habit of marking his hammers so as to recognise them . Another matter on which the Crownrelied was the periodical stoppage of the dam . prior to , bat not since , the prisoner s arrest . But ' was it not clear that whoever hid the money there
would not go again when lie found that the money was discovered ? Then , as to the finding of the second razor , could it not be that the razor was thrown into the canal to eke out a case ? Who gave the police information of its whereabouts ? The adage said— Those who hide can find ; ' did that hold good in the present case ? " Mr . Curran was proceeding to call attention to the bearing of the evidence of the children , to the effect that when Mrs . Spollen was ill , some time before the arrest of the prisoner , he had sworn to take the life of any person who would procure the attendance of a p hysician or a -clergyman , when he was interrupted by
Chief Justice Monahan , who said that the court was at a loss to understand how this evidence could be made relevant to the issue . The Attorney-General replied that , if such was the feeling of the court , he would-withdraw the evidence . A long argument hereupon took place , the result of which was that the evidence should be withdrawn , subject to the reservation of the prisoner ' s right to have the opinion of the Court of Criminal Appeal as to the legality of this procedure . Air . Curran then animadverted on the fact that Spollen ' s clothes , which were given over to Dr . Geoghejan , were not produced , and that the said gentleman was not examined about the razor : " Was the towel found in the murdered man ' s office Spolleu ' s ? If it belonged to him , would it not have been easy of identification ? And on this evidence they were asked to convict the prisoner of the murder of Mr . Little . The real secret was they
were asked to convict him because there was an outcry in England and Ireland about this murder—an oblation was asked for , a sacrifice was required , and James Spollen was arrested . ' ' Mr . Brewster , Q . C ., replied for the Crown , and Chief-Justice Monahan postponed the summing-up till the next day . He then went elaborately over the facts of the case , and exhibited the discrepancies existing between the various statements made by tiie children . The jury retired , taking with them the hammers and razors . In about an hour and a quarter , they re-entered , and handed in a verdict of Not Guilty .
Sppllen , who -was standing at the time , suddenly lifted his right hand in a confused manner above his head , then struck the dock rail , and , after one or two corivlsive sobs , sank into the arms of the turnkeys , exclaiming aloud , "My children ! my children ! " He was then seated , when one of the turnkeys disengaged his neck-tie and shirt collar , and gave him a draught of water . Having in some measure recovered , he thus addressed the court : — ** Well , my lords and gentlemen , I find that I am not exactly deceived . My conviction was fixed that I stood before twelve of my countrymen—men of age , experience , and that had happy firesides , and confidence in
their family circles . I thought that they would impartiall y take my case into consideration , and they have done so . It is not for me to commence to praise myself ; but I have been , brought here in a wrongful waywrongfully by—il will not condemn the woman . I always liked the man and I loved the woman ; but it is 4 dreadful tiling to be in the hands of a female tigress . X should have returned thanks to the two gentlemen , the honourable gentlemen , pillars of the law on the bench . I may be too sensitive when I say the servants of the Crown have blackened my character too much in their addresses tp the jury . I liave , however , thanks be to God , escaped ( raising his luxnds )—thanks and praises be to GodI Amen . " Hero he sat down on toe choir in
the dock , but immediately rose and began speaking again . ) " My character , I am afraid , inuat remain trifliiigly impaired—my children , the only ones I love , I have to provide for . ( The prisoner hero again was overcame by lib feelings . ) If I had moans to retire to some —<• -- " Chief Justice , Monahan : "Is there any other charge agaiaat the prisoner ?" Gaywroar ofihe Gaol .: " No , nay lord . " * ' SpoUen proceeded ; " If 1 con iind means of retiring to an . asylum in eome Bilorut colony where I can continue for the remainder of my Mo to support existence , and to- ——" Chief Justice Lefroy : " Does the Crown intend to proceed with nuy other charge , against the priooaw ?" B $ x . O'Douohoe : " I am . not inetructod that itho Grown intends to proceed with , any oihua charge ocainat the prisoner . "
£ poUen again xmuma& : "To * he gentlemen , of the P * W » I -return my sincere and hearty thanks for the manner in , whicfc ( they . remained , alient during my incarceration . At Sox Jiriakintf . ljftjwl * , it we * dd ho fouliau Ju »
me to do so , The public witnessed the untiring energy and scrutiny with which , as the gentleman himself said , he had grown old in the service , your hon . friend Mr . Curran , my counsel , and the untiring energy he displayed . But he is not so old in the service that he does not retain a large fund of that which will go to enpport many and xiiany jsl poor client beneath his able hands . May he live many a day with a similar case as mine to defend ! " . Sounds of cheering outside the court-house became audible as soon as the news of the verdict Jaad passed out . Mr . Curran : " It would be well if the prisoner were not discharged immediately . There are great crowds outside . " This was agreed to , and the case terminated .
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IRELAND . An Affaik of Honour . —Mr . . John T . "Walker , Mr . W . W . King ( 17 th Lancers ) , Mr . Francis Edward Thomas , and Sir E . Hutchinson , have been arrested , charged , the first two -mith having intended to fight a duel , and the latter with aiding and abetting their intention . They were set at liberty oa entering into their own recognizances to keep the peace . Thinning the Workhouses . —Mr . Chauut , an agent of her Majesty's Land and Emigration Commissoners , attended on Monday at the Workhouse for the purpose of selecting fifty women to be sent , under the grant recently made , to the Cape of Good Hope . The Home Government has made arrangements with the colonial authorities that they shall receive protection until provided for either by marriage or service .
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AMERICA . Tins latest intelligence from Kansas is to the effect that the insurgents at Lawrence , have yielded , being overawed bv the strong force of Federal troops concentrated in the vicinity of the city . Governor Walker proposed very shortly to collect the taxes . General Harney and his troops were to start agaiu for Utah , from which they were diverted by the state of things at Lawrence . The period for the departure of Mr . Cummuigs , the new Governor of the Mormon territory , was not fixed at the last dates . The President was about to leave the capital for Bedford Springs . " It is understood , " says the New York Tribune , " that Chevalier Wikoff holds a commission as secret diplomatic agent in Europe . "
After a lengthened interview with General Cass , Mr . Herran , the Minister of New Granada * has proposed the basis of an amieable arrangement of the actual difficulties between his Government and that of the United States . The WasJiirigton / State reports that the Postmaster-General had ordered a contract with the Pacific Mail Steam-ship Company for regular semi-monthly service from San IVancisco to Olympia , Washington . The extensive stabling and other buildings of the Brooklyn Railroad Company have been fired by incendiaries , and the whole was consumed . Seventy-five out of one hundred and ninety-seven horses were burnt or missing . Albany has been visited with one of the most terrific rain , hail , thunder , and lightning storms ever experienced . It lasted about threerquarters of an hour , and did considerable damage . Storms of a similar cluiracter have been experienced in several parts of the Union .
Another riot , accompanied by the use of fire-arms , in which one man has been shot and several injured , has occurred at . Baltimore between two rival fire companies . Another questionable explanation has been given of the poisoning catastrophe at Cincinnati . The poisoned lozenges found about the streets , and eaten by a number of children ( one of whom has sinco died ) , were , it is now stated , the stock-in-trade of a drunken German , who pursued the vocation of selling them for the destruction of rata . Ho had dropped them while in a state of intoxication . This , however , does not account . for the story of the lozenges having beau ojjbred to several passengers , who declined to fake them .
The State Department at Washington has been advised that the ponding difficulties between Spain and Mexico would , be arranged in a manner satisfactory to all parties , and that the proposed naval demonstration against Vera Cruz will not take place . The French Minister at Washington and the UniXed States Minister at Paris has confirmed those statements , Lord Napier , the British Minister , had an intorview , on the 30 th nit ., with General Cass , with reference to the proceedings taken regarding the seizure of the bark PancUita oji the coast of Africa . It was said that General Cass ' s explanations were perfectly satisfactory . The total loss of the ship Curak and her cargo of cotton , both valued at 230 , 000 dollars , is reported from Key West ; also the probable loss of the bark Pacific , from New York for Mobile , on East Key shoal , on the 22 nd ult . No lives wore lost in either disaster .
Accounts from St . Paul , Minnesota , to the 2 HHU ult ., represent the Sioux Indians as defying the United States soldlara , and the settlers as flying to the forts for protection . Despatches from Colonel AUeruromUe , the commander of the troops , dated the 26 th , state , on the contrary , tlutt the Indians had boon pacified , and that the trouble with thsaa wms at an and .
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THE INDIAN REVOLT . An English gentleman residing in India thus describes what he calls " the battle of Benares , " which took place on Thursday , the 4 . tli of June : — : " Imagine a square , the north side formed by the huts of the 37 th Native Infantry ; west , Sikh regiments ; south , the Irregular Cavalry ; east , three hundred English and three guns , the hope and last resources of Benares . Enter English officer , rides up to the 37 th ' a lines , and orders out the troops ; they come out , and form line in front of their huts ; then each officer explains to his company that they are to disarm for the present till less stormy days . One officer , G- — , my informant , actually shook hands with the chief men of his
-company , and then ordered them to step forward and lay down their muskets . Their answer came in the shape of eighty musket balls all round him ; bat not one hit him , nor were any of the other officers killed ia this first discharge . The men then fell back into their huts and commenced loading and firing under cover of them at the English . Major Guise , of the Irregulars , rode in among the huts , and was killed almost immediately-The English guns took up a raking position , and peppered the huts with grape at two hundred and fifty yards . One of our officers came forward with a few men , and fired the roofs , so the Sepoys got rather astonished . Meantime the Sikhs left the east side of the square and formed a line parallel to and between the Sepoys and cavalry , and facing the former . The cavalry h and
said they wanted an English officer to lead tem , Dodson , of the 37 th , who had just escaped the first fire of his own corps , came forward , and was immediately received with , one or two rifle balls from the cavalry . Upon this , the Sikhs faced round and fired a volley , but whether intended for the officers or the cavalry is not told . Certain it is they shot down three of the former and none of the latter . When the other officers found themselves thus between two fires , they galloped out and joined the Europeans , and made them turn their guns on Sikhs and cavalry alike , until these two gallant regiments found out their mistake , and once more turned their fire on the 37 th . Was not this a nice battle ? The sum total was that the 37 th were utterly smashed , and the Sikhs and cavalry frightened out of their wits , and made sensible that they were mistaken . "
A letter , dated June 17 th , has appeared in the Augsburg Gazette from a German residing in Calcutta . We here read : — " The troops have been on the point of mutinying here , and the inhabitants of the city are in a terrible fright . At the outbreak of the revolution , the Europeans ( foreigners . ) offered their services , but they were declined , and that almost contemptuously . Many persons were , however , much alarmed , aud took revolvers with them when they went to church and to balls . The Government considered it advisable to coax the rebels , and when the 70 th Regiment , lying at Barrackpore—a few miles from this city—offered to march against their comradesthe Governor went ia person to thank them .
, When it was decided that the regiment should begin ita march , it became evident that its professed loyalty was a more mask . At three o ' clock duripg the night between the 18 th aad 14 th inst ., we were suddenly awakened , and informed that the outbreak was about to take place . A messenger who had fallen into the hands of the'authorities had confessed that the two regiments at Barrackpore and the troops in Calcutta had agreed to mutiny during the night in question . The commander of the city sent about everywhere * and had the people roused . The expression of people ' s faces was a eight worth seeing . Dr . George von Liebig , who w * s armed
to tUo teeth , culled us up , and out we sallied , clothed and armed in a sufficiently picturesque manner . Tha heroes in our quarter of the city were few , and only eleven men * offered their breaBts to the cool morning breeze . ' As the sun tobo , our apprehensions diminished , but still many gentleman were iu . despair that only women and children wore admitted into the fort . . . . Terrible atrocities have boon committed , and , when the English soldiers gqt alongside of the rascals , little mercy will be shown . At Ghazee , whole platoona of rebels fell on their knees ., but the soldiers wore deaf to the voices of their officers , and not a Sepoy was loft . "
Mr . Stocqueler , on Monday evonwjg , gave a lecture at Willis ' s JLiooms qu the Government of India , with reference to the recent mutinies . He thus indicated what he conceived to bo the origin of the outbreak : ~ - "At the end of last century , tha British were in possesitm of a very considerable native army , officered by Englishmen ; but in the year 1824 the territories of the East India Company had so much increased that it was found necessary to augment the army still further , and on this being done many of the officers of the old corps were taken from them and established in the now . I nw was the first blow which was struck at the connexion which existed between the Europeans and t « e native troops : and from this incident the whole qausq of tha mutiny might bo traced step by atop . From that period , frequent act * of insubordination were wmanMe * by the native troops ; and on several ocooflSons the « ov « rnmonfc wwiouS « a toproceed tp eactwwU ** , * a 4 wtf oimto-wflW
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 15, 1857, page 775, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2205/page/7/
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