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the rest were out. I said he was a bad man, and supplicated him to leave me. Finding that I was bent upon not going down, he brought up a large goblet full of brandy and water. I said it was not brandy, and refused to take any. He threatened to drench me with it, and stood over me till I drank it every drop. I was then in hysterics, had dreadful fits of crying, and lost all recollection of what occurred. On the following morning I was awoke by Mr. Shipman's kisses. He told me how much his wife and children loved me, and that he loved me more ten times. I complained of the insult he had offered me, and said I should inform Mrs. Shipman of his vile conduct. I informed Mrs. Shipman of it. My illness continued with unabated violence; and though I expressed a wish to see Mr. Power, the surgeon, and another medical man, I was denied by Mr. and Mrs. Shipman. At length I saw Mr. Power on Tuesday: told him they had given me different kinds of medicine; that I had requested to see him, but had been refused; that I was very unhappy; had been used very ill, but had neither time nor power to tell him more. I continued delirious for a fortnight; the last thing I remembered was Mr. Power's coming. From Mr. Shipman's I was removed to the vicarage in a sedan, until I got better. In my bedroom there was no bell. There was, I believe, a key in the door, but Mrs. Shipman begged 1 would never lock the door, through fear of fire or the illness of the children. I stayed a week at the

vicarage, from whence I went to my aunt's lodgings at Birming ham. Before the Friday she had taken salts and calomel and other drugs for a cold, by desire of the prisoner. In her cross-examination by Mr. Denman, she merely repeated her former statement. The object of the learned Counsel was to obtain some admissions which might leave an impression that the prisoner's conduct was dictated by a feeling of compassion, which was mistaken for love. The witness again stated, that all resistance was impossible; her breath as well as strength having been affected, and an unnatural sensation having, in consequence of the drugs, pervaded her.

Clara Johnson deposed, that she lived as servant to Mr. Ship. man, and gave an account of the conduct of her master perfectly confirmatory, as far as it went, of that given by Miss Dalton. She described the state of health of the young lady as most deplorable, and remembered that when she told her master how ill she was, he said that was just what he wanted. She added, that when her mistress went to chapel on Sunday, her master came to her and sent her out with the child before she had time to clean herself; and that when Mr. Power came to see Miss Dalton, Mr. Shipman flung down his hat in a great rage, and said he was undone.

In her cross-examination she but increased the evidence against the prisoner. She heard Miss Dalton say in her delirium, that her master had broken her tooth; and while she was deprived of her

senses,

HODES

HOUSE

OXFORD

senses, Mr. Shipman put his hand upon her person.

Martha Iley, the nurse, who attended Miss Dalton on Wednesday night, deposed, that she was quite delirious, and that Shipman had acted while she was so in the manner described. Again he came, and asked whether Miss Dalton had asked for him? to which witness replied, "that she had in her delirium." "Ah, poor girl," said he," she always asks for me."

Mr. Power, surgeon, of Hinckley, said he visited Miss Dalton on Tuesday the 23rd of December, when he found her very faint. She had a small and frequent pulse, and complained of a pain in the head, and coldness in the feet, and looked excessively ill. She made the communication to him which she had stated to the Court. On Wednesday morning she was much worse: she had spent a delirious night, her pulse had increased in action, and the witness recommended another opinion to be taken. She was very delirious, but her complaint was attended with lucid intervals. Witness was not prepared to say that laudanum would produce libidinousness-a small dose would produce excitement a large one stupor.

Mr. Denman for the defence, attempted to show that Miss Dalton must have construed the wish to render medical assistance into nothing else than love, and the application of the necessary medicines for the correction of a natural disorder into the administering of philters and the force of mighty magic. He showed how dangerous it was to allow the

child to be separated at so perilous an age from her natural protectors, and attributed the madness of the girl to the impetuous current of her passions.

The Judge summed up the evidence, and quickly laid before the jury the several iniquities of which there had been such abundant proof. He particularly dwelt upon the example to a wife and children in the complicated baseness of Shipman's conduct to an helpless and unprotected female.

The Jury returned a verdict of -Guilty.

The Judge immediately passed sentence. Mr. Shipman was ajudged to pay a fine of 1007., and to be imprisoned for 12 calendar months.

CARLISLE, SATURDAY, AUG. 8. Civil Side.

Mr. Justice Bayley came into Court precisely at 9. The first cause on the list was the most interesting of the day.

Dockeray v. Turner. The plaintiff, James Dockeray the elder, had in 1814 apprenticed his son, James Dockeray the younger, for 7 years, to the defendant, an ironmonger in Whitehaven. Last January the son returned to his father's house in Carlisle, carrying with him his indenture, and a letter from the defendant to this effect:

"Dear Sir;-This will be delivered to you by your son, James, whom I have been induced to part with on account of the society he has fallen into. You know that some things were lately stolen from my shopwindow;

*

window; the police-men suspected James, not from any thing they saw on his part, but from the persons with whom he associated. I know that he is innocent of this charge. I have ordered him home whenever the shop is shut, but he never comes home till 9. This, though 9 be a very good hour, I cannot endure. I am convinced, and I believe James too is convinced, that it will be an advantage to him to be removed from the society he has formed here. I hope you will find him a situation in Carlisle, where he can make choice of better companions, &c."

The indenture contained a penalty of 50%., but the present action was brought, not to recover the penalty, but to obtain damages for the loss arising from dismissal.

James Dockeray the younger, examined by Mr. Scarlett for the plaintiff, stated, that the shop was shut in summer at half-past 8, and in winter at 8. He was generally home at 9. He had been out one night till 10, and his master dismissed him. He ordered him to call for his indenture next day. He did so, but his master said he was busy, and desired him to call in the evening. He got it in the evening, and carried it and the letter to his father.

Cross-examined by Mr. Raine. -He denied that he had asked or consented to leave Mr. Turner. He or his father, so far as he knew, never asked that he should be taken back. He had never been out but one night so late as 10 o'clock. Upon your oath, Sir, did you not come in as late

as four in the morning? (After much hesitation,) Yes, once. Mr. Turner takes consignments from the West Indies?-Yes. He keeps sample bottles of rum in his shop?-Yes. Did you ever taste that rum?-No. Never tasted it ?-No. What! Did you never lessen the quantity a drop? -I sometimes put a quill into a bottle of rum, and sucked a little up to ease a sore tooth. [A laugh.] Now, will you swear that none of it ever went down your throat?-No, never. Not a drop?-No.

Mr. Scarlett put in a letter from the defendant in answer to one from the plaintiff's attorney; it professed a readiness to meet the plaintiff in any action he might choose to bring.

-Nixon was called into the witness's box.

Mr. Justice Bayley.-Why do you call him?

Mr. Scarlett.-To show, my lord, that his associates were respectable.

Mr. Justice Bayley.-The only question is, was he dismissed or not. You cannot call any witnesses to character, till his character is impeached.

Mr. Scarlett.-Then, my lord, that is my case.

Mr. Raine addressed the Jury for the defendant. He would form a strange opinion of a Cumberland Jury, if they could give a verdict for the plaintiff upon the evidence of the young man who had left the box, self-contradicted and self-reprobated as he was. Why, he admitted that he had sucked a little rum through a quill for a hollow tooth. A facetious friend of his (we believe

Mr.

Mr. Topping) used to designate a certain habit, as a habit of wetting a hollow tooth. But he should bring a witness before them to prove that he himself had wished for his indenture, and to contradict still farther his testimony, although that was hardly

necessary.

Ann Boyd, a servant of the defendant, gave evidence as to conversations she had had with the former witness. It was quite equivocal as to the fact of dismissal. She saw the former witness often intoxicated when he came home.

Stewart Carston, another apprentice of the defendants, said he slept with James Dockeray. They generally went to bed at the same time. James Dockeray drank their master's rum through a quill. He came home very frequently intoxicated.

Cross-examined by Mr. Scarlett. He admitted that he had himself often come home drunk and concealed it from his master. It appeared that their master, mis. sing some of the rum, called them both before him, and that they mutually charged one another with the fault.

Mr. Scarlett now called Nixon again, but his Lordship, after some consideration and argument, refused to receive him. Mr. Scarlett, therefore, began his address to the jury by pointing out the injustice done to his witness by imputing drunkenness and bad hours to him, while he could call no witnesses to repel those imputations.

Mr. Justice Bayley.-I am
You may call your wit
I was wrong in allowing

wrong.

nesses.

Carston to be examined. Part of the young woman's evidence may be material as referring to the dismissal. All the rest is irrelevant. You may call your witnesses to remove it.

Mr. Scarlett.-If your lordship strikes out all that evidence, I have no occasion to call witnesses.

He called young Dockeray up again to ask him one question as to the differences between him and Carston.'

Mr. Raine.-Just one word. Gentlemen, if you can believe that rum-sucker, give your ver dict for the plaintiff.

Mr. Scarlett enforced with much point and cogency that the necessary inference from the letters to old Dockeray and to the attorney, and from the whole complexion of the transaction, was, that the defendant had dismissed James Dockeray. It appeared from the evidence that the apprentices had no other time for exercise but between eight and nine, and therefore it was not reasonable in their master to order them home before nine. Unreasonable orders they were not bound to obey.

Mr. Justice Bayley, in summing up, said, that he was anxious it should be known that apprentices were bound to keep the hours prescribed to them whether reasonable or not. Mr. Turner was wrong in supposing nine a good hour. Between eight and nine in the winter season, when darkness afforded facilities for concealment, was a very bad hour for young persons to have at their own disposal. Mr. Turner seemed alarmed at the society kept by young Dockeray. No

thing could more reasonably or more properly excite the alarm of an honest master. The associations formed during the seven years of apprenticeship were of the utmost importance. Credit or disgrace, success or ruin in life, might depend upon them. Mr. Turner's delay in giving up the indenture might have proceeded from a desire to afford opportunities for application to remain. No application, however, appeared ever to have been made. The first communication to Mr. Turner was from the attorney, and that, like most attornies' letters, probably threat ened an action.

Verdict for the defendant.

GUILDFORD, AUGUST 12.

Trial of Chennel and Chalcraft, for the Murder of Mr. Chennel and his Housekeeper.

The account of this trial occupied much time, for which reason we shall confine ourselves to the summing up of the Judge, Mr. Serjeant Lens, before the Jury. He said he was not aware that he could do any thing more in this important case than merely recapitulate the different accounts given by the different witnesses of the conduct of the prisoners during the hours between eight and eleven on Monday, the 10th of November. If they could rely on any part of Sarah Hurst's evidence, the decision of the jury would be short and infallible. The conclusion would be inevitable if her word could be trusted; but her conduct did not tend to establish her credit. She, according to her own account, was VOL. LX.

appointed to watch while the murder was committing, and was therefore a party in the murder. She had charged others with the crime, and it was difficult to say, whether her charge was the effect of malignity, or the mere wandering or delirium of her mind. Whatever was the cause, her evidence was proportionally affected by it. Delirium or confusion of mind might apply to her evidence as regarded Scooly. But this excuse did not apply to what she said of her husband, when she malignantly and deliberately accused him of acting, as she had done, in assisting the murderers. She must have done so either to get quit of her husband, or some other hateful purpose, not easily conjectured; and then the jury were to consider how far a person of such a character was to be listened to. He was afraid that

her evidence must be laid aside, and that the jury must rely on the other evidence alone. The evidence on which the jury were to form their judgment included the minute points of time, of situation, of conduct, of declaration, and language. The declarations of Chennel's hatred were important; but the Jury were to consider that the expressions he used with regard to his father and his housekeeper, coarse and violent as they were, extended over a long course of time (as much as a year) before the fatal deed; and the Jury were to judge, whether they were the infatuation of criminality, unconsciously avowing its designs; or loose idle words, that had no definite meaning, and were never intended to avow any purpose. He thought that these expressions X

could

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