EWING'S CASE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 150, 12 January 1872, Page 5

EWING'S CASE.

The following is the address of Mr. Macassey in defending Ewing at the late sitting of the Supreuie the remarks of the judge in summing up—as reported in the ' ftaily Timjls ' of Tuesday last;— Mr. Macassey, when addressing the jury on behalf of the prisoner" said there were two elements in the indictment, lawfulness and iptent; and he contended that if in shooting the pro

! 'secutor the prisoner .had acted in de- | fence of the life of his servant, if he bad a reasonable belief', at tlie time, from facts within his knowledge, that' his servant's life was. in imminent peril." tbe existence of that reasonable .belief would entitle him to a Verdict in his I favor. The learned for 'the-, j Crown had truly said that even, if the-' j prisoner had found, the prosecutor in | the act of stealing his £old, that would j not justify him shooting him ; but let ! the jury follow his learned friend a liti tie. further, and then, they would ...see 1 . j how technical his objection was, The. j learned counsel had said, "But if the ! prosecutor had broken into the priso-, j uer's hut, then.no doubt the prisoner- | would have beeujustified even in siayi ing him." iWhatwiis the difference be--'tween breaking into-the prisoner'.?; hufr ! and stealing gold, and going to a por[tion of his unprotected race and taking- ! therefrom .his; property, which -. was; equally valuable in the one, plaeean ira the other. >'ot sneaking now as-a-lawyer, he would say that the act of tht> prosecutor in this instance was far more reprehensible, because men situated dike the prisoner must necessarily trust very much to the honesty of each, other, and almost solely to their own 1 j means of protecting themselves against the depredations of such men as the prosecutor. In order to show that the. prisoner had not contemplated doing anything more than the Taw justified, and only to an extent necessary for the protection of his property, tlie learned counsel pointed out in the first that the trun was supposed to have been loaded with No. 4 shot, which shot itwas not likely the prisoner would have used if he bad intended to kill the* prosecutor; secondly, the position in \vhieh jthe prisoner . stood when the gun; was was not thr. position in which a man who '■ vonh>m[ss&lp~ killing another person wjpnld Rfaud^„ bad he his gun,';;jio have heeiiV raised to: his had been man as the prosecutorpw-heii wasno more pfco*e-'_\ cutor ; the police about what had taken pfciepj* having, by his officiousness, set the Taw in motion, and become his own prosecutor. The police undoubtedly would have taken steps ultimately, tut the spontaneous act of the prisoner showed an,absence of any intention to seriously injure the prosecutor. Moreover, the prisoner had prevented another man striking the prosecutor with ■the butt end of a musket after he had . been wounded, and the prisoner bad - also paid the.- .prosecutor's expenses. The circumstances of the case showed that the prisoner had acted under a reasonable beliefs that the life of his servant was in danger, and that whilst he wished to protect his servant, he had no intention of taking the life of the prosecutor. .'• His Honor, after having addressed the jury regarding the " three first counts in the indictment, advised them to confine themselves to the consideration of the fourth coanr, which charged the prisoner with shooting with intent; * to do grievous bodily harm. The whole case would turn''upon the question' set up by Mr. Macassey as : to whether the prisoner had good reason to believe that tbe life of hi 3 servant was in ar-tual danger. His Honor addressed the jurv ' at upon this and other points pj the case, referring to~the supposed reasons which the priso-' " ner had for apprehending danger from a man of prosecutor's reputation, to the probability of his having acted when excited, and to the fact that when the shot was fired Leonard was coerein* but was not heing coerced by the: pro-. secutor, that the prosecutor was par- ' tially secured, and that there were two > Britishers to'one Chinaman. T

The |ury. retired to consider their : verdietftt five minutes'to four and at a quarter .to eight they returned a verdict of ouiltv on fourth count, ; namely, " shooting with intent to do • grievous bodily harm," -• Xhey,'..tioV- '"'' ever, rt'commeudsd the prisoner to.! mercjr. ; ' Mr. gave notice of luVmten-*'; tion an arrest of judgment, ci * the-■ ground that the" indictment wa* bad, the result of which will be found in a telegram elsewiVsre.