LAW INTELLIGENCE.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 32, 18 November 1842, Page 3

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

IN THE COUNTY COURT. ' November J. r >, 1012. (Criminal side.) Before His Honor E. S. l-Jalswell, Estpiive, Judge of the County Court, for the Southern District. Alexander Keith was indicted for stealing two Maori mats, one pair trowsers, one piece of soap, and other articles, the -property of an aboriginal native of the name of Ohiro, or George, on the 18th of October. Ohivo , a native, deposed —That on the 18th of October, he lost from his house in Fipitea pah, a box containing sundry articles of wearing apparel; the box and articles produced were his. He informed the constable of his loss. • Benjamin Ey Union sworn —Was a constable ; heard that a Maori had lost a box containing two mats, flannel drawers, pair trowsers, a piece of soap, and other articles; heard that the prisoner Keith had offered the soap for sale, and took from him the piece now produced ; went to a person’s house on Wellington Terrace, and found the box belonging to the prosecutor on the outside of their house ; the person’s name was Commerficld ; some of the lost goods were in the box ; found some more in the possession of a person of the name of Bishop, on Wellington Terrace. Mary Cmnmerfield examined—Did not know the prisoner, but had seen him working on the road; prisoner came to her house, and asked her to lodge him, but she could not; he then wished to leave a box at her house, but she would not consent; he then left it on the outside of the house; he came first übout 7 o’clock in the morning; about half-past three in the afternoon he came again ; he took a shirt out of the box, and .asked me to wash it, but I refused; he also took out two Maori mats unfinished, and went away with them, having first tied them together, also a pair of trowsers ; the box remained till Saturday night, when it was taken away by the constable ; the prisoner borrowed a knife to cut the straps from otr the trowsers. Mr. Bishop sworn —Was a road contractor; was not personally acquainted with the prisoner, but had seen him before; the prisoner came to his house about three o’clock un the afternoon of the day in question, and brought two mats, a pair of trowsers, a pair of flannel drawers, and a shirt; his wife purchased the flannel drawers and the shirt of the prisoner, for 2s. fid.; witness was not in his house at the time; he went in after the bargaiq had been Concluded; the articles produced in Court were those which the prisoner had offered for sale. The evidence for the prosecution here closed. The prisoner, upon being called upon for his defence, • put in a written statement, which his Honor, on glancing at, deemed it prudent to withhold from the Court, after which his Honor addressed the Jury, who, immediately ; after brought in a verdict of Guilty, t' Sentence—lmprisonment for six calendar months to hard labor. James Kelly , a sailor, aged 2C, was indicted for stealing six silk handkerchiefs, the property of W. B. Rhodes, merchant, Te Aro, Wellington. W. B. Rhodes examined —Was a merchant; knew the prisoner at the bar; had often employed him. The handkerchiefs produced were his; did not miss them till the constable brought them to him ; knew them in consequence of certain marks, the rats having eaten part of them ; the prisoner worked for him at the time the. handkerchiefs were stolen; and had access to his store. f Cross-examined by the Prisoner —There were other labourers also employed at the time. By the Court —Had sold none by retail. James Scott, constable, sworn—Had seen the prisoner before, as he went by the beach near Jenkins’, prisoner came to him, and said he could show him where some handkerchiefs were planted; I went with him to a gully at the back of Mr. "Lyon’s store, leading to Wellington Terrace ; prisoner stooped down, and pulled the handkerchiefs out; he said they belonged to Captain Rhodes; 1 asked him if there were any more; he said two were sold, but he was so infernally drunk at the time, that he could not recollect what became of them; there were two other persons concerned with him. The prisoner, in his defence, stated, that he found the handkerchiefs in the gully, and called two or three witnesses to his character, and among them Captain Rhodes, who gave him a good character. His Honor summed up, and the Jury returned a verdict of guilty, but recommended him to mercy. His Honor said, but for the recommendation of the Jury, he should have felt it his duty to send him out of the Colony ; but in consequence of the good character he had received, the sentence of the Court was, that he be imprisoned for two calendar months to hard labour. Thomas Larkins ; who had been summarily convicted on the 9th of August last before the Chief Police Magistrate, for stealing, and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment,, was this day indicted for having made his escape from.the gaol on the 4th of October last. The evidence of the witnesses having been gone through, the prisoner was called upon for his defence. The prisoner admitted the fact of his escaping from prison, but urged, in palliation, the state of misery to winch he, as well as the other prisoners, were reduced, in the gaol, in consequence of there not being sufficient clothing provided for them. When they came home from their work, they had to lie on the bare floor, without even a blanket to cover them; and he appealed to the lenity of the Court on that account. His Honor shortly addressed the Jury. The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty, and recommended an enquiry into the truth of the prisoner’s statements with respect to the insufficiency of clothing, &c. in the prison. The Judge then sentenced the prisoner to 3 months’ imprisonment, to commence at the period when his first sentence expired, and to pay a fine of 5 1., and to be imprisoned till such fine be paid. His Honor also informed the Jury that their suggestion respecting the state of the gaol should be attended to. He anticipated that the Officer administering the Government would soon be here, and that we should shortly have a more efficient gaol. There being no more criminal cases, the Jury were discharged. .

Awful Steam-Boat Explosion. —lt is our melancholy duty to record the most fearful and fatal steam-boat explosion which has ever taken place on the waters of the Chesapeake.—The Medova was just completed, and preparatory to I being turned out of the hands of the machinist, a number of persons were invited to go in her • on an experimental trip. The day being pleasant, it is supposed that probably 100 or more j were on board, including some of the directors | of the steam-boat company and their friends,

and a number of the hahds engaged in finishing the Vessel, putting in the machinery, &c., and otherwise connected with the construction or sailing of the boat. Soon after 3 o’clock, p. m., the boat was about to start from the wharf of the engine-builder, Mr. John Watchman, on the south side of the basin, on the proposed trip. A gentleman tvho was on board informs us, that the engine had only made the second revolution, in order to back the Medora from the wharf, when the boiler exploded with a loud noise, carrying upwards a considerable portion of the upper deck and those upon it, and blowing the smoke stacks high in the air. The main force of the explosion was almost exclusively towards the head of the boat, and the portions of the boat around the boiler were torn to pieces. The boiler itself, an immense one of iron, was thrown crosswise on the deck. The boat was instantly enveloped in a cloud of scalding steam, which was inhaled by some with fatal consequences, while others suffered externally in their persons from its effects. Our informant was in the after part of the boat, where the steam had no effect. He says that several persons were forced overboard, and that one of them was drowned. The boat immediately settled down in the water, until her hull rested on the bottom of the river. In the centre and forward part of the boat, there was a fearful destruction of life and limb. Some of those on board were blown high in the air, and fell on shore in the water, and on the boats lying near by. Others were crushed with the splintered timbers, others scalded with the steam, while those below the decks, not having time to escape, were either suffocated by the steam, or drowned when the boat sunk. When we reached the scene of desolation, we found a large number of persons, among whom were several physicians, busily engaged in endeavouring to assist the injured, and carrying away those who were dead or dying. So great was the confusion that prevailed, and so little was known as to the number and names of the persons on board, that no complete account could be obtained. There are no doubt some who were on board, whose loss will only be known by their not returning to their homes. Captain Sutton, who had command of the. boat, was standing over the boiler when it exploded. He was much injured in the head, and it was very doubtful yesterday whether he would recover. Mr. John C. Meale, the agent of the steam-boat line, was on board with his two sons.—Mr. Meale had his right foot dislocated, and was injured in the side and back. Soon after he was taken home he expired. Mr. Meale’s eldest son William, a fine lad about 14 years of age, was killed almost instantly. His second son, who was also on board, was dangerously injured. About 40 persons were wounded, not more than half of whom survived.—Baltimore American.

Assassination of an English Artist and a Lady. —Mr. Egerton, an English artist, and his wife, who is an Englishwoman, have been barbarously murdered about three miles from Mexico. It is said that Egerton had eloped from England with a lady, who was beautiful, and that at the time she was engaged to another lover. The assassination was one of revenge, as the parties killed had not been robbed, and some contend that Egerton, by paying attention to a fair Mexican, had aroused the jealousy of some husband or lover, who had thus avenged himself. This tragedy is enveloped in apparently impenetrable mystery. The murdered lady was enceinte. Mr. Pakenham, the British minister, and the Mexican authorities, have instituted a rigid investigation. Both victims were stabbed in a garden. The female is supposed to have been violated; and, lest her brutally mutilated person should be unrecognised, the murderer pinned a label on the dead body, on which her name was written. The following account is from the New Orleans Picayune : —“ On the morning of the 29th of April, the city of Mexico was thrown into the highest excitement, by a report that Mr. Egerton, a landscape painter of great talent, had been inhumanly murdered at Tacuhaya, together with a woman, with whom he lived as his wife—of rare personal attractions, and who also possessed high endowments as a landscape painter. Tacuhaya is a small village some three miles from the city of Mexico, and is a place where many families of distinction reside, especially in summer. The palace of the archbishop is also in Tucahaya, as well as the summer palace of Santa Anna. It seems that on the evening of the murder, Egerton and the unfortunate woman were walking in a large garden attached to their residence, as was their custom. While walking, they were attacked by some person or persons unknown, and both of them murdered. The body of Egerton was found some distance from that of the woman, run through apparently with a sword. Near him was found his walking-stick, much hacked, from which it is evident he made a stout resistance. That of the woman was found also stabbed and horribly mangled, and this induces to the belief that she also resisted to the last. She was enciente at the time, and within a short period of her delivery, and the perpetrator abused her in the most shameful manner before taking her life. Her face was scratched and otherwise

much disfigured, find a lafge piece was bitten from her breast; and the perpetrator, probably fearing that she might not be recognised, wrote her nartic upon a piece of paper, and pinned it to a fragment of her dress, the most of it having been torn off in the struggle which ended in her death. The formation of the letters of her name were plainly English, and this circumstance renders it certain that the murder was neither planned nor matured by Mexicans. Mr. Pakenham, the British minister, had exerted himself to the utmost to arrest the perpetrators of these horrible murders, and he bad also been assisted by General Valencia and the Mexican authorities, but up to the latest dates no clue to the authors had been discovered. As no robbery was committed, as the watch and money in the pockets of Egerton, together with the jewellery of the unfortunate woman, were left untouched —it is almost certain that the act, by whomsoever committed, was one of revenge. Egerton had a wife and family in England, and some two years since eloped with the murdered woman. He lias since lived with her as his wife;, Rumour also has it that this female was engaged to a young man in England at the time of the elopement. Whenever Egerton left his residence at Tacuhaya, he locked her up, and never permitted her to go out except in his company. This circumstance was undoubtedly well knoWn to the perpetrator of the murder. The whole affair is shrouded in mystery, and thousands of speculations arc afloat in Mexjco in relation to it. The one which receives the most credence is, that the murder was planned in England, and carried out by some acquaintance of the woman, as a matter of revenge. Another story is, that Egerton had been involved in an amour with some fair Mexican ; but this received but little credit.— Weekly Chronicle. The wife of Santa Anna has been dangerously ill. Mr. Kendall and the Santa F 6 prisoners, who were American citizens, and freed by Santa Anna, have arrived at New Orleans in a United States’ ship of -war. The cholera is said to have broken out in Jamaica.— Tbid.

High Life below Stairs. —A gentleman of fortune, residing in the neighbourhood of Hampstead, and who for some time past has been sojourning at a distant part of the country, returned unexpectedly to his house at Hampstead on Thursday evening last, and on arriving at his residence was surprised at perceiving lights issuing from the windows of his best apartments, whilst shouts of merriment, mixed with the musical sounds of a harp and other instruments, broke from the interior of the mansion.- Mr, at first conjectured that he must have made a mistake, and that he had in a temporary absence of mind wandered to the residence of a neighbour. But no, tolrelieve his doubts, Sancho, the yard dog, came bounding towards him. He was at home, and feeling curious as to the cause of all this revelry, the house having been left solely to the care of the servants, he cautiously made his way into the premises through a back entrance, and succeeded in gaining a balcony extending round the windows of the first floor, whence he could command a view of the interior of the drawing-room, when, to his surprise, he beheld a scene that completely bewildered him. A numerous party was assembled, dressed in every variety of costume, representing a motley crowd of Jews, Gipsies, Turks, sultanas, sailors, soldiers, &c., all commingled together iff chaotic confusion, and playing off the most practical jokes imaginable on each other. On perceiving these strange visitors located within his habitation, the gentleman conceived that some friend or neighbour had borrowed” his rooms on an emergency for a fancy dress ball; and he was on the point of retiring from the spot to make enquiries of the servants, when, lo 1 could he believe his eyesight ? bedecked in the costume of a grand Turk, with a luxuriant display of beard, that might have excited the envy of a bona fide bashaw, forth stalked from amongst the crowd in the back drawing-room, no less a person than Sam, his under footman, leading daintily by the “ blushing fingers,” Sally and Susannah, the belle de cuisine and femme de mansion of his establishment, both ladies attired after a fashion that would have puzzled the united conclave of antiquarian dames throughout the entire kingdom to have defined. The appearance of Sam and his smirking “ handmaids” at once elucidated the mystery. Mr. sprang through the open window into the room, when a scene ensued that beggars description. The magic word “ Master !” never produced greater consternation amongst a set of urchins engaged in the revel of a school-room riot, than did that exclamation from the united voices of Sam, Sally, and Susannah, produce on the motley set assembled in the drawing-room aforesaid. Sauve qui pent was the order of the night. A rush was made for the doors. The crowd, in their eagerness to escape, blocked up . the head of the staircase, and the efforts of those iii the rear threw the foremost of the group off their legs. The mass gave way, and Jews, Gipsies, and Turks, sultanas, sailors, soldiers, cum multis aliis, rolled headlong down the stairs, amidst the screams of the women and the frantic struggles of the men. The intruders were bundled out of- the house sans ceremonie, to

seek tlieir 'respective domiciles as best they might, and the servants employed in the establishment received notice t o quit forthwith. Ib.

By the Great Western, which arrived at Liverpool on Wednesday, in 12} days, front New York, bringing twenty-eight passengers; we have New York papers to the 28th ult., inclusive. The news they bring is of a cheering character. The nCgociations, it is said, with England, were making a rapid progress, and everything indicated that all the subjects m dispute would be satisfactorily arranged. The weather was fine, and the season spoken of as remarkably promising. Trade had begun to revive, prices were looking up, and it was the general opinion that the worst was passed. The disputes in the State of Rhode Island, relative to the formation of a new constitution, continued, and the volunteer corps had been formed to protect persons and property against the revolutionary party. The little State was quite in a turmoil, and excited considerable interest in the other parts of the Union.—The Britannia had arrived out in 14} days. A hill had been reported in the Senate to provide for such cases as that of Alexander M'Leod. It gives to the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States power to grant a writ of Habeas m such cases, and to hear the cause, discharging the prisoner if he he entitled to his discharge. The mission of Lord Ashburton to the United States is already producing a salutary effect. A letter has been received in town from a high authority in the United States, stating his confident opinion that the differences between the two countries will be satisfactorily adjusted.— lb; The Ball that Killed Nelson.— The musket-ball that killed Nelson is now in the possession of the Rev. F. W. Baker, of Bathwick, near Bath. A considerable portion of the gold lace, pad, and silk cord of the epaulette, with a piece of coat, were found attached to it. The gold lace wsis as firmly fixed as if it had been inserted into the metal while in a state of fusion. The ball, together with the lace, &c., was mounted in crystal and silver, and presented by Captain Hardy to the late Sir William the Surgeon of the Victor (j .-—lb .