Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), Wednesday 31 October 1866, page 5


WAGGA WAGGA CIRCUIT COURT.

Th« second Waggs Warga Oirauit Court wa« opened at IO o'clock on Monday morning the 22nd instant, by Mr, Just foe Hargrave. ' >

Mr. Forbes proteouted on behalf of the Crown, and Mr. Stepbons was the only other banister in at-

tendance.

James McGowan pleaded guilty to a charge of cattle stealing;, at Wagga Wagga, on tbe 19th Angust last.

ROOBBBY WITn ARSIS AT TALBIKOI.

Patrick Lawler and Patrick Gately were indioted for robbing with arms at Talbingo, on the 21at Jolt last.

His Honor summed np the evidence unfavorably, and the jury retirod, and after a short consultation, rrturnorf into court with a verdict of guilty _ against both

prisoners, (

I', KOnUEItT WITH ABMS AT BIIUBALBE, j

Tho same prisoners were, then. imitated for (steal-ing sundry articles of clothing at Bambalee, on the 1 Sth June la«t, ¡ >

Hu Honor having summed no, the jory;retired fur ai short time, and then returned a verdict of guilty against both prisoners.

SnOOTIKQ WITH INTEKT TO UOBDKB AT COOL IC.

Patrick Lawler was indicted for shooting at Thomas Ryan at Cooloo; on tho I9lh April last, with intent lo, murder. ¡ .

3 Ed ir ard Keane deposed : I smapnblioan at Coo'ao (lu Thursday, 19th April last, at about half-past 9 in the evening, my bouse, waaaluok-up by two armed men ; oannot say the prisoner, is one «f the men, but he resembles one of them in .height, figure, and general appearance. The faces of the men were disguised They took £C or £7, and a bott'e of. gir, ' One of tho robbers shouted far all hands, and Ryan, instead of drinking, took up his tumbler and threw it at him. I rushed between them and said, " For God's snke.uWt .fire,": .and he. replied,.."! will put a hole' through that -," and immediately fired. The bullet was afterward« fuand, sunk into the woodwork of the counter. I .

Cross-examined by prisoner: The man who fired hoi flannel, or lOTio l<ind of, comforter, over hi» fuce.

Thomas Byan depoted:. Went to tho publio-houte é Cooloo on the evening of the IBib April last, ond foam it atnok-np. The smaller prisoner called for glasse, for all hands. A--ked how roany bushrangers , wen there, and was told two ; turned tb take the sinai one, and threw a. glass at him, but did aol hit him.; he said he woulj drive a bole through me 4pd firsd; contd not identify bim, as his face waa'par-tially covered.- ' .... - '

. Alexander Yoong deposed : Was ? at Coolac at about balf-poBt 9, on tho 19th April Inst, and saw nrisonei there. Was going to bed when I heard the bu h angeri eomr. Saw the prisoner's face from bia nose ; be bae crain over bia face; saw it shift, and he pulled it np am certain he is the man from hts make, voice, ace general appearance ; could swear to bim in two years prisoner shouted for all hands. Ryon threw a glass al him, and I shot the door. Prisoner enid ho would make a riddle of tbe place, and ¡ Keane opened the don and said "Jo not shed blood." Prisoner replied, " Stand ont of the road, I will blow that --old wretbhs'.i brains out," and fired at Ryan. !

Lawler addressed the jory in defence, and said thal Young had sworn that the bushrangers had orapa'ovei their faces, and the other witnesses bad sworn that il waa flannel, or oomfortcrs, they had on. He declared that he, w«s.; innocent, and threw bimsolf upon.' tbe mercy of the Court i * '

His Honor summed np the evidence, and tho ¡Jory then retired. After a very-long abaonoa they returned lato court with a verdict of guilty. (The forercan then added, that the jury desired..to . express their high appreciation of the conduct of .tba apprehending constable, sergeant Egan, ard hoped that bis Honor would rcp-esent the same to the. favonrable considera-

tion of tbe authorities.

. . CATTLE STEALtHO AT SnABP'S. CREEK.

Thomas Boyd, the youBger, on bail, waa indioted for stealing, at Grteu..Hill». Kim,. Sharp's Greek, W the 24tb April last,. one cow, the property of William Regan. . ; .

.The prisoner pleaded not guilty, and was defended by Hr. Stephen.\. .

His Honor summed up rather unfavourably for the prisoner, and tbe jury retired, And, ia balf-an-bour, returned with a rordict of guilty._ j

Remanded for sentence. . <

..H0B8B STEALIKQ - AT WAOSA. WACOA.

.John. Horan, sliaB John Williams, was indioted for 'Stealing* horse, the property, of. .Thomas Ivor j, at Wag;.t Wagga, on Tues lay, 9th Ootober. A second count charged the prisoner with reoeifing the same.

Thejnry, after a short consultation, returned a verdict of guilty. I

Iteraandcd for sentence.

TDESDAT, OOTOBEB, 24. ¡ .

MUHDES. . . ; . Rlisi Gilbert wai indio-od for.tbe.wilful murder of ber two sons, Thomas Horatio and Edmund. Gilbert, at Adelong,1 on tbe 6th January last. , '.

The prisoner having etcteJ, on. the- previous day, that the was destitute of .means, . ber defence ¡was -undertaken by Mr. Stephen, . instruotod by Mr. Gibbo«. ! "',

The prieoner.applied to his Honor to permit her little girl to come to ber in the dook, but the request was rep fused. - - ; I

Sarah Stewart 8truthers, sworn : Live at Surface Hill, Adelong ; knew the prisoner's'deceased children ; Thoma.* Uorat:o, aged Jfour and a half years, ¡and Kdmbad;aged'two~yearrand two or-three months,[arid' alt) a little girl betwithem in age; the prisoner waa married-,-hut-ber husband bad been away from'ber nea'rlrtbr'ee years ;. she- lived- about ' sixty yards from my píase; knew . a- . Swiss-Italian- -named Alario j he ol ten carno to see -prisoner- both- before and after her bnsbsnd had left'ber, - -Prisoner's three ' children frere in my house on 6th January Isa-, playing, from about 1 to 2 p.m. ; thry went away of- their own'accord ;! the elder boy earns up again tn about a quarter of an hour, and then ran home again, -and, in about tea minutes, after, the prisoner--came to--toy place and said abe. wanted a drink of tea-as she .had - found' it hard work

dragline water up to her place ? from the creek;! sb»,

then wt nt out to gather sticks, and I saw ber from that time till Mrs. Walters came up, about five minutes later; after picking up the sticks, she came up to the house and talked-with-Mrs. Walters ; my little Iboy. thoa went away with Mrs Walters towards prisoner's, place, and trisoner followed,' and soon after I beard, ber scream; ran dow'ri,'and asvr prisoner' standing 'beside the two children lying upôù'thafloor' Of the skillion atth« baolr cf her place'; '»aw'ri small, tnb thor« j tho ¡tub produced is the tame ;* it only had about six indies ol water in it ; did not see tho children in tbe tnb ; (hod advised the pr loner to put her'ohildren' in the orphan-' school, and abe had offen said that ahe could not part with them ; 'had beard her 'say she could earn a living for one child. But not for three; on the 5th January last, beard high'words'poising between the prisoner and A lazio ; the prisoner was ory frig. '

Cros<-examined by Mr. Stepben i Prisoier- caine to my place ten mi .u tes af I er the children ran home; she was a kind and loving mother ; beard ber say à few days before that she must put the mb in the skillion aa the. boy had pulled it over npon bim in 1 tbe

verandah. "'' .Emily Barbara Waitera deposed : Saw prisoner: be. ween 1 and 2 o'clock on Saturday, the 6th January las', a few yards away from Mrs. Stewart's place, going o pick up sticks ; Mrs'. Stewart was on.the verandah ; ?vent apto her, and prisoner came up stortly nf tor; she look d pale, and I asked her if she was ill, and she'said no, but that abe had sold her own and her ahil-trea's. ', lothts, and often lay ón the floor all niitht crying' she felt so miserable j I went'away with Mrs. Stewart's, little boy, and be Bhowed mo prisoner's obildren in tbe hot ; tbe elder boy, waa on hts knees, with hil head ind hands in f be tub, and the younger one was stand*, ing, resting with his «tomooh on tbe side of the tub; ai.d, with his head and hands also in it ; 1 allied _ out to prisoner to como quiok ; t-ho came .with,the stioks in ber hand, aad.pal.them down .in tbs usual pince, and Iben'werit into tho room ; she did not touch the on'ildroD, but lay down on ibe floor and said " Mv God, my Gad ;" Crane got "IF bis horst) and took tho children out of the, water; they'looked'dead. Prisoner remarked that Crane waa un enemy, and abe would object to bim on a jury, ai h« would bang her if he could.

Irvine Crono'd-posed: It do past prisoner's houso .with my daughter oii the 6Ul January last ; beard Mrs, Walters cry out "the children are dead;" prUooer went up quiokly to the home with some stioks, passed the door to put them1 down, and then returned and looked in and said My God, my God;" want into the hut and found the two children with their heads in the tub, one ou one side and the other on the oiber, , with their legs outside, and > their shoulders touching ;. took them but, and saw they wire getting blue from lying in tho water; they were both dead; 1 . i

David McLeod depored : Saw the d< ceased children about S p.m.,on the 6th January; Crane was not lhere ; examined them-thoroughly, but found no marka ou thom; the youngest childs tongue was. bitten 'quite

through; the prisoner seemed to lake more notice of' the elder bay ; took it very bard over bim ; Bhe seemed to take on mare when people were present than at other

times. . - - -. i- -

Cross-examined : Felt pulsation in the heart of tho elder child, but tbolr. no steps to restore'animation, as 1 .thought, it.too weak, and l.oould not do it.

Dr. Falder deposed : Am a duly qualified medical practitioner,. and am ooronor for Adelong ; bold an inquest on the children thé day they died ; examined tho bodies carefully ; mw thom partly undressed,'bat saw nothing but congestion about tho face, which would have been tho results of drowning ; if any one bad held the children down dressed, and drowned them should not bavo expooted to find any marks upas them : eldest boy was very strong, and most sB.urcdly could ont have been drowned by ncclrtent in the tub produced id o not think the younger ohild could either ; tho eldoBl ona was Btrong enough to pull his brother ont.

Orota-exiDain d : If the little one bad made tbe

least effort. he ouuid. have «ol out; ll Jacut.mdj nhoiiMo to shoulder, with their faces down, do not think the; could have been drowned; " the least effort would bar' frrod them ; do not think a strong perren holding then d wi in that quantity of water would cause any marl on i heir foreheads; found a marble in the bottom o the tub ; a child might havereaohed after it and beet drowned ; the other child, la trying to help bis brother mi'uht have been drowned too ; there was evidence of a violent straggle in the water ; «ny iinpreision is thal ¿boy were drowned first and placed lo the position found afterwards; there was a discharge in the tah which came from the lungs, and whioh would not have been there if no violence had been used ; there was no water oatside tho hut that I noticed.

. Joseph.Alaiio deposed: Am a Swiss-Italian ; have known prisoner for four ytars or so ; maintained her and ber throe obi'dren for about eighteen months, hut said I could do so no fan her, and she said she would ask the Government for protection ; did not Jive with her as man and wife, ? Waa with ber the evening: before the dettb of the ohildren ; had no quarrel ; she said she could earn a living for one ohild, but not for three. There was no understanding that if she only had the girl I was to live with her. One evening, a long tims before, she said ehe would not obeat her children for all the men and. all the money in the world. (The depositions were here pnt in, and in these tho witness was made to say " kill ber children.'* Tho witness spoke ia very bad English.)

Cross-examined : Prisoner was very fond of the oldest boy ; ha waa the pet. :

.Urs. Stewart Strrithers' reallied by Hr. Stephen i There waa a large'tub standing ia the verandah, fall of water; .q ??

. This closed the case for tba Crown.

... For ibo defence, Mr. Stephen called Dr. ItoWntoo, who deposed.: Ara a duly qualified medical prao ¡tinner ; had heard all tho evidence that bad been given. Think if shy one bod' drowned ? tbe children in snob a roagh bottomed t ib BS the one , produced, there would inevitably be some abrasion on the noss or forehead.

To Crown Prosecutor ; Do not think it likely that the children could bo drowned in that tub and have.no marks upon them. Think a child of four and a half years old could scarcely be drowned in it at all. ? '

Mr. Stephen, in .a most eloquent and telling speech; then addressed the jury for the defence, remindiog them I hat he had' taken tip the case as ari act, cf humanity and mercy, and with no kopo of gain or roward.'nod he'theretore hoped they would give him credit for candour. ; .The case against the prisonoi bad been prejudiced originally by the expression of the Italian, who had been made ti say 'that the prisoner woolilnot kill her children, 'and' that had now been, satisfactorily explained. . The mother, it had been ad-mitted,-was tond of ber children, and piasionately so ot her eldeit boy, and yet, because she did not scream or indulge ic torrents of grief when she first became aware of ber h»s/ bat-sank silently down on the, floor, they were asked to jnmp to the violent conclusion" that she . had murdered them. There was a inr^o tub of water at hand where she might have e deo ted her purpose muoh more easily ; and there were plenty of deep holes where she might

have thrown them down' with much Uss ohanca of de'ection. AB to probabilities, > it, was much more likely that ¡tho children should have met their ends by acoident than that a fond, dating mother should ha re. müde away with them in the eilrem-'y im-probable way they wëié asked to believe.' ' The marble that was found'in the tab was a most providen-tial circumstance, in the prisoner'» favour. Nothing could be more likely than the younger child should have dropped it ip, and in trying to reaoh it had fallen head first into the water; and that the other little fellow in trying to help bis brother out had fallon in also, and that the two had jammed shoulder and shoulder and hid bean drowned. Why shonld they .' arrive at soçh a highly, improbable conclusion that the mother should morder ber pet boy; and keep the girl

that she loved the least; and that she should do this,

too, in bfoadjdavligbt,, close to a road and i.éigb boura,' andina place where she mast bs tho first to bo accused, when she .could have effected her object, bad «he so desired it,'so much' more secretly and effectively in other w'»ys, Xet tho jury, as men of mercy,'well weigh the probabilities af .a fond and doting mother foully murdering the .darlings of her heart against the. theory which had been ba it op by the strained .suspicions of

1 talking, chattering med, ' and there would be no doubt, but that'they would > acquit the' prisoner of'tho crime of whioh she stood dhkrged. ii - ' ' -1 ' . t o y .

,- Te priaouet was iioleutlyaflec^ed during the earlier portioa of ¿he address' of the learned counsel, but,upon' bis cautioning her'tb&t If she did nqt restrain her feel-ings ha would throw up the oas» and have 'the Court, ihe became _ro composed...

The CroVaf/Prosecutor replied in a short speech, begging'the;-jury to, well -weigh the evidence, and return auch a verdict as their oouioieuoes told them to be a . true one, however painful they, might find that duty to be. ;. .'? , , ' :

ilia Honor .summed np at great length, reviewing the whole of',' the evidence, upsn, the whole, very favourably,for the prisoner. ', r, ?

The jury, after about an hour's consultation, returned; a.verdict of not guilty;,, ,. .,,

LA8CENT JLT, ViGOÁ WA00A.

James Charlton-.was indicted fot stealing, on the 25th June last, s watch,-, stand, and key, the property .of tr. Gasse, - .. ... r ':> ', ., ' .

Verdict, guilty. ,.o: .. , . ,, .' | ,,

The same prisoner was thin indio'ed for stealing a concertina at :; Wagga Wagga, and pleaded guilty. 'A third cass against bira was not proceeded .with. Tho prisoner was remanded for sentence. . ;