ebe 113robincez.
The Royal Agricultural Society of England commenced its annual meet- ing at Norwich, on Wednesday, upon a scale of magnitude as imposing as 'in any former year. The Duke of Cambridge was one of the visiters and inspectors of the cattle and implements. The general show of stock and implements commenced on Thursday, and is declared to have been the most admirable in point of merit and extent that was ever seen; symmetry, rather than obesity, being still the object. The show of implements in- cluded no fewer than seventeen large steam-ploughs; all of which have made, under the trials of the judges, good and practical performance. The Council dinner, on Thursday, was well attended: the Earl of Chichester presided; many noblemen and distinguished cultivators of science or bu- colics graoed the tables.
' The completion of the line of railway from Huddersfield to Manchester was celebrated on Friday last, by festive excursions from Huddersfield to Mauohester• the trains on their return stopping at Digee, where refresh- ments had been prepared for the guests. In the evening, the directors and their' friends dined together at Huddersfield. This railway will form a connecting link between Manchester and Leeds.
At the Oxford Assizes, James Layton was tried for murdering his wife, by th shooting her with a pistol and cutting her throat with a penknife, on the 7th of May last. Layton had resided at Leamington for nearly twenty years; he bad
carried on the business of a painter and glazier, and had embarked in suc- cessful building speculations. He became unsuccessful, and was subjected to legal proceedings; and in consequence shut himself up in his own house for four years, making his wife wait on him and communicate between him and the world. Hs passed through the Insolvent Court, and was ultimately set at liberty on signing certain documents for the benefit of his creditors. Daring many years past he was eccentric in various ways, and during the last year or two be has been ander various delusions: one of these was that his wife, his brother-in-law, and one of his sons, had by successful conspirations brought about his ruin—had put him in such a position that he must be tried and hanged for forgery or fly the land. These delusions were well known to his relatives, and were of course the cause of great occasional unhappiness with his wife. His wife started from Leamington to Banbury on the 7th of May, to consult a lawyer on the possibility of -being separated from her husband ; and shortly after she started Layton followed her, without knowing her object, from whim only. He had first sharpened a small -knife for the avowed purpose of cutting her throat. He overtook her ; they were seen walking together, he swearing, and she trying to moderate and gently per- suade him. As they walked, he with his arm round her neck, a pistol-shot was heard by persons on the road, at some distance. One of these persons, George Frost, presently met the couple, and he describes their conduct. Layban had his band over his wife's face; but at the moment Frost passed she suddenly turned her head fall towards him, as if she meant him to notice her; she made no ges- ture, and uttered no noise or complaint; her forehead was then covered with blood. Frost did not associate the pistol-shot he had heard with her bloody appearance, but he turned and watched. They walked some distance, Layton still having his arm round his wife's neck, and seeming as if he were urging her forward against her will. She suddenly screamed terrifically, and ran back to Frost, exclaiming, 'He has shot me and cat my throat!" Layton left the road, and ran across some "fields; but was pursued and captured. His wife was found to have been shot in 'the forehead by a pistol-bullet, and gashed io a multitude of places on the throat, face, and breast. She recovered the incised wounds, but died on the twenty-second day after the attack, of an abscess in the brain caused by the bullet wound. None of the assaults upon her were actually seen by any witness; but on her dying bed, Mrs. Layton deposed that her husband bad shot her and wounded her with the knife; and she had a last interview with him, and forgave him for what he bad done. The defence was a plea of insanity, resting on the proof in great.detail cof Mr. Layton's eccentric ways, his delusions, and his generally kind and religious
haracter.
In his charge to the Jury, Mr. Baron Rolfe explained with clearness the law of insanity in reference to crime.
The opinion of the Judges was taken by the House of Lords a few years back as to what was to constitute a definition of insanity, and it created verygreat difficulty; but, after great and anxious deliberation, they came to the conclusion that the old descrip- tion was the best,—namely, that insanity should constitute a defence when a party was in such a state of mind arising from disease as to be incapable of deciding between right and wrong; but that tills definition was imperfect, as all definitions must be, and would require to be modified with reference to each particular case. Applying that law to the present case, lie thought what the Jury had to consider was, whether the evidence was such as to satisfy them that at the time the act was committed by the prisoner, he was so incapable of understanding right from wrong as that be could not appreciate the nature of the act which he was committing. Perhaps It would be going too far to say that a party was responsible in every ease where he had a glimmering knowledge of what was right or wrong. There was one cardinal point—the burden of proving innocence rests on the party committing the outrage. Such a presumption was necessary for the security of mankind. It may, however, ho impossible to prove that conclusively, as the insanity may have been temporary, and there may be no posi- tive evidence of the condition of mind at the moment In question. A question asked by the counsel for the prosecution, of the witnesses fbr the prisoner—namely, whether they thought him capable of judging between right and wrong—seemed to him to be very irrelevant ; for that was what no witness thought of: all that witnesses thought of was, whether or not a person was In his senses, and the other was a mere technical mode of expression adopted by the judges. The prisoner was not exempt from re- sPonsibility because he was labouring under a delusion as to his property, unless that Lad the effect of making him incapable of understanding the wickedness of murdering his wife. But when that was the question they had to consider, he could not say that it wee altogether immaterial that be was Insane on one point only. Indeed, his in- sanity on that point might guide them to a conclusion as to his sanity on the point involved in this case ; and in this view of the matter, there were two circumstance& detailed in the evidence of great importance. These were, the want of motive for the commission of the crime, and its being committed wider circumstances which rendered detection almost inevitable.
The Jury retired, and after ten minutes consideration returned with a verdict of " Not guilty," on the ground of insanity. Since his arraignment, Layton had behaved himself like a sane person, except that he was once about to interpose to put a silly question to a witness, but on his attorney whispering to him he became quiet. 1 he only sign of emotion he exhibited throughout the trial, was when his counsel was alluding very feelingly to his wife and his last interview with her; when he swooned and remained insensible for a few minutes.
At Chelmsford Assizes, on Thursday, Jonathan Henry Price, a Dissenting min- ister, and Priscilla Ruffell, a girl of twenty, were tried on counts variously charging them with -deserting an illegitimate infant with. intent to murder it, or with a view to cast it as a lourden upon the parish. The child was the girl's, but no proof was given that Price was the father; he denied that he was. Preaching at Woodham Ferrers, Price there formed an acquaintance with Ruffell; shortly after her confinement, she was at the Ingatestone railway station, with the child and a basket; Price met her there ; subsequently the child was found in the basket in a ditch in the vicinity, near some cottages, where it was likely to be seen. The accused were found guilty of abandoning the child in order that it might be- come a burden on the parish. Price was sentenced to be imprisoned for twelve months, and Ruffell for three.
At Winchester Assizes, last week, Thomas Holloway was tried for the man- slaughter of his son, a boy of ten. This is the case recently commented on in our columns. The child having neglected some command of the father, the man beat him with a strap; the boy became senseless, and the man in alarm carried him into the yard of his house and bathed his head and face; but death soon ensued. The strap was produced, a small one, with a buckle at the end. A surgeon de- scribed' the state of the body. There were several bruises on the back and shoul- ders such as a strap would produce; but the fatal hurt was behind the ear, appa- rently produced by a blow with the fist; a vessel in the brain had been ruptured. The verdict was "Guilty," and the sentence fifteen months' imprisonment.
It is feared that an aeronaut has periahed in the Bristol Channel. Mr. Wad- man, of Bristol, was to have ascended in his balloon from Cardiff; but as he was unwell, a Ms. Green volunteered to take his place. On Monday sennight, the balloon ascended, Mr. Wadman having looked to its efficiency before' his friend left terra firma. Early next morning, the balloon, three parts filled with gas, and not at all damaged, was found at Wedmore in Somersetshiro: in the car were a coat, a pair of boots, and a handkerchief. On the preceding evening, the balloon was seen passing over the water close to the surface; and one person, it is reported, saw it dragging through the sea and then suddenly ascend to a great height. This leads to a supposition that Mr. Green, finding himself in the sea, pulled off his boots and clothes, abandoned the balloon, and endeavoured to save himself by swimming, but perished in the effort. This supposition has. proved correct. The body was found on Thursday, on the Flathouse Sands Shoal, nearly in the centre of the Bristol.Channel, off Laver- neck Point, twelve miles South of Cardiff.
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