George Sweet and William Bisgrove were tried on Monday at
Taunton, before Mr. Baron Channel', on a charge of murdering George Cornish, a navvy. It appeared from the evidence that the two prisoners, Cornish, and a woman named Drew, had all gone, on the night of the 2nd of August, into a field, apparently to sleep in the open air ; that next morning Cornish was found dead, and Bisgrove asleep near him ; that Bisgrove declared some man had beaten in Cornish's head in the night ; that Sweet and Drew swore they went away together, but came back, saw Cornish and Bisgrove apparently asleep, and went away again to walk about Wells all night. This was all the evidence, but the jury felt that Bisgrove was guilty, and fancied that Sweet was lying, and so found both prisoners guilty of murder. Both were sentenced to death. Fortunately, however, for Sweet and the jury, Bisgrove, on Wednesday, confessed that "he was very worse for beer," that when he woke out of his drunken sleep "some- thing told me I must murder that man," Cornish ; that he did murder him with a stone, which he showed ; that he took three pence from him ; that Sweet was not there ; "I can't say if he see me done it ; but he never help did it." In fact, it appears that Sweet's story, which nearly hanged him, was literally true. The case will be long quoted as an argument against the punishment of death, but we never remember a capital verdict upon such insufficient evidence.
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