Vroniuti111.

The election at Brighton for the vacant seat of the late Sir Cl. B Peehell ended by a poll on Monday thus :—Mr. James White, Liberal (formerly M.P. for Plymouth), 1565; Mr. Henry Moor, Conservative, 1239; Mr. F. Goldsmid, Liberal (retired at two o'clock), 477.

At Leicester, Hannah Holmes was accused of the wilful murder of Samuel Wells' her master, a farmer at Segrave. She was proved to have bought a quarter of a pound of arsenic, and having prepared some gruel for Mr. Wells, he was shortly afterwards seized with symptoms of poisoning by arsenic. Letters from her were produced, admitting the possession of the arsenic. The defence was that she did note contemplate murder, but simply annoyance or slight injury. The Jury found her guilty of wilful murder, and she received the capital sentence.

Henry Cowley., a railway policeman, was tried at Northampton for the murder of a newly-born illegitimate child at Oundle on the 17th of March. His housekeeper was the another, and he refused to allow her the assistance of a neighbour in her hour of trouble ; he even threatened to blow her brains out with a pistol. The child being born, it was laid on the floor. About eight in the evening, Mr. Webster, a surgeon, observed the child healthy and well. The prisoner left the mother alone, without food, light, or companion, until twelve on the following day ; then his son William brought her some gruel from the Union. About three in the afternoon the prisoner called and fondled the child, but handled it very much about the throat. The mother expostulated, but was told that it would be a good thing if she and the child were to die. Afterwards the prisoner refused to allow the surgeon to be sent for, and the child grew worse- two drops of blood appeared in the nose, and a gurgle in the throat told all was °NTS.

The mother cried, "My child is dead !" The prisoner said, "Not it ; it would be a good job." The Jury found the prisoner Guilty, with a recom- mendation to mercy, on the ground that "the act was not done with malice aforethought." Mr. Justice Wight:nen told them, that if they thought so they ought to find a verdict of not guilty. Retiring again by his Lord- ship's direction, to consider whether, the prisoner being drunk, his wilful negligence might not have caused the death, they returned with a verdict of Guilty of Murder. Sentence of death was passed.

Martin Conway and John Farrell, attached to the Military Train at Al- dershott, were charged at Winchester, with the wilful murder of Mary Ann Rowe, "one of that class of persons always to be found in the neigh- bourhood of a camp." She was last seen alive about twelve at night on the 13th of May. On Sunday the 14th, the lock-keeper at the Lock bridge opened the lock to let a boat pass through, and saw what he thought a bundle of rags, but found to his horror it was the body of the girl, Mary Ann Rowe. The poor girl had two purses, one of which was found in pos- session of one of the prisoners. Verdict—Not Guilty.

At Oxford, Ann Barker was charged with attempting to murder her own child, by throwing it into a 'well in a wood at Ipden, 134 feet in depth. Happily the well was dry ; and, after being in this position for thirty-eight hours, the child was rescued. The story of the deliverance from the old Roman well is "stranger than fiction" :—

" A blacksmith's apprentice, a stranger to the neighbourhood, happened to be at Berrin's Wood, and met a man named Grace, wlso was going home from his work. Some conversation took place, in the course of which &ace said he was going home through the shaw and by the old well. The young blacksmith was curious about the old well, and wished to see it, and Grace took him into the wood, and showed him the mouth of the well, partly overgrown. The blacksmith threw a big stone, two or three pounds in weight, down the well, and they heard the stone fall on the bottom. Grace did the same, and threw down a stone rather smaller, and as it fell to the bottom the men fancied they heard a cry, and knelt down to listen. They soon satisfied themselves that this was no mere fancy, but that there was a child crying at the bottom of the well. They first fetched a lan- tern, which disclosed nothing, and then a candle, which, knocking against the side of the well, went out. They, however, persevered with their labours from a little after six to twenty minutes past twelve o'clock at night, when they succeeded in rescuing a living child from its impending fate. A beam of wood was placed across the well's mouth, ropes were obtained, and at length a boy about fourteen years of age, named James Tuck, seated on a piece of wood attached to the rope, was let down the well, and found the child lying at the bottom, on a bed of soft mould, brushwood, and leaves. The child, according to the evidence, must have been in that position for about thirty-nine hours ; but, though cold, and stiff and sore, it soon began to revive. It was taken to Grace's cottage, where Mrs. Grace adminis- tered to it three teaspoonfuls of port wine and water ; but, as the child would not take any more of this, she wisely tried bread and milk, and the result was that the child became ravenous, and ate a cupful. The next day it was so hungry and thirsty that Mrs. Grace could not satisfy its appetite ; but it recovered, and was taken to the workhouse, where it throve so well that it was now produced in court by its nurse, a fat, healthy, and handsome child. The prisoner during the trial fell down from her seat in the dock, and was unable to cast a look at her infant, who sat smiling in his nurse's arms, unconscious of its mother's shame."

Verdict—Guilty. Sentence of death was recorded ; but imprisonment only will follow the verdict.

At Winchester, Wm. Henry Witworth was indicted for the murder of his wife and six children at the Isle of Wight, but preliminarily his state of mind was put in issue. The surgeon of the gaol proved that he was subject to mental delusions from a softening of the brain. The Jury found the prisoner was not in a fit state of mind to plead, and he was ordered to be detained during her Majesty's pleasure.

Robert Simpson, a private soldier in the Rifles, was found guilty of cut- ting and wounding Sophia Rowe, to whom he was attached. The love-sick couple had engaged to die together, and were found lying with both their throats cut, but a surgeon saved, their lives. Judgment of death was recorded.

Jesse Harding, was indicted for shooting at his wife with intent to mur- der.Her account was that he followed her upstairs to her bedroom with a gun in his hand, which he had brought home a few days previously ; that he deliberately levelled the gun at her, pulled the trigger, and the whole of the charge Struck her, she being in a stooping position at the time. The shot, without injuring any vital part, passed through the skin of the abdomen and lodged in the back part of the thigh. He afterwards struck her on the head with the butt of the gun till she became senseless. He then undressed her and laid her on the bed. To some neighbours, who came in almost imme- diately after this had happened, the prisoner said, "I have promised several times to kill her and I've killed her, but I allowed her an hour to repent. I shot her with a gun, and I shall be hanged for her tomorrow." He also on another occasion said he had borrowed the gun on purpose to kill her, as she would not keep at home. For several weeks her life had been in great dan- ger. The prisoner urged the plea of drunkenness. Verdict—Guilty. Sen- tence, Penal servitude for life.

At Aylesbury, Thomas Meacham was charged with the manslaughter of his son George, at Hewkley. Shortly after the boy's return from school on the 19th of March last, a violent scream and sounds of blows were heard by a neighbour ; and again the next day. The voice of the deceased was heard exclaiming, "Oh, my head ! my head !" and the prisoner was heard to say, "Will you do your work or won't ion ? " to which the boy. answered, "Yes father, if you'll leave me alone.' The prisoner, on being accused of ill- treating his child, admitted that he had done so, but denied that he had used undue violence, and produced the stick with which he said he had beaten him. 'The child died on the 22d, two days after the second beating ; and on a post-mortem examination a large bruise was found on the right side of the head, of some day's standing, which had caused inflammation and a purulent discharge from the membrane enclosing the brain, and several other recent bruises had been found on the forehead and other parts of the head and face. The surgeon's opinion was that the blows given on the 19th and 20th caused an increased flow of blood to the brain, and a further con- gestion of the injured blood vessels, and so caused death by stupefaction. Mr. Bulwer, for the prisoner, contended that there was no proof of his having exceeded the authority he had as a father to chastise his child ; and that the blows on the head might have been accidental. The Jury acquitted the prisoner.

At Winchester, Michael Haynes, a Sergeant 16th Foot, was indicted for the wilful murder of Ann Skein ; the prisoner was heard hacking at some- thing with his sword, and the deceased was afterwards found with her head dreadfully cut. She lingered for some time, but eventually died, in the opinion of the medical men from the wounds. The Jury ingeniously tried to return a verdict of Manslaughter, but Mr. Justice Keating firmly and lucidly explained the law, and the Jury were constrained to return a ver- dict of Wilful Murder,

George Cain, Henry Bliss, and James Norwood, acquitted before of the murder of a gamekeeper., were charged at Hertford with being upon the land of Sir T. Sebright, in the night time with arms for the purpose of des- troying game. Verdict—Guilty. Sentences—Cain and Bliss fourteen years penal servitude, and Norwood to twelve months' imprisonment.

At Northampton, Mr. George Mobbs was charged with bribing John Barron at the last election, by payment of a sovereign and a promise of

another, to induce him to vote for Mr. M9iinzie, the Conservative candi- date. Barron, Avery, and a third voter, Brickwood, deposed :— " That at half-past seven o'clock on the following morning they met the defend- ant in a place called the Mayor Hold, and that on Barron saying to the defendant, • You were not at your time, but we were at ours,' the defendant pulled out his watch and said, ' I am late ; it's half-past seven o'clock ; ' that Barron then said, ' I've brought another friend ;' and upon Brickwood mentioning his name as Georg-, Brickwood, the defendant referred to a book which he carried, and said, 'It's all right, follow me ; ' that they then went to the house of one Johnson, a builder, in Scarletwell Street, which was used as Mr. Mackenzie's committee-room, entered a yard, and went thence through the back door into a kitchen, and from it into a par- lour, where Barron swore he saw his next-door neighbour, John Foster, one Wil- liam Tomkins, one William Furness, the clerk of St. Sepulchre's, and one James Tor:skins, who acted as doorkeeper ; that defendant then went into the front par- lour, and coming back said, `One at once, I don't want you all three together ; that Avery and Brickwood then left the kitchen ; the defendant came out of the par- lour, shut the door of it very carefully, and then said, • What do you want'? Ilar- ron replied, • I don't know.' Defendant said, I'll give you 30s. when you've polled for Mackenzie.' Barron answered, • I will not do anything that way, and if I do anything at all I'll have it before I poll.' The defendant then said, • I'll give you one sovereign down, and one sovereign when polled ; I'll give it you if you work well.' Defendant then gave Barron a sovereign, and asked whether the other men would do the same as he had. Barron said that he would guarantee that they would do the same, and went out with the sovereign to Avery and Brickwood, to whom he showed it. Avery and Brick wood then in succession went into the kit- chen and returned with a sovereign each, which they showed to Barron, who then went directly to Smith and Gilpin's committee-room, and showed the sovereign to Messrs. Briggs, Dennis, and Pierce, and on the same day he voted for Smith and Gilpin."

The Jury, disbelieving the story, acquitted Mr. Mobbs.

A curious case, Gill versus Love, was tried at York Assizes on Friday week, for breach of promise of marriage. The defendant pleaded, trat, that he did not promise ; secondly, that after making the promise, the plaintiff exonerated him ; and thirdly, that ihe promise was a conditional one, on a change of religion on either side, in a reasonable time. [We presume the pleas were drawn by an Irishman.] Mr. Overend, for the defendant, ob- served that the plea on the record was a true and genuine one. An asper- sion had been cast on his client, that during the time he was engaged to this young woman he was putting forth as a pretext some kind of excuse why he should not marry, which was perfectly insincere on his part. This he denied, and said that this was not so much a question of money as it was a question of character. The plaintiff was the daughter of a Protestant lady who married a Roman Catholic, and she (the daughter) at the age of fifteen or sixteen years became a Roman Catholic also. She was a person of handsome and attractive appearance, and the defendant had a most ardent attachment towards her, which he wished to consummate by an honourable marriage. This went on until the month of December, when there was evidently an estrangement between them. That estrangement continued a considerable time, and the acquaintance was only renewed with the object of her being converted to Protestantism. He would show by the defend- ant's letters, that the issue was not that he was to be converted to Catho- licism, but that the plaintiff was to be converted to Protestantism, and that the marriage was to depend on her embracing the Protestant faith. But Mr. Baron Martin pithily told the Jury, the question for them was one of damages, and the Jury assessed them at 871., an amount which puzzled every one.

At Oxford, the breach of promise case, Davis versus Bomford was tried; the usual quantity of love-letters were produced, but the Jury returned a verdict against the lady, much to the surprise of every person in Court.

At Bedford, the case of Hartwell versus Vesey and Wife, for slander, was tried. The plaintiff's complaint was that he had been accused of improper conduct with a young woman, and had been discharged in consequence from the service of the Duke of Bedford. Mrs. Vesey was one of the Committee of Ladies' managing the British and Foreign School in the parish and it was contended that as she was a person in authority, her communication to the Incumbent was privileged, but it was left to the Jury to say whether Mrs. Vesey really believed that she saw what she had seen, for if so as a matter of law would be entitled to a verdict, having only performed her duty. The ury found for the plaintiff—damages, 50/.

James Botwell, was convicted on Tuesday at Chelmsford, and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment, for altering a signal upon the Eastern Coun- ties Railway.

A commission agent, named Winks, absconded from Newcastle-upon- Tyne last week, having liabilities of 3000/. Telegraphic messages were sent him by his friends. Being made a bankrupt, the manager of the Electric Telegraph Company was summoned before the commissioner, who ordered a disclosure of the messages ; they revealed the bankrupt's destination. A warrant was at once prepared and placed in the hands of a detective officer, who will go by the overland route to Australia, arriving in time to meet the vessel in which Winks sailed.

Great distress prevails among the poor weavers of Coventry, and many instances might be cited of women and children suffering the utmost pangs of want and hunger. A case is given on creditable testimony of a famishing mother removing some " pluck " from a butcher's stall, and when pursued by the tradesman, in company with a policeman, she was found with her children eating the meat in its raw state. The butcher, however, was too much affected by the wretchedness of the scene and the famished children to give the mother into the custody of the policeman, but gave her some pecuniary assistance. The Board of Guardians is unable to afford re- lief to the large number of applicants who come before them, and a com- mittee has been appointed for the management of a relief fund. Sir J. Paxton has just sent a check for 50/., and the Right Honourable E. Ellice one for a similar amount.

Sportsmen are already making their appearance North with demands for Highland shooting. The weather so unfavourable in England and in South Scotland, has been exceedingly sultable for the game in the far North, and good sport is anticipated.

"A Tourist" writes to the Times to complain that a notice has been issued by the gamekeeper of the Prince Consort, cautioning travellers against using the path from Loch Cullater to Lochnag,er from the 1st of September to the 10th of October next.