George Price, the engraver charged with atrocious cruelty to his
wife, was tried on Thursday, in the Old Court. It was proved in evidence that he had 36s. a week, and five children, and a wife suffering from fistula and cancer, that he refused her the money to buy restoratives ordered by the doctor, drank the wine left for her by her friends, habitually shook and threatened the poor woman, and, "on one occasion, took up the Bible which deceased was in the habit of reading, and holding it by the corner over her wounds with the finger and thumb, said this is the book you like to read," making her scream with fear. His language was of the most shocking kind, and he once told his wife that he had measured her grave. The excuses offered were drink and poverty, and the Judge, Baron Pigott, directed the jury to forget the bad language, and find a verdict only on the acts of cruelty. The jury brought him in guilty, and the judge, apparently allowing for the fact that when sober he was not unkind, sentenced him to only 18 months' imprisonment.
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