DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70300#0113
ABfRAHAM THORNTON,
89
Rotton’s stable clock; the Birmingham clocks and those at
Castle-Bromwich differed fifteen minutes.
James White sworn. Examined by Mr. Reader. I
remember seeing the prisoner near to Mr. Wheelwright’s, in
Castle-Bromwich, about twenty-five minutes past five on
the morning of the 27th of May; he was then on his road
to his father’s house, which was. about half a mile distant.
William Coleman sworn. Examined by Mr. Rey-
nolds. I live at Erdington. I am the grandfather of the
unfortunate young woman who was found in the pit. She
did not sleep at my house on the night of the dance. She
resided with her uncle, at Langley.
Mr. Justice Holroyd, in summing up, observed to
the Jury, that it was his duty to put them on their guard, that
a just indignation to the heinousness of the crime charged
against the prisoner, might not lead them to condemn, with-
out proper evidence. He intreated them to lay aside all the
prejudices that were so naturally, though so insensibly, im-
bibed without doors, and which especially arise in the mind,
from the unfavourable situation in which a supposed criminal
must necessarily appear. He hoped that they would, in
retiring to consider of their verdict, come to a full deter-
mination to yield only to the force of truth. The counsel
who had so ably and feelingly conducted the case on the part
of the prosecution, pretended not to have produced any di-
rect evidence of the prisoner at the bar being the perpetrator
of this horrid murder; they inferred his guilt only from a
variety of circumstances, which it now belonged to them to
consider.
The Jury deliberated for a few minutes, and then returned
a verdict of—Not Guilty.
The prisoner was then put to the bar a second time, and
charged with committing a rape on the body of the said
Mary Ashford; but the counsel on the part of the crown
declining to offer any evidence, in support of this charge, the
89
Rotton’s stable clock; the Birmingham clocks and those at
Castle-Bromwich differed fifteen minutes.
James White sworn. Examined by Mr. Reader. I
remember seeing the prisoner near to Mr. Wheelwright’s, in
Castle-Bromwich, about twenty-five minutes past five on
the morning of the 27th of May; he was then on his road
to his father’s house, which was. about half a mile distant.
William Coleman sworn. Examined by Mr. Rey-
nolds. I live at Erdington. I am the grandfather of the
unfortunate young woman who was found in the pit. She
did not sleep at my house on the night of the dance. She
resided with her uncle, at Langley.
Mr. Justice Holroyd, in summing up, observed to
the Jury, that it was his duty to put them on their guard, that
a just indignation to the heinousness of the crime charged
against the prisoner, might not lead them to condemn, with-
out proper evidence. He intreated them to lay aside all the
prejudices that were so naturally, though so insensibly, im-
bibed without doors, and which especially arise in the mind,
from the unfavourable situation in which a supposed criminal
must necessarily appear. He hoped that they would, in
retiring to consider of their verdict, come to a full deter-
mination to yield only to the force of truth. The counsel
who had so ably and feelingly conducted the case on the part
of the prosecution, pretended not to have produced any di-
rect evidence of the prisoner at the bar being the perpetrator
of this horrid murder; they inferred his guilt only from a
variety of circumstances, which it now belonged to them to
consider.
The Jury deliberated for a few minutes, and then returned
a verdict of—Not Guilty.
The prisoner was then put to the bar a second time, and
charged with committing a rape on the body of the said
Mary Ashford; but the counsel on the part of the crown
declining to offer any evidence, in support of this charge, the