liged to place handcuffs upon him; he was raving, and speaking very incoherently, particularly about the devils which he had driven out of the people.

Mr Bennet here remarked, that there was such a thing as second sight believed in Scotland, and in the north of Ireland the existence of witches was believed, and it was therefore not at all wonderful that our poor peasantry should have their miracles.

Witness re-examined by Mr Doherty. After Mr Carroll had been bled, he tore off the bandage, and therefore he was obliged to have recourse to restraint. He considered him perfectly insane.

Mr Driscoll said that the case for the Crown closed here.

Mr Dixon. My Lord, the counsel for the prisoners consider that the witnesses for the prosecution have proved quite sufficient to warrant the Jury in acquitting the reverend gentleman. They shall, however, call one witness, a medical gentleman, who has been acquainted with the prisoner for seve

ral years.

For the Defence.

Dr Devereux examined by Mr Dixon-Is a physician; knows Father Carroll for the last fourteen years; remembers the unfortunate transaction now under discussion; had been for the last three years in attendance on Mr Carroll, with the exception of two months previously to this transaction, and during that period he had not seen him. To a question of what he thought of Mr Carroll's state of health, the witness replied, that he laboured under a determination of blood to the head, a confusion of ideas, and impaired memory, and he considered him incapable of understanding even simple subjects. He was what medical men call having a predisposition

to insanity, but was always relieved by medicine. Mr Carroll had ceased to take medicine for two months previously to this unfortunate act. Witness saw him by accident on the day of the 9th of July, kneeling in the gripe of a ditch by the road side with his hat off, and covered with dust, he was then apparently very much deranged. This occurred between four and five o'clock in the evening, and before any part of the occurrence now before the Court had taken place. He had known the prisoner for fourteen years, and during that period he had borne the character of being a most exemplary man, and a most pious clergyman; witness thinks that his having omitted for two months to take the medicine which had been prescribed for him, led him to that state of fanaticism which deluded him into the idea that he could work miracles. Knows Miss Brown; attended her; there was to witness's knowledge a delusion among the people as to supernatural powers being vested in Father Carroll, as well as in other Roman Catholic priests; witness's profession leads him to mingle with the lower orders, and he can therefore swear that he finds a great proneness in them to believe in miracles, and also that people are possessed by the devil, and that the priests have the power of banishing him.

Cross-examined by Mr Fox-Mr Carroll ceased to take medicine for two months previously to this transaction. Witness believes that his so ceasing to take medicine occasioned his derangement. About three years ago Mr Carroll was affected, but had no particular delusion at the time; witness lives in Wexford, and the prisoner in the parish of Kilinick, within four miles of Wexford, and continued to officiate as a priest in it up to the period of this transaction; never apprized Carroll's friends of his ten

dency to insanity; the rector of the parish heard of the circumstance preceding the occurrence for which the prisoner is now standing his trial, but he did not interfere to prevent the prisoner from officiating. Witness considered Mr Carroll as a person incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong.

The case being now closed on both sides,

Mr Justice Johnson proceeded to charge the Jury. His Lordship, after recapitulating the evidence, proceeded to state the law as applicable to the acts of insane persons. With regard to the other prisoners who were indicted, his Lordship observed, that if an insane person commit a murder, and if he be assisted by any other person in the perpetration of it, though he may be innocent in the eye of the law, yet they must be found guilty of murder. Before, however, the Jury could find the other prisoners at the bar guilty of murder, they must satisfy their minds that they did actually assist being present is not alone sufficient. The witness Furlong stated positively that he was prevented by some person from interfering, and was asked whether he was drunk or mad. Any person preventing another from interfering to preserve the life of a fellow-creature, would undoubtedly be considered as aiding and assisting in the murder, but there are no facts to shew that any of the prisoners at the bar did so interfere. The most that was proved against them was, that one prisoner brought a candle and another a tub, but these circumstances were not sufficient to warrant the Jury in coming to the conclusion that they had aided in the committal of murder. The questions which the Jury would have to consider were-first, whether the homicide had been committed, and then whether the prisoner, Carroll, was capable at the time of distinguish

ing right from wrong. If the Jury believed him to have been insane, they must acquit him; if not, they must find him guilty. There was no evidence that the other prisoners had been aiding and assisting, and therefore his Lordship thought the Jury ought to acquit them.

At two o'clock the Jury retired, and in a few minutes returned with their verdict of Not Guilty against five of the prisoners, and of Not Guilty against Carroll, he being at the time insane.

Some inaccuracy having occurred in the wording of the verdict, his Lordship desired that the exact words of the act of Parliament should be copied, and submitted to the Jury, as, according to the 1st and 2d of George III., he would not be warranted in detaining the prisoner, unless the precise words of the act were specified in the finding of the Jury. The Jury again retired, and immediately returned the following verdict, which was recorded:

"We find Nicholas Wickham, James Devereux, Patrick Parel, Nicholas Corrish, and Walter Scallan, Not Guilty, and we further find that the said John Carroll, at the time of the committal of the offence in the said indictment charged, was a person insane, and the said John Carroll has been acquitted by us of the said offence, on account of the said insanity."

After the verdict had been delivered, the Judge addressed the prisoner in nearly the following words:

John Carroll, you have been indicted in this Court for murder, and you pleaded not guilty to the charge. From the plea you put in, I must suppose that you were not, when you pleaded, in that state in which the Jury have since found you. The circumstances attending this case have made it necessary for me to comment upon it at some length at the present

moment, which I forbore to do in my charge, the more especially as a medical gentleman, whose profession naturally brings him in contact with the lower orders, has sworn that the peasantry are prone to believe that Catholic priests are gifted with supernatural powers, and capable of performing miracles. Many of the most dreadful acts which stain the pages of his tory have had their origin in fanaticism, and there cannot be a more melancholy proof to what lengths fanaticism can be carried than what has appeared this day. A clergyman of the Roman Catholic faith, a faith which embraces the majority of the

them not suppose that the impious and blasphemous attributes pretended to be enjoyed by weak and sinful mortals exist, or that men like themselves possess the capability of working miracles.-John Carroll, you are to be detained in custody until the Lord-Lieutenant's pleasure is known. The other prisoners are to be discharged.

OLD BAILEY.

October 30.

most exclusively in certain districts the whole of the lower orders-exercises such influence over the minds of his parishioners that he induces a number of them to remain quiet spectators while the life of a fellow-creature is sacrificed! The efficacy of prayer to the Most High, no one can deny, but to say that an individual is capable of usurping the attributes of the Divinity, is blasphemy in the extreme. See what this assumption has led to in the present case-the murder of an innocent child, and that too in a manner which would shed disgrace upon the most brutal savage. You, sir, find this child ill in bed-you procure a tub, and, in the most savage way, torture the infant until at length you deprive her of life. That you were the victim of delusion I hope and admit, but that the delusion should have extended to the crowds by whom you were surrounded, and have prevented them from interfering, is a circumstance of too horrifying a nature for the mind to dwell upon. I hope, however, that what has this day transpired in this Court will teach the lower orders to distrust the promises of such professors. Let them implore the intercession of the Most High, but let

FORGERY.

Mr Law stated the indictment, which, he said, consisted of two counts; the first charging Henry Fauntleroy with forging a certain deed, with intent to defraud Frances Young of 5000l. stock; and the second charging him with forging such power of attorney, with intent to defraud the bank.

The Attorney-General then rose, and proceeded to address the Jury. During his address the prisoner was much agitated. He drew from his pocket a white handkerchief, passed it over his face, retained it in his hand, and leaned his head on it. The Attorney-General trusted that the Jury would clear their minds as much as possible from all suspicions or rumours respecting the prisoner; that they would look to evidence only, and by that guide their judgment; and that they would not even bear in mind that there were any other indictments. The prisoner, Henry Fauntleroy, was a partner in the house of Messrs Marsh and Co., established thirty years ago, in Berner's-street. Mr Fauntleroy, the father of the prisoner, became a partner at its establishment,

and continued such till his death in 1807. At that period the prisoner was admitted into the concern. Previously to that time, the prisoner had been largely engaged in an extensive house in the city, and hence had become familiar with business, especially that of banking. With such qualifications he became the most active, or, it might be said, the only active member in the firm. All the details of the business were under his almost exclusive control. Hence the inspection and management of the books constituted his peculiar care. In 1815, Frances Young, of Chichester, a customer of the house, lodged in their hands a power of attorney, to receive the dividends on 5450l. 3 per cent consols. That power did not authorize them to sell. The dividends were regularly received, but soon afterwards application was made to the bank to sell 50001. of that sum on a power of attorney, purporting to have been granted to the prisoner. When applications were to be made to the bank, under such circumstances, to sell, it was customary to notify the same on slips of paper. Such a notification was made in the present instance; but though these slips of paper (which, as might be supposed, rapidly accumulated) were carefully preserved, the slip connected with the transaction could not be found. It thus could not be shewn who presented that slip, or in whose hand-writing it might be. The power of attorney, however, was regularly presented, authorizing the prisoner to sell 5000l., purporting to be signed by Frances Young, with the attesting signatures of John Watson and James Tyson. These three signatures were forgeries. John Watson and James Tyson would be called, and would state that they neither of them saw Frances Young sign such a document, nor did they attest it themselves. The instrument was filled up

regularly, in words at length; and it would be shewn, that the hand-writing was that of the prisoner at the bar. The two witnesses were designated clerks to Messrs Marsh and Co. All those signatures were in the handwriting of the prisoner. But if that were not so, the prisoner must have been acquainted with the writing of the clerks, and thence would have discovered the forgeries if he had not been a guilty party. The power of attorney was left in the bank in the customary manner, and remained there twenty-four hours, in order that the bank books, &c. might be regularly examined. Such time having elapsed, the attorney (the prisoner at the bar) attended at the bank to effect the transfer. The attorney must attend in person on such occasions, and write at the bottom, "I demand to act on this power of attorney." This the prisoner did on the 21st of June, 1815, and signed his name at full length, after having written such words. Thus it would appear that the power of attorney, authorizing himself to sell the 5000l. was wholly prepared by the prisoner; he, therefore, must have known it to be a forgery. The learned gentleman said, he would now come to a more important and conclusive part of the case. If there had been any doubt about the preparation of the power of attorney, he would presently produce a document of so extraordinary a nature, as to leave no doubt of the part which the prisoner had acted in these transactions. The key with which the prisoner locked his desk he wore attached to his watch chain, and on his apprehension it was taken from him by the officer. That officer, afterwards, went to Berner's-street, to make various searches. In one room of the banking-house, there were a number of tin cases, containing deeds, &c. the property of their customers, and in front of all of them, with one exception, were