A BAILIFF SEIZING A CRADLE.

West Coast Times, Issue 1494, 12 July 1870, Page 3

A BAILIFF SEIZING A CRADLE.

A' the Assizes hell at Durham, liiiilget Maeintyre, a<iul thirt\-ono, has bi-di ehnrgwl with the manslaughter <-f George Vasey,at Williiigto.i, < n the ht of February last:—

It appeared that the deceased u-a* a bailiff and ivent to the house of the prisoner's husband to distrain f.ir rent. An altercation then ensued between the deceased and the niiponer in refer nee to a cradle mi which the priso 1 e>'s bal-y was lying, and which the deceased insisted on taking; during the altercation ;he piisoner be-cam. 1 exasperated and struck the deeca?cd two blows on the head with a rolling p 11, ivnd also threw a jug at him. His head was afterwards seen to he covered with bio (1. In i\ few ehiys the de-ceased was ot auked with erysipelas, and he died six days :;fter tie blows. It appeared from tin: c\icience of Kichard Fox, who acted as the under- ha-.InT, the deceased man, Wsey, reizeil the cradle and handed it to him at the dooi, a policeman having taken out the baby.

His Lordi-hip — j>> you. distrain cradles with b^bus in them '?

Witness — 1 do not distrain at nil.

His Lor 'ship — n was quite ill: gal. If a man is 1 iciiug on a horse it canno: be dist:aimd.

Alter the witness had been further exan>ined.

His Lordship suggested ti at if the distress was illegal, "it night lie that the woman used no more force th-m necessary to resist it. Ui> nriulit as well distrain a si . c upon a person's back as a cradle with a '-V.iid in it. Whatever a lnun was using at the time could not K 1 s.ized, «nd reasonable resistance m\»hL he lawfti ly cli'cied. It appeared in in ihe cvidcuc • of the surL'ton who nsadc the post mortem isam: ation that death had been caused by extravasation of blood on the brain,resulting from the blow on the head.

The jury found the prisoner guil'y, with a reccnimendation to mercy. His Lordship, considering the recommendation, and that the prisoner had been lor some time in prison, ordered her to lind two suietie-s in £20 each to keep the pcicc for twelve months ; and she v.as discharged on finding these two sureie>-.