NOTES OF THE MONTH. 469 



alteration would certainly be inconvenient to Mr. Alley and some of 

 his brethren, inasmuch as being on the circuit, they could not pocket 

 the Clerkenwell fees. Unlike Macheath, instead of saying " How 

 happy could I be with either/' they want both. Let them make their 

 election ; if the charms of the circuit predominate over those of the 

 sessions, let them cleave to the circuit. They need not be at all 

 alarmed, that " as a consequence, the prisoners would be deprived of 

 the benefit of counsel," No such calamity could occur there would 

 still be more barristers than briefs. 



MB. JUSTICE ALDERSON AT NEWCASTLE. We solicit attention to 

 the following extracts from a report in the columns of The Durham 

 Advertiser, of the proceedings on the crown side of the Court at 

 Newcastle : 



"Thomas Jewitt, aged 23, was convicted of having maliciously wounded 

 John Elliot, at Hallington, with intent to do him grievous bodily harm, on 

 the llth of January last. The prisoner kcd got the smell bone of his leg broken 

 and the prosecutor too k hold of his leg and said he was making too much to do about 

 it, and that it was not broken. A quarrel ensued, and the prisoner struck the 

 prosecutor a tremendous blow with a poker. The Learned Judge said, that he 

 had great difficulty in his mind whether he should not allow the law to take 

 its course upon the prisoner. His life should be spared, however, but he 

 must expect to spend the remainder of his days in a distant part of the 

 world in a very miserable condition. Sentence of death recorded." 



" Guiseppe Sidoli, an Italian, aged 29, was arraigned on a charge of killing 

 and slaying, on the 13th instant, in a public-house in Grindon Chare, Hugh 

 Ross. George Shepherd examined by Mr. Losh. I was in the Bell Inn, in 

 Grindon Chare, on the night in question, about half-past nine o'clock. There 

 were a number of persons scuffling with one another. There were the two 

 Trainers, and a man named Kane, on one side ; and a baker, together with 

 the Italian, in the other. I saw the Italian knock down one of the Trainers 



with his fist. Ross then said to the prisoner, " You d d rascal, what 



have you knocked the man down for ?" Upon this, Ross and the prisoner 

 began to quarrel. They gripped each other, and I think both of them struck. 

 The Italian then jumped back about two yards, and took something out of his 

 breeches pocket ; I think it was a knife, or something taken out of a case. 

 He then stepped forward with the instrument in his right hand, and said to 

 Ross, "D n you, I'll stick you." They both again met in fighting po- 

 sition, and the prisoner struck Ross with the instrument in his right hand 

 about the waist. None of the parties appeared to be drunk. 



"John Wardropper examined by Mr. Ingham. In consequence of hearing 

 a skirmishing noise I went to Miller's public-house : there were fourteen or 

 fifteen persons there, several of them pushing one another : I saw no blows 

 struck. I heard the prisoner say, " Three or four men to one me finish 

 one." I saw him then draw something like a dagger from his left side, with 

 which he struck Hugh Ross right in the stomach : the prisoner gave the in- 

 strument three shoves backwards and forwards ; after which he gave it a screw 

 round, and pulled it out. After a few minutes the jury returned a verdict of 

 Guilty. The Learned Judge then addressed the prisoner. He observed, that 

 had the prisoner not been a foreigner, he should have thought it his duty to 

 sentence him to transportation for life. The offence of winch he had been 

 found guilty differed from the crime of murder by very minute distinctions. 

 The weapon itself, and the manner in which it had been used, could be calcu- 

 lated only to produce death. The sentence against him (the prisoner) was 

 that he sliould be transported beyond the seas for the term of seven years:" J 



