Carlisle Patriot, 04 Mar 1826 - Westmorland Spring Assizes (1)

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Saturday 04 Mar 1826   (p. 3, col. 6)

 

WESTMORLAND SPRING ASSIZES, 1826.

 

Mr. Baron HULLOCK arrived at Appleby about ten o'clock on Monday morning. After opening the Commission of Assize, his Lordship proceeded to the Castle, and at eleven o'clock attended divine service. The assize sermon was preached by the Rev. John RUSHTON, from the 6th chapter of the 1st Corinthians, and part of the 7th verse: "Now therefore is utterly a fault in you, because you go to law one with another." His Lordship took his seat upon the Bench at one o'clock.

 

List of the Grand Jury:—Thomas WYBERGH, Esq., Foreman; W. CRACKENTHORPE, Esq., J. BROUGHAM, Esq., T. H. MAUDE, Esq., A. SHEPHERD, Esq., M. ATKINSON, Esq., John HILL, Esq., John HAMMOND, Esq., N. DENT, Esq., R. FISHER, Esq., W. W. ATKINSON, Esq., W. BERRY, Esq., J. TINKLAR, Esq.

 

In his Lordship's charge to the Gentlemen of the Grand Jury, he congratulated them on the circumstance of their being only only [sic] one prisoner for trial: it was a credit to the county.

 

John HERD, aged 40, charged with sheep stealing, was Acquitted.

 

BURRA v. HEELIS.   S. J.

 

An action against the Earl of Thanet, brought by the Corporation of Appleby, by way of trying a right to a certain small property in that Borough. We have a full report, in type, but are obliged, from want of room, to defer its insertion till next week, though aware that our Westmorland readers will anxiously look for it. The Jury, after considerable deliberation, returned a verdict for the defendant on the second plea, namely, right of soil and freehold, and for the plaintiff on the three other pleas.

 

HARMER v. BRAMWELL: ASSAULT.

 

Mr. ALDERSON stated the case to the Jury.

 

Thomas DICKINSON.—I am aged 13, and son to the plaintiff by a former husband. On the 21st December, BRAMWELL came into our house—my mother was smoothing clothes. It was about five o'clock, and he asked what was to be done about the hedges. She said she had nothing to do with them. He then asked her about a scandalous story of a gown and a five pound note, and got into a passion, and struck her over the breast. He seemed rather fresh in liquor. He dragged her to the door and kicked her over her legs and thighs in the yard: she strove to get away. He thrust her up against the wall and said he would soon do for her, and that he would choke her.

 

Cross-examined.—My father was foddering the cows about one hundred yards off. He did not come whilst defendant was there. He was leaning upon a door laughing at the time. I belaboured him when he was upon the ground with the besom, and that is what I call doing nothing. (A laugh.) It was my mother who brought me here to be a witness.

 

By the Judge.—BRAMWELL was upon the ground—he fell; he was not knocked down. It was not my mother who brought him to the ground.

 

Judge.—Come, my little fellow, tell us the truth.

 

Witness.—I saw her strike him there—she hit him over the head; but did not quite knock him down. It was a little stick she struck him with. He did fall, but not by a blow.

 

Richard FLEMING called.—I am neighbour to HARMER. On the 21st Dec. defendant told me that he had been fighting with Matthew's wife. He was rather fresh, and said he would give her another round. Mrs. HARMER was lame after that, but not before.

 

Mr. COURTENAY addressed the Jury.—The learned gentleman said it was one of the most shameless actions ever brought into a Court. It was lamentable to see a mother send a little boy into Court for the purpose of being perjured. If the story which he had told were true, the father and two other men stood quietly by, indifferent spectators of the outrage described. Could it, for the honour of the county, be believed. He did not think it possible to cram such abominable stuff down the throats of the Jury. The learned gentleman then noticed the prevarication of the boy. He said he had done nothing, but admitted having belaboured the defendant with the broom when he was down—that was, what he called doing nothing. (A laugh.) He said his father was foddering the cattle; but it came out that he had been looking on and laughing all the time; so that it would not appear that his wife was taking much harm amongst it. Was it consistent that he should stand quietly by and see his wife ill used? His learned friend had called the last witness to prove the plaintiff a peaceable woman, forsooth! She had sought the defendant all through Kendal, and declared, if she found him, she would knock his eyes out. (A laugh.) The learned gentleman would call witnesses to prove that the plaintiff was the aggressor: she seized and got him down, and belaboured him until he ran away and left his hat behind him. "Let him come for it himself," says she, "And I will Jackson him (a laugh); and, using the real cockfighting expression, said, "I would have died upon the sod before I would have run away!" (a laugh); and that she would fight him again any day. What damage, therefore, did she suffer? She knew she was not entitled to damages, and did not expect a great deal; for says she, "I shall not pocket much—the attornies will run away with it all."

 

W. EDMONDSON.—I am a labouring man, and was at plaintiff's house on the 21st of December last. BRAMWELL was coming towards the house, and plaintiff said she would chop a red hot iron into his face. He said, "I am come to tell you to mend your fence; and she said, "where is that new gown and five-pound note." There was a tea-table on the floor; and, clapping it aside, she said, "stop you, and I will have a dust before you go." He said, "I'll away, I'll away;" but she followed, and collared him in the porch. I sat down, but got up again and went to the door, when I saw the boy braying (anglice, beating) him with the besom. I loosed her off, and BRAMWELL ran away. She then said, before she would have run away as he did, she would have died on the sod! The husband was in.

 

Cross-examined.—They were against the wall when they laid hold of one another. His back was against the wall. They did not touch one another in the house.

 

John STALKER spoke to the same effect.

 

Joseph WHITE.—I was near HARMER's house on the 21st of December, and saw defendant coming out backwards foremost. Isabel was punching him over the shins, and he was struggling to get away. Her husband was in the barn about six yards off: he could have seen her. She had a besom and was braying BRAMWELL with it, and had him by the neck. I went for my master's hat, and she said, "D—n him, let him come for it himself, and I will fight him again!!

 

After an ingenious reply from Mr. ALDERSON, his Lordship went over the evidence, and the Jury immediately returned a verdict for the Defendant.

 

 

[sarahre...@gmail.com]

Now that’s a new one!

 

"Let him come for it himself," says she, "And I will Jackson him (a laugh); and, using the real cockfighting expression, said, "I would have died upon the sod before I would have run away!" (a laugh); and that she would fight him again any day.

 

Various prominent Americans engaged in the practice, such as Andrew Jackson (1767 –1845) and George Washington.

The term must have become popular before the election of 1828 and made it across the ocean.

 

https://humaneaction.org/blog/2008/03/and-cockers-red-glare

Regarding Andrew Jackson, the Ladies’ Hermitage Association located only one reference in his papers putting him on the scene of a cockfight near Nashville in 1809. Sharon Macpherson, the deputy director of research, noted that “cockfighting became one of the issues in the campaign of 1828. The anti-Jackson forces published a number of broadsides attacking his character and trotting out all the fights, canings, stabbings, duels and other unsavory events of Jackson’s past.” They apparently accused him of being a cockfighter, too, and a letter in Jackson’s own handwriting denied the charge: “It is a positive falsehood that Genl Jackson has been either at a cockfight or sports of a similar nature for the last thirteen years.”  (after 1810)

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