West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser. Friday, 8th August, 1851. Part 4. CROWN COURT - Wednesday, August 6, before Lord CAMPBELL - CHARGE OF MURDER - ELIJAH TEAGUE, charged with the murder at Silverwell, in this county, was then placed at the bar. The Court was crowded to excess in every part, the gates of the hall for a considerable time previous to their being opened, having been completely besieged by a large number of persons anxious to hear the trial. The prisoner walked into the dock with some alacrity, but appeared immediately to be struck with the scene before him, and the situation in which he was placed. He is a young man of about 17 years of age, of dark complexion, and somewhat of a sullen expression of countenance; throughout nearly the whole proceedings he appeared to be utterly unmoved, though sometimes listening to the witnesses with close attention. In person, though not tall, he is of good size for his age, and rather strongly built. He was respectably attired in black clothing. The Clerk of Arraigns - Elijah Teague, you are indicted for the wilful murder of WILLIAM KENDALL, on the 19th of April, in the parish of Kenwyn, by striking and beating him with a hammer, giving him a mortal wound in the head, of which he died. Are you guilty or not guilty? The prisoner replied, in a firm voice, without the least emotion, "not guilty," and repeated the same when he was charged with the murder on the Coroner's inquisition. The following were sworn on the jury:- SAMUEL LOBB, foreman; JOHN VERRAN, WM. AYRE, HENRY BLAKE, THOMAS STEPHENS, JAMES HODGE, WILLIAM ROSEWARNE, PAUL BURRALL, EDWARD QUICK, GEORGE HAINE, FRANCIS VERRAN, jun., and RICHARD NICHOLAS. The witnesses on both sides were ordered to leave the Court, and to remain in the Nisi Prius Court till called for. Counsel for the prosecution, Mr. STOCK and Mr. COLERIDGE; attorneys, Messrs. SMITH and ROBERTS. For the defence, Mr. COLLIER and Mr. KINGDON; attorneys, Messrs. CARLYON and PAULL. Mr. Stock stated the case to the jury. He impressed on them the solemn and important nature of the inquiry on which they were entering, one of the most solemn and awful in which men could engage. The case was one or more than ordinary difficulty, as it consisted entirely of circumstantial evidence. There could, however, be no supposition that the deceased had committed suicide; it was clearly a case of murder, and the evidence, he thought, would lead to the conclusion that the deed was committed by the prisoner at the bar. He then described that the deceased, William Kendall, was a small farmer, renting from year to year a tenement called Deer Park, in the parish of Kenwyn, about five miles from Truro, on the road to St. Agnes, to the right of which Deer Park is situated. It was a neighbourhood where the population, though not scarce, is scattered, and there were no villages or collections of houses near the place. The deceased at the time of his death was about sixty-eight years of age; and after some description of his family relations, Mr. Stock proceeded to read the statement of the prisoner, Elijah Teague, who was one of the sons of deceased's wife by a former husband, and who made the statement referred to before the coroner at the inquest on the body. The learned counsel represented the improbability of that statement, and its inconsistency with the truth. He said evidence would be given to show that deceased did not come to his death at the spot prisoner had stated; that the blood found there had been placed there; that the wound in deceased's forehead had not been inflicted by the kick of a horse, as prisoner had said, but by a hammer, which had been found; that there were no marks of a heavy body having been dragged over the ground, as prisoner stated he had dragged deceased into his house; and further he referred to the conduct of prisoner on the night Mr. Kendall came to his death, that conduct, he said, being like that of a man with the consciousness of crime, going in different directions doubtful what to do, and unprepared at the moment with a statement to exonerate himself from suspicion. He characterised the conduct of the mother, and of the neighbours in not entering the house as extraordinary, and only to be accounted for by the supposition that they were partially conscious of some painful and fearful mystery which they shuddered at, and abstained from entering into. He confessed that the principal difficulty in the case, as regarded the prosecution, was the inability to show an adequate motive on the part of the prisoner, and after some remarks on this point he proceeded to call the following witnesses:- NICHOLAS WHITLEY - I am a land-surveyor, and made the plan I produce. There is a road marked on it leading from Truro to St. Agnes, the distance is about eight miles; it is two miles from Truro to Chevelah, just beyond which is a new house, I believe belonging to Captain HAMLEY. Beyond Chevelah it is nearly a mile to where the roads diverge to St. Agnes and Chacewater. From JOHN HORE's house, on the St. Agnes road, it is about a mile and a half to Chacewater, by a road across the country. About a furlong further on, on the St Agnes road there is a lane called Butt Lane, which is an ordinary country road. (Mr. Whitley described this lane as leading to a croft, across which there were paths, one leading to an occupation road, and he pointed out the direction of Kendall's house, distant about three furlongs from Grose's house). There is only one door to Kendall's house; on the ground floor there is a kitchen and a small parlour, nearly 11 feet by 8; opening the outer door you go into the kitchen, and then into the parlour by a very narrow door. Cross-Examined - The road which crosses the croft from Kendall's house is a very rough road, but from the gateway to Kendall's is a stone road in tolerably good repair, but not so good as a turnpike. There were not deep cart ruts in the road; there might have been a few marks of wheels, but the road was generally in a good state. The window of the parlour is not a large window, merely a cottage window. WILLIAM CHENHALLs, a miner living at Penstraze. I know Deer Park where old Mr. Kendall lived; it is about a mile from my house; I live near the road leading from Chacewater to Deer Park. On Saturday the 19th of April, I saw old Mr. Kendall about a quarter past eight in the evening opposite my house in the road leading from Chacewater to Deer Park. He was going towards his home from Chacewater, riding on a light bay pony; he was going a little jog-trot; when he came opposite my house, he pulled up and I spoke to him and said "Mr. Kendall, how are you this evening?" he said, same; I said, "I suppose, sir, you are coming from market at Chacewater"; he said he was; he was sober and seemed to be very well, in his usual health. Going at the jog-trot pace, it would take from ten minutes to a quarter of an hour to get to his house. RUTH BAWDEN, daughter of RICHARD BAWDEN, labourer, living in the parish of Kenwyn. I live with my father near the Truro and St. Agnes turnpike road; on the with of April I was coming home from Truro market, and came across the common to my home, I saw Mr. Kendall; he rode across the road that I was passing on, at Penstraze Moors; he was coming in the direction from Chacewater to the Truro and St. Agnes road; I stopped for him to pass; he was riding a pony; some little time after he passed me, I turned and saw him still riding towards his home; when I last saw him he was near the turnpike road riding at a gentle trot. Mr. Kendall had passed William Chenhall's house when I saw him. After I had seen him I went home, and I got there about a quarter past eight. JOHN CARLYON, coroner:- I held the inquest on the body of the deceased William Kendall, beginning on the 21st of April, and continued, by adjournment, on the subsequent day; prisoner was one of the witnesses examined; I took down his examination; he signed the evidence he gave on the first day, after it was read over to him; I took down myself the evidence he gave on the Tuesday, and that also was read over to him; he made no objection to what I took down. The prisoner's depositions before the Coroner were then put in and read:- Elijah Teague deposed as follows:- I am about 17 years of age, and have been keeping a school lately at Mount Oram, in this parish. The deceased was my father-in-law. He was a small farmer, about 72 years of age, and married my mother about four years ago. I resided with him and my mother up to about January last. I then went to live with HENRY GROSE and his family. I went there because my mother could not attend to two men - her husband and me. It was too much work for her. I had no quarrel with either of them at the time I parted from them. I have frequently gone to assist them in their work ever since, and I helped the deceased in putting in all his corn. I saw him in the croft last Friday or Thursday morning. He then told me he had several jobs to do, and asked me to help him on last Saturday. I went there accordingly on that day and thrashed for him, and boiled some turnips. I don't recollect at what hour I thrashed. It might have been between five and six o'clock in the evening, but I cannot say exactly. I thrashed about 12 sheaves of oats. It was after I had thrashed the oats that I brought in some turnips from the garden, and boiled them. Deceased was not there when I was thrashing. He had gone to Chacewater. When he went away I was building a wall in his court. He asked me to go to Chacewater, because he said he wanted to thrash, and had a good many jobs to do, but he complained of being poorly, and I told him I would thrash, and he might take his horse and ride into Chacewater, which he did. No one lived in the house with him besides his wife. After I had finished boiling the turnips, I started to go home and my mother went with me; this was about eight o'clock. After we had gone a little way my mother told me to go back and drive some sheep out of the seeding grass. I went back to do so and she went on to Henry Grose's by herself. I found four sheep in the seeds, and drove them out. After I had driven out three of them, I heard some horses up at the gateway screaming and making a noise the same as I had heard at other times, and I also heard a gate fall; one was an entire horse and the other was a mare. After I had driven out the four sheep, I went up to re-place the gate, for fear the horse might break it. I then saw three horses there, near the gate-way; the third was the one deceased had rode to Chacewater. I did not know till I saw it there, that deceased had returned from Chacewater; the saddle was on him and the bridle on his head. I looked on one side and saw deceased lying on the ground; I was frightened at seeing him there, but I went forth to him and took hold of him by the collar of his coat and called to him, but could get no mouth speech from him; there was no one else present. I saw he had a large wound on his forehead. The three horses were a short distance from him; one of them (the dark bay mare), we generally keep fettered; I saw that she had one end of the fetter fastened to her fore leg, the other end was loose. I did not stop to fasten the other fetter, but got hold of deceased and carried him into his house as well as I could. I lifted him up with his back towards me and put me arms under his and dragged him into the house; I could not lift him off the ground, and his heels were dragging on the ground; the distance was about eighty yards. When I got him in, I placed him on a chair, in the parlour, and went out to see for some one to assist me, when I met my mother in the doorway: she was then returning from Henry Grose's. I told her she must go for a doctor or I must, and she stay there, as deceased was very poorly. She asked what was the matter. I told her the mare threw to him. I supposed this to be the case from seeing the loose fetter. I would not allow her to see him because I was afraid it would hurry her; she called in to him, and I heard him say something, but I don't know what. In about five or ten minutes she went away and left me there by myself. I thought she was gone to send in some one to assist me. After she was gone I boiled some water which I poured into a tub, and then put deceased's feet into it. After waiting a long time, perhaps an hour or more, but I cannot say how long, no one came, and I lighted a piece of candle which I left burning in the parlour, and went out intending to go to Truro to bring out my brother and brother-in-law and a doctor. When I left the house I locked the door and put the key over the stable door where it was usually kept. When I got near Chevelah in my way to Truro, I fell in with a woman who told me she was going to Truro, and I asked her to tell my brother and brother-in-law that deceased was very ill, and that they must come out. I don't know who she was. I told her the horse had thrown to deceased; this I am positive of; I did not say anything to her about a doctor, because I thought I could get one from Chacewater sooner, and I went there for one and called on Mr. MOYLE, and desired him to come out; I told him I believed the mare had thrown to deceased. He said that he was waiting upon a patient, but that he would come out as soon as he could. He told me to put some wet cloths upon deceased's head. I then returned to deceased's house, and found everything there as I had left it, except that the candle was burnt out; I took down the key from over the stable door and went into the house, and put a wet cloth over the deceased's head, as Mr. Moyle had ordered. I thought I could perceive a little breath in him, but I cannot swear that I did; I remained about a minute or two and then went down to Henry Grose's and got him to return with me. We both went into the room where deceased was, he was still in the same position; I don't know whether he was dead or alive; we remained in the house three or four hours; I did nothing more to deceased than put a wet cloth over his dead and put his feet in warm water twice. In the morning about six or seven o'clock my mother and Mary Grose came to us, and I went again to Chacewater to fetch Mr. Moyle, and Henry Grose went to Truro with the pony to tell my brother and brother-in-law to come out. We left my mother and Mary Grose in the house. By the Jury. - The deceased left the house to go to Chacewater between five and six o'clock on Saturday evening but he had been there before, in the morning I believe. I don't know which way he came back in the evening. There are two roads he might have taken. He generally came back by Butt-lane. The trowsers produced are mine. I wore them all last week. The two shirts, neck-tie, coat, and pair of shoes also produced are mine. I don't know which of the shirts I wore last Saturday, but I wore one of them and the other clothes. The waistcoat I wore is at my mother's where the jury saw it. From the time I parted with my mother to drive out the sheep, until I discovered the deceased on the ground might have been a quarter or half an hour; I can't say exactly how long it was. Mr. JOHN CARLYON Cross-Examined. - The prisoner was not cautioned on the first day, before he was examined; he was cautioned the second day; he did not show any unwillingness to give his evidence. The inquest began on Monday; I arrived at the premises about ten in the morning; there were then a good many people about the premises; I saw a hammer in Mr. Moyle's hand. From the way in which the hammer fitted the wound, I had no doubt that Kendall was killed with that instrument; I had a conversation with Mr. DUNSTAN, a brother-in-law of the prisoner, after the inquest was over; I do not recollect his saying to me that it was quite ridiculous to suppose that the wound was made with the hammer. I don't recollect saying to him that I did not think that hammer made the wound, but I might have said to him that it was not material whether that was the instrument or any other; I have no recollection of having said to Dunstan that I had great doubts about the wound being made with a hammer. MARY KENDALL, widow of the deceased Wm. Kendall, appeared clad in deep mourning, of respectable character, and her appearance excited so much interest she was allowed to sit. She stated:- I am the widow of the deceased Wm. Kendall; I was married to him four years ago last June; I had been married before; my first husband's name was WILLIAM TEAGUE; I had eight children by him, six of whom are now living; four of them in this county; I have one son at Calstock, and a daughter in Truro married to WILLIAM DUNSTAN; the prisoner is my youngest living child; soon after my marriage, four years ago, I went to live with Mr. Kendall at Deer Park; we had generally a boy there, but not always. Kendall had a family by his former wife, but none of them lived there. None of my family lived there except Elijah to and again; he went there when I first went there, and afterwards lived sometimes with his brother at Calstock and sometimes at Deer Park. He was learning the butcher's trade at Calstock. After a time, Elijah went to lodge at Grose's; that was, I believe, in the beginning of January last; he went to Grose's, because I had been very ill all the winter and could not attend to him. Sometimes by husband and Elijah had words; but there were very comfortable when Elijah went away to Grose's; they had had no words shortly before that; I cannot say for how long. They had no words after he went to Grose's, to my knowledge. Elijah worked regularly at Mr. Kendall's after he went to Grose's; I used to go down and attend the school, while Elijah came up to help Kendall. Elijah kept a school for children a short distance from Deer Park, and near Grose's house on the south side, at a little chapel called Mount Oram. I remember my husband going to Chacewater on Saturday the 19th of April between 5 and 6 in the evening; he rode the yellow pony I believe; he had three horses at that time - a mare and two entire horses; one had been shod and the other had not; he rode upon the one that had been shod; one of these was coming three and the other coming two; the one that he rode was coming three; the mare was not the dam of either of them; I saw these horses several times that day, just outside the town-gate; there is a corner outside the town-gate, with a small house there; on the evening of that day, before my husband returned from Chacewater, I went to Henry Grose's between seven and eight o'clock - nearer eight I think, but I can't say positively; I went out at the town gate and through the short road there and then across the croft; when I came out to set off, Elijah was in a corner of the field right under the town gate; he asked me where I was going; I said I was going down to Grose's; he said he was too directly almost; I went on about halfway, and I looked over the hedge and saw the sheep in the seedling grass; Elijah was then coming on after me; I told him to drive out the sheep from the seedling grass; he did not do so directly; I went on; he then came on with me two-thirds of the way through the croft, talking about the threshing; I told him he had not turned out the sheep, and he went back to do so. I went on to Grose's, and there found Mrs. Grose. I had a grand-daughter at that time staying with me, she was at Mrs. Grose's that evening, before I went there, and had been there two or three hours; when I got to Mary Grose's the little girl was out with the children; I stayed at Mary Grose's about half or three-quarters of an hour; I went to Grose's to bring home the little girl, and I did bring her home. On my way home I don't know that I saw or heard any thing particular; when I got home I found Elijah there, in the passage, just inside the front door, which opens into the kitchen; the little passage is just made by a screen; I looked into the kitchen; the little girl was in before me; Elijah was in the kitchen, or rather in the passage coming out from the kitchen; I asked him whether Kendall was come or not; he said "Yes;" I asked him where he was; he said "in the parlour." I then went towards the parlour door; and Elijah put his hand on the door and said "you must not see him, mother, not yet; it will frighten you so; the mare has throw'd to him." I did not try to go into the parlour, but I called two or three times "My dear Kendall, can you speak to me?" I thought I heard something, but I am not positive whether I did hear him or not; I stopped for a minute or two, and then I came away with the child. During this time, Elijah was standing by me, and he said "You must not go away; you must stay here, or go for the doctor." I held up my hand, and I went out, and I said to the little girl "we will go to Truro, my dear, if we can, and get a doctor." Then we went right on, and down through the croft - the little girl and me, and when I got to the lane I was faint; I stopped there a minute or two, and was so unwell that I could not go to Truro and went up round to go to Grose's. When I went away, I left Elijah in the kitchen. When I got to Grose's the second time, I found Grose there and his wife; I told them to go up; Mary Grose and her husband went out in the direction to William Sandoe's. As soon as I recovered myself a bit, I went back to my own house; when I came there I did not go to the door; I went inside the gate and heard the Groses and Sandoes coming. I looked for the key, just over the stable door; I could not find it there; sometimes the key was kept there when the house was left. I told them to take out a pane of glass and open the haps of the kitchen window; whey did do so. Then we all went away down to Butt Lane, to meet Elijah; we went down to the road, and I entreated Grose to take one of our horses and go to Truro; after I had entreated him several times, he and William Sandoe left Mary Grose and me and went back to get a horse. When they came back with the horse, the Sandoes went to their home and the rest of us went to Grose's; Grose would not go to Truro, but said we had better wait for Elijah. When Elijah came, he said "Hallo; have you seen mother?" He said "I suppose mother have told you what has happened." Then they told him what his mother had said; and he said, "I thought she was gone on to Truro;" they said "No; your mother was not able to go;" he said he had been over for the doctor, Mr. Moyle, who expected to be there in a few minutes. Then I entreated Henry Grose to go with him; and they went away together. I stayed there for I was very ill. When I was before the coroner, there was no hammer shown to me that I know of; but Mr. Carlyon asked me different times how many hammers we had. At this point of examination, Mrs. Kendall for the first time apparently since she had been in the witness box, saw her son the prisoner. It is very probable that she had not seen him before, as both he and she were sitting and there were several persons standing and sitting between them. On her seeing him, she began to cry loudly and bitterly, exclaiming to him, "Oh, my dear, I have not seen you before now"; and then saying to the Court, "I have never seen him since" - referring, we presume, to the time of his removal from his home to prison. Re-Examined. The mare was quiet in harness, but kicked at other times if a person went near her; the boy we had was obliged to run from her some months before; she never kicked any body very bad, but she would throw to any body who went near her; my husband knew that; the boy could not do anything by her; the mare was bought of DAVID CHENHALLS. Witnesses examined included ELIZABETH JANE KEAN DUNSTAN, MARY GROSE, HENRY GROSE, WILLIAM SANDOE, JANE SANDOE, JANE HOBBS, wife of MATTHEW HOBBS, shoemaker, living at Castle Hill in Truro, DAVID CHENHALLS, JOHN MOYLE, a surgeon, practising at Chacewater, ALFRED LORD, clergyman of Mithian district, in which Kendall's house stood, RICHARD QUILLER COUCH, a member of the College of Surgeons, living at Penzance, JOHN COCKING, WILLIAM JAMES, constable of the parish of Kenwyn, RICHARD TIDDY, constable of Kenwyn, EDWARD MICHELL of Tregavethan, NANCY MICHELL, daughter of the last witness. On the application of prisoner's counsel, Mr. Collier, who said he was suffering from indisposition, the Court was adjourned for half an hour, the examination of witnesses having lasted between eight and nine hours. On the re-assembling of the Court, Mary Kendall, the prisoner's mother was recalled, and said in reply to him, there were two goat's skins lying on the hedge where the hammer was found, one of them an old one, and the dogs had been playing with one of them. By Mr. Stock - One of the skins was in holes; they were put out there in the beginning of April. Thursday August 7. The Court opened this morning at eight o'clock; and Mr. Collier resumed his address to the Jury for the defence. In the course of his speech he referred to the circumstance of the finding of the deceased's hat, this fact, it appeared, having been mentioned in the depositions. The Judge told Mr. Collier that he was not at liberty to speak of circumstances that had not been proved in evidence; but, in most ready compliance with a request from Mr. Collier, his lordship consented to receive evidence on the point, and the following witnesses were recalled - John Cocking, examined by the Judge and Jury:- About six o'clock on the Sunday morning, I saw the deceased's hat on a bush in the hedge near the place where it was said Mr. Kendall's body was found; the bush was from two and a half to three feet high; Elijah Teague was with me when I found the hat; I don't know that he shewed it to me, but I can't say that he did not; I let it remain on the bush. William Sandoe - On the Saturday night, the second time, I went to Kendall's with Henry Grose. I saw a hat on the ground, in the road. I said "Henry, here is a hat;" and I took up the hat intending first to carry it into the house; a thought then struck me, whether it would be proper for me to take the hat into the house, and I placed it on a bush by the side of the road. This was about half-past ten o'clock. I left it on the bush, I did not know whose hat it was, I saw it again there the next day, it was the same I had seen on the Saturday night. I did not perceive any bruise on the hat. Henry Grose - I saw a hat on the Saturday night, near the place where it was said the deceased was taken up; this was near eleven o'clock I think. The hat was lying on the ground, a little off from the hedge; Wm. Sandoe put it on a bush; I had then heard that William Kendall had met with a kick from a horse; I did not observe any mark or bruise on the hat; I did not look particularly for it. Mr. Collier then resumed his speech in favour of the prisoner, and concluded an able and lucid address in about two hours and a half. The learned Judge was about two hours summing up the case. He concluded at ten minutes to one. The jury then retired, and at twenty minutes past one returned into court, and gave as their verdict, "Not Guilty". We shall report the defence and the summing up next week.