Hide Article Text (OCR)
BRISTOL POLICE.The Ruffianly Assault at Bedminsteb.—John Lintern, Edmund Walker, Joseph Evans, and George Yates, were put to the bar at the Counsel-house, Bristol, on Tuesday charged with a cruel assault upon William Esgar, while in theircustody as a prisoner.—William Esgar, who still appeaiei3 to be in a state of much suffering, said, in jvvery weak, and to be in a state of much suffering, said, in an swer to questions from Mr. Wood, that on Wednesday, the 20th of April, he was taken before the magistrates then sittingat the New-inn, Bedminster, for an assault upon JosephEvans, and was ordered to be fined £5, and in defaultof payment to be committed. He was prisoner to Yatesand Lintern; he did not know if Lintern was a- constable. When they left the New-inn all the four prisonerswere with him; just as they came to the field, Walker spit in bis face five or six times, and Evans pushed him and struck him behind with his staff. He gave no provocation and made no attempt to escape. When they came to Mr. Wakefield’s field, Walker used indecent language and took improper liberties with his (complainant's) daughter-in-law. He told Walker it was a shame, on which Walker came up and struck him in the eye, and all the others began to beat and buffet him about. He asked Evans if he was not ashamed to serve him so? Evans swore at him, and, saying he would draw his teeth out of bis head, struck him in nis mouth, and held h s head back so that the blood ran down his throat. The prisoners continued to ill-use him all the way to the lock-up house. Before they got there, Evans said, a Kill the and knocked him down and jumped on him. After that, he (complainant) became insensible till he was brought to Yates s house (in which is the lock-up). The prisoners did not threaten to handcuff him if he did not behave properly. When they came to Yates’s house some one rifled his pockets. He was theu thrust into the cell; he was covered with blood, and beat and buised all over. Before being put in he was handcuffed; he remained in the cell all night.—No food was brought to him; he asked Yales for food at twelve o’clock, and Yates said there were plenty of potatoes in the cell and he might eat them if he had a mind. No doctor came to him. During the time he was in the cell a woman, called Mary Robins, thrust a candle in his face. Some time’in the morning Evans and Lintern took him out of the cell into the garden; Evans thrust a rough cloth into his face; he called out w murder,” and some peo pie coming up, Evans ran one way and Lintern another. In in the morning his wife brought him some tea, but Yates shut the door in her face and sent her away.—Mr. Greig, house*surgeon to the infirmary, stated that Esgar was brought there on the 21st of April, about two o’clock. He was covered with blood, and a great quantity of blood oh his clothes, from wounds in his face, nose, and mouth. There were extensive contusions about the eyes and nose, and he had evidentlyreceived many blows about the body. He was in the last stage of exhaustion, from loss of blood- After he had been in bed a few hours it was found that his right lung was in a state of extreme congestion, the result of some pressure en thebody. He (witness) believed that if the man bad not had afree hemorfeage, from bleeding from the nose, his life wouldhave been lost in the cell. The mischief to the lung describedby witnes?, was most probably caused bj the jumping on him. Wifnes8 considered him in danger of his life. He was in a state of serious peril.—Police-sergeant Vowles described thestate he found Esgar in when he went to the lock-up cell. Thecell was in the common tap-room of the Lamb gublic house,which is kept by Yates. The height of the cell was 6 feet 9 inches; the length, 6 feet 11 inches; the breadth at one end 4 feet, and at the other 2 feet 2 inches; in the centre it was 4 feet 2 inches. There was some old rope and some potatoes in the cell. There was no seat in the cell, and it was a stone floor.—The prisoners were then taken round to the clerk’s room, for the depositions of all the witnesses to be committed to paper, which being completed, Yates, Evans, and Walker were severally held to bail, to answer the charge at the sessions, themselves in £200 each, and two sureties for each in £100 a piece; and Lintern, himself in £100, and two sureties in £50 each.—Bristol Gazette.
Newspaper Details
Weekly Chronicle
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, May 07, 1842
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
IL, USA 28 Jun 2021
Other Publications Near London, Middlesex
Bingleys Journal
Arminian Magazine
London Daily Mail
London Stars and Stripes
London Daily Universal Register
