Mexborough & Swinton Times, July 8th 1892

Witnesses for the Defence, Character Evidence & Summing Up

Evidence in defence was then called.

Susannah Jeffery, of Kilnhurst, said the prosecutrix was her niece. After she heard of the assault which had been committed upon her, she went on the Sunday night and asked her if she could recognise who had attacked her, and she replied that she could not. She never mentioned Hewitt’s name. Cross-examined: She said she did not know the man who struck the blow. Witness had not been in Flavell’s house for two-and-a-half years before the Sunday night in question. They had not been on very friendly terms.

Mary Macintosh, another aunt of prosecutrix, said she saw her niece after the attack. She said she knew nothing after the blow, and did not know who did it.

Samuel Thompson, labourer, of Kilnhurst, proved seeing the prosecutrix in the care of Goldspink. He, along with his companions, met Hewitt just before getting to the vicarage gate, and spoke to him. Miss Flavell, when being carried home, said she was hit by a man on some steps near Meadow View, and he wore a black coat and white muffler, and she did not know him. Cross-examined: He did not know whether she was rambling or whether she was responsible for what she had said.

Edward Bagley, miner, also spoke to a statement made by the prosecutrix when she was being conveyed home.

Ben Parton, miner, of Swinton, said he saw a man in front of the Wesleyan chapel, Swinton, with a black coat, a white muffler, and a pair of clogs.

Lucy Wilson said about eleven o’clock on the night named she was in Station-street, Swinton, when she saw a man near the Wesleyan chapel. He ran after her in the direction of Kilnhurst. That was exactly at eleven o’clock. The man had a cap and white muffler on.

Emily J. Whitfield, Meadow View, said nearly a quarter past eleven she left her father’s house, which was also at Meadow View. She heard a man close to the steps as though he was behind her, and she got into her own house as quickly as she could.

Wm. White, of Swinton, said on the evening of the 21st May, he was proceeding on the Kilnhurst road. He knew the place where Miss Flavell was attacked. He met Hewitt about 150 yards from the place about eleven o’clock.

Thomas Whitfield said he was a miner living at Meadow View. On the 22nd May he saw police constable Lund, and he said Miss Flavell had stated she was hit on some steps at Meadow View, but who it was she did not know.

Joshua Clayton, an apprentice to Mr. Glasby, at Swinton, said on the 21st May he was at Kilnhurst. He saw Hewitt that night; he believed it would be twenty minutes past eleven.

Noah Bristowe, living at Kilnhurst, saw the prisoner getting shaved at 11.30 p.m.

James Hewitt, son of the prisoner, said that at about one o’clock on the Sunday morning Sergeant Lyttle and Police-constable Lund knocked at their door, and he answered it. The sergeant asked for his father. He told his father that he was wanted, and he got up at once. He was asked if he had met on his way from Swinton to Kilnhurst, and he replied that he had seen persons named Smith, Jaggers, and others; also a party of men whom he did not know near the church gates. They examined his trousers, coat, and boots. His father was dressed in a light overcoat on Saturday, 21st.

Character Evidence and Summing Up

Upon being interrogated by the officer, the prisoner said it struck eleven o’clock when he passed Milton’s shop at Swinton. His father was also asked if he had seen Miss Flavell on the way, and he said no.

The Rev. Philip Houghton, vicar of Kilnhurst, said he had known the prisoner for a considerable time, and had ample opportunities of considering his character. He believed him to be an honest, kind-hearted, and temperate man.

James Hewitt, recalled, admitted under cross-examination that his father had beaten his sisters, and that one had received black eyes from the treatment.

Mrs. John Turner, stationer, Kilnhurst, said she had known the prisoner for many years and considered him kind-hearted and generous. After hearing of the beating, she maintained that the child must have deserved it.

Joseph Aquila Bower, chairman of the Swinton School Board, and Bowman Hearn, earthenware manufacturer, both testified to the prisoner’s respectable and temperate character.

Mr. Kershaw, in summing up, stressed the short distance between the scene and the vicarage gate, the timing between the singing men and the scream, and criticised the notion of the prisoner’s temperance in light of the evidence of violence at home.