The motion to quash the indictment was not insisted оn in the argument, and the indictment appеars to be sufficient. But it is contended that thе cause of death is not truly stated, and thаt the evidence does not support the averment The allegation is, that thе defendant did strike, kick, beat, bruise and wound the deceased in and upon her head and body, and throw her upon the floor. The proof was, that he struck her with his opеn hand upon her cheek and about the temple, and she fell upon the floor and did not speak afterwards. Medical witnesses attributed her death to falling on а chair most probably, or to some external force, and believed that concussion of the brain or effusion of blood on the brain had been produced.
The defendant’s counsel cites Kelly's case, 1 Lewin, 193, where it was held that, when a blow with the fist wаs stated as the cause of death, аnd it appeared that in consequence of the blow the deceased fell upon a piece of brick and was killed by it, the cause of death was not truly stated; also Thompson's case, Ib. 194, where the allegation was of a killing by a beating on the head, and it appeared that in consequеnce of the beating the deceased fell upon the floor and was killed by it, аnd it was held that the cause of death was not truly stated. If in this case the beating only had been stated, those cases-would be in Doint. But here the throwing upon the floor is аlso stated; and the intervention of a chair standing upon the floor, or of some other hard sub
The beating of the defendant’s wife was unlawful. In Pearman v. Pearman, 1 Swab. & Tristr. 601, it is said that there is no law authorizing a man to beat his drunken wife. Beating a wife is held to be unlawful in New York. People v. Winters, 2 Parker Crim. Cas. 10. Perry v. Perry,