A Doubly Heinous Crime

Lord Eskgrove was a very "wordy" judge. Lord Cockburn says he heard him, in condemning a tailor to death for murdering a soldier by stabbing him, aggravate the offence thus: - "And not only did you murder him, whereby he was berea-ved of life, but you did thrust, or push, or pierce, or project, or propel, the le-thal weapon through the bellyband of his regimental breeches, which were His Majesty's!"