The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1885-07-14 00:00:00

The Dorset Midsummer Assizes.

Mr. .1 native Field lirrivial at Dorcheater on Friday
moniing from Sahabury, and wa• met :it the audios(
I. the flight Sheriff (Mr. C.. 1. Italiclyr), in who.,
carriage hi* lordahip waa conveyed to the county
aljuining the Shirehall. holly .4 the ("fluty
inwlcr Sergeant•lfajor waa in :mewl-
;mo, In the afternoon the Judge attended Iha ine
jee at st. Peter'. Church, when the Het. Canon
Saab (Tolpiaddlel, the Slwrira Chaplain, preached an
sulmirahle aerinon. Ti.. Mayor and Corporation were

pn...nt in atatc.
(..,..„ini.„ion was. Iwn.d. in Saturday to. 'ruing
th..rtlyaftertudf•punt trn, and the . 4 thr Aadz.•
atuc. cutworm...x.l.
. .

1 The following gentlemen were sworn on the Grand
Jury :
General r. E. Aarll (Foreman), Colonel It. H.
Minch: ttttt Mr. J. E. Bridge, Mr. 1. Burt, Mr. W. M.
Caleraft. Mr. W. O. D. %V. I)ighy. Mr. W. Orono,
Mr. .1. %V. T. Fyler, Mr. O. C. Farnr, Mr. C. S.
Glyn, Mr. .1. Groves. Mr. U. 11. Gordon, Mr.
j. %V. B. flawkeswortli, Mr. T. Ilolford, Mr. E. .1.
Harris, Mr. A. W. M. Clarke Kennedy, Capt. C.
Powlett Lasio. Mr. A. Martin, NB. L. G. Paget, Mr.
T. Russell, Col. It. 0. F. Steward, Mr. W. Sparkes,
Mr. K W. Williams.
Ilia I Ardship charyfed the Grand Jury as follows -
" t looutlemen, It Ores tun very great pleastun• to :pea
a full grand jury 44 this great comity. I *anti. 41
think you, ttttt st think it rather a serious inconvenience
to von to vane away (min your homes to come to
0.4.41414,,5t..r, a considerable distance to main, of Von,
for the puiris...4 disposing of the very small amount
of business with which you will is' troubled brulay
On the other hand I suipiswe you may meet with some
Coll...dation it, comparing the calendars of the present
day with deo • which toed to he presented, when eery
many Id yll.. tyro. @noel, y µger than youi are
when very hea•y calendars Were
of 11/iiniet mind surrounding counties. whereas now, 1
aoi glad tote. able to say. the calendar in Wiltshire
awl here displays a very per] freedom and alesence
.1 crime. I have heard a great deal, and I see a great
deal, alnuit the olivOr••••• of the agricultural interest,
and 1 think there is no douilw that critic. is very often
ti,. result •4 distws• -awl certainly it speaks very
well ill,teed for thr southern and western Conlin..s
that law and or•ler prevail to the extent in
which they II These (smutting c enpare very
with o'thee ci ti -a 111.tre
to tie. north, owes. to the west, and More
te the mirth-west. 111 Coente a is hardly
far to usenixtre the present .%ssise calendars with thi•
former valentine., IteCall.t there is no doubt that the
gentlemen of the county •magiatralxii tin: county
Iltiarter :deletion. -Are stile with gnat maw,' onlion
and great g.-el to due country, to try a vast her of
ii,., formed) they ware lletter able totry at all.
I o• thrrefore. pet have just Isr•ut leyling a Se,.
▪ this 11111 l y. at which yet have Cllontated of a
very considerahle amount of caw, ; butt that is a
tisatter e lotteall•te It ohoW. two things,
first that the character of the e • quality is not
peri..n., awl secondly that criminal justice is
administered louatlly by those who lerstand Ow
habits maul belings .4 ti,. r. , and who are
appreciate the t violence 1.11.1 t cibefore
thew. sisi who perform a very priiseeoriliv
Clialika•tailly task t.t. the neuity ill lertaking
to dp
imle.* of the criminal bUnilie.st in that way. I
wiwi,rve with regard t•• tiw Sessions husilicss, it is
somewhere. *hoot the NMI., 4luring tin' last (it.'.'.. rears
.slightly in raises I has, tiot seen the calendar to
know .4 the character of the crime, but I can fairly
mettle', there is wehiug of a sexy had character there
I observe in lee 2 the caws were le, in 114K3 thee wele
very h diminished, 12, and in ISM, there Was an
enormous diminution, for at the June ..r July Sessions
there were only five Moe., Yon have swing op this
year I don't know Why- to :DI, therefore the:Sessions
have heaten the previous calendars altogether by two,
the largest excess. %Vitli regard to the Aasiza
I business, that 1 aux happy to say is steadily diminish.
I have it returned to tile that at the Winchester
Assixe• .4 ISKI, where the prisoners go from here,
then• were at that tinge 11 prisoners, tlien in lexi
th••re were six, and in Iflei six. That was at the
Spring Assiw. To-day you have only two cases to
dispose .4 ; oue .4 diem is an ordinary raw of
enulwreleisient. A man during the 'hearing sesosun
g. .s lido a locerttliolt, according to the Cam, for the
proweution, alleging he has the authority of the Mari
Wk., undertakes the sheewslwaring i4l order le.s.r,
amounting in value to alswit 4s, tid. If the
amount given by the pronceutrix is true, it
will be a question for the jury whether

an offence has been con ted. It is a very light
case to be tried by you, but it is only recently etAln.
liiittc.l. I has. no objection myself t.i MN' in the
Assize calendar any cases of that kind, because I
think it is a very great thing for a country that
criminal justice should be astedily 1141111inifliered as
well as well atl • ...toted. The other casei. it.
those (.71.14,1 very difficult unlesd to deal with, in
which a woman charges a man that he luad
(ape tapas her —in which iti fact she said h. coni•
canted three rapes. This is o.,Plit..what unusual. I
hart. loot with two often, but I don't recollect ever in
my criminal experi..na. meeting with a case in which
a wolflike' alleges three rapes had been cot 1111 l ittetl upon
her In the eollrse of alsett an hour. His lordship
made some lengthy remarks on the etaraordinary
nature if the case, in the count. of which he enlarged
on the itinstrtance of a Inedleal examinati. iibring
mml,• immediately after the alleged 'deuce, which
W. 15 hot done in this ease.