The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-05-10 00:00:00

SERIOUS POACHING AFFRAYS.

At the Stafford Assizes, (before Mr. Justice Hawldns,)
William Genders, Thomas Genders, and George Hoshton
were indicted for night poaching at Siaenst.)ne on the 6th
of February last, and with wounding Amos Twilley, a game-
keeper, with intent to murder him,
Mr. Underhill and Mr Neville were counsel for the
prosecution; Mr. Darling defended William Genders and
George Hu hton ; Mr. Ntale appeared for Thomas Genders.
The three prisoners wore charged in various counts
with intent to murder and inflict grievous bodily harm
on Amos Twilley, a gamekeeper in the employ of Mr.
Riddell, of Sheestone. On the night of the 6th of
Fehruary Amos Twilley went out accompanied by two
watchers. It was a bright, moonlight night, and
soon after eleven o'clock, hearing a shot, they looked
through a hedge and saw three men coming across a
field in the occupation of Mr. Balshaw. They went
to meet them, and Twilley got over the fence and
k sized one man whom he identified as Thomas Genders.
While struggling with him, another man, identified by
the other witnesses as William Genders, levelled a gun
at his head. This caused Twilley to let go his hold of
Thomas Genders. In doing so he fell to the ground
and at the same time hearing a gun explode fancied he
had been shot, as the moment after he found he had
received a serious weund on the top of his head. The
medical evidence, however, 4bowed that the wound
was not a gunshot wound, but must have been caused
by some heavy instrument of a blunt nature with some
projection in it, such as the hammer of a gun. Daring
the struggle a third man, indentified as Rushton, was
heard by the watcher Amith to shout out, "Lethim have
it." After knocking Twilley down, the three men made
off. Twilley was assisted home. He did not leavehis bed
for a month, and it was not considered likely that he
would ever entirely recover from the injuries he had
received. Tne prisoners were subsequently at different
times arrested by the police. The main questi in for
the jury on the trial was that of identity, and wit-
nesses, all related to the prisoners, were called for the
defence to establish an alibi.

The case, which was commenced at midday, lasted
till nearly midnight, and ended in a verdict by the
jury against all three prisoners of wounding with
intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, _

-
His Lordship sentenced each prisoner to fourteen
years' penal servitude.

At the same assizes, Herbert Dale, weaver, John Slater,
labourer, Thomas Jones, silk thrower, and William Barton,
miner, were indicted for the wilful murder of James
Beswick, at Blddulph, on the 29th of January last.
Mr. Boughey and Mr. Macnamara were counsel for the
Crown: Mr. Charles Smith appeared for the prisoner Dale; Mr.
Underhill for Sclater ; Mr. A. Chichele Plowden for Vines ;
Mr. &Kiley for Barton.
This was a charge arising out of a poaching affray
which occurred at Biddulph, a village on the border
between Stafforishire and Cheshire, on the
,29th of
January last. From the opening statement of Mr.
Boughey, and the evidence called for the prosecution,
it appeared that Mr. Cotterell occupied the farm
known as Whitemoor Farm, in the parish of Biddtilph,
With Mr. Cottrell lived his son and two servants,
one named Frederick Heathcote and the other James
Beswick. Cottrell occupied the farm as yearly
tenant under Mr. Charles Henry Mainwaring,
and included in his rent was the right of shooting
over the Whitemoor-wood, which is distant about
200 yards from the farm. On theoight of the 29th
of January Cotterell's son, as he was going to bed,
heard the report of a gun in the direction of White-
moor-wood, and rousing the two servants, the three
men left the farm, as they admitted, to look for
poachers. Cotterell was armed with a double-
barrelled loaded gun; Heathcote had a short whip-
stock heavily loaded, and Beswick carried a stout
walking-stick. Upon reaching the woods they took
up different stations, Beswick being placed at the edge
on a public footpath which traversed the wood, Heath-
cote being 100 yards deeper in the woods behind a
tree, and Cotterell taking up his position about the
came distance from Heathcote. After waiting about
twenty minutes Heathcote noticed four men coming
towards him. Three of them stopped within a yard
or two of the tree, the fourth being distant between 15
an 20 yards. One of the three had a gun, and all four
seemed to him engaged in beating for game. When they
stopped he heard them asking each other which road
they should take as being "the most likely." He
stepped from his hiding place, but without showing
his whipstock, and asked the men what they were
doing there, whereupon one of the three men—identi-
fied by Heathcote as Slater—cocked his gun, raised it
to his shoulder, and threatened to blow his brains
out. Two or three of the others shouted "Shoot
him ! " and they all four then made at him with their
sticks. A fight, lasting a minute or two, ensued,
when Heathcote took to his heels and ran to where
Beswick was stationed. The four men followed and
the fight was renewed, three of the men attacking
Beswick and the fourth closing with Heathcote. Ac-
cording to Heathcote's account, the man who closed
with him was Jones, and he was armed with a heavy
stick. As they fought Jones fell, and Heathcote stand-
ing over him, saw his face and recognised him as a
man whom he knew by sight but not by name. Just
at the moment that Jones fell the report of a
gun was heard where Beswick was fighting, a few
yards off, and Heathcote looking round saw Beswick
fall. Upon this, hearing Jones, he ran away in the
direction of Cotterell, pursued by the three men; ut
they did not follow him far, and when he returned to
the scene of the fight with Cotterell they had disap-
peared, and Beswick was there alone lying insensible
and bleeding from a wound in the head. He was car-
ried back to the farm, but he never regained conscious-
ness, and died in the course of the next day. A post-
mortem examination was made, and in the opinion of
the doctor death was due to the fracture of the skull
caused by a violent blow, such as a man using a
clubbed gun might inflict. In the meantime the
police had been informed of the. occurrence, and
within an hour or two they visited the houses of
Jones, Slater, and Dale at
.Congleton, a village
about two miles from Whitemoor-wood. None
of the men were at their homes, but as the police
were watching the house of Dale, two men were
seen to escape from it and run over some fields into an
adjoining wood. The following day the police, accom-
panied by Heathcote, went again to Jones's house and
found him this time at home. Heathcote at once
identified him, and he was taken into custody pro-
testing his innocence. Barton was apprehended a day
later, but no arrest was made of Dale and Slater for
nearly a week, when they were found at the house
of a man who took loogers in Birkenhead. It
appeared that the two prisoners had gone to this
house and bad made inqui les about the fare to
America. A Congleton man had met them at
Birkeehead the next day, when they told him they
were in a bit of a bother; and one of them, Dale,
asked him to get ,C 5 from his wife and bring it
to him. Upon the two men being taken into cus-
tody, Slater was at once identified by Heathcate,
although since the fight he had shaved off his beard
and whiskers, and Dale was found to be suffering from
a gunshot wound in the leg, which, it was suggested,
was caused by the gun going off at the time it was
used to inflict the blow on Beswick. This opinion,
which was given by the doctor who had made the post-
mortem examination, was supported by the fact that a
gunstock was found lying on the ground where the
fight had occurred, and another important piece of
i
evidence against Dale consisted n the fact that two
or three pieces of cloth were found lying in the snow
which corresponded in material and pattern with the
coat he was wearing when arrested, and which was
found to have a small piece missing from the elbow.
Mr. Justice Hawkins summed up the cage to the
jury in a charge which occupied three hours, and
dealt minutely with every portion of the evidence.
The learned Judge directed the jury to take the case
of each prisoner separately into their coneideration,
and to tele themselves whether it was proved to their
satisfaction thet supposing the four prisoners were
the four men in the wood on the night in question, they
united in making a deadly attack in furtherance of one
common design. If several persons were by preconceived
arrangement to attack another with intent to kill or do
grievous bodily harm, and the fatal blow being given
by one, the others stood by assenting, the act of the
man who killed was the act of his companions as well,
and all would be guilty of murder, It was matter of
fact for the jury and not of law, having regard to all
the circumstances, whether or not the man who dealt
the fatal blow was acting in furtherance of a common
design, and with the consent and encouragement of the
others; but it was certain that if four men went out
to commit one act, and one of the men separated him-
self from the others, and not in pursuance of the
common design committed a crime foreign to
the common purpose, it would be his act alone
and he alone would be responsible for it. The
case against the four prisoners was stated by the
prosecution in two ways. It was said they were
all four in the wood on the night in question, one
being armed with a gun, for the purpose of taking
game. They were committing, therefore, an indict-
able offence, aud it was open to any one to arrest
.them, if there was any such attempt to arrest. But,
said the prosecution, there was no such attempt to
arrest, but these four men being in the wood they
made a common attack on Heathcote and Beswick,
and in the course of that common attack they
killed by a blow calculated to cause death the
unhappy man Beswick, whose death they were
now inquiring into. On the other hand, it was
said for the prisoners that there was no common atta:k
at all, at all events by Jones, and that there was an
unlawful attempt to arrest, in the re instance to
which the deceased met wite his death. The learned
Judge then referre I to the facts of the case as
they had been proved in the evidence, tied observed
it was hardly possible to supposethat the four men
were not in the wooa :nr the purpose of poaching.
With regard to concert between the four men, Heath-
cote proved that, all four attacker' him, and that it was
only after the tight began that be and Jones became
separated. Jones was sworn to by Heathcote, and it
was useful in csnsideling this and all questions of
identity to look at the personal appearance of the men
in question and see if there was anything uncommon
or peculiar in that. The questions for the jury would
be, were these four prisoners or any or either of them
in Whitemoor-wood that night, taking part in the
affray which led to Beswick's death. How was
Beewick killed? Was it by an assault of one or more
with intent to do grevions harm, or with such violence
that those who committed that assault were guilty of
murder? And if this assault was medo by all four with
a common design to attack and beat in such a way
that death would ensue, then all would be equally
guilty of murder, and the crime would not be confined
to the man who struck the blow.
The jury found each of the prisoners Guilty of
manslaughter.
The learned Judge, in passing sentence, addressed
the prisoners at some length. The jury, he said, had
taken a very merciful view of the evidence. That all
four were in the wood in pursuit et game he had no
shadow of doubt, and that they went there pre-
pared to resist was also to his mind matter of cer•

taiaty. They attacked Neathcote in a cowardly way,
and when he ran away and it was open to them to
escape they followed him and made a murderous at-
tack on Beswiek. There was some distinction in their
cases but not much. With regard to Dale, the jury
had found by their verdict that his leg had been in-
jured by the explosion of the gun. In his judgment
he was the man who struck Beswick the blow that
killed him, and if the jury had found him guilty of
murder, most assuredly his life would have been for-
feited. The sentence he passed on him was that of
penal servitude for life. As regards Slater, he was
willing to believe that, having desisted from firing his
gun when he aimed it at Heatbcote, he did not wish
. . _ _ _ _ _

to take life, but he encouraged Dale by his presence
and by his conduct, and was scarcely less guilty. He
sentenced him to 20 years' penal servitude. With
regard to Jones and Barton' it was in their
favour that neither had a gun; but he was satisfied
that each went out to render assistance as far as he
could, aid took an active part in encouraging the
others to assail the keeper. Their offence was thus a
very bad one, and if men would go out poaching by
night and molest those wh had a r ght to arrest them,
they themselves if apprehendei muet expect condign
punishment. He sentenced each of them to 15 years'
penal servitude.•