The Express.
London, England, 1864-03-24 00:00:00

THE EXIIIESS,* TEITRSI)AY EVENING,. MARCH 24, 1864.

ILAIN intdligntu.

COV&T 01 QUAIN'e BENCH.
et au as WA piall to lIIMMIra and London, beta* the
Itlght asEIF Alexander Edmond tOoktorn, Dart. Loyd Older
Justice of her Majesty's Court ■of Queen*. Beak in and after
lister Term. 1961 In Tum —ln Middlesex : First altabig,
Mtody April IV ward sitting. Monday, April Id third
sitting, Monday May Z ,for undefended causes crab In London:
First Attain Frit, April second sitting, Friday, April MI
After Terra.—ln dlesex Tuesday, try 10. In London : Fri-
day, May IS. The court will sit at 10 o'clock every day. The
muses ia the Ible for each of the above sitting days In Tema, If
not deposed of on those days, will be hied by adjournment on
the days following each of such sitting days. Special Juries will
be tried in London at the introits 'her Term.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOhIM CIRCIIIT.7.-Lewes,Aim 23.

(Before Lord Chief JustiCs &le.)
Edward Jones, 21, end James Harney,about the name
try were charged with misdemeanour in being found armed
with a dangerous and offensive instrumest, with intent to
commit a felony, and also with assaulting Henry Gain, •
police-constable of the borough of Rutin*, in order to
prevest their lawful appreheneion.
Mr. Hurst prosecuted. The prisoner Jones was defended
by Mr. Willoughby; and the other prisoner was unde-
fended.

-The prosecutor in this case, it appeared, was on duty
about 12 o'clock at night. on the Met of January, at the
Marine, at Hastings, and ulna looking down the area
at No. 38, be saw the prisoners evidently engaged in an at-
tempt to break into that house, as Harvey was holding up
the other primmer, who was in the sot of apparently endea-
vouring to force up the area window. The constable shouted
• them, and inquired what they were doing, upon which
Jenes jumped down, and both the pnooan toed to wooed
themselves under the area steps. bT prosecutor welt into
the area, and era approaching the pruonees, Jones drew
from his pocket some instrument which the countable
believed to be • life•preserver, with which he thnick
him • violent blow on the back of the bead, which
knocked him down, and while he was epos the
ground, he jumped upon him and seized him by the tbrort,
and nearly choked him, and also streak him two or three
other blows with the life preserver. Jones then, it ap-
called oat to his companion, "Come on. Jinn;
glid got him down ." and they both ran away, the constable
beiag for two or three unsung insensible in consequence of
the Injuries he had received, and for that maim being
unable to prevent them from making their escape. Jones
was, however, apprehended on the same morning by Ser-
geant Wood, of the Hastings police, at the railway station ;
and the other prisoner was discovered • few days ago in
Winchester gaol, when be had been committed as a rogue
and vagabond, and the prosecutor spoke positively to bis
being one of the men who had assaulted him under the or.
cualistattoes above masted.
The jury retuned • verdict of Guilty spinet both
soners, and evidence was then given to show that they bad
been several times summarily convicted for being concealed
in bonne with intent to commit felony, and other offences
of the same clue.
Lord Chief Justice Brie mid that there was no doubt as
to the character of the prisoners, or the means by which
they obtained their livelihood, and he should therefore
peas upon them the extreme sentence of the law for the
crime of which they had been convicted, which was that
they be kept is penal servitude for three yearn.

OXFORD CIRCIIIT.—HzazroaD, liAsca 23.
Caows CoetT.—(Bofors Bares Pigott.)
Tut HLXNOI YURDEIt.
. . . .

Thomas Watkins was indicted for wilfully and of malice
aforethought killing sad muideriog Nary Ann Watkins, his
wife, at Hennor, near Leominster, in this county, on the
18th January last.
Mr. Cooke and Mr. Matthews conducted the prosecution ;
and Mr. Wightman defended the prisoner.
When the prisoner was arraigned yesterday he pleaded
guilty ; but by his lordship's advise he afterwards withdrew
that plea, and the trial was fixed for this morning. The
trial occupied most of the day, but the facts as elicited is
evidence lie in • narrow compar. It appsarod that the pd.
goner had led • dissolute life, and had separated from his
wife, who earned a living by going out washing end ironing.
The deceased lived with • cottager named Smith, and some
time before the murder the prisoner had said to Smith that
be "should like to be the death or his wife and one or two
others. The deceased, too, was afraid of befog out at night,
in aooasgnews of the Unsafe that her husband had used
towards her. On Monday, the 18th January, the deceased
went to do • day's washing at the house of James Lane at
/leaner, and left Lee's house to go home at about mix
o'clock In the evening. Whey she left Lane's, she said she
did not much like going house by herself for fear of meeting
her husband. The poor creature never reached her home
that night, bat between ten and eleven o'clock, as • witness
named David Lipscoothe was passing through an orchard, on
his way home, • shoot distaoos from Lane's house, he heard
groans proceeding from the other side of • hedge. He got
through • fence, and following the direetioa of the
sounds Doom use up with the poor woman, whom he
found lyiag on the ground is • pool of blood which had
flowed from several frightful cute in her head. Lipscomb'
placed the woman in • position in which she could breathe
11101 s freely, and having obtained assistaoca, the was eon.
'eyed to the union workhouse, where she died. Nest morn-
ing, at daylight, an examination was made of the locality of
the murder, and traces were found of a person wearing clogs
of • peculiar make. The prisoner was at once suspected of
being concerned in the murder, sod it was ascertained that
he had been in the immediate neighbourhood on the even-
ing of the murder. Between tee and six o'clock
he called at • booze about • mile and a half from Lane's,
and at about nine he was at another house about la quarter
of a mile from where the murder was committed. He then
wore clogs, and said be was going to Smith's to ask his wife
to mole sod live with him. As be left he said " Good night ;
perhaps I shall never see you again." A day or two after-
wards the prisoner was apprehended, and, being charged with
the murder, answered, ' Well, I did not do it,"

A numbs; of wileCO.Bes wsnenmiaed is prove the above
fade. It was shown that on the night of the murder the
prisoner called at several cottages distant from half a mile
to two miles from Helium with so apparent object. He
talked of his wife's conduct, and said she had bees unfaith-
ful to him during his absence, he having been for five years
away, having enlisted ass marine. About Christmas he
deserted and came down to the neighbourhood of Leo-
minster.

Mr. Llewellyn, relieving officer to the Leominster union,
provedthat the deceased was in the receipt of ss. • we
from the parish, and that the beard having beard that the
primmer had been seen in the neighbourhood, Mrs. Watkins
was summoned so the board. She admitted that her hus-
band was in the neighbourhood, but said elm was determined
not to live with him again.
Mr. Cogisu, surgeon, deposed that on being called in to
see the deceased he found her insensible. She never spoke,
and died next day. He made • post-mortem examination
of the body, and dmicribed the injuries, the chief of which
were—a bruise over the right half of the forehead, •short
straight coutuaioe on the shoulder about two inch** long,
apparently inflicted with esti& ; • otraight edged wound
about an inch long in trout of the head, with an oval frac-
ture immediately beneath ; an irregular jagged wound over
the parietal bone, and a wound on the right aide of the
hes& The largest fracture however, extended acmes
the whole of the back
of the bred, much cow-
-1 minuted and crushed. This must have been pro-
duced by a violent blow as it was on one of the
strongest parte of the *knit It extended over the whole
of the right side of the head like a star, and the brain pro-
truded from portions of the fracture. This fracture would
prevent a person screaming after the blow had been re-
ceived. Some of the wounds might have been made with •
boot and clog similar to that worn by the prisoner. (The
boot was produced in court) There was nothing to account
for death except the acts of violence apparent on the bead.
This testimony having been corroborated by a second
medical man, a plan of the neighbourhood was put in and
proved, and this coecluded the one for the promotion.
Mr. Wightman then addressed the jury at some length
for the defence. Having remarked on the common use of
clogs by the labouring people of Lancashire and Yorkshire,
he submitted, first, whether they were satisfied that the
prisoner was the man who had killed the deceased ; and,
secondly, if they were satisfied of that, whether the act was
one of murder or of manslaughter. He oratended that the
prisoner having left the army had come down to Hennor to
endeavour to persuade his wife to lire with him, she had
repelled his overtures, and he aulunitted the following
theory as an answer to the charge :—That be met his wife
on the night in question, and expostulated with her on her
conduct, that she continuing to repel hi. advance*, in a fit
of frenzy be inflicted the fatal blow. That would reduce
the charge to one of manslaughter.
His Lordship summed up with great can and minute.
nese, and

The jury, alter s short consultation, returned a verdict of
Gaily amidst a deep 'demos.
His Lordship then passed the awful sentence of death in
the usual manner.

The court wee crowded all day, and the prisoner bore the
trial with great fortitude.

WESTERN CIRCIIIT.—TAUNTON, Itimica 23.
(Before Mr. Berea Martin.)
BRUTAL OUTBACK ON A BOMAN.
- .

Jonas Ward, LI), was usdicted for cruuinall► assaulting
Charlotte Fraser, at Ansford, on the ith November. At
the Winter Asaire for the comity six men were trial, con-
victed, and sentenced to various terms of petal servitude
and imprisonment, for having criminally assaulted the pro.
secutris, but the prisoner made his escape acd was subse-
quently apprehended at Merthyr. Ii appeared that on the
night to qualms the prosecntrix was at the Half
Moon at Ausford, is company with her sweet-
heart, a man named Sylvester Sheen. They left
the house shortly before midnight, and on getting into
the road, the prisoner and hie companion. took her from
her "young man," and dragging her to the roadside live of
them in succession criminally aesaulted her while she was
held by the others. She was afterwards dragged into the
stable of the Half Moon, at the suggestion of the landlord
that there was some clean straw there, and she we. there
crimisally amaulted seven times. The prisoner was found
guilty, sad his lordship said the case wag so atrocious—the
worst he bad ever beard in his life—that he should consider
whether be was justified is passing a heavier sentence than
had bees pared upon his companions. His lordship, having
coesulted with Mr. Harms Bramwell, Its was seatoacial to
Ivo yaws' penal servitado.