The Express.
London, England, 1851-08-09 00:00:00

Ciu,w Sttw.

Damn Alilemon delivered a very hrief charge to the
grand jury, merely coogratulatina then upon the lighturs.
ul the calendar and the ah,caiee or utly charge of magnitude.

Tut FretmLEr Witt/£u.

!limns Small, alias Rie/torl Troirkr,27, labourer, was
placed at the bar to plead to a coroner's inquisition chargs
mg him with the wilful murder of the Rev. George Edward
Roast, at Frimky.
The prisoner, whose appearance has very much
proved since he has been under confinement, and who,
while standing in the dock, exhilk;ted the same calm and
unmoved demeanour he did at the trial of his guilty com-
panions, pleaded Not Guilty.
Baron Alderson, atter the jury bad been empanelled,
addressed them, and s tid that in this rase no evidence
would Ix. offered against the prisoner, for very good rea-
-50115, with which no doubt they were acquainted. Faith,
he said, must to kept with all persons, and no evidence
being offered they would say that the prisoner was not
guilty.
The jury having returned that verdict, his lordship or-
dered the prisoner to be discharged, and he was at once act
at liberty.
CHARGE or UTTEHINO A FORGED RECEIPT.

Healer Eliza Nlciyh, a person of lady-like appearance,
the widow of a ►ieutenant, in her Majesty's otervice, surren-
dered to take her trial upon a charge of fclonintely forging
and uttering a receipt fur ninaetn and three pence, with
intent to defraud._ . .

The nature of the offence imputed to the accused lady
appeared to be that of forging the receipt of the collector
of assessed taxes thr the automat of a half-year due at
Michaelmas, It appeared that the prisoner lived with
her sun in the village of Hash:mere, and that the collector
for that district was a Mr. William Berry, who dies! some
' time in November last. The ease for the prosecution was,
that upon application being made to the prisoner for the
taxes due at Lady-day, 18A, she asked for time; and upon
! her being told that the preceding half-year's taxes was in
arrear, she asserted that she hail rand the amount, and pro-
duced the receipt which formed the subject of the present
indictment. lt seemed that the transaction hail excited a
good deal of interest in the village, and that subsequently
to this indictment being preferred, proceedings in con-
nexion with the receipt were had in the county
court fur the district, when the prisoner was examined as a
witness, and she then swore positively that she had paid
the money to the deceased collector on the 28th October,
and stated that he wrote the receipt while he was standing
outside the door of her house, she not being able to ask
him indoors as usual, un account of a sick person being in
her rown. The principal witness against the accused was
the ton of the deceased, who swore positively that he had
applied to her for payment of the arrears of tales after the
date of the supposed receipt. and that she never suggested
at that time that such a document was in existence. This
witness, in crows-examination however, admitted that there
. .

was an ill &thug subsisting between hint and the prisoner,
and it appeared that he was a party to legal proceedings
that were still pending with the son of the prisoner. Seve-
ral witnesses were examined, who expressed a belief that
the signature to the receipt was not in the handwriting of
the deceased, but the reasons they gave for coming to that
conclusion were of a very extraordinary, not to sav absurd,
character, and were very far indeed front living, satisfactory.
Mr. Hallantine made a most earnest and able address to
the jury on behalf of the primmer. Ile contended that her
conduct throughout the entire transaction had been that of
an honourable and msneetable person, and that there was
nut the slightest foundation for the charge that was made
against her. With mg:aril to any slight difference that,
might appear in the writing of the receipt, to that of the
deceased's ordinary writing, he submittal that it was satis-
factorily accounted for by the circumstances under which it
appeared to have been written, namely, while the deceased
was standing up, and probably writing upon a hook, or in
some other incoomMent manner; and he remarked upon
the improbability that a person iii the respectable position
of the prisoner should have subjected herself to the serious
' consequences that must inevitably ensue, upon conviction,
for so paltry an amount. The learned counsel then proceeded
to state that it appeared to him that the case had
been got up by the son of the deceased, partly from •
feelin of towards the prisoner, and partly to pre-
vent her front being a witness against him in the action
which was still wilding, and which, if he should have a
verdict pass against him, would necessarily cause him
serious expense. He concluded a very eloquent speech by
calling upon the jury to acquit the prisoner, and to enable
her to return to her home with the same unsullied reputa-
tion which she had enjoyed up to the period of this trans-
action.
. _ .