The Express.
London, England, 1853-03-23 00:00:00

• widow or her sane debases, but walked out of the wit-
ness Los. Ih. eumpl,,iut the othi r °pp:ming creditor.
we. Mat in their account the ins,l*tot was entruVed with
170. to pey into their haulers, 'La instrAi of doing PO he
had kept the money. Tho u.s:,lveut denied that he was to
pay it into the bankers, but thot it was pail on seeount of
• h3l. After an in•estigation of several hours into the ease
sad the addrese e f cuaesel,
The Chief Coloneiseioset expressed himself dearly of

itpiatan that ft eta a am for the fail eaeretm of the di:as-
thma:7 claw*. Bat befogs the ease could he adjudicated
1100 a the Insolemit must re-advertise himself as known to
aa " Chapman, Broths is, rod Company."
Judgment deferred.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
}TOME ClltCUlT.—Kiscgrox, NlARcrt 22.
Coors sum.—Bwrose Me. Jensen Cotaupe&
ALLgor.ti l'saa Ver.
Anna Pill, a young girl, surreedered to take her trial I
brim a charge of wilful and corrupt perjury.
Mr. Car"...an, who with Mr. MAIM:son, appeared on be-
half of the rospeution skid that upon loaktog at the evi-
dence to support the charge, he was of opinion that it was
not sufficient to justify him in proceeding with the ease, and
he should therefore, with the consent of the cairn. refrain
from offering any evidence.
Mr. IlaVantine, who appeared for the prisoner, said that
the evidence was the same that was offe•td before the ma-
gistrates at Cr..ydm, and the fact was that it never dill
supii.rt the charge of perjury. fin thougi.t it right to
state, on behalf of the prisoner, that be was prepared with
ev:•lsnee which would most cinclusively have disproved any
portion of the case attempted to be set upon the part of the
prosecution.
The Jury then returned a verdict of Not Guilty.
Tug &luau Duct..
- - -•

Th, reporter hos hero requested to state that Mr. Justice
Coleridge in his rimming up made reference to the circum-
stance of the piece of rig that was found is the pistol sup-
posed to have been used by the deceased man, and at the
tam• time said that it did not afford any ground for sup-
posing that there had been any unfair proceedings in cow
uelion with the duel. His lordship did, is point of fact,
allude to the subject, but it was only to tell the jury that
it appeared to him that tho fact of the piece of rag being
found in the pistol did not appear to have anything what-
ever to do with the case, as it was admitted that the pro-
bability was that it had been lett in the barrel when the
pistol was cleaned, and it was also admitted on all sides that
there was no reason to suppose there had been any foul
play in connexion with the duel.

- -
Cm!. thus.—Bayou Ha. Bum Airessom
This morning having been appointed for the trial of
special jury eases, his lordship directed that the whole of the
general panel of special jurors summoned in accordance
with the provisions of the recent statute, should he called
over. This was dune, and • number of gentlemen who
were not in attendance in accordance with their summons,
were fined ten pounds.
Baron Al•ler•cn observed that as they were now at the
commencement of a new system with regard to the sums
moiling of spacial juries, he thought it was quite as well to
begin with strictness, and that gentlemen should know that
when they were summoned it was their duty to attend. If
the gentlemen who:n he had now tined attended in the
following diy, and performed their duty, he shou:d pro-
bably take oil the fire; but if they did nut do so, ho would
have the panel coiled over every day, and inflict a fresh fine
in each ease of non-attendance. His lordship at the same
time observed that he was informed that for the whole
county of Surrey there were only 500 names on the special
jury list, and he was satisfied that there ought to be et least
2NO. He, therefore, trusted that the gentlemen who now
had to perform the duty would look about among their
neighbours, and see that every qualified person was made
liable to serve, and the consequence would be that the pub-
lic duty would be equally distributed ; and if the proper
number was upon the list, the turn for service of the gen•
timers at present on the list would come round one fourth
less often.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—STerroaD, MARCII 22.
BETON! Kr 'MICR TALKIVIS.
THE Mumma AT Asa FLATS.

After three days' protracted sitting, tae trial of the per- '1
petrators of this barbarous deed was brought to a close late
last evening. The prisoners were Henry Blackburn, Charles
Nome, and Edward Walsh, who were severally charged
with the wilful murder of John sad Jane Blackburn, on
the morning of the 25th of October, at Ash Flats, near this
town. l'ster Kerman was also arraigned upon the coroner's
Inquisition, the grand jury having ignored the bill, bat no
evidence was offered against. him, and he was subsequently
discharged. Tha coroner's jury had in their verdict emit-
rated Blackburn, who was a son of the deceased. from any 4,
participation in the crime, but the magistrates hewing com-
mitted him, and the grand inquisition having found a bill
against him, be was accordingly put on his trial.
The hearing of the evidence lasted two days, nearly fifty
witnesses being examined. The following, however, will be f
hand to contain the main facts which were adduced
The deceased, John Blackburn, who was 78 years of age,
was formerly a moister, hail retired from business, and, f
with his wife, aged 73, lived at a place called Ash Flats, '
about two miles and a half from Stafford. Although pos-
boned of some property, having 60 or 70 acres of freehold
land, their cottage was but very meanly and dirtily fur-
nished. They kept no servant, and lived by themselves,
di I
sleeping in fferent apartments. They were miserly in
their habits, and old Blackburn was known to have eosin. '
dersb!c sums of money in his place at times. They had •
large family grown up, some being married. The lost time
the old couple were seen alive was on the evening of Sun-
day, the 24th of October when they were observed to he in
good health. On the following morning, about half. past 7,
a gentleman named Spilshy was going by the cortege, when
be perceived smoke tuning from the roof. Ile obtained
assistance, and 'he door was broken open by a crow- ,
bar, which happened to he on the spot. After some
time the firs was subdued ; and on going upstairs
to the old man's bedroom, a shocking spectacle
presented itself. Oa the burnt bedstead were lying the
bodies of the old couple; they were charred considerably,
awl the fire bad almost made them trunkless. The man
was lying on his back on the top of the bed, and the woman
across the bottom of the b'd. A brief examination sufficed
to show that the old people had died by violence, and not
from fire. The bead of the old man had been severely
wounded in several places. There were two places near ,
the eyes where the skull had aetuelly been forced in ; there ,
was a large wound on the right side of the forehead, and a
very severe wound on the top of the head. On the body of
Mrs. Blackburn there was a severe wound on the right eye,
and also on the back of the bead, and it was also clear that
something had been tied round the throat es if to cause
strangulation. Her bedroom was but little disordered. A
pool of blood was discovered at the bottom of the noire leading
to her door and blood on the wall of the staircase, and it
would seem that the old lady was in bed at the time, and
bearing a noise she came out and encountered the wretches,
who afterwards took her body upstairs and threw it on the
bed where it was found. There was a strong smell of resin
and pitch in the cottage, and the bodies appeared to Lave
been he mitered with such informable matter, so as to
hasten their destruction. Mr. Richards, the superintendent
of the Stafford (town) police, and other officers of the
constabulary, were quickly apprised of the tragedy, and on
reaching the Beene a careful examination of the place was
made. A well outside the cottage was searched, and in it
was found an ate, with blood and hair upon it, and a dog
with his head smashed in. The animal belonged to the
prisoner Blackburn, and he had taken it to his parents'
abode about three week., previous. A fiat iron besmeared
with gore was also found in the house. The fact being
clear that the place had been entered, that the deceased
couple had been barbarously murdered, and that the guilty
parties contemplated 'user:ling all trace of the crime in
the conflagration of the entire building, the police directed
their attention to the perpetrators. On the morning of the
murder, some few hours after it hail been discovered, the
police were induced to arrest Henry Blackburn, who him-
self had expressed some belief that Moore, who was in
the service of the i:ecessed, had some hand in the
horrible deed. Some days transpired, and nothing
satisiectery was elicited until the receipt of some
anonymous letters by Mr. Richards of the Stafford police.
and Mr. Hatton, the chief of the county force. The letters
described how the murders were committed, and who were
the ge"" parties. They were peculiarly worded, and ovi-
denby showed the writer to be n very illiterate person. At
the examination of Blackburn Moore was examined as a
witness, and on his signing his deposition Mr. Richards was
struck with the similarity of his writing to that of the
letters. Moore had also made use of the word., " The man

that helped Philip to mow the bay," which Were in one of
the communications, and this more than strengthened the
belief of the officer that he was the party who wrote them.
Mr. Hatton, the chief of the constabulary, was consulted,
and Moore having been spoken to respecting some material
difference he had made in his evidence, he desired to make
a mom lengthened statement in writing, and, in doing so,
sufficient was traced to warrant his arrest, whey he admitted
writing two of them. His place was searched, and
child's rattle was found, the end of which had been
used in sealing and stamping the letters. Moore then
made some other statements, in which he observed that he
had been engaged by one Podionte to write them.
The truth is, I put my arm through a broken pane in the
window next to the door, and unfastened the catch. Walsh
was put through the window, when he opened the beck
door, awl let Peter Kerwan in. I went to the end of the
house next the road to watch, and on looking through the
window I saw I'eter Kerwan, with a candle in one hand,
knock down the old woman with his ether hand at the
bottom of the stairs. I did not ace whether he had any-
thing in his hand or not. I afterwards taw Kerwan and
Walsh go through the orchard, and through the field at the
end of the orchard, and I returned to Stafford
and went to bed. Other circumstances then arose
which led to the apprehension of Walsh, whoim daughter co-
habited with Moore; he made a statement show-
ing • knowledge of what was going to be
done at the Ash Wits. He stated that Moore had told him,
"If you will come with me to-night, we shall get what wili
pat us over the water comfortably. The place I mean is
the Blackburn; they are a very islit couple, and have no
servants, either boy or girl, in the house ; their son Henry
left fur Wolverhampton on Saturday, and will not be back
until Monda, and shall be certain to get from eight to ten
sovereigns, the price of the cart they are about to buy; at
all events, we shall get some monoy. and if all fails we
W shall be sure to get a bit of bacon." alsh also mentioned
that Moore stated, " This will stop them from tellirg tales,"
and he held or a knife in his band to which he hail put a
mow handle,which was made of a porton of the handle of a
hatchet" On Walsh's left hand was noticed the marks at
bands& and on his trousers were trued the stains
a blood. It also appeared that Moon won a