Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-03-26 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF ARSON,

At Derby assizes, on Monday, James Grundy, a farmer,
occupying 200 acres of land at Lullington, in the county of
Derby, was charged with having, on the 29th December last,
maliciously set fire to a stack of wheat, a stack of barley, a
stack of beans, and divers other stacks, the property of Mr.
John Payne Moxon, farmer. The corn destroyed was valued at
£l,OOO. Mr. Mereweather and Mr. Leigh prosecuted; Mr.
O'Brien and Mr. Bell defended the prisoner. John Payne
Moxon, the prosecutor, said: I am a farmer at Lady
Leighs, in the narish of Lullington. On the
29th of December, I went to bed about ten
o'clock, leaving eighteen stacks of corn in the rick-yard, in
the direction of prisoner's house. I live about half a
mile from Mrs. Wetton's. Prisoner's farm adjoins mine,
but is not under the same landlord. Scott, the keeper,
called me up about three o'clock the next morning, and
the stacks were then burning. I did not see prisoner or
any of his men there when I got up. On the 4th January
I observed Mr. Rust looking at the footmarks in the fields,
and I saw a man in the prisoner's stackyard, on the top of
a rick, looking at us, but I could not tell who it was. He
did not remain on the rick more than a minute after he
saw us. By Mr. O'Brien : Can't say how long prisoner has
lived in the neighbourhood; he was there when I came. I
was insured. Harriet Parker : I was in the service of
prisoner on the 29th Dec. last. Prisoner left his house that
day about twelve o'clock at noon. He returned home at
two o'clock the next morning. I had gone to bed then.
The waggon-boy let him in. There were also two servant
boys in the house. I got up because Mr. Grundy said Mr.
Moxon's stacks were on fire. I heard Mr. Grundy
say they were on fire, as I lay in bed. I came
down stairs and went in the yard with the prisoner. We
did not remain there many minutes. When we returned
into the house prisoner said, " I am the man that set them
on fire." He said it to a man named Kelly, and Kelly, in
reply, said, "Hold your noise, say nothing." Prisoner
said nothing more to Kelly, but he said to me,
" I will give you ten pounds if you won't say any-
thing." Prisoner also said, " I set them on
fire at each end," Thomas Kelly : I lived as a general
servant with the prisoner. I went to Rosliston on the 29th
of December with a load of barley, and afterwards left Mr.
Grundy at the Plough Inn, and returned home. I next
saw Grundy at ten minutes to two o'clock on Thursday
morning. I heard him knocking at the door. lie called
for George, meaning Bott. Grundy said, " Oh, dear! oh,
dear ! Mr. Moxon's stacks are on fire." I and Bott they
came down stairs, and we saw the fire. I saw the fire from the
kitchen door. Grundy said," Oh, dear ! dear ! Moxon's stacks
on fire, and I have done it." I said, "You have done a bad
job." I said that I and Bott would go over to the fire,
but I remarked they might take us up for being
out at that time of night, so Grundy then said, "You
had better go to bed." Grundy then said, " Moxon
thought to do me au injury," and also said that he
would give us £lO if we would say nothing. We
then went upstairs and had some gin, but I can't say
how much master drank. Grundy told us he set the
stacks on fire, but he did not say how he had fired
them. I got up about four in the morning, and I saw
my master about eight the same morning. I saw Grundy
again about four o'clock in the afternoon, standing
against Radford's public-house. I did not see Rawson
that day. When I saw Grundy against Radford's public-
house I told him to come home, but he refused, and gave
me 2s 6d to get some drink, but I put it back into his
pocket. Gruny then came home with me. On the way
he said, "the policemen are after me—they think that it
is me that did it. I did do it, and I will do some more."
The next morning I went and asked prisoner for my wages,
saying that I wouldnot stop with him any longer. I had not

had any quarrel with him. Prisoner told Johnson' the wag-
goner's boy, to say nothing. By Mr. O'Brien : Mr. Rust
knows the day on which prisoner told John not to say any-
thing. I told prisoner the reason I wanted to leave was he
would be taken up, and I did not wish to have anything to
do with it. Prisoner did not give me the whole of my
wages, saying he had not got it. He gave me 71., and he
now owes me 2/. I, Bott, and Parker had some talk about
what prisoner said on the Thursday morning. I, Bott,
and Harriet Parker used to talk about master having
said that he fired the stacks. I heard of the reward. I
saw it in the " catalogues." The reward did not affect
me at all, for I did not want it. I don't know who was
to get the reward. It stated in the papers that the 1001.
would be given for evidence. I don't know that I shall
get the reward. I want nothinc, but my wages. I and
Bott had some gin up stairs with° the master, and then we
went down stairs and had some more. It was in the pas-
sage that master said " I fired the stacks ; " he also said he
would give us £lO not to say anything. I have been
brought from Stockport to give evidence. George Bott,
the waggoner, gave similar evidence. The jury returned a
verdict of Guilty, and his lordship sentenced the prisoner
to penal servitude for 12 years.

TI ADM AND NAVICIATIOIV RRTURIVS

The following arc the amounts of the principal articles of
commerce exported from England to the month of February
for the last three years :

1857. 1858. 1859.
Apparel and slops £119,946 £115,284 £159,648
Beer and ale
Coals and culm 191,541 203,972 181,674
Cottons, calicoes, mus-
lins, &c.,
Coton yarn
Earthenware and porce-

2,372,187
.550,169

2,116,391
640,681

3,029,624

754,967

lain
Haberdashery,, &c 381,299
Hardware and cutlery . . 283,711
Leather unwrought .. . 22,049
Ditto, wrought 123,588
Saddlery and harness 18,655
Linens (clothes of all
kinds and cambrics .. .
Linen yarns
Steam machinery
Other machinery

80,855
219,113
188,699

94,996
327,144
254,898
30,950

14,391
90,085

93,889

17,986

20,852

268,175

76,766
76,798
130,160
47,337
124,372
9,693

321,672
159,038
43,336
129,412

Metals-Pig iron
Bar iron 200,217 160,495
Wire iron 23,589 13,638
Railway iron 292,352 153,696 158,402
Cast iron
Wrought iron 219,014 140,146 189,627
Steel, unwrought .. . 58,008 28,564 52,392
Copper, unwrought .... 58,700 62,103 68,870
Ditto, sheets and nails .. 133,643 122,710 98,524
Lead .... .... 32,982 28,169 31,430
Tin, unwrought .... 19,305 16,926 20,096
Tin-plates .... .... 135,585 80,502 107,726
Oil, seed
Painters' colours
Pickles and sauces
Plate, platedware, jewel-
lery and watches '4,,
Salt
Silk manufactures (silk
only)
Other articles of silk 21,724 17,786 32,063
Silk manufactures mixed with

35,344
27,638

35,741
21,920

44,464

47,175
12,944

10,987

other materials 41,907 28,216 41,444
Silk, - thrown 99,882 18,022 53,155
Ditto, twist and yarns 35,665 10,181 17,275
Soap 19,571 11,316 13,847
Spirits (British).
Stationery 54,151 57,522 65,564
Sugar, refined
Wool
Woollens (cloth) 276,372 178,048 238,471
Flannels (mixed, stuffs,
carpets, &c.)
Worsted stuffs 285,373
Woollen & worsted yarns 209,930

294,673

220,973

328,063

195,535

351,822

136,873

163,749

DEPARTURE OF COUNT
CAYOUR.

The Times announces that Count Cavour left
Turin, for Paris, on Thursday night, Everything
was Tranquil in Sardinia.

THE MINISTRY AND THE
REFORM BILL.
The Star says it is still uncertain whether the Govern-
ment will resign or dissolve, but considers it most important
that the constituencies should_everywhere be on the alert.
The Herald is surprised that experienced politicians can
be deluded by the idea that a ministry, which came into
office in a minority, would retire without an appeal to the
constituencies.