Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-04 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

CHESTER —Ye3TERDAY.

(FROM Ora OWN REPORTER.)
The summer assizes for the county of Chester com-
menced yesterday before the Right Hen. Sir A C xrkburn,
Lord Chief Jattice of the Court. of Common Piens, and
Mr. Justice Crowder. The Chief Jastice presided in the
Nisi Pries court, and Mr. Justice Crowder in the Crown
Court. There are sixty-one cases in the calendar, many of
them serious offences. They include a case of murder, in
which the prisoner, John Blagg, stands charged with
wilfully shooting John Bebbington, a gamekeeper, at
Tunstall, the 16th of April list. The grand jury, of which
Earl Grosvenor, M.P., was foreman having been swore,
His LORDSHIP prcceeded to deliver his charge. He
said—Gentlemen of the Grand Jury, I am sorry that I
cannot upon this occasion congratulate you or your county
on the state of the calends: which now lies before me.
It is one in which there will be presented for your conside-
ration cases of a very serious nature, indeed. Looking
generally at the oalendar, although, as compared with that
of the summer of 1836, the numbers are nearly equal,
yet. as regards the respective nature of the crimes with
which the prisoners are charged, I regret to say
that the present is a much heavier calendar.
It shows, therefore, I am sorry to add, an increase of crime
in this county, and presents a painful contrast to what I
experienced last week in the counties of South Wales.
Within the past few days I have passed through a number
of counties in South Wales, in all of which I have had to
congratulate grand juries, both as to the number and
character of the offences charged. No doubt your county
is in the midst of a very considerable population, from the
extent cf manufactures carried on within it, and one wocld
expect to see more cases than in the other counties to which
I have referred, but it is my painful duty to inform you
that you will have brought before you one charge of
murder. I have looked over the depositions, and they
seem to me to lead strongly to the conclusion of the guilt
of the prisoner. It will be on circumstantial evidence that
the prisoner's guilt will be established, if it be brought
home to him. The charge is that the prisoner murdered a
gamekeeper. He was found dead between five and six o'clock
in the morning. He had been shot, and a gun had been found a
short distance from his body. A short time before the
body of the deceased was found, the prisoner was seen a
short distance from the spot. On several occasions, in
consequence of the deceased having taken from him a gun,
he expressed himself in terms which showed that
he desired to have the life of the deceased, and had
been heard to say, that if he had as opportunity, he
would shoot him. Certain footmarks in the field
near where the deceased was discovered, was
found to tally with the prisoner's boots, under rather
peculiar circumitances. In these footmarks there were
the indications of 22 nail marks, and there were 22 nails
in the prisoner's boots, which exactly corresponded with
these marks. These facts, along with the threats used by the
prisoner, and the further fact that he had frequently been
found poaching. were the main circumstances in the evidence
against him. With respect to the other cases of a serious
characterin the calendar,he found that there were six persons
charged with arson, twelve with burglary, six with cutting
and wounding, three with forgery, one with manslaughter,
nine with the commission of rape in its differeut forms,
and seven with highway rohbery, a body of offences of the
gravest character. He had compared the calendar with
that of 1856, with reference to some of the more serious
cases, an 4 he found that in 1856 there were 10 burglaries
where now there were twelve. In 1856 there were
two charges of rape, now there were nine. In the present
calendar there were seven persons charged with house-
breaking, whilst in 1355 there were none. It was there-
fore spite clear, that if they looked at the figures, the
present calendar was very heavy indeed. Having referred
at some length ,to several of the cases in the calen-
dar, his Lordship glanced at the working of the
various Reformatories in different pars cf England,
expressing himself favourable to the experiment which was
being tried. He next alluded to the act of parliament
passed on the 26th of June last, and which came into
operation so recently as the 4th of July, abolishing
entirely the sentence of transportation, and substituting in
its place an extended system of penal servitude. It was a
most important act of parliament. Under its provisions,
penal servitude for life, and intermediate terms, could be im-
posed, and it provided for reds deg penal servitude to three
years, whereas hitherto it could not be imposed for less
than four years. The provisions of the new act attached
this to penal servitude—that while a man was undergoing
his sentence it was competent to remove him from this
country to the colonies, just as much so as under the old
system. That should be fully known, because otherwise it
might be thought that transportation was abolished altoge-
ther.

The cases tried dur7rig the day were unimportant, and
•"`""a*-1 """WiSf 'enl eretnintti."--'

The Lord Chief Justice entered the court shortly after
eleven o'clock.

The cause list contains fifteen cases, several of which are
snecial jury issues. They include the case " Peto and
Others v. the Corporation of Liverpool," arising out of a
contract entered into by the plaintiffs in connection with
the Great Float at Birkenhead.
THE THANMERE ALLOTMENT ScciErr.—TetosapsoN
STEEL.—The plaintiff is this case is a builder in Birken-
head, and sought to recover £l9 6s, the balance of an
account for the building of two villas at Tranmere, in con-
nexion with the Tranmere Allotment Society. The de-
fendant claimed £l7 as a set-of, bing £1 per week, the
sum agreed upon at the time of making the contract, as
the penalty of non-completion within a given time. As
there was every prospect of a long contention as to the
balance in dispute, a reference to Mr. W. Cole, architect,
of Birkenhead, was suggested, and was eventually agreed
upon, on the understanding that he was to examine the
witnesses at Birkenhead, and meke his award during the
present week. Mr. Welsby and Mr. Jones appeared
for the plaintiff, and Mr. Groves, Q.C., and Mr. Jackson
for the defendant.

JURISDICTION OF THE JUDGES OVIR THE CITY OF
Carsvna.—CLAYTON v. RISC E —The plaintiff in this
case is a horbe-dealer in Yorkshire, aul the defendant is
agent to the Earl of Sefton, at Ccostetb. The action was
brought to recover damages from the defendant for the
sale of a mare, warranted to be sound, but which turned
out to be unsound. When the case was called upon, Mr.
Welsby on the part of the defendant, contended that his
lordship had no jurisdiction in that court in the case,
because the plaintiff had chosen to lay the
venue in the "City of Chester." Atter some conversation,
His Lordship directed the commission to be sent for, and
ou perusing it said that he had no j irisdiction, as the
commission was for the County Palatine of Chester. The
case was therefore ordered to be struck out.

HOME CIRCUIT.—MarnsroNE, JULY 31.
RTFORE AIR JUSTICE WILLES.
TRIAL OF GEORGE EDWARDS FOR MURDERING lIIS BMOTOER.
—George Kehl)le Edwards, 18, described as a farm-
labourer, was indicted for the wilful murder of Thomas
Edwards, his brother, by nearly chopping his Lead to
pieces with an axe. The circumstances of this case were
of a most dreadful eharaeter ; but the facts lay in a very
narrow compass, and the crime was clearly established
against the prisoner by the evidence for the prosecution%
It appeared that the parents of the prisoner hired a small
house, in a street called Bedford-row, at Maidstone, and
that the prisoner, the deceased (who was 21 years old), and a
younger brother named Samuel, all lived together. The
deceased appeared to be
.a hard-working, well-conduci;ed
young man, who, by his exertioce, aided to support the
family in respectability; but the prisoner appeared to have
beon an idle, good-for-nothiog fellow, who would not
work, bat sub,isted in idleness upon his fatbel'e and
brother's exertions. On Mond kv, the 16th of March, the
father of the prisoner told him he had get some work
for him at the establishment where he was him-
self employed, and the prisoner made soma evasive
answer, to the effect that he had get. work at some other
place. The deceased en hearing this told the prisoner
i
that if he did not go to work when t was obtained for
him he would turn him oat of duorY, and the prisoner
appeared very angry at what his brother said', and there
was very little doubt that lie was actuated by a feeling of
revenge in the crime that he subsequent.ly COMlDltteri.
Tae dreadful occurreeee took place on the night of the
18, 11 of March. It seemed that the deceased young man
came h m e from his work about half-past eight o'clock, and
he at once proceeded to the bed-room that was occupied
by the prisoner and himself, which was the back room on
the first fl )or. About half-past nine, the father and the
other brother, &mud, went to their bedroom, which was
in the front of the house, and the mother of the prisoner
at up for him, and ebout a quarter to ten be came home.
She t went up to her own bed-room, and as she passed
the room cf the. deceased, she saw him in bed, and ap-
parently adeep. The prisoner remained down st airs, but
shortly afterwards he was heard by his mother to go iuto
the bad--oom.w here the deecaied was, and the mother then
went down stairs, ors account, as it eppared, of the
prisoner being in the habit of going out late at night, to
see if the house was fastened, and she found the front door
locked, and that the beck door was also properly secured
Nothing more occurred encil about half-past twelve o'clock
at night, when the mother was awoke by hearing a noise as
of some perscn moaning in her sou's bed-room, aid she im-
mediately struck a light ar.d proceeded there, when an
awful sight presented itself. The unfortunate deceased
was lying upon the bed, with several dreadful gashes upon
his head, and the pillows and bedding were completely
saturated with blood. The prisoner was gone, and be had
evidently got away from the house by jumping out of the
window, which was found open, and two garden pots that

had been upon the window sill had been knocked down
by him in his flight. Upon the room being searched.
there was fenni under the bed an axe covered with blood
anal hair. It was a moat fearful weapon, the edge of the
blade being nine or ten inches long, and weighing at least
ten pounds, and it sufficiently accounted for the dreadful
injuries that were discovered upon the heed of the
deceased. Mr. Saunders, a surgeon living at Maidstone,
was promptly in attendance ; but although the unhappy
young man was alive, he wes perfectly unconscious, and
nothidg could be done to alleviate his Buntings, and at
eight o'clock the same morning he expired. A more
careful examination of the injuries he had received was
then made, and it was ascertained that the skull and scalp
had been fractured most d;.eadfully in two places, and
that the membrane of the brain had been severed,
and the jawbone was also broken. There was no
doubt that all these frightful injuries had been occasioned
by the axe that was produced, and the surgeon ex-
pressed, an opinion, from the character and direction of
the wounds, that they had been inflic4 el while the unhappy
deceased was in a reclining position, and most probably
while he was asleep. He also stated that the first blow
must have been mortal, and that it produced immediate
unconsciousness. Nothing was seen of the prisoner until
nine o'clock the same morning, when he made his appear-
ance at the house of an uncle at Brompton, near Recheeer.
and he breakfasted with him, and, in answer to the
question of what brought him to Bronaptoa, he said that
he had come from Maidstone on the previous night with
a young woman, and that he had st)p-d late with her,
and so he thought he would take a stroll and see his uncle.
He then said that he was very tired, and laid down and
slept till five o'clock in the afternoon, when he had some
tea, and, in the course of the conversation he had with his
uncle on this day, ha said that his father was at work,
and also that his brother Thomas had got work, but that
he himself had not done anything since the hop season.
The prisoner went away from his uncle's house at nine
o'clock on the night of the 19th March. stating that he was
going to Maidstone, but on the following morning he was
met by one of the Rochester police in the Hich-street, Ro-
chester, and he, having received information of the murder,
and the description of the prisoner, took him into custody.
Mr. Denman addressed the jury in the prisoner's behalf,
and endeavoured to shew that he was not in a sound
state of mind at the time he committed the dreadful
crime. The learned judge summed up, and the jury,
after a short deliberation, returned a verdict of Guilty.
His lordship then put on the black cnn, and after making
a few obeervations upon the dreadful character of his
crime, seetenced him to ho execuael, at the same time
telling him that his (loom was certain, and advised him to
make use of the short space that remained to him in this
world, in endeavouring to obtain pardon from the Almieitty
for this awful crime. The prisoner, who betrayed no emo-
tion during the trial, or when the sentenoe was delivered,
then walked away from the bar with a firm step.