The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-09 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
wkSTERN ciactin'.—T,ant.m, April 6.
CROWN COURT.—(I3-fore Mr. Justice EaLe.)

TH FROMM MURDER.
IVilliam Sparrow, Wiliam illaggs, and Robert
Hurd, were indicted for the wilful murder of Sarah

warts on the 24th of September.
Mr. Moody and Mr. Everitt were counsel for the
prosecution, and Mr. Edwards defended Sparrow and
Maggs.

In the course of the opening address Hurd asked
the judge to assign bun counsel.
Mr. MOODY, after a short time, said that Mr. Ed-
wards would undertake to defend all the prisoners.
Mr. Justice ERLE said he thought no one was so
proper to do it, as Mr. Edwards held briefs fur the
other two prisoners.

Mr. EDWARDS said he would defend them all, but
would ask his LordThip to allow him the assistance of
a junior, and his friend Mr. 11.. T. Cole had offered to

assist him.

Mr. Justice ERLE said that would be very proper.
The facts of the case rested upon circumstantial
evidence. It appeared that the deceased Sarah Watts
was a child of about 14 years of age, and was the
daughter of Jahn Watts and Leah Watts. They
occupied a dairy farm about two miles from Frame.
On the morning of the 24th of September the parents,
as was their custom, started for Frame market, leav-

, .
ing the child alone in the house. Tney returned
about four o'clock in the afternoon. Upon entering
the house the first thing that attracted the father's
attention was some blood on the kitchen floor; he
also heard a little dog lapping something in the dairy,
which adjoined the kitchen. He called for his daugh-
ter, but she did not answer, and he then went into tha
dairy, and there found his daughter lying on the
floor; her clothes were tors, and she was bruised
and bloody, and quite dead. Upon an examination
of the body by a surgeon it turned out that tl.e poor
child had been ravished while living, and that her
death had been caused by suffocation, as there were
marks on her neck and throat, and upon her head.
It was therefore clear thst she had been shockingly
abused, and then brutally murdered. Some bread,
butter, and cheese, had been taken. The parents
went upstairs, and found the room had been
ransacked ; some clothes and a watch had been taken,
but there was no money. There was a silk handker-

chief left on the kitchen table. The robbery had
been skilfully contrived, for, although it was com-
mitted in broad dayligh', and within 100 yards of
road, and near some other houses, yet there was no
eye witness to any part of the transaction, and the
girl had not been heard to cry out. The body was
removed upstairs soon after it was found. Informa-
tion was conveyed to the police, and an application
was made to the Home-office, and a detective officer
was sent down on the Sunday following, and be com-
menced his investigation on Monday, the 297 h of
September. He observsd blood on the floor of the
dairy, and that some whey had been spilt from the
whey•tub Upon emptying the whey-tub there were
marks of blood on the bottom, and o❑ the left-hand
side of the dairy-door there was the mark of a
person's hand, with blood upon the thumb.
There was a mark on the wall, as if the
point of a person's shoe had caught against
it, and upon comparing the girl's shoe with the
mark they were found to correspond, and the point of
the shoe had mortar upon it. The clothes of the girl
appeared as if she had been put in the whey-tub.
She had been seen alive at one o'clock. Then came

the question, by whom was this dreadful outrage
committed—rape, robbery, and murder ? The pri-

sonars with another man had been seen together at a
public house, as the father and mother went to Frome
in the morning of that day. The three prisoners
lived near Frome. Sparrow knew the house of Watts
and the inmates well. The prisoners were seen toe
gether about twelve o'clock, when they were heard to
make an appointment to meet again within an hour,
and then they separated. About two o'clock they
were seen going in the direction of the house of Watts,
and within half a mile of it. Hurd then appeared to
be leading them on, as he walked first and beckoned
them to follow him ; but Sparrow and Maggs were
shortly afterwards seen without Hurd. About three
o'clock a man was seen running from the direction of
the scene of the murder. Between three and four
o'clock the prisoners were seen again, but they had
then changed their dresses. Maggs was seen hand-
ing something over to Hurd. In the course of
the afternoon they were all seen in the market-
place of Frome, and one was heard to say, A.
watch, but no tin." They were seen together
several times that evening. Three witnesses swore
that the handkerchief found on the kitchen
table belonged to Sparrow ; but when he was taken
he declared he had not had a silk handkerchief for
seven years. On Monday, the 29th of September,
there was a fair at North Bradley, about seven miles
from Frome. Sparrow was there, and a woman
named Watson
said to him, that as he came from
Frome, he must have heard about the murder ; to
which he gave this extraordinary answer, "that he
saw the child since the murder; that he was there on
the Thursday (the day after the murder) ; that she
was lying near the whey-tub with her clothes right
over her head, and had blows oil her head that
had been inflicted by a stick ; that she had been put
in the whey-tub, and it was covered with blood from
her head ; and that he did not think it would ever be
found out, as only one man had done it, and he
would never tell " was asked if he knew how it
was done, and be said, " Yes, I'll tell you how
it was done. She was knocked on the head
with a stick, and then she was held in the whey-
tub till she was dead, and then taken out and
laid on the floor." He had a knot in his
neckerchief under his ear, and some one asked him
if be should be hung soon, and be said he sup
posed it would not be lung first.
"'"K
the blood had not been found at fTh°:'boatttosahluot time
the the
whey-tub, and the holy of the girl had been carried
upstairs on the Wednesday, and he had not been
there on the Thursday. On the Tuesday morning
Sparrow's hand was tied up, and he said be had been
bitten in a row the previous night, but upon ex-
amining the wound it was clear it had been inflicted
some days, and therefore it was supposed that the
poor child, in her struggles, might have bitten his
hand, and that would account for the mark of the
hand with blood on it upon the wall of the pantry.
He was taken into custody upon another charge on
Wednesday, the Ist of October, and then his hand
was examined ; and, from the festered state of the
wound, it was clear that the injury must have been
inflicted some days before. Maggs had been seen with
Sparrow half a mile from the house shortly before
the murder, and they were seen together shortly after
it had been perpetrated. A few days after the murder
Maggs was heard conversing with another person
about it. That person said he had heard that Sparrow
was going to "peach," and that he was not only to have
a pardon but the 50/. reward. Upon which Maggs said
he could not get the pardon or the 501., for he (Sparrow)
was the man who killed her, and be would not
have killed her hut she knew him. With regard to
Hurd, the evidence suggested that he was the accom-
plice and the planner end leader of the robbery.
Smith, the officer, upon this went to each of the pri-
soners, and before he took him into custody gave him
an opportunity of explaining his conduct on that day.
Each made a statement which turned out to be quite
false. Sparrow was taken itto custody on account of
a watch he had, and which it was supposed might
have been the watch taken from the house of Watts.
Sparrow said he had bought it on the 24th of Sep-
tember of Robert Hurd, and that Maggs was present,
and this led to the apprehension of all the prisoners.
He said he had not paid for the watch. Every Ell-
deavour had been made to trace to whom the watch
belonged, but without success.
To prove the case for the prosecution no less than
43 witnesses were called, whose evidence extended
over a vast variety of smell and minute facts, and
made out in great measure the summary we have
given.

At nearly nine o'clock at night the case for the
prosecution was closed, and then the Court WAS ad-
journed to the next morning.
April 7.
This morning the trial was resumed.
Mr. EDWARDS addressed the jury for the
risoner?,
P urging upon them that a weaker
case h
the had never been
unhappy of
submitted to a jury. The blood
had seemed to call for vengeance, girl
stance was caught at with a and every circum-
view of discovering the
villains had committed this horrid crime. It was
who
found that a watch had been taken from the hours,
and, in the course of inquiry, it was discovered that
appre-
hension of the prisoners. And
Sparrow bad a watch, and that had led to the
suit of the watch affair ? Why, it was cleaTlypro
Ile
got up.
that the watch had never belonged
the
oo Watts.casehad been
complained of the manner in wh.icetindted
yet, what was the
proved
a charge
et the magistrates
which affected their lives, andatto3rney to be present
had refused to permit These men were apprehended
On their behalf when the.; I Ile also complained of the
tion before those o an attorney
was under inveA;iza-
mo
and proceeding to examine
denly upon the-
'''ewmot substantiating something like
by tffiheceidinetective officer in coming sni-
de adopted
them with
an
view
the magistrates the men, having
guilt.
his friend to put in those
when he called upon
had timleVthoecollect themselves, made statements, and
yet
statements, his friend had refused to put thenin.
Surely in such a case they did not want to entrap a
verdict. He also complained most strongly cf the
mode in which his triend had opened the case, for tt.e
opening amounted to this—', I can't prove a single
fact against the prisoners, but I believe them to be
guilty, and therefore I cell upon you to find them
guilty of this charge, although it may cost the forfei.
ture of their lives." Hs admitted that n more hom.ur•
able min than his Learned Friend did not exist, and
he could only account for his friends conduct by
supposing that he had allowed himself to be carritd
away by his feeling of horror for the orinae that had
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