The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-18 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE,

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONE, March 17.
The commission for the county of Kent was
opened here on Monday, and yesterday morning
both courts proceeded to business. Lord Chief Jus-
tice Cockburn presiding on the civil side, and Mr.
Justice Wightman in the Crown Court. Eighteen
civil causes are entered for trial, five of which are
to be tried by special juries. The gaol calendar
contains the names of forty prisoners, but, with the
exception of two charges of murder, none of tha
cases appear to be of a serious description.
(Before Mr. Justice Wightman.)
Mr. Henry Aldridge, an ensign in the 84th regi-
ment, a very gentlemanly looking young man, sur-
rendered to take his trial upon a charge of felo-
niously uttering a forged cheque for £l5, with
intent to defraud the National and Provincial Bank
at Folkestone.

Mr. Bil on conducted the prosecution; Sergeant
Ballantine was specially retained with Mr. Kaye
for the defence.

This case created a good deal of interest on ac-
count of the position in life of the prisoner, who is
very respectably connected, and also from the
fact of his being a very great favourite with all
his brother officers, and with the officers of all
the other regiments at the camp at Shorncliffe,
where he has been stationed for about a year
and a half. The principal witness in support
of the case for the prosecution was Mr. Standford,
the cashier of the National Provincial Bank at
Folkestone; and, according to his evidence, about
half-past 11 o'clock in the morning of the 15th of
August a gentleman came to the bank in a fly be-
tween half-past 11 and 12 o'clock, and presented a
cheque apparently drawn by Mr. Meiklam, an
ensign in the 78th Regiment, upon Messrs. Cox and
Co., the army agents in London, for the sum of
£l5, and which was drawn in favour of Mr. Thorp,
who is also an ensign in the same regiment, and
asked for cash for it. Mr. Standford asked the
gentleman if he was Mr. Thorp, and he said he was,
and signed the name " W. Thorp" to the cheque,
and added to the signature the words " Ensign 78th
Regiment," and he then received two £5 notes and
five sovereigns and was driven away to the railway
station, from whence a train started at ten minutes
to twelve o'clock. Mr. Standford stated that to the
best of his belief Mr. Aldridge was the person who
presented this cheque, and upon the discovery being
made that it was forged he went to the camp, ac-
companied by Superintendent English, of the Kent
county constabulary, and saw Colonel Lightfoot,
the commanding officer. The prisoner was sent for,
and Mr. Standford at once stated that he believed
he was the person who had presented the forged
cheque, and he was asked to write the name " W.
Thorp," and the words " Ensign 78th Regiment,"
that had been written upon the cheque, on a piece
of paper. He immediately did so, and the result
was that he was given into custody, and committed
to take his trial upon the present charge, but the
magistrates consented to admit him to bail, and he
now surrendered to take his trial. In the course of
the case a cab driver named Frederick Philpot, who
had driven the person, whoever he was, to the bank
upon the occasion of the forged cheque being pre-
sented, was placed in the box to be examined at
the request of Sergeant Ballantine, the prosecution
not considering it advisable to call him as a wit-
ness for the Crown, and lie stated, in answer to
questions put by the learned sergeant, that he remem-
bered driving to the bank on the day in question, and
that a gentleman went inside, but he declared that
the prisoner was not the person. it appeared, how-
ever, from other questions that were put to him by
Mr;Biron, that when he was first applied to he
stated to Superintendent English that he knew the
gentleman he drove to the bank was young Ald-
ridge, of the 84th, and that he had repeatedly driven
him, and that he owed him 4s. 6d., and it also ap-
peared that in consequence of what he did origi-
nally state to the superintendent he was directed to
appear before the magistrate at Hythe on the fol-
lowing day to be examined as a witness for the pro-
secution upon the present charge.
Mr. Biron proposed during the inquiry to put in
the piece of paper upon which the prisoner had
written the name W. Thorp and the other words,
in order that the jury might have an opportunity
of comparing the handwriting with that of the
forged endorsement upon the cheque.
Sergeant Ballantine, however, objected to this.
and, after some discussion, Mr. Justice Wight-
man ruled that the paper was not admissible, hav-
ing first consulted the Lord Chief Justice upon the
point.

- Colonel Lightfoot, the officer in command of the
prisoner's regiment, was examined, and he stated
that he remembered seeing him at morning parade
on the 15th of August, and after the parade was
over he asked his permission to go to Canterbury,
and he allowed him to do so. It was about 10 mi-
nutes to 12 when this occurred, and at this time he
was in plain clothes, and was going in the direction
of Sandgate.
In answer to questions that were put by Sergeant
Ballantine, the colonel stated that the parade was
generally over about half-past 11 o'clock, and be-
tween that time and the period when he again saw
the prisoner he would have had to go to his hut and
change his clothes, so that it must have been nearly
12 o'clock when he asked him leave to go to Canter-
bury. He also said that the prisoner had been in
the regiment two years, and during that period he
had conducted himself exceedingly well, and he con-
sidered him a young man of most honourable prin-
ciples, and he never knew a more promising young
officer to have joined the corps.
Sergeant Ballantine, at the close of the case for
the prosecution, made a most powerful address to
the jury on behalf of the prisoner. He said that
although he had undoubtedly in the first instance
approached the inquiry with very great anxiety,
that anxiety had been dispelled as the ease pro-
ceeded, and ho said it really appeared to him that
the evidence that had been adduced had not only
failed to establish the charge against the prisoner,
but had actually disproved it, and that after the tea-
mony of Col. Lightfoot, as to the time when he last
saw him on the morning in question, it was impos-
sible that he could have been the person by whom
the forged cheque was presented.
A number of witnesses, all persons of station and
high position, among whom were Sir H. Vane, Col.
Meuse, Mr. lurst, the barrister, Admiral Monta-
gue, Mr. C. Dickens, and the Rev. J. F. Hodgson,
were called to speak to the character of the prisoner,
man of high honour and integrity, and, to their
and they all concurred in describing
utterly incapable of committing such an
opinion, him as a young
act as the one now imputed to him.
The learned Judge having very briefly summed
up, the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty.
The verdict was received with a burst of cheers,
and the prisoner, who was ordered to be imme-
diately discharged, left the court surrounded by his
friends.

The grand jury have ignored the bill against the
two prisoners charged with the murder at Queens-
borough.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—LINCOLN, March 17.
(Before Mr. Justice Willes.)
THE ARSENICAL POISONINGS AT MARERAM-LE-PEN.
The charge against John Garner and Hannah,
his wife, for the wilful murder of Hannah Garner,
the first wife of the male prisoner, on March 28.,
1862, and for the wilful murder of Jemima Garter
(mother of the male prisoner) on Deo. 2(1.. 1861,
commenced yesterday afternoon.
Mr. Stephen, the Hon. Ghandos Leigh, and Mr.
Mellor appeared for the prosecution I The prisoners
were defended by Sergeant O'Brien, Mr. Floweret
and Mr. Huish.
Mr. Stephen stated the case as follows : - ,The fe..
male prisoner (whom we shall call Whitt ter) was
married to John Garner last year 1 previous to this