The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-21 00:00:00

half, he would be liable, of course, to be cross-examined,
and further, that if prisoners permitted to be examined
their not submitting to be examined would raise such an
inference against them that practically the system would
bs compulsory, and the prisoner in every case would
have to submit to examination, as in foreign countries
—the objection to which, he added, was that in

many cases a prisoner, from the influence of confinement
and terror, and apprehension, would be betrayed either into
statements, admissions, or denials, the effect of which might
sometimes be to convict innocent parties. The present case
afforded an illustration of this observation, and also of the
obvious answer to it, tor it presented, it will be seen, the re-
markable instance of a prisoner being acquitted of a serious
offence, in spite of her own confession of it, the jury being
of opinion that they could not safely rely upon it,
An old woman named White, a charwoman, was indicted
for maliciously setting fire to a dwelling-house of Mr Ro-
binson, at Fulborough, on 16th May last.
Mr Hirst prosecuted; Mr Ribton was for the defence.
The theory for the prosecution was, that the act arose out
of revenge, on account of a quarrel with Mr Robinson.
There was some circumstantial evidence, and a little boy

spoke to seeing the woman on the night in question going
down towards the house a short time before the fire broke
out, which was about 9 o'clock at night. But the main piece
of evidence was an alleged confession by the prisoner, in

the gaol, to the prosecutor, in presence of the superinten-
dent of police, who took it down at the time, and both of
whom swore to it. The confession was that she hoped ho

would do all he could for her, and that he would forgive her
—that she did it without a thought.
Mr Ribton, for the defence, ascribed this confession to
the influence of terror and apprehension operating upon the

mind of the prisoner, and leading her to avail herself of any
means of escape, and look anxiously for any gleam of light
which might break in upon her from any quarter.
The jury during the progress of the learned counsel's ad-
dress interrnpted him by consulting together, and then in-
timated that they had made up their minds.
The learned Judge said it would be better for them to
hear the case out.

The jury still hesitated, and then said that they were all
of opinion in favour of the prisoner,
The learned Judge observed that he thought that, upon
the whole, was the safer verdict, as the only evidence against
her consisted of the supposed confession which was evi..

dently made while she was in such a pucker of anxiety and
alarm that it would probably be unsafe to rely upon it so
far as to convict her upon it.
The verdict of not guilty was then taken, and the prisoner
was discharged.
The next also was rather an unusual kind of case. Four
respectable looking men--three of them (named Cummins,
Matthews, and Hide) evidently seamen or fishermen; the
fourth, named Hughes, a tradesman of the town of East-
bourne—were jointly indicted for assaulting and beating
one Deniel Kegan, at that place.
Mr Gates was for the prosecution ; Mr Ribton was for
the fishermen ; Mr Hirst was for the other prisoner Hughes.
The circumstances of the case certainly, as the learned
counsel for the prosecution observed, were rather extraor-
ninary. The matter occurred only the other day—on Mon-
day, the 18th inst.—the day on which the Quarter Sessions
ended, or otherwise the case might have been tried there.
On that day the prosecutor, a hawker, was at Eastbourne,
and was heard to say something about the fever which had
driven the quality away from Eastbourne. This was in allu-
sion to the epidemic which prevailed in the place in the
latter part of last year, and as to which, it may be remem-
bered, a correspondence took place at the time. The allu-
sion seems to have exasperated such of the townspeople as
were present, including the prisoners, and they in the first
instance actually hauled up the man before the police, upon
what precise charge they probably had no idea. Of course
the police declined to take cognisance of the charge, and the
prisoners then unhappily resolved to take the law into their
own hands, and they, or at all events the fishermen, pro-
ceeded to mob the hawker, and pursue him from place to
place with much contumely and violence, pelting him with
bad eggs, rubbing a wet swab over his face, and so forth.
In the result the police rescued him, and this prosecution
was instituted. The prisoner Hughes was present on the
occasion, but it did not appear that he had taken any active
part.
Mr. Gates, in stating the case for the'prosecution, observed
that it arose out of the feeling excited by the rumours of the
unfortunate epidemic of last year, of which, probably, the
Court had heard. The case certainly was rather of an ex-
traordinary character, and the prosecution was instituted
from no vindictive feeling, but entirely with a view to up-
hold the law.
The learned Judge, interposing before witnesses were
examined, said he conceived, of course, that such was the
only object of the prosecution, and looking on the ono hand
at the depositions, and on the other hand at the respectable
appearance of the prisoners, he could not help thinking jus-
tice might be satisfied by their frankly acknowledging that
they were sorry for having broken the law and committed
a breach of the peace, and then entering into their own re-
cognisances to keep it in future. He remembered the ac-
count of the epidemic at Eastbourne, and regretted its
occurrence at that most beautiful and charming place of
resort, to which he cordially wished all credit and good
fortune; and ho should be very sorry that several of its
respectable inhabitants should be convicted and sentenced
upon an indictment for a breach of the peace and an assault
with violence. He had no doubt they were all sorry for it,
and that, looking at their character and respectable appear.
ance, they were not likely to be guilty of such conduct
again. He therefore threw out that the proper course to
pur.us was frankly to acknowledge their error, and then the
matter might end there.
Mr Ribton said ho had already given very similar advice
to his clients, the fishermen, and they now very gratefully
acceded to it, proceeding as it did from the learned judge.
He only desired to say on their behalf that they felt exas-
perated at the time, in consequence of reflections upon the
health of their town, which might, they feared, inflict in-
jute, upon it.
Mr Hurst, on the part of his client Hughes, who he
said was a respectable tradesman in the town, said that he
denied having incited the men to any violence ; but still he
must admit having been present on the occasion. and per-
haps might have used expressions which the men might
have understood as incitement, though not so intended.
Mr Justice Willes observed that, looking at the deposi-
tions, he imagined that to have been the case, and it must
be remembered that the presence of a person in the position
of a respectable tradesman on such an occasion, and his tacit
sanction to a lawless proceeding, especially aided by expres-
sions showing some sympathy with it, must naturally tend
to excite others to take part in it, and he would do wisely
to adopt the same course as the others, Indeed all the pri-
soners had stood in some peril of an indictment for riot,
upon which all who were present, even with only the tacit
sanction of their presence, might have been found guilty.
And it could not be supposed the interests of Eastbourne
could be really promoted by such lawless proceedings.
In the result, all the prisoners assented to the course pro-
posed, and were liberated on their own recognisances to keep
the peace and come up for judgment if over called upon, as
they would not be, the learned judge observed, unless they
were guilty of any renewal of a breach of the peace.

WESTERN CIRCUIT...—DOIteIIESTER, Wednesday.
The commission for holding the assizes for the county of
Dorset was opened in this town yesterday afternoon by Mr.
Justice Byles, who afterwards went to church.
This morning at half-past 10 the business of the assizes
commenced, Mr Justice Byles presiding in the Crown
Court, and Mr Justice Williams sitting at Nisi Prius. The
business was light; there were only five cases entered in
the cause list, and there were but 11 prisoners for trial.