The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-18 00:00:00

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felony, and then assisted the felon, he could not be con-
♦icted,
The prosecution against Smedley was then withdrawn,
and the case closed against Green, and it being nearly five
o' clock,
The learned Judge said he should not SUM up the ease
to-night, and would, if Mr. Metcalfe wished, now adjourn.
The learned counsel, however, elected to address the jury
on behalf of his client at once, and urged strongly upon the
jury the very unsatisfactory nature of the medical testi-
mony.
The Court ejourned at the conclusion of Mr. Metcalfe's
speech.

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONE, Dec. 17.
(Before Mr. Baron Pigott.)
CHARGE OF ARSON.—Sydney George Sneed, 33, a re-
spectable looking man, Eurrendered to take his trial upon a
charge of having feloniously and maliciously set fire to a
dwelling house in his occupation, persons being therein at
the 6. e.

Mr. Barrow prosecuted and Mr. Ribton defended the
prisoner.

botthhoneeeo laltrrhtoodweoomo,e
the
tvnaTmhediaAcansneesatnooddEloivzaerbeftrhomGathrie.hla,swthaossoiczceusp.
ieldttwapopreoaormeds
.....monperiosnon:hre cfiarrsrtiefld
ioornatshea bsuitstii:egs,srooof
ma t,aainlodr aatnßotohcehresasters,
night of the 30th of March last and it appeared ear dthat
cfiobthroe7treh..laraitved with him, and two maiden sisters
and that had:rsihemse
even:
is. the subject
w went
ntto, ofb inquiryed abopupt took
quarter place
ock at night, and very shortly
prisoner's mother go to her bedroom, and in a few
afterwards they
minutes thereafter the prisoner also went to his own room,
and, according to the evidence, almost. immediately after-
wards the house was discovered to be on fire. The ladies
endeavoured to go down the stairs, but there was such a
quantity of smoke coming from the lower part of the house
that the) were unable to do so, and they eventually made
their eseatexte by eeladder fro their hedgeelee
vr The
prisoner and his mother also got out, and none of the inmates
of the house received any injury, although no doubt but for
the timely discovery of the fire their lives would have been
seriously endangered. Mr. Radley, superintendent of the
Kent constabulary, and some of his men obtained admission
to the premises very soon atter the alarm was given, and they
succeeded in putting out the fire before Eta), material amount
of mischief was done;
and it appeared the company with
which the prisoner had effected an insurance (the Commercial
Union) paid him the amount of his loss by the fire, the agent
stating, as was proved during the trial, that " it was not
worth their while to contest claims of such a trifling cha,-,
reefer, or to prosecute, whatever their auspicious might be.
The magistrates of the city of Rochester, however, from the
facts that were laid before them, felt it to be their duty in
the interest of the public to take up the matter, and it ap-
peared that the prisoner was in the first instance Summoned
before thew, and the result was that he was committed to
take his trial upon the present charge, which would have
been disposed of at the summer assizes, but an application
was made to Mr. Baron Chaunell to postpone the trial, which
was granted, and in the meantime the prisoner was allowed
to be at large upon bail. The principal facts that appeared
to be relied upon in support of the charge were, that accord-
ing to the opinion of the two ladies who lodged in the house,
at the time the prisoner went up to his bedroom the house
was actually on fire, and he must have been aware of the
fact ; and it appeared that they made an observation to this
effect to the prisoner on the night the fire happened, and he
replied it was all right when he wert up to bed ; and this,
according to the theory of the prosecution, could not have
been the case. Another circumstance relied upon to sup-
port the charge was that upon the police going into the
house they found fire under the stairs, and after they had
extinguished the fire they discovered that the counter in the
shop was on fire in two places, and it was suggested that
these were all distinct fires, and could not have bean comma.
nicated one to the other. It also appeared that when prisoner
was questioned about the fire by the superintendent he said
the house was quite safe when he left the lower part of it,
and that he was in bed when the alarm was given; but
upon the officer going into his bedroom the bed did not ex-
hibit any appearance of having been slept in. Besides this,
it appeared that in the bedroom of the prisoner's mother
there was found, fastened to the bed, a long cord, knotted
and with a hook at the end, which was evidently in' ended
es an instrument to facilitate the escape of any person in case
of the house being on fire. The whole of the facts proved
in support of the prosecution appeared, however, merely to
make out a case of suspicion; and with regard to the last-
mentioned piece of evidence, it appeared that the prisoner
told the officer that the rope had been in the possession of
his family for a great many years, and there were no grounds
for doubting this to be the fact. A good many of the suspi-
cious circumstances in the case were also to a coneiderable
extent explained away in the course of the cross-examina-
tion, and it was not at all distinctly negatived that the fire
was the result of accident.
Mr. Ribton made an able address to the jury on behalf of
the prisoner, and he contended that the evidence had alto-
gether failed to establish the fact that the fire had been oc-
casioned wilfully, and he urged that it was monstrous to
suppose that the prisoner should have committed such an
act, which might have resulted in the death of his own
mother, without, as it appeared to him, anything like an
adequate motive for the commission of such an atrocious
crime. In the course of his observations the learned coun-
sel said that it was clear the case had been got up by the
police, and that it exhibited a strong illustration of the want
of a public prosecutor ; and he said if there had been such a
functionary, he felt satisfied that such a charge would never
have been brought forward. He then proceeded to com-
ment upon the facts of the case, and said that fires were
constantly occurring which could not be accounted for, and
that this had been the case ever since the Fire of London,
which was at first generally attributed to the Papists, w'th-
out the slightest foundation for such a suspicion ; and he
cited the well-known lines of Pope upon this subject :
" Where London's column pointing to the skies,
Like a tall bully lifts its head and lies."
He then called a number of witnesses, who gave the prisoner
an excellent character.
The learned judge having summed up, the jury, after a
short deliberation, returned a verdict of Not Guilty, and
the prisoner was then discharged.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—Yortx., Dec. 16.
(Before Mr. Justice Mellor.)
• Joseph Hartley, Charles Shepherdson, Robert Haigh,
and John Scott, were charged with night poaching, being
armed, at Womersley, on the 30th of October. There was
also a second indictment charging the prisoners with shoot-
ing Thomas Hiles, with intent to do him some grievous
bodily harm, at the same time and place.
Mr. Maule and Mr, West prosecuted ; Mr. Blackburn
appeared for Haigh and Scott, and Mr. Bruce for the other
two prisoners.
It appeared that on the night named in the indictment
Lord Hawke's keepers and some watchers were out near
Daffy-wood, at Womereley, and hearing a shot in the direc-
tion of another woad named Broad Oak, the party went at
once to the edge of it. On their arrival some of the watchers
were sent into the plantation, the keepers and
the rest
stationing themselves behind the trees in the immediate
neighbourhood. While they were there four men, who were
stated to be the prisoners, came out of the wood, and one
of the party at once exclaimed, the moment he saw the
keepers, "There are the keepers; shoot them ;" using at the
same time a coarse expression. On this one of them who
had a gun, and was stated to be the prisoner Shepherdson,
immediately fired at Thomas lilies. The shot took effect
and Hiles became partly insensible. One of the men then
added; "Go in and finish him," and the keeper was a good
or two after the ocLurrence Lordnd
deal maltreated. In order to connect the pr sorters with the
of West
offence Hiles deposed that he had known Haigh before, a
dm'a rewardAday of £5O for the discoveofficers, rHecaowgkneizoeffderhei
onenea near f
thehlni sgObled Church r y of the
offenders. In the meanwhile the superintendent
Riding police at Pontefract, Mr. Hall, hay.
then being the
ap-
prehended
municated
twov ii t with,
of let eh, e
men, accompaniedwho
lived
vbeyd
nemid middle
eeoutt
at Pontefract. They were each found i
eernisstio
ne thatto tsheeeyk
11 bed, of them
partly dressed, and when asked how it h
swaeyrien ign
tbheadt aatltthhaututzi time ehoef
hdaady ,
the forenoon, one of them attempted to account for it by
work, he had not obtained it, and'
bicten at Fac:
had therefore gone to bed
when ho returned. Haigh
village of Knottingley, and was
taken the same day at the
about four miles from
places being in
the prisoners wereShepherdson at Tanshelf, both
the immediateworkanth vicinity of Pontefract, and
e Broad Oak wood. To show that
Riles, a m
Womer i all mixed up with the affair, and to cor-
roborateon his way to
Li y the prisoners, named Salkeld, a labourer who WAS
about 6 o'clock in the morning, met two
of the prisoners,
-siU to Pontefract. Mr. Hall obtained the boots worn
whom ho knew, coming up a by-read from
eft by the :die of the wood, they wore found to correspond
and on eon; paring them with footprints

exec; iy,
cross-examination it was elicited that Hiles during the
6ay before had been drinking, and he admit:ed that although
he saw Mr. Hall, the superintendent, the next day, he did
pressed for
not mention Haigh's name to him, and on being
his reason for not having done so, said he had forgotten to

do it
In. defence, Mr. 131ackburn urged that practically the pri-
soners were sought to be convicted on the testimony of Hiles,
almost unsupported, and that he was iu such a state from
his previous day's drinking ss to be totally unreliable,besides
which he had admitted that he did not mention Ilaigh's
although he said he had recognised irm, until after
Lord
nme,
Hawke had offered the reward.
fir,Brace (who commenced his address by stating that
be appeared for Mr. Campbell Foster, who, he was •
pnosinstethdethfaa:
say, was prevented by illness from coming to courts)oulry to
pailsocleikteooto!tricosn,gaandreilukrintheere
upon
correspond.
ttohfethjaery must not

1:J 4
once of the footprints, and fuCrlther pointed optifilir
which might apply to any o ne of the accuse
cessarily apply to any one of the others.
His Lordship having summed up, the jury r 1114,
having been absent for about an hour, returned wit vela
die*, of guilty against all the prisoners. Hartley, Shepherd..
son, and Haigh were thereupon sentenced to be kept in
penal servitude four and Sai'Us for three years.
Henry Smith Evans was in dieted for stealing and Thomas
Dryhurst for feloniously receiving a large quantity of silver,
the property of Joseph Bradbury and another, at Sheffield,
on the 19th of October last.
NChiasFri ‘mlo
Campbell
v.
otherbsoeldt
In(l
prisoner,
BlackburntoiaAmptFoster, who
and M
wasr . Gully,absent
from holding
illness,
the brief
ro oe
prosecuted
u ef
dr
t
time
epaarsetdEf for
Evans,
viatns;
appeared, a d i.lr
had.
been
employed
by the prosecutors,
in his care almost the'llwohiloalcie of6x
From events
aelirielojearresgdi silver
ehsrt: topEcl of
fs
havingwsilavei
the constant habit of making up parcels, which he said N\s'erne
forwarding
hsovsuausredd
siinnogrßtthihreleniMi
nt o,hn
policithey‘einto.otthh:.er
ow,hie was
tee.aiet; ;iBeug.r::
id,
naitnnodtaht
latter
One of these parcels
sold
Was
admitted i
ttahkaetnhotobalidryg'houtrpBat,reNeVlEsoo%, isnilvreerp
from
a Enod:el3B7:ll6 questions,
o nths'atsahicie
lateidinstehlartrhee.
ghoatdndeiasprloysexcllooffothr etmheolnasht ilsotacheeoujinatd,
commission, previouslyfor th e
rasdon who ceived something like £5 as a sort of
transactior s. When asked whether the
for-
warded the silver was the same Evans whoPh
been in the same house as he then was, h 3 sob.;
further 'rated that he had sold the silver to some IreB'"
t ns iand
Birmingham. Thereupon he and Evans were both takes
into custody, and, inquiries having been made by the Pic
both the prisoners were committedup m the present chaorg 4.
The only point really contested throughout the case w:7
s.
whether the silver had been sufficiently identified ; and
The learned Judge bold the jury that they must, of
course, before they convicted either of the prisoners, be
satisfied that the silver was Messrs. Bradbury's properly ;
and if they were so, then the question, so far as Dryhurst
was concerned , still remained—did he know that it had
been stolen when he received it ? If so, he was guilty,
His lernship also took the opportunity of remarking that
be considered the plan pur-ued by the policeman of obtain-
ing a statement from Dryhurst was extremely objectionable,
and he also made some strong observations with reference
to the facilities apparently afforded, in this case, to the
ptf-
senors for getting rid of property evidently so valuable as
this, by purchasers being found almost immediately.
The jury found each prisoner Guitty, at the same time
adding their full concurrence in the last remark of his lord-
ship.
The prisoners, having both begged for mercy, were then
severally sentenced to be kept in penal servitude for six
years.

4--It
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S

•
ROYAL E NGL IST!. OPERA,
COV 'ENT-GA/:DEN.
Under the Mangm eent at 31 iss Louisa Pyae and
M r. W. Harr ;son.
TINS EVENING, t or the 23d t ime, Balfe's new Opera,
BLANCH Dl4 NEV E JtS Miss Louisa Fyne, Miss Ana
Hiles, miss Emma Heywood; Ntess rs.NV. ti. Weiss, Corri,
DESERT
A. Cook, A. de Alm C. Ly al, J.lRou-;e, and W. Harrison.
To conclude with the. Second .Act of THE
FLOWER.

Co ndu ctor, Mr. A. Mellon,
Doors open at hal f-past Six--( 'ommence at Seven

rirl EATRE R,OYAL DRURy_ LANE.
Managers, Messrs-
-a
E. Falconer nd F. B. Chatterton.
THIS EVENING, he;- Majesty's Servants will perform
the Farce of
pLA _RT'S IN THE HIGHLANDS:
characters by
.j, Nc Alle, Mr. G. Weston, Mr. Warde,
Mr. J. Marris ; Mrs. C. A lelville, and Miss Harfleur.
Af rer which, Lord Byron's Choral Tragedy, MANFRED.
assts, V helps,. Ryder, Ra yner, M-agreson, Ward, Spencer ;
Miss Eburne.Misa E. Atk it son, Miss Leclercq, and Mrs. E.
Falconer. Vocalists —Mis s Poole, Miss Litter, Miss Cicely
Not., Miss Heywood, and _lir. Swift.
Vol-lowed by BEAUTY 0 R THE BEAST. Principal cha-
ractrs by Messrs. Addison,. G. F. tiesille, Parret, Spencer,
and G. Westcn ; Mrs Edinun d Falconer and Miss K. Leelerq.

THEATRE ROYAL HAY \I ARKET.-
ole Lessee and Mai lager, Mr, Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, USED UP. Messrs. Chas. Mathews,
now, Clark, Braid, Gordon, Cullentord, &c. ; Mesdames
yitzwilliam, Lindley, &c.
Followed by THE GOLDEN FLEECE.. Messrs. Charles
mathew4, Compton,Weathersby, &c. ;Mesdames C. Mathews,
(, Keeley Griffith, &c.
With CO )L AS A CUCUMBER. Mr. C. Mathews.
And MY HUSBAND'S Gt.' OST.
Commence at 7.

riOYAI, LYCEUM THEATRE.
it Under the Sole Management of Mr. Fechter.
BEI, DE NIONIO (a Triumphant Success) will be repeated
Eve:), Evening until further notice.
THIS EVENING, the Comedietta, by W. Gilbert, entitled
UNCLE BABY: Mess-s. Widdicombe, J. G. Shore, Charles ;
)digs P. Leclercq, and Carlotta Leclercq.
After which, at Eight o'clock, BEL DEMONIO, a Love
Story, in Twelve Tableaux, taken from Stendhal's " Italian
Chronicle'," by Mr. John Brougham. Principal charac-
ter by Mr. Fechter, supported by Messrs. Jordan, Charles,
Braugh,m, Emery, Raymond, Moreland, Smith, Clifford,
Collett, Andrews, Sims ; Miss Kate Terry, E. LaYEDUC, 31ra.
Lee, and atlas Elsworthy.
Doors open at half-past 6—commence at 7.

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE-ROYAL, under new
Management, will OPEN for the Winter Season on
BOXING NIGH r.

.1!1-4 fli.l_?,-R0 AL , AD ELPIII.—
Ante Proorn:tor and Manager. M 7. B. Webster.
THIS EVENING, THE P ItETTY cIOBSF.BREAN ER.
Met.srs. J. L. Toole. Paul Bedford, and Miss Wool2-ar.
tB, the New Drama of LEAH : Bth weeic of Miss Bate-
man, supported by Messrs. A.rthur Stirlinz, IL Phillips, Bii_
linzton, Stuart, Stephenson, Eburrie; Miss H. Simms, and
Mrs. I3illingten.
To conclude with ICI ON PAELE FRANCAIS. Mr. j.
L. Toole.

Commence at 7.

LEAH.-EVERY NIGHT,

.
riss EVENING,
appe,ance of the great Tragic Actress, biles
AI the 66th BATEMAN —LEAH.—THIS
BArEATAN, in the character of LEAH. In c,msequence of
-the unbounded success with which 3liss Bateman's imper.o-
nation of the priLeipai charac' er in the new Five Act Drama
ot It has been attended. 3fr Webste begs to announce
that it will be performed EVERY EVENING until further
notice.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Manazer, Mr. W. IL Swanborough.
THIS EVENING, MIRIAM'S CRIME. Messrs. Geo.
noney, Parselle, Belford, Turner, Miss K. Saville, and Miss
Mandel's.
Followed by (22d time) PATIENT PENELOPE ; or, The
Return of -Ulysses. Messrs. honey and Fenton ; Mesdames
wanborough aad Simpson.
After winch, MT 2.N.P.1V PLACE. Mr. A. Wood.
Commence at 7.

ROYAL SADLER'S-WELLS THEATRE.
Manageress, Miss Marriott.
THIS EVENING, Tlie, LADY OF LYONS. Claude,
Mr. J. Stammers ; Pauline, Mi-s Marriott.
Concluding with BELPHEGOR. Mr. D. H. Jones, Miss
Blanche Stammers, and Miss Mandlebert.
Box-office open from 11 to 4.