The Sun.
London, England, 1830-07-26 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

WESTERN CIRCUIT,'--WINCIIESTER, Jinor 2S.
Wm. Brown and Smith William, two convicts
from the hulks at Portsmouth, were indicted for
the wilful murder of William Witiney, on the 15th
of January last, by striking him a blow on his tOre..
head with a harmer, and also with cutting his
throat. It appeared that the deceased was deputy
foreman of the convict sawyers employed in the
Gun Wharf at Portsmouth; he was known to be

of penurious habits, and to have occasionally
tained tobacco, spirits, &c., which he afterwards re-
tailed to other convicts, by which traffic he %%us

known to make money ; he had besides been seen
with sovereigns in his possession. At eight on the
morning above described he, with several others,
went to the Gun Wharf, where he was seen about
heir-past eight talking to a lab9urer, at half-past nine
he was found in a shed with his head almost severed
from the body, and the skull near the temple, (lec-
tured. 'From a careful examination of the (rector%
and its effect, it was clear that the wound must have
been inflicted by some blunt instrument, before the
throat was cut. When the deceased went to the
shed it was observed that Brown watched him very
narrowly, followed him in, and came out shortly
after. Immediately after the deceased was found,
in the situation above described. The principal
evidence against the prisoners was John Purcell,
guard of the convicts. On the 28th of January I
saw Drown on board the rori; I learnt that he
wanted to give soma information respecting the
death of Whiney I said to hire," Brown, I under-
stand you know something of this business : why do
you not disclose it, as every one in the ship suspects
you were concerned -in it ?" he replied, " I am not
the person, but I know who did ;" he then named
the person; I said, " bow do you know that ?" be
said that a person told him, and gave him sixpence
and a bottle to get a quartern of rum, and that be
returned the bottle and rum to the person, with the
change, which was procured by one of the Board of
Ordnance men, on the day prior to Winney's death;
he then said be saw the person going over to the
deceased in No. 9, and in the course of a few
minutes after he saw him come out with his hands
and clothes apparently covered with blood; he said
he asked him what he had been up to ? he replied,
" Never mind—hold your tongue—all is right
be then said the other person went over to the
pump to wash his hands, and that he followed and
asked him whit the devil he bad been up to P lie
said, " Hold your tongue, all is right--I have
planted the money, and when we come again all will
be right, and we shall divide it ;" be said it was
either in a bottle, or the neck of one ; I said to
him, " It appears to me you pretneditated this busi-
ness;" he said " Yes, three weeks or a month be-
fore, but he did not think the person would have
murdered the man,- but would have hocursed him
(sent him to, sleep with laudanum), so that be might
have been robbed:"
The person he alluded to Was the other prisoner,

In sentencing a sheep-stealer to transpnrtation for
life, his Lordship observed that the offence had
lately become so common, that it occurred in every
county in England.
The criminal business of the Assizes concluded
to-day.
Mr. Baron VAUGHAN has been engaged, during
this day and yesterday, in hearing a case which in-
volves the right of the Corporation of Portsmouth to
a tax of 2d. upon every chaldron of coals which
comes into the harbour of Portsmouth. The de-
tails of the case were wholly uninteresting to the
public. The Attorney-General came down special
on the part of the Corporation. The Jury found in
favour of the claim of the Corporation.
The business of the Assizes was concluded alto-
gether to-day.

NORFOLK CIRCUIT.--BEDFORD, JULY 23•
Samuel Hackle, aged 20, was indicted for burgle-
riously entering the dwelling-house of William ni-
vel!, at the parish of Biggleswade, on the 24th of
February, and stealing therein 14 sovereigns.
This ease presented a singular instance of an at-
tempt to establish an alibi, and was attended alto-
gether with circumstances of an unusual character.
It appeared on the case for the prosecution that the
house of the prosecutor was, beyond all doubt,
broken open, and the sovereigns stolen, on the
night of the 23d of February, from a box of the pro-
secutor, which stood in his parlour. it 'chanced
that the prosecutor, on going into the room on the
morning after the night of the robbery, found un old
blue pocket handkerchief lying near the box from
which his gold had been taken. Thinking that
this handkerchief might lead to the disco-
very of the thief, be had it immediately
put upon a high pole, and placed in front
of his house. The prisoner, on the day be-
fere the robbery, had been working on Big-
gleswade-common with ono Burrows, where
some person knocked off his hat, and out of It fell an
old blue pocket handkerchief, which the prisoner
picked up, and replaced in his hat. Burrows hap-
pened to be going past the prosecutor's house, where
he saw the pole with the handkerchief, which he
immediately recognized as the one belqnging to the
prisoner; and in this he was confirmed by another
man, who was also present when his hat was knocked
off. These witnesses swore positively to the hand-
kerchief, from its colour, pattern, the holes in it,
and its having had all its corners worn off. Another
point against the prisoner was, his being seen about
a quarter before six on the morning of the robbery
coming in a direction from the house of the prose-
cutor, with one William Heckle; On the day after
the robbery, he was seen, in company with William
hackle, at the Fox public•house, where he invited
one of tile witnesses to drink, observing, " Here,
lay hold and drink, we've got plenty of money of old
master Cavell's, and can afford to treat you." This
was at half-past nine, and at three o'clock in the
afternoon, and seven in the evening, they still can-
tinad drinking at the Fox. On the latter occasion,
William truckle asked prisoner for a shilling, but be
replied that he had nothing less than a sovereign, and
be might apply to the landlady ; whereto the prisoner
replied that he had rather not, as that would excite
suspieion. He then piked a purse, containing gold,
on the table.

So far, the evidence for the prosecution was clear;
but on the part of the prisoner, Mr. AUSTIN called
several persons, who swore that he was at home
from half•past seven (when he went to bed on the
night of the robbery) till eight on the following
morning, when he rose. This was proved by his
sister, his cehabitant, and others they also swore
minutely to their " supper of potatoes and fried
pork," their having locked the door and placed the
key under their pillow, and other things connected
with the night of the robbery. But the most sin-
gular part of the defence consisted in the sister of
the prisoner producing an old blue pocket-handker-
chief, with sundry holes in it, and all its corners
worn oft which they swore was the only one of that
colour ever possessed by the prisoner, and the one
he had in use at the time of the robbery. In size,
colour, the disposition of the boles, and all particu-
lars, this exactly corresponded with that which was
found at the house of the prosecutor, and sworn to
belong to the prisoner; except that one was cleaner
than the other, it was very difficult to discriminate
between them. His sisters swore that they mended
his blue handkerchief, his paramour that she inva- '
riably washed it, and all of them to his having► that
and no other blue handkerchief.
The Jury found the prisoner Guilty, and sentence
of death was recorded.
Thomas Taylor, aged 23, stc:nl charged with
breaking open the shop of William tlarbett, at Sit-
soe, on the 13th of June, and stealing therein one
dead pig.
The prisoner said that he bad found the pork
amongst some nettles; but after Mr. Justice J.
PAinu had summed up, the Jury returned a verdict
of Guilty.

SATURDAY, JULY 24.
Hannah Kingston, aged 23, was indicted for hay-
ing, on the 22d of May, mixed a certain quantity of
arsenic with milk, with intent to kill and murder
Eliza Bates. Other counts charged the prisoner
with " administering"
with the like intent. milk mixed with arsenic,
The prisoner was acquitted.

HERTFORD, JULY 24.
TER EARL OF VRRULAII V. HOWARD.
Itt this netioll the Earl of Verulum sought tore-
cover, as lord of the manor of Gorhambury, in this
county, the sum of 200/. for a fine Assessed on the
defendant's admission to a copyhold tenement ►vithin
that manor.

After some deliberation, a verdict Willi returned
rtir the defendant.
John Cox and Jame: Ihrion were indicted for

About four o'clock in, the morning the in-
habitants of Garden•row, Lewisharn•lane, lead-
ing to Eltham, were alarmed by the cry of
murder, and the shrieks of children, which pro-
ceeded from the house of a 'man named Port-
bury, No. 4, in the above-named row. Many
persons ran out in a state of nuditS, to ascertain
the cause of the alarm, when they perceived a
lad, about 13 years of age, son of Portbury,
running out of the house in his shirt, with the
blood pouring from his throat in torrents. It
afterwards appeared that the mother of the lad
had been out spending the day at a Mrs. Hawes'
in the neighbourhood, and had returned home
about three o'clock in the morning. Her chil-
dren, a boy named Thomas, and a little girl
about nine years of age, were in bed together.
The bov heard his mother come into the room,
but he aid not speak to her, and fell into a doze.
Shortly after be felt great pain, as if some person
was pinching him, and upon his opening his
eyes he saw his mother kneeling on the side of
the bed, with an open razor in her hand, and
before he could get up she drew it across
his throat. He jumped up as fast as he
could, and ran down stairs calling out " Mur-
der," thereby alarming the neighbourhood. At
that moment he recollected he bad left his sister
in bed, and for fear his mother should murder
her he returned to the room, when he found
that she had taken his sister out of bed, and was
in the act of cutting her throat. He instantly
rushed between them, and endeavoured to take
the razor from his mother, but could not, and
in the act the top of his left thumb was cut
completely off; he succeeded in rescuing his
sister from destruction, and fled with her out of
the house, the blood still pouring from his
throat. Many persons instantly ran up stairs to
secure the woman, when, upon entering the
room, they were horror-struck at beholding her
lying on the ground weltering in blood, she
having nearly severed her head from her body,
and the razor with which she perpetrated the
horrid deed was grasped tightly in her right
hand. The poor boy was carried to the house
of Mr. Clark, the surgeon, where the wound in
his throat was dressed ; but it is feared, from the
immense loss of blood, he will never recover.
The husband of the unfortunate woman is a
r ourneyman baker, at Deptfbrd, and was from
home at the time the horrible act was committed, •
and his feelings upon hearing the sad tale can be
more easily conceived than described. The un-

fortunate woman was noticed for her sobriety
and general good behaviour, and there can be no
doubt but she committed the dreadful deed in a
fit of temporary mental excitement.
On Saturday an Inquest was held on the body
of the unfortunate woman above.mentioned.
From the evidence it appeared that she had at-
tempted to destroy the children about seven
years ago. She then lived in Cross-street,
Lewisham. She endeavoured to murder the
boy, by cutting his head open with a hatchet,
first stuffing his mouth with rags, and then hold-

ing his head between her knees ; that not in.
swering her horrid purpose, she endeavoured to
hang him, but was providentially prevented
executing her final purpose. At the same time
she endeavoured to drown her daughter, then an
infant, in a tub of water. Beinq proved in-
sane, she was put into St. Luke s, where she
was for two years; since which she has been
occasionally evidently infested with the same
idea of murdering her children. During the
last two months she became a nuisance to the
neighbourhood, being almost daily in the street
with some mischievous instrument in her hand,
threatening the lives of her neighbours when
they have interfered between her and the children,
whom it apecars she has lately endeavoured to
starve. Within the last week she has talked of
nothing but their destruction; but they being used
to such expressions, took no particular notice of
it to any one. Friday two of her neighbours, in
saving the children from violence, were cut and
bitten by her, for which outrages she was taken
to the police station. On the road she was
suffered to go alone, and upon coming by the
Kent water• works, she almost succeeded in
throwing herself in ; she was liberated at the
station, and was to have been brought up again
oa Saturday. It may be `supposed that she re-
solved to seize the last opportunity of executing
her purpose, which she wad certainly have
effected bad it not been for the fortitude and

presence oi mind of the boy. On Friday night
she removed the fastening from the door of the
room where the children slept, and was beard
by the neighbours to be moving about all night.
The boy was awoke by his throat being grasped,
and seeing his mother with a razor over him,
thought his' own death inevitable, but exerted
himself to save his sister, he thrust her out of

bed, and she ran out of her mother's sight ; by
the exertion he made, he providentially prevented
his mother inflicting so severe a wound as
she designed. She then committed the horrible

act upoii herself. Dr. Clark, the parish surgeon,
who was called to attend the patties, stated that
the boy will do well. The Jury returned a ver.
dici. of• insanity. The deemed. had been the
mother of thirteen children, only three of which
are living.

A alpiAdillioonl: w°hUiciht Tavv:thel:llll4st:tt
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led w,exinet a production of wow than ordinary ottrac.
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i not he diaappointtd in their expertationg.
oinnt!

There sire now 165 prisoners in the county
gad, tyit,g fur t 6 gmatest part three in a bed.—Mabo
Free Press.