The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-05 00:00:00

OLD COURT.

The January sessions of the Central Criminal Court com-
menced this morning before the Lord Mayor, the Recorder,
Sheriffs, and other civic authorities.
Although little more than a fortnight has elapsed since
the grand jury empanneled at the December session were
discharged, there are 73 cases to be disposed of, and the
number of prisoners for trial is 93—namely, 82 males and
11 females, _ _ _

There is only one case of murder, and that is of a pecu-
liar character, the prisoner, a woman named Jane Hunt,
being charged with the murder of her child by jumping
into the Serpentine with it in her arms, no doubt with the
object that both should lose their lives. The child was
drowned, but the wretched woman was saved; and as
her act, in the eye of the law, amounted to the
crime of wilful murder, she must be tried for that
offence. There are three or four cases of manslaughter.
The most serious of these cases is the charge against the
captain, the chief mate, and the boatswain of a merchant
vessel of having caused the death of one of the crew by
brutal violence, the accused parties having been com-
mitted, both by the coroner and the police magistrate,
for the offence of manslaughter. There are twelve cases
of robbery with violence ; and among the prisoners is a
man named Hurley, who is accused of being concerned,
with the man Marks, sentenced by Baron Bramwell to
penal servitude for life, in a very brutal act of robbery
and violence at Chelsea; the prosecutor, it will be re-
membered, having had seven of his teeth knocked com-
pletely out of their sockets by a formidable instrument
called a knuckle-duster. It is again a peculiar 'feature
of this calendar that it does not contain a single
charge of robbery against any lettercarrier or other
official connected with the Post-office, so that it would
seem, from the experience of the last four sessions, that the
regulation making it a compulsory act to register every
letter containing money or valuables passing through the
Post-office has had the effect of entirely abolishing this de-
scription of crime. Besides the cases above alluded to,
there are several charges of burglary, cutting and wound-
ing, and other serious offences; and one very important
case, that was postponed at the last session, will also have
to be disposed of. This is the case of the six men who are
charged with stealing the Bank of England note paper from
the mills at Laverstock. and also with having organised
a most extraordinary system of forgery, which they hoped
to have successfully carried out by being in possession of
the genuine note paper. It is expected that the Attorney-
General will be specially retained to conduct the prose-
cution.

The judge this session will be Chief Baron Pollock and
Mr. Justice Keating.
Walter Saville was indicted for feloniously assaulting
and stealing four cloaks from Susannah Yallivat.
The jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
A lad named Brown pleaded guilty to an indictment for
felony.
The Recorder asked if anything was known of the
prisoner.

One of the officers from the Mansion-house said the pri-
soner had been frequently convicted of felony.

Alderman Challis asked for the dates of the convictions.
He thought it very unsatisfactory for such general state-
ments as that just made to be given in court.
The officer said he could not give the information, as the
prisoner had been before the Lord Mayor so many times.
The Recorder sentenced him to 4 years penal servitude.
William Beaumont pleaded guilty to an indictment
charging him with stealing a watch, value £l5, from the
person of Eugene Bomoulli.

The Recorder sentenced him to nine months imprison-
ment with hard labour.

George Bates pleaded guilty to an indictment, charging
him with stealing several sums of money, the property of
his master.

The Recorder sentenced him to twelve months imprison-
ment.

James Condora also pleaded guilty to an indictment for
felony.

He was sentenoed to eighteen months imprisonmrnt,
with hard labour.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—This Day.