The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-06 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—OXFORD, March 5.
THE HEYFORD MURDER.
Mr. Justice Crompton, having gone through a
careful analysis of the evidence heard yesterday,
The jury, without hesitation, found the prisoner,
Noah Austin, guilty of the murder of James Allen.
The learned judge passed sentence of death, hold-
ing out no hope of mercy.
The prisoner, who was totally unmoved, left the
bar without remark.
THE QUEEN V. WICHELLO.
The prisoner was indicted for the wilful murder
of John Holloway, at Benson, in the county of
Oxford, on the 22d of November last.
Mr. Cripps appeared for the prosecution, and Mr.
Gough for the defence.
It appeared from the evidence of Jas. Holloway
that deceased and his son wentintoo2ad
o f November
publio-house
in Benson about one o'clock ot!tthe there drinking
last, and found the prisoners
tin
for someg time, and
some beer. They conversed
de-
ceased left the public-house soon after. At four
o'clock he returned, and found the prisoner still
there—they stayed together for, a short time, and
deceased returned to his master s yar to sort pigs.
In about three quarters of sin hour the prisoner en-
tered the yard, commenced driving the pigs, mix-
ing those which had been separated by the de-
ceased, and, finally, without any provocation, struck
the deceased on the head with a cord he had in his
hand, and threatened to kill him. The son of
deceased, who was present, said, " Ralph, you
shall not abuse my father ; I will go far a
policeman," and accordingly left the yard for that
purpose, but hearing that the prisoner had left he
told the police man that he need not trouble himself
to come up. Afterwards he went into the cowhouse
and found his mother attending his father, who was
covered with blood, inaensible,and speechless. Wit-
ness then left the cowhouse for assistance. After-
wards another sou of the deceased entered the cow-
house, and finding his father so ill, gent for a light,
but before he could obtain it was recalled by his
mother's screams, and found the prisoner holding
up his father by the hair of his head.
The widow of the deceased proved that she had
entered the cow house in consequence of something
which she had heard, and found her husbsan
d
ninafter
condition described by the first witness•
the prisoner came into the cowhouse andco,minangenit
bhakini; the deceased, abusing him, and Ie

occurring a second time, Dean threatened to report
the prisoner, upon which he struck him a most vio-
lent blow on the eye with his fist and knocked him
down, The prisoner, having got Dean on the ground,
began kicking him in the most savage manner with
his boots. Dean called for help. The other con-
victs, who, for their work, had hatchets and knives
in their hands, came round, but did not render Dean
any assistance. This continued about 10 minutes,
and then a warder named Hayward, not hearing
the work going on, came into the store and saw the
prisoner beating some one on the ground. Hayward
was too much frightened to go near them, but he
went out for assistance. Another warder, named
Peters, then came in, and told the prisoner to get
off the officer, and he asked the prisoner whether
he was going to kill the officer. The prisoner said
he was, and he would kill him also if he interfered.
The prisoner got up, made a rush and seized a round
of a ladder, and Dean having got up, the prisoner,
with this stick, a most formidable weapon, struck
Dean on the eye, and felled him to the ground,
and then struck him several blows with the
stick. Dean begged the prisoner to have mercy
on him, but the prisoner continued his blows.
O'Neil, the armed guard, then came in, and saw
the prisoner lying upon Dean on the ground
beating him. He then ordered the men to stand
back, and pointing his musket at the prisoner, told
hiit if he did not let Dean get up he would shoot
him. The prisoner said he would not, for he would
murder him. O'Neil then capped his piece, but the
other convicts declaring they would have O'Neil's
life, he was obliged to drive them back with his
bayonet, as, if he had not been armed, they would
have carried their threat into execution. Having
driven them back, he looked rounil and saw Dean
on the ground, and the prisoner leaning over him
beating him on the head with the stick. He then
went up to the prisoner and pushed him off with
his bayonet, and then marched him off at the point
of the bayonet to the prison.
The prisoner, in cross-examining O'Neil asked
him what ho was doing at a particular moment.
O'Neil replied " I was capping my musket to bloc'e
your brains out." He visited the store every five
Or six minutes, as W 313 118 duty. 'The prisoner Said
he would kill a dozen such as O'Neil.
(O'Neil was the only one of 10 men who escaed
at the Khyber-pass in India, and afterwards took a
standard under Sir Charles Napier at Meeanee.)
O'Neil, by the Judge.—Eight of the other men
bad what in Ireland he should call hatchets. He
did not know what they called them iu England.
Dean was taken to the hospital, and was found
to have been so much injured that for a time the
result was very doubtful. His head and his back
were very much injured, and it would be a loug
time, if ever, before he would be able to do any-
thing.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty with intent
to maim and to do grievous bodily harm.
The learned Judge then addressed the prisoner—
You have been convicted of this very serious offence,
and if you had been convicted on the first count of
the indictment it would have been my duty to sen-
tence you to penal servitude for life. I was glad to
find myself justified-in recommending the jury to
relieve you from that charge. I did not know at the
time I addressed the jury what the nature of your
previous misconduct had been, so that you may be
sure you have had a perfectly fair trial. There has
been every disposition to treat you as fairly as we
should have tried any other person on whose cha-
racter there had never been a stain ; but I now
know that you had already been sentenced to four
years, seven years, and to another period of penal
servitude. Under these circumstances I have no
course to pursue but to pass a very severe sentence
upon you. You are yet a young man, and if you
conduct yourself properly it may be, I don't say it
will, that before the expiration of your sentence
some consideration may be shown to you, and that
you may be relieved from part of its severity, but
I beg of you when you return to your prison to con-
sider that it is for your interest to conduct yourself
properly, and not to be guilty of those excesses of
which you have been convicted. The sentence new
is, that you be kept in penal servitude for the term
of 20 years.
The prisoner was then removed.
The following is the history of the prisoner :
In 1854, having previously been convicted of nu-
merous crimes for which he had undergone vari-
ous terms of imprisonment, he was sentenced to
be kept in penal servitude for four years. He
was sent to Dartmoor, and in 1857 he made a
murderous attack on a warder, of which he was
convicted at the Exeter Lent assizes in 1867, and
was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. He
was then sent to Bermuda, and there he made a
similar attack upon a warder, and was sentenced
to 15 years' penal servitude, and he was then sent
from that colony to Portsmouth.
Ann Snow was indicted for the wilful murder of
her infant child at Freshwater, on the 20th of
January.
rt.hAe.clasendfoeirl Sanders, Mr. Beetham prosecuted, end
the request of the judge,
prisoner. aatncdheMd
It appeard that the prisoner was kitchen-maid at
the Needles Hotel, at Freshwater in the Isle of
Wight. On the 19th of January she complained
of being unwell, and wont to bed. The next
morning she was found sitting by the fire in the
kitchen. The chambermaid went into the prisoner's
bedroom, and, from what she saw, had a consulta-
tion with the laundress. They went into the privy
and saw a bundle lying on the soil. They got up
the bundle, and it was found to contain the body of
anewly bornhe erperhiislede;itandamditatenda
tphkeinethiieldd
wroausnhderitss.
neck.
She was asked by a policeman who had tied the
napkin round the neck of the child, when she said
she had done it to destroy it, as she did not know
how she could keep it • that she did not expect it
would be born, or she would have gone into the
house, and she had given notice to leave her place.
A surgeon said the child had breathed.
Mr. Sindera, in addressing the jury for the pri-
soner, after remarking upon her friendless position
urged that unless they believed the child had had a
separate existence at the time the napkin
.was put
round the neck of the child, even if they behevedt he
prisoner bad put it round its neck, the offence did
not amount to murder.
The learned Judge having summed up,
The Jury acquitted the prisoner of the murder,
and found her guilty of the concealment of the birth.
Sentence, one years imprisonment with herd
labour.

TIIE POST OFFlCE.—Yesterday notice was issued
at the Chief Post Office, St. Martin's-le-Grand, that there
would be no delivery of letters by the London District
between twelve and five o'clock on the afternoon of Satur-
day.

Importing Tea, without colour on the leaf pre-
vents the Chinese passing off inferior leaves as in the usual
kinds. Hurniman's Tea is uncoloured, therefore, alwaYEI
good ce,ike. Sold in packets by 2,280 agents.