The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-19 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 19, 1830.

SPRING ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

GLOUCESTER, Aram 16.
TRIAL OF COX FOR MURDER.

At nine o'clock Mr. Baron BOLLAND took his seat,
and Thomas Cox, aged 50, was put to the bar, and
arraigned upon an indictment, charging him with
the wilful murder of William Wicks, at the parish
of Risley, on the 28th of January last, by striking
him with a hatchet on the forehead, and inflicting
divers wounds on the head and neck, of which he
died. William Cox, his son, also stood indicted as
an accessory after the fact, in the said murder.—
Both prisoners pleaded " not guilty" in a firm
voice; but never were two more wretched-looking
beings placed at the bar of justice. Their appear-
ance betokened the last stage of squalid misery, and
the countenance of the elder Cox especiallywas of a
most unfavourable character.

Mr. JUSTICE stated the case for the prosecution.
In the parish of Bisley there is 'a romantic valley,
over which are scattered about four cottages, inter-
spersed with trees and gardens. It lies in a lonely
situation, and is called °attains. The murdered::
min lived in one of those cottages. He was labo.•
rious and frugal, and bad the credit of saving a
part of the fruits of his industry. lie was about
54; he lived a solitary life, and was able to become
the proprietor of two of these cottages,—one in
which he lived and was murdered, and the other rented
by a woman, named Hannah Warren, who was the
most important witness in this case. He was sup-
posed to have money in his possession, and was
considered a miser, and to that, no doubt, his fate
was to be attributed; but in fact he had very little
money in the house, besides two notes of .5/. and 1/.
of a bank in Gloucester, which had failed in 1816,
upon which he had receired some dividends ; and
these notes were, after the murder, in the hands
of the younger Cox, who endeavoured to pass them.
The woman Warren washed and mended for Wicks,
and she was intimate with Thomas Cox, who was
in the habit of coining to her cottage on a Saturday
night, and staying till Sunday evening. He lived
with his son at a place called the Thrup, near
Stroud, in the house of a man and his wife named
Chew, for whom they worked as weavers. In the
latter part of 1829, the prisoners became very poor.
The son pawned his watch and his clothes, and the
father complained frequently of great want ; said he
would do something besides weaving, and that it
should be something which would be talked of.
Spoke of Wicks as an old miser, and of a report
that he had a cup of sovereigns in his house. On
the evening of Thursday, the 28th of January, he
called at Hannah Warren's cottage, between six and
seven o'clock, and asked her whether she was going
out ? She said " No; where are you going ?" He
replied he had promised to meet somebody, and went
away. She, not being satisfied, followed him into
the lane leading to Wicks% house (which is only
a few yards from her own) ; but he said she should
not go with him, and she returned home. In about
ten minutes after her return, she heard a noise as of
something heavy falling in Wicks's house, which
shook the doors, and immediately a groan. In ten
minutes more Cox came into her cottage, and asked
to wash his hands. He did so, and wiped them on
some rags in the window. Those paltry rags were
important evidence in the case, for they were after-
wards found to be stained with blood ! Warren
noticed dark marks on a drab great coat he wore,
and observed that he would not go near the light of
the fire (there being no candle) although shivering
with cold, nor draw the sides of his coat over his
knees. She pressed him to take some supper, andjie
stayed till about eight o'clock. When he went away
she gave him some victuals for his son in a basin,
tied up in a neckcloth. He carried this home tinder
his arm, and that neckcloth was afterwards found to
have received some marks of blood from his coat.
He came to Warren's cottage again on Saturday
evening, and as she set up all night ironing, he re-
mained in the same room with her, and said to her
in the course of the night (which was overheard by
her two sons, who slept in a room above) that he
had " two bills" (Bank notes), and added, ,E
wonder if the old man has any more; I dare say he
is dead." The next (Sunday) morning Hannah
Warren took a shirt to Wicks's cottage, and then
she found he had been barbarously murdered. She
gave the alarm, and Cox and other persons came to
the house. He was lying in the door-way leading
from one room to the other, and had evidently been
attacked while coming from the inner room to the
outer room. His own hatchet was lying by his
side, covered with blood, and that must hare been
the instrument with which the wounds were inflicted.

This statement renders it unnecessary to detail
the evidence. The witnesses proved the facts, as
well as a variety of other circumstances tending to
criminate the elder Cox. The only evidence against
the younger prisoner was, that he had offered the
notes to be changed in a public-house.
The Jury pronounced Thomas Cox Guilty, and
acquitted the sol.
His LORDSHIP then passed sentence of death
upon him.

tion. He was a partner dissolved from Mr. Ingar-
field. In his opinion, the entry made by the pri-
soner in one of their books was enough to prove
that he did not intend to cheat, embezzle, and steal.
It came out in this part of the investigation, that
previous to this charge being preferred, the prisoner
had opened a fishmonger's shop midway between
those of the prosecutor and Mr. Riley.
Mr. Capon, a principal clerk in the Sun Fire-
office, had known the young man from his earliest
infancy, and was of opinion that he was incapable
of committing an immoral act, especially such a pal-
try crime as that with which he stood charged.
The Rev. Mr. Mutter, the minister of the Epis-
copal t."tapel in Broadway, Westminster, deposed to
his knowledge of the prisoner for five or Fix years.
He was one of the teachers in a- Sunday-school,
where the doctrines of the established church were
diFseminatM, and he was of opinion that the young
man was not only honest but exemplary.
The COMMON SERJEANT then summed up the
evidence, and in conclusion he told the jury to con-
•sider their verdict.
Foreman (almost immediately, and...with 6M-
siderablc emphasis)—" We declare the prisoner is
—Not Guilty."
This announcement caused a loud clapping of
hands and other demonstrations of approbation,
which were of course immediately suppressed by
the Court.
The COMMON SERJEANT then consulted with
the counsel for the prosecution as to other indict-
ments, after which he said the jury, at that late hour
of Saturday -evening, would roost likely wi!h to re-
tire.

The foreman having nodded assent, the officer of
the court gave notice that the prioner would be
tried on Tuesday morning ❑pon another indictment,
charging the prisoner with embezzling 26. Bd.
This communication produced a singular sensa-
tion.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, APRIL 17.

CONSPIRACY AGAINST MADAME VESTRIS.

This morning Madame Vestris attended, with her
friends, before the Grand Jury, and preferred a bill
of indictment against Mr. Joshua Rose Anderson,
the new vocal performer who lately made his ap-
pearance at Drury-lane theatre, and Wm. Hopkin-
son, in which she charged them with having gone
to the theatre for the wanton purpose of hissing
her, thereby endeavouring to intimidate her from
exercising her profession. The circums'ances which
led to this extraordinary proceeding were stated by
two gentlemen, friends of Madame Vestris, who
applied to Sir Richard Birnie on Friday, for his
advice in her behalf. The gentlemen stated that
Madame Vestris appeared on Tuesday evening at
Drury-lane theatre, in her favourite character of
Captain Macheath, on which occasion a party hired
for the purpose by Mr. Anderson attempted to drive
her from the stage by hissing, hooting, and cries of
" Off, off; no female in breeches !" The gentle-
men added, that these noisy individuals, who were
scattered about the house, had been paid by Mr.
Anderson, in order that Madame Vestris might be
compelled to give up playing Captain Macheath,
and the character be assigned to Mr. Anderson. Sir
Richard Birnie recomtnended the gentlemen to in-
indict the parties for conspiracy. A piece of advice
rhich it appears was instantly followed.
In the afternoon the Grand Jury came into Court
and returned a true bill against Mr.- Anderson and
Mr. Hopkinson. •
Thomas Bradford, an out-pensioner of Chelsea
Hospital, was indicted for attempting to violate the
person of Eliza Faulkner, a little girl twelve years of
age, residing with her parents in Keppell-street,
Chelsea. The prisoner lodged in the house of the
child's parents, and it was alleged that he com-
mitted the offence during the absence of the child's
mother. The evidence of the medical gentleman,
however, did not bear out the charge.
He was found Guilty of the minor offence, and
sentenced to one year's imprisonment.