The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-13 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—WINCLIESTER, Dec. 12.
(Before Mr. Justice Willes.)
a t
i\. settingß fireu lieil to
Aldershott,
the
Davis and J. P. Pilbrow were indicted for
aisietaperkopoefrhtyayoofnßt.h
je.2s7tthreovfoiAlugust,
was counsel for the prosecution.
It appeared that about 1 o'clock in the morning
of the 27th of August the police saw that the rick
was on fire, and proceeded to the spot. Upon
searching about they found Pilbrow lying on the
ground on his back. He was asked what he was
doing there. He said he was all right. The police
told him they should take him into custody on a
charge of having set the rick on fire. Pilbrow said,
" Don't do thatl lam all right. I came here with
a friend to lie down." He was searched, and a
lucifer match and two newspapers were found upon
him. Another field was then searched, and .Davis
was found lying down in a furrow among some
potatoes. He was taken into custody. The fire
had been burning more than an hour when the pri-
soners were found. They were not near each other
when found, but they had been seen together in
Aldershott between 11 and 12- o'clock that night.
There had been fires at Aldershott, and 10 cottages
were burnt down one night. Both the prisoners
said before the magistrates that they had been
drinking, but not together. Davis said he was
going to his lodgings, but was so drunk that he fell
down and went to sleep. Pilbrow said that he was
very drunk, and he. went and lay down, and slept
until he was awoke by the police and taken to the
station.

They now both declared that they were strangers
to each other, and that they were innocent.
The damage done amounted to £lOO. The rick
was so far from any house that the fire could not
have been accidental.

The learned Judge having summed up,
The jury retired for some time, and then returned
a verdict of guilty with no malicious intent.
The Judge said he did not understand the jury.
If any person intentionally set a rick on fire that
amounted to the charge.
The jury said they believed they had set the rick
on fire, but they did not know whether it might not
have been• an accident.

The Judge said if they thought the prisoners in-
tentionally set the rick on fire, then they were
guilty. They had better reconsider their verdict.
The jury said the majority were for finding them
" Guilty.' They then retired. In about half an
hour the jury again returned into court, and gave
a verdict of guilty against both prisoners.
Davis then said the former verdict was the cor-
rect one; he had not set fire to the rick either
intentionally or with his own knowledge. Pilbrow
said he was innocent.

The Judge said drunkenness was no excuse for
crime, and if the crime was committed while the
party was drunk it must be expiated when sobriety
returned ; they must be kept in penal servitude for
five yearsl. . _ _

Jtimes Stone was indicted for setting a stack of
wood on fire at Aldershott, on the 10th September.
Mr. Russell prosecuted.

The rick was seen to be on fire in the middle of
the night. The prisoner was seen near the fire,
and going from it, and he afterwards returned to
the fire and assisted in putting it out. After the
fire was out the prisoner said he should not go home
that night.
The chief witness against the prisoner was a lad
who was acquitted of an offence yesterday. He
stated that in coming to the court in the van yes-
terday he asked the prisoner what he was in for,
and he said, " I set fire to a rick of wood, and I
shall be lucky if I get off with three years." Upon
being pressed, however, he said the prisoner said,
" People say I set the rick on fire." . .

The Judge said it would be unsafe to convict
upon this evidence, and he, therefore, directed an
acquittal.
Thomas Brown and Joseph Cherry were indicted
for setting fire to a rick of wheat, at Aldershott, on
the 27th of August.
.111 r. Beetham prosecuted, and Mr. Bowen de-
fended Cherry.
It appeared that Robert Aliden, a farmer, was
aroused before 12 o'clock on the night of the 27th
of August by a cry of " Fire !" Ile got up and
sent for the engines. Ile proceeded to the fire. The
prisoners were taken from under some straw which
was probed with a barley fork. They were covered
with straw. The straw was many yards front the
burning stack. The people who were at the fire
wanted to burn the prisoners. Brown said, "We
left two men in the road while we went into the field
and done." The provost-sergeant took Brown on
his shoulder and said, " Before you are burnt you
had better tell." Brown said they had not done it.
The prisoner said they were going " hopping,"
and had lain down in the straw to sleep and rest
themselves.

Mr. Bowen, in addressing the Court for Cherry,
complained that upon the evidence they had heard
these prisoners had been committed to gaol,
where they had already been for three months,
and had it not been for this winter assize they must
have remained in prison until the March assizes.
He then urged the want of motive. As to matches
being found upon them, there were very few persons
on the tramp who did not carry matches with them
to light their pipes. It was clear that these men,
who were strangers, were proceeding to the hop
country, and had crept under some straw to obtain
rest.

Brown said they had been travelling a long way
the day before with little to eat, going hopping.
When they saw this straw they thought they might
rest under it, as it was a very cold night. They
covered themselves with the straw, and slept
sounder, he supposed, than any person ever did
before, and he was awoke by some one trampling
on his head.

A clergymen from Sussex came forward and said
that Cherry had lived in his parish all his life. lie
bore the very highest character possible, and was a
most sober man.

A brother of the clergyman also spoke in the same
high terms of Cherry. Both gentlemen had come
long distances to give Cherry this character.
The jury acquitted both the prisoners.

The Judge said he did not mean to say that now
there was any suspicion against the prisoners, but
he thought the magistrates were justified in sending
the case for investigation.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—Yo nK, Dec. 12.
(Before Mr. Justice Shee.)
Thomas Locker was charged with firing a loaded
pistol at Eleanor White with intent to murder her,
and was further charged with firing the pistol with
intent to do grievous bodily harm.
Mr. Shepherd prosecuted ; Mr. Waddy defended.
The prosecutrix, a young girl 15 years of age, re-
sided with her mother at Whitby. Ile prisoner, a
youth of 18 or 19, also lived in the same place. He
had kept company with her, but she had ceased to
go with him in consequence of her mother's orders.
About 7 in the evening of the 12th of October last the
prosecutrix was in Baxter-gate-street, looking in at a
shop window,when she heard a whistle, and on turn-
ing round she saw the prisoner standing in a passage
leading to Smith's-yard. She went across to him . The
prisoner went up the yard and the prosecutrix fol-
lowed him. She told him that her mother would not
He then placed himself
ba allow
ehne rt
hteo
pgaos s Navgi
et hanhdint
her toP revent her returning
to the street. At the other end of the yard there
were steps leading to thesqu ay. The girl tried to
escape by the steps. A
ao
n prisoner
her firedlef sloe was about to mount
the
steps
o
passed
et,
pa e
p perloadedpeppering
herpistol
h
straw a t heart
the s
and occasioning five or six small wounds on the left
side of her head. She was rendered insensible, and
as she fell the prisoner jumped over her head and
ran away. The prisoner was apprehended the same
evening. A loaded pistol was found upon him, and
some powder and shot. When charged with this
offence he said, " I wish I bad blown her brains
out."
The jury found the prisoner guilty of firing the
pistol with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
His lordship sentenced the prisoner to five years'
penal servitude.
The court are now engaged in trying the last case.
The assizes will finish this afternoon.

PROPOSED CHANGE IN TIIE DEPARTURE OF THE
SATVILDAY'S AMERICAN MAIL FROM LIVERPOOL.—After an
animated discussion, the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce '
on Monday resolved to memorialise the Postmaster-General
to change the day for despatching the mails from Liver-
pool to the United States from Saturday to Friday. The
ts
memorialists urgo that the present arrangement is incon-
venient and unnecessary ; that Friday, especially in Liver-
pool, is the business termination of the week, and that all
late news and despatches might easilyn nde
cboorrespo telegraphed to
are
n
Queenstown, as both in London, Liverpool, and other
large towns, most letters to foreign
written on Friday, the day on which mercantile circulars
are invariably published. With reference to the conveni-
ence of answering letters on Saturday, when the incoming
steamer arrives the same day, the memorialists state that
this might still ho arranged by despatching the steamer
from New York a day earlier than at,present.