The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-07 00:00:00

STAMFORD AND ESSENDINE.

The Marquis of Exeter, the principal proprietor of this
short line, has into taken the working of it
e own hand:
The marquis has purchased new rolling stock, and has Com-
menced running.the trains with officials of hiS own ap-
pointment, the agreement with the Great Northern for the
working of the line having mired. The first-class car-
riages now bear the coat of arms of the marquis.

The late Atrocious Outrages by Trade

Unionists.

•
At the Warwickshire Quarter Sessions yesterday, lAore
Mr. W. Dickius, chairman, two, journeymen briokmakers,

named John Stone and Edward Gregory, were indict {l for
having, at Acton, on the 21st of August last, feloniously
killed three horses the property. of Messrs.. Lewis. The
prisoners were also indicted for maliciously stabbing four
other horses, the property of the prosecutors. The case
was one of peculiar atrocity, and almost unparalleled in the
annals of crime in the Midland Counties. The prisoners,
both young men, were active members of the Operative
Brickmakers' Association, and the prosecutors, Messrs..
Lewis, who are brick manufacturers atthe Lozells, asuburb
of Birmingham, were members of the Master Brickmakers'
Association. In consequence of differences that had
taken place Messrs. Lewis decided to employ no workmen_
in their brickyards who belonged to the trade union, and
this evoked very bitter feelings on ` the part of the men
' towards the prosecutors. The outrage, the subject of
yftheTgngoriZ'eZia°3s'ehdorbtj-tit
~ prosecution, was committed on the 21st of August
inusatotwoNtvrs7W:konelmen go out of the stable and run
last; at which time a man named Murphy,_ in the employ
saw '; fight in 1/ master's stable,
direction of Wheeler-street. He subsequently
jafafilf:owfurmitiatryhdtwhehinatinehrpdsketrdhiodinedhsoogeecrs of the stable locked, but the loft window
was open. Murphy procured assistance and a light, and
examined the stables. In the three-stall stable one of the
horses was lying on the floor quite dead, having been stabbed
in the chest, and another died in a short time from similar
injuries. Murphy next went into the other stable, where
there were four horses. One of them, a valuable entire
horse, was dead, having, like the other, been stabbed in the
bosom. The whole of the horses, seven in number, had
been wounded in this way, but the majority of them sub-
sequently recovered. Some two or three months afterwards
the prisoners were apprehended, and committed for trial at
the late Winter Assizes, when, owing to the absence of a
material witness, the bill was ignored by the grand jury.
The evidence, though purely circumstantial, was now ma-
terially strengthened. Asregards Gregory, a witness named.
M'Kenzie, who lodged with him, proved that Gregory left
home between 5 and 6 o'clock on the night in question, and
did not return until between 5 and 6 on the following
morning, when a number of spots of blood were found on
his trousers. Gregory and Stone were drinking together
at a publichouse some two miles from the stables between

7 and 8 o'clock, but at 9, when a row and fight took place
there it was observed the prisoners were. not there. The
witness MlKenzie identified a billycock hat, having ti.pecu7
liar band upon it, which had been found in one of the pro-
secutors' stables as :the hat usually worn by the prisoner
Stone, and the latter, it was shown, was seen carefully
wiping his boots the morning after the outrage, and dressed
in different kind of clothes to those he usually, wore. As a
reason why he had withheld his testimony, this witness
stated that he was afraid if he disclosed what he knew of
the affair he should be killed by the union men, some of
whom had threatened him, and had since been placed under
recognisances by the magistrates to keep the peace. Other
corroborative points were also adduced tending to fix the
crime upon the prisoners, who were both found guilty-on
the first indictment. In passing sentence, the learned
chairman said the outrage of which they had been convicted
was one of the most aggravated character, both with re-
spect to the injury done to the prosecutors and as an
offence against society at large. If trade associations were
to lead to such outrages they were anything but a benefit
—they wera a curse to. the country at large. There was no
doubt whatever that the diabolical outrage of which they
had been found guilty had arisen out of the association to
which they belonged. He understood that Messrs. Lewis
had been injured to the extent of 2001., and that another
gentleman in the brick trade had a valuable horse destroyed
which was worth 500 guineas. The Court was bound to
protect society to the utmost of its power, and therefore it
was his duty to pass the heaviest sentence upon them tint
the law awarded for the offence of which they hail been
convicted. He then sentenced the prisoners each to 1.4
years' penal servitude.