The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-24 00:00:00

OLD COURT.

The November session of the Central Criminal Court
commenced this morning before the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs,
and other civic officers.
The calendar contains a greater number of charges of
violence to the person, accompanied by robbery, or attempts
to commit that offence, than have been contained in any ca-
lendar fora very considerable time. The total number of pri •

stoners for trial is 125, of whom 102 are males and 23 females,
and out of this number no less than 27 are charged with
assaults for the purpose of committingrobbery—a descrip-
tion of offence that is now well knovin by the name of
garotte robberies. In many of those cases the unfortunate
persons who were attacked received very severe injuries, and
in one instance such serious violence was used as almost to
endanger the life of the party. The judges who will pre-
side at this session are Baron Bramwell and Mr. Justice
Byles, and it is understood that arrangements have been
made for the whole of the cases of " garotte" robberies to be
disposed of by the first mentioned learned judge. It may
not be generally known that until a recent alteration of the
law the offence of wounding in order to commit a robbery
was a capital one, but within the last two or three years the
punishment of death has been remitted for every offence
except murder and high treason, but persons convicted of a
crime of this description are now liable to be sentenced
to penal servitude for life, or for a less period, or to
be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for a lengthened
time, at the discretion of the court. In addition to these
cases the calendar contains 'several others of a very aggra-
vated charater, and there are no leas than twelve charges
of burglary, the act being aggravated in several instances
by brutal violence being used towards the inmates of the
houses that were broken into, upon their endeavouring to
protect their property, This offence, until very recently,
was also a capital one, but it is now no longer so, and any
person convicted of it is only liable to be sentenced to
penal servitude. Besides the cases above mentioned there
are three charges of wilful murder, one of which, against
a prisoner named Henry King, who is charged with the
murder of a woman with whom he cohabited, by stabbing
her in the stomach with a chisel, stands over from the
October session. The other two are cases of child murder,
It is very gratifying to find that in one respect the calendar
for this session is very satisfactory, as it does not contain a
single charge of stealing Post-office letters, an offence that
had become very prevalent, but which, so far as the expe-
rience of the last three sessions goes, has been entirely put
a atop to by the recent regulations of the Post-office autho.
rities, by which every letter that apparently contains coin,
or any valuable property, is registered by the different
postmasters, whether the senders think proper to do so or
not, and a double registration fee is charged to the person
to whom the letter is addressed before he can receive it.
Tne trial of William Bray, who was charged with an
offence against the bankruptcy laws, was then proceeded '
with, but it did not possess any general interest.

NEW COURT.
(Before the Common Sergeant.)
. _. _

John Dampier was indicted for stealing a number of
shirts and other property.

The prisoner pleaded guilty, saying at the same time he
had been led into the commission of the offence by bad
companions.

The Common Sergeant sentenced him to 12 months'
imprisonment.

Alfred Evans, a lad aged 16 was indicted for embezzling
various sums of money, the property of his employer.
The prisoner was engaged as assistant to a baker, and the
money embezzled was received from customers in payment
of their account.

The Common Sergeant said it was very lamentable to see
so respectable a youth charged with felony, He had no
doubt, as in the last case, bad companions had led to such a
result, for it was remarkable how soon bad associates
brought persons to the bar of the Central Criminal Court.
He then sentenced the prisoner, on sccount of the interces-
sion of his master, to six months' imprisonment.
The remainder of the day was occupied in disposing of
Mint proscutions.