The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-20 00:00:00

ASSIZE iNTELLIGBArCE.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LANCASTER, FEB. 18.
(Before Mr. Justice Willes.)
Robert Winstanley surrendered at the sitting of
the Court this morning to take his trial upon a
charge of the manslaughter of Thomas Marsden, on
the 23d of January last.
Mr. Kay and Mr. Pope appeared for the prose-
cution ; and Mr. Serjeant Wheeler and Mr. Roberts
for the defence.
It appeared from the case for the vrosecution that
the deceased was a groom in the service of Mr.
Wood, of Brinscall, whom he accompanied to the
Chorley railway station, near Preston, on the morn-
ing in question. The booking office was on the
town side of Chorley ; and trains passing to Preston
set out on that side, and trains passing to Manches-
ter leave from the opposite side, and it is necessary
to cross the line in order to get to the passenger
train. The deceased's master was going to Man-
chester, and had with him some parcels, which he
gave to the deceased to carry for him across the
line to the passenger train, and as the deceased
was in the act of crossing the engine struck him,
and ho was run ever and killed.
The prosecuticn relied on a rule of the company
applicable to engine-drivers which provides as fol-
lows :—" The engine-man must carefully approach
all stations at which he is required to stop, and not
overrun the platform ; and . . . is to use parti-
cular caution in passing stations where he has not
to stop; and, should a train be stopping on the
opposite line of a station, he must, in addition,
make constant use of his whistle." It was on that
part of the rule which relates to the " whistling"
that the prosecution mainly relied, and it was
sought to be established that the defendant did not
commence whistling early enough to warn persons
of his approach, and that in not doing so he was
culpably negligent, and thus led by his act to the
death of the decased.
Mr. Serjeant Wheeler addressed the jury, and
contended that there was no case upon which they
could convict, and that the deceased, by using no
care whatever in crossing the line, was contributing
to his own death.
The learned Judge having carefully summed up
the case, directing the jury that they must be
reasonably satisfied that the prisoner had acted
with culpable negligence in order to find him
guilty,
The jury deliberated for a few minutes, and re-
turned a verdictof Not Guilty.
Thos. Woodhouse, Wm. Woodhouse, and Thos.
Parkinson were indicted for assaulting Matthew
Goth, with intent to murder, disable, and do griev-
ous bodily harm.
Mr. Higgin and Mr. Edwards prosecuted ; Mr.
Pope defended the prisoners.
Matthew Gotb, the person assaulted, it appeared,
is gamekeeper in the employment of Mr. Garnett,
of Quernmore-park, near Lancaster. Oa the night
of the 22d of October last he was out watching on
a part of Mr. Garnett's estate called Cornhill-
meadow. While there his attention was attracted
by something white moving on the edge of the
field ; this shortly appeared to be a man, who was
followed closely by two others. They came in the
direction of the place where Goth was lying, and
when they got within a short distance of him he
jumped to his feet and accosted them. After some
words the three men attacked him with heavy sticks
which each had in his hand, Thos. Woodhouse call-
ing out, " Murder the —." Ultimately Goth was
felled to the ground, and while there was severely
beaten on the head and arms by all the men. Richard
Parkinson, according to Goth's account, then took
hold of Goth's scarf, and twisted it. upon his neck
till he became unconscious. When Goth recovered
consciousness he made the best of his way to the
Hall, bleeding violently and faint with loss of blood.
The inmates of the Hall assisted him, and procured
a surgeon to dress his wounds. These were, in the
surgeon's opinion, very dangerous, and Goth was,
in consequence, confined to the house for more than
a fortnight.
Goth swore positively to the three prisoners at
the bar as the men who had assaulted him ; but it
appears that before the apprehension of Wm.Wood-
house and Parkinson, Goth had given other names
to the police than those of these last prisoners, and
two other men had been arrested on his information.
Other witnesses were called, who swore to having
seen the three prisoners going together in the direc-
tion of Quernmore-park on the evening in question;
and a dog found by Goth in the field, when he re-
covered from his swoon after the assault, was proved
to have been sold to Thomas Woodhouse shortly
before Oct. 22d.
The learned Judge directed the jury's attention
to the count charging an assault with intent to do
grievous bodily harm, and summed up the evidence.
The jury retired, and after a short absence re-
turned a verdict against Thomas Woodhouse of
guilty of unlawfully wounding, and a verdict of not
guilty as to the other two prisoners, of whose iden-
tity they were not satisfied.
Thomas Woodhouse was sentenced to 15 months'
imprisonment with hard labour.
(Before Mr. Justice Mellor.)
Robert Thistlethwaite, a coal carrier, aged 41,
was indicted for assaulting with intent to ravish
Mrs. Nancy- Bond, the wife of a labourer, at Ireby,
on 20th Jan. last. There were other counts charg-
ing him with an indecent assault and a common as-
sault.
Mr. Bradley prosecuted, and Mr. C. Foster de-
fended the prisoner.
It appeared that the prisoner, about 5 o'clock on
the night of the 20th Jan. last, called on a Mrs.
Briggs, who lived at Cowan-bridge, where he met
the prosecutrix, Mrs. Nancy Bond, a good-looking
young married woman; he asked her if she would
ride home in his cart, as his way home to a lane
I called Masengate-lane, a distance ofabout two miles,
was the same as hers. At that time the prisoner had
had a glass of whisky given to him, which ho com-
plained had got into his head. Mrs. Bond accepted
his offer and got into hiscart at the town end. They
were overtaken about half a mile out of the town
by two men named Freeman and Shuttleworth, who
wore leaving their work as platelayers, and one of
whom lifted his bundle into the cart. These men
followed after the cart about half a mile, till the
prisoner told them to take their bundle out and
walk on, which they did. The prosecutrix swore
that while thus riding in the cart the prisoner had
attempted to take indecent liberties with her, and
that she had begged him to desist and resisted
all attempts at familiarity. When they got to
the tollbar, about two miles from Cowan-bridge, the
gate was shut, and prisoner got down out of the
cart and went into the toll house, tolling the prose-
eutrix to conceal hor face with an empty coal sack.
As soon es he had gone into the house she got down
out of the cart and went on the road as List as she
could. The prisoner then came after her, cantering
his horse, and overtook her and wanted her to ride
again, which she refused to do. He then got down
out of the cart and, getting hold of her by the
shoulders, compelled her to walk with him behind
the cart till they came to Masengate-lane, when he
stopped his cart and went down the lane with her.
There he got her down and attempted to ravish her.
She fought and struggled with him for two hours,
and at last got, through a gate into a field, and a
man came up, who turned out to be Geo. Freeman,
to whom she complained of the treatment she bad
received. Freeman helped her over the gate and
saw her to the lane end. She then went home and
told her husband. Her dress was torn, her bonnet
crushed, and her hair down, and she was crying.
She got home about 8 o'clock.
The case for the defence was that both Freeman

and Shuttleworth, when following the cart, saw
the prisoner and the prosecutrix seated in the cart
sitting close to each other, he with his arm round
her waist, and that she made no complaint or re-
sistance. When told to go on they did so, but
Freeman, who knew her husband, was induced to
watch them, and walked on before the cart. When
the cart stopped he stopped, and went to the lane
end where it was. He denied that the horse was
cantering on the road after the prosecutrix, and it
was suggested that she got out of the cart at the
turnpike to avoid the observation of the toll-bar
people. Freeman then went to a farmhouse where
he had to call, three fields off Masengate-lane, and
came across the fields to the lane, when he saw the
prosecutrix standing under the wall in the field.
He went to her, and she asked who he was, and he
told her he was Geo. Freeman, and she then, and
not before, said " Bob has been using me very
roughly." She was not crying, nor was her dress
torn, nor her bonnet crushed, nor her hair down.
He saw her up the lane towards her home, and
the .prisoner went on his way. She made no
further' complaint to him. It also appeared
that after this, before 7 o'clock, the prisoner had
called at a publichouse two miles further on his way.
The prosecutrix's gown, cloak, and bonnet were not
produced. She called in no woman of the village,
nor the doctor, and afterwards said at Mrs. Briggs'
that her clothes were not torn, her bonnet was only
a little crushed, and she was not hurt in any way,
and had only a scratch on her elbow, and she was
willing to settle it if her husband would. It was
suggested that, having been caught in a doubtful
position by Freeman, who had seen her riding in
the cart, the prisoner's arm round her waist, she had
dreaded scandalous reports getting abroad about her,
and had feared at once to go home to her husband ;
that at length, when she did go home, she had
trumped up this accusation against the prisoner to
save herself from disgrace, and had simulated the
distress in which she appeared before her husband,
but which she had not exhibited before ; and that
her account was in all respecte uncorroborated, but
in many contradicted.
His Lordship having summed up the evidence on
both sides with great care, telling the jury if they
believed the woman to find the prisoner guilty of one
or other of the counts of the indictment which they
thought met the circumstances of the case, but if
they believed the witness Freeman, and were led to
suspect the testimony the woman had given, and to
infer that whatever the prisoner had done was with
her consent, then to accrait the prisoner altogether.
The jury retired, and after being absent an hour,
returned with a verdict of not guilty.