The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-31 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.--DERBY, JULY 29.
(Before Mr. Justice Maule.)
THE FATAL POACHING AFFRAY IN DERBYSHIRE,

John Turner, labourer, 38 ; James Walton, weaver,
40 ; W. Dswson, weaver, 40 ; W. Taylor, weaver, 50 ;
B. Milner, labourer, 33, T. Wilson, joiner, 36, and T.
Dodds, labourer, 28, were charged with the wilful
murder of W. L. G. Bagshawe, on the night of the 19th
of July, 1854, at the parish of Tideswell. The prisoners
were charged upon a second indictment with a violent
assault upon Samuel Slack.
Mr. Macaulay and Mr. Boden appeared for the prose-
cution ; prisoners were defended by Mr. Sergeant Miller
and Mr. Bell.

The court was densely crowded to hear the above
trial, which occupied the court from nine in the morning
until half-past eight in the evening.
After the hearing for the prosecution,
Mr. Serjeant Miller, for the prisoners, said that
before the jury could convict any of the prisoners
they must be satisfied that the offence of mur-
der was actually committed. Toey had heard
legal objections to Mr. Bagshawe's right to be there,
and the present case being a peculiar one it was
called a legally constructed murder. It would be for
the jury then to say if in point of law murder had been
committed, and if so, by whom S It was perfectly true
that if the prisoners went out together, agreeing violently
to resist their lawful apprehension, and if, in carrying
out their purpose, they resorted to violence, the party
inflicting fatal injuries were guilty of murder, hut the
facts elicited in this case were far otherwise ; there was
no proof of murder, there was none that the prisoners
had acted in concert. Supposing that all the prisoners
were there in the night time, were the jury satisfied
that, i❑ going out to spear a fish, they went prepared to
resist to the death any attempt to apprehend them ?
Was there any proof of this being the fact ? Did it not,
on the contrary, appear that no intimation whatever
having been given to the poachers who it was that had
come to prevent them carrying out their designs, and no
attempt made to take them into custody, except after a
violent attack, that there bad been a desire on the part
of Mr. Bagshawe and his friends to thrash them upon
the place rather than seek to punish them by the law ?
The learned counsel then went through the portion of
the evidence referring to the conflict, arguing that it
went to show that Mr. Bagshaw's party were the first
to begin the attack, and that the shots said to be fired
were directed only against the bull-dog which had been
let loose upon the men in the river.

Mr. Justice Maule having summed up, after a quar-
ter of an hour's consultation the jury returned a verdict
of not guilty against each prisoner on the charge of
murder.

Mr. Macaulay, Q.C., then said there was another
charge against the prisoners for feloniously assaulting
Samuel Slack. In consequence of Slack being too ill,
from the severity of his wounds, again to give evidence,
he applied for this trial to be postponed until the next
assizes, Milner being detained in custody, and the other
six liberated on entering into their recognizsnces to ap-
pear when called upon.
His lordship could not accede to the request, and no
evidence being offered upon the second indictment, a
verdict of acquittal was also returned upon that.

THE PATENT PRINTING MACHINERY AND

PRINTING COMPANY.

(From the Typographical Circular.)

Mourn, compositors, mourn ! Bewail the unlucky
fate that made you printers! Sigh over the uncertainty
of human happiness ! Your art is about to be super-
seded—your " occupation" will soon be gone ! Major
Beniowski has patented some " improvements" (?)
in printing, which promise to simplify the art so that
"authors will be able to set up their productions in
metal themselves ; and those who are able to pay will
find millions of willing and exceedingly cheap hands,
everywhere, at all times, and a moment's notice."

Printing is ►o be introduced into every school ; boys
and girls are to learn to read and print at tho same
time ; children are to have types in the nurseries instead
of the present toy bricks ; " the walls will become in-
scribed with papa, mamma. &c., and it will not be long
before they cover their floors, walls, and roofs with
words and sentences."

The inventor humanely cautions parents against " the
folly of apprenticing their children to a trade winch will,
at the end of the apprenticeship, be the trade of every-
body ;" and the gallant major "actually thinks that it
will require great activity on the part of the law to make
those that are already indentured stick to their parents'
engagements."
At a lecture delivered at Willis's Rooms, St.
James's, Major Beniowski explained that the chief
impediment to cheap printing arose from the extreme
difficulty which compositors experience in reading their
lines, and that the above revolution is to be effected—
first, by having types about half the usual height, and, in
addition to the ordinary letter on the face, having the
same letter, not reversed, cut on the foot, which is to be
placed uppermost in the stick, so as to be easily read, and
the lines to be afterwards turned over. The letter on the
foot will be legible, we doubt not, till it gets dragged over
the stone, or filled up by dirt, or till a sheet of paper is
pasted by the presman or machinist at the back of the
form, when probably the face of the type would be found
most legible—unless, indeed, that shall be so much worn
by being distributed and composed downwards as to be
illegible also. The type to be composed by a female, is
to be formed into lines, spaced out, and the words di-
vided by a little boy learning to read ; to be distributed
by another little boy ; to be placed in the case, called an
" authoriton," by a third ; and although nothing has
been said about readers and correctors, doubtlessly
their services will be occasionally required. Secondly,
the present cumbrous cases, with two or three alphabets
in them, " making the art so difficult as to require
an apprenticeship," are to be done away with, and the
"authoriton," with only 1620 compartments, is to take
their place. Thirdly, instead of picking up one type at
a time, the matter is to be simplified by having com-
pound letters, syllables, words substituted ; in order that
children at school—or any one who can read—may at
once become compositors !
The present boxes in cases are too large, and the new
ones must be very much smaller ; and, as the type
pairfingers.
be
tweezers will be used, and the types. mtusvtntinere or
packed in the cases so as not to require turning.
uas often failed,
" Logotype" has been often tried,d
exceedingly p
But now every isdifficultoyoe roefmtohvee
g,veaantde,tthoe
htjheientgi
omn
sa made
fourle lettershtolgeth.enrewhass,dthtoathwehtehnvoownoe
jleotitneirnggotht
pwrocueessptlehe letters will be cast
away ; burte
ein battered,t
hee
newtb
separately and c o,en.ttoedr
wtoiglietohnelry;haavned
twohdeinssoonlveegtehtes
battered the compositor
cement by soaking in spirits of wine, taking off the tin-
foil in which the letters are enveloped, pick out the bat-
tered type, re-cement the letters, replace the tin-foil, arid
the thing is done.
The quantity composed, too, will be enormous. In a
trial made at the lecture a young lady composed, in
three minutes, of reprint copy, a quantity of types, esti-
mated
oaaeust
that,enleddux nbbyebeecoeMterpegida:uojf
equal
assistantslir
bntßguo tet4nhp,
eoro
owsnoats
required,mi kan i
printing
t speedhio so übnre ;e
tqwou
hab thoe k,e2pc
00t
nOs
up,edt et
rei rns
this;
enotles
eso t mo
huea he x aegs.
nevertheless
cuted much cheaper than at present, by paying the
"compositors" from ss. to 20s. a week, and by the em-
ployment of children, who, as they grow up and require
increased wages, are to be exchanged for others a size or
two smaller.

The inventor is completely independent of the " old
hands," who "may come to him, but he does not want
them," and he is, therefore, certain of success. Indeed,
so independent is he of those at present in the trade,
that he has not at all consulted practical men on the
subject.

Such are the main features of a scheme by which the
inventor threatens to effect as great a revolution
among printers as was effected among the ancient
"scribes" by the introduction of printing; and, in
defiance, or in ignorance, of former experiments, is
about to try what has repeatedly failed. Showing an
utter contempt for those at present engaged in the
trade, he supposes that composing is merely a me-
chanical process, disregards the difficulties arising from
imperfect or illegible manuscript, or the knowledge of
punctuation required, and, pretending that experience is
not necessary to make a competent workman, invites
capitalists to embark in an undertaking by which printing
is promised to be executed at less than half the present
cost, and return a profit of 200 per cent to the shareholders.
The experience of many who tried the logotypes is set at
nought ; and, in spite of the heavy losses by the proprietor
of Lloyd's Newspaperand others, who tried thecoin post ng-
machine, it is still declared that persons without any
previous training can efficiently execute that which all
practical men know to require the experience of a life-

Welltime.
y foreigners
Am may
speculator
has laughoiiy at t
to
issue
gullibility
a flaming
prospec-
tus,Bull !
and deliver a lecture at some aristocratic assembly-
room, to gain patronage from a host of fashionable ad-
mirers ; and when assisted by a name of difficult pronun-
ciation, with an interesting foreign accent, and a pleasing
personal exterior, is at once declared to be a wonderful
genius, a benefactor of his species, and deserving the
thanks of a discerning public.
If any one supposed that at the late lecture any oppor-
tunity of inquiring into the merits of the so-called inven-
tion would be afforded, a great mistake was committed ;
it was evidently intended only for the classic region of
St. James's, and not for the denizens of Fleet-street ; for
when one or two most pertinent questions were put by a
gentleman well known as a first-rate practical printer, it
was at once seen that they were distasteful ; the lec-
turer began to lose his temper, and evaded questions by
relating irrelevant anecdotes. Practical men, therefore,
wieely abstained from any attempt at exposing the ab-
surdity of the scheme, rightly believing that they were
in no way concerned in the matter, and that if St.
James's wished for an interesting toy, it was not for
them to interfere. The whole affair strongly reminded
us of the graphic description given by Dickens of the
"Hot Muffin and Crumpet Baking and Punctual De-
livery Company," and we venture to predict that it will
not be long before the bubble bursts.

DOGGETT'S COAT AND BADGE.—The names of the six
young waterinen who are to row on the Ist of of August
for the livery and badge bequeathed by Mr. Doggett, in
honour of the happy accession of the family of her Ma-
jesty to the throne of Great Britain, are as follows :
Jas. Gingeil, jun., Horsley. lo wn ;Richard Hough, Somers-
quay; Samuel Thomas Ashby, Duke-shore; Win. James
Pruas, Bankside ; Edward Mills, Woolwich; David J.
Hemmings, Bankside. Besides the livery and badge are
prizes bequeathed by Sir W. Jolliffe, and presents from
the Fishmongers' Company.