The Sun.
London, England, 1824-01-02 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE,

SURREY WINTER ASSIZES, JAN. 1.
ARSON.
John &rapid, a person of respectable appearance, was in-
dicted, under Lord Ellenborough's Act, for feloniously, will-
fully, and maliciously, setting fire to the dwelling-house of
Mary Bonsol, widow, deceased, at the parish of St. George's,
Southwark, on the 13th of September last. A second count
alleged the house to belong to Mary Nichols.
The prisoner, in September last, and for two or three years
previously, carried on the business of a cheesemonger and gro-
cer in the lower part of a house in London-street, Surrey, as
under-tenant of a Mrs. Mary Nichols, who had been previ-
ously tenant of that part of the premises to Mrs. Mary Bonsol,
widow, the landlady who resided in the upper part of the
dwelling. Soon after 12 o'clock on Saturday night, the 13th
of September last, a fire broke out in the lower part of the
house. The neighbours had become alarmed, and Mrs. Bonsol,
who was known to live in the upper part of the building, was
rescued from the flames. She had just retired to bed, and,
upon a loud knocking at the door, came to the window, received
notice that the house was on fire, and after huddling on some
clothes escaped in safety. In less than two hours the house
was burned to the ground. On Monday morning, in conse-
quence of some expression:: which dropped from the prisoner,
importing that he knew that the house was on fire 20 minutes
before he left it, he was taken up on a charge of willingly setting
fire to the house, and was finally committed for trial.
The evidence was all circumstantial.
The prisoner being called on for his defence, solemnly as-
serted his innocence. He declared that he had carried on a
flourishing trade in the shop in question: urged the improba-
sibility of his committing an act which must be attended with
such serious consequences to himself in every point of vie*,
and relied upon the justice of the Jury to acquit him after they
should have heard his witnesses.

A great number of witnesses were then called for the pri-
soner, who proved, first, that the property in his shop and pre-
mises had been insured to the amount of four hundred pounds
in the Phoenix-office, and that he had never made any claim
on the policy ; second, that he had carried on a most lucrative
trade ; third, that he had taken a house in Watling-street to
carry on his trade in the wholesale way, intending not to give
up his shop in London-street, but still to carry on the trade
there by means of a confidential servant ; fourth, that so fur
from his intending to quit that shop, he had actually been
in treaty for redeeming a mortgage on the premises, and taking
the whole house into his own hands ; and, lastly, that at the
time of the fire the shop and premises were well stocked with
goods in trade and household furniture.

An immense number of witnesses spoke highly of the pri=
soner's character, and described him as an honest, upright, and
humane man in all the relations of life.

Mr. Justice PARK summed up-the ;hole of the evidence, and
made such comments as the circumstances of the case suggested.
—The Jury found the prisoner—Not Guilty.

Tower of Horses, and Asses, in Carrying and Drawing
Burthens.—The energy of some of our racers, for a short effort,
is prodigious; the famous race-horce Childers ran a mile in a
minute, with a weight of 731bs ; and was equal to continue this
speed for ten miles. An ordinary racer, with about the same
weirt, clears from
.twenty to twenty-four feet of ground at
each leap. By placing the burthen on his back, a horse will
perform 5 or 6 times more labour than if the load were placed so
that he must draw it horizontally over a pully, or on a sledge,
than is exerted in ploughing. Two horses cannot exert a greater
force in drawing a plough than 751bs. each horse, and move at
the rate of two miles an hour. But by the mechanical effect
of the wheels in diminished friction, a horse can draw in a
cart a load fourteen times greater than he can do when he is
harnessed to a sledge or in a plough. The carriers between
Glasgow and Edinburgh use two-wheel single-horse carts,
which weigh from 7001bs. to 8001bs. and the load of goods
weighs 2001bs. additional: with this load a horse travels 22
miles a day. The London dray horses are capable of powtr--
ful temporary exertion, but the average of their labottr is
less than that of the lighter breeds ; much of their force is ex-
pended in moving their own ponderous mass. In 1805, a cart-
horse was exhibited, which measured l 9; hands high, 16 feet 5
inches long, and 8 feet 2 inches in girth ; but all its move-
ments were sluggish. In pumping water a horse will raise 2.0
hogsheads 10ft high an hour. It will raise by a wheel and
axle 10001bs. of coal 13 feet, and continue this exertion 13 hours
daily. Although a strong horse, by a temporary effort, will
draw in a cart a weight of 20001bs. up a steep hill, whichis but
short, and is able to draw 7 times more on a level road than a
man can carry—yet if the hill road be long and steep, three Men
can carry as much up as one horse can draw. Next to that of the
horse, the labour of the ass is extensively used in England ;
and from its hardy habits its labour is much cheaper. An ass
will carry 2001bs. 20 miles a day and from thus being able to
vet at a higher angle than a horse, three asses will carry as
much up a hill as two horses. At Carisbrpoke Castle, the work
of raising water in a walking wheel was peqormed by the same.
individual ass for 45 years.