The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-21 00:00:00

JULY 21, 1847.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
HUME ClRCUl7'.—Lewes, July 20.
(Before Mr. Baron PARKE.)
Maria Renshaw, 20, was indicted for having unlaw-
fully abandoned a certain child of which she was the
mother, with the intent that it should die, and thereby
intended to kill and murder it ; and in other counts
she was charged with the intent to cast the burden of
maintaining the child upon the inhabitants of the parish
of Bexhill, where she had so abandoned it. _ _

Mr. Attree prosecuted, and Mr. Johnson appeared for
,he defence.

When the prisoner was arraigned, she at first pleaded
Guilty to the indictment.
Mr. Baron PARKE told her that the charge made
against her was a very serious one, and as the indict-
ment imputed several intents to her, each of which would
require a different degree of punishment, he advised
her to retract her plea of Guilty and to have the facts
stated, so that the jury might express an opinion as to
what her real intention was when she abandoned her
infant.

The prisoner then pleaded Not Guilty.
It appeared from the testimony of the witnesses that
the prisoner had been in service at Hastings, and that
she was in the family way and near the period of her
confinement at the beginning of June. On the 14th
of that month she left Hastings and proceeded by
the train to Brighton, where she took up her
abode at a lodging house kept by a person named
Bowley, and on the 16th she was delivered of
the infant in question, which appeared to be a fine,
healthy child. On the 26th of June, ten days after her
delivery, the prisoner said she had received a letter:from
her father informing her that her mother was dying, and
that she must go home directly, and her landlady accom-
panied her to the railway station at Brighton, whence
she started with her intant by the half-past twelve
o'clock train. At this time the child was dressed in a
new night-gown and shirt, and the other usual articles of
dress for an infant, and the prisoner, although weak
from her recent confinement, appeared otherwise in good
health. When the train arrived at the Bexhill station,
the prisoner got out with her child, and her conduct ex-
cited the attention of the clerk at the station, and it in-
duced him to believe that she was not in her right
senses. She asked a number of incoherent questions,
and was seen wandering about the station apparently in
great distress of mind for a considerable time, when she
again came to the station, and her conduct was still very
wild and extraordinary, and she at length left by the
half-past five o'clock train for Hastings ; but at this
time she had no child with her. On the
same evening, a person living at Bexhill had
occasion to go into a field in that neighbour-
hood to fetch a sheep home to be killed, and while he
was so engaged he heard the moaning of a child, and
proceeding in the direction whence the voice ap-
peared to come he was led to a ditch, where ho found
an infant lying among some high nettles, and quite con-
cealed by them from the sight of any casual passer-by,
and but for the cries of the poor infant it appeared very
probable that it must have lain there and perished.
The child turned out to be the prisoners ' • but it ap-
peared that the shirt and night-gown had been taken
off it, and it had nothing on its body but a napkin and a
cap. The prisoner was afterwards taken into custody,
when it appeared that she admitted having deserted the
child, and the present indictment was then preferred
against her.
Mr. JoustsoN made a most feeling address to the
jury on behalf of the prisoner, and urged that she had
been driven almost to madness by the shame of her po-
sition, and that when she deserted her unhappy offspring
she was not in a state of mind to render her accountable
for her actions, and that therefore the jury ought not to
find her guilty of having any of the wicked intentions im-
puted to her by this indictment.
The jury, after deliberating a few minutes, returned a
verdict of Not Guilty.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—Lincoln, July 19.
CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Baron ROLFE.)
Mr. Baron Rolfe took his seat upon the bench at
eleven o'clock this morning, and shortly afterwards pro.
ceeded to charge the grand jury, of which Sir John
Trollope is foreman. His Lordship congratulated the
jury upon the small number of prisoners for trial. He
directed their attention, however, specially to the case
of a woman charged with no fewer than three murders
by the administration of poison. In the course of the
day the grand jury returned three bills against the ac-
cused, and her trial is appointed to take place to morrow.
Reuben Thacker stood indicted for stealing, at Bar-
rowby, in this county, on the 12th of April last, six ewes
nd twelve calves, the property of John Ewinson. There
was anot c e against the prisoner for stealing
articlqie.appafel. . He pleaded .Guilty to the latter
indictmeln.

Mr. Mellor prosecuted. The prisoner was undefended.
From the statements of the witnesses it appeared' that
on the night of the 12th of April last the sheep were safe
in a field belonging to the prosecutor. The following
morning they were missing. On the Monday evening
the prisoner called upon a farmer living at Gonerby,
with whom he was acquainted, stating that he had come
for the purpose of meeting a quantity of sheep belonging
to his master, Mr. Richards, of Coston Bassett. This
statement, in consequence of the prisoner having been
formerly in the employ of Mr. Richards, was readily
believed, and the prisoner was accordingly accommo-
dated with lodgings for the night, and on his bringing
the sheep they were also, according to a practice which
prevailed amongst the farmers of the neighbourhood,
supplied with pasturage. The next day the sheep, under
the direction of the prisoner, proceeded in the direction
of Ewerby, and were on that evening put up at the
/Plough Inn, Wilsford. In the mean time the robbery
became known in the neighbourhood; the sheep were
traced to Wilford, and identified by the prosecutor, and
on Wednesday the prisoner was apprehended.
The prisoner in his defence admitted driving the sheep
(they having been delivered into his care for convey-
ance), but denied the robbery.
The jury found him Guilty, and
The Learned JUDGE sentenced him to four months'
imprisonment and hard labour for the robbery of the
apparel, and seven years' transportation for stealing the
sheep.
Martin Dale and Joseph Wright (two stout-looking
fellows) were placed at the bar charged with burglari-
ously entering the house of Mr. Festus Dunham, of Six
Hills, in this county, on the morning of the 2d of April
last, and stealing certain moneys, &c., the propertylof the
prosecutor and his daughter. Another prisoner, named
Fidlin, was charged with being implicated in the com-
mission of the offence, but it was stated that he was too
ill to be placed upon his trial.
Mr. FLOWER stated the case to the jury.
Mr. W. H. Adams appeared for the prisoner Dale;
Wright was undefended.

The case, which was one of great aggravation, wi
be best understood by a condensed report of the ev
dence.

Festus Dunham—l am a farmer, living at Six Hills,
in this county. On the morning of the 21 of April I
was awoke by a great clattering at the door of my house.
I put my head out of the window and asked what was
the matter. I saw a man outside, who replied, " I'll
blow your b— old brains out." I believe it was Mar-
tin Dale who used the expression. I did not know him
before. It was a very moonlight night, and there was
snow on the ground. I saw two other men come up and
strike at the window. They knocked the window out,
and all three men then went in. I said to my daughter,
" We shall all be murdered," and I made my way out
of the house for the purpose of obtaining assistance.
In about half an hour I returned with assistance. The
men were then gone. I left a dog in the house, and
when I came back I found it had been stabbed, and was
bleeding at the nose. The prisoner Wright was formerly
in my employ. He had helped us to " flit," and place
the furniture in the house.
Frances Dunham, wife of the last witness, confirmed
the main points of his evidence. After her husband left
the house she and her daughter attempted to prevent the
men entering her daughter's room. They placed a chest
against the door. The men outside, when they found
their entrance there opposed, said, " You need not place
the chest there, for we mean to come in." Two men

then forced themselves into the room. The prisoner
Martin Dale was one of them. He had a lighted candle
in one hand and a hayfork in the other. Witness asked
him what his business was, when Dale replied, " We
want your money," and rushed through her daughter's
room into witness's room. He placed the candle upon
the dressing-table, and took up 3d. in copper, which he
put in his pocket. They next ransacked a drawer, but
witness believed they did not take anything. Dale then
presented his fork at witness's breast, and said, " D-
you, where's your money?" He then ransacked another
drawer, and found a purse belonging to her daughter.
It contained a half-sovereign, four half-crowns, two
shillings, and two sixpences. Witness told the men that
what money they had was in her husband's pocket, and
that he was gone up the village. As soon as they heard
that they went away. Next morning they missed from
the house a new hat, a rosewood workbox, a mahogany
tea-chest, and an apron.
Cross-examined
.by Mr. ADAMS—Had not known
Dale before, but knew him immediately she saw him
again. When the men got into the house her daughter
Jumped out of the window and ran away. She (witness)
never saw Wright ; he was not the other man in the

room.
Margaret Dunham, the daughter, deposed that when
she jumped out of the window a man outside told her to
go back. It was the prisoner Wright. She had known
him from a child. She afterwards saw him in the house
standing near her bedroom door.
Joseph Rawson, being sworn, stated that he is a la-
bourer, and on the morning of the 2d of April was
called up by the prosecutor. He immediately went to
the front of the house, but the men were then gone. He
was shortly afterwards joined by other men. There had
been a good deal of fresh snow during the night. Upon
examining the ground they were able to track the feet
of three men from the house of the prosecutor to Lud-
ford Town End. The marks went up to fhe house of
Fidlin (the prisoner not now upon his trial). He (wit-
ness) afterwards returned to Six-hills, and cut out the
" feetings," and some of these were traced to the door of
Wright's house. The marks corresponded With the
size an,l nail:: of Wright's boots.
Tobias kirwan, constanie of Alaiketß,sen, corrobo-
rated the last witness with respect to the impression of
foot-marks.