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

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i ieard, if so muc,
..
, half, to-day, and il. - -I will in.
' uP
, 11 likelihood '
all to-morrow. The prisoner
PCabe, who, exp
ected was to have bk 'en indicted
R ith Reid, has
appeared as a witak ess for the
to 3.
The commission was
byope3
le erS herei ago
this p. rosecution.
OXFORD C.l7ecu------ir.
d,
mdoUrilnV.;lll9g.
t n :miler past ten o'clock
\_
at a
service, returned
Erie. His' .Lord-
! at 'ip, after attending Divine
ou, 3 o'clock, to commence the crimeinreeltrn.cd to Co u.rt at
4 •on sequence of the absence of the 9sinesg; "t 'in
eSSCS Li each of several cases that
I
parties or' the -wit-
were called on, his
\II
L wdship Ins obliged to adjourn the court to nin
0,, clock to-morrow morning. At that hour the business
°
wi 11 begin in both courts. The calendar contains the
um nes of 45 prisoners, of whom five are charged wiVi
ms nslaughter, three with cutting and wounding, six.
wit, h assaults on women, four with burglary, two with
0.1 on, two with forgery, one with bigamy, one with
,03 chizig, three with coining, one with maiming a horse,
vand the :est with larcenies that might have been dis.
poses lof at sessions. Of the 45 prisoners, fourteen are
marks A as ;Inable to read or write, five as able to read
arh.4 WI
ite well, And one as able to read and write in a
'
sups T -v n. mrraner.
The cause list will not be maci'e till
to-m ) ruW morning. .At present there are only a very'
."
few c ssec entered. It is anticipated that it will be a 1-ery
.
ioor assize,

WN COURT.—(Before IL". Justice
N ORFOLK CIRG Ul2: —Ca- mbridge July 20.
th e lat of Novemberhe
Mr. Prendergast and Mr. abridge,
CRC I
tt 1 a :stack of straw,aged 30,
at Soham.
THE 90HAM FIRES.
Jos.kth Munson,was indictel for settittg fire
property of Tiliomas Peck, on
aria 1 it may be remembere-det-
he ,a -as tried and acquitted o aker, residing at' Sohamr
prt )secution. Mr. Dasent were coulasyl for .tho
that at the last March assizeg.
' The prisoner is a ba=l,
sc.t, fi re to a barn in that town, a charge of attempting to
last where several incendiary
,have occurred within thetwelve months, by in-
into it a bundle of combustib
twca3 fin tunaaely discOvered. As soon as the
which
was taken up, on suspicion prisoner re-
turned t, a Soham, he
before the incident of former inaluiry, but in
beenoccu
respectr
re the
do
i v y
I:ich no proceedings had been taken .agains
bim at the last assizes. It now appeared that Mr..Peek's
ea•e broke out abut a quarter pa,t seven o'clock iai the
aa,oxing of the Ist of No;'eraber, and consumed the w. hole
of tts,traw stack, and portio-ns of ,two stubble staeaks-
con the . following morning there WAS discovered a blackinj
bottle ,ae.'th the neck broken off, and bearing marks ott
the inside as if it had been filled with some combustible
matter. "-This, eaircumstanee .at once satisfied that
authorities .that this fire had teen -the deliberAtti act
of some ince,,diary, who was also the author of the:
other fires in .'be same town ; for in many of them:
similar bottles hat; been found. In order to connect the
prisoner with this ou:rage it was shown that on the Ist
of November, which was q Sunday, be partook of break-
fast, dinner, and tea at a cublic-house where he boarded,
and that he quitted the house a: a quarter to six o'clock
in the evening, saying he was going' to clue :Del. He was
neat seen to emerge, at a quarter past s:x, from his
workshop, where he must have had a light and a fire
too, for sparks were observed to issue from the talaimney.
For a few paces he was traced up Church-str net, to-
wards Mr. Peek's premises, but was soon lost sigl tt of in
the crowd. At twenty minutes past six, however, he
was met going into the house where he lodged, when he
said he was going to change his coat, and gal to the
chapel, which began at half-past six o'clock, mad stood
next door to his workshop. In five minatest. after-
wards he was agaita met, going in a directioo from
his lodging to the cbapel ; but it did not clearly ap-
pear at what time he entered the chapel. Accord:Tag
to one account, he made hie appearance there in tho
first singing, and according to another he did not come
till the second singing. At any rate the witnesses
agreed in saying that the cry of " fire " arose iti the
chapel about half an hour after he had taken his
seat ; so that if he really were its author, he
must have accomplished his object by throwihkg:
some combustible substance into the stack, which badi
smouldered for nearly three-quarters of au hour before
the flan: es broke out. As soon as the cry reached the
chapel the
congregation rushed out en masse, and ree-
pot indicated by the glare of the flames,
paired to the' $
intion of the prisoner, who coolly went t o
)Nthiethhtohme excel
wheree he boarded. and changed his coat,- again
observing, " Well, they can't blame me for this fife, at
all events, fat' I was at chapel." In addition to ttese
facts, it was fin ther shown that the prisoner had etm,att-
voured to borre'w a black pair of trousers on thin day;.
from two people, ,under the pretence that he wanted
them to wear at t'. funeral at Milden-hall, at three
o'clock, though he eN'ld not by any possibility have
reached that place by abatt time; and when he was
taken in custody after the last assizes, he observed,
" This is a worse job than the laa't, and if I get clear of
it I'll take care never to set foot"' agaa n in Sobani."
This being the whole case against the rrisoner,
Mr. NAYLOR addresse3 the
a-
jury on his behalf,
tending that the evidence only went to raise a suspicion
against the prisoner, and that, too, of the very slight4eit
character, so that it was quite impossible for them to
m
come to any conclusion hostile to the prisoner.
Mr. Justice PATTESON said, that it was very- a 2ar
that the prisoner had got a bad name at Soham, and he
quite agreed with him, that if he got clear now he would
do well not to return to wham, for this case was an
illustration of the old adage.aii9Ut giving a " dog a bad
name.' There was nothing against the prisoner here
but suspicion and -coaajectule, , crested by provioui
events, and it was for the jury to say wethefsthey:ceUlU
safely convict a man on such testimony as that adduced
by the prosecutor,. 'with was bound to meta
,aonable
charge clearly, and so 'as not to leave any rea
1 out the
doubt of the prisoner's guilt. Here the prison. ero
the
was
not shown to be at any time of the evening nearer
stack than 400 yards, and the bottle was not by any
. t
at
pretence traced to him, whilst it was very likely
every man in Sohana had such a bottle in his poss.essiem•
The Learned Judge then went through the rest ,of the
case in detail, and at the conclusion of his observat.jeas,
as might have been expected,
The jury returned it verdict of Not Guilty.
His LORDSHIP •then, addressing the prisoner, told hiratk
that if he took his ;advice he would not go back to
Soham, as it was clear he bad a bad name among is
neighbours.
The prisoner bowed his tha.'llas to the jury and retired
from the dock on this "his secClid appearance in the
same character," expressing it to be his intention to take
the Learned Judge's hint, and ~ .'mover go back to
Soham no more." mother of
In the other case of arson, wherein the.
to certain
this prisoner was charged with having set fire .
her son
premises at Soham, soon after the committal of
.ed the
for trial at the last assizes, the grand jury ignok
bill.