The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-24 00:00:00

WESTERN ClRCUlT.—Devizes, July 22.

The commission for this county was opened he-re yester-
day by Mr. Baron Platt. The Learned Baron was met and
escorted into tue town by the high sheriff (Lord Folkestone),
with the usual formalities. This morning Mr. Justice Erie
and Mr. Baron Platt attended Divine service, and then pro-
ceeded to the Assize Court ; Mr. Justice Erle presiding in the
Crown Court, and Mr. Baron Platt at Nisi Prius.
The business here is very light. The cause lists contain
an entry of only eight causes, of which one is marked for a
special jury. There are only 26 prisoners for trial, and none
of the cases are of a very serious character. On analysing
the calendar we find the charges against the prisoners to be
—rape, 2; assault with intent, 1 ; manslaughter, 1 ; arson, 4;
bigamy, 1; stabbing, 1; burglary, 1 ; robbery, 2 ; larceny,
12; and false pretences, 1. Of these we find that only one
possesses superior education ; twelve can read and write im-
perfectly ; two read well ; five imperfectly ; but six can
neither read nor write.

CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice Dux.)
Zebidee Abbott was indicted for maliciously setting fire to
a rick of hay, the property of Stephen Smallcombe, at
Broughton Gifford, in this county.
Mr. Prideaux appeared for the prosecution.
The prisoner, a lad of about the age of 15, and evidently
of weak intellect, was not represented by counsel.
Mr. PRIDEAUX, in opening the case, told the jury that the
evidence could leave no doubt upon their minds that the
prisoner set fire to the rick, but that a question might arise
as to whether he was not of such weak intellect as not to
know right from wrong, and be conscious that he was
doing that for which he was criminally responsible. If
they were satisfied of this, it would be their duty to acquit
him on the ground of insanity. He then proceeded to call
the witnesses, who clearly proved that the act was com-
mitted by the prisoner. One of the witnesses, the father of
the prisoner, stated that he was almost an idiot, and that
he did not believe that he was capable of knowing right
from wrong; four-fifths of his time he could do nothing
with him, but he could occasionally send him on errands
which sometimes he had sufficient sense to execute, and at
other times not. The evidence of some of the other wit-
nesses also tended strongly to establish the mental incapacity
of the prisoner, one of them speaking of him as " Poor
Zebidee Abbott," and another as " James Abbott's foolish
son." When being asked how he came to burn his hand, he
said it was trying to put out the great big fire.
Mr. Justice ERLE having summed up, the jury almost im-
medigely returned a verdict of Not Guilty, on the ground of
insanity, and he was thereupon ordered to be kept in con-
finement during the Queen's pleasure.
No other case worthy of a report has been tried to-day.,
All the business of the assize is expectal to be got through
in the course of to-morrow.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT—Lincoln, July 22.
HUGHES V. JOHNSON, M.P.

This was an action to recover the sum of upwards of
2,0001. for work and labour done as an engineer.
Mr. Wildman and Mr. Haynes were for the plaintiff ;
Mr. Whitehurst, Q.C. Mr. Humfrey, Q.C., and Mr. Wad-
dington, were for the defence.
The plaintiff was the engineer of the Leicester, Mellon
Mowbray, and Spalding line; the defendant was General
Johnson, the Member for Oldham. In order to fix the de-
fendant, Mr. Lacy, joint solicitor with Mr. Bass for the de-
funct company, was called, and he stated he and his partner
were concerned last November in getting up the scheme in
question ; they were joint solicitors from the Bth of October.
There was an office in London, 4, Trafalgar-square, and one
at 19, King's Arms-yard, his own office. The promoters met
generally at my office. Knows Mr. Collins, the Member for
Warwick. He was on the committee. He called at my
(Ace. Knows also the defendant ia this action. Prospectuses