The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENIN'er, AUGUST 24, 1846,1

Mr. Sergeant WiuuNs addressed the jury for the defence, ,
and they retired to consider their verdict.
After a consultation of three hours, they returned a verdict
of Guilty. To be transported for 14 years.
Charles Greenwood, Thomas Lawley, John Greenwood, and
Joseph Mills, were indicted for having robbed James Green-
wood at at Todmorden and Walsden, on the 17th of May.
Mr. Brandt conducted the prosecution ; the prisoners were
not defended by counsel.
It appeared from the statement of the prosecutor, who is a
very old man, that he was watchman in the service of Mr.
Robertshaw, who has a mill near Todnaorden. While going
the round of the premises, he hoard some one kick the coal-
house door. He went out into the road, and he there saw
four men in white smockfrocks, and asked them who had
been knocking They said they had not. The old man
said it could have been nobody else; on which high words
ensued, and one of the prisoners, Lawlev, said, " D-n
him, smash his lantern," The men then attacked him,
One broke his lantern, another knocked hint down, and
they beat him as he lay upon the ground, until he was
nearly insensible. He cried out "murder," and some young,
men who were in the neighbourhood running up, saw four men
in smockfrock, beating some person who was lying upon the
ground. The men ran away. The old man was then found
to be seriously injured ; his face was touch bruised and
covered with blood, and his hat was gone. This, however,
was found at some distance, where it was supposed it had
been taken by his assailants, The prosecutor spoke very
doubtingly as to the identity of the prisoners. It appeared,
however, that a short time before, the four persons fit the
bar bad been all together at the beer-house of a Mr. Green-
wood, at Clough, near Walsden, where they had a quantity
of ale, for which they did not pay. They had all white smock-
frocks on when they left, and they went in the direction of
the mill of Mr. Robertshaw. They left about eleven o'clock.
A sergeant of police, who was at Mr. Robertshaw's soon
after the attack, went to the Navigation Inn. where he found
the prisoners. They had come in very shortly after eleven
o'clock. There was then blood on Charles Greenwood's
smockfrock. He said he had been wrestling, and he added
that they had punched Robertshaw's coal-house door as he
passed, and he bad knocked down a man who came out. The
officer who apprehended the prisoners found blood upon Law-
ley's smockfrock, as well as on Greenwood's. Greenwood
said the blood was Tom's (Lawley's), with whom he had had
a scrimmage.
At the close of the case for the prosecution, it was intimated
by Mr. Brandt that he did not think the evidence could sus-
tain the charge of robbery, but he submitted the parties
might be convicted of the common assault.
His LORDSHIP thought that this was not the case, and
that to convict the prisoners of the assault there must be
evidence of an inchoate attempt to commit the felony, which
fails, or in which they were interrupted, before the felony is
complete. It never could be the intention of the Legislature,
where a party had committed an assault, and there was on
the evidence no pretence for saying a felony had been
0 intended, that the party might be charged with the felony
and convicted of the assault, by which course he would be
exposed to a very different punishment from that which
would have been inflicted on him had he been charged with
the assault alone. _ _ _

His LORDSHIP, after consulting with Mr. Justice CRESS-
WELL, ruled according to the opinion so expressed, and the
prisoners were Acquitted generally.
Matthew Sherlock Hilton, aged 19, a young man of very
respectable appearance, and who seemed throughout the trial
to be in the greatest agony of mind, was indicted for uttering
a forged receipt of one John Woodcock, knowing it to be
forged.
Mr. Brandt conducted the prosecution; the prisoner was
defended by Mr. J. Pollock.
The prisoner, it appeared, was in the employment of the
British and Foreign Copper Company, at Sutton, near St.
Helen's. It was the prisoner's duty to check the weekly
accounts. He was so engaged on Saturday, the 4th July,
and among other accounts handed one in from John Wood-
cock, for 7/. 9s. 2d., a mark, which purported to be the signa-
ture of John Woodcock being attached. The cashier refused
to cash it, as he had no proof of its being Woodcock's mark,
without an attesting witness. The prisoner went out with it
and came back with the signature of John Shenton, the fore-
man, attached as a witness to the mark of Woodcock. It
appeared from the testimony of Woodcock and his partner
that the amount of his account in the week in question was

only 21. 7s. 2d., and this sum he received from the prisoner.
He had never signed the account in question, and knew
nothing of its being presented.
Mr. You.ocx, for the prisoner, contended that the charge
of uttering with intent to defraud Woodcock must fall to the
ground, as the prisoner had actually paid to him all the
money which was due to him. As to the uttering at all, with
a guilty knowledge of its being a forgery, he submitted that
without the testimony of Shenton, who was not called, they
could not be satisfied of that fact. There was no question
as to the genuineness of Shenton's signature ; he, at all events,
believed the mark to be Woodcock's mark, and attested it
accordingly, and he submitted it was imperative upon the
prosecution to have called him to show the circumstances
under which his attestation was appended.
His LORDSHIP in summing up commented on the absen
of Shenton, who it was clear was a most material witness.
Verdict—Not Guilty.
The prisoner was then indicted for obtaining money under
false pretences. It appeared he had handed in a list of per-
sons to whom wages were due, amounting to 4/. lls., re-
ceived the money, and appropriated it to his own use, there
being in fact no such wages due to the individuals in ques-
tion.

Verdict—Guilty. Sentence deferred.
(Before Mr. Justice CRESSWELL.)
RAWSON V. ANTHONY.
This was an action by the plaintiff; formerly a hosier in
Manchester, but now a sharebroker, to recover from the de-
fendant the value of fifty shares in the North-Eastern Rail-
way Company, which had been sold to him in October last..
Mr. Knowles and Mr. Tomlinson fur the plaintiff; Mr.
Martin and Mr. Cowling for the defendant.
It appeared that on the 13th of October last the plaintiff
ordered his brokers, Messrs. Barton and Birchall, to buy 50
shares in the North-Eastern Railway at 4/. 10s. per share,
1/. 7s. 6d. having been paid as a deposit, and they being at
that time at 3/. 2s. 6d. premium. In obedience to these in-
structions they purchased 50 shares from Messrs. Ridsdales,
and the usual sold notes passed between the parties, but no
specific time was mentioned for the delivery of the shares,
which were purchased generally " for the account," the
shares being in fact at that time called'in by the provisional
committee of this company, with a view to an issue of new
shares. On the 15th Mr. Rawson directed his brokers to
sell the shares, -which they accordingly did to the defendant,
who was then, and is now, a broker; and who, as usual,
made the purchase without mentioning the name of his
principal. It appeared he several times applied for the
shares, but it was not until the middle of December
that an invoice of the shares was sent with the usual
intimation that they were then ready for delivery.
Previous to that time he had written to Messrs. Barton
and Birchall stating that unless the 50 shares were delivered
in three days he would buy in the shares against them, ac-
cording to the rules of the Manchester Stock Exchange.
It appeared, however, that after the receipt of the invoice, he
sent his clerk with the money to Messrs. Barton and Birch.
all's office, but they were not prepared to hand over the
shares. On the evening of the 235 of December he called at
the office and tendered the money, demanding the shares.
The principals had then left the office, but he accompanied
a Mr. Williamson, their clerk, to the office of the Messrs.
Ridsdales, for the purpose of obtaining them • but, it being
after five o'clock, his application was unsuccessful. He then
wrote to say he would not have the shares at all. They
were tendered to him the next morning, but he refused to
accept them.
A good deal of correspondence between the parties was
read, and in one of these letters, after the defendant had re-
pudiated the shares, he says, " I am advised you have no
claim against me, either by the rules of our society or by the
law of the land. If you think otherwise, you will take your
own course; but you have a clear case against my principal,
Mr. Dixon, and you may summon me as a witness."
For the defence it was contended that the shares were not
tendered within a reasonable time, and a number of witnesses
were called in support of this view of the case.
His LORDSHIP, in summing up, said he had never sat with
so little satisfaction to himself to investigate the facts of a
case as he had done in some of the cases which had been
tried during the present assizes. The jury had been occupied
a long time in the investigation of some of these cases, but
if the disclosures which had been made would have the effect
of bringing people to their senses, the time of the Court
would not have been uselessly employed. His Lordship
commented in strong terms on the letter of the defendant
respecting Mr. Dixon, and observed that it might be very
distressing to the jury to investigate such matters as these,
but lie hoped the public would be the gainers.
The jury, after being about an hour in consultation, found
that the shares were not ready to be delivered within a rea-
sonable time.—Verdict for the defendant.

THE POTATO DISEASE.

TOTAL FAILURE OF THE POTATO CROP IN

WARWICKSHIRE.
BIRMINGHAM, FRIDAY.—" The potato crop has failed,
totally failed. Three months Bence we doubt much if
there will be a good potato in England." Such was the
startling statement made to us yesterday by a gentleman
most extensively engaged in the corn trade, and inti-
mately acquainted with the state of the crops in every
part of England. In as far as regarded the condition of
his own crop, he said, "I have tried them, and found
that two out of every three were gone."
Such a startling announcement has been confirmed to-
day by several of our most extensive potato growers;
and the high and increasing price of potatoes in our
market affords another proof that it is but too well
founded. _ _ . _ _ _

In almost every case the destruction has been rapid
and general. We have examined several large fields in
the district, and found the roots in most cases reduced to
a pulpy mass. Previous to the late rains the stems and
branches were luxuriant and promising—now they are
lying dead on the ground and appear as if they had been
killed, not so much from any taint from a poisonous
atmosphere as from the effects of some cankerous dis-
ease at the roots. The smell emitted from the fields, in
several instances, is most offensive, and sufficient in low-
lying marshy grounds to produce a pestilence,. This
was more particularly observable to-day, when there
was strong sunshine and heat, the action of which on
the ground, saturated as it has been with rain, produced
a species of fermentation among the diseased roots, and
a kind of smoke which rose from the surface like a thick
ground mist.
The only potatoes in this neighbourhood we have yet
seen that have entirely escaped the disease are growing
in a field in South Staffordshire, from seed which lay in
the ground all winter. The farmer iu this case did not
lift his last year's crop at all. A good many of the po-
tatoes were then diseased, and he thought if he left the
whole in the ground, those that might withstand the
frost in winter would be free from disease, and grow up
in the spring. The field in May was covered with early
plants. These he carefully cleaned and hoed up ; they
now promise an abundant crop, and should the experi-
ment succeed, it may prove highly useful.
Concurrent with the progress of the disease in this
quarter has been a growing increase of English cholera
amongst the population, not in the town merely, but in
the country around. The impression now is, that the
bad quality of potatoes in use occasions English cholera.
This is a difficult point, and should be carefully con-
sidered. One thing is clear, there has not been so much
English cholera in Birmingham for many years as at
the present time.—Warwick Advertiser.

THE POTATO CROP IN WALES.--It iS with extreme
regret that we are obliged to add to the testimony of many
of our contemporaries, that the disease, which was so
destructive to this vegetable last year, is again making sad
ravages. Until last week, we were sanguine in hoping that
the Principality had escaped the infliction. On inspecting
the crops in Anglesey, Carnarvonshire, Denbighshire,
Merionethshire, and Montgomeryshire, they then appeared
healthy and luxuriant ; now, in many localities, whole
patches of the earlier crops are blackened and withered;
and, from indications which show themselves in the later
crops, we fear the result will be more disastrous than last
4012.—Carnarron llerald.