The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-10 00:00:00

DORSET SESSIONS.-111Ancn 6.

SINGULAR CASE —Joseph, Byles, who had been out on
bail, and his wife and daughter Eliza and Elizabeth
Buie& were charged with stealing two bushels of wheat
and a sack, the property of Thomas Homer Saunderi, at
0 wer Moigne, on the 18th ult. No learned gentleman
appeared for the proscuti:in, and the prisoners were un-
defended. The facts of the case we reported fast week ;
but we repeat them hero in order that the whole of this
extraordinary case may present itself to the reader at one
view. The committing magistrates were Herbert Wil-
liams and H. N. Middleton, 11,Airs.

Prosecutor holds a farm at MoigneDown, in the parish
of Ower Moigne. line prisoner resided in one of his
cottages on that farm, the father and daughter being in
his employ. In consequence of Mr. Saunders hearing
that there had been a quantity of wheat sent-to Warm-
well Mill from the prisoner's cottage on the 18th ult.,
prosecutor went to Byles's house, and found about two
bushels of wheat in one of his sacks in the pantry. He
said to Mrs. Bytes. who was then in the house, " Where
did you get this ?" She replied, "It is some of the lease
earn." Witness had a field in which wild oats were
prevalent, and the produce of which was being t'
in ths barn where the daughter worked. Perceiving
that the sampfe was the same as the wheat from that
field, he said "You don't lease oats with corn —there are
hoar oats with this." He reiterated his opinion that it
was his wheat on account of the wild oats amongst it.
She at first said she had bought it ; but afterwards ac-
knowledged that it was his wheat—some she had picked
up when the men got the rick in. Prosecutor then went
to Byles, who was working near, but he disclaimed all
knowledge of there being any wheat is his house. He
said the grist prosecutor al!owed him was not enough
for his family, that they had constantly bought fi•mr
from Mrs. Chilcott's, and that the week before his wife
bad bought some from the mill, the money for which
she had of prosecutor, as he was aware. Thomas
Thompson, employed at Mrs. Chilcott's mill, was then
present, and prosecutor asked him how much wheat,
over and above his grist, he had ground from
Byles's cottage since harvest, to which he replied that
he could nut exactly tell, but he thought about five sacks
altogether. He also said that the daughter mostly
brought the wheat in the evening, after dark. Samples
of the wheat from the barn, as well as that found in the
prisoner's house, were produced, and several witnesses
were examined in support of the case ; but there ap-
peared to be little to implicate Joseph Byles, who still
disclaimed all knowledge of the wheat being in his
house. Mrs. Byles said it was what she had picked up
after the " mows," or ricks, had been put into the barn;
and the daughter said she knew nothing about the mat-
ter, except that she had taken wheat to the mill when
her mother told her.

The above facts were deposal to on the trial befor
the Chairman of Quarter Sessions, and Joseph and
Elizabeth Bytes were found guilty of receiving, but the
daughter, ElizAbeth Bytes, was acquitted. The male
prisoner was then sentenced to nine months' hard la-
bour, and his wife to six months.—This case was dis-
posed of on the first day of the Sessions, but,it was
again brought before the notice of the court, when tb•
Chairman, addressing the jury, said the magistrates
were always gratified when they had an opportunity of
consulting the jury, who were by law empowered to
judge every case that came before them, and be now
desired them to direct their attention to one of the
roost remarkable circumstances that during his ex-
perience —an experience extending over twer:ty
years—one of the most singular circumstances he had
yet met with. They had paid the most marked
attention to the curious and intricate case of J•-
seph Bytes, Eliza Byles, and Elizabeth Byles. The
evidence showed that the daughter was working in the
barn—whether they were guided altogether by a merci-
ful view of her oase he did not say ; but that wheat was
► brought to the house of the prisoner was certain ; and