The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-17 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY DIVISIONS.

HOUSE OF LORDS, JULY 15.
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
➢lajority against the Earl of Derby's motion for a Select
Committee respecting the affairs of the Cape of Good
Hope.

ARCHBISHOP.
Dublin
DUKES.
Argyll
Norfolk

EA.LLS.

Grey
llarroA-by
Leitrim

BARONS.
Carringtou
Craw., orth
Churshill

De Alauley

' C-ROWN COURT.--e(Bsfore Mr. Justice ERLE.)
Joseph Caudwed, 41, was indicted for shooting at
`, Alexander-Henry Ross, oil the 26th June last, with in-
, tent to maim, to disable , and to do grievous bodily
harm.
Mr. Keating, Q.C., and.i. Mr. Crippe, appeared for the
prosecution; and Mr. Fil gi )tt and Mr. fludclleston for
the defence.
Flom the opening state :cent* of the' case for the pros
seeationif appeared the it the prisoner had for several
years carried on business in Oxford as an accountant
and bill discounter. Sor ce,e time ago he built a house
over the Folly-bridge, at rOxford. The house was of an
odd and fantastic appear nce—tall, standing by itself,
covered with figures, ar a t altogether presenting a re-
markable appearance. inter° was an inclosure between
it and the road in which ihe had placed several cannon
of heavy calibre, and pre e elating to casual observers a
very formidable appeals ,nce. There were two guns
pointing on the Abingdone road, over the Isis, and tnree
others were secured to the, wall of his house by strong
chains passed through ri vats. This house excited con-
siderable observation, and. was likely to attract the at-
tention of the young stud e nts who flocked to the uni-
versity. There was apa rty on the evening of the 25th
of Juue at the chambers r )i' Mr. Ross, and as they were
going home some of them thought, by way of a lark, to
divlece the prisoner's ca a;aon. They went towards his
house, and then arose this transaction which formed the
subj: at of this indictment.
Alexander Henry Ros s, who appeared with his arm
tied up in a sling, . am a commoner of Christ
Church. On the mornityg of the 26th of Juno was out
with Mr. Haggard, Mr., and Mr. Burton, about
half past twelve. After some conversation, as we were
going home. some one s lid, " Lot us go down to Mr.
Caudwell's;" and we wee When we got tecre, one of
us opened the gate of the: small enclosure in front of Mr.
Caudwell's house. The enclosure extends about fifteen
prds from the gate t o the house. We immediately
tried to overturn three small cannon. We partially
overturned them. Whil er that was going on we heard a
dog bark, and we went :after the dog. We were away
about five minutes. On sour return we all went into the
enclosure and tried to pull stone bones out of the mouths
of some figures of lions which were near the house. I
went to untie a piece of r opt attached to one of the can•
nobs, in order the better s, o pull out the bsnes. While I
was doing so I heard at. shot fired. That was the first
intimation I had of anythi eg. The shot bit me all over
the right part of the le )44, shoulder, head, face, neck,
side, and legs. I at on ©s ran off to the bridge and
called to my friends. Th sy came and walked house with
' me, one of them going in advance for a doctor. I have
been since ander medionl attendance. lam quite un-
able to make use of my ha ad. Several shots still remain
in my hand, and one rein sins in my ear.
Cross-examined—l have bean four years at the uni-
versity. Am twenty- tw o . Was residing out of college
at the time. My friends also were residing out of col-
lege. The college ga to s are shut at ten. Between
twelve and half-past twrsl ye men cannot get into college.
I had two friends that evening with me at my rooms.
There was a supper party that evening at the Maiden-
head, arising out of a cricket match. I went there.
Did not drink there. Ha d a cigar there. Stopped there
about twenty minutes. Then I sallied out. My friends
were pith me. It was at Four-gate that some one
proposed to go to Caudwell's. I did not object. We
bad no fixed plan. All tl tat was said was, "Let us go
to Caudwell's." We did not overturn the cannon. We
partially piled them. W e did not endeavour to throw
them into the Isis. We could not do it. My hand was
on a cannon when I was hit. I was trying to loose a
ropes iu order to pull the sstoneasout of the lion4-tamatih,
The whole of the lion sticks out of the wall. In the
mouth of the lion there is a bone made of stone. The
lions are fixed to the wall. While I was detaching the
rope, the others were trying to pull the bones out of the
lion's mouth. It was a pretty dark night. There was no
lamp. It was so light that a person looking out of the
window with his head outside of it could see me. I should
not call it a very dark night. We do not calculate con-
sequences when we go out on a "lark." I was only two
yards from the bottom window, and five yards from the
door. The lower window is so low that a person could
get into it without a ladder. We did not go to the
back of the house that night. There was a proposal
made to swim across, but it was too absurd. The shots
came in a slanting direction. If a person projected his
head out of the window, and I looked up, there was
light enough to see it. I was never on an excursion
before to Caudwell's house. It was my first exploit at
Oxford. At Bromley last year I took a sign off a house.
The next morning we gave the man two sovereigns as
compensation. We were not taken before a magis-
trate. There was no evidence against us. That was
the first occasion I was engaged on any mischievous
freak.

Re-examined—A large number of the university men
reside in the town, and that is well known in the town.
Mr. C. Haggard said that it was he who opened the
gate. We upset the cannon. We had been at Caudwell's
ten minutes before we heard a dog bark. We then
crossed the road, loosed the dog, chased him up the
street and then came back and began to pull the bones
out of the lions' mouths. We were there about five mi-
nutes when we heard a shot fired. I heard nothing be-
fore that. When I heard the shot I saw a flash, but
could not say from what part of the house the shot
came. After we had seen the surgeon dress the wounds
we went hick to Mr. Caudwell'e house and flueg stones
at it, and heard a second shot fired.
Cross-examined—The stones we threw were about
the size of an ink bottle. They were a comfortable size
for throwing. Perhaps a comfortable size for breaking
a window or a person's head. One of them broke a
fl .wer-pot. I have been tb ree years at the University.
!lave taken my degree. Do not knew what profession
mean to follow. I should think it is the bar. I was one
of the party that was at Godstow on the Friday pre-
vious. We were ten in number. We landed at Caud-
well's house. When we reached his house I went
away, leaving the rest enere. I heard of no plan to
attack his house that night. If any of the party had
stones, they picked them, up without my knowledge. On
the Wednesday evening I dined at the Maidenhead, at
the cricketing dinner. I think I drank nothing but
wine. I was not in t'ne least excited. This attack was
planned when I was quite sober. My friends also were
not excited. I do not remember what plan was suggested
for attacking Mr. Caud well's house. The suggestion of
going to his house was made when we were opposite
Christchurch. Somebody said, "Let us go and have a
let k with Mr. Caudwell's cannon." We all agreed at
once. There was not much dissension. Our intention
was to turn the cannon ever. We did not mean to throw
thew into the Isis. I did not know that Caudwell had
a wife and children and a sister-in-law in his house, or
that his wife's head had been cut open by one of the
stones. We four could not throw tne cannon into the
Isis; we were perfectly incompetent to do it. I tried to
pull the bone out of the lion's mouth, but soon gave
it up.
Re-examined—l have heard since that his wife was
nut by a stone.
Mr. Henry Bruce Arnold corroborated these state-
ments.

Cross-examined—l was one of the Godstow party on
the previous Friday evening. We threw no stones. We
merely tried to overturn the cannon, and gave it up
only because a voice was heard from inside threatening
to shoot mi. I went back with Mr. Haggard that
Thursday morning, and threw stones at the house.
Did not near that drs. Caud well's head was cut by ono
of the stones. Was never at Caudwell's house before
the Friday.
Mr. Reginald Burton was examined briefly in corro-
boration of the former witnesses.

Cross-examined—Am not a member of the university.
Was one of the Godstow party. lam nothing. lam 21.
William Hinton, ono of the university policemen, was
Caudwellon dut y onn thear
thev
morninghea ofh
et he 2 a
f ao'clock. He had a gun, or carbine, or something of
b% hut of
a June.
quarter Staow thMrer.
e.
that kind, and asked me if I had met any one? I told
him I had met two men. He told me they had been
at his house and upset his guns, and he had fired at
them. I went in pursuit of them. I met Jenkins,
another policeman, and we both went to Cauilweli's
house. None of the windows were broken; a flower-stand
was broken. There were five cannon beer° the house;
all had been removfd, and one upset. There was a trace
of blood there. Caudwell told me he believed the par-
ties who had been to his house were gentlemen, and he
asked me who
'were the proctors, and I told him the
ono of St. ;Tau 8, and the other of Merton. I saw the
sbct on the gun that was upset, and said to him,
"They are rather, large shot, Mr. Caudwell" and he
N
said, " They are o. 4 " ,
Cross-examined—The house is castellated; has a
balcony and several figures in niches over the water. Mr.
Caudwell had a wife and some children. I know only
hie eldest st,n, who is about 21.
Thomas Jenkinso,nantohteherhuurnievdearysitympooriniicnegmaitteLt
M.
with last witness

`172- Baron 11,%qt-a•ris,
Thomai Ash, descrild in the calendar es a smith by
trade, twenty-six years of age, was charged with
having broken and entered a dwelling-house of William
Tucker, and with having wounded him and one Anne
Whittaker, with intent to murder them.
Mr. Skinner and Mr. Lawrence conducted the prose-
cution; the prisoner was defended by Mr. Carrington.
The prosecutor (who is a very old man, in the ninety-
second year of his age) is one of the vergers of St.
George's Chapel, Windsor, and resides at Clarence-
crescent, in that town. On the night of Tuesday, the
18th of February, he had retired to rest, as usual, at
nine o'clock. In the apartment in which he slept his
housekeeper (Mrs. Whittaker, an old woman of seventy-
two) occupied a bed, in order that she might be able
to render assistance to the old man in case of sudden in-
disposition. About half-past one o'clock Mrs. Whit-
taker was awakened by the entrance of a man, and on
jumping out of bed she perceived there was a light in
the passage leading to the room. Before she could
speak to the intruder, or call for assistance, she was
struck several times over the head with a blunt iron in-
strument; her eyes were suffused with blood, and she
felt great pain in one of her arms, which afterwards
proved to be broken. The old man Tucker was awakened
by this dis urbunee, and, hastening to the assistance of
his housekeeper, was attacked by the burglar, and struck
violently over the head. Notwithstanding the repeated
blows and ill-usage which ho received, ho managed to
push the assailant out of the room. All this time a
man was standing at the dour with a lighted candle.
Tine old man was positive that the prisoner, Thomas
Ash (who was well knozn to him from having been
repeatedly at his house, and on one occasion employed
in fitting up a grate there), was the man who struck
him, and denied that he had eves, se tar as he knew,
given a different account of the transaction. Whilst
Tucker was struggling ith the robber, Lis hous.k,eper
remade her way to the winduw, and shouted " Murder"
and " Police, upon Which both the men made off.
In addition to the direct evidence of the old man, who
spoke positively to the identity of the prisoner, the fol-
lowing facts also appeared in evidence :—On the morn-
ing a) ter the robbery a bricklayers chisel was found
about 100 yards from Mr. Tucker's house, in an adjoin-
ing garden. This chisel, which belonged to a brick-
layer named Poilbey, had been borrowed by the pri-
soner of a man named Prince, with whom he lodged, a
abort time before the robbery. In Mr. Tucker's hous3
a wine-bin had been broken open, aed the marks on the
wooden fastening ut the door appeared to have been
made by this chisel, and on comparison corresponded
with it. On the night of the robbery the prisoner
came home about two o'clock, and was let in by his
landlord, Prince. In addition to these facts it was

found that the prisoner's shoes corresponded exactly
with footmarks in some flesh dug ground under the
window of Mr. Tucker's house, which had been entered

on the night of the robbery.

Conversations were also

deposed to, which tended CO fasten suspicion on the pri-

Boner.

Mr. Baron MARTIN having summed up the evidence
with great care,
The jury almost immediately returned a verdict of
Guilty. _ _

The prisoner was Eentencod to be transported for the
erm of his natural life.

NORFOLK CI RCUlT.—Bedford, July 16.
Mr. Justine Cresswell opened the commission for the
county of Bedford yesterday afternoon, and this morn-
ing proceeded to try the prisoners. There being but
seven prisoners in the calendar, and no cause entered
for trial, Sir F. Pollock did not take any part in the
business of the assize. Among the offences included in
the calendar were four of of arson, one of burglary, one
of malicious shooting, and one of larceny.
John Emmerton pleaded guilty to two charges of arson;
Thomas Dumpleton pleaded guilty to one charge; Thomas
Gower, who pleaded not guilty to a similar charge, but
had confessed, was tried and found Guilty.
Mr. Justice CRESWELL, in sentencing these three pri-
soners, said that the offence of arson was so profitless to
the offender, and yet so ruinous to the farmer, as to call
for severe punishment. Other offences against property
might possibly be prompted by the hope of some trifling
immediate gain to their perpetrators, but arson had a
contrary tendency, as those whose property was thus
wantonly destroyed were thereby deprived of the very
means of employing and assisting the poor. It was
clear that the prisoners were persons to allow whom to
remain longer in this country would be most improper.
The sentence, therefore, on each of them must be that of
transportation for ten years.
Samuel York, aged 36, and William Morris, aged 31,
wore indicted for burglariously entering the dwelling-
house of Thomas Medlow, at Little Staughton, and steal-
ing therein two shawls, five guinea pieces, two sovereigns,
a wa.ch, and some pork, on the 17th of Feb. last.
Mr. Worlledge conducted the case for the prosecution.
The prisoners were not defended by counsel.
The prosecutor is perhaps the "oldest inhabitant" of
his pariah, being 87 years of age. Till within three weeks
of the burglary he was up and about. hat at that time he
took to his bed, where he has since remained. 13eing
alone in the world, and unprovided with either relative'
or servant, a kind neighbour, by name Hannah Caress,
used to visit him and perform on his behalf those offices,
which, " when pain and
.antuish wring the brow," con-
stitute woman man's " Enliaisterilig
It appeared
that on the night of the 17th February, Mrs. Carets put