The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-04 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
NORFOLK ClRCUlT.—lpswich, Aug. 2.
POISONING A HUSBAND.—At the Crown Court this
day of the Suffolk Assizes Maria Cage was arraigned
for the wilful murder of her husband, James Cage, by
administering to him arsenic.
Messrs. Power and Mills prosecuted; Mr. Cooper de-
fended.
The case presented features of great depravity. The
deceased was an agricultural labourer, and wjh his wife,
the prisoner, lived at Stonham Aspal. They had a
family of seventeen children, but ono of them, now a
lad 20 years of age, was not the result of wedlock. The
deceased was imprisoned twelve months, and during his
incarceration prisoner cohabited with another man, and
the result was the birth of a boy. During the last
eighteen months she left her husband not less than three
times, and exposed her daughter, 16 years of age, to be
debauched. In other respects she led a very dissolute
and depraved life. About three weeks before the de-
ceased died he was taken suddenly ill while at work
in the fields. He went home and died, and the
funeral procession was on the way to the churchyard,
when the clergyman, in consequence of certain
rumours, caused the body to be returned to the cottage.
A coroner's inquest was called, and it was found that
the deceased had died from the effects of arsenic.
It then transpired that while he was ill the prisoner
visited a Mrs. Lambert, who lived four miles from her
own cottage, and induced her to purchase a pennyworth
of " stuff" for her daughter to kill rats and mice. The
stuff comprised a compound of arsenic and linseed enough
to kill six men. The daughter was called, and swore
that she never gave her mother authority to purchase
the poison for her. Avast amount of evidence was given
relative to the deceased's state, confirmatory of poison
having been administered to him. It was also shown
that she bad wished him dead, and that she would sus-
tain no loss, as she had the other man near.
A strong and conclusive chain of facts having been
adduced,' Mr. COOPER addressed the jury for the prisoner.
The CHIEF BARON then summed up, and the jury,
after being absent nearly half an hour, returned into
court with a verdict of Guilty.
His LORDSHIP then put on the black cap. After al.
hiding to the guilt of the prisoner, he said it was melan-
choly, to consider the number of instances of similar
murders that had disgraced the domestic and private
history of the country. In the short time he had been
on the bench it had been his great misfortune to have
presided at several of such investigations, and unfortu-
nately, the majority of them had been of murder by
poison on very near relations. He could hold out no
hope of mercy to her, and in the usual terms he sen-
tenced her to be executed.
The culprit, who remained seated during the solemn
address, rose from her chair apparently very weak, and
was conducted from the dock. Several of her children
were present while the sentence was being delivered.

OXFORD GI iiCUlT.—Shrewsbury, Aug. 1.
The courts were opened for business this morning at
ten. The calendar was unusually heavy, there being no
fewer than 48 prisoners—of whom three were charged
with murder, two with manslaughter, three with stab-
bing, cutting, and wounding; eight with burglary, four
with robbery, three with rape (one of these is charged
with a rape on two of his own daughters); one with
poaching, one with forgery with intent to defraud a
lodge of Odd Fellows, and the rest with larcenies. Of
these 13 could not read or write, 20 could read, 11 read
and write imperfectly, one (an attorney's clerk) coull
read and write well, and the rest being on bail wore not
marked. On the Nisi Prins side the business was very
light, and was all finished by half-past one. There were
but five causes, all for common juries—two were unde-
fended, and two were settled out of court.
CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice ERLE.)
John Doody, Francis Jarvis, and William Milner
were indicted for a burglary in the house of John Jones,
at Newport.
Mr. Boughey was counsel for the prosecution; Mr.
Skinner conducted the defence of Jarvis and Milner;
Doody was undefended.
It appeared that some time between the hours of ten
on the night of February 27th, and eight o'clock the next
morning, some persons broke a hole about two feet
square in the wall of the prosecutor's wareroom and stole
therefrom a linen bag, patched with calico, and 1601bs.
of tobacco. On the night of the robbery, at lime-works
about a mile from prosecutor's house, a watchman saw
the three prisoners in company—indeed they conversed
with him for nearly half-an-hour, Jarvis wearing
clothes unlike those which he usually wore. Doody
had for some nights been sleeping about the kiln,
having no lodgings or money, and the following day
was seen carrying a bag, in company with Jarvis,
whoso pockets appeared to be full. Dooby was also
drinking with Jarvis, and when he paid for the beer drew
the landlady aside so as to conceal his money, and had
then half. a-crown. He was also in possession of much
tobacco. giving it. freely to other labourers, and keeping
`-1C lir a- bagin a hedge.- One Of 'these be—weis told
by Doody where it was stolen, and that all the men who
had it knew it was stolen and yet accepted it, but one
Holland, who gave what he received to a constable, and
on comparison it was stated by the prosecutor to be part
of that he had lost. Fifty-seven pounds, in the lost bag,
were found under a stone in a pit near where Milner
lived. Doody was apprehended, and both Jarvis and
Milner absconded.
The jury retired for
.nearly an hour, when they re-
turned a verdict of Guilty against Doody and Jarvis,
who were sentenced to be transported for 10 years.
Milner was Acquitted.
CHARGE- OF MllRDER.—Michael Tracy, 21, and
Michael Corfield, 18, were indicted far the wilful murder
of William Emberton, at Newport, on the 24th of May
last.

Mr. Boughoy
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the24th May,
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prisoner prosecution;ayas about twelve
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On appeared
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Tracy;
o'clock,
the deceased and a man named Hutchinson were
standing in a dark alley, called Belmont's-alley, in New-
port, talking to a young woman named Grant, when
Tracy and another'man came up from one direction, and
Corfield and two others from the opposite direction.
Corfield said to Hutchinson, " Are you the Libshall
chaps?" and Hutchinson answered, " No, we are na-
tives." Hutchinson thinking that one of them was star-
ing improperly at the girl Grant, said, " Why are you
staring at my wife?" and got for answer, " Am I to
close my eyes?" Some few angry words and looks
passed, and Tracy knocked down Hutchinson, and then
struck Elnbleton on the-back of the head with a stone,
with such force that the skull was knocked in, and .he
fell and spoke no more, remaining insensible for a few
hours till he died. All the five men ran off together
when they saw him fall. It was opened for the 'prosecu-
tion that the fight arose out of some ill-feeling between
the English and the Irish labourers, and that Tracy had
been carrying the stone in his pocket for some time with
which he inflicted the wound in order to strike some
Englishman with it, but no evidence was given to sup-
port this statement.
His LORDSHIP, in summing up, left it to the jury to
say whether they were guilty of murder or manslaughter,
but seemed' to intimate that he did not think the evi-
dence sufficient to establish the charge of murder.
The jury deliberated for ten minutes, and then re-
turned a verdict of Guilt of manslaughter, with a strong
recommendation to mercy, on the ground that the death
arose out of a street row.
His LORDSHIP said that, in consequence of this recom-
mendation, he would not transport the prisoners. He
would inquire about their characters, and take till morn-
ing to consider the sentence.
(Before Mr. Baron MARTIN.)
Charles Rowe, a mechanic, from Birmingham, was
indicted by the Solicitors of the Treasury, for unlaw-
fully uttering a counterfeit crown piece to John Price,.
and a counterfeit half-crown piece to Robert
.Barker,
with intent to defraud them, at Bridgenorth, in this
count.
Mr.y Corbett was counsel for the Crown, and Mr.
Powell for the prisoner.
It appeared that at the recent Bridgenorth races the
prisoner went into a booth belonging to Mr. Price, and
called for a glass of ale and a glass of brandy, for which
he tendered in payment a crown-piece. Mrs. Price, sus-
pecting it to be base, refused to take it, upon which
the prisoner tendered her half a sovereign, which she
also suspected and handed back to him. The prisoner
then handed a sovereign to Mr. Price, who gave it to his
wife, but she said she would rather take the crown-
piece, and she then did so, and gave the prisoner 4s. 9d.
in change for it. The prisoner soon afterwards went
into an adjoining booth, and called for a glass of ale, for
which he tendered a half-crown piece, which the waiter
returned to him, saying it was so bad it was not worth
twopence. At this moment, Mr. Price having discovered
the crown-piece to be bad, came in with a police-officer
and took him into custody. On searching him the half-
sovereign, the half-crown, and a tooth-brush, which was
blackened as if it had been used to polish metal, was
found upon him, but no other money; and he said his
name was Charles Jones, and that he came from Wolver-
hampton, which was not true. The half-sovereign
turned out to be a good one, and the crown and half-
crown pieces were described by a silversmith as the very
best imitations he ever saw. On his way to prison he
stated that he had joined in one or two racing sweeps,
and had received the silver about him from the persons
he had wagered with in exchange for a sovereign.
Mr. Powell, in addressing the jury for the prisoner,
contended that the guilty knowledge was not sufficiently
made out, and called a tradesman from Birmingham,
who gave the prisoner a good character.
The jury, after deliberating for a short time, re-
turned verdict of Not Guilty.
William Evans was indicted for the manslaughter of
Mary Dudleston, an infant of nine months old.
Mr. Hastings prdaecuted. The prisoner was un-
defended.
It appeared from the evidence that the prisoner had
had some words with the mother of the deceased, and
that on the 23d of July last he came towards her as she
.
was standing the street of Oswestry, where she and
her husband lived, with her child in her arms, and be-
gan to abuse her. Mrs. Dudleston retreated into her
house and shut the door, when the prisoner passed on
down the street. On the woman again coming to the
dobr of her house, the prisoner returned, and struck her
violently on the side of the head. Following her into
the home, he again struck at her, but • missed her, and
the blow came on the head of her child. The unfortu-
nate infant immediately beeque insensible, and after