The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-19 00:00:00

prisonment, the learned Judge lamenting that he
could not add hard labour.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.--YoRK, March 15.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Blackburn.)
Joseph Jubb, Benjamin C..,happel, James Spence,
George Stephenson, and Joseph Fostcr were indicted
for night poaching, being armed on lands in the
occupation of Mi. Whittaker, at Batley, on the Bth
October last, and also with maliciously wounding
George Woollin, the gamekeeper of Mr. George
Ellis, of West Ardsley.
Mr. Shaw and Mr. Campbell Foster prosecuted;
Mr. Price defended the prisoners Jubb, Foster, and
:Spence; and Mr. Maule the prisoners Chappel and
Stephenson.
It appeared from the statement of George Woollin,
the gamekeeper of Mr. Ellis, of West Ardsley, near
Batley, that he, along with four watchers, went to
watch the game in a field near a plantation called
Lady Ann Planting, in the parish of Batley, about 9
o'clock on the night of the 7th October last. They
sat watching under a hedge until a little after 12
o'clock, when George Woollin crept to the side of the
plantation and there saw two men, Stephenson and
Foster, whom he had known many years, setting a
net at some .railings next the plantation, and be-
hind them, beating for game, were several men.
Stephenson was armed with a long bludgeon and
Foster had a gun. The night was moonlight, but
misty. He crept back on his hands and feet to the
watchers, and having joined them they all crossed
the field through a gate into a lone, and got to the
far corner of the plantation. On arriving there
they saw the poachers, to the number of ten or a
dozen, crossing the field, and making to the same
gate they had just come through; they also saw
two dogs ranging the field, one of which was a
black one with a white spot on its breast. Wool-
lin and the watchers returned down the lane, and
crept under the fence till they got close to the
gate again, where they saw two men setting a net.
Woollin, after giving them a little time, put up his
head, when one of the poachers cried out, " Hey,
up lads, they're here." Woollin immediately cried
out, " Hey, up lads, we are here." One of the
poachers immediately aimed a blow with some
weapon at George Woollin. He, how-
ever, drew back and avoided the blow, and
knocked the man down. The second poacher then
struck at him, and he stopped the blow, and, us he
described it, " felled him." This man immediately
jumped up again, and Woollin " felled him again."
A third man then came to their assistance, and
Woollin knocked him down. Four or five men
then came over the fence at once towards Woollin.
One of these he knocked down also, and was strik-
ing at another of them, when he saw Foster with
his gun up in the air aiming a blow at him with
the butt end. He put up his hand to ward off the
blow, but the gun beat down his guard and the lock
cut his hand, and he received a violent blow which
cut open his head and knocked him down. He got
up again, and Foster knocked him down again, and
he then saw Foster laying about him with his gun,
and by mistake knocking down one of his own
party with it. The watchers then had a fight with
others of the poachers, and after a desperate strug-
gle some one cried out " Fire ! let go ! Shoot,
shoot !" and Foster was seen by Woollin and others
to present his gun at them. Woollin jumped on
one side, and immediately a gun was discharged, and
a charge of shot whistled past him. Woollin said then
to the watchers they had better retire, the poachers
were too many for them, and they left the field.
One of the men ran off for the police, and in about
an hour the houses of all the prisoners were visited
in Batley. All the prisoners were sworn to by two
or three of the watchers. Chappel was seen going
into his house, which is a beershop, at 3 o'clock in
the morning. He was sweating, and had a fresh
cut, which was bleeding, on the nose. The other
prisoners were found in bed. Foster had a gun in
his house, and a black dog with a white spot on its
breast, but the dog's feet were dry. This dog was
sworn to as one of the dogs seen. All the men were
shown to have been together at Chappel's house at
11 that night.
For the defence all the prisoners proved distinct
alibis, calling two or three witnesses each, and
proving that they were in bed at the time, and had
not been out that night at all. Chappel proved
that he was out drinking with two men till near 3
o'clock at the house of one of them, and then put
down 6d. for some more beer, The other men did
not want any more, and in frolic tried to get the
6d., in doing which they all fell on the floor, and
Chappel hurt his nose, which bled.
His Lordship summed up the whole of the evi-
dence with great care, and left the jury to say
which witnesses as to each man they believed, ob-
serving that if they were satisfied that there was a
mistake as to any of the men, although that mis-
take would not affect the evidence as to the others,
it would yet throw considerable doubt oil the accu-
racy of the evidence of the watchers who had sworn
to that man, if they were proved to be mistakes.
The jury retired, and after an absence of twenty
minutes acquitted all the prisoners.
The case occupied all day, and was not concluded
till 7 o'clock.

FRIDAY, MARCH 16.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Blackburn.)
Win. Gill was charged with having committed
wilful and corrupt perjury at Otley, on the 23d of
Sept. last.
Mr. Price and the Hon. A. Liddell prosecuted ;
Mr. Overend, R.C., and Mr. Maule defended the
prisoner.
It appeared that between 12 and 1 o'clock on the
morning of the 3d of September last two men,
named Long and Patrick, were unlawfully taking
fish in the river Washburn, near to Leathley. They
were seen committing the act by a man named
Thomas Yates' fisherman to Mr. F. H. Fawkes, of
Fernley, who has the sole right of fishing in this
river. Yates at once went and told Mr. Stanton,
agent to Mr. Fawkes, who, with Yates, called upon
the gamekeeper, John Vase, and all three went to
to Leathley Mill, where the two men had been
seen. Yates went up the Fernley side of the river,
and soon caught sight of Long and Patrick, who
were still fishing with nets, and they had with
them a bag containing about 281 b. weight of trout,
which they had caught. They were also distinctly
seen and recognised by Vase and Stanton. Yates
called out, " Here they are," upon which the two
men ran away. They were followed, and Patrick
was taken. Long took the direction for Hamps-
thwaite, which was nine miles distant. Yates
pursued, and when he got to a place called Pot-
bridge, he overtook Long. Calling him by a cog-
nomen by which he was well known, Yates said,
" Well, Bridget, we have spoiled your sport this
morning. We have got Patrick ; you had better
come back with me, and be tried at the same time."
Long's trousers were wet, and he continued his
way towards Hampsthwaites Hollings, where he
resides. Long was afterwards apprehended and
brought before the petty sessional bench at Otley,
and charged with the above offence. In defence, it
was endeavoured to set up an alibi, in which the
prisoner Gill was called as a witness. The evidence
to which Gill took oath, and which constituted
the perjury alleged against him, was to the
effect that he was a farmer at Hampsthwaite,
and that on the night of the 2d of September
he was at a public-house kept by a Mrs. Long
until 12 o'clock at night. Thomas Long and a
man named William Eddy were also alleged to
have been there, and that when Mrs. Long de-
clined filling more liquor they left together. Gill
alleged that at this tine Long was in such a state
of " beer" that he and Eddy had to "hug" him
h,me, where they left him after one o'clock in the
morning. This was at the very time when Yates
alleged he was pursuing him after he had been
caught fishing at Leathley-bridge. To prove that
the statement of Gill was a wilful act of perjury,
Mrs. Long, the landlady of the publichouse in ques-
tion at Hampsthwaite, was called, and she swore
that neither Gill, Long, nor Eddy were in her
house at any period on the 2d of September, and
in this she was supported by a number of her cus-
tomers who were in her house at the time when
Gill alleged that he and Long were there. A
number of witnesses also proved seeing him on the
2d of September going in the direction from
Hampsthwaite towards Leathley-bridge.
His Lordship having summed up the evidence,
the jury found the prisoner guilty.
Sentence was deferred.

There was a similar indictment against George
Patrick, the man caught fishing, who was called as
a witness by Long, and swore that he was not the
man who was with him on the night in question.
The jury also found him guilty.
Sentence was deferred.

NORFOLK CIRCUIT, MARCH 16.
CROWN COURT.

(Before Mr. Baron Martin.)
Joseph Williams, aged 63, was placed at the bar
and charged with the wilful murder of his wife.

It was evident the poor man was not in his right
senses, therefore, without any facts being gone into,
the jury were sworn to decide as to the state of his
mind.

Mr. Couch, the surgeon of the gaol, was called,
and he stated that the prisoner was completely out
of his mind, and in his opinion he was not at all
conscious of having committed the offence with
which he stood charged.
Under the direction of the learned judge the
jury found that the prisoner was insane, and he
was ordered to be detained during her Majesty's
pleasure.

Richard Joseph Carkeet Coulson, a middle-aged
man, understood to have practised at Penzance for
some years as a quack doctor, was found guilty of