The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-08 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE,

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—LINCOLN, DEC. 7.
(Before Mr. Baron Bramwell.)
Mary Ann Moulds, charged upon the coroner's
inquisition with the wilful murder of a female child
at Rippingale, pleaded not guilty.
The Grand Jury having returned " No true bill
as to this charge," Mr. Flowers, who was instructed
for the prosecution, proposed to offer no evidence,
and the prisoner was acquitted.
George Gilbert, John Graham, and Aizy Smith
pleaded not guilty to a charge of night poaching on
the 7th day of October last at Nocton.
Mr. Flowers and Mr. O'Brien appeared for the
prosecution ; Mr. Stephen defended Gilbert and
Graham ; Smith had no counsel.

The facts were shortly these :—About half-past
1 a.m. of the 18th of October Gilbert, the head
keeper of Earl de Grey, who with some six others
was watching his lordship's preserves, hearing the
cries of rabbits went into a field in the occupation
of Mr. Edward Howard, at Nocton, which is seven
miles south of Lincoln, and there saw a man
standing near the covert, who halloed, and was
immediately joined by five or six others, armed
with sticks, and one of whom carried a pistol, with
which a dog of the keeper was shot. Of these
men Aizy Smith was said to have been, though
the least man of the party, the most prominently
active and violent, and his presence on the spot
was sworn to by several of the keepers, who were
successively engaged in personal conflict with him.
After a general fight, in which the keepers had the
best of it, the poachers retreated through the
covert, driving back the keepers with volleys of
stones, and left behind them a great part at least
of their booty, five sacks containing 23 couples of
rabbits and five other couples in a net. The evidence
as to the presence of the prisoners Gilbert and
Graham was less conclusive than against smith.
On their behalf Mr. Stephen addressed the jury,
and concluded by calling James Vickers, a wag-
goner, who was passing Brattleby-lane end, about
five miles north of Lincoln, and saw the prisoner
Gilbert there with two others, who got up into his
waggon and were driven to Lincoln by him, and
set down when they got near the city. Gilbert
and his companions had some bags with them at
the time.

Mr. Flowers having replied,
His lordship summed up the evidence, and
The jury, after retiring to consider of their ver-
dict, found all three prisoners guilty, with a recom-
mendation to mercy on the ground that they used
no great violence.
Sentence was deferred, as the verdict was deli-
vered while a case of murder was being tried.
William Keefe, a fellmonger, pleaded guilty
to an indictment charging him with having,
at the borough of Grantham, feloniously en-
tered, with William Emblow, the registrar,
a notice of marriage between himself and
Ann Halton, he being at that time a married man,
and with feloniously declaring that he believed
there was no impediment of kindred or alliance, or
other lawful hindrance to the said marriage.
In reply to inquiries by his Lordship, previously
to passing sentence, it appeared that the purpose of
the entry of notice with the registrar was, that it
might be published merely by suspension of it in
the registrar's-office instead of by banns in the
church, although it was intended to celebrate the
marriage in the church. The woman was aware
of ttie fact that the prisoner was already married.
His Jordship sentenced the prisoner to six months'
imprisonment, with hard labour.
Elizabeth Dodds was charged with the wilful
murder of her husband, John Dodds, by adminis-
tering arsenic to him.
From the opening statement of the learned coun-
sel for the prosecution it appeared that the deceased,
John Dodds, who lived at Wrangle, was a labouring
man, 36 or 40 years of age, considerably senior to
the prisoner, to whom at the time of his death he
had been four years married, and by whom he had
had two children. On the 15th of July the deceased
man had been sick and suffering from constipation,
and on the 17th of July some medicine was sent
for him by a Mr. Cammack's, who was surgeon to
the Union, which had the desired effect of reliev-
ing him, so that on Friday the 20th he got about,
and on Saturday the 21st was about the whole day,
and was in the garden during the whole morning
making a rabbit hutch. About 8 on that morning
the prisoner went in the cart of a man named Hoyle
to Bennington to get medicine from Mr. Cammack,
and on her way, in answer to Hoyle's inquiry
as to how her husband was, said that he was
very bad, and she believed he would die. The
account she gave of him to Mr. Cammack was
that he had been much purged by the medi-
cine, but that he was much better, and she ob-
tained from him a tonic mixture. On the same
day, on her way home, she went to a chymist's at
Leake, to whom she had been before to buy arsenic,
and purchased +lb. of what is generally known
there as " Mercury," but is in reality arsenic, which
she said she wanted for her husband, who used it to
cure toothache. The packet was labelled " Mer-
cury, Poison." On her return home the deceased
was in the " house-place" with a Mr. and Mrs.
Crane, who had lived in the house from the previ:
ous Lady-day The prisoner desired the deceased
to take his medicine ; but this he refused to do until
he had taken his dinner, and he then took a hearty
meal of tea and fried meat. The prisoner placed
the bottle of medicine which she had brought upon
the window-sill. About an hour after the deceased
went into the garden, and the prisoner poured some
of the medicine from the bottle into a cup and carried
it into the garden : in doing so she would pass a
hovel, which would prevent her being seen either
by the Cranes or her husband. He afterwards
came in and appeared much worse; some cold
tea was given to him, but everything he took was
again rejected, and at six o'clock he was so ill
that he went to his bed, which he did not leave
again until his death, which happoned about three
in the afternoon of the Sunday following. Between
the time of his return from the garden until he
died nothing but his medicine was given to him by
either of the Cranes, who were the only persons
about him besides his wife and Mr. Cammack, who
was fetched by Crane, and came to see him. He
found the deceased at 10 a.m. in a state of collapse,
and desired to see the evacuations, but was informed
by the prisoner that they had been thrown away. He
went away, and sent stimulating medicine and a bottle
of wine. The deceased was buried on the Tuesday
following, without any suspicion of his death having
been caused by poison, the surgeon's opinion being
that it was the result of a sharp attack of English
cholera. Upon the fact of the purchase of arsenic by
the prisoner becoming known the body was disin-
terred, and a post mortem examination made by Mr.
Cammack and Dr. Adams, who, applying the usual
tests, found considerable quantities of white arsenic
in the abdominal viscera and the blood, 150 grains
being found in the stomach alone, and the irritation
of the coats of the stomach and intestines left no
doubt that the death had resulted from the adminis-
tering of arsenic. The medicine left in the bottle
was analysed, and contained no arsenic. Some days
after the event inquiries were made of the prisoner by
police-constables as to the poison she had purchased.
She represented • to one of them that she purchased
the " mercury" for her husband, who was in the habit
of using it for curing toothache, and that he was in
the habit of rubbing it on his gums, using as much as
a spoonful at a time. She said that she had taken it
to her husband, who was in the garden at the time
when she returned from Bennington, and that it
had not. been opened and was in the hovel. She ac-
companied the policeman to the hovel, where she
pointed it, out to him lying upon the top of a wall. It
had no string about it, and the policeman remarked
that it had been opened. She said that it had not,
but that it had got wet on her way home. It was
weighed by the chemist who sold it, and one ounce
was found to have been taken from the packet.
Evidence was adduced to show that the prisoner
had been for some time contemplating the death of
her husband, and that he had expressed jealousy of
her. Some three weeks before it occurred a dress-
maker (Mrs. Blake), remarking to the prisoner
that she looked very nice and tidy, she said she had
reason to be nice and tidy, for she thought John
would die, and she would have to look out for
another sweetheart. To another dressmaker, who
was making up some mourning on the 9th of July,
she remarked that she herself would probably require
some mourning very soon, for the apple-tree had
blossomed a second time this year, and she believed
that her husband would die, and on another occasion
she said, " John seems to be jealous of me,
and if he gets such a notion into his head I'll give
him occasion to be jealous." One witness, Leach-
man, proved that the deceased was in the habit
h 3
of
using mercury or arsenic for his teeth, and that
had seen him put a quantity of it antoa:
it
lucifer
match box, and take a spoonful from and
it upon his gums. The teeth of the deceasedrubbed were
proved to be very much decayed, but
o irritation
of the gums or sign of the recent_taprn the death,
application of
arsenic appeared. Mrs. Crane, after e
inquired of the prisoner why she had not mentioned
the arsenic, saying, If you had told me I would
have asked him (the deceased) about it. The pri-

soner replied that she didn't remember having it
until the gentleman came and asked her, adding
that she didn't believe he had been poisoned.
Mr. Stephen addresseNt he jury on behalf of the
prisoner, who was throughout his speech sobbing
violently. He remarß.ed upon the incredibility of
the statement of Hoyle, Who swore that the pri-
soner, in speaking of the state of
word her husbanden,"
's
health at the time, had used ithe,
which it was impossible she could h,
" th
aye used, and
be contended that the prisoner had been' speaking
of his late illness. Her conduct to the police ,"•nd her
language throughout had been truthful and wit'ollY
consistent with the ineaof her innocence, but utte.l.l.l"
inconsistent with the supposition of her guilt.
was not at all improbable that a man who was
proved to be so stupid and reckless as to use a deadly
poison by the spoonful to rub his gums should,
without intention, have swallowed what he was so
carelessly using. 'The medicine in which it was sug-
gested that the poison was administered was proved
to be such as would not have serve, the .purpose,
as it was a thin liquid, to the bottom of which so
heavy a substance as arsenic would sink, so that it
could not be swallowed unless the deceased had
shaken up the dregs for the purpose, and the gr;t-
tiness of the poison would have made him detect it.
He commented at length upon the motive sug-
gested, and suggested to the jury the possibility,.
reconcilable with all the facts, of his having taken
his own life.
The learned Judge after 5 o'clock commenced his
summing up, and immediately on the conclusion
the prisoner was acquitted.
The bill of murder against Eliza Parker, which
was yesterday thrown out by the grand jury, was
one of child murder. A bill for concealment of
birth has been preferred and found.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—DunmAge pee. 6.
William Harland was indicted for steal:og a post
letter on the 30th of October last.
The Hon. A. Liddell and Mr. Seymour prose,
cuted ; Mr. Blackwell defended.
On the 30th of October last the prisoner was a
clerk in the post-office at Sunderland. It was his
duty to take the letters from the box and hand
them to Mr. M'Clement, another clerk, who sorted
them, and then sent them in a sealed bag to Gates-
head. In consequence of numerous complaints Mr.
Moule was sent down from the head office in Lon-
don to try and ascertain how the losses occurred,
and having written and directed a letter in which
he enclosed a marked half-sovereign, posted it at
half-past son the day in question. The prisoner
in the ordinary course cleared the box at 10 minutes
to 7, and handed the letters to Mr. M'Clement, who
put them all into the bag and forwarded them to
Gateshead. Instructions had previously been gi;en
at the Gateshead office to examine the contents of
the Sunderland bag, and it was at once found that
the letter had not been forwarded from Sunderland.
In consequence of this Mr. Moule questioned the
prisoner, who denied all knowledge of having seen
any such letter. The police, however, were applied
to, and after making inquiries it was ascertained
that the prisoner very shortly after leaving the
office purchased a pot of marmalade at the shop of
a Mr. Humphrey, for which he paid with a half-
sovereign. Mr. Humphrey placed the half-sovereign
on a heap of gold, which he shortly after rolled up
in a piece of paper and put away. Next day on
examining th't parcel the marked half-sovereign
was found.
His Lordship having summed up,
The prisoner was found guilty, and he was sen-
tenced to three years' penal servitude.
Henry Moore was indicted for robbery with
violence.

The Hon. A. Liddell prosecuted.
On the 21st of July the prosecutor, a pitman,
was at Chester-le-Street, where he made several
purchases, and then went to a public-house, where
he remained till near 12 at night. He then left
for home, having with him his basket, in which
were the different articles he had bought. He had
not gone far before lie met the prisoner, who
walked with him some distance, then suddenly
attacked him, using considerable violence, and
ultimately, having knocked him down, left him on
the ground, taking the baskets and contents with
him. The prisoner was shown to be dealing with
the basket and some of the property the next
morning. _ _

The prisoner was found guilty, and a previous
conviction was proved against him.
He was sentenced to four years' penal servitude.
James Westropp was indicted for shooting at
Jane Westropp with intent to murder her. There
were other counts charging the intent to be to dis-
able, to disfigure, and to do grievous-bodily harm.
Mr. Davison prosecuted.
Jane Westropp, the prisoner's wife, on the 25th
July last, was living at South Hetton, having been
separated from the prisoner, who resided about three
miles off. A little child lived with the wife, and on
the 25th July the prisoner, who was shown to have
previously threatened his wife,, went to Hetton and
demanded to have the child given up to him. The
mother refused, and tried to run away. The pri-
soner had a dagger-stick in his hand at the time,
and as the mother was trying to escape, he changed
the stick from one hand to the other, and, pulling
a pistol from his pocket, fired at her. No shot
struck the woman. The pistol, a double-barrelled
one, on being examined, was found to have one
barrel loaded with powder and three bullets.
The prisoner was found Guilty of shooting, with
intent to do grievous bodily harm.
. .

Wm. Neave was indicted for placing a railway
chair on the rails of the North Eastern Railway,
with intent to endanger the safety of the passengers.
The Hon. A. Liddell prosecuted ; Mr. Seymour
defended.

The case had only just commenced at post-time.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—GLOUCESTER, Dec. 6.

(Before Mr. Baron Wilde.)
Thomas Wager, 32, labourer, was charged with
cutting and wounding Henry Franklin, with intent
to do him some grievous bodily harm, on the 20th
Oct., at Stroud.

Mr. Stanton appeared for the prosecution ; Mr.
R. Sawyer defended the prisoner.
It appeared that on the night of the 20th of
October last the prosecutor went to a beershop in
Stroud, and there met the prisoner and his sister,
to whom he was paying his addresses. The par-
ties left at a little before ten o'clock, and the pri-
soner told his sister it was time for her to go home.
She, however, said it was not late, and declined to
take the advice, in which the prosecutor suppekted
her. Some words thereupon ensued between the
prosecutor and prisoner, which ended in a fight.
The parties fought several rounds, and both fell
twice. On the second occasion the prisoner was
uppermost, but the prosecutor succeeded in getting
the prisoner under him, and then rose up, with both
his hands on the prisoner's breast. At this moment
the prisoner was seen with sometking bright in his
hand, with which ho stabbed the prosecutor in the
front of the left thigh. The prosecutor was taken
to a surgeon, who now deposed that he found a
wound in the thigh an inch and a half in depth and
the same in length, in the vicinity of the femoral
ertery, which, however, was not injured.
Mr. Sawyer, for the prisoner, called several wit-
nesses, who swore that when the prisoner was on
the ground he was violently attacked by the prose-
cutor and a companion, who kicked him.
Mr. Baron Wilde having summed up the evidence,
The jury acquitted the prisoner of the felony, and
found him guilty of unlawfully wounding, with a
strong recommendation to mercy.—Sentence de-
terred.

Acroyd Lister, 21, and Michael Delany, 20, two
privates of the 12th Regiment, were charged with
highway robbery and stealing two half-sovereigns,
three rings, one pair of spectacles, two handker-
chiefs, and ss. from the person of Wm. Cannicolt,
on the 16th October, at Iforfield.
The jury found the prisoners not guilty.

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