The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-22 00:00:00

TAI UN, LONDON TIIITiRSDAY EV .ENING, JULY 22, 18581

TEE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

ordinary roads by means of spur-wheels and pinions,
enabling the engine to drive one travelling-wheel
with a slow motion, as Clayton's, with a simple
steerage, and Garrett's, which is guided by a horse.
It will be a great step in advance when threshing
and steam-ploughing engines are able to walk with
their load of machinery from farm to farm ; but
at present these adaptations seem better fitted for
smoo h turnpikes than for deep or rugged clay
lanes. Here also is Tuxf,rd's massive traction-
engine with Boydell's wheels (both driven by most
ingenious friction-boxes). In walking through the
stands we observe Richmond and Chandler's
chaff-cutters ; Smith and Ashby's hay-maker ; Per-
reaux's pumps, fitted with the ingenious india-
rubber valve • Seaman's model of a new s'eam-
plough ; on Ransome and Sim's stand, a novelty in
the form of a horizontally rotating root-slicer, the
knives, of a " bomerang" shape, being fixed, with
screw-blades in the hopper, carrying round and
pressing down the roots upon then. Here, also,
are the noted bean-cutter, oat bruiser, and an as-
sortment of patent prize ploughs, including the
pony plough, weighing 65113. Keevil's cheese-
making apparatus, of very simple construction, for
better separating the whey from the curd, especi-
ally in manufacturiug rich cheese, is a remarkably
clever iuvention, and likely toeffect great improve-
ment in our dairy pract.ces. On Priest and Wool-
Dough's stand is a singular contrivaece intended to
destroy that troublesome enemy the turnip-fly; by
means of small fanners, the flies disturbed from the
rows c f plants are to be drawn into a current of
air as they jump, and blown out again behind the
machine, intermingled with a cloud of ft: e ashes
and lime, which thus dusts the plants. As a
manure distributor it may prove a valuable little
but experience has yet to determine
will think of the treatment. Ho
iwmhpalte I)t
flies
ward,
of B dferd, shows his patent prize ploughs, horse-
hoes, rakes, and a new chaff-screen • Bentall, his
well-known broad-sharer and subsoil plough, his
harrows, and especially efficient root-pulper. On
Garra.'s stand is a reaper with revolving rake-off,
which contains the germs of considerable improve-
ments. On this stand, and also on that of Ran-
some and Sims, we find the American Eagle
mowing ma tine, which we are glad to say has fully
proved by its performances during the hay harvest
the correctness of our opinion expressed last year in
its favour. Weofo's paring plough is a tool working
with remarkable accuracy, with a one-inch slice,
to as deep as may be required ; Messrs. Thomas
Gibbs and Co. and Messrs. Lawson exhibit wonder-
ful collections of seeds, samples and specimens of
agricultural produce; and there are numerous stalls
of articles of a miscellaneous rather than rural
character.

Yes'erday the point of interest in the trial yard
was a racing contest between .the four picked
thrashing machines—namely, Clayton and Shuttle-
worth's, Hornsby's, Ransome and Sims', and Hum-
phries'—all running tcgether with their respective
engines of 451 b. pressure on the inch, and each sup-
plied with 775 sheaves. Clayton's ran 44 minutes ;
Hornsby's, 44/ minutes ; Ransome's, 47 minutes ;
and lluniphries', 61 minutes.
So great has b3en the number of implements and
machinery far trial thtt the prizes could not be
adjudicated in time for us to receive the particulars.
The dinner takes place to-day in the Shire-hall.

SUMMER ASSIZES.

HOME CIRCUIT,—CHELMSFORD, July 21.
The business of the an;z.s for the county of
Essex commenced this morning, Mr. Justice Wiles
presiding in the Crown Court and Mr. Baron Bram-
well at Nisi Prius. The cause list contains an entry
of 17 cases, two of which are to be tried by special
juries. The gaol calendar contains the names of 16
prisoners, but the only serious case is the Dagen-
ham murder.

Mr. Justice Willes, in his charge to the grand
jury, made particular allusion to this case. He said
the most serious case in the calendar was a charge
against a man named Geo. Blewett, of having mur-
dered. a policeman named Clark twelve years ago,
and the case, so far as the evidence was concerned,
was of a very peculiar character. He had read and
re-read the depositions most attentively, with a
view to ascertain what the theory of the prosecu-
tion was, and what was the evidence in support of
that theory, and it appeared to him to be this :
—A woman who, in 1846, at the period the murder
was committed, was the wife of a man named Page,
who appeared to have died in 1848, now came for-
ward, nine or ten years after that event, and
stated that the prisoner George Blewett, her hus-
band, and some other person, were the parties by
whom the policeman was murdered 12 ye'ars ago.
Her statement appeared to be to the effect that on
the day of the murder, the 26th of June, her hus-
band came home, and in consequence of somethie.g
that occurred she expressed her determination to
go out with him, and accordingly she accompanied
him to the house of the prisoner, Blewett, who was
at this time emp!oyed as a horsekeeper to a farmer
in the neighlaJurhood -named Brittain, and that
Blewett made a proposition that he and her hus-
band and -some other person should go to his mas-
ter's house and steal some corn. She then stated
that they proceeded to the barn for that purpose,
and that she was left outside to watch, and upon
her giving an alarm that Clark, the policeman, was
approaching, her husband and Blewett went out
and attacked him and murdered him. This was
the sum and substance of the statement made by
the witness referred to, and they would see when

they came to hear the ,other evidence how far it
accorded wi.h it and with the place where the dead
body was actually found. It appeared that this
woman was,silent until last year, when she made
a communication to a woman living in the same
neighbourhood, and shy repeated the story a short
time back, and the prisoner Blewett was then taken
into custody and committed upon the present
charge. A good many remarks and suggestions
would necessarily arise upon evidence of this de-
scription. No length of time, of course, would
wipe out the stain of murder, and if they should be
of opinion upon all the facts that there was evi-
dence of the accused person having committed the
crime he would still be amenable to the justice of
the country; and it would be their duty to return
a true bill ; but where it appeared that the story
was not Id until after the lapse of so many years
from the occurrencelaking place they would all
naturally Icok to see if there was any corroborative
tes imony to show the truth of the story. If they
should find that there was no evidence to confirm
the statement of the witness, it would be for them
to consider whether they could place entire
reliance upon her veracity, and if they should
be of opinion that her evidence could be relied upon,
or that it was c mfirmed to any extent, they would,
of cows', notsput a- stop to the inquiry. There
were other matters, however, in connexion with
the witn es in que,:Vciti to which he felt called upon
to direct their attention. He had already told
them that it ance.,red to him that there was no
corroboration whatever of her statement, and it
appeared that while she was under cross-examina-
tioe before the magist-ates she was undoubtedly
labouring under different hallueinaf.ions. Ore of
there hallucinations was ,that since her husband's
death she lad repea-edly seen his ghost, and that
she was, in fact, constantly haunted by his ghost.
She also stat-d that she had seen a fire-engine in
her room, and that the nei,glabsurs considered that
she was apt to wander in her mind. She likewise
appeared to have said that when she sat down to
h, r vic,nals a devil used. to come and eat her food.
He theught• it right to call the attention of the
grand jury to these circumstances, and also to the
additional fact that the witness appeared to be
under the impression that Blewett had taken away
2/. 10s. of her husband's, money, and that she ap-
peared to entertain an ill-feeling against him on
that ac ounte They would, however, no doubt,
look Carefully at the whole of the evidence that
would be laid before them, and if they shoUld be
of opinion that the pet y jury were not likely to
convict the prisoner he thought ,hey ought not to
Lind the bill ; but, on the other hand, if they should
consider the evidence was of such a nature that
the petty jury were likely to convict the prisoner
upon it, it would then be their duty to return a
true bill and have the matter fully inquired into.
The grand jury in the course of the day came
into court with the bill agains- George Blewett for
the DJgeLham murder, which they returned not
found.

Baron Bramwell disposed of several common
jiity c Imes, but none of them furnished any mate-
rials for a report.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.-July 21.

(Before Mr. Pashley, Q.C,, Assistant-Judge at
Westminster.)
Hannah Lucas was brought up to be dealt with
as a rogue and vagabond under the Vagrant Act,
she having been guilty of riotous and indecent con-
duct in a certain public highway, al. er hiving been
convicted summarily as a disorderly person under
the same ac'. The court sen'enced her to six
mouths' hard 1 tbour. _

R ibert Johnson, 23, was indicted for stealing a
portmanteau, containing ao ticlea of the value of 81.,
the property of Sir. J. T. Norris, M. P.
Mr. Norris stated that he resided at Sutton
Courtney, in Berkshire. On the night of Ilia sth
he took a cab from Devonshire-place to Long-acre,
and a portmanteau was placed on the roof. When
the cab got to Long-acre, the portmanteau was
missed, and having Made some inquiries about it,
he went to Bow-street station, and there he found
it in the possessian of the police.
The cabman said as be classed Seven-dials, on
on
ne the portmanteau was safe
oljf-ltrihge-aacarbe,, but when he got to Lang-
' acre it was gone.
Michael Bowen, an errand boy, gave evidence
showing that the priSoner, with five or six alien,
the top
was concerned in getting the portmanteau off the
cab. The prisoner put it on his shoulder and
walked down Drury-lane with it. The witness told
a policeman, who went alcer rho prisoner and asked
him where he was going to take the portmanteau.
He said ho had found it in' a doorway, and as he
could not make out an owrax he was going to take
it to the station-hou,e. The p •lieeman called his
attention to the circumstance that he was going in
a direction away from the station, with the proper
road to which he was not unacquainted, for he was
welt known about the neighbourhood, arid com-
pelled him to carry it to•the station, where he was
detained. In a few minutes-Mr. Norris drove up in
the' cab, and was not a little surpri-ed at finding
the stolen property had got there before him.
The jury found the prisoo er guilty, aud the Caurt
sentenced him to t ix months' hard labour.
Mr. Norris gave the boy Bowen half-a-sovereign
for the promptitude with which he gave the Mot.-
ma ion which led to the redavery of he property.
Snnw, 25, was convicted of stealing a
copper belor;'the property of John Borsley, the
same being fixed t ) a building. The prisoner was a
well-known off, nder, and had been sentenced to
seven years' transportation. The Court pas;ed upon
lion a sentence of ten 3 ears' penal servitude.
Win. Brant, 18, was indicte 1 for unlawfully and
maliciously wounding Rob'. Howitt with a knife.
Mr. Abram was counsel for the prosemtiou.
The prosecutor said be was a cabinet-maker, and
lived at 152, B2thnil-green-road, and was also a
coffee-house-keeper. fie knew the prisoner from'
his hiving been a cu,tomer, and on the 10ih inst.
he was walking along the Bethnal green-road wi,h
his wife and another person, when he met the pri-
sonu, and in consequence of. something which had
occurred he cautioned him not to come near his
place again, as he was only after his birds. The pri-
soner nude some saucy answer and ihe prosecutor
and the friend who was wi h him walked on,. leav-
ing his wife behind. He looked round, and seeing
the prisoner in the act of -sparring at his wife, he
went b ick and pushed him away. The prisoner
then ran at hint and struck him on the wrist with a
kale. The blade s- uek in the wrist, and prosecutor
finding he could not pull it out himself, ran off to a
Yurgeou's, whereit was taken out, and he then
fainted away. He lost but little blood.

The surgeon's assistnt who extracted the blade
from prosecutor's wr st said the wound was not
dangerous, but might have provei so if an artery
1-1,.(1 been severed. The prosecutor v;as still under
troatment. _ _

The prisoner, who said-nothing in his gefonce,
and in whose manner there seemed something very
strange, was found guilty, and the Court sentenced
him to eight months' hard- labour.
•

THE CHILD STEALER.
&trait. Myers, 18, who was convicted on Tuesday
of steaal ng a child, was brought up for judgment.
The Assistant-Judge told the
pry-Duet she had
been -c:::nvic.ed of a most- odious crime, that of
),tealing a poor child from its parent', under cir-
cumstances of a very atrocious character. There
was reason t) beli too much unfortunately that
she had pinched atid to: tured the child, will tilt-
view of exciting pity by its kuffeL ings, and thereby

the better carrying on her trade of begging. If it
were a man who had been guilty of this, the court
would without hesitation have passed upon him a
sentence of penal servitude for a long term of
years ; and had the prisoner been an older person,
a sentence of the last description most certainly
would ba passed upon her. As, however, she was
so young, and was suffering from a very painful
disease of the eyes (they were bandaged up), he
thought, under all the circumstances, the sentence
he was about to pass would be suffic.;:ent. The Court
must protect the children of the poor, who almost
of necessity played about the s'reets, from such
wicked practices, and her caso would be an example
to deter
_other equally evil-disposed persons from
such iniquitous proceedings. The sentence was,
that she be kept to hard labour in the House of
Correction for 18 calendar months.

The Court Mani an appeal by special appoint-
ment, " Henry Fleming against the refusal of the
justices of the Tower division to grant a licence to
sell exciseable liquor, under the 9th Geo. IV., c. 61,
to the Star, Prusuni's Maud, New-crane, St.
George's E Ist."
The heipe had formerly been licensed, but the
licence had lapsed, and the present appelLtnt was a
new tenant.

Mr. Bodkin, instructed by Messrs. Wire and
Child, supported the appeal ; Mr. Cooper, in-
structed by Mr. Burnell, appeared in support of the
decision ot the Court below.

The Court granted the licence.
(Before Mr.
,Creasy.)
Richard Waters, a cripple, and Fanny Waters,
his wife, were indicted for keeping a brothel, 83,
Wells street, Oxford-street ; and
Louise Flainant,a middle-aged Frenchwoman, was
indicted for a Lice 9ff,ulce, the house being No.lo,
Duke-street, Portland place. In a second indict-
ment she was charged with keeping a brothel, 42,
Charlotte-street, Portland-place.
Mr. Metcalfe, assisted by Mr. Abram, appeared
for the prosecution, instructed by' Mr. Randall,
solicitor to the parish of Marylebone •, and Mr.
Sieigh and Mr. Dunbar were engaged in the de-
fence.

Evidence was given which clearly proved the
character of the house kept by the Waterses, and
they were found guilty.
In the case of Flautant evidence was given to
rebut that adduced on the part of the prosecution,
and to show that the house, 1.0, Duke-street, was
let out in lodgings to resPeetable persons, and that
pirt of it was th.tcupied as offices for the Societe
Francaise de Bianfaisance, but the jury, with
little hesitation, returned a verdict of guilty, and
Madame Flamant was ordered into custody. On
being removed, shs declared her innocence, and
said she would never go to prison, and resisted
violently. The sentences were postponed.