The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-07 00:00:00

night ; not much wind. _ The noises seemed to come Green had commenced the conversation by, asking
from Cherrywell-bottom. Before I heard the next Mrs. Parkes why she had knocked her child out of '
morning what occurred I mentionedto Ruth Brown the servant's arms two days before ; that the plain-
what I had heard, and we had some talk together. tiff had for this threatened to give Mrs. Green " a
It was about 6 o'clock in the morning, good thrashing ;" that she had followed this up by
. Cross-examined by Mr. Poland—The voice I a good deal of abusive language, imputing to Mrs.
heard was a weak voice and sounded more like a Green that she had been unfaithful to her husband ;
woman's than a man's. It is a long distance from that it was Mrs. Parkes herself who first com-
Mr. Footner's field to Cherrywell-bottom, but it is menced to talk about murder by saying, " I suppose
in the same'direction from my house towards An- you will say next, like all the rest in the street,
dover. that I murdered my child," to which Mrs. Green
Ruth Brown, wife of John Brown, of Upper replied, " You are bad enough for anything." The
Clatford, said—l was washing at Mrs. Tasker's on case resulted in a verdict for the plaintiffs, with
the night of Nov. 22. I left with Mrs. Hawkins at £lO damages.
half-past 9 o'clock. We parted at the gate, and Mr. Wheeler was counsel for the plaintiffs ; Mr.
just as I got to Mr. Smith's, at the Plough, I heard Fernley for the defendants.
some one cry out, " Don't, pray !" and then, " Mur-
der !" Before I got to Mrs. Adams's I heard groans
two or three -times. I heard the cry of " Murder ! '
three times. The sounds came from the Salisbury-
roadway, towards Andover. It was a light moon-
shiny night, and the wind blew from Andover. I
told my husband of it the same night, and went
next morning to Mrs. Tasker's, where I met Mrs.
Hawkins. We had some conversation about what
we heard the night before. Some hours afterwards
we heard that a murder had been committed.
Cross-examined by Mr. Poland—l know the field
where the murder was committed, but I do not
know the distance from where I heard the sounds.
John Reeves—l am sergeant of .the Andover
police. On Tuesday, Nov. 23, having sem the
bludgeon produced, I to a field of Mr. Wolfe s,
adjoining the millway-drove. There are ash trees
growing in the hedges there. I searched to find a
stem to match that stick, and found one from which
a stick• had recently been cut. I pointed out that
stem to Mr. Radway. I compared that stick with
the stem and they matched. I cut off the piece
produced from the stem, and it matches it. The
stick appeared to have been cut round and broken
off. There is a crack on the stem, and a similar
one on the stick. On the same day I found
some ash cuttings in the corner of the field
nearest the Salisbury-road ; they appeared to be
the trimmings of an ashen stick. On the following
Thursday I searched the hedges again, and in the
corner near where the cuttings were found I disco-
vered the top of an ash stem placed upright in the
hedge, as if it were growing ; it was about four or
five feet high, and apparently a growing tree. I
compared it with the stick, and it corresponded
exactly. On Friday last I walked from the spot
where the body was found to Mr. Hawkin's build-
ing in the Weyhill-road. I could walk the distance
in from five to seven minutes. There is no difficulty
in getting from the Salisbury-road to the Weyhill-
road at Hawkins's-buildings.
Cross-examined by Mr. Poland—l am aware that
the prisoner has some cottages in Millway-drove
and that the land near Hawkins's-buildings is his
land. There is a gap at the bottom. of Tasker's
field, as if persons were in the habit of passing that
way into the Weyhill-road, which would be the
shortest way. On the Tuesday morning after this
occurrence there were many persons went up the
Salisbury-road. There are two cottages on the road
this side of Mr. Footner's field, and two on the
other side of the field, near Millway-drove.
Thomas Mesh—l am woodman to the Marquis of
Winchester, and have been a woodman for 40 years.
am well acquainted with the growth of wood. I
can tell the number of years a tree has been grow-
ing by the rings. The stick produced is of eight
years' growth. On comparing the pieces produced
I am of opinion that they all formed part of one
stem.
John Wm. Young—T. an innkeeper at Andover.
On the evening of Monday, Nov. 22, I was in An-
dover. In the evening, shortly before 9-o'clock, I
left Andover and went to the Railway Tavern. I
drove a horse and four wheel. I left Andover a
quarter before 9 o'clock. 'When I arrived at the
Railway Tavern I saw the prisoner. He came out
of the tavern, and I spoke to him
_and asked
him if he was ready to go down with him. He
said he should be back again directly, and then
turned down the Millway-drove through the turn-
stile. I stopped there about a quarter of an hour,
when I left. He did not return to me again, nor
did I see him again until 11 o'clock.
[The examination was not concluded when our
report was sent off.]

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.

The December general session of the peace for
the county of Middlesex commenced yesterday
morning, at Clerkenwell, before Mr. Pashley, Q.C.,
Assistant-Judge ; Mr. Creasy, deputy ; Mr. Pow-
nall, chairman of the county bench ; and the fol-
lowing magistrates :—Mr. Warner, Mr. Healey
Col. Wood, Sir J. Tyler, Mr. Fauleane, Mr. Watts.
Mr. Cotterill, ex-sheriff, Mr. Plowdeus, and Mr

Hogarth. There were the names of 81 prisoners
in the calendar, of whom 75 were charged with
felony and six with misdemeanour.
The Assistant Judge addressed the grand jury
upon the nature of their duties.
Mary Ann Davis and Edwin Shaylor were placed
at the bar to receive sentenee.
Mr. Ribton was instructed on behalf of the pri-
soners, who, it will be remembered, were convicted
at the last sessions, at Westminster, Davis of rob-
bing a policeman of the N division of a £lO note,
and Shaylor of burglariously breaking and entering
the warehouse of Mr. Johnson, silver wire drawer,
of Gloucester-street, Clerkenwell, and stealing a
quantity of silver wire, part of which was found on
Davis when she was taken into custody for robbing
the policeman ; that circumstance led to the con-
viction of Shaylor, with whom Davis cohabited.
It was now pressed by Holmes, detective 50 F,
and Mrs. Howe, one of the warders of the West-
mincter prison, that Shaylor was the constant
associate of burglars, pickpockets, and receivers of
stolen goods, and was never known to be in honest
employment. He had the alias of " Ponaly," and
was " putter up" as concoctor of burglaries. Davis,
to whom Mrs. Howe's evidence related, had been
convicted three times, and once was got off by the
I,somewhat notorious William Howe, now .a fugitive
from justice, through a flaw in the conviction.
She was one of the most expert of the female
thieves of London.
The Assistant Judge sentenced Shaylor to seven
years', and Davis to three years', penal servitude.
William Dearing, 22, barman, was indicted for
stealing three half-sovereigns and other moneys,
of Wm. Mayor, his master. He pleaded guilty.
Mr. Ribton (instructed by Messrs. Wakeling)
appeared. for the proseeution, and stated that the
prisoner entered the service of Mr. Mayo, the pro-
secutor, the landlord of the Eagle,- Camden-town,
on the 26th Oct., as barman, and soon afterwards
.circumstances occurred which led to a suspicion of
-his honesty. Some mouey was marked, and on his
box being searched three marked half-sovereigns
and some silver were found. The prisoner gave a
reference to Mr. Oliver, of the Drummond Hotel,
Seymour-street, Euston-square, who said he had
been for some time in his service, but that proved
false, for he had instead been servant to Mr. Her-
mitage, of the Crown and Thistle Peter-street,
Westminster, who discharged him for dishonesty.
The prisoner was known to the police, and it was
a circumstance of great aggravation in his case
that he had got the situation by means of a false
character, unquestionably for the purpose of com-
mitting a robbery.
Cooke, 128, S, stated that he knew the prisoner
well, as one of a gang of persons whom he might
call barmen out of place. When one of the gang
got a place, which was invariably accomplished by
means of a false character, the rest used to fre-
quent the house, and plunder was carried on by the
" barman" passing money to them over the counter
as change. The prisoner was discharged by Mr.
Hermitage for passing money over the counter in
that way to two women.
The Assistant Judge said it was a very bad case
of larceny by a servant, and the court must protect
the publicans from such nefarious practices, by
severely punishing those who are guilty of them.
The sentence on the prisoner was nine months'
hard labour.
Mr. Ribton said £9 were found in the prisoner's
box, in small money, and as he bad pawned his
watch just before he entered the prosecutor's ser-
vice, the inference was obvious that that money he
had purloined from the bar. Under these circum-
stances he applied to the court to direct that money
to be given up to the prosecutor, in addition to
ordering the costs of the prosecution.
The application was granted.
John Richards, 21, hammerman, was indicted for
stealing 3 cwt. of lead, the property of Robert
Walmsley, from a certain building. He pleaded
guilty, and the court sentenced him %to eight
months' hard labour.
Henry Gardner, 24, engineer, was indicted for
Teloniously breaking and entering the dwelling-
house of Henry Douglas, and stealing therein a
pair of trousers and other articles, the property of
Henry D. Alston. He ple'aded guilty. Sentence,
12 months' hard labour.
John Collins, 18, and James Johnson, 19, coster-
mongers, were convicted of stealing a pnir of
trousers and other articles, value £6, the property
of Charles Cooper. They were each sentenced to
four months' hard labour.
John Calderara, 23, was convicted of stealing a
watch, value £5, the property, of A. C. Edwards,
from his person, and sentenced to 12 months' hard
labour.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LIVERPOOL, DEC. 6.
The business of the winter assizes for the
southern division of the county opened to-day be-
fore Mr. Baron Bramwell, who presided in the
Nisi Prius Court, and Mr. Justice Hill who pre-
sided in the Crown Court. This is the first winter
assize at which civil business has been taken, and
the number of causes entered for trial is consider-
able, litigants from all parts of the country taking
advantage of this assize to settle the questions in
dispute by the verdict of a jury. The calendar is
unusually heavy, and contains the names of 115
prisoners, of whom 8 are charged with wilful
murder, 9 with manslaughter, 8 with stabbing, 18
with burglary, 11 with rape, 20 with robbery, 4
with bigamy, and the remainder with other
offences.
In charging the grand jury, of which Sir Thos.
George Hesketh, Bart., was foreman, Mr. Justice
Hill said that the calendar of prisoners awaiting
their trial, and touching whose offences it became
their duty to inquire, was so heavy that he would
not occupy their time more than a very few
minutes to direct their attention to one or two of
the more important cases. He deeply regretted to
see the large number of cases of wilful murder,
and alluded to one or two particular charges,
pointing out that'in one, where a woman had cut
her child's throat, they would probably have no
doubt that she had committed the crime, the only
question which could arise being whether she was
in a responsible state of mind. He recommended
the jury to find a true bill, as, if the common jury
found she was insane, she would be detained in
custody during her ajesty's pleasure, and thus
the public would be protected against her for the
future. In another case two medical practitioners,
in trying to procure abortion in the case of- a single
woman who was pregnant, had caused her death
by the means used. It was, said his lOrdship, a
settled proposition of law, and had been so for a
great many years, that where a medical man gave
medicine or used instruments for the purpose of
procuring abortion, he was doing an unlawful
act, attended with risk and danger to the per-
son concerned, and, if by these means he caused
death, it was murder in the eye of the law ; this
rule, therefore; would apply to the case of the pre-
sent assize. As a general instruction his lordship
mentioned that where the facts proved were of such
a nature that if unexplained or unanswered there
was a reasonable presumption of guilt, it was the
duty of the jury to find a true bill. But if, on the
contrary, there was not such reasonable presump-
tion, they would not be doing their duty in finding
a true bill, because by putting such a prisoner pre-
maturely on his trial, should circumstances after-
wards arise to show that he was guilty, they would
prevent a future trial, and defeat the ends of jus-
tice. In conclusion, his lordship alluded to a class
of cases of an immoral character, and remarked
that the unnecessary exposure of such cases in
courts of justice was a great scandal to society.
The jury, would, in regard to these, if possible,
observe a more stict rule than in other eases, and
only find true bills where they were fully con-
vinced that the crime charged against the prisoner
had been committed. He then dismissed the jury
to their duties.
A -MELEE AMONG lIARVEST WORKERS AT IMYTON.
Four young Irishmen, named M'Donald, Don-
oughoe, Horan, and Pierce, were found guilty of
unlawfully wounding fire other barve-st workers,
named Bradley (man and wife), Travis, Bulfield,
and William Bradley, at Huyton, near Liverpool,
on the 16th of August last. The parties had been
working in a field when rain came on, and they
adjourned to a small beer-house, where they -had a
good deal of drink. During the time they were iii
the beer-house a quarrel arose amongst some of the
men, the others joined their companions in the dis-
pute, and ultimately they went into the street,
where a general melee took place, in which sickles,
scythes, and other dangerous weapons were used,
and in which several persons, including the above
five, were seriously injured by being cut with sharp
instruments.
Sentence on the prisoners was deferred.
CIVIL SIDE.--(Before Mr. Baron Bramwell.)
PARKES ET ITKOR V. GREEN ET ITICOR.
The plaintiff is a painter, residing in Slater-
street, Manchester_; the defendant is a journeyman
.tailor, living in the same street, and the object of
the action was to recover damages for slander.
According to the statement Mrs. Parkes, she
was in the street, near her own house, on the &en-
ing of Monday, the 9th of August last, when the
female defendant called after her, " There go,es that
Parkes thereupon turned round, an
defenda t re
murdering —, who murdered her
and asked
~MArs.
you speaking to me ?" To which the n re-
You have mur-
dered. your child," and added that she could. prove
you'
plied, " Yes, I'm speaking to
adtebfyentdkaenntse,i
gtlhiebyouhrasda,oasd
month
th words.
before,
-which
ipe plaintiffs ihnat
had
ffs
been hadi lost
a delicate
lei
ehai
tl de
stateabou about
ofa
health from Christmas, 1854; and, in consequence
was
a tsh
alleged,e c harg e
beenmade p
On the other hand, the
made very unhappy-
obiyntteldle
de-
fendants stated that Mrs.-Parkes had vowed some
day or other to be revenged on Mrs. Green, because
she had given evidence against her in a case of
assault, in which a Mrs. Beasley had been the
complainant ; that on the 9th of August Mrs.,

George Ellison, a Guardsman, pleaded guilty to
a charge of assaulting. Matthew Carr.
In answer to the Court, prosecutor said he saw
the prisoner in an altercation with a woman in
Blenheim-road, and on going up to see what it was
about the prisoner felled him to the ground by a
blow on the chest, and severely kicked him when
he was down. He was seriously injured.
Prisoner—The woman I was with, your lordship,
was my own wife, and she had just come up from
the country. I had not seen her for four years, and,
the fact was we both got drunk. I was taking her
home when prosecutor came up to me, and I
knocked him down, that's all—kick him I never
did. I have no witnesses to call, but I've told you
the truth,
The Court sentenced him to eight months' hard
labour.
Henry Loe, 31; shoemaker, was indicted for steal-
in a bottle and two gallons of gin, the property of
Mr. C. Booth, distiller, of Turnmill-street, Cow-
cross, from his warehouse. He pleaded guilty.
Mr. F. H. Lewis, as counsel for the prisoner,
called witnesses to character. The prisoner went
to Booth's, and was detected in carrying a two
gallon bottle of gin from the premises. It was sug-
gested that one of the persons employed on the
establishment had connived in the robbery, but tae
policeman said the firm did not prosecute him, be-
cause he had been in their service 25 years, and had
loSt a pension of 10s. a week for life. This, they
thought, was sufficient punishment for him.
The prisoner was sentenced to two months' hard
labour. - _ _

George Meads, 40, was indicted for stealing a
purse containing seven sovereigns and other monies
from the person of Sir Windham Carmichael An-
struther, Bart. He pleaded guilty.
Mr. Ribton, for the prosecution, stated that this
was a most audacious robbery from the person.
Sir Windham Anstruther had come up • from
Brighton, aria proceeded from the Great Northern
Hotel to ilegent-street. As he was standing at a
shop-door the prisoner pushed past him, and robbed
him of his purse. The learned counsel called a
policeman to prove that the prisoner had been pre-
viously convicted and sentenced by this court to
nine months hard labour, and at the Old Bailey to
eighteen months.
The prisoner said he would save them the trouble
of proving what was, known of him. He would
admit all they could say against him.
The convictions were proved, and the court sen-
tenced the prisoner to seven years' penal servitude.
George Williams, 30, sailor, pleaded guiltyto a
charge of stealing four bells, the propert of Thos.
Crofts, the same being fixed to a building.
The policeman in this case said a number of rob-
beries of the like character had been complained of
in thewhere
neighbourhood was committed,
but since the prisoner had been in custody not one
had occurred.
The prisoner was sentenced to twelve months
hard labour.
Thomas Buxton, 20, was convicted of stealing
four tablespoons, the property of Edward Julius
Lutton.

He was sentenced to eight months' hard labour.
Louis Birsch, 22, described as a merchant, of su-
perior education, was indicted for having stolen a
pair of trousers, and other articles, value £3, the
property of William Deans West, from Evans's
Hotel, Piazza, Covent-garden.
He pleaded guilty.
The police stated that the prisoner had been in
the habit of taking lodgings at hotels, and plun-
dering the rooms adjoining that allotted to him.
Among others he had favoured Evans's and Mor-
ley's hotels, and was taken into custody at the New
Huramuras, Covent-garden, when dueicates relat-