The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-13 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT—NOTTINGHAM, MARCH 12.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Lord Chief Justice Campbell.)
NIGHT POACHING AND MURDER.
John Draper, aged 30, was charged with the
wilful murder of G. orge Wingfield, at Annesley, on
the 29th December, 1857, John Gelsthorpe, Wm.
Atkinson, Francis Hardy, Joseph Burton, Wm.
Torokinson, and James Beardall, were charged
with night poaching in the preserves of Annesley-
wood.
From the evidence it appeared that Captain
Hammond's gamekeepers, on Monday, the 28th of
December, accompanied by several other game-
keepers, went out to watch in the preserves of
Annesley-wood, and about 5 o'clock on the follow-
ing morning they heard a noise as of people talk-
ing, and a report of firearms. The keepers
surrounded the prisoners, a fight took place during
which the deceased was shot.

The learned Judge, in summing up, said there
was not the least doubt that the deceased met his
death at the hands of Draper, but the crime not
being a premediated one, he must direct them to
return a verdict of manslaughter.
The jury having consulted a few minutes, a ver-
dict in accordance with his lordship's directions
was returned.
Draper, seven years' penal servitude. The other
prisoners (who had each pleaded guilty), 18 months'
hard labour.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—STAFFORD, MARCH 12.
(Before Mr. Baron Chaunell.)
CHARGE OF MURDER, AT BIDDELPH.
Martha Kirkham, 20, was arraigned at the bar,
charged with the wilful murder of her illegitimate
infant child, on the 17th February, at Biddulph.
The prisoner, who was described as a domestic;
servant, was attired in black ; her stature is short,
and she labours under a spinal malformation of
the back.

The prisoner, in January last, entered the service
of Mr. Burgess, a farmer at Killow, near Biddulph,
as a farm servant. On the evening of the 17th of
February the prisoner complained of being ill, and
after drinking a glass of giu given her by her mis-
tress she went to bed at eight o'clock. About
eleven a fellow-servant named Dale, a girl of 15
years, came into the room for the purpose of sleep-
ing as usual in the same bed with the prisoner.
The latter desired her to put the candle out, but
T he
following
nightow ing
morning, as early as six o'clock, the pr
this she refused to do, and almost immediately
notist r
er
se
st
's return,
door.o sleeping
afterwards the cry of an infant was heard by Dale
from underneath the bed-clothes. Dale then left
i
ot hne andtrhoooinn,igath
dider in
down stairs, and bringing with her a ller
came
1; se"die' which
she put in a bucket, and left the
house. Subse-
quently the body of a full-grown
female child was
found fourteen inches deep in
the soil of the privy.
The only witness called was Mr. J. J. Ritchie,
surgeon, of Leek, who deposed to having made a
post-mortem examination of the body on the 20th
of February, the result of which led him to form
an opinion that death had resulted from suffocation.
Thejury acquitted the prisoner of the felony,
when a verdict of guilty was taken by consent
against the prisoner for concealing the dead body
of her child, and she was sentenced to three calen-
dar mouths' imprisonment, with hard labour.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—YoRK, MitCii 11.
josepDh.,4.ll\lvNrGighßlTtsßoCinL, 127,
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Byles.)
John Foster. 30, Edward WNTiEII 411, 1 1 128a451, RTBNheLoacEmYlal.isi IJ' o h 42: -
so n , 22, and Joseph Hebden, 22, were charged with
having on the 19th of January last, at Cawthorne,
burglariously entered the house of Joseph Clark-
sou, and stolen therefrom 21s. and some Germa a
silver spoons.
The jury found all the prisoners
His lordship directed judgment
t
only
on one condi-
(heir lives would be spared,
butld be kept ill penal
again-t the prisoners, intimating
tion, namely, that they w
servi rude for life. oumat wg hatbe
probably

Mr. W. H. Siepheneon, of the Treasury, has been
appointed by the Government, under the tense of the
contract, a director in the MediterraLtan Eztealiea
Telegtxph Company.