The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-26 00:00:00

SURREY SESSIONS.

TIII7 INDIAN CIIIEF.—A7 true bill was on Tuesday
evening returned by the Grand Jury against Jlztk Coonse,
the Indian Chief, who was lately performing at the Victoria
Theatre, for an assault on a child named Morton, and yes-
terday an application was made by Mr. Chambers, on the
part of the prosecution, tlrat the defendant, who is out on
bail, should be at liberty to enter fresh bail for his ap-
pearance.
Mr. Gale of the Victoria Theatre said, the Chief was
not present, but his bail would surrender him any time the
Court ordered ; he was prepared with fresh bail. -
Mr. CHAMBERS prayed that the names of the bail
should be given to Mr. nobler, the solicitor the prose-
cution. _ _ _ .

Mr. Gale had no objection to mention their names, he
said Sir Augustus D'Este, Dr. Boulton, and Dr. Hodg-
kinson, would be bail for the Chief, and would attend any
time the Court appointed.
Tile residences of the proposed bail were handed to
Mr. Hobler, and it was arranged that the Chief should
be rendered into custody ; and that the bail should attend
to-morrow to sign the necessary recognizances. The trial
will take place on the 2d
.of April, at the Central Crimi-
nal Court.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.-LEIVES, MARCH' 25.
CROWN COURT.

Alexander ,S'ireeler, aged 28, and James Tesler, 24, were
indicted for burglariously breaking and entering the dwell-
ing-house of Thomas Reed, on the night of the 26th of Fe-
bruary last. at Ewhurst.
Elizabeth Spilstead, the niece of the prosecutor, who is
an old man between 86 and 87 years of age, lived with her
uncle as housekeeper. No person lived in the house but
themselves. On the night of the 26th of February last, they
went to bed about eight o'clock, having first secured all the
doors and windows.. About one in the morning she was
awoke by hearing a noise on the staifcase.- She opened her
door and saw a light. She immediately went into her
uncle's bedroom and awaked him. He got up, and went
to the bedroom door. He there saw three men standing,
one of them had a dark lantern. They said they knew

Elizabeth Spiistead swore positively to the prisoner
Streeter being the man who had struck her, and also swore
to Tester having his face blackened. Two of the men had
their faces blackened ; and she could swear as positively to
the other man, but he had not yet been apprehende:i.
The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty. Sentence de-
ferred.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.-LEICESTER, MARCH 24.

HIGHWAY ROBBERY.—Peter Norman, aged 26, was put
to the bar, charged with having, on the King's highway,
violently assaulted Thomas Fletcher Humfrey, and taken
from his person a purse containing 3/. 3s. 6d.
Mr. DANIEL conducted the prosecution.-
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty. •
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25.—The prisoner having been
brought into Court this morning the CHIEF JUSTICE, after
a few judicious observations, sentenced him to be trans-
ported for life.

OXFORD ClRCUlT.—Smummunr, Mown 20.
WILTON V. WEBSTER, M.D.

Mr. Sergeant TALFOURD said that this was an action
for criminal conversation, which was a case of no common
sorrow and no common guilt, as since this action was corn-
tnenced, the party who was the victim of the defendant's
seduction had descended to the grave. The plaintiff be-
longed to a class of society which had as much virtue as
any class of persons in the kingdom. He was in a highly-
respectable business, he being a mercer and draper, long
established in this town. In 1815 he married Miss Hughes,
the grand-daughter of a highly-respectable banker, she
being 20 years of age and the plaintiff 29. Their union
was blessed by three children, one of whom only survived,
and they lived most happily together, as became persons in
their station in life. The defendant, Dr. Webster, was a
gentleman most respectably connected, he being the son of
the late High Sheriff of the Isle of Anglesey ; and he,
about three or four years before the time in question, came
to reside in this town, and in 1831 he was called in to at-
tend the child of the plaintiff, but it was not till March,
1831, that Mr. Wilton became the patient of the defen-
dant; when he advised the plaintiff to remove his residence
from his house of business in this town, and reside in a
cottage at a small distance from the town. At this place
the defendant, from his profession, had constant access to
this lady, and in August, 1831, he advised the plaintiff to
leave the cares of business for a time, and to take a tour,
the principal part of which was in Scotland, and on foot.
While on this tour the plaintiff received two letters from
his wife. The Learned Sergeant read the following
letters :

" August 24, 1833.
"My dearest George,—I think you will be astonished when
I tell you I left Ellesmere on Wednesday last, at 10 minutes
past 10. There is punctuality for you ; I have seen the doc-
tor, and when I told him when Henry returned, he said he
hoped you would not do so, as he was afraid the time was too
;
short to give the journey a fair trial he would advise you to
remain out longer. I long to hear from yewhow you bore the
voyage ; the wend Was tremendously high. Our dear boy is
very well ; he often asks for his papa.—Adieu, my dearest
George, and that you may return with better health, is the
sincere wish of your ever affectionate wife,
" Mr. Wilton Post Office, Edinburgh. " ELIZA WILTON."
" Thursday Evening.
" My dearest George,—You do not know what pleasure
your letter gave me, as I was not expecting one this morning.
I am glad to hear you are better, and so much pleased with
your journey. I wish I was with you. I was in great trouble
on Sunday last, our dear boy was so unwell. I sent for the
doctor, and he was very kind and attentive. Do not be
frightened about him, as I think he seems quite himself to-
day.—Again adieu, my dearest George ; accept my kindest
love, and well wishes for your safe return to me, and believe
me ever your affectionate wife,

" Mr. Wilton, Post Office, Glasgow. " ELIZA WILTON."
It was (continued the Learned Sergeant) while the
plaintiff was on this tour, which the defendant had thus
recommended, that the defendant effected his guilty pur-
poses with respect to the wife of the plaintiff, and on one
evening the suspicions of one of the servants being aroused
by the defendant remaining till near twelve o'clock, the
servant was induced to listen, when she heard a noise as of
a struggle, and she heard the defendant say, " You drive
me distracted ; there is no one I love like you," and the
plaintiff's wife then said, " If George Wilton were to die
you would not take me," and the defendant replied that be
certainly would. Indeed, there could be no doubt as to
the facts, as the confession of the defendant ,would be given
in evidence. The plaintiff returned from Scotland in the
month of September, and the defendant proposed to take
the first floor of the plaintiff's house in the town, which
the plaintiff agreed to—and soon afterwards reports began
to arise which were unfavourable to the character of the
defendant and to the honour of the plaintiff's wife, and the
mode which the defendant took to lull the plaintiff into a
supposed security was to go at once to the plaintiff and
tell him of the reports, and in the most solemn manner to
contradict them ; and so satisfied was the plaintiff of the
truth of the defendant's representations that he allowed him to
occupy the first floor of the house for business, the plaintiff's
wife still residing in the cottage. However, in April following
the cottage was given up by the plaintiff and the plaintiff's
wife came to reside at the plaintiff's house in the town, and
from that time the defendant not only lodged in the house,
but boarded with the family. Still the plaintiff had no sus-
picions, and when the health of- the plaintiff's wife began
seriously to decline, she was attended by the defendant as
her physician, and her husband watched over her with the
most unremitting care. Mrs. Wilton became gradually
worse, and being on what turned out to be her dying bed,
she appeared for several days to be very uneasy—and one
morning she desired that the servants should leave the
room, which they did, and she then confessed that for about
thirteen months the plaintiff had been dishonoured by his
friend. The plaintiff sunk almost senseless on the bed, and
Mrs. Wilton desired that Dr. Webster should be sent for ;
he was sent for and came, and Mrs. Wilton then said to
him that she had kept the guilty secret thus long,
but that she could not go out of this world without
making a confession of all that bad occurred. The de-
fendant said that he would make any sacrifice, and
left the room. For some time the plaintiff remained in a
state of stupefaction, but in a few hours his feelings were
aroused even to phrensy, and he went up stairs to the
room where Dr. Webster was, and was heard to say, " No
parleying—get out of my house," and Dr. Webster, who
had gone to bed, got up and left the house. The plaintiff
then called in another medical man, and consulted his
friends as to what he should do. They advised that the
plaintiff should submit his case to the consideration of a
Jury, and in December, a few days before the unfortunate
lady departed from this world, the present action was com-
menced. It appeared from a part of the evidence in this
case, that a lady named Broome, who had broken off her
acquaintance with Mrs. Wilton, in consequence of the re-
ports which had been circulated, and that this lady had
written a letter to the wife of the plaintiff, which did Mrs.
Broome infinite credit, asking a renewal of their friendship.
This letter was answered by Mrs. Wilton, and she coldly
declined the proffered friendship of Mrs. "Broome. This
answer would be receivable in evidence against the defen-
dant ; as the draft of this letter, in the hand-writing of the
defendant, was found after the death of this unfortunate
lady. It might be said that the plaintiff had no need of a
suit for a divorce, as this lady was now no more. Was it
to be allowed that the defendant should avail himself of that
fatal catastrophe and of the sanctity of the grave ?
The certificate of the plaintiff's marriage was put in. It
took place in August, 1835
Mr. Donaldson said—l am a carver and gilder, in this
town. I knew the plaintiff and his wife. Myself and my
wife were in the habit of visiting them. I never saw any
persons more happy or more comfortable than they ap-
peared to be. I considered the plaintiff a most indulgent
mall, and his wife a most affectionate woman,
Cross-examined by Mr. MAULE—The plaintiff is forty-
five or fifty. His wife was a person who had a great flow
of spirits, and she might be about thirty but from her hav-
ing bad health, she might not be so old as she looked.
Other evidence was adduced ; after which the Jury
found a verdict for the plaintiff.—Damages, .5001.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LANcAsncn.
John Stainton, aged 49, formerly a Curate at a village
near Ulverston, was charged with having, at Dalton, forged
and counterfeited a deed, purporting to convey certain
property at Page Bank, with intent to defraud John Fa-
zakerley.
In July, 1834, an elderly individual, named Pemberton,
residing on property which he owned at Page Bank, died,
and a while afterwards the prisoner claimed succession to
the estate under a will which he held. The property, how-

ever,is held under the manor of Placid Turners, the Duke
of Buccleuch being Lord, and it is a local custom that
property not obtained by purchase cannot be devised with-
out a-deed of surrender. The prisoner, therefore, in addi-
tion to a will, counterfeited also a deed of surrender, which,
.dike the will, was attested by parties now dead ; and he also
made the customary affidavit at the Registrar's office in
Lancaster, which combined frauds would have had the
effect of excluding- from the property, valued at 3,000/.,
the real heir, Mr. Fazakerley, the prisoner having made
himself residuary legatee under this forged will. The cir-
cumstance most strongly in proof of the forgery was- the
fact, that tl,ough the deed bore date in February of 1830,
the stamp wth which the prisoner had provided himself
was dated in the February of 1832.
The prisoner was found Guilty, and sentenced to be
transported 'or life, and placed in the second class of con-
victed felons ab o•u!.

Roger 1171,,t -head, of Liverpool, attorney, convicted last
week of forging a mortgage deed, received a similar sen-
tence.

John Collier, 22, was also sentenced for having forged a
cheque for .50/., to be transported for life, and to rank in
the second class of convicted labourers.

WESTERN CIRCUIT—ExErvn, MARCH 21