The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVEAING, DECEMBER 20, 1866.

returned with a verdict of guilty, but strongly re-
commended the prisoner to mercy on account of his
youth. The Judge then put on the bladic cap, and
said he could not trust himself to comment upon the
awfulness of having to pass sentence of death on a
boy so young. He would convey the r acommenda-
tion of the jury to the proper quarter. His duty
simply was to pronounce the sentence of the law,
and his lordship then did so in the usual form.
There was much sobbing among the women in the
gallery, and the judge himself was deeply moved.
The prisoner maintained to the end an impassive
and stolid bearing, betraying not the least emotion.

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONE, Dec. 19.
(Before Mr. Baron Channell.)
In charging the grand jury this morning Mr.
Baron Chanuell said it was a source of great gratifi-
cation to him to meet the grand jury of the impor-
tant county of Kent, with which, in the course of
his professional career, and since he had had the
honour of being raised to the bench, he bad been so
closely and intimately connected. That gratifica-
tion on the present occasion was somewhat dimi-
nished by the nature of the calendar, which con-
tained four cases of burglary, a case of concealment
of birth, one of forgery, and all the rest of the 26
cases involved personal violence in a greater or less
degree, and from which death had resulted in four
or five instances. It was, however, only fair to say
that two of them were remanets from the last as-
sizes, and a great many of the others were due to
the hopping season ; and so in a certain sense were
not fairly to be classed with the crime of the county.
After some general remarks as to the prima facie
character of the investigation of grand juries, he
noticed in detail the particulars of several of the
cases, which, however, he said, presented no features
of especial difficulty, and then dismissed the grand
jury to their labours with an exhortation to the
county to support not merely with their pecuniary
contributions, but with personal advocacy, all those
institutions which were designed to promote habits
of industry and sobriety amongst the lower orders,
and pSrticularly in those for the dissemination of a
sound religious education.
THE TUNBRIDGE-WELLS MURDER.
An application having been made to the Court to
fix the trial of Ann Lawrence, for the murder of her
child at Tunbridge-wells, in April last, at which
time, it will be remembered, the accused also nearly
murdered a man with whom she was then living,
who was not her husband,
The Judge fixed the trial for Thursday at nine
o'clock, but added that although it was now decided
the judge had a legal right to discharge a jury at 12
o'clock on Saturday night, it was much better not to
defer important trials to the end of the week if it
could be arranged otherwise.
ROBBERY BY A MARINE.
John Jordan, aged 22, a marine, indicted for a
robbery from the person, and whose trial was de-
ferred from last assizes, was now arraigned.
Mr. Rosher was counsel for the prosecution, and
the prisoner was undefended.
The prosecutor, John Ede, was in the Coach and
horses public-house, at Chatham, where there were
seven or eight soldiers. After a time they seized
prosecutor, held him up by the heels, and emptied
his pockets of their contents, including money, a
watch, and a knife.
The prisoner was clearly identified, and being
found guilty was sentenced to eight months'Lhard
labour.