The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-09 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 9, 1832.

BRISTOL SPECIAL COMMISSION.

BRISTOL, SATURDAY, Jet•. 7.
TRIAL OF CAFTAN LEWIS.

At ►+ine o'clock the Learned Judge entered the
Court, immediately upon which Captain John Cosley
Lewis was put to the bar. He was charged upon
the Coroner's inquisition, with killing and slaying
Thomas Morris, by shooting him with a leaden
bullet. Captain Lewis had a cloak on, and bowed
respectfully to the Court. The Jury having been
sworn,

Mr• BALL rose and addressed them on the par:
of the prosecution.

The Learned Counsel stated the facts of the,citse
as they appear in evidence, and called
William Watts—l am a labourer, residing in
Temple-street ; I knew Thomas Morris ; I married
his mother; be was turned twelve years; he was
about four feet high. In October he worked at the
Bristol Pottery ; on the 31st he left home at twenty
minutes after seven o'clock; I kept him in on Sa-
turday and Sunday; I saw him next at the Infix-
mary, about half-past eight.
William Booth, pig-butcher--I was in
square on Monday, about five yards from the boy,
and two yards from the avenue; it is about ten
yards in breadth, and fourteen in length ; it has a
foot pavement on both sides; I heard the report
of a pistol ; I turned my head, and saw the boy
fall; the boy was on the side nearest to Bristol
bridge ; there might be four or five people in the
avenue at the time; I saw two come and pick him
up ; there was a woman on the same side, but I
could not see directly through the avenue; upon
hearing the pistol, I ran to the boy, and saw the ball
had entered his stomach; I saw the gentleman run
away, and a man jump on his back; Capt. Lewis
is the gentleman ; one person got in front of him ;
they were trying to take the pistol from him; I saw
a pistol in his hand ; it was a horse pistol ; the con-
stables came to his assistance ; they had sticks in
their hands ; it might be three minutes before the
constables came; one of the constables tried if the
pistol would go off, but it would not; the constables
said they would not Al alk with the gentleman, and
they went away; they pulled the teen off; they
had thrown him on the ground; this was after the
pistol was fired; there was not the least riot or dis-
turbance in the avenue ; if there had been, I must
have known it.

John Sambrook gave evidence to a like effect.
Captain Lewis was then called upon for his de-
fence, which he read; it was to this effect : that he
had acted under what he had conceived to be a sense
of duty, that he had always born an unimpeachable
character in the world, and that he could not ac-
cuse himself of even intemperance or incaution.

Mr. Justice BOSANQUET then summed up the
case to the Jury. It they wished it, he would read
the whole of the evidence.

The Jury had paid particular attention to the
evidence as it had been given, and would not trouble
his Lordship to do so. They then turned round,
and in lees than a minute pronounced a verdict of
Not Guilty. This was received with loud clapping
of hands, which his Lordship stated to be highly
improper; he was extremely glad the gentleman was
discharged. So far as he could see, he left the
Court without the slightest stain on his character ;
he appeared to him to have done his duty.
Captain Lewis then retired from the bar amidst
the most hearty congratulations of his friends.
Mr. BALL then applied for the expences of the
prosecution; but the Learned Judge said he must
consider of it ; there had been two bills preferred,
both of which had been ignored by the Grand Jury.
Captain Lewis was accommodated with a chair
during the trial, but whenever his identity was in
question, he instantly stood up, and threw off his
cloak.

The event of the trial appears to have given ge-
neral satisfaction.

George Andrews, Patrick. Bernard, Benjamin
Broad, and Stephen Gaisford, were charged with
tumultuously assembling and demolishing the house
of William Cross, in Queen-square. The trial oc-
cupied the whole day,

The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE minutely summed up,
and the Jury were about to retire for the consi-
deration of their verdict, when they desired that
the witness, Hurd, should be recalled. On his
appearance, the Foreman asked him how the pri-
,oner, Broad, was dressed, when on Prince's-street
bridge; he replied, that he believed in a sailor's
jacket and trousers. The same description was
given by the witness, Madden. After an absence
of an hour and a half, the Jury returned into Court,
with a verdict of Guilty against all the prisoners.
On the delivery of the verdict, in the case of
Andrews and the others, Chief Justice Tindal was
authorised by an Act of Parliament to order re-
wards to those witnesses who had acted deservedly.
He therefore considered himself justified in saying
that Martha Davis, the young woman who had
displayed so much courage in the defence of her
master's property, as appeared from the evidence in
this case, should receive a reward, as should also the
servant of the Bishop of Bristol, who had behaved
in a similar manner, when his Lordship's palace was
attacked. He mentioned this publicly, because he
wished it to be generally known that such was
the case.

We understand the reward will be 101. each.

NOTTINGHAM SPECIAL COMMISSION

NOTTINGRAIII,-SATURDAY.
BURNING OF BEESTON MILL.

George Hearson, aged 22, Thomas Shelton, aged
38, and John Armstrong, aged 26, were put to the
bar charged with having, with divers others, riotously
and tumultuously assembled, and with having
feloniously attacked, and set fire to, and destroyed,
a silk-mill at Beeston, the property of William Lowe.
George and William Turton (who were examined
yesterday in the case of Beck) gave the same ac-
count of the coming up of the mob and the attack
on the mill as on that trial.

George Turton identified the prisoner Hearson.
He saw him on the premises with the mob at the
time the mill was on fire.

William Turton proved that the prisoner Thomas
Shelton %vas among the mob who entered the mill.
Saw him take some silk and soap belonging to the
mill,, and put them into his pocket.
On his cross-examination by Mr. HILL, this wit-
ness admitted that there were many persons looking
on at what was passing who had nothing to do with
the mob. The witness added, that at the time Shel-
ton did this, he had an iron bar in his hand. The
reason why he did not state this circumstance yes-
terday was, that he had not been asked the question.
George Turton, sen., (the father of the preceding
witnesses), spoke to the presence of the prisoner
Armstrong in the mob.

Dodsley gave the same account of the mob as
en his direct examination yesterday. He identified
the three prisoners as having left the market-place
with the mob.

Charles Slater, a lad about 15 or 16 years, had
had lived at Maperly, near Nottingham, in October
last. Saw the mob in the Castle-yard, and was
driven with it by the soldiers. He went with the
crowd to Beeston. Saw a man with a pole and
ribands at the end of it. Saw the mob on its re-
turn pass Dr. Storer's house. Some of them came
into his garden, and took up some carrots. Hearson
was among them, and pulled carrots as well as the
°theta. Some one asked what they had got, and

Hearson said they had got money. Hearson, as
well as some others, were armed with pallisades;
When the mob got to Beeston, they met some
women coming from the mill, and some -one said to
them " Now, my wenches, for your mill; this is
the last time you shall work in it." The mob then
halted, and cried, " Now let's go to work." They
then smashed the door, and when they got in they
said„," Where's old Lowe; if we find him we'll
frizzle him." Armstrong was battering the .gate
with a pallisade. He also saw a man named For-
man. The mob was with him. They entered the
mill, threw the things out of the windows, and the
mob below caught them and broke them. He saw
a man named Thurman bring a lighted candle, which
the prisoner Shelton took from him, and with it set
fire to the window-blind, which was thrown under
the machinery, which then took fire. Armstrong
helped to break the things with the pallisade. Saw
him (Armstrong) returning back to Nottingham
with some soap in his pocket. A man with him
said, " They'll see what you've got; here's a pin,
and pin your pocket (which was torn) up." Saw
Shelton with a lighted candle in one hand and a
iturning stick in the other, and a bundle of candies
under his arm. Saw Hearson smashing the win-
dows before the mob went in.

The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty against all
the prisoners.
The prisoner Hearson—lt is a hard case, gentle-
men, to hare a man's life taken wrongfully. I de-
clare before God I am as innocent of this crime as
the babe to be born.

The prisoners were then removed, and at half-
past eight o'clock the Court was adjourned to half-
past eight on Monday morning.
The Court was crowded in every part throughout
the day.