The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-03 00:00:00

ing the property of Mr. Archer in trustees for the
purpose of protecting Mr. Archer " against the
machinations of that unhappy woman." Ho went
with a trustee to take possession of the property'on
Monday last, when Mrs. Archer drove off with the
phaeton and horses, and they had not been able to
trace her up to that morning.
The Lord Chief Justice left two points to the
jury :-1. Did the plaintiff lend the ring to Mrs.
Archer in the way he stated, or did he give it to
her as she said P 2. If he only lent it, was_ the £69
paid into court sufficient P

Before leaving the box,
The Jury said that they agreed the £69 was
sufficient.

They then retired, and returned with a verdict
for the defendant on the first point.

WINTER ASSIZES.

ITOME CIRCUIT.—CHELMSFORD, DEC. 2.
The commission of gaol delivery for this county
was opened on Thursday afternoon by Mr. Justice
Williams, and business was proceeded with this
morning.

The calendar contains the names of 11 prisoners,
5 of whom are charged with the crime of arson.
George Currey, 29, a post-office letter carrier, at
Braintree, was charged with stealing a letter con-
taining three half sovereigns, the property of the
Postmaster-General.

Mr. Hurrell prosecuted.
The prisoner pleaded guilty.
Mr. Taylor, who appeared for the defence, urged
in mitigation of punishment that the father of the
prisoner had been for a• great many years in the
service of the Post-office, and that he, himself, had
borne a good character down to the period when
this offence was committed.
Mr. Justice Williams said that those offences
must be put a stop to, and his duty compelled him
to pass upon the prisoner a sentence of four years'
penal servitude.

George Waller, 15, a labouring boy, who ap-
peared by the calendar unable either to read or
write, was charged with felo.niously setting fire to
four stacks of wheat, three stacks of barley, and a
quantity of other farm produce, the property of
George Joseph Cockerell, and also several farm
buildings, the property of Viscount Maynard.
The prisoner pleaded guilty.
It appeared that the prosecutor was Mr. Ccckerell,
who holds a farm at Great Easton, in this county,
the property of Viscount Maynard, the lord-lieu-
tenant of the county, and that the prisoner was in
his service. There did not seem to be any ill-feeling
between the prisoner and his master, bat it appeared
that on the night of the 17th November the pri-
soner deliberately set fire to a stack of wheat upon
his master's farm, and the flames spread, and pro-
perty amounting in value to between three and four
thousand pounds was destroyed. No motive ap-
peared to be assigned for the commission 'of the
act ; but when the prisoner was taken into custody
he made no denial of his guilt, but merely said that
some other boy had given him a heifer match, and
told him to set fire to the stack.

The learned Judge, in passing sentence, remarked
upon the extreme wickedness of the act and the pe-
culiar circumstances under which it was committed,
and said that although the sentence he was about
to pronounce might be considered a severe one, he
felt that he was bound to inflict such a punishment
as would be calculated to deter others from commit-
ting similar crimes. He then ordered the prisoner
to be kept in penal servitude for ten years, where
he said he would receive instruction, and might be-
come a useful member of society.