The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-10 00:00:00

Mr. Manic defended the prisoner.
It appearedthat on the 3d of October last a Mr.
Joseph Clarke; who is a china dealer at Todmorden,
posted a letter at the post-office in that town,
addressed to Mr. Whitick, yeast-dealer, of Hull,
and containing a £5 Bank of England note and a
half-sovereign. Before posting the letter he took
the number and date of the note. The letter was
put into the usual letter-bag, which, in its convey-
ance to Hull, would have to pass through the Leeds
post-office, and be there opened and the letters
sorted. The bag in due course arrived sealed up
at the Leeds post-office, where it was opened, and
it was the duty of the prisoner to sort the letters
and to forward them to their destination. The
letter in question never arrived at Mr. Whitick's,
and its non-arrival was made known to Mr. Clarke,
who communicated with the post-office authorities
respecting it Early in November the prisoner was
seen in TossessiOn of a £5 Bank of England note,
which he was anxious to get changed. He was seen
at the Midland Station Hotel getting some refresh-
ment, after which he tendered a £5 Bank of Eng-
land note, for change, and, not obtaining change,
he went to the Town-hall refreshment-room with
Mr. Barr, printer, where he again asked for change,
and Mr. Bgr said a policeman would get him
change, and called a policeman named Buckle to
take the note and get it changed. Buckle went to
a Mr. Gibson, who, having learnt that Mr: Barr
had sent him 'with' the note, changed it, and en-
dorsed Mr. Barr's name on it. The note went into
circulation, and ultimately found its way into the
Bank of England, where its payment had been
stopped. There was no other note of that number
and date in circulation, and therefore there could be
no mistake as to the note. The note was found
with the endorsement put, upon it by Mr. Gibson,
and was thus traced back to the prisoner.
For the defence it was contended that the letters
had passed through many persons in the post-office,
to whom suspicion might attach as well as to the
prisoner, and that the £5 note which had been in
circulation might have passed as innocently through
the prisoner's hands as through those of any other
person after its abstraction.
His Lordship having summed up, the jury im-
mediately found the Prisoner guilty.—Sentence was
deferred.
John Lee, aged 24, was indicted for a garotte
robbery at Sheffield; on the 26th of October last,
and stealing froth Willoughby Howe £3O, and a
Maude shawl.
Mr. Maule and Mr. V. Blackburn prosecuted ;
Mr. Campbell Foster defended the prisoner.
It appeared that on the day in question the pri-
soner was going to the Victoria Station in Sheffield
about half-past six o'clock, and met a man and
woman ; at the moment that he met them he was
suddenly seized from behind, a man's ' arm was
thrown round' his neck, he was 'pulled' back and
almost strangled. The man and woman before
him immediately rifled his pockets of his purse and
about £3O in money, and took from him a Maude
shawl of a peculiar pattern, which he had purchased
at Mr. Richards' shop in Sheffield the day before.
A witness named Empsall stated that just before
this robbery he had observed a man and women in
the road as he lwas going to the railway station,
and noticed the man, whom he believed to be the
prisoner. A few days after this occurrence the
prisoner went to a tailor named Sykes, in Sheffield,
and asked him-to make him a suit of clothes out of
a piece of cloth which he produced, which was
nearly four yards long, and Sykes did so. On the
10th of Nov. the prisoner was taken into custody,
with these clothes on, and Mr. Richards swore that
they were made out of the Maude sold by him to
the prosecutor, which was nearly four yards long,
and was of a peculiar pattern.
The jury found the prisoner guilty, and he was
sentenced to three years' penal servitude.
Henry Ross 'and John May were indicted for a
burglary in ,the dwelling-house of George Storey,
at- Slaythwaite, and stealing therefrom three bottles
of spirits, and other articles, his property.
. Mr. rice and Mr. Shepherd prosecuted. The
prisoners were undefended.
It appeared' that the house of the prosecutor,
George Storey, is situated at Slaythwaite, in the
parish of Skelton, and on the night of the bur-
glary, March 10,last, his family consisted of him-
self, his two daughters,anclhis son Henry ; his two
daughters, in consequence of his infirmities, sleep-
ing in the same room as that in 'which he slept.
The doors of the house were properly fastened about
9 o'clock in the evening, and the family were all in
bed by 10 o'clock. About 1 o'clock on the morn-
ing of March 11, the prosecutor's daughter Anne
was awoke by a light. She saw three men in the
room, one of whom had a lighted candle in his
hand. She immediately seized a gun, and called
out to her father to use it, but he giving no answer
she struck with it several times and hit something,
but whether or not the men she could not say—at
thosame time calling out for her brother. The
candle in the meantime was put out. One of the
men pushed her into a cornerand repeatedly struck
her over the head. So soon as she was able to get
away from him she got a candle which was in the
room and lighted it. There were two men only in
the room then. In the meantime her sister Eliza-
beth and her brother Henry were awoke. Her
sister first observed a man standing by her bedside
with an axe in his hand, in the act of striking at
her; but her brother coming into the room at the
moment seized him and the other man at the same
time. He immediately received several blows upon
the head and was felled to the ground. Elizabeth
Storey escaped from the house. Anne Storey posi-
tively identified the two prisoners, and Elizabeth
Storey 'the prisoner Ross. May. demanded money.
Anne said she would give him all they had if he
would spare their lives, and handed him her purse,
containing Bs. He replied, " If that is all, you must
die." Ross and May then left the room, but' May
returned and searched the drawers and George
Storey's clothes. The men then left. On the house
being examined it appeared that the entry had been
made through a window on the ground-floor, part
of the frame of the window having been taken out.
George Storey, who, Ails supposed, was struck
when in bed asleep, was severely cut on the head,
as was his son also, and his daughter received no
less than 11 cuts on the head.
Evidence was also given, showing that the two
prisoners were in the neighbourhood of the prose-
cutor's house on the day before the burglary, and
on the morning of the 10th of March, and also on
the following morning (the 11th). Ross escaped
after having been taken into custody, and May,
when charged wiih the offence, said, " I know all
about it ; you need say no more."
The prisoners, who were not defended, said they
had been in the neighbourhood in February, but
not in March, and knew nothing about the offence.
The jury found the prisoners guilty, and sentence
of death was ordered to be recorded, the learned
Judge stating their lives would not' be sacrificed,
but that they must not expect to receive a less
punishment than transportation for 20 or 25 years.
The grand jury, on being discharged, had called
the attention of the judge in commendable terms to
the " resolute conduct" of Anne Storey," and his
Lordship regretted that he could not award her
any recompence.
Joseph Wadsworth (a bob 15 years old) was in-
dicted, under the 13th section of the 14th and 15th
Victoria, cap. 19, for feloniously placing two stones
upon the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway with
intent to destroy the engine and carriages, and with
intent to endanger the lives of divers persons tra-
velling thereon, at Elland, on the 27th July last.
' Mr. Maule prosecuted, and Mr. Wheelhouse de-
fended the prisoner.
It appeared that on the day mentioned a woman
named Ann Buckley, who is employed as a gate-
keeper at a level crossing the line, was watciiin,g
at the door of her own cottage for the approach
of an excursion train from Scarborough. While
so doing she observed the prisoner stooping down
over the "up line" of rails at a place about 400 or
500 yards from her cottage. She had known the
lad' for many years, and'after seeing him bend down
once she saw him leave the rails for a moment, and
then again return and bend over , the other rail on
the same or "up',' line. He then went away, and in
a short time she went to the spot, and there, accord-
ing to her statement, she found two stones, each
square, flat, and of about filh. weight. One of these
stones was placed on the top of each rail, and was
" packed' up with rubbish, as she said, in order to'
make them stick to the place where they had been
.put. Having removed the stones she gave inform-
.tie-,Li to a neighbour first, and. subsequently to the
whaadrdlslo cpamow%trotaoskf 0
rh
.eiry
efohrigmi ~,- ebnuetss,.. l
aS
Ponce. The lad; accompanied by his mother, after-
wards
stationmaster Ellandat6
About 11 o'clock the bo--
"a Mrs. Buckley', that Mrca
master, had said he could not er
as that. For the defence it was lhiiem said
d'
g o's Iti to
the
and hear what he said.
imiee back, and he the.n
:.rth, the sta,.ti.on-
coe,niNte sauedh a' thing
whole case rested upon the unsupporetnedete thatstim the
• of Mrs. Buckley, and it was further insisted thorg
• even admitting Mrs. Buckley's statement to be cor-
t rect, yet that it Was impossible to suppose that the
prisoner would go into such- a public part of the
I, railway, almost close to a cottage from which he
could be seen, and place stones there in broad day-
light with the intention alleged in the indictment,
and of which intention it was necessary that the