The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-09 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT—DURHAM, March 7.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Hill.)
John Whitelock, a solicitor's clerk of respectable
appearance, was indicted for sending a threatening
letter to the Rev. John Armstrong of Hartlepool,
on the 22d of February last, threatening to accuse
him of a rape upon his servant girl, Margaret Red-
fearn, without reasonable or probable cause, with
intent to extort money. A second count, framed
on a subsequent statute, charged the prisoner with
the same offence, without the allegation that it was
" without reasonable and probable cause."
Mr. Campbell Foster and Mr. Blackwell ap-
peared for the prosecution ; and Mr. Davison
defended the prisoner.
It appeared from the opening statement of the
learned counsel for the prosecution that the charges
in the indictment were framed on two statutes, one
of which was passed in the reign of George IV.,
and the other in the reign of her present Majesty,
which made it a felony for any person to write a
letter to another person charging him with a crime
punishable by transportation, with an intent to
extort money. The prisoner was a, clerk in the em-
ployment of Messrs. Hodgson and Todd, solicitors,
of Hartlepool, and had for several years filled that
office. The prosecutor is the Rev. J. Armstrong, and
is minister to a Primitive Methodist congregation
at Hartlepool. His congregation numbered up-
wards of 1,000 inhabitants of Hartlepool and the
adjoining populous town of Middleborough. On the
22d of February he was on duty in his vestry
between 8 and 9 o'clock in the evening, and while
there John Robinson, a member of the congrega-
tion, handed him a letter which had been put into
his hands by Margaret Redfearn. Prosecutor im-
mediately opened and read the letter, and was per-
fectly astonished with its contents. The letter was
dated the 22d of February, and was signed "James
Whitelock," and was as follows :

" Hartlepool, Feb. 22, 1861.
" Sir,—My whole nature has been almost irreparably
shaken by Margaret's recital of your cruel, dastardly, and
most filthy behaviour to her on a recent night. To think
of a rape having been committed by you, a minister of the
Gospel—(pshaw, a wolf in sheep's clothing)—upon a poor
girl who was so unfortunate as to enter your service, makes
the blood curdle within my veins. Such an awful occur-
rence shall not go unpunished, as you will shortly see, al-
though, before taking any further steps in the matter, I
shall give you time to
~?ffer any adequate monetary com-
pensation to the poor thing whose life-long prospects you
have so cruelly blighted.—ln haste, yours, &c.,
" JAMES WIIITELOCK,
" Mr. Armstrong, Hartlepool."

The prosecutor having been sworn proved the
facts stated in the opening address of the learned
counsel for the prosecution, and then pledged
his oath that the statement contained in the letter
was wholly false and groundless. lie had never
in his life taken any the slightest liberty with
Margaret Redfearn, or treated her in any way un-
becoming his position in relation to her, The
prosecutor was closely cross-examined as to the
charges which had been made against him in the
letter. He denied positively that he had on the
sth of January, his wife being from home, gone into
his servant's bedroom and committed a rape upon
her, or that he had taken any liberty with her
whatever. He denied that he had on Friday night,
the 22d of February—the very night that he had
received the letter—attempted, after dinner, to re-
peat the offence by pulling Margaret Redfearn
back on the conch by the shoulders, when she
struggled and got away from him, his wife being
from home at the time. He was then "eked if he