The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-14 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NOR 7'H ERN CI R C ClT.—Liverpool, Dec. 13.
NISI PILIUS COURT.—(BeforeNlLJusticeTALFounD.)

THE QUEEN V. M`CAULEY AND SIRRELL.

George Stafford, the witness who was under examin-
ation when our report left, further stated that the
weight of the silver in the parcel taken at Sirrell's cor-
responded very nearly with the weight named in
M'Cauley's letter. The price of old silver was from
4s. 6d. to 55. per oz.
Mr. BLAIR then proposed to give in evidence another
receiving by Sirrell of property stolen about the same
time in the same neighbourhood.
Mr. Sergeant WILKINS objected to its reception, and
His LORDSHIP, after retiring to consult with Mr.
Baron Alderson, decided that it was inadmissible.
This was the case for the prosecution.
Mr. Sergeant WILKINS submitted that there was no
case against Sirrell.
The Learned JUDGE thought the evidence very
slight indeed ; but eventually it was decided to leave
the case to the jury.
Mr. POLLOCI then proceeded to address the jury for
M'Cauley, contending that the evidence was insufficient
to convict his client; but his only fear was, that there
was so much prejudice thrown around the case against
the prisoners through the rumours in circulation by
means of the press, that the jury might in consequence
be led to a conclusion unfavourable to the prisoner for
whom he appeared.
Mr. Sergeant WILED* then addressed the jury on
behalf of Sirrell, observing that they. saw before them
one of the most respected tradesmen :n the city of Lon-
don in the position of a criminal at the bar, and he
knew that his only child, not for a moment mistrusting
her father's innocence, was now waiting with breathless
anxiety to know the result of their decision. He had
been anxious to call upon the jury, without the necessity
of his addressing them at all, to remove the prisoner at
once from the painful position in which he stood, to let
him go forth with the consciousness that no imputation
rested on his character, to convey peace to his home,
and to the comfort and prop of his age. He conceived
that the whole evidence in the case showed Skull to be
en honest man, far more methodical, punctual, and par-
Ocular in his dealings than ninety-nine out of a hundred
tradesmen. After reviewing the evidence, and strongly
reprobating the conduct of liehoe, the officer, he called
upon the jury to acquit his client, and send him forth
without the slightest stain upon his character.
The jury, without retiring from the box, returned a
verdict of Guilty of receiving against M'Cauley, and of
Not Guilty against Sirrell.
This morning M'Caulay was brought up for sentence,
and his LORDSHIP said, that every consideration in-
creased his assurance that the jury had come to a cor-
rect conclusion. He had been proved to have been in
possession, on the day after the articles were stolen, of,
among other things, some instruments of the Roman
Catholic worship, about which grave suspicions might
have been ascertained that they had not been rightly
come by, from whomsoever he had received them. It
was doubtless only a part of a Nurse of habit adopted by
the prisoner, and the poor men who were led into the
commission of crime by squalid misery were, in his mind,
far inferior to him in guilt. He was then sentenced to
ten years' transportation.
THE QUEEN V. SMITH AND CASSON.
These prisoners, who were convicted yesterday, of the
fraud on the Royal Insurance Company, were this
morning sentenced—Smith, whose case, in his Lordship's
opinion, deserved a greater punishment than that of
Casson, who had acted by his master's instigation, to
two years' imprisonment, and Casson to one year's im-
prisonment.
Henry Blachhurst, 68, was indicted for the forgery
of a codicil to the will of his late wife, Catherine
Blackburst.
Mr. Pollock and Mr. Catterall appeared for the pro-
secution,
and Mr. Sergeant Wilkins (who in this case,
as well as in the other cases during the present SSSiStS
in which the Learned Sergeant has been engaged, was
specially retained) and Mr. Seger defended the pri-
soner. _ _ _

--
Mr. POLLOCK, in stating the case for the prosecution,
said that the prisoner, who had been an attorney at
Preston for many years, was charged with forging or
altering a codicil of his late wife, and the authorities of
the city of Glasgow, in whose favour as trustees the will
was made, had deemed it necessary to prefer the indict-
ment which was now before the jury. It appeared that
the wills and codicils of Mrs. Blackhurst, who seemed
witoandve madepgorewaetrsnour
aberwaatrriavgaerioseutstletmimenest:
dated
14th of June, 1825 Previous to her marriage with the
prisoner Mrs. Blackhurst'a name was Maxwell, her first
husband being a gentleman connected with the city of
Glasgow. It was, as it appeared, in remembrance of
have
under
her first husband, from whom she had derived her pro-
perty, that in a will dated on the 25th of September, 1847,
she left her property to various trustees for the purpose
of founding an orphan school for the poor of Glasgow, to
be called the " Maxwell School." A few legacies were
left to other persons, but nothing to the prisoner, and a
desire was also expressed that she should be buried with
her former husband. The first codicil to this will was
executed on the 15th of April, 1648; the second on the
27th of May, 1850, in which she left certain property to
her husband for his life, and altered some other legacies
as to their amount. Then came the codicil the prisoner
was charged with forging or altering. The date of this
document was the 3d of June, 1850, and wholly in the
handwriting of the prisoner, by which she left to him ab-
solutely all her property. It appeared that previous to
their moving to Lisbon-hall, where this codicil was ex-
ecuted, Mrs. Blackhurst had consented, on the prisoner's
agreeing to go there, to give in evidence declarations of
the deceased relating to her intentions in regard to the
disposal of her property.
Mr. Sergeant Wilkins rose to prevent his Learned
Friend making any statement of that kind, as ho should
object to the evidence; and

After a short diicus.slon—between his Lordship and
the counsel, it was agreed to abstain from any statement
of the kind, leaving the objection to be considered when
the evidence was offered.

Mr. PeLLOCY then proceeded to remark on the codicil
of the 3d of June, which, though drawn by an attorney,
as the prisoner was, while professing to be a codicil was,
in fact, a will. The jury would inspect the document,
gg
and they would have their attention attracted to the pe-
culiar way in which the words ivin the property to
the prisoner were inserted, and, though interlined, they
had not been initialled, as was usually done in such
cases. It was true that the gentlemen who witnessed
the codicil could not positively swear that the words in
question were not in the codicil when they so signed
their names to it, but they had no recollection of seeing
them there, and believed they would have noticed them
had they been. It would be for the jury to consider the
whole circumstances of the case after the evidence was
before them.

The various documents mentioned in the opening of
the Learned Counsel having been produced and proved
and such parts of them as were considered necessary
having been read, the prosecution called
Mr. George Noble, solicitor, Beston, who proved that
he received instructions for a codicil from Mrs. Black-
hurst on the 26th of Ma last. It was drawn up,
signed, and witnessed accordingly on the following at
Lisbon-hall, where she resided. The prisoner was not
in the room when it was witnessed, but came in im-
mediately after. Mr. Lawrence Spencer was present
when he took the instructions. The date of her will
was furnished to him but be did not see the will itself.
He read over the codicil, word by word, to Mrs. Black-
hurst. He was at her funeral on the 3d of August
last, and after it was over, Mr. Pedder, who attended it,
produced a copy
of the will of September, 1847, the
codicil of the 27th of May, 1850, and the codicil of the
3d of June, 1850, and some other documents, one of
which was endorsed "Mrs. Blackhurst's will," and two
other wills of Mrs. Blackhurst, dated September 17,
1840, and July 6, 1846. The codicil of the 3d of June
was produced, in a cover, addressed to Mr. Pedder, in
the prisoner's handwriting.
Mr. Robert Ascroft, solicitor, Preston, had known Mr.
and Mrs. Blackhurst for many years, and remembered
going to Lisbon-hall on the 3d of last June on business.
Mr. Thomas Ambler was with the witness at the time,
and as they were leaving Mr. Blackhurst came to them
and said that he was about finishing his wife's will, and
requested them to stay and witness it. They waited ac•
cordingly for some little time in the garden, and then, at
the prisoner's request, went with him into the house,
where they found Mrs. Blackhurst. On entering the
room the prisoner said to his wife, " I have got these
gentlemen to stay and witness the codicil to thy will."
Mrs. Blackhurst was seated with her back to the door.
Witness took a seat to her left. Mr. Ambler seated him-
self near the door, and the prisoner was on the right of
his wife. There was a paper on the table a little to the
right of Mrs. Blackhurst. (The witness was here
shown a document, which he identified as being
the same that lay on the table.) The paper
was then opened out, and placed before Mrs.
Blackhurst, who wore spectacles, and had a shade over
her eyes, and a mark was made by the prisoner in pencil
where she was to sign. She accordingly signed, and,
after adding a few words to the attestation, the witness
and Mr. Ambler signed it also. After remaining open
fur a few moments, during which he had an opportunity
of seeing it, the document was folded up. Looking at
the document now he did not think it was in the same
state then. He did not think there was any crowd-
ing or interlining in a part which witness pointed out,
and he believed he should have noticed it had it been
there at the time. _ _

cross-;;;;Cination the witness said he could not
swear that the interlineation was not there. Mrs.
Blackhurst was an acute, intelligent woman, He did not