The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-06 00:00:00

CRIMINAL COURT-(THIS DA

OLD COURT:
The May session of the Central Criminal Court com-
menced this morning before the Lord Mayor, the Re-
corder, the Common Sergeant, Mr. Alderman Hunter,
Mr. Alderman Sidney, Mr. Alderman Carden, the She-
riffs, &c. According to the calendar there are 155
prisoners for trial.
The grand jury having been empanelled and sworn,
The RECORDER proceeded to deliver his charge to
them. The calendar, he observed, contained a
list of 155 prisoners for trial, and that number,
as he had often had occasion to observe,
would no doubt be considerably increased be-
fore the termination of their labours. The calendar pre-
sented the case of parties charged with various offences,
some of them, he was sorry to say, of a grave and se-
rious character, such as to require patient investigation
at the bands of the grand jury, and involving serious cir-
cumstances as respected the parties charged, and the
public at large. The larger portion of the commitments
were in cases of larceny. There were no less than 52
cases of ordinary larceny, and a variety of other cases of
aggravated larceny, such as those being committed in a
dwelling-house, on the person, and by servants. There
were also several cases of larceny on the person com-
mitted with violence, which amounted in law to
robbery. There were altogether 88 cases of lar-
ceny, to which might be added six cases
of robbery, because in those cases property was taken
from the person in the commission of the crime. Of
the remaining cases on the calendar, there were five
charges of cutting and wounding with intent to do
grievous bodily harm, and there were also seven charges
of forgery. There was also in the calendar a charge of
murder, but the grand jury would not have to consider
that, as the bill was found in the former session,
There was another case of feloniously administering
poison, and one of feloniously cutting and damaging
trees. With regard to the cases of poisoning, of cutting
and wounding where the intent was charged to be to do
grievous bodily harm, and the cases of robbery with
extreme violence, he would onlyindminister to the grand
jury this caution, that in proportion as the charge was
of an aggravated nature they would exercise due
caution, and sift the evidence to the utmost,
in order to see whether the case was a fit one to be
made the subject of future inquiry, because if the grand
jury were of opinion that the evidence was insufficient,
they were bound to throw the shield which the constitu-
tion had given them around the party charged, and not
put him to the obloquy and trouble of a further trial.
With respect to the charge of administering poison
with intent to murder, that was still an offence
of a capital nature. In the present instance the charge
was preferred by a father against his daughter under
circumstances which the grand jury wore bound calmly
to investigate. They were bound not lightly to enter-
tain so serious a charge; but, if upon weighing the evi-
dence they thought the case called for, they would put it
in a course of further inquiry by finding a true bill. As
to one case of larceny the grand jury might
have to encounter some difficulty in its investigation; he
alluded to the charge of stealing a cheque belonging to
a company, in which the party charged was said to be
the servant of the company. It the evidence sustained
the charge which would be brought before the grand
jury, then it would be desirable that the case should be
put in a further course of investigation, because it in-
volved the character of a servant who had
the greatest facility to commit the most extensive frauds
upon his ample)) ors; but, unless it was proved that the
cheque was the property of the employers of the party
charged, there would be a failure of evidence. If
from the evidence, adduced the grand jury should be
satisfied that the party charged had employed the
cheque of his employer other than for the pur-
pose for which it was intended, then a
case would be made out' calling upon them to put the
case in a further course of trial. There was another
case that would come before the grand jury, which was
one of great peculiarity—a charge whin by law was a
misdemeanour. He alluded to the charge of
stealing a deed. In that case a question might
arise bow far the owner of the deed caused
it to pass into the hands of the party charged.
The Act of Parliament relating to this subject was the
7th and Bth George IV., chap. 29, and as the subject
might involve a nicety in point of law, he would recom-
mend the grand jury, if they considered the party had
gut fraudulent possession of the deeti, to find a true bill
and leave thereby the case to the Court and the
petty jury. Fur his owu part he was not
prepared to say the evidence did not amount
to that contemplated by the statute to which he hai re-
ferred. The Learned Judge, after referring to several
of the minor cases in the calendar, remitted the grand
jury to the discharge of their duties, and the Court then
proceeded to swear iu the petty jury.

BOW-STREET.—(THIS PAY.)
Alfred Parker and his wife Mary Ann Parker, both
whom were vbry respectably attired, were placed at the
bar before Mr. Henry, charged with the following mur-
derous assault on a police-constable :
The prisoners were defended by Mr. Lewis.
Police-constable 128 F deposed that he was on duty
on Saturday night, about halt-past eleven o'clock, in Hol-
born, nearly opposite Day and Martin's blacking manu-
factory, when he heard a great disturbance in Bull-in-
Gate-yard. He went there and found the prisoners
quarrelling with a number of other men and women, all
of whom live in the yard. He told them that they must
not create such a disturbance at that hour, and that if
they did not desist he must take them into custody. He
then left them to go round his beat again, but before he
bad got half way he was followed by a gentleman who
implored him to go to Bull-in-Gate-yard as a murder
was being committed. He hastened thither, and found
a general melee between the whole of the residents in the
yard. He again endeavoured to quiet them, but all he
said was of nu avail. On the contrary, they assailed him
in the following manner:—They throw him to the ground,
trampled on him, took his truncheon from his pocket, with
which they struck him on all parts of the body, and broke
a pitcher on his head having previously thrown the beer
which was in it in his face in order to blind him. Had
it not been for the assistance of his brother constables
who arrived directly afterwards, he bad not the slightest
doubt he would have been murdered. Yesterday he
was hardly able to move from the effects of the blows
which he had received.
The cross-examination by Mr. Lewis did not shake in
the least the evidence of this witness.
Police-constable 156 F deposed that he was on duty
in Little Turnstile about twelve o'clock on Saturday
night, when a gentleman came up to him and told him
that a policeman was being murdered in Bull-in-Gate-
yard. He went there and found constable 128 on the
ground surrounded by a number of cabmen who were
striking him in a most brutal manner. The prisoners
were with the greatest difficulty conveyed to the station.
Inspector Dodd said that the first witness was very
ill from the blows he had received, and that he was
obliged to send him to bed.
Mr. Lewis then called several witnesses to endeavour
to Trove that the conduct of the police Ras brutal in the
extreme, but the evidence altogether showed that a
murderous assault had been made on the constable.
Mr. HENRY said he should adjourn the else till Mr.
Beal could attend, a gentleman who witnessed the whole
transaction, and the assault on the police.
The prisoners were accordingly liberated on bail.

HER MAJESTY'S HEALTH.
The following bulletin of the Queen's health was
issued this morning :
" BUCKINGHAM PALACE, MAY 6, 1850, 9 A.m.
" Her Majesty's recovery goes on favourably.
" The infant Prince continues well.
" JAMES CLARK, M.D.
" CHARLES LOCOCK, M.D.
" ROBERT FERGUSON, M.D.
" The next bulletin will be issued on Wednesday
morning."

THE BRITANNIA-BRIDGH.—The engineers are now
busily engaged in the preliminary preparations for floating
the parallel line of tube, the first great section of which it
has been arranged by Mr. Stephenson, Captain Claxton, and
Messrs. Clark shad be turned round upon a fixed radius at
one end, and swung into the excavations at the close of this
month. This intiatory operation, expected to be a very beau-
tiful one, will have the effect of bringing the tube 200 yards
nearer its appointed position, but it will then, owing to its
having been constructed at that greater distance down the
coast, be only in the position occupied by the other tubes on
their first starting. With this additional difference, the
operation will be a counterpart of the first floatations. The
iinal removal of the monsters is fixed to take place on the
10th and llth of June, and the arrangements are progressing
for that purpose.
APPOINTMENTS.—Lord Seymour, Chief Commis-
sioner of Woods and Forests, has appointed 'Mr. Patrick
Vernon (son of Mr. Vernon Smith, M.P.) to be his Private
Secretary. Mr. George Lowenfeld is appointed Receiver-
General of British Guiana. Mr. Thomas Springfellow is
appinted Civil Commissioner and Resident Magistrate of
Fort Beaufort, Cape of Good Hope. Mr. W. Inglis is ap-
pointed a Stipendiary Magistrate of the Bahamas;
Mr. and Mrs. Milner Gibson received at dinner,
last week, the Turkish Ambassador, the Portuguese Minis-
ter and the Yicomtesse de Moncorvo, the American Minis-
ter and Mr. and Miss Lawrence, the Earl and Countess of
Ducie and Lady Georgiana Moreton, the Earl and Countess
cf Lovelace, Sir William and Lady Molesworth, Mr. and
Lady Theresa Lewis, Lord Clarence raget, the Hon. Charles
Villiers, A% dope, Aix. Dentinclr, &c.