The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-10 00:00:00

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, Dec. 9.

The Vice-Chancellor of England was occupied the
whole day with motions, continuing the second seal from
Saturday.

(Before' Sir J. K. BRUCE.)
His Hotwilit sat for a short time in Bankruptcy, as
Chief Judge of the Court of Review, but the cases on
the paper were ordered to stand over. - His Hosour then
took motions in equity.

(Befire Sir J. WIGRAM.)
LEE V. PAIN.
This case was before the Court' in March last, the
question being one of the construction of the will of Mrs.
Waring, late of Stockwell, leaving property to the
amount of 100,0004 She died in ,November, 1826,
and after leaving legacies to several individuals, she
gave 100/. to each of the following Societies :
Ilighbury College, the London and Church Missionary
Societies, the Bible Society, and the Female Peniten-
tiaryat Pentotiville. By codicils she gave many other
legacies, some of them repetitions of the former ones.
The questionis, whether these bequests by codicil 'are
additional .or •not'? The executors allege that if they
are so held they will far more than exhaust the whole
estate ; they therefore pray for. the .direction of-the
Court. There are four exceptions in the case, and these
have already.occupied the Court two days.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, Dec.
Lord DENNAN sat at nisi prius this morning, at the
Guildhall, with a London common jury. Several unde-
fended causes were disposed of during the early part,
after which the Court proceeded to try common jury
cases. No case of any public interest came on during
the morning.

COURT OF COMMON FLEAS, Dec. 9.
(Sittings at Nisi Prius, before Lord Chief Justice
TINDAL and a London common
,jury.)
The Court was occupied the greater part of this morn-
ing with an action of debt, which was in no way inte-
resting to the public,

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Dec. 9.
The cases put down for, hearing this morning were al
of the most uninteresting character.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT—York, Dec. 6.
(Before Mr. Justice COLERIDGE )
John 11I'Cann was to-day put upon his trial, charged
with the wilful Murder of Benjamin Gott. Another
count in the indictment charged him with manslaughter.
This case must be even yet fresh in 'the recollection
of our readers, as it created at the time of its occurrence
considerable excitement.
Fiveother persons,named Rogan, O'Brien, Donovan,
Quin, and Power, who had been concerned in the
matter, were tried at the last assizes, and were convicted
of manslaughter ; but in consequence of some legal ob-
jections being raised to the form of the indictment,
Judgment was respited, and those persons are still in
custody. M‘Cann at that period was not apprehended.
Mr. Bliss' and Mr. Overend were for the prosecution,
and the prisoner was defended by Mr. Wilkins.
The facts of the case were briefly narrated by Mr.
Bliss, and were as follows :—On Whit-Monday last,
the 27th of May, there had been a proceision of Orange
lodges. On that occasion two bands were engaged, one
of which was called the Idle and Calverley band, and of
that band Gott (the deceased) was a musician. As they
were passing through the town of Bradford, the band
playing certain tunes, and amongst others " the Boyne
%Voter," which gave great dissatisfaction to the Irish
population of the neighbourhood, who fancied also that
a still more offensive tune, called " Croppies, lie dawn,"
had been played. When the procession was over, and
the musicians were returning home in a straggling
!neither, a nuipber.of Irishmen we're seen coming behind
them, having sticks and other Weapons- in their hands,
and making use of threatening language. The Irishmen
commenced an attack, and the first thing they did was
to.knock down the man who who was playing the drum.
They then fell on Gott, and from the violence that was
employed his death resulted. On a post mortem examin-
ation the deceased's skull was found to have been most
severely fractured, and death was attributed to that
cause. Amongst the people in the crowd was the pri-
soner, and he took an active part in the proceedings.
Thomas Thornton, the first witness, wee undergoing
examination, when
Mr. Wuatists said, he thought it would be idle for him
to attempt to combat the minor tharge against the pri-
soner. Ile had read the depositions over twenty times,
and he found no means of resisting it. He would, there-
fore, with his Lordship's permission, wish to plead guilty
to the charge of manslaughter.
Mr. Justice COLERIDGE briefly addressed the jury,
informing them of the 'Circumstances alluded to in the
commencement of this report, and recommending them
to find the prisoner guilty of manslaughter.
The jury, without hesitation, pronounced the prisoner
Guilty of Manslaughter, and sentence was deferred till
the opinion of the fifteen judges could be had upon the
legal objections before referred to.,
John Critchlow and William Bolton were next placed
at the bar, charged with having on the 25th of August
last, at Sheffield, feloniously and unlawfully attempted
to destroy a certain steam-engine, by the explosion of a
large quantity of gunpowder, the property of John
Wilson, Thomas Dunn, William Jeffcock, and George
Hounsfield.
This case would have been tried yesterday, but Mr.
Grainger, on behalf of the prisoners, then objected to the
whole of the jury. A fresh jury was this morning em-
pannelled for the trial of the prisoners.
Mr. Wilkins, Mr. Overend, and Mr. Smith were for
the prosecution; and Mr. Grainger was for the defence. •
The prosecutors in this case were some of the largest
coal-pit owners in the neighbourhood of Sheffield. In
the month of May last there was a general " turn out"
of the colliers in that part of England, and the prose-
cutors' pits had been unworked from May until the date
of this occurrence; in August. Towards the end of
August there were symptoms of returning good sense on
the part of the men, and on the 26th it was determined
that some of them at least should return' to their work.
At the mouth of the pit there was, as is frequently the
case, a steam-engine, worked for the purpose of hauling
up the coal, as well as of letting persons in and out of
the pit as occasion might require. This was the engine
which the prisoners were charged with having blown
up. The indictment was founded on the 7th and Bth
of Geo. IV., c. 30, s. 7, which renders it felony for any
person Maliciously to pull down, destroy, or damage
with intent to destroy, any such steam-engine.
Jonathan Habershon was the first witness called. He
deposed that lie was under-ground steward at No. 2,
Deeps-pit Colliery, near Sheffield. There was a steam-
engine at the mouth of that pit. The boiler, which
weighed when filled about 8 tons, was detached from the
engine, and was surrounded with brick-work. On the
night of. Sunday, the 25th of August, witness, who lived
close to the pit, was awakened by the report of a Ire.