The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-02 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
NORFOLK CIRCUIT.— Bury St. Edmund's,

'l.‘t 60 Git T.—( tierot'e Mr. Baron PARKE.)
ALLEGED MURDER.— William Tatenham, aged'.
was arraigned on an indictment which charged him With!
the wilful murder of Mary Anne, his wife, on the 15th
of February last, by shooting her through the head with
a pistol at Wautisden, iu this county.
Mr. Gurdon and Lord A. llervey appeared for the
prosecution ; Mr. Prendergast defended the prisonuf.
In this case it will be remembered that the grand jull
had expressed a desire that the prisoner should be ill'
dieted for murder, and this day being fixed for his taisl9
the Court was very much crowded. On a former day
we stated that he occupied the position of keeper to Lora
Stradbroke, but we were mistaken in that reF,pect, the
Noble Member for East Suffolk, Lord RendlePlam, being

. ,
his employer.
From the evidence of a man named Mace, his wife,
and two or three other witnesses, it appeared that the
prisoner had been married some few years, and thatt
with one exception he had been cri good terms with
wife, who had borne him four children, the fowl,'
having only been born about three weeks before her
death. About two years age there was some dis-
puteherself between them, for which she absented hers
from his house, which was in a somewhat lower

some locality, and left their children in a wood. After
much search she was ultimately found, and persuaded
to return to her home, where she lived in perfect har-
mony thenceforth with the prisoner. On the right of
Saturday, the 15th of February last, he was, at the
Oyster public-house at Butley, which, after drinking to
excess, he left with Mace at ten o'clock. On. arriving at
his house his wife was nearly in bed, but, being rouse('
up, she received him and his friend, who lived about ha
a mile off, very cordially. The prisoner then expressed
a v‘ish to have some bear, which she dissuaded him from
doing; bat, seeing, tnat be attempted to go down into the
cellar himself, she bade him to sit down and went for
some beer, saying, "if he went he would tumble down
stairs and break his neck." Soon after this she retired
to her bed-room, and then Mace left the prisoner, wbe
said he was going to bed. As Mace went out, however,
the prisoner called after him to " come back and hell)
him kill his hog." To which Mace replied, .. vooh, your
hog was killed long ago." The prisoner again made the
same request to Mace, just as he got out of bearing
but nothing was seen or heard of him till about one
o'clock, when he came to Mace's house in great egitatiod,
and rousing them up begged of them to " coTne
quick, for he had shot his poor dear Mary Anne;
Mace on this got up as quickly as he could,
and while dressing himself could hear the wretched men
stamping the ground and wringing his hands as he,.
walked to and fro, exclaiming, " Dear me, what shall I.
do ?" When Mace was up he said to him, .6 Why, Tet-
tenham, you don't mean to say you have really shot your
poor wife ?" to which he replied, As true as God,
have shot her ; I have blown her head Wit" As they
walked hastily to his miserable home, Mace made *
similar remark to him, and he then :Aid, .. Oh, dal,
hurt me ; it was :all accident ;" and to Mrs. Mace to'
another time he said, " It was done by a pistol, which
went off accidentally." On arriving at the lodge, the
party found the poor woman lying on her back on the
floor, not far from a chest of drawers, in which the 10. i:
soner used to keep his pistrlis, her forehead and right
cheek being all blown off,, while the walls on two side,:
of the room behind ter were spattered with blood and
brains, and the cP.:.iing bore the mark of a shot. When
the surgeon vras sent for it appeared that the discharC
must have taken place, in his opinion, close to the len'
temple of the poor woman, for there was there a hole
about two inches large, while the skin near it was jagged
"and blackened with powder. Assistance was obtained es
soon as possible, both by Mace and the prisoner ; wh?,;
when asked to give an account of the dreadful event, sal.;
that " he was thinking of going out again, as was lit:
duty at times, and that his wife dissuaded him ; that
he went to the drawer to get his pistols, which were
loaded, and while he was doing so his wife came up?
him with a candle and put her arm on his shoulder. die
baby then began to cry, and she called out to it,
I'm a coming,' end just then, whether she touch
ed
the pistol or he pulled the trigger he could not
tell, but it went off, and its contents lodged in her
temple." Such is the outline of this most lamentable
event. At the close of the case for the prosecution,
Mr. PRENDERGAST addressed the jury in a most ils:e
pressive speech, and, going through the whole of 1.1.1
evidence, contended that his client ought not even toll
found guilty of manslaughter, as his whole conduct se,
demeanour throughout the transaction plainly indicate'
that the death of his wife was entirely attributable W
accident.
Lord Rendlesham having given the prisoner a good
character,
Mr. Baron PARKE proceeded to sum up the case to the
jury, leaving it to them to say whether the wound by
which the deceased came to her death had been inflicted
by the prisoner at the bar by design, negligence, or naildent. If by the first, he was then guilty of the cape'
charge in this indictment ; but if by the second, then 1;
would be their duty to find him guilty of manslaughW,
only ; while if the death ensued from a mere accidell"
without any neglect on his part, he was entitled to
full acquittal.
Guilty of Manslaughter.—Sentence deferred.
ARSON.—Samuel Stow, aged 22, was indicted for fel,,,ea
niously setting fire to a barn, the property of William'
Tabor, at Polstead, in this county.
Mr. O'Malley appeared for the prosecution.
Tnis case was only remarkable for two facts, the fir°
being that the offence was charged to have taken place
so far back as December 26, 1842, while the sublet*.
matter of the inquiry was no less a barn than the Ole'
braced " Red Barn" at Polstead, the scene of the leer
der of Maria Martin by a man named Corder, who
long after that event tried, convicted, and executed 1
this town for that diabolical offence.
The charge in the present case was almost entirely
supported by declarations of the prisoner made to othe
in custody with himself, and the jury, after a short de'
liberation, found him Not Guilty.
The same prisoner was afterwards arraigned ed_.,9
charge of sending a threatening letter to one Wig
Bowtell, at Polstead.
Mr. O'Malley and Mr. Last were counsel for the Piro
'„
secution, and the case being very clearly establishedetu,
prisoner was found Guilty, and forthwith sentenced
5 years' transportation.

v, the
VAN DIEMEN9e LAND COMPANY.—Yesterday
twentieth annuli meeting of the Proprietors of this ComOn'
was held at the offices Old Bond-street, Mr. John Cattle,'
in the chair. The report, which was read by the secretary;
stated that the assets of the Company amounted to 394,0001';
of this 234,0001. had been called up, leaving a balano,,,,
stock and buildings of 160,000/. At the last annual meet'?
the Directors announced the completion of the survey
lands in the larger districts, and they had now the pleas 11"!
of stating that in a dispatch from Circular Head, dated la
13,1844, their agent reported that' the entire survey loute,
probably be completed within three months of that dao
and also that he had entered into an arrangement with the
colonial Government for the formation of a road fort d
settled districts on the Company's lands, by a more level an
far preferable route recently discovered, which led in a direct,
line to Emu Bay, instead of the difficult and circuitous reld
hitherto employed. Two-thirds of the expense incu
would be defrayed by the local Government, and the tb,
mainder by the Company. All future expenses would. th
borne by the Government. The report stated, in conclusie„
that the Company was more flourishing than in former Yea
~"(1
although even now the Directors were unable to recomize'l,
a dividend. A long discussion ensued, after which the 1.;,,
port was adopted. Mr. Catley was elected Governor of
Company, vice Mr. Birnie, resigned ; and Mr. Marshall Wu-
appointed to the Deputy-Governorship, vacant by the po;
motion of Mr. Cattley. The retiring Directors were re-elected
The Ferret, 6, Commander Oake, was at Ascension °
the sth ult.

BIRTHS.
On the 28th ult., Mrs. Charles B. Bingley, of Great lij-r°'
borough-street, of a daughter.
„goo
On the 28th ult., at Yately, Hants, the lady of G. ei-
Esq., of a daughter.
Great
On the 28th ult., the wife of Mr. W. T. Clarke, of
James-street, Bedford-row, of a son. twat
On the 29th ult., at Plymouth, the lady of Adam x
Smith, Esq., of Calcutta, of a son. Sf•
On the 29th ult., at Camden-road-villas, the wife of
Speed, Esq., barrister-at-law, of a son. Fallon'
On the 29th ult., at Cheltenham, the lady of James Fall
Esq., of a son. hil*
On the 29th ult., at Montague-street, Russell-square,
S. Haines, of a daughter. lag
On the 30th ult., at Streatham-hill, Brixton, the
of James Parkinson, Esq., of a daughter.
On the 30th ult., at Little Hampton, Mrs. Harry Boma
daile, of a son.
_...-

MARRIED.
On the 27th ult.' at Skirpenbeck, near York, C. Prestl:
Esq., solicitor, Hull, to Julia. eldest daughter of the Rev'
Britton, late Vicar of Great Bardfield, Essex.
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