The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-25 00:00:00

RE HENRY CHAPMAN,

The insolvent applied to be liberated on bail. He had
been intimately acquainted with Lord Huntingtower, and had
had several bill transactions with that Nobleman previous to
his departure for the Continent. About fifteen months ago
the insolvent took the benefit of the Act, at which tittle he at-
tributed his insolvency to those dealings.
In reply to Mr. Commissioner HARRIS, he said that he resided
on Lord Huntingtowet's premises, but was not " one of his
establishment ;" neither was he his tenant ; but he had the
honour to be his particular friend.
A creditor named Caldwell, who described himself as a cab-
man, complained that he had not been served with due legal
notice of the qualifications of these offering themselves on bail ;
also that the detaining creditor was net to be found.

„
The Learned COMMI ISION ER having examined the bail. de-
clared the insolvent entitled to be discharged until his hearing.
There were 34 Bail cases for hearing, all of which were got
through during the morning. The town cases amounted to
32, and the country to It.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
OXFORD CIRC UI .—Shrewsbury, March 21.

THE CHIRX MURDER.—John Williams and Joseph Slaw-
son were placed at the bar this morning, charged with the
murder of Emma Evans, on the 16th December last.

Mr. F. V. Lee (with whoin was Mr. Cook) prosecuted on
behalf of the Crown ; and the prisoner Slawson was defended
by Mr. Yardley.
It appeared, from the evidence adduced on this occasion,
that it is the custom for tailors in this part of the. country to
make up the cloth purchased by their employers at the owner's
house, and for this purpose they resort thither, with their
journeymen, until the work is completed. The prisoner Slaw'-
son was a tailor, and for some time previous to the end of last
year was in the employ of one William Vaughan, with whom
he resided. Going to his work on the morning of the Bth,
with his master and another man, as they were pas ing
the deceased's cottage, between six and seven o'clock, they
observed a light in one of the rooms, which led to the
remark from Vaughan to Slawson, " What an industrious
old woman that must be to be up so early!" Some fur-
ther conversation ensued respecting her, and it was remarked
that she must be worth money. On the Monday following,
Slawson applied to his master for his wages. Vaughan re-
monstrated, adding that he had much work to be dote, and
that it would be using him ill to desert him then ; he replied,
that he only wanted to go to 'Wrexham to get some
clothes, and would most certainly be back that night. Shortly
before this, he had been heard to say, that if the Wrexham
chaps knew of such an old woman living alone in such a p ace,
they would soon be there to rob her." His object in leaving
his master's employ was, as the event proved, to find an accom-
plice, which want he speedily supplied by obtaining Williams's
concurrence in his nefarious arrangements. The two pri-
soners were then traced, by the testimony of numereus
witnesses, to the neighbourhood of Emma Evans's house
from Wrexham, on the afternoon" of the following Thurs-
day, and the murder was proved to have been committed
between six and seven the same evening, two hotirs after
which time, that is, about a quarter past nine, the two prisoners
stopped at a public-house near Rhunbon, at the Celn, where
they appeared fatigued, and asked the landlady to fry some
bacon, which they produced, and which was shown to have
been a portion.of a flitch which the murderers of Mrs. Evans
had carried off from the house. While the. baron was frying,
the landlady observed a bundle, which had been deposited in
her back kitchen, and which, on her making inquiries resprct-
it, Williams claimed as his. His manner excited her suspicions.
She communicated them to her son, who watched an opportu-
nity of examining the packet, and it. clearly appeared to him
to contain some tea, tobacco, and other articles, which con-
firmed him in his opinion that a robbery had recently been
committed somewhere ; he, however, allowed the two men
to depart, when he procured the assistance of his brother-in-
law, Davies, who joined him in pursuing them ; they overtook
the two prisoners about a mile and a half from the public-
house, walking very fast, when Davies tapped Williams on the.
shoulder and said, " You are the person and bundle I want ;"
whereupon both the prisoners took to their heels, and were soon
lost in the darkness of the night. The bundle which' they
dropped was taken up shortly after, and inspected by two Ala-
. gistrates, Lord Dungannon and Mr. Lovett, who immediately
took active measures for the apprehension of the delinquents,
all the articles contained in the bundle having been sh,.wn
to have belonged to the unfortunate deceased. By those
who proceeded to Mrs. Evans's house, her body was de-
scribed to have been found extended upon the ground in an
easy posture, showing that death had come, although so
unexpectedly, at least without a struggle. The wounds
inflicted werc• of such a- natnre that they must have been in-
Stantly fatal.; the skull was
„broken completely across. - Marks
were visible- upon the face as if idrne oheliairknelt upon it.
(the iinpresi of corduroy trousers being difeefrithle on' the
chin), and had then drawn a sharp knife dab throat,
and the deed appeared as if but little time had been taken
to accomplish it. • A sufficiently' strong chain of circum-
stantial -evidence' having appeared to connect. the Pi-is-oilers
with the crime, that coupled with their sudden dis-
appearance from the neighbourhood in which they
had always resided, led to the offer of a reward of 100/. by
Government, it the suggestion of Lord Dungannon, fur
their .apprehension. For some days after the murder, the
direction in which they had fled was not discoverable, and
Williams was only accidentally apprehended about a fortnight
after, through the instrumentality of Mr. Findlander, a silver-
smith at Coventry, to whom he offered some spoons and sugar
tongs (part of the plunder) for sale. The other prisoner was
speedily found in a house close by, and with Williams, taken
before a Alagistrate at Coventry. After their committal, on
being asked if they had anything to say, they stated that they
had found the bundle between Llangollen and COI. On being
searched, Slawson was found to be wearing, at the time of ins
apprehension, a shirt which was known to have been in Mrs.
Evans's house the day before her death. Since their incarce-
ration in the gaol of this town the two prisoners have made
statements giving different accounts of the transaction, each
endeavouring thereby to criminate the other, but both ad-
mitting that they were the sole perpretators of the crime.
At the time when these statements were reduced into writing,
the chaplain and governor of the gaol were present, as was also
the under-sheriff, and the prisoners were respectively cautioned
that they need say nothing whatever witless they thought ro-
per, as whatever they did say would most undoubtedly be u,cd
against them at their trial.
The summing-up occupied about an hour and a half, and the
Jury, after a very short deliberation, found the prisoner Wil-
liams Guilty of the murder, and acquitted Slawson.
Mr. Justice PaTTESON then annonnced to him the awful
doom which awaited him, advising him to use the few days
that intervened in preparation for that dreadful fate. •
Slawson who, as will have been seer, was the chief originator
of this nefarious scheme, was next charged with the robbery, his
confession being admitted in . evidence against him. He was
convicted upon that, and sentenced to transportation for seven
years. ,

FIGOTT V. KENDALL.

In this case, which was an action for the seduction of the
plaintiff's daughter, Mr. Sergeant Talfourd and 11r. F: V.
Lee were counsel for the plaintiff, and the defendant was re-
presented by Mr. Godson and Mr. W. H. Cooke.
The plaintiff is a respectable farmer, far advanced in life,
and the defendant is a groom in the service of Lord Levescri
at Aldenbam, and is also the owner of a small freehold, yield-
ing about 161. a year. His daughter, Mary Pigott, whose
dishonour led to the commencement of the present action,
was the youngest of fire children, and as often happens when
the parent is blessed with offspring when well-stricken in
years, was her father's favourite child. She was in the
habit of superintending his dairy, and in order to dispose of
the produce used to visit Bridgenorth market, where about
three years ago, she then being only 15, she met the defendant
Thomas Kendall. The defendant paid her much attention, and
although his addresses were discouraged by Miss Pigott's
family, wins a ispei ted that his designs were not of an honour •
able nature, he found means to prtss his suit to a successful but
disgraceiul termination, and. Mary Pigott became a mothar
before she had acquired a right to the title of a wife. The
defendant at first promised to prey de for the child, but aft, r-
wards refused to do so, and imputed to her acts of gross de-
ba:ichery with other men. His own brother, Richard Kends: 1,
who was called as a witness for the defence, swore that in No-
vember, 18.40, when Mary Pigott was staying on a visit at the
Harp, at Bridgenorth, be had criminal intercourse with her,
and had frequently been with her i ince, adding that he knew
his brother was intimate with her at the time. The landlord of
the Harp, a married man with a family, under whose protec-
tion she was staying on the occasion spoken to by Richard Ken-
dall, rlso swore that Keda!l had told him that it was arranged
that he should pass the night with Mary Pigott, and that lie
said he should not interfere, as it was no affair of his. These'
witnesses, however, were contradicted by the evidence ilo-
-duced on the part of the plaintiff, and
The Learned JUDGE, in summing up the evidence, told the