The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-07 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
OXFORD CIRCUII:7-Gbucest!r, Apr%l 4.

CROWN COURT.—(thfore Mr. Jos'ice CRFSSWELL. )
William Jeanes was indicted for burglariously entering and
setting tire to the bonze of the Bev. George. Shcrer, at Marsh-
field, on the • 19,11 of February last.
Mr. WHATELEY and Mr. GKEAVES conducted the prose-
cution. The prisoner was undefended by counsel.
Teis was a case, tLFplaying, on the part of the primer, .un-
usual malignity, as it would appear that he had cherished the
feelings of revenge to whtelt he ultimately gave volt, by the
attempt to .burn the prosecutoc's house, fur a petioi of nearly
three vcars.

It wearer!, from the statement of Mr. WIIATELEY, as it
was stp ported by the evidence on behalf of the prosecution,
that the Rev. George Sherer. the vicar of Marshfield, was in
February last residing at Bath, and that, during his absence,
the vicarage house •at Marshfield was left in the care of a
female servant, named Ruth Bunco. On . the night of the
19th of February, Ruth Bunce and a compani n, named
Jester 0;1,, retired to rest about ten o'clock, their bed-
room being on the second floor. At. that time the doors
and windows of the house were safe. They were disturbed
in the middle of the night by a cry of fire," and they
.found the-lower part of the back staircase in flames. Assist,.
ante was spcalily procured, a ladder raised, an:l. they were
safety taken out of the window. It appeared, from a plan of
the- pr..mises, which was, produced in Court; hat the cellar
window of the house opened into a court-yard at the back of
the house, and that this cellar window had been broken open,
and a can, which was kept there was found at the foot of the
back stairs, half filled with linseed oil. There was also a jar
there containing oil, which had been removed from a cup
board, where it was usually kept, and it was clear that oil had
been recently poured from it upon the door and stairs, with
a view of accelerating the progress of the flames. It wa-
evident, therefore, that' not only was the.fire the work of an
incendiary, but that it was planned and executed by some
one well acquait:ted• with the premises. A twig, round
which pap.-r haft by en twisted, and which had been dipped
in oil, was found lying near the can partidly burnt. I
was discovered upon further search that a ladder ha,
been placed against the back part of the house, and
an attempt made to force an entrance Ahrou.y,h the kitehei.
window, but a large bar inside had conap, Veil the perpetr.•tur
of this wickt4 deed to seek easier access thin:ugh the cellar as
before mentioned. Upon ex:mining the garden at the back ot
the house traces of footmarks were discovered. Stispicion feat
upon the prisoner, who, it appears, about three rears since,
lived in the service of . the prosecutor, by whom he was dis
charged for some impropriety which did not transpire. Halt.
:he superintendent of the police at Yeovil, in Somersetshire,
deposes! that the prisoner was given into his cost dy on the
101.11 of atarch, upon same other charge, awl that having it.
his p-iaessioa the Police Gazelle, in which was contained
description of the person suspected of setting fire to Mr.
Sherer's house, he asked the prisoner who he was, and read to
him the advertisrraent, upon which the prisoner stated that hi,
.name was William Jarvis ; that he never was at Marshfield,
and did not know where it was, anti that he had never been in
the service of Mrr Sherer, nor in the coan'y of Gloucester in
his life. Holt told the prisoner he should write to Sergeant
Bennett., arid in the meantime detain him, when the pri-
soner requested to see Holt alone, and upon their going into
another room he acknowledged that he was the William Jeanes
described in the advertisement, but denied having been .at
Marshfield since June Itst, adding that he supposed Mr. Sharer
suspected that he had set fire to the house out of spleen, be-
cause he had been discharged without a chat aster. The pri-
soner subsequently stated to another constable that he had left
Bath upon hearing of the fire, fearing that he should be sus-
pected and taken into custody in consequence of having used
threatening language towards the prosecutor. 'the shoes taken
from the prisoner's feet were compared with some of the marks
I.ft in the garden, and found to correspond exactly.
Mr. Justice CaEsswErn. summed up, and the Jury, after
retiring from Court for a quarter of an hour, returned into
Court with a verdict of Guilty.
The moment the foreman uttered the word, the prisoner fell
to the ground as if shot, and a medical man, who was imme-
diately sent for into the deck, pronounced him in a fit. H
was removed below, and the reverend prosecutor, evidently
labouring under deep emotion, addressed his Lordship, stating
that he was n t aware that the offence for which the prisoner
had been convicted was punishable with the extreme. penalty of
the law, and that, had he known it, he would not willingly have
prosecuted him. lie earnestly implored that his life might be
spared, in which request the jury also joined.
The prisoner was then replaced at the bar, and Mr. Justice
Cr;sswell, after some impressive comments upon the heinous
nature of the crime of which he had I:ren.convieted, ordered
sentence of death to be recorded against him, with an intiina•
tion that he must prepare to p:ss the remainder of his life in
the most severe discipline of the worst penal settlement,
The Grand Jury have ignored the -bill for bigamy against
Rudman, preferred under the circumstances stated in our report
of Monday last of the case of Lane v. Godwin.
APRIL 6.

At an early hour this morning the Court was crowded, in
expectation that the great cause to decide the validity of
James Wood's will, would at last be tried. About rfne o'clock,
however, it began to be rumoured that a compromise had taken
place, which the result justified ; for, upon the Sfecial Jury
being kworn in doe dem. Thompson v. Wood,
Sir W. FOLLETT, who (with Mr. Kelly, Mr. Butt, Mr.
Cripps, and Mr. Keating), appeared for the defendants, th..
executors of the will, rose and said, that the parties hsd agreed
to an arrangement that a verdict should be taken for the
lee ors of the plaintiff for 10,000/., "which would pay all their
costs in law and equity, and put a trifle in•o their pockets be-
s," subject to a reference to Mr. Alexander Wood, of this
circuit (who is not a relative of the testator) as to the proof
of the lessors of the plaintiffs being, as they claimed to be, the
heirs-at-law.
Mr. Sergeant TA LFOU RD, who (with Mr. R. V. Richards,
Mr. Whitmore, and 31r. ,J. W. Smith), appeared on the other
side, intimated the acquiescence of their clients in this arrange-
ment, by which it appears that the'validity of the disputed will
is at last admitted, and that the executors named in papers A
and B are fully entitled to the whole of the landed estates, as
well as the personal property.of the testator.
CROWN COURT.-(Before Mr. Justice CarsswELL)
George Greadar Wall, the postmaster of Cheltenham, was
charged in two indictments for embezzling moneys received by
him as postmaster in November last.
Mr. ..`..:ergeant Ludlow, with Mr. W. J. Alexander and Mr.
Keating, appeared fur the prosecution.
Mr. Greaves and Mr. Selfe for the prisoner.
Mr. G REAVES, for the prisoner, proposed to demur to the in-
dictments as insufficient in law, and also to plead " not guilty"
to them ; and he cited Hawkins's " Pleas of the Crown," and
the Queen v. Phelps, 9 Car. and Pay., in support of his claim
so to do: _ _ .• .

Mr. Justice CaasswELL, however, ruled that if the prisoner
demurred to the indictment, its sufficiency must first be argued,
before any plea of " not guilty" could be received.
Mr. GREAVES then withdrew the demurrer, and the pri-
soner plead•:'d "not guilty" to the charges of embezzlement.
To a third indictment, which alleged that the prisoner had
made false reiurns to the Post. office in London of ..he number
of letters received by him, and for the postage of which hew. s
accountable, he pleaded " guilty ;" upon which

. . . _
Mr. Sergeant Luni.ow, on the part of the Crown, stated
that he withdrew the two charges of embezzlement, and in
consideration of the previous good character of the defendant,
he deemed it right to say tint those who conducted the prose-
cution were content that it should be understood that the plea
,& guilty reerred to one count only of the i,dictment for
making false returns, which is a statutable misdemeanour.
The prisoner was then acquitted upon the two graver charges,
and a manber of witnesses were then called, who gave him the
highest ch.nactur for general -integrity and honour previously
to this transaction.

Mr. Justice Cresswell postponed passing sentence.

HOME, CIRCUIT.--Kingston, it pail 6.
CIVIL SlDE.—(Before Alr.Baron ALDERSON and a Special Jury )

BOYD V. AMBER AND ANOTHER,

This was an action of trespass, and, from the circumstances
connected with it, it created very considerable interest. • The
plaint tf is a limndraper doing business in the " tally " way,
and the action was brought' by him against one .of .the mes-
sengers of the Bankruptcy Court and one of the assignees under
a fiat of bankruptcy, against a person. named Carron, for baying
seized certain goods that were in his house a; the bankrupts,
when they, in fact, belonged to him, and the action was brought
to recover damages for this trespass.
The defendants put several pleas upon the record, some of
which represented that the goods taken were, in point of fact,
he prK•erty of the bankrupt, and that they did not belong to
the plaintiff, They also admitted that a small part of the goods