The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-02 00:00:00

NORFOLK ClRCUlT7lpswich,..luly 30.

CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Baron ALDERSON. )
CHILD RDER. - Catherine Jar, old, the younger, aged
21, and Catherine Jarrold, the elder, aged 53, pleaded Not
Guilty to an indii•tmeot charging the first-named prisoner with
the wilful murder of her male child on the 12th of December
last, and the elder prisoner with harbouring and encouraging
her after the cotnmis,ion of that crime.

Mr. O'MALLEY conducted the case for the prosecution, and
from the evidence of Miss Davey, a great invalid, it appeared
that the younger prisoner, about Christmas last, was in attend-
ance on her a, a nurse, and that she was taken suddenly ill on
the night of the 12th of December, during the whole of which
she seemed to be in gi eat pain. At one time the witness heard
a shrill cry or squeak, which she could not at all account for,
but, as it did not recur, she took no notice of it, and fell asleep.
Early in the morning the prisoner got up, and went away with
a bundle, saying that during her illness she had made a dirt on
the floor, and that her mother would come directly and clean it
up. This she did, and with great industry, but, notwithstand-
ing her efforts, Mrs. Davey Mainly perceived marks of
blood on the spot. Notwithstanding this circumstance, no
notice was taken of the matter, arid the girl returned in three
weeks to her service, when she observed to her mistress that
she had " got down her fat nicely." Although the neigh-
bours, and especially those who lived near the residence of
the mother, hail frequently observed that " Kitty must be in
the family way," no stir was made on her suddenly resuming
her accustomed shape about Chrismas time, and the affair
would have altogether died away ss.on, had not Mr. Bead,
who lived next door to Mrs. Jerrold, fished up out of a
drainage well, which was common to both their dwellings, a
bundle, containing the body of a full-grown male child, which
had to all appearances been deposited there at least six
months. This discovery was made on the IRh of June last,
and when it was communicated to the two prisoners, the
mother saul to the daughter, " Ah, Kitty, I said you would
be found out ;" to which she replied, " That be d----d, they
have found out nothing."
Mr. Poveze having addressed the jury on behalf of the two
priseners,
Mr. Baron ALDERSON summed up the case to them, ob-
serving that there did not appear to be any evidence what-
ever to show that the mother had any knowledge at all that
her slaughter had committed the foul off,•nee of murdering
her own child. As far as she was concerned there ought
to be an acquittal ; and
as for the girl, it was for the jury to
say whether they saw enough to warrant a verdict of wilful
murder. They must be satisfied that the child found in the
well was hers, and that, having been secretly delivered of it
at Miss Davey's, she had put it into the well herself, in order to
warrant a verdict of guilty of even the minor offence.
The jury retired fur some time, and ul,imately found the
girl Guilty of conceaiiitg the birth of the child, and Acquitted
the elder prisoner—whereupon the former was sentenced, in
most suitable language, to six months' imprisonment.
Having
s Taylor, aged 36, stood charged with
set fire to a barn at Debenham, on the night of the
11th of June last.

Mr. O'Malley and Mr. Couch were coursel for the prosecu-
tion, and Mr. Prendergast appeared for the prisoner.
The prosecutor in this case is a gentleman named Norris,
who on the night in question was possessed of a barn, contain-
ing 24 c,ombs of wheat; and this barn stood a little out
of the village of Debenham; and it appeared from the evidence
of James Oxbourne, one of the Suffolk policemen, Laetaes
he was going his rounds on the night in question, at half-past
one, he saw a light at the barn of the prosecutor, towaids
whi,:h he immediately hastened. At the same moment that
he saw the flames, for such they were, he was aware that a
man was standaig by the barn, and when he came within
forty yards of him he recognised him to be the prisoner,
whom he knew well, and had seen only :he night before, when
he came up to him drunk, and offered him Is. if he would lock
him up in the station. As soon as the man was aware of
the policeman's preserve he ran away, the latter pur-
suing him, crying nut, " Charley, what the devil are you after
bore ?" In a few minutes the witness lost sight of the man,
bet he pursued his way on to the station, whence, having
given the alarm, he returned to the fire He remained there
a short time ; he went back to the village, and on his way met
the prisoner walking in a white jacket towards the fire, and
straightway charged him with being its author, whereupon the
prisoner drew his attention to his coat, and said, " Do you mean
to say I am the man ?" " Yes," said the policeman, " but you
have changed your coat since then, for you had on a blue one
then ;" to which the prisoner simply answered, " Well,
I'll break your neck if you attempt to take me." Abashed
by this threat, the policeman, actually walked back with

the prisoner to the fire, where the latter remained half an
hour, and then returned to his lodgings, where he was even-
tually taken into custody by another policeman in the course
of the same morning, and a blue and a white frock-coat found
on his bed.
Mr. PRENDERG AST addressed the jury for the prisoner, and
His LORDSHIP summed up the case to them, leaving it to
them to say whether they could rely beyond all reasonable
doubt on the proof of the prisoner's identity.
The jury having retired for nearly an hour, at length returned
a verdict of Not Guilty.
Nehemiah Sell was charged with assaulting and wounding
one Richard Ruffles at Haverill, with intent to do some grievous
bodily harm to him on the 2d of April last; and Thomas
Dieerson stood charged with inciting him to commit the said
offence.

Mr. O'Malley and Mr. Couch were counsel for the prosecu-
tson ; Mr. Prendergr.st appeared for the prisoner Dickerson.
The prosecutor is a miller, re,iding at Haverill, in this
county, where he occupies premises about half a mile from the
town. Mr. Ruffles would seem to be a man of timid nerves,
and keenly alive to the horrors attendant on burglary and any
interference with the rights of property. This disposition
became known to the prisoner Dickerson, a man of dissolute,
idle courses, and he accordingly marked him for an easy prey,
for on the 28th of February he went to him and told him that

" Jack Briggs was agoing to rob his house soon." " How can
that be," quoth the simple grinder of corn, " seeing that Jack
Briggs has been transported 2" " That's very true," said his
tormentor, "hut there are four of his pals agoing to do the
job, for they axed me to join them." The prisoner then
wound up his information by promising to find out the exact
day, and warn the miller and the constable, so that they might
give the thieves a warm reception. Thanking him for his kind
offices, Mr. Ruffles dismissed the prisoner with 55., and
awaited in considerable trepidation the dreaded news. On the
28th of March the prisoner made his appearance again, and
said that the robbery had been fixed for the following Sunday,
and on that occasion he received some beer for his pains, as
well as a watch, which the prosecutor authorised him to
pledge, in order to supply himself with funds. On Sunday
the prosecutor and the constable kept watch and
ward all night, but no thief rewarded their midnight toils, and
on the following day Dickerson quietly informed them that it
had been put off on account of the snow, but was fixed finally
for the following Wednesday ; adding, that when the hour was
appointed he would take care to let them know in time, to set
themselves in array. During all these interviews the constable
expressly cautioned him not to entice any one to commit the
offence, in order to verify his predictions, though, if he had any
knowledge of an intended crime, he was bound to communicate
it. On the Wednesday, about half-past eight o'clock in the
evening, Dickerson went to the constable and told him that
" everything had been settled, that a man was going to rob the
prosecutor that night at ten o'clock, and that he (the constable)
would be in plenty of time if he went up at nine o'clock."
Upon this the constable at once proceeded to the miller's house,
and, entering at the back do3r, found the prosecutor prepared I
with bolts and bars and loaded pistols. Before many minutes
had elapsed a knock was heard at the front door, which the pro-
secutor opened, leaving his body-guard quietly seated in the
parlour with the lights. Little deeming what was to follow, on
this abandonment of all his plans and preparations, the little
miller fearlessly flung open his door, and at the same moment
received a violent blow on the head from a bludgeon,
which laid him en his knees. Ere he could cry out
another Wow descended upon the devoted creature, and
that was dealt with such good will that it cut open
his forehead to the skull and stretched him in the pas-
sage. Here a faint cry escaped him, which luckily fell on the
ear of the man of the law, who, rushing into the passage,
arrived just in time to save the life of his friend, over whom a
ruffian was standing with uplifted arm, grasping a terrific
hedgestick. A blow from the constable's staff paralyzed the
sword arm of the man, and a scuffle ensued, which terminated
in his capture, when he exclaimed, looking at his handcuffs,
'• Well, I'm blessed if 1 aint done." Well satisfied at this re-
sult, the miller, when be recovered, valiantly presented a
cocked pistol at the head of the thief, threatening to shoot him
dead if he stirred. As he did not offer to do so, a council
of war was held, and it was determined that the pistol should
be dischargad in the open air, with the double object of scaring
the prisoner's " mates and of summoning to their assistance
the miller's man. who had not long before left his work. This
had the latter effect, and the prisoner was consigned to safe
custody, much to the delight of the miller, who was well con-
tent to accept his blows as the condition of securing the " foul
fiend" whose schemes had cost him many a sleepless night.
The man so secured turned nut to be the prisoner Sell, who,
when taken before the justices, openly said that Dickerson had
" put him up to it." For thi:, on inquiry, there appeared to
be no little ground, for it being ascertained that Sell came
from slildreth, in Cambridgeshire, a village 25 miles off Have •
rill, evidence was swirl produced to slsow that Dickerson had
for some little time past been in those parts, soliciting more
than one person to go to llaverill and rob his aunt, who always
kept 4001., all in sovereigns, in her house, and whose husband
was a weak inoffensive man, whom any one might hold with
one hand and " lick" with the other. After many overtures
he at last succeeded in persuading Sell to undertake the job,
and they set out together on foot for Haverill, where they ar-
rived at seven o'clock, and were seen loitering about till near
eight o'clock, when they were close by the mill in a field, from
the hedge of which the stake was torn.
Mr. Baron ALDERSON, in summing up the evidence to the
jury, told them that they must be satisfied that Dickerson had
incited Sell to commit a bond fide robbery, in which case he
would be answerable for all the violence which Sell might use
to accomplish that purpose. If, however, they should be of
opinion that he was only carrying on a villainous scheme for
his own profit, intending that no robbery or violence should be
committed, but that his victim should be caught in order that
his credit with the prosecutor and the constable should be sus-
tained, he could not be found guilty under this indictment.
The jury remained absent in a private room for an hour and
upwards, and then returned a verdict of guilty against both
the prisoners, who were forthwith, having been each previously
committed of felony, transported for fifteen years.
John Catchpole, aged 47, was indicted under 7 William IV.
and I. Victoria, for having inflicted divers injuries on his wife,
dangerous to life, wish intent to kill and murder her.
No counsel appearing for the prosecution, the facts on which
this serious charge was founded were elicited by the Learned
Baron from the prosecutrix and others ; and the case having
been most satisfactorily proved, the prisoner was found guilty,
on which sentence of death was recorded against him.
With this case the assizes for this county and the Norfolk
circuit may be said to have terminated, in so far, at least, as
the Crown Court was conerned.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.-11e/eford, July 29.
Lord Denman arrived here this afternoon, and having been
received with the usual honours by J. King King, Esq., the
High Sheriff, at once proceeded to open the commission at the
Shire-hall. His Lordship attended Divine service at All
Saints' Church, the cathedral being still under repair,when the
Rev. Thomas King, of Malvern, preached the assize sermon.
The calendar contains the names of seventeen prisoners, which
is, for this county, an unusually small number. They may be
classified thus :—Arson, two; cutting and wounding, one ;
larceny, seven; receiving stolen goods, one; rape, one; man-
slaughter, one ; housebreaking, three; burglary. one. There is
every possibility that the assizes will be over to-morrow evening.
CROW' COURT, JULY 30.—( Before Mr. Justice PAT-

TEsoN.)
Edward Higgs, apparently about IS years of age. was in-
dicted for having, at Knighton, stolen, on the 6th of this
month, six chickens, the property of John Pritchard.
It appeared that a resident in the neighbourhood of Knighton,
Walter Taylor by name, had ten chickens of a peculiar breed,
which he described as Chinas, not thorough, but a third part
bred. Wishing to give these young birds the advantage of
travel, and doubtless disapproving of mere domestic education,
he sent them to John Pritchard to be taken care of. Pritehard's
father-in-law, an elderly marl, fed these tender chickens fur a
month or five weeks before the sth of this month, and on that
day he, with his own hands, dispensed to them their evening
meal ; nay, more, he saw them retire to rest, and then he fol-
lowed their example. The next day, six of the nine (for one
hid previously died) were missing. Afterwards, on the Mon-
day, six chickens were found to be in the pos.ession of one
Richard Turner. who had received them, on the morning of
the 6th instant, from the prisoner. The latter, it appeared,
asked Turner to let him " loose down some chickens," and
being informed he might, took six from his pocket, which he
asserted were his own property. These chickens were by
divers witnesses sworn to as being the very same that Pritchard
had received from Taylor, although it was admitted that other
neighbours had chickens of a similar breed; but the most ma-
terial witne s to this identity was one who, according to our
forms of law, could not appear in the box to give evidence, to
wit, the mother of the abstracted birds. Many hens, indeed,
would take under their wing strange chicks, but this respecta-
ble hen, said the witness Powell, was not one of those, who
would have so treated even a relative, so abso!ntely were her
affections wrapped up in her own progeny. She, the moment
she had the chickens restored to her, took them at once under
her own protection, and thereby bully, it was asserted, proved
that they were her'. Rowell was positive himself that they
were the same chickens that had been carried off; he recognised
them at once. His sight, he indeed admitted, was weak, and
he feared he should be unable to recognise the Learned Coun-
sel for the prisoner, should they ever meet again, hut he was
quite sure that if he had presided morning and evening ever
that gentleman's breakfast and suioper, as he hail done for the
chickens during five weeks, he certainly should not forget him.
The whole question was really one of identity.
The prisoner's counsel addressed the jury. He called a
Mr. Bevan, in whose employment the prisoner had been from
the age of nine years, and who said that he had always borne an
excellent character for honesty.
His Llrdship summed up. and the jury in about ten minutes
found the prisoner Guilty, but recommended him to mercy.
The Learned Judge then passed sentence of imprisonment,
with hard labour, for two months.