The Sun.
London, England, 1827-03-16 00:00:00

LENT ASSIZES.

AYLESBURY,' MARCH 13.
Ambrose Lester and John Lester were indicted for. an assault
committed on George Ayling, on the night of the 19th of Deeem

ber, 1825.

The prisoner had been tried in an earlier part of these assizes,
for entering a certain close belonging to the Duke of Bucking-
ham, with intent to destroy game, and for being afterwards found
armed, in the night, in the same close. The latter is not
a necessary allegation in such an indictment, and the proof that
it was the same close not being sutciently strong, they were
acquitted.
Daniel Humphries was out on the watch for poachers on the
night of the 19th of December, 1826, in a place called Welsh-
lane, about half a mile from Stowe-gardens : George Ayling,
John Turpin, and James Beckett were with him. Ayling and
Beckett were game-keepers to the Duke of Buckingham.- Between
ten and eleven o'clock, they heard a hare ery out, as if in a snare,
and went in the direction of the noise. They then heard a second
cry, and saw some men near the hedge, on the opposite side of the
road, and heard a dog pant ; the keepers took off their great coats,
and got over the hedge into the road, on which the men ran away
to a gap in the hedge, through which they got into the field.—
Witness caught the last man, as he got through the gap : one of
the men said, " Let that man go, you are not going to have him."
A fight took place directly, and the other men came up, armed
with bludgeons, and knocked, witness down ; he let the man go ;
saw Ayling and Turpin lying on the ground, much beaten; Tur-
piu was cut across the head; the night was moonlight; the men

•
all got away. . •
Mr. BLIGH made a very ingenious defence for the prisoners.
Mr. Justice GASELEE charged the jury.
This being the last trial, the Court waited some considerable
time for the verdict, when the Foreman addressed the Judge, and
said, he was sorry to say that they could not agree on the ver-
dict ; eleven of them were one way, and one was the other.
Hie LORDSHIP had no power to relieve them ; if they could not
come to a verdict in a short time, they must be locked up, and
let him know when they were agreed.
After a little while, the Foreman said, that one of them wished
to have one of the witnesses recalled, as he did not think it proved
that the men at the bar were present when the assault was com-
mitted.
The witness was recalled, but nothing fresh was elicited.
After a further delay, during which nothing was going on in
Court, the Foreman of the Jury said, they were no nearer the mark
than before.
On this, the Judge said they must retire, and directed an officer
to keep them without meat, drink, or fire, till they agreed on a
verdict. _ . . .

The Court then adjourned till eleven o'clock at night ; but the
Jury had not then come to a decision ; however, a little before one
o'clock, the Juryman who stood alone for an acquittal gave way,
and a verdict of Guilty against both prisoners was returned.
At eight o'clock this morning the prisoners were brought up,
and the Judge came into Court to pass sentence on them.
His LORDSHIP admonished the prisoners at some length, and
observed that in one of the counties on the circuit there were no
fewer than eleven persons to be tried for attacks on gamekeepers,
for which, if convicted; they would probably have to suffer the
dreadful punishment of death. ..
Sentence—Three months' imprisonment, and to enter into re-
cognizances to be of good behaviour for two years, themselves is
401., and two sureties in 20/. each.
Mr. Justice GASELEE immediately set out for Bedford.
There have been near twenty prisoners tried at these Assizes
more than ever were known in the county of Bucks before.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—SALISBURY, MARCii 14.
(Before Mr. justice PAux.)
Henry Smith was indicted on the capital charge for feloniously
assaulting, &c. Ann Fleck, a female child. The child was in
Court with her mother.
Mr. BirroxAm, for the prosecution, shortly stated the leading
features of the case. A bare recital of the facts filled the mind
with horror. The unhappy object of the prisoner's brutal vio-
lence was not yet six years old ; her parents were working peo-
ple, and her mother was compelled, in order to provide for the
wants of her family, to go early in the morninc, to the reap-field.
She had intrusted her two children,, one of whom was five years
and nine months old, the other an infant, to the care of a nurse
girl, who was the principal witness in support of the indictment,
' with directions to take them to her to the field about nine o'clock.
Accordingly the little party set out, and on the road they met the
prisoner, who was accoMpanied by -a little boy, who would also
be called as a witness. Under pretence that he wanted the little
girl to keep open a gate for him whilst he let some sheep_pass, he
decoyed her away, took her into a field, and then accomplished his
brutal purpose. This he did without the slightest interruption;
the witness Barrett, who would be first called, having
seen what
passed without being herself seen or making any noise.
Mr. BINGHAM then called Sarah 8arrett,...412 July last I was