The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 6, Ifi42.

SPECIAL COMMISSION.

Would ask, were the Jury to infer, in the absence of
all evidence upon the subject, that these three men
were present when the plan was proposed to burn
down and destroy the house of Dr. Vale? There was
nothing to show that these men were there at all till
after the fire had been lighted, and they might as well
involve in the crime all those who wire mere specta-
tors—who had taken no part in the proceedings, and
had given no countenance or encouragement to the
rioters. There was nothing whatever to show any
premeditation on the part of his clients.
Mr. METEYARD, on behalf of Hamlet Jackson,
William Shaw, and Dimmock, said, with regard to
Jackson, when he looked at the statements which had
been made by the witnesses against him, they were of
the most alight and flimsy texture : and as regards
the great bulk of the witnesses who had been exa-
mined, he must say that men who could stand coolly
by, and see the property of their neighbours de-
stroyed, without making an effort to arrest that de-
struction, and who afterwards came before the Court
to point out the offenders, stood before them, to say
the least of it, with somewhat ragged reputations.
Mr. ALLEN, who appeared for Edge, Harris, Mel-
lington, Saunders, Cartledge, Williams, and the two
Bursts, spoke in extenuation of the prisoners to
the effect that their original intention appeared to
be to destroy the furniture, and the fact of a fire being
lighted in the front of the house; and the furniture
being brought out and placed upon it, sufficiently es-
tablished that fact. Now, if that was the conviction
of the Jury, as it was his, these men were entitled to
an acquittal. Had not the Learned Solicitor-General
thought proper to scout the testimony of the witnesses
against the two lads who had been acquitted, they
would, perhaps, have had the painful reflection of hav-
ing recorded a verdict of guilty upon testimony ut-
terly unworthy of credit. He would commence with
the last of his clients, young Hurst.—(The prisoner,
a diminutive boy, marked in the calendar " 11 years
old," but who did not appear older than A boy of 9,
was here ordered to stand up.) He would ask the
Jury seriously whether they believed that boy went
to Dr. Vale's house with the premeditated intention
of demolishing and destroying his house?
(The trail was proceeding when the train left.)

BURNING OF THE REV. DR. VALE'S HOUSE.

STAFrORD, TUESDAY.—The following is the con-
clusion of the evidence given on Tuesday in this case.
John Nichols was at the fire, and saw Winston
throwing furniture on the fire. He received the
things out of the windows. He said "It was the
Lord's work, and that he was feeding the hungry and
clothing the naked." He appeared to have taken a
little drink. Witness thought it very extraordinary
language for any man to use.
Richard Hawkins saw Whiston burning and de.
stroying property to a great extent. He said "Glory,
glory ! when 1 have done some things lam going to
heaven." The house inside was on fire as well as the
fire outside. There were more than a hundred
people at the burning.
Joseph 'Woolly, parish clerk of Cadderswall, was
at Dr. Vale's on Monday, the 15th of August, about
half-past two o'clock. The mob were then breaking
the windows. Some were inside. Phillips threw a
dressing-table on the fire, and jumped on it. He
said, God was on their side and no one could harm."
Phillips threw many things on the fire. 'Williams
then threw a bed on the fire. About an hour and a
half afterwards there was a fire in the house. When
the engine arrived Williams endeavoured to cut the
hose with a knife which Cartledge handed to him,
but he was prevented by Cyples. Richard Edge and
Josiah Gilbert, two others of the prisoners, were
throwing furniture out of the windows, and Whiston
threw a pianoforte on the fire. Some of the mob were
in a state of intoxication.

The witness was cross-examined at some length by
Mr. Price, Mr. Allen, and Mr. Lee, as to the identity
of the prisoners, but his evidence remained unshaken.
Thomas Moorcroft was then recalled, and identified
the several prisoners he had assisted in taking into
custody on the premises of Dr. Vale. He pointed out
Harris, H. Jackson, Wagstaff, Shaw, Gilbert, and

Richard Cyples arrested Williams with the hose in
his hand, which he was endeavouring to force open
in a part where it leaked. Williams endeavoured to
escape over a wall.
Michael Holt knew James Saunders for 20 years
past. He saw him at the Market Hall on the morning
of the 15th of August. He was then throwing stones
and breaking windows.
Elizabeth Brammer, who resides near Dr. Vale's
house, saw John Owen, the day of the fire, break the
bottom row of the pane. 3 of glass in the dining-room
windows with a book.

A PI'ALLIN G MURDER at
(From the Derby Reporter of this day.)
On Friday morning last, intelligence was
brought to Derby, that a daring burglary, at-
tended with murder, had been perpetrated at
ae
fibaokultvisnigx
inmiiriteisoulliaernsceo.f
the house of the Miss Goddards, of Stanley,
Wethe ltiraavie,tsZapirdfrtolni
M r. Radford, the Magistrate.
l'he
shouselarge in wolni iec,ll
s ttahned inigi 8 as Go
noel d aarndds re-
sided
not
within 100 yards of any other residence. It is a
large brick house, surrounded by orchards and
fields, and the direct approach to it is by means
of a private road. The two Miss Goddards were
considerably advanced in years, the deceased
(Martha) being in her 70th year, and the sur-
vivor (Sarah) but few years younger. They
have resided alone in this (the family) house,
without servant or assistant, for more than forty
years; and although their habits were somewhat'
eccentric, they had the reputation of being very
charitable, kind, and humane ladies. Their
father was the Vicar of Tideswell, in this county,
and they possessed a comfortable independence.
In April last, we published an account of a bur-
glary committed on the same premises, when
two men decamped with some articles of silver
and several sovereigns, without committing vio-
lence. A few weeks ago a
.second robbery was
committed, and some linen and other articles

Charles Hatton—Saw John Owen break the win-
dows, and then he took a chair and broke the sash to
pieces, and threw the chair out of the window. He
was quite drunk after that, and was unable to get
away, and his friends threw him over into a field,
where witness found him, and pointed him out to the
constables.

George Bailey identified Joseph Hurst as very ac-
tively employed with an axe splitting up tables and
chairs.

George Barker saw Dimmock breaking the wood-
work of the windows. He was very drunk, and his
brother-in-law and others were endeavouring to per-
suade him to go home.
Robert Cope deposed that Dimmock was one of the
four persons who put a bed upon the fire.
Thomas Wain, a hairdresser of Longton, saw Eaton
with a piece of iron trying to break open the door.
Hains was very active in the work of destruction ; and
when the engine arrived he asked was there any man
to help him to shift it off the ground again.
Hannah Phillips also saw Eaton engaged in destroy-
ing the kitchen door by striking it with a large piece
of iron.
George Leece—Knew James Hurst, the prisoner,
for two or three years. He saw him breaking the
shutters, and throwing the panels on the fire. Hurst
is about 12 or 13 years old.
George Barlow saw 'Millington breaking the -win-
dows with a staff. The house was then on fire. The
witness also identified Smith,
On his cross-examination he admitted that he had
been tried for a highway robbery and acquitted. There
was another charge about a watch, and a third charge
about taking a tambourine, but he was acquitted. He
was taken up for gambling, but his accuser did not
venture to face a Magistrate.
Charles Harvey acted as a special constable, and
took Millington into custody the evening of the fire.
He was lying very drunk in a field at some distance
from the road.

stolen.
On arriving at the house, the place where the
murderers entered was pointed out to us. A
door (which was at the time open) leads froni
the coal-house into the kitchen, and another door
leads out of the kitchen into the house-place,
where Miss Sarah Goddard was sitting about
half-past twelve o'clock on Friday morning, when
she heard a noise in the coal-house. The three
rooms are in a direct line, and the doors lead di-
rectly one to the other. The deceased had re-
tired to bed. On hearing the noise, Miss Sarah
Goddard went in the direction of the coal-house,
and was startled by meeting (to use her own
words) two stern savage looking men, who shook
their fists menacingly at her, and then im-
mediately knocked her down and beat
up her
sutnaimrse,rcnifnudllya7.s
soon
as she bad slightly villains then proceeded
re-
covered she escaped into her own bed room, the
door of which she bolted. She had not
been there long when the door was forced open,
and the two ruffians demanded a 51. note which
they said they knew she bad in her possession.
She denied having a 51. note; and they answered,
menacingly, that money
they wanted and money
they would have, for that they were determined
not to starve. She then gave them two sove-
reigns and a few shillings, but they still de-
manded the 51. note, and after again beating her
severely, partly with crow bars and partly with
their fists, they. went. in the
direction of her
sister's room. After the lapse of some time, and
when she thought the men had gone away, Miss
Sarah went to her sister's room, arid was horri-
fied to discover her lying across the bed, co-
vered with blood, with her legs hanging
over the side she moaned, " Sarah—
Sarah !—man—man !" and never spoke after-
wards.the
Not daring to leave house, poor
Miss Sarah remained with her insensible
sister until daylight
be an to dawn, and then
ran down the road to the cottage of a labourer
named Scattergood, whom she alarmed, and he
and his wife immediately got up and went to the
house. Miss Sarah told them what had hap-
pened, and on going into deceased's bed room
they were shocked at the spectacle that pre-
sented itself. The deceased was lying across the
bed, with her legs resting on a chair (tire posi-
tion in which her sister had placed them), and
she was literally a mass of blood from the head,
to below the middle. The bed clothes were sa-
the bed-side; and the
turated ; there was also a pool of blood on the
floor by wall and door-
post were stained, as if, after the blows, the
blood had spurted that distance. Mr. Boden,
surgeon of Smalley, was immediately sent fbr.
The poor creature did not die until between seven
.and eight o'clock, but she was insensible the whole
of the time, the only evidence of life being a
gentle action of the respiratory organs. The
surviving sister (Miss Sarah) also presented a
horrible spectable. Her thee and head were
covered with blood, and a finger had been broken
by a blow from a crow-bar; but, strange to say,
she is riot dangerously
wounded. Her face on
Saturday morning was terribly discoloured, and
her appearance was most deplorable. The wounds
inflicted on the head of the deceased (evidently
by some blunt instrument) were dreadfil ones;
there were three severe cuts on the left side of
the forehead, a fracture of the skull, bruises on
the neck and hands, and one finger broken. It
is supposed that deceased got out of bed on
titiiem nesienl:ith
in order to escape from them,
and
that
they then struck her with the crow bar
several
all their power. The mur-
derers seeing
missed two Si. notes in a drawer.
On examination in front of the house, two
footmarks were found on the flower borders. In
danforerdfuruler
order to prevent an escape by the front door, the
villains had placed a hedge stake across the door-
frame, and tied it to the handle of the door, so
that a person attempting to open the door from
within would be foiled.
A well-known character in that neighbourhood
taken into custody
ablesoenimplicated in the murder,
namedo
n suspicion
Keelingo t.
beinglla s i
rbnepelni e
and
dve Green. These parties
THE INQUEST,
examination.
After the usual preliminaries bad been gone
through, an inquest was . held on the body on
Saturday morning, before Mr, H. Mozley, Co-
arelimlaannden
able Jury. The Co-
roner, and a respect survivor was
not in a state ,to give an account so clearly as
could be wished of what really did take place.
The foregoing statement is an exact recapitulation
of what Miss Sarah Goddard gave upon exami-
nation before the Magistrates, as also that of Mr.
Robert Boden, the surgeon.
The Jury returned a verdict of “ Wilful Mur-
der against some person or persons unknown.?'
In the course of Friday a handbill, of which
the following is a copy, was issued :
. " WILFUL MURDER.-1001. REWARD.
" Whereas the dwelling house of the two
Misses Goddard, at Stanley, in the county of
Derby, was burglariously broken into, and en-
tered early in the morning of the 30th day of
September, and both of the inmates inhumanly
beat about their heads and faeec .
~ one of whom,
has since died from -the wounds inflicted;—
Notice is hereby given, that a reward of 1001.
will be given-to any person who shall give such
information as will lead to the conviction of the
perpetrators of the above crime, on application
to Mr. R. W. Birch, solicitor, Derby.
0 Stanley, Sept. 30, 184'2."
The following letter has been received by Sir
Henry S. Wilmot, Burt., by which it will be seen
that Government offered a reward of 1001. (in ad-
dition to the reward of the same amount offered
by the friends of the deceased), for the disc9very
and conviction of the murderer or murderers:—
ti Whitehall, 3d October, 1842.
" Sint,--I am directed by_ Secretary Sir James
Graham to acknowledge the reti3ipt of your letter
of the Ist inst., relative to the murder of a lady
named. G odda rd, at Stanley, about four milesfrom
Derby, on Thursday night last;—and I am to in-
form you. that M this . case a .reward
.of 1001.
will be paid by -the Government (in addition to
the reward of like amount offered. by the

Enoch Maher resides at Hanley, and saw the mob
at Earl Granville's engine; from thence they went to
Dr. Vale's, where witness remained two hours. Saw
Williams and Toft in the house; the latter had a tea-
pot, and the people were drinking out of it. He
afterwards rolled a barrel into the fire. Sampson
Whitehouse helped to put a bed on the fire. Witness
was at the police•office at Stoke when the windows
were broken, and was taken into custody, but dis
charged. Was in Dr. Vale's house, in the study,
and up stairs in the bed-rooms, about a quarter past
three o'clock. It was to see who the parties were
that were doing the mischief. Was never charted
with being concerned in the attack upon Dr. Vale's
house.

James Carter saw Joseph Saunders breaking fur-
niture in one of the rooms. He met him next morn-
ing, and told him he was sorry he had seen him so
engaged the night before. Saunders had been in the
witness's employment for some time previously.
Samuel Bailley knew Hollins for several years, and
saw him among the mob throwing articles upon the
fire. Thomas Jackson was also engaged with a big
stick breaking the windows. Witness had been pre-
vious!y with the mob when they were breaking the
windows of the police-office, and was twice in prison.
Was charged with having taken some money, and was
fourteen days in primal, and on the second occasion
two months. The man in the factory said to him, that
if he would tell of somebody else there was a pardon
for him. Hollins' uncle charged him with stealing
money from his mantel-piece.
Thomas Coke—Has known the prisoner Thomas
Cotton for several years. Saw him in the study
putting furniture on the fire.
Ephraim Baxter saw John Powell breaking chairs
and throwing them through the window.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL stated that the case for
the Crown was then closed. The only witnesses who
had not been examined were a surveyor, who had
made a plan of Dr. Vale's house, and another person,
who was not in a fit state to be examined.

The Court adjourned at a quarter to seven till half-
past eight the following morning.
WEDNESDAY.—The Judges took their seats this
morning, at half-past eight o'clock, and the trial of
the prisoners charged with the burning and destruc-
tion of property at the Rev. Dr. Vale's, was imme-
diately proceeded with.

FOR THE DEFENCE.

Mr. Puica said he would, in the first instance, call

the attention of the Court to the indictment, and
started two objections upon the face of it, which the
Chief Justice held to be untenable.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said, before his Learned
Friend commenced his address, he wished to state that
after consulting with his Learned Brethren, there ap-
peared to him two of the prisoners, namely, William
Hollins and Thomas Jackson, who were not proved
to have taken any part in the proceedings, except
upon the evidence of the boy Richard Bailley, and he
thought, after the account that witness had given of
himself, and the circumstances that had induced him
to give the information, he would not be exercising a
sound discretion if he did not state that he had no in-
tention to press the charge against them.
The CHIEF JUSTICE—Then the better course will
be to acquit these two boys at once, as the others may
wish to have their evidence.

The Jury then, under the direction of his Lord-
ship, returned a verdict of acquittal in the case of
William Hollins and Thomas Jackson, and they were
ordered to stand aside for the present.
Mr. PRICE had been instructed to ask a question of
Mrs. Vale, who was in court—namely, whether she
had not called upon Whiston for his assistance at the
commencement of the riots.
Mrs. Vale replied in the negative.
Mr. PRICE then, on behalf of Whiston and Colt-
ekugh, addressed the Jury. The offence with which
his clients stood charged was of the most extraordi-
nary nature, and their object should be to endeavour
to procure some information as to the cause of so
much wanton and useless destruction of property. He
would, in the first place, observe that did not appear
that these persons had been actuated by any feeling of
ill-will or hatred towards the prosecutor. He would
take the case of his two clients in the first instance, as
if it had been made out, and he would take it that
they were there. But he would put it to the Jury to
weigh the evidence on that point with great caution,
beeause he hoped, by-and-by, to be able to satisfy
them that the witnesses on that point were mistaken.
They would inquire whether the riot was not insti-
gated by persons who were not then present on their
trial ; because, in his opinion, there was nothing to show
that any one or more of the prisoners were the insti-
gators of the conduct of tLe rest. When these parties,
who were in his opinion the real offenders, were be-
fore them, it would be fur the Jury to decide upon
their culpability, and for the Court to punish
them. The Learned Counsel then proceeded at some
length to comment upon the evidence that had been
given as to the part taken by his clients in the out-
rage, and contended that the discrepancies were such
as to make the Jury receive it with very great caution,
much of it having been obtained from parties who
were mixed up with the proceedings of the mob, and
who would naturally endeavour to shift the responsi-
bility upon other shoulders. He was sure that even
the Rev. Prosecutor himself would be the first to join
the Jury in the solemn and merciful exclamation,
" The Lord forgive them, for they 'know not what
they do."
Mr. LEE then addressed the Jury on behalf of
Phillips, Smith, and Tott. He relied principally upon
the vague and uncertain nature of the evidence, as it
affected his clients. With regard to his clients, lie

friends of the deceased), to any person who shall
give such information and evidence as shall lead
to the discovery and conviction of the murderer
or tnurderer4; and Sir James Graham will ad-
vise the grant of her Majesty's gracious pardon
to any accomplice not being the actual perpe-
trator of the murder, who shall give such evi-
dence as shall lead to the same result.
" I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient
servant, "T. M. PHILLIPPS.
" Sir H^S. Wilmot, Bart., Chaddesden Derby."