The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-13 00:00:00

ATROCIOUS CASE OF VIOLATION.

The Magistrates for the division of Marlborough
(Ful war Craven, Esq., and the Reverend Edward
Goddard), have been. lately engaged in investi-
gating one of the most atrocious cases of assault and
violation on record. The wretch charged with the
commission of the offence is 28 years of age, and
the complainant his own aunt !—a married woman,
with three children, and 58 years of age!! The
parties are of the labouring class in life, are both
named Martin, and reside at Marten, in this county.
According to the statement of the complainant;
about seven o'clock in the evening of Sunday, the
16th ult., she was in search of her sons, when she
was met by the prisoner on the turnpike-road be-
tween the Nag's Head and Wexcombe Marsh, who,
after crossing her backward and forward, to prevent
her passing, at length took hold of her, and vio-
lently threw her on the ground the poor woman's
resistance proving ineffectual, he succeeded in
effecting his purpose ; after which he remained with
his aged victim for nearly half an hour, using her
in a manner too disgusting and horrible to relate.
The poor woman's screams at last brought one of
her sons (who had been lying nearly asleep on a
dunghill at the Nag's Head, about ten lugs from the
place) to her assistance, and who rescued his mo-
ther from the fangs of the prisoner. Both the com-
plainant and her son swore most positively as to the
person of the prisoner ; and her husband corrobo-
rated her testimony as to the very deplorable condi-
tion she was in on her return home. The prisoner
produced several young girls to prove that he was
with them at the Nag's Head door when they heard
the screaming, and that he ran with them to see
what was the matter. These witnesses agreed as
to this particular fact; but they differed very ma-
terially as to the hour—some of them stating
it to have occurred at nine o'clock, when,
if the united testimony of the complainant, her
husband, and her son be credited, she must have
been at borne and in bed at that time. The evi-
dence of the girls was also at variance in many other
respects. The magistrates committed the prisoner
for further examination until Saturday last, in order
that the landlord of the Nag's Head might be exa-
mined. This witness then deposed, that he was at
supper when he heard the screams; and that before
he went out, to ascertain the cause of it, he took the
precaution to look at his watch to see what o'clock

it was, " in case (he said) any thing should be the
matter hereafter." It was then a quarter past nine,
and a quarter of an hour previously he had seen the
prisoner standing with the girls outside his door.
When he came out, the son of the complainant was
accusing the prisoner of having committed the out-
rage upon his mother; witness advised him not to
make a disturbance there (it being Sunday even-
ing), but to go home with his mother, which he
immediately did, leaving the prisoner with the girls.
Thus this case, scarcely to be paralleled for the atro-
city and violence attending it, remains, after two
long and patient investigations, involved in some
perplexity. There is not the slightest doubt in any
one's mind that the poor woman was assaulted, un-
der the very aggravated circumstances she de-
scribed ; and unless both she and her son are most
egregiously mistaken, as well regarding the hour as
the person of the offender (whom they must have
had full opportunity of seeing and knowing), the
prisoner must have been the person who committed
the assault. He is committed for trial at our next
assizes, and the witnesses for the Crown bound over
to give evidence. The magistrates, conceiving that
it would be conducive to the ends of justice, have
also availed themselves of the power recently given
them by one of Mr. Peel's acts, and have taken the
depositions of the prisoner's witnesses, in order that
the Court and Jury may be hereafter better inform-
ed as to the credit due to their evide nce.—Devizes
Gazette.

UNBRIDGE 'NVELLS.—The Master of the
Ceremonies' Second Ball at Mr. Neal's Rooms, on Tuesday
se'nnight, was very brilliant and full, nearly a hundred and
fifty, of (air fashionables were present. So great an as-
semblage was never before known at this late period of our
season ; indeed, it fully demonstrates how highly the ser-
vices of our active Master of Ceremonies are appreciated.—
Brighton Paper.

On Monday morning his Royal Highness the
Duke of Susnex left Kensington Palace in his travelling
carriage for Raby
Castle, the magnificent seat of the Mar-
quis of Cleveland, in the county of Durham. Hie Royal
Highness was detained an hour at Hatfield, by the snapping
of one of the spring bolts of the carriage, and consequently
did not reach Alconbury Hill until seven o'clock. His
bnes3o,,n
tt 11
e;
aeat when,o
Royal Highness dined and slept at the Wheat Sheaf, and
proceeded. the next morning on his route northwards. We
Daufntuednie.drassta,nhde thatlvni his Royal Highness will remain at Raby
Castle, where great preparations have been snaking to re-
ceive the royal visi:ro,ceu:dtiflothisiee2:sttlesaodf thisAb
paying short visits to Earl Fitzwilliam and Lord
Colonel Wildman, where his Royal Highness will pass the
month of November.

There are, on an average, about 4,000 con-
victs constantly employed by Government at Woolwich
arsenal and the different dock-yards ; it is said that the
Lord High Admiral has recommended that this number
should be considerably reduced, and their places supplied
by industrious labourers of good character, thousands of
whom can obtain little or no work. The expence of
transporting men beyond the seas is certainly a serious
burden upon the country, but probably the public money
cannot be more advantageously expended than in getting
rid of characters, who on their being discharged from the
Hulks are almost certain to return to dishonest practices,
and who, after another course of crime, again put the
country to the expenses attending their conviction and
transportation. There does not appear to have been any
return made of the number of criminals who have been
more than once under sentence of transportation; but it is

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