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

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

WIE CI RC Ul T.—Croydon, August I,
The commission for the county of Surrey was opened
yesterday by Lord Chief Justice Tindal, and both Courts
this morning prod eded to business, the Chief Justice
presiding on the Civil side, and Mr. Justice Coleridge in
the Crown Court. The calendar of priseners is very
light, but on the civil side 106 causes are entered, twelve
of which are sp, cial jury cases, and it is not expected
that the list will be got through in less than a fortnight.
CROWN COURT.
Mr. Justice CoLEmocr, in his charge to the grand
*ury, congratulated them upon the lightness of the ca-
lendar, and at the same time observed, that ❑one of the
cases, so far as he was able to ascertain the fact from
those depositions that had been returned, involved any
difficulty or point of law. He made the reservation
with regard to the depositions that had been returned,
because it appeared that, in a great many:cases, the
depositions had not been sent by the committing magis-
trates. This neglect was likely to lead to very great
inconvenience, because, in the first place, it was the
means of preventing the judge, on wry particular case,
from explaining the law, as applying to it, to the
grand jury, and it also tended to encumber
the judge in the performance of his duty, by
preventing him :from making himself acquainted
with all the facts of the cases likely to come
before him. He did not wish to be understood as speak-
ing offensively, but it should be understood that it was
the duty of the committing magistrates to return the de-
positions on the day the judge came into the county to
open the Commission, and the magistrate who neglected
to do so was liable to be fined, lie wished, however,
that :so unp'easant a duty would not be cast upon the
Court, but that in future the depositions would be re-
turned earlier.

Maria Hancock was indicted for stealing a watch, the
property of a young man, named Barthropp.
The charge was clearly made out, and the jury re-
turned a verdict of Guilty.
She was sentefickd to twelve months' imprisonment.
In this case there was certainly no ground for com-
plaint of the law's delay, as it appeared that the rob-
bery was committed on Thursday evening ; the prisoner
was sent for trial yesterday morning, the grand jury
found the bill, and she was tried and sentenced, all
within twenty-four hours.
The business in the Civil side was devoid of interest.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—Derby, July 31.
CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice Rau LE. )
Edward Pipes, a respectable tradesman in Derby, pleaded
guilty to a charge of manslaughter.
Mr. MILLER, for the prosecution, on the prisoner withdraw..
ing his plea of not guilty, shortly, but almost inaudibly, ad-
dressed the Learned Judge, expressing, as we understood, a
wish, on the part of the prosecution, that he should be dealt
with as leniently as was consistent with the ends of justice.
Mr. IVnimituasT, Queen's Counsel, said he appeared on
behalf of the unfortunate man at the bar. It appeeared that
the prisoner, going down a steep hill in a gig, and he went cer-
tainly at a very rapid rate, ran over a child, the dealt of which
was the subject of the present indictment. They all knew
that children were constantly in the habit of running across
the roads, and how difficult it was for persons driving, more
especially gay horses, to prevent accidents. The prisoner,
when made acquainted with the accident which ensued, sent a
surgeon, paid his bill, and defrayed every subsequent expense
consequent upon the unfortunate death of the child, He had,
in fact, done all that a man could do under such cirumstances.
By his (Mr. Whitehurst's) advice he had pleaded guilty, be-
cause he felt, seeing that the prisoner was somewhat in liquor,
he (Mr. Whitehurst) could not successfully appeal to the jury
for a verdict of acquittal upon the charge of manslaughter. He
would call witnesses who would give the prisoner an excellent
character, and he hoped that evidence would have due effect
with the Court.

Numerous witnesses spoke highly of the prisoner as a kind,
sober, humane, and industrious man.

Mr. Justice MA ULE, in passing sentence, said it appeared
from the evidence, that on Sunday afternoon, the 10th of May,
the prisoner, when madly drunk, drove down a steep hill in a
gig, all the while flogging the horse, and when he ran over the
child he exclaimed, " Blast your eyes." No doubt this con.
duct was the result of excessive drinking—in fact, excess in
drink had transformed the prisoner from the character of a
peaceable man, as he was stated to be by his witnesses, into
that of a savage and outrageous beast. The act was committed
with the utmost ferocity; but it was said that when the pri-
soner came to his senses, he had done all that a man could do.
Still such offences must not go unpunished. Hoping and trust-
ing) however, that his present position would be a warning to
him, that he would not get drunk again (for if he did, he might
next commit murder), and that for the future he would know
how much better he might spend his Sunday afternoons, he
should past upon him a lighter sentence than otherwise he
should In, justified in doing. The Learned Judge then sen-
tenced the prisoner to four months' imprisonment and hard
labour.

The business of the assizes concluded at three o'clock.

OXFORD CIRCUI7I-11ereford, July 31.
CROWN COURT.—(Before Lord DENMAN.)

If Taylor, aged 21, and Wee. Doddymeud, aged 41, de-
scribed in the calendar as labourers, but evidently vagrants,
were charged with having, on the 22d of 31ay last, feloniously
set on fire a stack of corn, the property of George Maffei', at
Bridstow, in this county.
On the day upon which the fire took place, at about eight
o'clock in the morning, one John Bennett, a farmer, was jour-
neying along the Ross road, and as he drew near the rick he
observed the prisoner Taylor standing about 100 yards from it ;
the other man, Doddymead, he observed getting over a gate,
about 30 yards distant from the stack ; a few minutes only
elapsed when the witness observed a creeping flame, about the
size of his hat, glowing in the rick, and in an instant the whole
appeared in a blaze. Upon this the farmer directed his son,
who was riding with him, to take the prisoner Doddymead into
custody, which he did, and succeeded in dragging him to the
house of Air. Marfell. While there, the young man inquired
of him what was his reason for setting the rick on fire? to
which Doddymead answered, " It wa'nt me, but a fellow on
the road." Soon after this conversation, a look-out being
kept, the prisoner Taylor was observed on the road, and he was
apprehended. It was proved by the prosecutor that he left his
house about half-past seven o'clock on the day in question, and
that then the stack was safe. A passer-by would suppose, if he
gave the subject a thought, that as the rick adjoined the pre-
mises of a Mr. Roberts, it must of necessity be his property.
The chief evidence affecting the prisoners was contained in
their own statements. Taylor said that, on the day of the fire,
as he and the other prisoner were tramping along the road,
Doddymead said, " I'll set some place on fire, and get trans-
ported ;" and that when they came to a house near which the
rick was situate, he ( Taylor) went into that house to ask for a
bit of bread, and on his return Doddymead said, " I'll put an
end now to this travelling." Taylor then, as he said, upon
hearing this, went away, and Doddymead get over the gate by
the rick. Soon after he heard cries of " Fire !" and a gentle.
man came up and collared him. Doddymead heard this state-
meet of 'Taylor, and said it was quite true; that he had nothing
to add to it. He in his turn made a statement that he and
Taylor had long before intended to committ an offence of this
description.
His Loansitte summed up, and the jury, after consulting
together for ten minutes, found Doddymead Guilty, and Ac-
quitted Taylor.
Lord DENMAN addressed the prisoners, and said, that it fre-
quently happened that offences were committed by persons on
the tramp, who were perfect strangers to the counties through
which they passed, and so, as in this instance, they not only did
grievous injury and wrong, but also brought an unjust imputa-
tion upon the people of the district, as being wickedly disposed
and discontented. His Lordship then observed, that it seemed
Doddymead had committed this act with a view to transporta-
tion ; it was a part of his duty to let him know that this was not
the only punishment which would be inflicted upon him ; there
was hard labour and solitary confinement, which would be his
portion. His Lordship said he should consider his sentence at a
subsequent period.
The prisoner was again placed at the bar, and sentenced to
fifteen years' transportation.
Mr. Justice Patteson disposed of the few remaining cases in
the Crown Court; and the business of the assize finally closed
soon after eleven o'clock.

The Commission will be opened this evening at Mcnmouth.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
C L WEIN' WELL.

CHARGE OF AlURDER.—Yesterday, Ann Hunter, aged
twenty-four, wife of a cowkeeper, residing at No. 7, Market-
street, St. John-street, Clerkenwell, was charged before Mr.
Greenwood with the wilful murder of an infant child of which
it is supposed she was the mother.
John Seward, police-constable No. 67 G, having been sworn,
deposed as follows :—ln consequence of information which I
received this morning about half-past eight o'clock, that a child
had been murdered at No. 7, Market-street, St. John-street,
Clerkenwell, I proceeded thither. On going into the kitchen
I saw a washhand basin lying on the table, containing the body
of a dead child with its head severed from it as it it had been
cut off with a knife. There was no appearance of blood. I
inquired of the landlady and other persons in the house whe-
ther they had noticed any pregnant person lately, and they
informed me that the prisoner, about three weeks ago, had
been taken very ill, and was in great pain. I went up stairs
to the prisoner's apartment, on the first floor back, where I
found her at breakfast. I spoke to her, and she said she was
pregnant three weeks ago, but she had miscarried, and her
aunt, Mrs. Murphy, could prove it. tshe said Mrs. Muaphy
lived on Saffron-hill. I took the prisoner into custody, and
conveyed her and the body of the child to the station-house in
13agnigge Wells-road.
Eleanor Kirk, of Market-street, Clerkenwell, deposed—l
am a lodger in the same house as the prisoner. She lived there
one month. The prisoner, when she first came to lodge there,
bore all the appearance of being in the family-way. About
three weeks ago the prisoner was very ill, and went to bed.
She was in great pain, and sent for a Mr. Howlet, of No. 23,
Smith-street, Clerkenwell, who attended her. Never saw a
child on that occasion. Did not hear screams or crying of a
child. This morning, at half-past eight o'clock, Mrs. Hum-
berson, the landlady of tho house, made an alarm, and called
witness, informing her that she had discovered the body of a
dead child in the water-clo.et with its head cut off. They got
the body out, and afterwards the head, both of which they
washed, and placed them in a basin, when a policeman was
sent for.

Mr. GREENWOOD—Did the head appear to have been
severed from the body with a knife ? Witness—Yes, your
Worship. It was a full-grown child. The prisoner denied that
it was her child, and professed total ignorance of the affair.
Mrs. Mary Ann Humberson deposed—l am wife of Francis
John Eiumberson, of No. 7, Ma, ket-street, St. John-street,
Clerkenwell. This morning I found the body of the deceased
child in the water-closet attached to my house. Its head was
severed from its body. It was discoloured and black. When
the prisoner first came to lodge in my house I suspected that she

was in the family was. About three weeks ago she was taken
very ill and was in dreadful pain. She was confined to her bed.
Her husband lived with her.

Mr. Taylor, surgeon to the G division, and also to the parish
of Clerkenwell, said he was called upon y-esterday morning
to examine the deceased child at the station-house. The
head seemed to have been severed from the body by a knife.
The body was decomposed. He had made but a superficial
examination. The child appeared to have been born about
three weeks.

Sergeant Wilkinson, IS G, here said that. Mrs. Kirk had
omitted to state one important fact in her evidence. When
the prisoner was taken ill about three weeks ago, she (➢lrs.
Kirk) went for the purpose of seeing her, but she would not
admit her.

Mrs. Margaret Murphy, wife of James Murphy, coal dealer,.
of Saffron-hill, deposed that the prisoner's mother was her first
cousin. Prisoner had been in England four years. About
three weeks ago, Mrs. Hunter, called on witness, and said the
prisoner was very ill, and that a false report had been spread
about her. Witness went to her, and found her in bed.
Witness is a midwife. The prisoner was not in the family way.
There was no child seen by her. There was not the least sign
of miscarriage.

Mr. Taylor said he was of opinion that the prisoner had
been confined and delivered of a child about the time stated.
She bore all the usual symptoms of having been delivered of
a child.

Mr. GREENWOOD asked the prisoner what she had to say in
her defence? The prisoner said—l have nothing at all to say,
Sir. only that I know nothing at all about the matter.
Mr. GREENWOOD—It is my duty to remand you until
Tuesday next.
The prisoner was then taken from the bar crying, when
Mr. GREENWOOD directed Waddington, the ganlor, to allow
her friends to have an interview with her, prior to her being
locked up.

QUEEN SQUARE.
AN INHUMAN MartrEe..—Yesterday Anne Smith, a pros-
titute of the lowest grade, was charged with inhumanly neg-
lecting her child, an infant, only twelve weeks old, in conse-
I uence of which its life is despaired of.
The deplorable condition of the poor child was first brought
to light by a girl who, having heard some talk amongst others
of her own grade about the child, was induced, from 'motives
of curiosity, to go and see it, but was so horror-stricken on
beholding its emaciated condition, that she hurried to the
police-station, and gave immediate information of the occur-
rence. Mr. Moran, the inspector on duty, promptly dis-
patched a constable with the girl to Mr. Thomas, one
of the relieving officers of the parish, and the board,
who were sitting at the time, directed that the child
should be immediately taken to the workhouse, the medical
officer sent for, and every attention paid to it, and that. the
inhuman mother should be forthwith apprehended. A
police-constable found prisoner in the tap-room of a public-
house, in the Broadway, playing at cards with some soldiers,
and upon informing her that she must come with him, she
coolly requested that she might be permitted to finish her game,
but was of course not allowed to do so.

Mr. Thomas produced the following certificate :
" I have examined the infant of Anne Smith. The child
is very emaciated, and evidently has been altogether neglected
by the party who has had charge of it. It is very doubtful if
the child will ultimately survive.

" J. WRIGHT."
Anne Green, of the Almonry, Westminster, said she occu-
pied the next room to the prisoner, who had been in the house
two months, and came there from the workhouse. The child
was at that time a very fine infant, but had within the last
month fallen off very much, during which time prisoner had
been away from home more than usual. The accused was fre-
quently out all day long, and leff the poor infant in her room
by itself, and the witness has en several occasions when
she heard it crying, gone into the room, brought it out, and
washed and given it food. Prisoner went out at seven o'clock
on Thursday morning, and was heard no more of until appre-
hended by the constable. Witness washed and fed the infant
on that day.
The infant was produced, and caused a universal shudder ; it
presented a truly emaciated appearance, and the poor child, for
want of nutriment from the mother, had sucked the flesh of
one of its fingers to the very bone.
The prisoner muttered that the young girl in the next
room attended to it, and that it was in " a gallopping con-
sumption."
Mr. BURRELL remanded her for a week.

Prisoner inquired whether she was to be separated from her
dear child? and shed a few tears.

Mr. BURRELL said that the poor infant would be taken where
it would receive the kindness it was her duty to have bestowed
upon it, but which duty she had neglected.

LIEUT.-GENERAL NAPIER.

[General Napier, the gallant Governor of Guernsey, has
addressed the following interesting letter to the editor of the
Times. It places the character of his chivalrous brother, if
possible, in a still more striking light than heretofore.—En.
Sun.]
Sir,—ln Galignani's Messenger of the 18th of July I find
the following extract from the Parisian journal called the
Sijele:—

" In England an event like that of Dahra would not even
have excited remark. General Napier recently committed
in the war of Sinde atrocities which nothing could equal."
Upon this Galignanrs Messenger observes :
" The charge against General Napier does not stand upon
the same ground; true or false, it stands in juxtaposition
with that against Colonel Pelissier."
This intolerable calumny, invented by the Sit,c/e, repeated
and countenanced by Galignani, is addressed to the startled
civilisation of Europe to avert its rising indignation at the
barbarity of French warfare in Africa. The atrocities of
Sir Ch.trles Napier ! What were they ? Can one be men-
tioned? Let the Sie?ele state any act of his deviating in
the slightest degree from honour, generosity, or good dis-
cipline ! General Napier never committed, nor suffered
those under his command, to perpetrate any barbarity.
He warred in Siude, under the orders of his Govern-
ment, and justly ; he was not an aggressor. He
fought two battles and won both. The first, which lasted
four hours and a half, he won with 2,000 men against 34,000
brave warriors, who did not resign the field until 8,000 of
their numbers had fallen. The second, which lasted above
three hours, he won with 5,000 men against 26,000, who left
a fifth of their number on the ground to attest their valour.
He has made two campaigns, and for more than two years
be has governed the country he conquered; and neither in his
campaigns, nor under his government, has a woman or a
child been killed, oppressed, injured, or insulted. No man
has been killed, save on the field of battle. Even the unmi-

tigated calumniator of the Bombay Times never dared to
assert more than that some officers had seduced the Ameer's
women to live with them; and his mendacious assertion was

instantly met by an indignant denial, published and signed
by every officer of the army. No man of that army had
ever seen one of the vrotten.

Calignani's Messenger desires to have General Napier's
conduct placed in juxtaposition with Colonel Pilizsier's.
Let it he so.

The French Colonel, if the French papers are to be be-
lieved, roasted by a slow fire 800 Arab men, women, and
children, together with their cattle, rather than delay, even
for a few days, his march of devastation against other tribes,
and this in an aggressive war on his part.
The English General invaded certain Belooch tribes, be-
cause they had descended from their mountains upon Sintle,
cut off some troops, destroyed many villages, and murdered
many men, women, and children. These tribes were not
subjects of the conquered An-leers; no war had been madeon
them, no injury had been done to them, no insult, no prove •
cation offered to them ; but to repress their aggressions, and
protect the people under his government, General Napier in-
vaded their mountains. This surprising expedition, which
lasted 54 days, presented the most formidable difficulties. A
desert a hundred miles wide, arid and desolate as any in
Africa, was to be passed ere the army could reach the nu-
merous tribes, which were to be warred down amidst stupen-
dous rocks and barren mountains, where more than one im-
perial army had been destroyed in former days, and where re-
cently many British detachments had been cut off. The
troops had to dig, day after day, for water, of a deleterious
nature when procured; they were constantly on half ration;
they had to contend with a numerous and warlike
people, gliding like serpents around them in craft, and
fighting like lions when beset. The Indian newspaper rich.
culed the enterprise, and predicted defeat for the madman
who had undertaken it; the army, officers and soldiers alike,
though brave and devoted to the last degree, sustaining
every hardship, every privation, every fatigue, and meeting
every danger with matchless patience and courage, had no
expectation of a successful termination to their labours.
The General stood alone in his hopes; but when his masterly
combinations had reduced the tribes (whose power to destroy
his army by fatigue and starvation was represented and be-
lieved by all to be insurmountable) to the last gasp of misery
and famine—that is to say, when he was on the point of
reaping the fruits of his indomitable perseverance by their
surrender—l find the following passage in his private jour-
nal, written during the operation, and recording in homely
style the impulses of his mind almost from hour to hour:--
" Feb. I.—The camelmen (commissariat) have, to the tune
of 500, refused to bring provisions past Shapoor"—a place
midway in the desert, the army being then in mountains as
wild and sterile as the desert itself—" and I am fairly put to
my trumps. Well, exertion must increase. I will use the
camel corps"—a fighting corps—" and dismount half my
cavalry to fetch provisions, if need be. I will eat Red Rover
(his charger) sooner than flinch before these robber tribes."
" Feb. 3.—1 knew I was right. I have intelligence that
Bejar (the great chief of the tribes) and all his men are at
Munclo, a place 20 miles in advance, dying of hunger; many
expire daily. Come, I will wait. Let them fast. In four
days the pass will be secured, and then I am at you, Bejar,
and mean to give you a bellyful!. Ay, but there are his
women, and be hanged to them I I must get them and the
children out of the way, even though he escape."
Thus, Sir, you see General Napier was ready to sacrifice
even the fairest advantages of war, and his own military re-
putation, to save women and children. Colonel Pelissier
roasted theml alive by hundreds rather than lose a few days'
time—that is, if the charges against him be not an invention
of the French journalists, which the falsehood of their charge
against my brother gives me the right to suspect.
W. F. P. NAPIER, Major •General.

Guernsey, July 30.

EXTENSIVE FlRE.—This morning (Saturday),
shortly before one o'clock, a fire, attended with a very serious de-
struction of property, broke out upon the premises belonging to
Mr. Moxon, a grocer and tea dealer, situate at No. 19, Blackmoor-
street, Clare-market, a very narrow and densely populated neigh-
bourhood. From inquiries instituted shortly alter the outbreak, it
appears that some of the neighbours first discovered the fire in con-
sequence of noticing smoke issuing through the window shutters.
An alarm having been instantly raised, some of the parties
injudiciously burst open the street-door. The draught thus
given to the flames caused them to travel with such sur-
prisin rapidity that, in less than ten minutes subsequently,
the house, a very lofty one, was on fire from the basement to the
roof, and to effect their escape the inmates were forced to retreat
over the roof. The engines of the parish, London Establishment,
West of England Company, and County Office, were remarkably
quick in arriving, and no time was lost in setting the engines to
work. The stock in trade being of such a combustible character,
it it became a powerful auxiliary to the dames, so much so h
fire extended completely across the street, severely scorching
he
fronts of the opposite houses, the inmates of which were forced
to
rush forth into the street in order to escape being suffocated. By
the indefatigable exertions of the firemen, thilefr fire
of
f aiassioy
further
tar sub_
dued by half-past two o'clock as to
extension of mischief. By that time,alhiaoywaever, the whole of the
furniture, stock in trade, and
wearing
dj apparel, belonging to Mr.
Moxon, were consumed, and the buildings severely
damaged. The total loss must be very considerable, Fortunately
no lives were lost.
Copes ACCIDENT.—During the Good wood races
several coaches have run from Brighton. On Thursday night a
coach called the Age, driven by a person named Butcher, in re_
turnine from Goodwood, ran against the Aldrington turnpike-gate
with such force as to break the pole of the coach, and throw se-
yeral of the Passengers off the roof, who, however, escaped with a
few bruises. The horses, three in number, took flight, and r
Into Brighton at a fearful rate, but owing to the late hour they
escaped concussion with any vehicles, and were stopped within a
few yards of the Blue coach-office. The passengers, rather shaken,
arrived at a late hour the same evening.
EFFECTS OF STEAM BY LAND AND WATER.—The
town of Sittinghourne, in Kent, a few years past, had two respect-
able inns, which together used sixty pairs of post horses; the
largest, the Rose, is now shut up, and the other uses only three
pairs of horses and two post boys ; formerly 35 coaches went
'through the town, now only one.