Star.
London, England, 1817-09-17 00:00:00

ItIADDLESEX SESSIONS, SEPT. 15.

ASSAULT 111' TIMING A OWN.
Thomas Alq;eilte, Esq. a gentleman residing at Stoke
Newington, was indicted on two charges, which were
let forth as separate counts in the indictment. The
first count charged the defendant with having pointed
a gun at Samuel Rogers, put him in great fear, and
caused him great alarm ; the second count stated,
that he had committed an assault on Rogers, by
pointing and firing a gun at him, with intent to do
him some great bodily harm. •
The case on the partof the prosecution was opened
by Mr. Rererees, who, in his address to the Jury,
strongly impressed on them the necessity of defending
the lives of his Majesty's subjects against such wanton
and violent attacks, as that charged against the de-
fendant.
Samuel Rogers stated, that he was a bricklayer's
labourer; that on the 24th of May last, he was work-
ing fur Mr. Chearsley, at Stoke Newington, who
was making a drain; in doing this it was necessary
to go upon the ground of Mr. M'Cabe; they went
into his field through a gate; this was about half.past
four in the afternoon ; at that moment Mr. M'Cabe
came down and told them it was no use to work
there, as he would pull up any tanks they laid down
there ; be asked for their names, and then warucd
tf.em off the ground, declaring that he would shoot
aniy persons who should continue trespassing there.
Hi went away for a short time, and then returned
with a gun ; the witness was carrying a hod on his
shoulder as the time ; he saw the defendant point the
un at him, and Ere it ; he was sure the gun was
loaded with shot, because he heard the shot raiding
against the piling ; the moment the gun was let off,
the Witness darted at Mr. M'Cabe, in order to take
the gun from him, and by the assistance of two others
the gun was taken.
Mr. ALUM, as Counsel for the defendant, put se-
veral questions to the witness, and from his answers
it appeared. that whets he rats to seize the gun, a
violent scuffle took place, in which several of the
parties tell into a ditch. He denied that he knocked
Mr. M'Cabe into the ditch, and being asked it he had
not knocked a young Lady, the sister of that Gen-
tleman, into the ditch, he said that the young girl
pulled he, self in.
The evidence of the above witness was corroborated
by Che.usley, his employer, and by :mother labourer
of the name of i3atson, who both swore chat the de-
fendant pointed his gun at Rogers.
Mr. Ataxy, on the part of defendant, addressed
the Court and Jury for a considerable time. In the
first place he maintained that the prosecution could
not be maintained in point of law, because the per-
sons who carried it on were trespassers on another
man's premises, which they had no right to enter ;
and that the owner of the premises, after having
warned them to quit the same, was justified in firing
at them when they refused to go away ; besides they
were the first assailants in going up to, and attacking.
the defendant, seizing his gun, and knocking hint into
a ditch. But, independent of this, he could make
out a case which should show that, is point of fact,
the defeudsnt must be fully exculpated ; for it would
appear by the evidence of two young ladies whom
be seould call, that the defendant instead of pointing
or takieg aim with his gun, had fired it in them,
merely for the purpose of intimidating the trespas-
sers. But whether he flied his gun in the air or at
the intruders, he was, in point of law, justified in
what he had done. Here Mr. Alley noticed the cir-
cumstance of gentlemen putting spring guns in their
grounds, a most shocking and cruel practice in his
opinion, but one which they were by law warranted
in pursuing. If, after due notice beiag given, one
of these spring guns should take away the lite of a
trespasser, the owner of the ground who bad placed
the gun there, was not liable to a prosecution, and
the present case, he maintsined, was much stronger
in favour of the defendant.
Mr. Anoieutts followed on the same side, and
contended that this was not a case to go to a Jury,
even had the defendant taken aim and fired at those
who trespassed on his premises ;'but he had not tired
at them ; the gun e as charged with powder alone,
the explosion could do no injury, and all the prose-
cutor had to complain of was, that set forth in the
first count in the indictment, that his mere nervous
sensibilities had been affected. The bare alarm which
his nerves had sustained, was no justification for him
to go up and knock the defendant into a ditch. Tiis
kind of argument reminded him of a passage in one
of Cumberland's plays, where it was stated, that a
oews-hawker had blown his horn close to a gentle.
man's ear, so loudly and so suddenly, that the gen-
tians's was terribly alarmed, and then turned round
and knocked flu horn boy down. When the affair
afterwards came before a lawyer, the gentleman in.
silted that he bad a right to knock down the person
who had thus affected ids nervous sensibilities ; but
the lawyer soon conviced him abet he bad no such'
right. The present was a else exactly, similar. No
degree of abuse or terror could justify the prosecutor
in striking the defendant, and it must be proved dsat
be intended to offer him some bodily injury, before
any conviction Gould take place.
The following witnesses were then oalled in behalf
of the defendant t
Miss Frances M'Cabe said. she was sister to the
defendant I she remembered whenetliese men came on
his, premises, she and her brother were in the garden.
At the time when this gun was fired. the prosecutor's
back was turned towards her and her brother, so
slit be could not be in the direction the gun was
fired. Her brother fired the gen in the air, and not
at the prosecutor. The moment the gun was fired,
the men castle; there was a struggle, and she and
her brother were knocked down into the ditch. It
was the prosecutor who committed the fast assault.
Miss Caroline M'Cabe, another sister, was at home
on the 24th of May, when the affair in question took
pace. She saw her brother take the gun to meet a
personE is the garden--her brother first went down
without the gun, and spoke to the parties. She afe
serererds saw him take the gun and fire it in the air ;
before he toot it, he said he intended only to fire it
in the
air_the prosecutor's back was turned towards
him. he was half way down the field, which was ISO
yards long; the man had a hod on his shoulder at
the time. After the gun was fired, Rogers came
back, tried to get through the gardens gate, but was
prevented ; at last, however, he got into the garden ,
the other saes got in also; they came up to hes boo

they, one of them tried to wrest the gnu ont of his
bands, and the other knocked her brother and the
r servant into the ditch.
The gardener of Mr. M'Cabe declared that his
master had not attempted to offer any violence to the,
prosecutor, until violence was first offered to him.
He saw the parties throw his master into the ditch,
and Batson took the gpn and broke it.
Mr. RRYNOLDS in reply contended, that if it ap-
peared to the Jury that the gun was pointed at the
prosecutor, the firing it off constituted the offence
set forth in the indictment; and that, if he were now
acquitted, he might
.go back and continue to be the
!terror of his whole neighbourhood. It was distinctly
stated in evidence, that the gun was printed by the
defendant, and that it was loaded with shot ; for the
prosecutor said he heard the shot rattle against the
paling, and if no such thing had happened, it was
easy for the defendant to have proved that fact.
Mr. WAVION, the Chairman, after giving it as his
opinion that this was a ease which ought to go to a
Jury, told them it was tl.eir duty to exercise a dispas-
sionate judgment on the whole of the evidence before
them. With respect to the first count its the indict-
ment, it was inconsisieLt with the laws of England,
that any sue! charge as was therein contained could'
be made; for it could not be imputed as an offence to
any man that be bad frightelied another ; therefore
that:count was to be left out, and the question must
rest on the second count, which related simply to the
assault. With regard to that point, Cite only thing
to consider was, whether the deterklant did actually
aim the gun at the prosecutor at the time he fired it?
if he did that, he certainly committed an assault.
The Jury were then to judge from the conflicting tes• ,
timuny of the parties on each side, and determine on '
the single question whether the gun was aimed at the
prosecutor, or merely fired in the air. The Learned
Chairman then summed up the evidence.
The Jury deliberated for two or three minutes, and
that pronounced the defendant—Guilty.
The Court, after a short deliberation, sentenced
him'to pay a fine of 410.
In the course of the above trial, a question came
before the Court respecting the licence which barris-
ters are allowed to take with witnesses. Mr. Add-
pito:, while he was re-examining one of the witnesses
for the prosecution, used these words—" you dis-
grace yourself."
Mr. REYNOLDS observed, that that was not lan-
guage fit to be used in a Court to any witness.
Mr. ADOLPIIVA, in justification of the expression
that fell from him, quoted the case of ore of the pre-
sent Judges, who, while a barrister, bad used similar
language to a witness at the assizes.
The CHAIRMAN gave it as his opinion, that the
language was highly improper, and not fit to be used
in a Court.

- .
Thtusday, the day on which the Jews holidays com-
menced, Mr. BARNARD, of Poplin, one of the Elders
of the Synagogue, who had charge of the money rep
propriated to the support of the Jewish poor, having
gone to worship at an early hour, a person (also a
Jew) who lived in the same house, and who had been
employed in teaching the children the Hebrew lan-
guage, took advantage of his absence, atd broke
open a desk, from which he stole 4460, and escaped.
MURDNIL AND RODIERY.4II the middle of lust
December, a respectable farmer named Holtman,
whose age on the day of his death was 90, was mut-
deredin hi s own house, within three miles of Us-
bridge, and his bureau robbed of .1610 which he had
lately received as a quarterly dividend at the Bank.
Suspicion at the time attached to his grandson, a
person of the name of Bond, who, report said, had
been apprehensive tha: the will of his grandfather,
which was in his favour, might be altered by him.--
He was examined at the time, but discharged. It
was a singular fact, that the old inan's will was after-
wards found open. Upon being read, the inheritance
was found to devolve upon his grandson, who was
put in possession immediately after his discharge.r.
Bond returned to the house, buried his grandfather,
and lived in the same solitary place. Months rolled
on, and still no tidings of the murderer. The agita-
tion of Uxbridge began to subside, when a few days
ago it 'was revived with the greatest violence. A
Ceeutleuisn seneto the Bank two notes, one for 420
and another for 410. The Bank were not idle upon
heal:ag of the murder. The numbers of the notes
which were paid to Mr. Howard when he went to
receive his dividend had been taken, and the necessary
order for stopping them issued. Those very nines for
£2O and for £lO were the notes which had been
taken out of Mr. Howard's bureau. The Directors
of the Bank, with all that alacrity so laudable upon
she occasion, traced the notes through about thirty
hands, and at last cone within three miles of Ux-
bridge, and found them in the hands of Bond. The
'grandson was immediately conveyed to town. By
the advice of au experienced Barrister, the bill for
the robbery sass on Monday presented to the Grand'
Jury at Clerkenwell. After the examination of 3.5
witnesses, it was found a true bill.
Consumes Inusers..--Yesterday an Inquest was
held at the siga of the Queen's Head, in Red Lion
Passage, Holborn, on the undyof Mr. C. Ku by, late
a Clerk in the house of Sir Charles hice.—Charles
Rayon, Esq. of Woburn-place, stated, that on Sun-
day night, as he was passing thtuugh Red Lion•pas-
sage, he observed the deceased fall to the ground in
a state of insensibility. He gave several convulsive
groans, when a watchman came tip, and witness had
him taken to the Queen's Head chop-house, and sent
for Mr. Morgan, a surgeon, who attempted to bleed
him, but without effect, and pronounced him dead.
Verdict—Died by the Visitation of Giro.
Yesterday an Inquest &as held at Shadwell Work-
house, on the body of G. lUnd, aged 70.—P. Bate-
man, a surgeon, deposed, that on Friday afternoon,
he was passing along High-street, Shadwell, when
lie saw the deceased sitting at the door of Mr.
Thompson, ; linen-draper, appiiiently in a fit. Wit-
nes: recommended him to be taken to the workhouse;

but he died as he was carrying there. Verdict—
Died by the Visitation et GOD.
An inquest was taken on Monday night at the
White Raven. Whitechapel-road, on the body of M.
Avery, aged 40 years, who was killed by a fall from
a ladder. The deceased was employed as a brick.
layer's labourer; he had taken a hod of bricks up a
ladder, and placed them on a scaffold about 50 feet
high ; and being in a state of intoxication, he fell to
the ground, and injured his neck and fractured seve-
ral bones. He lived in great agony for two days, and,
then expired. Vcrdict.—Accideutal Death.