Star.
London, England, 1819-08-21 00:00:00

NORFOLK ASSIZES.

I!

NOWICII, AUGUST 13.

Edward FiAer was indicted for maliciously stab-
' !Aug Wm. Harrison in the belly, on the Bth of July. •
Harrison, the prosecutor, stated, that about nine in
the evening, as he was going home from Bressing-
hant, the prisoner came up to him and struck him
below the navel, saying somethhig about his wife,
which prosecutor could not distinctly hear. He then
said to the prisoner, " I'll have you taken np," and
stood looking at him; upon which Fisher turned
away, and went down gen street. Prosecutor then
walked to Mr. Brande's, and was afterwards removed
to the public-house. The wound is not yet healed;
he kept his bed three or four weeks. Never had any
quarrel with the prisoner; knows the prisoner's wife,
but was not intimate with her, and had not seen her
for two or three weeks or longer.
Mr. Burt, a surgeon at Dies, went to the prosecu-
tor about ten o'clock in the evening, and found him
bleeding on a table, in exceedingly great pain ; he
thought he was dying; the wound was near two
inches in length into the cavity of the body, and nearly
20. inches of the bowels protruded through the wound.
• 'John Branch, the constable, stated, that upon his
apprehending the prisoner, he said he did not care ;
he wished he had done it before, for Harrison had
caused more dispute between him and his wife than
any man he knew ; witness produced the clasp knife
with which the wound was• inflicted, smeared with
blood. • ._

The prisoner, in his defence, said, that on the pre-
vious evening lie prosecutor stood in front of his
house, laughing, hallooing, and behaving in a mena-
cing manner.
The prosecutOebeing recalled, denied this statement.
His Lordship then summed up the evidence, and
the Jury returned a verdict of Guilty.
In pronouncing the awful sentence of the law, the
Learned Judge remarked, that the prisoner had, upon
one of the most wholesome statutes that ever was
enacted for the protection of his Majesty's subjects,
been found guilty of a most heinous offence, without
having received a shadow of provocation that could
induce him to commit it. He had insinuated that it
was from jealousy, but there was not a tittle of evi-
dence to support such an imputation ; it must, there-
fore, have been in order to satiate some unruly pas-
sion. The horrid offence had been perpetrated upon
an individual who was not in a situation to defend
himself. The Courts never overlooked cases like the
present, but always visited them with capital punish-
ment; and he earnestly recommended the prisoner to
prepare for the fate which awaited him, by prayer.
During the whole trial the prisoner manifested the
strongest feelings of agitation.

An; Howard was indicted for maliciously setting
fire to the dwelling-house of Mr. Charles Dodd, at
Carlton Rode, on the 19th of July last, and Benjamin
Burcham, as accessory before the fact.
John „Harvey stated, that he lived with the prose-
cutor; on the night of the fire he went to bed at ten
o'clock, leaving. Mr. and Mrs. Dodd up; Ann
Howard, the servant,' slept in the house ; about an
hour and a half after he had been in bed, the came
into his room and 'said she beard somebody walking
on the tiles of the leanto, at the back of the house;
he desired her to go away, saying, it was only her
imagipation; shortly afterwards she came again and
said, that there certainly was somebody, for she heard
them jump from the tiles to the ground ; he told her
again to go out of the room, and asked her why she
did not tell her master ? She replied she durst not.
She left the room, and in a short time he heard her.
returning again ; he got out of bed, and on going to
his chamber-door, which she left open, he saw a deal
of smoke in the landing. He desired her to alarm
her master and mistress, which she did ; he went
down into the yard and saw the roof in flames. The
caves of the thatch of the roof might be 20 feet from
the ground ; it was not pos.sible for Ann Howard to
light the thatch from the window of the room in
which she slept, but she might do it from an adjoin-
ing one, which was sometimes used as a granary, and
into which she could go. The house was not quite
burnt down, the walls were standing. About an hour
from the time he was fist alarmed, when assisting in
getting furniture out of the house, he saw the priso-
ner Burcham drinking some home-made wine which
had been rescued, and looking on with great ap-
parent indifference ; he was in his shirt-sleeves.
Mr. Dodd, the prosecutor, stated, that on the night
of the fire Mrs. Dodd alarmed him : that Ann
Howard had free communication with the room used
as a granary ; the thatch of the roof was about three
feet from the window, which was open. When she
was in custody at the constable's house, he said to
her, " If you have any thing to say to me, say it
now, for I am going.' She replied, that " if he
would go into the passage she would tell him." He
went with her into the parlour, where she said, " I
set your house on fire !" To which he said, " Did you
so, Ann ! how did you do it ?" She said she took the
tinder-box into the granary, and shut the door ; struck
a light, and set fire to the thatch with a match, near
the wall. He had suspicion at first that she did it.
When he first saw fire, it was just over the wicket in
the granary.
John Rush, the Constable, who conveyed the pri-
soners to the Castle, on Wednesday, the 22d July,
stated, tl-..t as they were going along, the two pri-
soners fell out. Burcham said, " What Ann Howard
had told Dr. Beevor (the Magistrate) was wrong;
that she was an old liar." She said, " You (mean-
ing Burcham) are an older liar than I ; if it had not
Leen for you, I should not have done it." He de-
nied what she said, flew into a passion, and said,
throttle you," which he attempted to do, but was
prevented by the witness.
James Rush stated, that he was made a special
&nimble to fetch Burcham, then in custody, before
the Magistrates; that on coming along, Burcham
said, "If he.had told the girl to set fire to the house,
the law would not hang him.'t
John Batterbee stated, that he was a bricklayer;
that about a month before the fire he was at work at
Btu cliam's : that he heard the prosecutor and Bur-
chain have some words about some muck in a ditch.
After Dodd was gone away, witness said, " Dodd is
a d—d rum fellow."• Prisoner replied, " Yes, he is
an unfair neighbour ; I should not much mind seeing
his bed burnt from under him."
A confession made by Ann Howard was put in,,

setting forth the above facts. The prosecutor gave
her a good character.
John Johnson, the keeper of the Castle, said, &at
he considered her a very weak young woman.
Upon this evidence the Jury found Arm Howard
Guilty, but strongly recommended her to mercy.
The evidence being insufficient to convict Burch 'AM
as the accessory, he was, under the direction of his
Lordship, Acquitted.
John Pycraft was indicted for administering a
quantity of arsenic to his infant child, whereby its
death was occasioned.
There was no evidence of the child's having had
vomitings occasioned by the taking of arsenic ; and
Mr. Dalrymple and Mr. W. Stark, who opened the
body, stated, that there was no arsenic in the sto-
mach or bowels, nor was there the appearance of any.
The Jury therefore acquitted the prisoner.
His WAS then indicted for administering arsenic,
with intent to poison Elizabeth, his wife, by putting
it into pork and potatoes, and some tea.
After a trial which lasted six hours, the prisoner
was found Guilty on this charge ; and the Learned
Judge, with great impressiveness, passed on him the
awful sentence of the law. His Lordship, in the
most humane and solemn manner, recommended the
wretched offender seriously to consider the enormity
of his crime, and endeavour, by sincere repentance,
to conciliate that mercy from GOD, in a future state
of existence, which the well-being of human society
forbade should be extended to him in this world,
The miserable man heard his dreadful doom appa-
rentlr unaffected and unmoved.

7
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ner 13urchair
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had been re
parent indiffi
Mr. Dodd,
of the fire
' Howard had
as a granary
v.. feet from thi
was in custo
her, " If yot
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would go jut
went with he
:, set your hous
so, Ann ! ha
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a light, and
the wall. H
When he firs
. , the granary.
John Rust
soners to th
stated, tt...t
soners fell of
had told DI
that she wa
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ing Burchan
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nied what s
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1 prevented b)
James Ru
ti . • • t constableto
• the Magistra
said, " Jibe
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the law wool
• ~, . John Bata
I 1, that about a
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chain have si
After Dodd
a d—d rum 1
an unfair net
- his bed burnt
A confessii
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