Star.
London, England, 1818-08-04 00:00:00

and because to prevent their getting into general
circulation- must have been a principal cause of the
abrupt termination of the trial.
It was obvious that disappointment chagrined
every heart and saddened every countenance. Un-
willing to believe that the charm was gone, the
crowd literally stuck in the same impenetrable mass'
for hours afterwards ; but the perfect inanity of the
subsequent causes at length dispersed them.
ceows SIDEr ISIOAMY.
Thomas Sparrow, aged 40, was arraigned fter Bi•
,gamy, and pleaded, first, that he had married Mar-
garet Cook, his present wife ; next, he was not guilty.
Mr. COOKSON opened the case to the Jury. The
evidence he had to lay before them would establish
that the prisoner had married Ann Potts in the year
1804, and while she was still living, that he had
married Margaret Cook in 1817. Nor did he do so
through mistake, for tie openly traw,acted and avcr7.--
ed this singular proceeding. Both wives he had
married in the same church of Monkwearmouth, and
with both successively he had lived in the same street
in fittnderland. • Upon proving these facts, he must
call upon them to find the prisoner guilty.
The Sexton was the first witness. He swore to the,
handwriting of Kennicote, the Parish Priest, who had
extracted the tec'ord of the first marriage. But he
• had not himself compared the extract with the regi-
ster; therefore Mr. Baron WOOD refused to receive
this (locator:rat as proof of the first marriage. This
same Sexton swore, that a Thomas Sparrow and a
Margaret Cook were married on the 2fith of MaT,
1817 ; but whether the Thomas Sparrow were the
prisoner at the bar, or the Judge upon the bench, he,
could not tell.
Mr. Baron WOOD pronounced this the lamest ease
that he had ever known.
Several witnesses were called, who proved that
the prisoner had lived with Ann Potts, and called
her his wile ; and that he now lived with ?Margaret
Cook, and called bet his wife ; while Ann Potts was
not only living, but standing on tiptoe at the door
of the Court at that moment. Other witnesses prov-'
. cd, that he had repeatedly declared that his first wife
, was a w—e, but that his present wife was a decent

lione,l woman.
The Jury found a verdict of Not Guilty. The
Counsel for the prosecution applied for costs in vain.
The prisoner was immediately discharged, and
'left the Cann. He is a very athletic and strong man.
He proceeded homewards without a moment's delay,
and while he strongly and cordially sliwk by the
hand such friends as met him in the street, he was
by no means sparing of his comments on his own
conduct. " My first, wife was a worthless b—r,
while she lived with me I was not a day comfortable;
since she left me the has broke: all my windows,
and got 16 warrants out against me. If I married a
second wife, no man can say that I did it for money.
She had not a shift on her back when I took her.—
D—n me if I did not cover her with my smeck-
frock ; yet she is as good a wife as ever man had.
WICKLOW ASSIZES.
At the last Assizes for the county of Wicklow,
Philip Lewin stood indicted before the Honourable
Baron Guottort, for the murder of Thomas Lewitts,
his father.
The circumstances that led to the apprehension of
the prisoner, his conviction, and execution, were fee:.
Ott the morning of the murder a woman met the
prisoner, with wham she was acquainted. He was
dressed in a dark-coloured coat, and wore white
yarn stockings. In about an hour after this meeting
she was going, np the same road ; she heard cries of
distress, she advanced, and saw a man striking ano-
ther man on the ground, but did not know the person
inflicting the wounds. Being apprehensive of ap-
proaching alone, she applied to a woman living on
the road, and also to a man, and directed them to
where the man was lying. As they came up they
saw a man with a large dark coat, and white stock-
ings, running away, but did not see his face; arriving
where the body of the man lay, perfectly dead, they
discovered it to be the prisoners father, with his
head beat in in three places. The man brought by the
woman said, "It is either Phil. or Pat. that has mur-
dered the father r While standing•there a boy came
up, and on seeing the body, mentioned to them that
he had just met Phil. Lewins running up the road ;
that Phil. had asked him if he had seen a man run-
ning before, with a light-coloured coat? To this
the boy replied lie had not, and walked on. The
prisoner continued to run, the boy looked back, and
saw him go into the gap of a field, and almost im-
mediately return, and continue running. Being
asked if be could point out the gap, he replied he
could ;. accordingly the party repaired there, and
after three searches, found a pistol, with the pan
down, the stock broken, and loaded with powder
and ball; a pursuit was made, and at the distance
of about four miles, the prisoner was discovered by
his white stockings in a field, covered, except his
legs, with furze. When the prisoner was discovered
he was asked what brought him into that situation ?
He replied, that he oweci his landlord 1:60 rent, and
then when lie saw the crowd, he thought they were bai-
liffs coming to arrest him for the debt, and that, there-
fore, lie was in the situation they found him.
This was the only defence made on the trial, which
was negatived by the landlord, who declared, that
though the prisoner was indebted to him, he had no
cause to apprehend an arrest at his suit. The priso-
ner was instantly found—Guilty.
Bawn Gum, in his address to the prisoner, after
conviction, endeavoured to arouse him to a sense of
the atrocity of his offence,- aggravated by the fact
of that being the murder of his father.
The prisoner, instead of paying the least attention
to the Learned Judge, merely said, " They stole my
lease—William stole it, and gavl it to him, (mean-
ing his father), and lie gave it up to Mills."
He received the awful and dreadful sentence el
death without emotion, and retired from the Court
still speaking of his lease.
Frequently, previous to his execution, he was at-
tended by the Bev. Dr. Porter, who (as he does in
every case) exerted the piety by which his character
is marked, to bring the wretched being to a sense of
his awful situation—of religion he had no knowledge
—a prayer he either would not or could not say—not
even the Lord's prayer. To the pious exhortations of
the Reverend Clergyman he replied, " they stole my
lease." He had been of the Catholic religion, and
about fourteen years ago read his recantation. Pre-
• suming he might wish to commune with a clergy-
, man of his former persuasion, Dr. Porter mentioned