The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-08-11 00:00:00

WHIG PURITY OF ELECTION !

At Nottingham assizes, yesterday weak, James Hitchens,
John Pearce, William Milford, and William Morton, were
indicted for conspiring together to prevent John Hickman
from voting for Mr. Thesigar at the last election for the
borough of Newark, and forcibly carrying off the said Hick-
man to a distance from the said borough on the eve of the
election.

The witness Hickman, after detailing various tipplings
with the Solicitor-General's agents, proceeded to say—
" They then brought me down to the Castle and Falcon,
Sergeant Wylde's head-quarters. Went into a lower room.
There was present, Mr. Ilitchens. He said, Now, Jack,
what will you have to drink ?' and I said, ' I don't want
anything to drink.' He said, I must ; and I said, "If I
must have anything to drink, I will have sixpennyworth of
brandy and water.' Mr. Hitchens then went to fetch it ;
but instead of brandy he brought laudanum. When I smelt
it, it smelt very nauseous. I said, 'Hitchens, this is not fit
for a min to drink ;' and he said, your eyes, Jack, you
shall drink it.' I made no more to do, but IL drank it up ;
and so soon as I had drunk it he said, There, him,
take him away ; he is right enough now.' The room was
full of people when he drank it ; but he did not know who
they were. Cannot remember what took place afterwards.
He was like a ' dead un' directly.' "
The next witness was Thomas Wootten, a resident of Not-
tingham, whither the Solicitor-General's agents carried
Hickman after they had-poisoned him—the distance from
Newark being twenty miles—
" Hickman was insensible at the time he was put into the
bottom of the chaise, and Hitchens and Melford came back,
and Hitchens said, Where are these boys ?' Melford then
took them out of the house before they had had the glass of
brandy that was ordered for them, and they were shown into
the chaise, the door was shut, and they went off without
their hats. Hickman was put on the seat; he leaned on
Wright's shoulder. IVloreton drove the chaise. Melford
was in the front of the chaise at the end of the town. He
then got off, and opened the door, and asked, ' How many
are there ?' I said, ' Three.' He said, Now my lad, More-
ton, you will do what I told you : take him as far as Not-
tingham, and if he does not waken before lie gets to Notting-
ham, put him down at the end of the town, so that he may
get into the hands of the police, then we shall know he will
be safe, so that he cannot come and poll. Melford then
went away, and Moreton drove ax a rapid pace towards Not-
tingham. When they got to Ratcliff, Hickman was sick ;
told Moreton the old mau had thrown up. He said, Oh,
he be d—d ; I think the old devil has had laudanum enough.'
Proceeded to Nottingham, and stopped near the town end.
Moreton pulled up, took Hickman lip, and laid hint in the
horse-road, so that if there had been any carriages he must
have been run over. II was about three in the morning.
Moreton drove into the town, and told a policeman a drunken
man was lying in the road, and that he had like to have run
over the old devil. They returned to the Castle and Falcon
about eight in the morning. Saw Hitchens after the election
was over. He was making a speecli; Asked him for another
sovereign. He said, Oh, be —; I shan't give you any
more than a sovereign. You have managed it badly, for he
came back and polled.' " •
The jury retired for a few minutes, and then returned into
court with a general verdict of Guilty against all the defend-
ants except Morton, whom they only convicted of an assault,
he being the post-boy, and whom they recommended to

mercy.
The Lord Chief Justice, in passing sentence on the de-
fendants, observed that their offence was a most serious one ;
there was nothing more injurious to the rights and liberties of
Englishmen than interference, either by intimidation, vio-
lence, fraud, or corruption, with the voter's freedom of elec-
tion. It was lamentable to find a person of the talent dis-
played by the defendant Hitchins (who is one of the county
coroners) committing outrages of this nature; but it was
evident that he had been the ringleader on the occasion. in
order to serve as a warning to themselves and to others to
abstain from such conduct in future, it was necessary that
their punishment should not be a light one. His lordship
then sentenced the defendants to be imprisoned in Notting-
ham gaol, Hitchens for six months, Pearce and Milford for
three months,. and Morton for a fortnight.

THE BIBLE, WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT.
A Lecture, delivered in Paradise-street Chapel, Liverpool,
19th February, 1839, by the Rev. James Martineau, being
the second delivered weekly, in answer to a Course of
Lectures by Clergymen of the Church of England.