The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-12-09 00:00:00

SOUTH LANCASHIRE WINTER

ASSIZES

At five o'clock, on Saturday evening, the two Judges
appointed to hold the South Lancashire Winter Assizes in
;his town, Mr. Baron Parke and Mr. Justice Williams,
arrived at the Railway Station, Lime-street, from Lon-
don. They were met at the station by Pudsey Dawson,
Esq., the High-sheriff of the county, the Rev. Rector
Brookes, the High-sheriff's chaplain, and David Hodg-
son, Esq., Mayor. They proceeded at once in the High-
sheriff's carriage to the lodgings, in St. Anne-street,
where they robed. At ten minutes to six o'clock they en-
tered the Crown Court, where the commission was opened
and read by Mr. T. S. Shuttleworth, the Clerk of the
Crown, and the precept was handed in by the High-she-
riff. The crimes are of the ordinary description ; for we
are happy to say, that in the list, there is not a single'
charge of murder, a somewhat unusual circumstance upon
this circuit. The following is a summary of the calendar :
—To receive judgment, 2 ; -manslaughter, 4 ; intent to
murder, 3 ; stabbing or wounding, 11; rapes, &c., 7 ;
highway robbery, 1; robbery from the person, with vio-
lence, 5 ; bigamy, 2 ; concealing birth, 1; burglary, 11 ;
forgery, 4 ; feloniously embezzling, 1 ; horse stealing, 2 ;
perjury, 1 ; mutiny and attempting to destroy a vessel at
sea, 7 ; total, 62. The judges, on looking over the ca-
lendar, seemed to be of opinion that they could dispose
of it by Thursday next, but Friday or Saturday at the
farthest will certainly bring their labours to a close. On
Sunday forenoon their lordships attended divine service,
at St. George's Church, in the Cresccut. They were ac-
companied by the High-sheriff, the Mayor, the Town-
Clerk, the Clerks of the Crown and Peace, and the sword
and mace-bearers of the Corporation, in regalia. The
anthem was Kent's " Hear my prayer." Mr. George
Holden presided at the organ. The Rev. Rector Brookes
preached a sermon appropriate for the occasion, from the
12th verse of the 19th Psalm, " Who can tell how oft he
offendeth ?"

In the evening, their lordships dined at their lodgings.
Last night, they entertained, the Grand Jury at dinner;
and this evening the Judges, the Grand Jury, and the
leading member of the bar vial dine with the Mayor, at
the Town-hall.

CROWN COURT.—YESTERDAY.
(Before Mr. BARON PARKE.)
Exactly at eleven o'clock, yesterday morning, Mr.
Baron Parke entered the Crown-court; and. after the
usual formalities, the following gentlemen were sworn the
Grand Jury :
William Entwisle, Esq., M.P., Rusholme, foreman;
William Appleton, Esq., of Downham Hall; Thomas
e I Weld Blundell, Esq., of Ince Blundell ; George Gran-

vine Francis ggert6ri, of Worsley Hall ;William Earle,
Esq., of Liverpool; Robert Garnett, Esq., of Wyerside;
Thomas Berry Horsfall, Esq., of Everton ; Edmund

Haworth, lsq., jun., of Sale Lodge ; Daniel liornby,
Esq., of Railes Hall; Richard Houghton, Esq., of Ash-
field Lodge ; George Hall Lawrence, Esq., of Liverpool ;
James Logan, Esq., of Liverpool •, John llurray, Esq.,
of Hornby Hall; John Macvicar, Esq., of Manchester;
David Hodgson, Esq., of Liverpool; 'fbornas Giles, Esq.,
of Lancaster; Hornhy Roughsedge, Esq., of Foxgill ;
Thomas Sands, Esq., of Liverpool •, William Shand,
' Esq., of Liverpool • John Plumbe Tempest, Esq., of
Tonge Flail ; Humphrey De Trafford, Esq., of Trafford
Park ; Richard Walker, Esq., M.P., of Woodhiil;
Joseph Need Walker, Esq., of Calderstone.
Mr. Baron PARKE, in his address to the Grand Jury,
said, they were now assembled to perform the duties of
the grand inquest of this county, in obedience to a special
commission which her Majesty had been advised to
direct to himself, his learned brother Williams, and
some others. Under this commission the powers of the
Grand Jury would be just the same as at ordinary assizes;
but in consequence of a clause or proviso introduced into
the'commission, they would not be called upon to exer-
cise those powers with reference to any charges against
prisoners commitftd, or under recognizances, to take
their trials at the sessions. Their powers were co-exten-
sive with the county, and just the same as usual, but their
duties were practically limited to enquiry into cases
where the prisoners had been committed for trial at the
assizes. This measure of a special commission had been
adopted, now for the third year, not in consequence of
any popular commotion or outbreak, or the prevalence of
any crimes dangerous to the state or community, but
simply because it had been thought right, in the due ad-
ministration of justice, that the cases of prisoners com-
mitted for trial at the assizes, should to be tried at an
earlier period—three or four months earlier than they
would according to ordinary circumstances. The special
commission had been applied only to those counties in
which the number of prisoners was considered to be the
greatest; and he thought he might congratulate the Grand
Jury, that whereas- the commissions last year and the year
before extended throughout almost all the English coun-
ties, in the present year they had been confined to this
and the adjoining county of York, the two most populous
counties, in which the number of prisoners might reason-
ably be considered the greatest. Yet when he looked at the
calendar, for a ,county with ECO large a population he
thought the number of cases was not great, and the
quality of the offences charged not such as to induce a
belief that crime was greaily upon the increase. It must
indeed be extremely gratifying to the gentlemen of the
grand jury to know there was no cases to come before
them in which the life of a fellow creature had been lost,
under circumstances in which the law would impute to
the person charged the crime of wilful murder. There
were, however, two or three cases of manslaughter, and
some heinous offences of another description, into which
they would have to enquire. There were two in par ticu.
lar which he need not name, for which, as the law now
stood, the lives of the prisoners might be forfeited. They
were charged with horrid offences, which, of course, the
grand jury would investigate with due care. One of these

charges was of such a nature as was to be proved by cir-
cumstantial evidence only. It generally happened in
cases of this nature, that the proof was by direct evidence,
and this was the first instance, in the course. of his
judicial experience, of the crime being sought to be
proved by circumstantial evidence. The law doubtless
permitted it; but it would be for the grand jury to say
whether they thought the evidence such as to induce them
to believe beyond all reasonable doubt, that the serious
cifence charged had not only been attempted, but
completed. The learned baron then referred to the
charges, in the calendar, of violence to females, and to
one of administering cantharides, giving the usual expla-
nations ; and in continuation he said there was a charge

against two women, of a somewha
charge was founded upon the stat
made it a capital felony to atti

ierions nature. This
e of Victoria, which
pt to drown, suffo-

cate, o

strangle any person with intent to commit the
crime of murder. The evidence in the depositions was,
that the two women were concerned in packing up an in-
fant child in a basket, which was delivered at the railway
station, addressed to a person they supposed to be the
father, a person living in the neighbourhood of North-
wich. The contents of the basket, however, were disco-
vered before any harm happened to the child. The Grand
Jury must be satisfied before they found the bill, that the
intention •f the prisoners wgs to destroy life. After re-
ferring to the charges of burglary, the learned Baron al-

ludeeto the charges of tii

and of att

king holes

to re-

lien, but that by accide
' If th

reason or

i of April last
ugh gaol

they were

he b(lieved t
called " Sco