The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-04-16 00:00:00

ASSIZE MISCELLANY.

On Tuesday, at the Chester assizes, there were two
cases of perjury which had been committed in the county
court recently established there. The prisoners in both
cases were found guilty. _

Henry New, convicted of uttering at Winchcombe, in
Gloucestershire, forged Bank of England and Old Aber-
gavenny and Monmouth bank notes, has been sentenced
to transportation for life.

At BOdmin Assizes, a farmer, named Hardy, was trans-
ported for life, for sending a threatening letter to the pro-
prietor of a farm, warning him not to let it to any of his
family, on pain of ineendiarism.

Ercianuef Barnet, charged with the attempt to poison
seven persons at Cheltenham, (two of whom died) has
been acquitted, no arsenic being traced to the prisoner's
possession, and no motive whatever being assigned for so
diabolical a crime.

At the Norfolk Assizes, on Tuesday, John Humble-
thorpe, aged 21, was tried for shooting at Susan Ling-
wood, with intent to murder her, and was acquitted. The
prisoner was a rejected lover, and fired a bullet into the
bed-room of the object of his affections.
William Morgan, convicted of three distinct utterings
of farged bank notes of the Monmouthshire bank, on the
22nd September last, at Bristol, with intent to defraud
James Pillers, Charles Taylor, and Charles R. Stock, has
been sentenced to fifteen years' transportation.
Two boys, sixteen years old, have been convicted, at
the Taunton assizes, of highway robbery, and sentenced
to fifteen year's transportation. They had agreed to rob
a farmer, and buy a pair of pistols with the proceeds, with
which they were to go out regularly on the highway.
Such are the fruits of Dick Turpin and Jack Sheppard
representations at our theatres.

At Warwick, on Thursday, Abraham Lee, quite a
youth, was charged with firing a pistol at Ellen Grindall,
daughter of an innkeeper, at Birmingham, who had re-
jected him as a suitor. The prosecution was got up
loosely, and the evidence shortly given, evidently with a
view to acquittal ; but the jury, to the astonishment of
Mr. Baron Parke, returned a verdict of guilty : and, in
reply to an observation of the learned judge, said, " We
mean what we have done."

A CITY WITHOUT CRIME OR DISPUTE.—At York City
Assizes the humourous Baron Alderson delivered the fol-
lowing laconic charge to the Grand Jury :—" Gentlemen
of the grand inquest, there is no necessity for me to give
you my charge, because there is no charge against any-
body; and it is therefore useless for me to explain tha
law which you will not be called upon to put in force. It
is a very creditable matter to you all, and I hope you will
long continue to enjoy the praise of being the town with-
out a crime and without a dispute."
CONSPIRACY TO EXTORT MONEY.—At Warwick, last
week, Richard Williams and Sarah Cook were indicted
for having conspired to extort money and a valuable secu-
rity from Richard Tew, by falsely charging him with
having violated the said Sarah Cook. Sarah Cook, who
is nineteen years old, was the sole servant of Richard
Tew, a retired farmer of small property, aged 76. It ap-
pears that between this old man and Sarah Cook many
improprieties had passed. One day, when some of these
disgusting familiarities were in progress, Williams, who
it would seem had been secreted in the house with the
knowledge and connivance of Sarah, burst into the
room, and the two accused the old man of the crime
above indicated. Williams said he would have him taken
into custody immediately and hanged or transported if he
did not give him a £lOO. The old man, whose income
did not amount to £lOO a-year, terrified, gave Williams
all the money he had, amounting to seven sovereigns.
Williams, however, still declared that he would give him
into custody unless he gave him a promissory note on
stamp for £93 more. This was done. Sufficient evidence
was given to show that the whole thing had been con-
trived between Williams and Sarah Cook, though the old
man's wicked inclinations had undoubtedly precipitated
him into the trap. The prisoners were found guilty, and
Williams was sentenced to ten years' transportation.
Sarah Cook, who was believed to have been a tool of
Williams, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment
and hard labour.