Swansea and Glamorgan Herald, and South Wales Free Press. — 1863-03-11 (Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales)

THE OXFORDSHIRE MURDER. -At the Oxfordshire assizes, on Thursday, Noah Austin, 26, butcher, described in the calendar as " well-educated," was indicted for the wilful murder of James Allen, at Upper Heyford, on the 12th of February last. The deceased, a miller, living. at Heyford, was returning from Bicester market on the 12th ult. with the prisoner, when he was shot dead under circumstances which attached grave suspicion to Austin. The jury on Thursday found the latter guilty, when the judge put on the black cap, and said : Noah Austin, you have been convicted by a jury of your countrymen, after having carefully considered your case, of wilful murder. To my mind they could not have performed their duty to their country by returning any other verdict. I feel as sore that it was your hand which caused the death of the deceased as if I had seen you do it. It is impossible to reconcile the evidence as to what was found in your desk with any other supposition than that you put it there, and that it must have been put there by the person who caused the death of the unfortunate man. You have been found guilty of taking away the life of a mall who was your friend, with whose daughter you were on intimate terms, and by whom you were sitting in friendly confidence When you committed this dreadful act you must have been aware that if you were detected it is impossible that mercy should have been extended to you in this world. His Lordship concluded by, passing sentence if death in the usual manner. —The prisoner, who remained in a passive state during the whole inquiry, was then removed. SINGULAR LIBEL flase.—At the London Guildhal Police Court, on Wednesday, Mr. Whitely, proprietor and Mr. Peter Bayne, part proprietor and editor of the Weekly Review, were summoned for publishing a libel concerning Dr. Kenealy. The libel complained of was contained in the notice of a poem by the plaintiff, entitled " A new pantomime." Extracts from the notice having been road, together with extracts from the work itself. Aldermen Phillips said the articles charged Dr. Kenealey with having an innate and unmitigated coarse mind; that dirt was his native element; and that the book it:elf reflected not only an ildregulated, but a polluted, mind. Raise charged him with being a villain; and in another part it said he was a man to lash little boys till they staggered and fell down; and that he was a man to eclipse Mr. Hopley, by putting them to death by slow torture. But the climax of the article was exceedingly clear, because the reviewer stated that for his own part he considered it to be his bounden duty to abandon the tone of literary criticism, and to assume that which befits a gross social outrage. With regard to the merits or demerits of the work in question, that was a matter that waf clearlyout of his province. There could be no doubt that we all loved the licence and liberty of the press, but it must be confined within its proper limits, and he must say, on reading the article that he was not disposed to take upon himself the responsibility it involved The learned Counsel said that all criticisms were privileged, but the criticisms must refer to the work, and not be directed against the writer. The defendants were then oommitted for trial, and on. isted into their 01,11 Timonium to sow,