The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette. — 1877-10-02 (Dorchester, Dorset, England)

THE SCRNE OUTSIDE THE COORT. Throughout the whole day several hundred, of people thronged the narrow thoroughfare of the Old Bailey, and elustenui thickly around the principal entrance to the Court House. About nine o'clock, when the uproar was at the height, two or three of the superior officers of the Sheriff's staff niade their appearance in the crowd and presumably gave direction, to the police to keep down the turmoil as far as possible. Before this time it had become necessary to shut the great &errs ordinarily open during the sesnions, and to post two or more of the most massive of the p. dire to resist all attempts to gain admission. A side door leading into Nevrgate yard was at the nervier, of privileged peeple, amongst who.. evens toll o'clock at night, ladies were seen struggling throng!. the throng to make their way into the court. Although the great majority of those assembled were regular street loungers, or runners engaged it might be to carry the intelligence of the verdict to various parts of London, there was not wanting a considerable admixture of more respectable people, anxious to learn at once the result of this all-engrossing case. SCIOII after ton it was known that the jury had retired to consider their verdict, and it was rather surprising that in the interval of more than an hour before their return no erroneous rumours were started to mislead the crowd. People returning in cabs from places of aniusement to their homes in the east found their vehicles jammed in the crowd. Omnibus drivers, despairing of keeping their time, did not scruple to declare that there would be another Pence murder, meaning, it in to be presumed, the crushing as by the car of Juggernaut of bystanders who blocked their passage. Pressure on the big and side doors of entrance and exit to and from the interior now amounted to something very serious, and threatened to lead to a collision between the truncheons rd. the police and the heads most prominently and temptingly available for operations. Good temper on both sides averted actual hostilities. Messengers emerging from the Court-house were surrounded and mobbed, and could scarce make their way through the crush, though as yet they had nought to tell. When at length the doors were thrown open, and the persons who had been in court could be seen through the windows pouring dews the staircase and evincing into the street, the crowd 1,11.1 the doorway grew denser and the excitement became augmented to an extraordinary extent. As soon as the first person appeared from the court he was besieged by dozens of eager inquirers as to the nature of the verdict end sentence, and the brief narratives delivered by the actual spectators of the scene in the reurt were speedily retailed from mouth to mouth by those outside. Universal satisfaction was expressed at the sentence, and it manifested itself in clapping of hands an.l cheering as soon as it was made known. It was a matter id is few minutes, however, to diminish the nurelo•rs of the crowd who had been blocking up the street loving the bine the verdict was awaited ; and by dint of the excrtions of the large Inly of police who were on the ground the street was cleared in about half-an-hour after the Court closed. . . .  A London correliondent says :--I mind expressing my OW I, r n,) but the opinion of those in cowl, when I say that the verdict created great surprise. Up till the last moment the previiling impression was that manslaughter and not murder would have been the verdict, especially in the case of the wonien. The announcement of the verdict created great excitement in the city. At midnight the evening papers brought out an edition giving the result, a proceeding quite unprecedented. The papers had an enormous sale, and there was great commotion in Fleet-street and the Strand. L .ng after midnight crowdsassembled in the thoroughfares discussing the verdict, and seldom has such a stir been seen in the metn,poli: at so late an hour.