The Sun. — 1853-07-15 (London, England)

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.  NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—YORK, JULY 13. Jacob Ashbury, aged 34, was charged with having, at Sculcoates, in the East Riding, on the 2d of June last, married Jane Wheldale, a young woman of respectable connections, his former wife, Eliza, being still alive. The jury returned a very of guilty. His lordship felt it his duty to pass such a sentence as would mark the gravity of the crime, and he would, therefore, be transported for seven years. William Johnson and Mary Cartwright were indicted for unlawfully abducting Judith Kay, a girl under the age of 16 years, from the possession of her father. Mr. Darnborough appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Shepherd defended the prisoners. It appeared that the male prisoner had been a " navvy' on the Thirsk and Malton Railway, and the female prisoner was the wife of another " navvy," and they all resided at the village of Thommanby, in the North Riding ; the prisoner Johnson lodging at the house of a grocer named Kay. Kay had a daughter, who was described by her mother to be only 14 years of age, though in appearance she might have been taken to be 17 or 18. Between her and Johnson an intimacy had sprung up, which the parents had observed, and objected to on account of the girl's youth. But Johnson offered to marry her, and several times proposed to her to leave her father's house, which she refused to do for some time, till the female prisoner called upon her and persuaded her to go off with Johnson, saying that if she was in her place she would do it. Partly from this persuasion, and partly from her own inclination, the girl agreed on Saturday, the 16th of April, with the female prisoner (who said that Johnson and all of them were going away the next day) that she would join them after church on the Sunday, at a little distance out of the village, and would put her clothes out of the window that night, so that Johnson could take them away ; and accordingly the next night the girl went off with Johnson to Gainsborough, where she spent the night with him, the female prisoner and her husband lodging in the same house. On the girl being missed the police were put in motion, and they were traced to Gainsborough, where the girl was taken from Johnson's bed.  Mr. Shepherd submitted to his lordship that there was no " taking away " of the girl within the meaning of the statute.  His Lordship, however, referred to the case of the "Queen v. Mantelow," reported in 22 Law Journal, M.C., p. 115, in which it was held that the girl was in possession of her father, though voluntarily meeting her lover, till she went off with him, and that was a sufficient taking within the statute. His Lordship having summed up, The jury found both prisoners guilty. His Lordship, in passing sentence, severely animadverted on the conduct of the female prisoner Cartwright, owing to whose persuasion the girl consented to leave her father's house, and it was to her conduct that the girl's ruin might be attributed. The male prisoner's offence was less, for he offered to marry the girl ; the female prisoner would, therefore, be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for two years, and the male prisoner for six calendar months.  James Hanson, aged 32, was charged with having, on the 14th of March last, at Bradford, feloniously wounded Sarah Firth, with intent to murder. __.  , . The jury returned a verdict of guilty. The sentence of the court was that he be transported for life.  Mr. Justice Wightman was occupied in disposing of a road indictment, and other cases of no interest.