Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1886-01-30 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

THE NETHERBY BURGLARY.  113.8D/CT AND 96,1115NCH. The trial of the prisoners Budge, Martin, and Baker for being concerned in the murder of Constable Byrnes, after committing a burglary at Netherby, has been concluded at the Carlisle Assizes after a hearing occupying three days. AU the prisoners were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Budge made a statement, in which he said that he committed the murder, and that the other two prisoners were innocent. It is scarcely necessary to recapitulate all the details of the crime; for to dramatic a series of incidents is not likely to have been forgotten since the time when, nearly three months ago, they startled the whole country. We ma), however, say that on October 29 four men broke into Netherby Hall—the Cumberland mansion so famous in Birder legend, and the scene of the ballad of "Young Lochinvar ; " that on making their escape they violently assaulted one constable. Fortune, severely wounded another, Johnstone, and shot dead a third, Byrnes; and that two of them were finally captured after a desperate resistance by a group of railway servants at Tebay and another by a railway guard at Lancaster. The fourth man escaped, and, though one or two suspicious individuals have been arrested in the interval and charged with the crime, he has not yet been discovered. These men, whose ascertained residences were in London, arrived on the Tuesday preceding the day of the murder at the Gretna Station, with the ostensible object of attending a coursing meeting at Longtowm After depositing their portmanteaus at the station, they proceeded in the direction of Longtown, and were proved to have dined at the Bush Hotel at that place. The next afternoon they were again at the Gretna Station to direct their baggage to be forwarded to Carlisle, and in the morning had been observed in the neighbourhood of Netherby Hall. That evening they again dined at Longthwn, but left the hotel about seven o'clock. It must also be noticed that on two occasions they asked the name of the occupier at Netherby Hall. That night the robbery was committed, and as soon as discovered information was forwarded to the Carlisle police, who placed a watch on all the roads leading into the city. A constable named Roche, aware of what had occurred, challenged three strangers whom he met approaching Carlisle, upon which two revolvers were fired, and owing to the injuries inflicted the men escaped, though Roche was able to identify them. The following evening the three men were seen at the Calthwaite Station, and subsequently at the Park House Inn. On going from this to the station the conflict with Byrnes occurred which resulted in his death, and the unusual occurrence of an attempted concealment on a goods waggon aroused the suspicion of the guard Geddes, by whose promptitude they were eventually secured. Circumstantial evidence could scarcely speak with more precision, and, unless we are to assume that all the witnesses conspired to commit perjury, a verdict founded on such evidence is quite justifiable. And if there was no doubt as to the fact, there was equally no doubt as to the law which made each prisoner responsible for the murder. Only one fired the shot whieh killed Byrnes; but by the law of England, as by the law of every civilised country, the others were equally guilty. "By a rule of law," Mr. Justice Day was careful to tell the jury, "if all three had combined with the common intention of resisting with deadly weapons any persons who might try to arrest them, then it was unnecessary to consider whose hand it was that pulled the trigger." This simple rule of law is not commonly understood by professional burglars; but it may be hoped that after the verdict in thin case they will understand it better. As regards the other aspects of the case, all will echo the words spoken by the judge when he commended the constables Roehe, Fortune, and Johnstone, and ;the poor murdered Byrnes, a; "exemplary servants of their country," and when he gave like praise to the railway servants to whom the arrest of the criminals was due. The guards Geddes and Cooper, with Parker, Scathe, Wills, and Mattley, deserve to be remembered with honour, and all the more so since they were not police constables, but were only doing a duty which all good citizens are bound to do, but which, we fear, the majority of citizens would have been too timid and selfish to perform.