The Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin advertiser. — 1877-03-16 (Wenlock, Shropshire, England)

THE HUNGERFORD MURDERS.  Tue. closing scene of the Hnngerford tragedy was enacted on Monday at Beading tiaol, the two brothers, litanyand FRANcis (letieGe Tete num. being handed over to the tender mercies of Mr. Mutwoon, and duly paying the extreme penalty of the law. The case has occupied a very large share of attention, and naturally so, It has created a painful impression in the popular mind, in the first place because murderous poaching affrays are by no means of such frequent occurrence as they were in years gone by, and, because, secondly, two police officers- both experienced and respectable seas ants of the public —were the victims of a cold-blooded and deliberate assault. Before dying, the two culprits, abandoning all hope of pardon, made a full and complete confession of their crime. A general feeling of satisfaction will be experienced thereat. The average British juryman—even the patriot culled at random from an agricultural district—is by no means the noodle he is represented to be, where a question of business is submitted to him for a decision. Now and then he makes us laugh as he is twisted round and round by the trickery of " long robe," or trembles before a blast of toren. sic thunder; but in the main he is shrewd and patient, and certainly deserving of more respectful t eatment than he gets at the hauls of his critics. his weak place is his susceptibility to that heartrending pathos which, to the glory of our judicial system, the vilest and weakest of our erring brethren may secure for a stipulated fee. Many an experienced barrister knows that a well stocked brief is often surpassed as an element of defence by his capacity to " work on the feelings " of the anti ble bodies of bucolic jurors he is in the h ,bit of addressing on circuit Honest Bum, is invariably floored by these dramatic displays. in his reflective moments he knows he is bamboofled by the shallowest acting, but while the drama is in course of action he is under the spell of the emotional le..ding actor, and be not unfrequently experiences a difficulty in according a becoming sense of appreciative attention to the deliberate coldness and imp.4.tiality of the judicial summing up. But there as instances in which any class of jnrymen may be pa-. dolled for feeling agitated as they listened to the stirring language of a powei fnl, though palpably biassed, advocate. Few of us, charged with the mission of deciding either for the life or the death of a fellow-creature, could listen unmoved to an eloquent appeal for mercy. And in cases where the issues of the prosecution are largely hinged upon circumstantial evidence it is easy to imagine that juridical deliberation must be attendee with a great deal of anxiety. The trial of the poachers &AI god with the murder of the two police officers at llungerford is a striking example of the really painful duty which now and then attaches to the obligations of citizenship. Tile murder was perpetrated at night aud was witnessed by none save the desperadoes who committed the ghastly work. Simpleton attached to four men, and they were all placed upon Hal. Happily it was shown clearly enough that the protestations of innocence made by two of the men were well grounded. and they were ackluitted, The evidence against the other delinquents was, as we have indicated, almost entirely ciroumstantial, so far as the efforts of the prosecution were concerned. The police authorities evidenced e great deal of patience and skill in the management of their proofs, and were able to make out such a case as could justify no reaaonable doubt in the mind, of common-sense men as to the guilt of the prisoners. Still, the chin of testimony, consecutive as it sp. pe ,red to be, was almost entirely circumstantial, Paving regard to the licence given for the ; ay. t dace of circumstantial evidence and setting aside the explanations given by the men subsequenfly. acquitted, which contained several damaging admissions alleged to have been made by the mnrde; ers ), it would have been an obvious miscairiage of justice to have found any other verdict save that which was returned against HENRY and FRANcui