A shocking story comes up from Staffordshire. A stone- mason,
of Rushton, in that county. named Isaac Brooks, in January, 1880, prosecuted two farmers, S. Clowes and H. Johnson, for assaulting and mutilating him ; and chiefly upon his evidence, backed by the fact of the mutilation, they were found guilty, and sentenced by Mr. Justice Bowen to ten years' penal servitude. The trial lasted four hours, the Court was convinced, and the sentence was not too heavy. It is now alleged, with every appearance of truth, that since the trial Brooks has wasted away, and on Saturday he died, leaving a full confession that the outrage was self-inflicted, with the object of extorting a large sum from the accused or their friends. The unhappy victims of this miscarriage of justice had borne good characters, and their families have, in consequence of the conviction, fallen into pauperism. So strong is the feeling in Rushton, that it was hard to find men who, even for money, would carry Brooks to the grave. If the facts are as reported, the men will, of course, be pardoned, and we trust as fully compensated as is now possible. Brooks's crime, though uncommon here, where villains dislike suffering, is so common in India, that Judges, on any report of outrage, first of all suspect self-infliction.
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