At Bow Street, on Wednesday, three young men, brothers, named
Thomas, James, and William Berryman, were charged with a desperate burglary at the dwelling-house of Mr. Hancox, a farmer, in the parish of Bisley, Gloucestershire, and shooting at and wounding Mr. Henry Hancox, his son. The crime was perpetrated on the 2d ult. It appeared that at eight o'clock on the night in question Mr. Henry Hancox having occasion to cross the farmyard towards a shed which stood about 100 yards from the house, at the door of the shed, perceived a man standing, and called out to him, demanding his business there. At that moment, two other men made their appearance ; on seeing whom, Mr. Hancox ran towards the house. Before he could reach it, he stumbled and fell, and when he recovered and contrived to get into the house, the three men at the same time entered with him. Mr. Hancox ran across the room for the purpose of seizing his gun ; and he was in the act of taking it up when the tallest of the three men fired a pistol at him, and the contents lodging in his face, he fell into the arms of his father, who at that moment entered the room. The ruffians then demanded his money from old Mr. Hancox, and he gave them about 70/. in cash and notes, begging of them to spare the lives of himself and family. He also offered them a check for 1001., which they declined to accept of, but insisted upon having more money. On being told that there was no more in the house, they proceeded to rifle the drawers and cupboards, and took possession of several silver spoons, ladles, and other property. They then went up stairs to one of the bed-rooms, and a little girl, daughter of Mr. Hancox, who had concealed herself in the yard at the first alarm, perceiving a light in the bed-room window, threw some gravel at it. The robbers, alarmed at the noise, ran down stairs, and immediately left the house with their booty. Their faces were partly blacked, but their height and appearance were described by a younger son of Mr. Hancox, a boy about fifteen years old. While the thieves remained in the house Mr. Henry Hancox lay weltering in his blood on the floor, and on examining his face it was found that the shot had totally blinded him. His face also was dreadfully lacerated, and for some time after his life was despaired of. From some circumstances which transpired, suspicion attached to the three prisoners, who are natives of the place. It was known that the prisoners were in London% and the task of tracing them was intrusted to Ellis. He succeeded in obtaining a clue to their residence ; and after a variety of stratagems, Ellis, Ledbitter, and an officer named Nest, attached to the police at Gloucester, succeeded in capturing them in the house of their brotherin-law, in Goswell Street.
At the Middlesex Sessions, John Arnold, a notorious resurrectionist, was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment and hard labour, for disinterring, with intent to steal, the 'body of a young woman in the burialground of St. Clement Danes.
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