9 AUGUST 1828, Page 4

THE ASSIZES.

At the Stafford Assizes, last week, Ann Jones was sentenced to be imprisoned for two years in the house of correction, for attempting to poison her master, William Jackson, by putting corrosive sublimate into the tea-kettle.

The Shrewsbury Assizes presented, on the 2nd instant, the trial of an extraordinary case of murder, committed on the 17th July, 1827. The victim was James Harrison Joseph Pugh, John Cox the younger, and Robert Cox, were charged as the actual perpetrators ; John Cox the elder, and Anne Harris, as Instigators and accessories before the fact. The whole parties were members of one of the most desperate gangs of criminals that ever infested any country. Thomas Ellson the son of Ann Harris, and son-in-law of old Cox, had been indicted for sheep-stealing ; James Harrison was the principal witness against him ; to get rid of whose evidence, and to prevent further discoveries, it was thought necessary to put him out of the way. Cox, the father, and Ann Harris, contributed 50s. each, which was paid to the other three prisoners, as the price of this service. Harrison was enticed out of the house of Pugh's father on a pretence of stealing bacon; and while lying down by the side of a hay-rick with Pugh until the proper time arrived for committing the theft, another of the prisoners, John Cox, threw a rope over his head with a noose on it, and by main force they strangled him ; Robert Cox, the third prisoner, was " digging his grave the while." When the trial of Ellson came on, and Harrison was not forthcoming, his absence did not at first excite much astonishment ; but when it continued without any tidings of him, inquiries commenced, attention was attracted to the subject, and it was rumoured that he had been made away with. It was not till Ellson had been again taken up, that any clue was gamed to unravel

this mystery ; but, in consequence of some information that was then oir

tamed, the prisoners Joseph Pugh and Ann Harris were taken into custody ; and in consequence of information given by Pugh, the body of Harrison was found in a field called Hocknell's Field, and the other prisoners were apprehended. The evidence on the trial was of the most revolting kind. Pugh, the father, was called to convict his son, Ellson to convict his own mother and father-in-law and brothers-iu-law. His wife corroborated his evidence against her own father and brothers ; and the evidence of Mary Bateman, the daughter of Ann Harris, tended to confirm the testimony which fixed the guilt on her mother. The Jury, after a short consultation, returned a verdict finding Joseph Pugh, John Cox the younger, and Robert Cox, guilty : the foreman said they had not decided respecting the elder Cox and Ann Harris, but after a few minutes' consideration, found both John Cox the elder and Ann Harris guilty. Mr. Justice Gaselee having expressed a wish that the jury would again re-consider the case of John Cox the elder, and read over the evidence affecting him, John Cox the elder now called out, "My Lord Joodge, my Lord Joodge, I'll speak, I'll speak now I wool ; that there lawyer chap (pointing to his attorney) and that Counsellor there, they a' kept my witnesses out a court, and would not call them. They would riot; and I have them to call." Mr. J. Jervis—" My Lord, I have exercised nty discretion in not calling witnesses for the prisoner. I have only one on nly brief, and if I have done wrong, I must take the responsibility on myself." Old Cox—" My Lord Joodge, let me call my witnesses." They were called, but could say nothing in exculpation, and the jury repeated Weir verdict of guilty. Joseph Pugh and the younger Coxes were condemned to die on Monday the 4th ; and the sentence has been executed against Pugh and John Cox, but Robert Cox has been respited. Old Cox and Ann Harris are under sentence to suffer on Saturday next.

At Shrewsbury, William Stevenson, a miner, was indicted for the wilful murder of John Horton, et Hales Owen. It appeared that on the 31st of March last, the prisoner and several of his companions were drinking at a public house at Oldbury, when tile deceased, who was an officer of the Oldbury court entered. The prisoner said he knew that the deceased had an execution against him, but the deceased made no reply. After being pressed upon the point several times, he said he had an execution against the prisoner, and asked hint what he intended to do. The prisoner requested two or three days' time to send to his wife, but Horton said he would not agree to that, and as soon as he had finished his pipe, he meant to take the prisoner with him. The prisoner then asked leave to go home and put a clean shirt on, and deceased consented. They left the house together ; the prisoner returned in about ten minutes with a long sword in his hand ; and when the deceased approached him, and urged him to settle the matter, he pulled the sword from under his coat, jumped up, and placing his left hand on the deceased's eyes, he ran the sword into his body, and it passed through his liver ; he died soon after.--Verdict, guilty; sentence, death.

At the Bury Assizes, Joseph Buller, and Osborne Bush were found guilty of an atrocious burglary. It appeared that the prosecutor, Robert Main, ant old man of eighty-three years of age, and nearly blind, occupied a farm near

the village of Metfield, and that he had sold some land, the purchase-money of which was placed in a small box, inclosed in a chest that stood at the foot of his bed. At twelve o'clock on the night of the 8th of May, the two prisoners came into his room, one of them armed with a pole-axe, and said to him, on his making an alarm, "D—.— you, lie down, and hold your tongue," and then struck him a violent blow on the head, from which he bled profusely. The shirt and nightcap of the old man were produced, and appeared quite stiffened with blood. The voice of one of them was that of Butlers; and it further appeared that he had employed, in conjunction with Bush, the son of a woman with whom he cohabited, to enter through the window, and open the door for their admission. (This boy, being only ten years old, was examined as to his knowledge of the nature of an oath; his answer was, "if I take a false oath, I shall go to the devil, I know that.") The weapon with which the blow was stricken was a pole-axe that was in the house, and its exhibition, as well as the bloody apparel of the old man, excited a horror not only in the spectators, but also in the prisoners themselves. A legal point was started, hut overruled. Sentence, death.