The Reverend Charles Edward Holden, the Vicar of Great Cornard,
in Suffolk, and his curate, the Reverend Robert Fiske, were tried at The Reverend Charles Edward Holden, the Vicar of Great Cornard, in Suffolk, and his curate, the Reverend Robert Fiske, were tried at
the Assizes held last week at Bury St. Edmund's, on a charge of having committed a nameless offence. The principal witness against them was the parish clerk, Thomas Prigg ; whose testimony, however, owing to his bad character, and the contradictions it received from a woman who was called to corroborate it, was totally disbelieved by the Jury, and without waiting for the summing up of the Judge, they ac- quitted the prisoners. Mr. Holden was upwards of seventy years of age, and had always borne an irreproachable character. Numerous wit- nesses of the first respectability spoke in the highest terms of Mr. Fiske. While the trial was going on, and immediately after the cross- examination of the principal witnesses, Sir Thomas Gooch, the High Sheriff, sent an invitation to Mr. Fiske to dine with him and the gentry of the county that day. The motive of the clerk seems partly to have been to extort money, and partly to induce Mr. Fiske to give up his situation as curate, as that gentleman prevented his practices upon Mr. Heiden. The latter was not a man of strong nerves, and had fallen a good deal under the influence of his accuser. Another remarkable cir- cumstance connected with this trial is, that one of the witnesses against the prisoners, a young woman, had since her deposition before the Ma- gistrates been deprived of the use of speech and reason, by a paralytic attack. When the verdict of acquittal was pronounced, there was ge- neral acclamation among the spectators. Mr. Fiske fainted, and was carried out of court. Sir James Scarlett was counsel for the defendants, with a fee of six hundred guineas.
Captain Henry Nicol, who was connected with the gang to which Captain Beauclerk, who destroyed himself in Horsemonger Lane Gaol some time ago, belonged, was convicted at the Surry Assizes, held at Croydon on Saturday, of committing a felonious assault, and sentenced to be hanged.
Four young men, named Slater, Henry, Kelly, and Macbeth, were convicted, on Friday week, at the Assizes at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of assaulting and robbing William Buddle, a butcher of that place, of nineteen pounds. The robbery was committed on the night of the 26th March, as Buddle was on the road to Morpeth to attend a fair which was to be held there on the '27th. His only companion was a half- lurcher bitch, who, as well as her master, seems to have possessed uncom- mon courage. When about six miles from Newcastle, the four men, ac- cording to his statement in court, came up to him, and Kelly asked the time of night, and soon afterwards " clicked " him by the neck, and threw him down. While he was on the ground, they Managed, in spite of his struggles, to rifle his pockets. One man held him down till the others had run a little way, and then,,he ran after them. What follows is taken from the evidence of the prosecutor at the trial.
" The man that had me by the neck said, " Run, run I" and the men ran away. I said, " Bitch, catch him—catch him I" and she catched him by the heels. The wan shouted sair when he went over the gate. He said " (let away dog !" or something like that. I went up to the gate then ; a ml they were all four in the field, into which I fol- lowed the last elan, but did rot get up to him. The dog was busy biting the heels of this man ; I was about eight or ten yards off distant from him, and about forty yards from the gate. The last man then fired a pistol at me, and I heard the ball whisk past- my right side. This man then ran on, and I again told the bitch to catch him ; and she followed close to his heels; when presently there was a flash, and another pistol fired, but it was at the bitch this time it was fired. I stood still till after the tiring of the first pistol. It was the last man who fired the second pistol also. After the pistol missed fire, the man ran down the field. I followed, and might be about twenty yards - off. Thew was then another pistol fired, and f was at the time close behind. Two men were standing near, and the fourth man ran off altogether. The third pistol was fired by one of the two men. The bitch was still biting the last man. The two men ran away, and I heard two splashes of the men falling into the burn. The last man fell into the burn, and I followed, to get hold of him. The two men got out of the water and ran off. The third man next got out, and this man hit me with a stick over the right temple, and several blows were given between us. I had a stick, called a supple-jack. The struggle lasted eight or ten minutes. The bitch was after the two men who had got off. The last blow felled me into the dyke ; and this blow was given by one of the other two men, who had returned; the bitch following them. I then got up out of the - burn, and heard the man running away down the coach road. I followed, and saw three men get into a planting. I did not follow them, but went up to the six-mile bridge public-house, kept by Armstrong. It was at this time, from guess, about two o'clock, and I got home about half-past five."
The prisoners were soon taken, and their persons identified. The Jury, after about five minutes' consultation, found them all guilty.
At the Spring Assizes in Norwich, a woman named Mary Wright, suspected of having, on the 30th November last, administered poison to her husband and her father, who both died at the same time, was tried upon the former charge, and was convicted. It was stated that the prisoner was with child ; and the sentence, instead of being exe- cuted within forty-eight hours, was respited till after the birth of the child. Her delivery took place last month, and the law now demands her life. Several philanthropists, however, are exerting themselves to get her sentence changed into one of close custody, on the ground of insanity.
At the Salop Assizes, on Friday last week, Mr. Justice Park ordered a witness to be taken into custody, who had admitted having offered not to appear on the trial if the defendant would pay him a debt of Ill. which was due.
George Hayward, a young man of twenty, was hanged at Shrews- bury on Monday last, for the murder of John Corser. Hayward had been courting a sister of Corser, against the consent of her mother ; who one night sent for the deceased to turn him out of doors. He did so ; and Hayward, in revenge, stabbed him with a knife, and killed him.
An action for a breach of promise of marriage, brought by Miss Redit, the daughter of a schoolmaster, against a Mr. Lucock of Grandisburgh, was tried on Saturday last, at the Bury St. Edmund's Assizes- The promise was clearly proved ; and the defence set up was, that the lady, when about fourteen, had been guilty of improper con- duct. with the boys in her father's school, and bad had a miscarriage. There was good evidence, however, to disprove both these allegations ; and the Jury found a verdict for the plaintiff, with 500/. damages.
Mr. Hall, a respectable farmer, of Clacton, Essex, a widower with
four children, has been committed for trial on a charge of having at- teinpted to poison Mr. Pyman, landlord of the Queen's Head, Clacton. The parties were drinking porter together at the Queen's Head ; and Mr. Pyman discovered that something had been put into the mug, which, on analyzation, proved to be corrosive sublimate and arsenic. Hull denied the charge, and said it was likely that Mr. Pyman had put the poison into the beer, from a feeling of jealousy.—Seblk Chronicle.
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