The trial of the prisoners engaged in the Canterbury riots
com- menced at Maidstone on Thursday, before Lord Denman. The first who were put to the bar were William Price and Thomas Meers alias Tyler, charged in the first count of the indictment with aiding and abetting John Thom, alias Courtenay, in the murder of Nicholas Mears, at Ville Dunkirk, on the alst of May. The second count charged the prisoners with being principals in the murder. The evi- dence was conclusive against the prisoners ; but it also was proved that they acted under the extraordinary influence of Courtenay, without malicious intent, though regardless of consequences. Lord Denman charged the Jury, that if they were of opinion that Thom was of un- sound mind, so that if he bad been put on his trial he could not have been convicted of murder, the principal being acquitted the accessories must also be acquitted, and the prisoners could not be found guilty on the first count. But ou the second count, the evidence was strong against the prisoners ; who were guilty of murder, if the Jury thought that they armed themselves with dangerous weapons, reckless whether death might ensue in resisting a lawful authority, and death had ensued with their coOperation. The Jury retired from court ; and in about twenty minutes brought in a verdict of " guilty" on the second count, with a strong recom- mendation to mercy on account of the infatuation under which they were led astray by Courtenay. Lord Denman immediately pro. trounced sentence of death, but added that the lives of the prisoners Would be spared. Tyler, a fine-looking man, and evidently an enthu- siast, exhibited great firmness. Price trembled so much that two men were required to support him in the dock. Yesterday morning, the other prisoners, eight in number, charged with the murder of Lieutenant Bennett, pleaded "guilty." They were sentenced to death, with an intimation that their punishment also would be commuted.
At the Lincoln Assizes, a boy of fourteen, named Kirby, was sen- tenced to death by Judge Bosanquet, and left for execution, for poison- ing his master, John Brace, a butcher in Lincoln. Many petitions were sent to Lord John Russell for a respite ; which was granted, on
on account of the prisoner's youth, and subsequently his sentence was commuted to transportation for life. A hangman was sent to Lincoln from London, there being no such person in the former place.
On Saturday, a Coroner's Jury, sitting at Wakefield on the corpse of Mrs. Morallee, who was killed by the upsetting of the Courier Leeds and London Coach, returned a verdict of " Manslaughter against the driver, with a deodand of 100/. on the coach and horses. The accident occurred in an attempt to pass a rival coach, the Express, in a narrow part of the road.
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