THE SPRING ASSIZES.
John Case was tried at Wells, on Saturday last, for assaulting a woman named Hannah Richards, and robbing her of a pelisse and 9s. 5d. At the previous Assizes for Somersetshire, two men were hanged for the same offence ; the prisoner, Case, had been since appre- hended. They threw the woman over a wall five or six feet high, dragged her through a shrubbery, and then threw her again over another wall : they then dragged her to a pond, and kept her in it up to the breast for several minutes : afterwards they took her pelisse, and the money, tied her clothes over head, and pelted her with stones and dirt. The motive for all this ruffianly treatment, was to take revenge for the evidence she had given against a man named Bartlett, a brother of one of the gang. The Jury acquitted Case, against whom the evidence was not very direct. The prosecutrix could not swear that he had ac- tually assaulted her, though he was one of the party. [The Chronicle is extremely angry with Mr. Justice Park for leaving the two men convicted at the previous Assizes for execution, and inti- mates that the Jury acquitted the prisoner Case, because they felt cer- tain that he would also be banged if found guilty. The Chronicle thinks that hanging is a punishment utterly disproportioned to such an offence, and says that the Judge could not reconcile the Somersetshire Jurymen to the idea of hanging men for an unpremeditated robbery to a trifling extent, while' premeditated robberies of very large sums are only punished by transportation. We are not very fond of hanging, more than the Chronicle; but if highway 'ethers ever deserved hanging, surely these wretches did. A more aggravated case of brutality is not upon record. It is a poor excuse to allege in mitigation of punishment, that the robbery was not premeditated. As for the assumption that the Juryacquitted the prisoner because they were unwilling to take his life, it is quite gratuitous. The prosecutrix could not swear that "he had touched her ; " and the Judge said, that the "gist of the offence was violence, and without assault it would not be complete." It was clearly, therefore, the duty of the Jury to acquit him ; which they did almost immediately.] John Brooks, aged sixty-seven, and John Munckton, aged sixty-eight,
were tried at Taunton on Monday last, for the murder of Patrick Chasey, a drummer, on the 2d December 1808. Anthony Gerrard was also accused of being an accessary thereto. It was proved, that on the night when the drummer disappeared, he was seen last in company with the prisoners, and another man named Way since dead. Gerrard, when drunk, had often been heard to say that he knew who killed the drum- mer. On the night of the supposed murder, the three men' Brooks, Way, and Munckton, were seen by a witness named Samuel Mitchell, looking over a bridge which crossed a stream near the town of Taunton. One of them said, "He's gone." Another bad a large bag in his hand. The prisoners were suspected of the murder at the time, and Way was apprehended, but afterwards discharged. There were several other minor points of evidence, all tempi% to tix suspicion on the prisoners. The Jury, however, returned a verdict of "not guilty."
At the Gloucester Assizes, on Friday, two men, named Parsons and Nicholls, were indicted for robbing Henry Stephens, clerk at Messrs. Bloxsome's bank, at Dursley, of 8,0001.; and Sarah Parsons was charged with harbouring and concealing Parsons after the same. The clerk was in the habit of carrying in the evening the cash and securi- ties from the bank to another house, where there were better safes. On the 13th of February, he packed up the cash and bank-notes to the amount of 8,000/. in a bag; and he had closed the door of the bank with his right hand, when some one came up and seized the bag. The clerk retained his hold, and was dragged on for several paces ; when he received a blow on his head which brought him to the ground, and caused him to let go the bag. A hat was picked up, which was identi- fied as Parsons' ; and he was taken into custody at the female prisoner's house, where 360/. of the property was found. The evidence against Nicholls was, that he admitted to his landlady he had been concerned in the robbery ; and that Parsons told a companion, who refused to join him in the robbery, that he should get Nicholls to assist him. The Jury found the male prisoner, Parsons, guilty, and acquitted the others. Sentence of death passed.
Two men, named Betteridge and Watts, were tried at the last War- wickshire Assizes for riotous conduct l at Nuneaton during the late election, at which Mr. Dempster Heming was defeated, and Sir Eardley Wilmot and Mr. Dugdale were returned. There was a great deal of contradictory evidence, both as to the Riot Act being read audibly, and as to the fact of the prisoners having commenced the assaults with which they were charged. The men were prosecuted at the instance of Mr. Dugdale's supporters, and a good deal of party interest was evidently excited. The Jury were upwards of an hour considering their verdict ; and at length, just when the Judge was about to order them to be locked up, they very unexpectedly appeared to have made up their minds on the matter, and acquitted the prisoners. The trial lasted twelve hours.
At the Somersetshire Sessions, on Tuesday last, John and George Giblett and Henry Penny were sentenced to be transported for life, for forging and uttering a bill for 200/. on Masterman and Company. The bill was drawn in the name of Giblett's employers, who are bankers in Wells, and indorsed by Jones and Company : all the signa- tures were forgeries. Judge Park regretted that he should be obliged to sentence John Giblett, who was a mere boy, and acted under the in- stigation of his brother George, to so severe a puishment : but the law, he said, left him no choice.
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