At Nottingham Assizee, on Monday, James Hitchens, John Pearce, William
Milford, and William Morton, were indicted for conspiring together to prevent John Hickman from -voting for Mr. Thesiger at the last election for the borough of Newark, and forcibly carrying him off to a distance from the borough on the eve of the election. The facts, as stated by the witnesses for the prosecution, were these. The prosecutor, John Hickman, a well-sinker, lived in the yard of a public-house at Newark kept by ironmonger, a zealous adherent to the Red or Tory party in that town. Hickman himself, who was a scot-and-lot voter, had always voted with the Blue or Whig party until the last election, when he was induced to promise hie vote to the other side. About eight or nine o'clock on the night before the election, the prosecutor was drinking at Ironmonger's public-house, when the defendant Pearce came and took him away to a beer-shop, where he treated him to a quart of beer ; of -which, however, he said he (lid not drink more than a glassful. From this beer-shop Pearce took him to a public-house called the Talbot, used by the Wee party, where he persuaded him to take a sixpenny glass of brandy and water ; -which, however, he divided with some women who were present ; and afterwards another sixpenny glass of brandy and water, which he disposed of in the same manner. By this time, according to his own account, he was neither drunk nor sober ; and in that state he was partly led and partly forced along to the Castle and Falcon Inn, the head-quarters of the Solicitor-General and his Committee. Here he was introduced to the defendant llitchens, an active and zealous agent of the Solicitor-General, by whom he was invited to drink. The prosecutor at first refused : but upon Hitchens saying, "Damn your eyes! you must drink," he replied, that if lie must have something, he would have sixpennyworth of brandy and water. llitchens then left the room for a moment, and returned with what appeared to be a glass of brandy and water, which he presented to Hickman ; who upon putting it to his nose thought it had a nauseous smell, and suspected that it was laudanum. He therefore said to Ilitchene, a This is not fit stuff for a man to drink." The latter, however, insisted upon his drinking it ; and Hickman, " alaaid of having his old bones thrashed," the room being full of Blues, swallowed it off, and almost instantly became insensible. He first heard Ilitchens, however, say, " Come, he is all right ; you may take him away." lie was accordingly taken out to a back kitchen. The defendant Milford, who carried on the business of a tininan and brazier at Nottingham, was then despatched to the Ram public-house; and, entering the parlour, where there were ten or a dozen men drinking, he inquired " Are you all Blues here?" and being answered in the affirmative by several of the company, he next addressed himself to sonic young men from Nottingham who were present, and said he wanted their services to go two or three miles out of the town, lie then proceeded back to the Castle and Falcon, attended by those Nottingham men ; who upon entering the yard perceived four post-chaises, two of which had a pair of horses each. They perceived in the kitchen the prosecutor Hickman, and three other men' all apparently in a state of insensibility or heavy sleep. A chaise drew up to the back-door; and Hitchens lifting Hickman by one arm and Milford lifting him by the other, whilst Pearce lifted him by both legs, they carried him in that manner to the door and bundled him into the chaise, and left him lying him at the bottom of it. Hickman was taken in a state of insensibility to Nottingham, and there dropped in the middle of the carriage-way of the Trent Bridge. The prisoner Morton gave information to a policeman that there was a drunken man lying in the road, and Hickman was taken to the watchhouse. The Magistrates ordered him to pay a fine of 2s. for being drunk ; and he would have been kept in custody, as he had no money ; but a solicitor in the Conservative interest paid the fine, aud had hint sent back to Newark in time to vote.
All the defendants except Morton were found guilty of conspiracy, and Morton was found guilty of an assault only : Hitchens was sentenced to be imprisoned six months, Pearce and Milford for three months, and Morton for a fortnight.
At the Guildford Assizes, an action of trespass was brought by a labouring man, named Punter, who sued in Amu; pauperes, against Lord Crawley, of Wonersh, a Magistrate of the county of :Amy. The declaration charged the defendant, Lord Grantley, that he, with other persons, with force and arms, broke and entered a cottage belonging to plaintiff, and afterwards pulled down and destroyed the cottage and chattels, and ejected the plaintiff from the cottage, with his family, and compelled them to wander without shelter in the open highway, whereby he was compelled to go into the workhouse. The damages were laid at 500/. Mr. Sergeant Shea, who stated the plaintiff's ease, said that the plaintiff and his family had been in possession of a cottage and some land for nearly fifty years at Wonersb, adjoining the estate of the noble lord, without paying any rent to any person. At the commencement of the present year, however, the noble defendant had assumed a title to the cottage and land, and summoned the plaintiff before a Magistrate ; and the proceeding was taken of granting a warrant under the Recovery of Tenements Act for the delivery of the possession of the cottage to the defendant; and on the 14th April several men proceeded to the cottage by defendant's ord. r. and committed the act of trespass charged in the indictment. e.it the part of the defendant, it was proved that rent had been
demanded by hint of plaintiff, which had been paid by account of plaintiff's poverty. It was also proved that phtfai said that he thought of cutting down sonic trees on time r
e land bi ‘434 afraid, lest he should "burn his fingers." The Jury returned'a utri!si for the plaintiff, damages 250/. Lord Abinger said he hoped thveeia,"` understood the questions that had been submitted, because if eal verdict was founded on an erroneous impression it alight be set,t4 The Foreman of the Jury, having consulted with tile other said, "We think the claim of the plaintiff's family is made out. /CC run so long against Lord Grantley's family that he has no claire to; property."
At the Lewes Assizes, an action of ejectment was brought to a cover the possession of some property leased by the Earl of %aft; to Mr. Carew, the sculptor, under peculiar conditions. The noble a:;;■ being a patron of the arts, and wishing to serve Mr. Carew, had le"' to him some premises at Rock Gardens, Brighton, to be used as a stsa or gallery, and place of residence, for a term of ninety-nine yearso: ' the nominal rent of 1/. per annum ; but being determined that , property should not be made use of in any other way than as tonl; the defendant and his family, he had inserted a proviso, that if rent should not he paid by thirty days after it became due, or the p: mites should become liable to be seized under a writ of execution ,e, lease should be forfeited, and dud Lord Egremont or his heirs shou'l be at liberty to reauter into possession. Mr. Carew had for sweetie; ' enjoyed the property ; but getting into difficulties, a writ of execution had been issued at the suit of one of his creditors. It was contende for the defence, that the mere issuing of the writ did not forfeit 111 lease. The Judge (Mr. Baron Gurney) was of opinion that it did. The Jury accordingly returned it verdict for the plaintiff, subject Mae point of law.
At the Durham Assizes, on Friday, another of the Chartists, nailed ' Owen, was indicted for using seditious words at a public meeting lea at Stockton in July 1839. The seditious words charged in the indica ment and addressed to the assemblage, were—" Arm yourselves, se we will soon meet those fellows down there (pointing to the pale) upon their own terms ;" and " Ann yourselves, We shall soon beat condition to oppose force to force." The meeting was a small mama ' no actual violence took place beyond the throwing of' a stone agaiv, the door of the police-station. The defendant was found platy, be • recommended to the favourable consideration of the Court. The othe prisoners, who had been found guilty of similar offences, were place at the bar to receive judgment. Williams and Baines were each sentenced to be imprisoned six months, and to give security for their good behaviour for two years, themselves in 1.00/., with two suretia of 501. each ; and Byrne and Owen each to three months' imprison. merit, and to enter into recognizaoces with sureties of 50/. each.
An action was tried at Norwich Assizes on Monday, for a breach of promise of marriage, in which Eliza Hastings, aged forty, the daughter 01st retired tailor at Stoke Ferry, near Lynn, was the plaintiff, and Dr. Astley was the defendant. The Jury returned a verdict of 1001. mages for the plaintiff.
At Norwich Assizes, on Wednesday, John Randlesome, a farmer, was found guilty of the murder of his wife, to whom he had been privately married. The marriage was not known to her friends until a few days before her body was found with marks of violence in a pond near her father's house. The prisoner, it appeared, had formed an attachment to another woman, whom he had promised to marry, On the night of the 17th of June, lie went to visit his wife at her father's ; and after the family was gone to bed, it is supposed he struck her senseless, near the pond, and threw her in. The evidence against him was entirely circumstantial ; and the principal witness was the woman whom he had seduced under promise of marriage. The Judge immedietely passed sentence of death on the convict. About a fortnight before this murder, an attempt was made to poison the prisoner's wife and her father's family, by putting arsenic into the terakettle. It is now presumed that the prisoner was guilty of that attempt also.
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