The Principality

BRECONSHIRE SPRING ASSIZES. (Abridged from the Sicansea Herald.) These assizes commenced at Brecon on Friday evening. The learned judge (Erie) arrived in town from Carmarthen at three o'clock in the afternoon, accompanied by Lady Erie. The high sheriff lor the county (Colonel Pearce of Frwdgrech) proceeded in a splendid carriage, drawn by four horses, with outriders, to meet his lordship. The high sheriff was accompanied by an unusually large procession of gentlemen in their carriages, and a strong phalanx on horses. The learned judge proceeded at once to the Townhall, where the usual formularies attendant upon opening the commission were gone through. His lordship attended divine service on the same evening, when the Rev. Hugh Bold, who officiated as chaplain on the occasion to the high sheriff, preached the assize sermon. In the evening the sheriffs ordinary took place at the Castle Hotel, when about eighty of the principal inhabitants of Brecon and its vicinity exhibited their respect for Colonel Pearce, by attending. The dinner was got up in a style of great splendour. SATURDAY. This morning the learned judge proceeded in the high sheriff s carriage to the Townhall, when the business was pro- ceeded with. The following magistrates and gentlemen were sworn on the GRAND JURY: Joseph Bailey, Esq., M.P., foreman. Howel Gwyn, Esq.. M.P. J. P. De Winton, Esq. W. R. Stretton, Esq. -John Lloyd, Esq. W. Maybery, Esq. W. H. West, Esq. Rhys D. Powell, Esq. Morgan Morgan, Esq. J. W. Morgan, Esq. E. D. Thomas, Esq. J. P. Sneed, Esq. J. J. Williamson, Esq. C. Miers, Esq. P. M. Pell, Esq. J. J. Dc Winton, Esq.: I H. P. Price, Esq. I). W. Lloyd, Esq. D. G..J. S. Woodhouse, Esq. John Evans, Esq. I Howell Williams, Esq. Rees Williams, Esq. The clerk of arraigns having read the usual proclamation against vice, profaneness, and immorality, the learned judge t, proceeded to address the grand jury, observing that the matters which they would have to inquire into were considerable in point of number, and some of the cases were of great import- ance. Amongst others there was a charge of murder which would be submitted to their consideration. The effect of the evidence, as disclosed in the depositions, was such that he (the learned judge) thought they could feel but little difficulty in nnding a bill. He drew their attention to the case for the pur- pose of stating that at one time it appeared the prisoner had expressed a wish to make a declaration. The governor of the ^aol, to whom this offer was made, refused to receive this de- daration, excepting in the presence of one of the magistrates. Subsequently prisoner declined making the declaration. With regard to the gaoler who refused receiving this evidence against a person charged with so serious a crime, every one must respect the feelings influencing him. At the same time, such statements, in his lordship's opinion, ought to be received. His lordship briefly referred to the other cases in the calendar, and the grand jury retired. Mrs. Gicynne Holford v. Pritchard. His lordship took this nisi prius case while the grand jury were considering the bills before them. Mr. Chilton, Q.C., and Mr. Grove, appeared forthe plaintiff; the counsel for the defendant were Mr. Sergeant Jones and Mr. Davidson. This was an action brought to recover the sum of £ 50, which the defendant had agreed to pay plaintiff for the exclusive right of fishing in the Buckland Fishery, which formed the subject of a memorable lawsuit some vears since, between the late Col. Holford and Mr. Bailey, M.P. ;From Mr. Chilton's statement and the evidence adduced, it ap- peared that M rq. Holford had established her right to this fishery. The defendant, who was a professional fisherman at Brecon, en- tered into an agreement with Mr. Brown, the plaintiff's agent, to pay L;50 a year for the exclusive right of fishing from Llansaint- frydd to Manoskin, a distance of three miles. This agreement was read, but the actien was not brought upon it. The learned judge, in summing up, told the jury that, although the actioif was not brought on the agreement, yet the agreement formed very good evidence of what the intention of the parties was. The defendant had unquestionably agreed to pay £ 50 for the right of fishing in the fishery, and when a party made an agreement (whpther the consideration was too much or too little) it was a dangerous principle to allow him to dispute it. At the same time, under the present form of action, the jury were at liberty to make a reduction, if they thought fit t-o do so. After a few minutes' deliberation, the jury found a verdict, in favour of plaintiff for £40. TRIALS OF PRISONERS. John. Davies, aged 23, and John Scott, 18, pleaded Guilty to -the charge of having, in January, feloniously stolen one loaf, by heaking a window in the shop of James Stanton, of Crickhowell. The prisoners, who said that they were driven to the commission of the crime in consequence of being in a state of starvation, were sentenced to three months' imprisonment with hard labour. John Hughes, 21, miner, and William Aubrey, 32, shoemaker, pleaded Guilty to the charge of stealing one cock fowl, the pro- perty of Thomas Harris, of the parish of Llangynider. Sentenced to fourteen days'hard labour. Thomas Seton, aged 38, pleaded Guilty to the charge of hav- ing, on March 17-th, stolen one shovel, the property of John Watkins, of the parssh of Vaynor.. Sentenced to three weeks' labour. Ralph Jacksan, 30., hatter, was indicted for having, in Ja- nuary, stolen one fustian coat, the property of Henry Mose- ley, of Brecon. Some amusement was created in court by the prisoner's hesitation in not knowing whether he should plead '• Guilty'' or Not Guilty. He said he picked the coat up from the ground, but did not take it from the nail. It was, however, proved that the coat was hanging on a nail by the shop door, and that the prisoner had deliberately carried it away. Verdict- Guilty. Sentenced to three months' hard labour. ARSON AT YSTRADGUNLAIS. The grand jury ignored the bill against David Davies ard TVm. 'Davies, who were charged with having feloniously and mali- ciously set tire to a stack of hay, the property of tike Rev. Thomas, Williams, Tyr-y-cwm, Ystrad. Prisoners, who were out on bail were therefore, not called upon to surrender. BURGLARY AT LLANEI.LY. yrilliam Cross, 24, boatman, and Joseph Johns, 23, miner, in .Kovember last, burglariouely entered the house of Richard Price, bf Lianc!lys Brecanshire, and carried away three leaves of bread, one piece ot bacon, several cheeses, and other goods. Mr. T. Allen conducted tiie prosecution. The prisoners, who appeared to be old adepts in courts of justice. < ross-examined each witness with great nonchalance, and addressed -the jury on the inconclusive character of the evidence as to identity. liernamao, an officer stationed at Coleferd. proved a former eon- • Tiction against Cross, under the name of John Williams, at the Monmouthshire -Quarter.Sessions. His lordship sentenced both prisoners to ten years' transportation Doe Diem Maybery v. Pugh. This was P.-n action of ejectment, in which Mr. Chilton, Q.C. -giid Mr. Grove, appeared for the plaintiff; 3Ir. Sergeant Jones for K-the'defendant, The action was brought by Mr. Walter Maybery ,against the defendant, to recover possession of a farm occupied by the defendant, who had received notice to qr.it, but refused !o deJi- w vef up possession. The jury, after hearing the learned judge sum r;) the evidence, found a verdict in favour of the lessor of the lJlaintjff. y John Smith pleaded Guilty to the charge .of having stolen one eaker the property of Edward Moss, of Brecon. Ilis lord stop thought that as the prisoner had been in gaol since January 30, he h id b?en suiffciently punished. He, therefore, sentenced the pri- soner to one day's imprisonment. 'Thomas Voss, 24, tiler, pleaded Guilty to having, in the parish of Cantref, feloniously stolen one dried salmon, the property of John Lewis. A certificate of a former conviction was proved against the r- prisotier. who was an old offender. Sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour. Jtw. llitchings, 19, labourer, pleaded Guilty to the charge of having, in the parish of LlaneUy, Brecon?,hire, stolen one fustian jacket, the property of Joseph Williams. Sentenced to one month's imprisonment with hard labour. (lVrn. Perrott, 22, pleaded Guilty to the charge of having stolen .one shirt. Sentenced to two uionths' imprisoriment with ifeard labour. IGNORED BII<I..—The grand jury ignored the bill against Thomas IViltiams, charged with having, at the parish of Vaynor, feloniously stolen £ 1 8 s. Gd. from the person of .Morgan Morgan. Prisoner, who was out on bail, was not called upon to surrender. BURGILARY AT LLANIGON". John JValker, 48, labourer, and John Doughty, 20, bwfcefaer, were indicted for having feloniously broken and entered into the dwelling-house of Thomas Watkins, at Lknigori, and with having stolen wearing apparel, &c. Mr. C.trne and Mr. T. Allen prosecuted. The jury returned a verdict of Guilty against both prisoners. Sentenced to fifteen calendar months' imprisonment with hard j ibour. Thin coneluded Saturday's business, and the court was adjourned MONDAY. This morning the learned judge entered the hall at nine o'clock precisely. The hall was surrounded by hundreds of persons, anxious to gain admittance, long before the hour arpointed for commencing business, and there was the greatest competition for seatll. The majority, of course, were obliged to be content with remaining outside. i THE CWMGWDY MURDER. James Griffiths, alias Thomas Williams, aged IS, was. placed at the bar, arraigned upon an indictment charging him with hav- ing, at Cwmgwdy, in the parish of St. David's, by means of an axe, inflicted six mortal bruises and twenty-six fractures on the skull of one Thomas Edwards, whereof he died. The form of the charge was varied in five counts in the indictment, and the crime laid as having been committed by an axe and a pitchfork. Prisoner pleaded Not Guilty, and appeared bur. little concerned, although he wept slightly during one part of Sergeant Jones's address. Prisoner was undefended. Mr. Sergeant Jones and Mr. Davidson appeared for the prose- cution; attorney., Mr. D. Thomas. The following were the jury sworn :—Messrs. Eustace Watkins, Thomas Probert, Win. Phillips, Rufus Price, David Powell, John Huish, Rees Parry, John Morris, Thomas Williams, Thomas Wil- liams, James Powell, and Llewellyn Thomas. Mr. Sergeant Jones, in addressing the jury on the part of the prosecution, commenced by remarking that the mere statement of the serious charge against the prisoner at the bar, as read by the officer of the court, was sufficient to impress them with the solemn duty they had to perform. It would therefore, he was convinced, be superfluous on his part to use any exhortations that they would give their closest attention while he briefly stated the principal facts which he proposed substantiating by the evidence of the various witnesses. As an occurrence of the character of that under consideration was of very rare occurrence in that district, this matter miiit have given rise to consideration, conversation, and discussion. He therefore hoped they would exert themselves to exclude from their minds all rumours which might have reached them previous to being called into the jury box, and arrive at a conclusion from the evidence of the witnesses and from the evi- dence only. It would appear that the prisoner at the bar, who had gone by the names both of James Griffiths and Thomas Wil- liams, some time prior to the last harvest had been engaged under the latter name, as a farm servant, by Mr. J. Powell, of Cwm- gwdy. The other servant, Thomas Edwards, had been in Mr. Powell's service for about two years. The prisoner and Edwards continued in the service until the 17th of November, the day ou which the occurrence giving rise to the present inquiry took place. They had lived together on amicable terms, and on that day both were to have left the service—it being Brecon hiring fair, when it was not unusual for servants to change. The prisoner and the deceased usually slept together up-stairs. The other inmates of the house were Mr. and Mrs. Powell, a son, a daughter, and Eli- zabeth Phillips, who had lived as a servant in the family for five years. The first person whom he proposed calling before them was the son, who got up about five o'clock on that morning, and on getting up found that prisoner and deceased had gone out be- fore him. He subsequently saw deceased sitting on the chaff- cutter in the stable, and the prisoner standing near him. Soon afterwards the son left for the purpose of taking a horse to a black-, smith's shop. The witness who could speak to the next series of facts, was Elizabeth Phillips. She got up about a quarter to six, and having lighted the fire, observed that some persons had gone out, the door having been opened. On going out she saw the pri- soner near a dungheap, by the garden gate. He said, in answer to her question, that he had not got up at five o'clock. She re- plied, "No, you got up earlier than that." He however said he had not. Prisoner accompanied her part of the way towards the brook, to which she was going to obtain water; and after some conversation, her attention was attracted by groaning, proceeding apparently from the dungheap. Being in the month of November it was quite dark at that hour. She returned to the house, and hearing footsteps in the bed-room occupied by prisoner and de- ceased, she called out. Prisoner answered, and came down. She remarked that she heard some groanmg outside. He smiled, and said what can it be. They both went out in the direction of the dungheap, but he stopped short of the spot whence the groans proceeded. The witness then returned to the houie for a lantern, and the prisoner pretended to follow, but from that time he had disappeared, and was not found until taken into custody from Ipswich gaol several weeks afterwards. Soon after this Janet Powell, the daughter, came down stairs, and, the son had likewise returned from the blacksmith's shop. Ac* companied by Elizabeth Phillips some of them proceeded towards the heap whence the groaning proceeded. At first they saw nothing, but on returning to the house they told Mr. Powell of what they had heard. He, accompanied by the others, then pro- ceeded towards the spot, and they discovered Thomas Edwards iii a state of insensibility. He was covered with blood, and his skull dreadfully fractured. He was taken into the house. Medical assistance was procured, but he expired the same evening. Pre- vious to his death the deceased had used various expressions, but being in a state of insensibility at the time, those words would not be given in evidence. In addition to this evidence it would appear that in a gutter near this dungheap was found concealed an axe, which had been last used by Janet, the daughter, who left it in the rickyard, some distance from the place in which it was found. On it were marks of blood. The deceased's hat was likewise found, and on the back part, corresponding with the dreadful fractures on the skull, was a hole, evidently made by means of some blunt, instrument. Thrown into the garden, near the spot where deceased was found, and by the gate where the servant girl first saw the prisoner, was a pitchfork, on which were likewise marks of blood. Suspicion naturally fell on the prisoner, who had, as he had stated, suddenly disappeared, and was not found until January in the present year. On the (ith of that month Mr. Powell saw him in Ipswich gaol, and on his saying that he was sorry to see him in such a position, and alluding to the crime, prisoner hung down his head and said nothing, either confirming or denying. He subsequently sent for the gaoler of Ipswich, ex- pressing a wish to say all about it," but that gentleman refused hearing him unless in the presence of a magistrate. A. waistcoat and shirt were found in the prisoner's possession, which would be positively identified as those of Thomas Edwards. In addition to this it would be found that prisoner's own shoes were found outside Cwmgwdy house, as though thrown from the bed-room window. It appeared that a day or two before, Mr. Powell had, in the prisoner's presence, paid Edwards 30s. The jury would observe that the prisoner left without applying for 7s. or 6s. which were due to him, although he had asked for them before they were due. The learned counsel then called the several witnesses named in his address, who detailed at length the particulars attend- ing the murder. Prisoner, on being asked if he had any observations to make to the jury, said, I do not know what to say," and afterwards added, I leave the case in your hands, my lord." His lordship commenced summing up the evidence at twenty minutes past two in the afternoon. He observed that it was hardly necessary for him to remind them that the inquiry in which they were engaged was of the most vital importance both to the pri- soner at the bar and to the interests of society. After some ob- servations on the case generally, the learned judge said that the jury should first inquire whether the prisoner was in a position which afforded him an opportunity of committing the murdar. Could he have committed this crime if he chose P Next, they must look into, and make a careful comparison of the various cir- cumstances detailed in evidence, as pointing to the prisoner or any other individual in connexion with the crime. Next, they must take into consideration the prisoner's conduct previous to the time of the commission of the alleged crime, at the time of its commis- sion, and subsequently. They must lastly direct their attention to the motives suggested on the part of the prosecution as influenc- ing the prisoner to the commission of this crime. His lordship having carefully recapitulated the p irtions of the evidence bearing upon the above points, concluded by saywg-" Now, gentlemen, 'tat c take these circumstances into your calm-consideration, as men of firniness and conscientiousness. If the facts adduced in evidence k-ave on yo'ur minds a reasonable doubt that the prisoner is the man who committed the murder, you must give him the benefit of that doubt; :but if, on the other hand, they leave a firm and abid- ing conviction that he was the man who committed the murder, then you iTOJSt say so by your verdict." The jury then retired, and after an absence of ten minutes re- turned into ■court with a verdict of GUILTY.—Proclamation for silence having been made, His lordship put on the blackcap, and said Thomas Williams, you stand convicted by the verdict of a jury of an aggravated wilful murder. I have carefuliy attended to the evidence, and feel bound to state that it leaves no doubt on my mind that the verdict is right. It appears to 100 that Y041 had planned your crime with calmness mid deliberation. Yuu had made prepara- tions for carrying into tffect your awful design. You had pre- pared the dreadful weapon, and thus planned the death of a man who was your friendly companion. You had likewise planned and contrived a way in which to conceal your guilt by covering the corpse, and all this appears to have -been done for the purpose of "ettin"' possession of his property. By Divine and human law the punishment of death is awarded to the crime of murder. So far as it rests with me, the law will take its course. 1 therefore 1 exhort you to imrstore your Heavenly Redeemer, and pray for that passed the sentence of death in the usual form, holding out no hope of mercy. During the whole time the sentence was being passed the prisoner covered his face with his handkerchief, resting his head on the front of the dock. The unhappy youth was im- mediately removed. BlULTH. William Pugh, 53, was indicted for having embezzled one sovereign, two half-sovereigns. and other money, the property o David Evans. Verdict—Guilty. Sentenced to four calendar months' imprisonment with hard labour. NIGHT POACLIING.-S(tititzel Thomas, collier, was charged with having, in the parish of Llangattock, on the night of Saturday, Feb. 10, with others, entered on certain enclosed lands of the Duke of Beaufort, for the purpose of destroying game, he being armed with a gun. Mr. Grove appeared for the prosecution Nl r, Allen defended the prisoner. Verdict-Guilty, with a recommendation to mercy. Prisoner was sentenced to three months' hard labour. STEALING A PISTOL.—Joseph Brown, 26, and T. Webber, 21, two soldiers, were indicted for having stolen a pistol, value 10s., the property of William Lewis, landlord of the Cross Keys public- house, Lanvaes, Brecon. Both prisoners were AcquItted. -This concluded the business of the assizes. BRECON. REDUCTIONS IN THE ARMY.—Further orders have been received by the various regiments, under which, the reduc- tions suspended last week have been proceeded with. The first batch was discharged from the 15th regiment at Brecon barracks; and during the past week the whole number of 170. have been sent out. They were allowed one pound each to defray their expenses to their respective homes.—Silurian