sheets. The counterpane was rolled up and put away, and in it were found a plum cake and two pieces of board and string, and a razor sheath. The constable came, and he and I and the surgeon went into a room below; the prisoner was called in. I asked the prisoner to tell what he knew of the occurrences of the night. He said he knew nothing of them. I asked him what he had in his bed? He said "nothing but his scissors and a key." I asked him, "did he know anything about the hair?" he said, "No." We questioned him awhile about it, and he said some one must have put it there. He then took off his night cap and found his own hair cut off. I asked him how it came to be cut off? He said he did it himself. I asked him what he did it for? he said "to keep himself awake." I said "Why did you wish to keep yourself awake?" He said "because he wished to destroy himself in the course of the night." I asked him, "how Green came to be in the state he was?' He replied, that "he knew nothing about it, he only wished to destroy himself." I said "William, you do know about it." He said, "Ay, but you don't know what I did with the razor." I said, "You do; tell me." He replied, "I threw it into Heward's garden." I then gave him in charge to the constable, and desired him to fetch the razor, which he did. Crossexamined. I found this piece of paper in his pocket next day (produced.) The writing is the prisoner's. [This paper represented, on one side, a man hanging from a gallows, drawn by the prisoner in pencil; and on the other was written "The execution of William Vialls, this morning at five o'clock."]

After some other evidence, the

confession of the prisoner before the magistrate was read. It stated that, about a week previously, he found himself very uncomfortable in his mind about some shirts he had sold, and that on Sunday night he made up his mind to make away with himself. On the night in question he resolved to put this purpose into execution. and, about half-past eleven, he cut off his own hair to keep himself awake, thinking he might be overtaken by sleep before he had quite done it. He then went to kill George Green, but had not resolution then; in half an hour he got out of bed, and, by the light of the moon, he saw Green lying nearly on his face, and took the razor and cut his neck. was then going to kill himself, but Green woke and he could not. This was the case for the prosecution.

He

The prisoner called the following witnesses.

Mary Rose: In September, 1827, the prisoner came with his master to lodge at my master's House in Threadneedle-street, London. He stayed six or seven months. I used to make his bed. On one occasion, I found one of his day and one of his night shirts cut quite up to pieces and put under his bed. They were good shirts. I have them (produced.) On another occasion, I found three of his pocket-handkerchiefs tied together, and hanging from the curtain of his bed. They had a noose at the other end that would slip. Another time I found a piece of rope tied to the bedcurtain iron, with a slip noose at the other end. It was an ordinary slip noose, which would have afforded ready means of hanging any one. He was very low at times, and could not bear to be

to be very cautious before they resort to force; and the much better way, in my opinion, would be for them to satisfy themselves with taking down their names. It should be at the very last extremity, they should resort to force. As to the opposite meetings, they are in themselves clearly unlawful. The magistrates should tell those persons they are not to take the law into their own hands: and if they do not at once disperse, force should be resorted to."

8. BURY ST. EDMUND'S. William Vialls, aged sixteen, was indicted for having, on the 14th day of July last, feloniously cut and stabbed one George Green with a razor, with intent to murder him. The prosecutor was led into court by two men, and appeared with his face and throat enclosed in a black silk handkerchief. He deposed as follows. I have been apprenticed to Mr. Bridge, of Clare, for four years and a half. Prisoner had been a fellow apprentice for nine months. On Friday, the 14th of July, I went to bed at a quarter before eleven o'clock, with the prisoner. After we got up stairs we conversed, and I soon went to sleep. We had no quarrel. In the middle of the night I was awakened by a feeling of blood flowing from my neck. I opened the window, and called to the maid for a light, and said my throat was cut. I asked prisoner to take the light, which he refused to do at first, as he said he was in his shirt. He did take it afterwards. The door was but toned on the inside, and the window was barred.

Mary French: Was servant to Mr. Bridge in July. My window is opposite to that of the apprentices' room. On the night of the 14th of July I was

awakened by Green calling me. He called "Mary, Mary! for God's sake bring a light. My neck is cut, and I am bleeding." I got up, and by the moon I saw the blood streaming from his neck. He was then sitting on the bed. I hada light, which the prisoner at first refused to take, because, he said, he was in his shirt. I went for Mr. Bridge, and we went into the room. The prisoner was putting on his clothes, and he went for the doctor.

Samuel Bridge: I was awakened on the night of the 14th of July, by Mary French, and went with her to the prisoner's room. The door was fastened, and I demanded admittance. The door was opened, and I found Green on the bed with his throat cut, and bleeding. I said to Green. "Good God! how came this about?" he said, “I did not do it." I told prisoner to go for the brandy: he went, but came back, and said he could not find it. I sent him a second time, but he refused to go. I then went myself, leaving him with Green. When I came back, I again asked "who had done it. Green repeated, that "he did not do it himself;" and prisoner said, "Was it not Moore?" (Moore had lived with me, but was discharged.) I said "If it's Moore, he's here now," and looked under the bed, but he was not there. I sent the prisoner for the surgeon, and he went immediately. The surgeon came in about twenty minutes and sewed up the wound. French assisted, and prisoner held the candle. We searched his bed, and found nothing; nor any-thing in the boxes. We then searched prisoner's bed, and under the pillow found a great quantity of human hair, and a pair of scissors. A great deal of blood was on the

sheets. The counterpane was rolled up and put away, and in it were found a plum cake and two pieces of board and string, and a razor sheath. The constable came, and he and I and the surgeon went into a room below; the prisoner was called in. I asked the prisoner to tell what he knew of the occurrences of the night. He said he knew nothing of them. I asked him what hehad in his bed? He said "nothing but his scissors and a key." I asked him, "did he know anything about the hair?" he said, "No.' We questioned him awhile about it, and he said some one must have put it there. He then took off his night cap and found his own hair cut off. I asked him how it came to be cut off? He said he did it himself. I asked him what he did it for? he said "to keep himself awake." I said "Why did you wish to keep yourself awake?" He said "because he wished to destroy himself in the course of the night." I asked him, "how Green came to be in the state he was?" He replied, that "he knew nothing about it, he only wished to destroy himself." I said "William, you do know about it." He said, "Ay, but you don't know what I did with the razor." I said, "You do; tell me." He replied, "I threw it into Heward's garden." I then gave him in charge to the constable, and desired him to fetch the razor, which he did. Crossexamined. I found this piece of paper in his pocket next day (produced.)The writing is the prisoner's. [This paper represented, on side, a man hanging from a gallows, drawn by the prisoner in pencil; and on the other was written "The execution of William Vialls, this morning at five o'clock."

After some other evidence, the

confession of the prisoner before the magistrate was read. It stated that, about a week previously, he found himself very uncomfortable in his mind about some shirts he had sold, and that on Sunday night he made up his mind to make away with himself. On the night in question he resolved to put this purpose into execution. and, about half-past eleven, he cut off his own hair to keep himself awake, thinking he might be overtaken by sleep before he had quite done it. He then went to kill George Green, but had not resolution then; in half an hour he got out of bed, and, by the light of the moon, he saw Green lying nearly on his face, and took the razor and cut his neck. He was then going to kill himself, but Green woke and he could not. This was the case for the prosecution.

The prisoner called the following witnesses.

Mary Rose: In September, 1827, the prisoner came with his master to lodge at my master's House in Threadneedle-street, London. He stayed six or seven months. I used to make his bed. On one occasion, I found one of his day and one of his night shirts cut quite up to pieces and put under his bed. They were good shirts. I have them (produced.) On another occasion, I found three of his pocket-handkerchiefs tied together, and hanging from the curtain of his bed. They had a noose at the other end that would slip. Another time I found a piece of rope tied to the bedcurtain iron, with a slip noose at the other end. It was an ordinary slip noose, which would have afforded ready means of hanging any one. He was very low at times, and could not bear to be

shut in a room alone.

Whenever he was shut up alone, he always jumped up and opened the door. I made the observation, while he lived with us, that he could not be in his right mind, and I do not think he was. My mistress used to say and think so too.

William Reeve: Knew the prisoner when he was quite a child. Knew him intimately from the age of six till twelve. He was of a kind, mild and inoffensive disposition. He was not of a robust frame, and did not much associate with boys, preferring the society of little girls, He was effeminate in his manners, and never cruel either to man or animals. He had a first cousin confined in St. Luke's Hospital for insanity.

The jury, after some deliberation, found the prisoner Guilty.

Silence being then proclaimed, the Judge proceeded to pass sentence of death, which he did in a most impressive address. The extreme youth of the prisoner (not yet 16), his quiet, mild appearance, and the extraordinary circumstances under which the deed was perpetrated, created a general sympathy for him throughout the crowded court. He was most respectably connected, and had a mother (a widow), whose hope and darling he had been.

and seats in the cabin were thrown down, and the passengers were obliged to dine off the floor: no person or thing could remain in an upright position, and the sailors were obliged to crawl about on all fours. The horses were severely injured. The only being that escaped from all harm was a Scotch bull; but, although uninjured himself, this brute did a great deal of mischief, especially to the horses, into whose birth he was tossed.

12. JUVENILE INCENDIARY. -COURT OF ASSIZE OF MARNÉ (RHEIMS). Lambert Canizot, called Frederick, resided with his family in the hamlet of Sommeville, in the commune of Hermouville. His father (who had many other children) was a gardener, and usually went out to work in the neighbourhood, accompanied gene rally by this child.-Between the 31st of January and the 9th of April, the hamlet was astonished by the occurrence of ten fires; another fire happened in the hamlet of St. Martin, and a twelfth in that of Warmeriville, which is not far distant. The first was on the 31st of January, when a house in the hamlet took fire on that side of the thatched roof next the fields, and a few feet from the ground. On the 9th of February, at nine in the morning, another fire happened in an outhouse belonging to a man in the same hamlet. The flames were arrested in time, and only the stable was consumed. Lambert Canizot was the first to perceive the fire and give the alarm. On the same day, and only a few moments after the preceding fire, another broke out, on the side towards the fields, in the thatched roof of the house of a man named Faucheron. The progress of the flames was so rapid, that this house was destroyed, as well as

part of the next. Canizot was the first to enter an adjoining house, and give the alarm to Laluc, the brother-in-law and neighbour of Faucheron. On the 15th of February, about two in the afternoon, a child's sabot was found, full of dead embers, at the foot of a heap of straw, placed near the wall of a barn filled with corn. It was evi dent that the cinders were brought in the sabot, and some were found even in the heap itself. It was afterwards discovered that this sabot belonged to the younger brother of the prisoner, but it was not noticed at the time. Three days afterwards, at nine in the morning, commenced a series of attempts to set the house of Laluc on fire, which finally ended in the total destruction of his property, and eventually in the discovery of the incendiary. The fire began, as usual, in the lower part of the thatch, next the fields, and only a few feet from the ground. There were heated cinders found in the thatch, which left no doubt that the fire was premeditated. Here again Canizot was the first to announce that the house was on fire. -The unfortunate inhabitants of Sommeville, seized with terror at these frequent attempts, took arms in their defence, and formed them selves into a body, to watch, and if possible detect the incendiary.On the 24th of February, an attempt was made to set fire to the house of Decu, but the progress of the flames was here speedily checked. As before, the fire began in the thatch, a few feet from the ground on the field side, and cinders were found in the place. When the house was entered for the purpose of discovering the incendiary, Decu and his wife had gone off, afraid lest they should be

brought into trouble by the transaction. Suspicion had, before this, fallen upon them, particularly on the wife, which their flight now served to confirm. The husband was prosecuted-but their innocence soon appeared; for, after their flight, and whilst the husband was in prison, the fires continued, and their house was the first to fall a victim to the flames.-On the 14th of March, at one in the afternoon, a fire was discovered in the house of the widow Pilloy, which nearly destroyed that and the next house. It began in the same manner as the former fires, and Canizot was, as before, the first to give the alarm to the mayor.

On the 16th of March another attempt was made on the house of Laluc. It was now found that his house was insured, and, it was said, for more than its value; and suspicion at once marked him out as the author of the several attempts which had been made.-On the 9th of April a fire was per ceived in the same part of the thatch of Laluc's house, where the former fires had commenced. The inhabitants of the hamlet, thinking the attempt was by Laluc, or some of his family, made no efforts to check the flames, but rather laughed at the event, and said, "as he wishes to have his house consumed, let him," and the greater part of the house was destroyed.On the same day, and at the same hour, two women, going in different directions, noticed young Canizot coming from his father's house and going to the field at the back of Laluc's, with both his hands under his smock frock, a practice which they considered unusual with him. He was going towards Laluc's house, but, seeing himself observed, took another direction. Shortly