Aug.] 



CHRONICLE. 



7S 



without trial, by a Secretary of 

 State's warrant, under the sus- 

 pension of the Habeas Corpus act. 



The failure of these pi-osecu- 

 tions has not been owing to any 

 want of zeal, or any deficiency 

 of meanSj on the part of the go- 

 vernment. Some time before the 

 trials came on, the Solicitor for 

 the Crown was sent down into the 

 neighbourhood of Huddersfield, to 

 collect evidence against the pri- 

 soners : in support of this evi- 

 dence, a large portion of the 

 weight and talent of the bar on 

 the northern circuit was ranged on 

 the side of the prosecution ; and 

 that nothing might be wanting to 

 give importance to these proceed- 

 ings, Mr. Gurney was sent doWn 

 from London at the expence of 

 Government, to take leports of 

 the trials. Against all this weight 

 of power and influence, seconded 

 by the public purse, a few obscin'e 

 men and boys, principally in the 

 Tery lowest ranks in society, had 

 to defend themselves. The odds 

 Were teiTific ; but with the zeal and 

 intelHgence of their professional 

 advisers and advocates, and the 

 presiding presence of a i ighteous 

 Judge, who knows no distinction 

 between the lofty and the humble 

 m the administration of justice, 

 the trial by jury obtained another 

 distinguished triumph, and the 

 prisoners, after a period of deep 

 anxiety, were restored to their 

 liberty and to their friends. 



23. Yesterday two inquests were 

 held, one before Mr. Unwin, the 

 other before Mr. Stirling, on the 

 bodies of the two female servants 

 and of the child, who were found 

 drowned in the New River. These 

 women, whose names were Sarali 



Croft and Mary Ayling, had been 

 left in the charge of tlie house of 

 Mr. Guy, of Palmer's-terracey 

 Holloway, while the family were' 

 in the country. They were, it 

 seems, of the most abandoned pro- 

 fligacy, and had admitted to their 

 bed two journeymen painters, who 

 were at work in the neighbour- 

 hood. The girls slept together in 

 one bed, and each of the painters 

 slept alternately with both at once. 

 A neighbour had discovered these 

 proceedings, and threatened to 

 write immediately to Mr. Guy on 

 the subject. The women were 

 alarmed, and having been pos- 

 sessed with the idea that they 

 should be sent to prison, appear 

 to have foimed the frantic reso- 

 lution of destroying themselves. 

 Sarah Croft then went for her 

 child, a girl about 13 months old, 

 and the infatuated pair next pro- 

 ceeded to the New River, where 

 they drowned the infant and them- 

 selves. The Coroners, thinking 

 the case one of more than ordinary 

 guilt, recommended a verdict of 

 J'elu de sc against the women, and 

 of murder with respect to the 

 cliild. A\'arrants were issued for 

 burying the bodies of the two 

 suicides in the cross-roads, and 

 tlie child was oi'dercd to be buried 

 in Newington Church-yard. 



Letter from JVtstplialla. — The 

 iMinden Sunday paper contains a 

 remarkable circular letter to the 

 Evangelical clergy of botli confessi- 

 ons in the Prussian Monarcliy, on 

 occasion of the intended celebration 

 of the secuhu' festival of the Re- 

 formation, in which tliere is the 

 following passage ; — 



The representation of tlic occa- 

 sion and the object of tlie refor- 

 mation 



