EXTRAORDINAEY SENTENCE ON A MURDERER. 185 



on Lord De Grey's land, over wliicli I had leave to 

 sport, after dark in pursuit of wild fowl by the 

 river, telling him then that I had a great mind to 

 take his gun away, but, as that was before I ascer- 

 tained him to be a confirmed game stealer, on his 

 entreating to be forgiven I let it pass. The end of 

 this aifair was remarkable. When the time of the 

 assize came for the murderer to be tried he was 

 seized with 'the small-pox, and the trial was, in con- 

 sequence, postponed. His sentence ultimately was 

 transportation, a verdict arrived at on account of the 

 intentional insufficiency of the evidence, as, when I 

 left it, a clearer case of the most deliberate murder 

 could not be. The dying man's declaration proved 

 that the leader of the party had a stick, and gave the 

 word to fire. He was the man that ran away from 

 the blacksmith's shop when he saw me. Coles had 

 what was called a helper, or night-watcher, out with 

 him, who ran away the moment it was found that 

 poachers were in the wood, and Coles advanced on 

 the poachers, who came out of the copsewood and col- 

 lected in the ride, alone. They threatened to shoot 

 him if he continued to advance or follow them, and 

 the murderer twice raised his gun, but Coles on his 

 death-bed said that each time, by the light of the 

 moon, he could see, or at least he thought he saiv, 

 the man did not intend to fire. The third time, 

 Coles felt so convinced that he would fire, that he 

 had time to guard his heart with his arm, and in his 

 arm he received the whole charge, or he would have 

 been shot dead. Now in this there seemed a provi- 

 dential interference, that the man should be preserved 

 sufiiciently to make a deposition and to aftbrd a clue 

 to the murderer ; and the result proved tliat Coles' 



