if their bed was ready, and I told them it was. My family consisted of myself and my husband, a female servant (Betty Bates) and a boy. I told Betty Bates to take a candle and show them the bed they were to go to: it was a double-bedded room, over the kitchen. The boy, William Higgins, who is between 14 and 15, slept in that room, in the other bed. The boy had gone to bed about nine o'clock. It was after eleven when I told the maid to light the prisoners to bed. I saw her bring the candle, to light the men up stairs; and the prisoner left the bar, Alexander going first. I dont believe the prisoners Michael ever went up stairs. [Here the witness appeared faint, and took her bonnet off; she had dreadful marks of wounds across the forehead, and under the left eye.] About two minutes after I heard Betty make a dismal cry; I was sitting in the bar, where my husband was asleep; on hearing this, I took up the candle, and was going out of the bar-door to run up stairs; I had not got one foot out of the bar into the lobby before Michael put his hand against my breast; he had something in his hand which he stuck in my neck; he dragged me upon my knees opposite the bar; clapped his hand on my throat, and gave me this wound in the forehead. [Here witness showed a deep wound over her nose.] He then stabbed the knife under my eye, and it stuck there; he then went out at the back-door, leaving me with a knife fast in my eye, and bleeding very much. The prisoner tried to get the knife out, and, in doing so, pulled the handle off. I heard it drop on the floor. I remained quiet, until I heard the back-door open. While he was with me, he held me by the throat so that I could not cry out. When I rose from my knees I heard a whistle at the back door; I ran to the cottage of Richard Andrews, who lived near, and who is married to my niece, and gave the alarm. Joseph Blears, landlord of the public house, confirmed many of these circumstances. Michael Higgins. I am fourteen years old; I lived with Joseph Blears at the period in question; I went to sleep in the double-bedded room about nine o'clock; I had been in bed about three hours, when I was awakened by a noise; I saw a man, Alexander M'Keand, whom I had known before, with his left hand round Betty Bates's neck, and doing something that I could not see; he appeared to be making his nonsense with her; there was a lighted candle in the window which is between the two beds; I saw the man and the woman struggling at the end of the drawers, which are at the foot of my bed; my bed had no curtains; I was then lying down in bed; she kept saying, "Give over, and be quiet," and then I saw the blood gushing down from her throat; this was after I had seen the prisoner's left arm round her neck; his right arm was somehow across the woman's neck; he flung her down upon the floor, and she screamed out "murder!" I saw them struggling very hard upon the floor, and then the woman got up and caught hold of his legs, and said, "I'll mark thee, man.' He flung her down a second time, and did something more at her, but what it was I could not see, it was at the side of her neck. He left her then, and came to me; I had not sat up before he came to me, nor do I know how he saw me; when he came to me I rose up, and he put his left hand on my mouth, and thrust me down again; his hand left blood upon my face; he kept his hand upon my mouth; the woman at this time got up, and was going out of the room, and he catched her at the door. I saw him struggling with her at the door place; they stood upon their feet. I got out of bed, and rushed past behind the woman; he made a grasp at me, and marked my shirt with his bloody hand, but he did not keep hold of me; I jumped over the bannister and escaped. When I passed them, he (Alexander) followed me down stairs; I ran out through the back kitchen, and out at the back door; I ran round the back of the house to the front, and he followed me to the railing in front of the house; I ran down by the railing, and through a style, and back along a hedge and a ditch, where I concealed myself. Richard Farraday. - In consequence of a hand-bill I had seen, I went in search of the prisoners; I overtook and passed them at Kitling, three miles from Appleby. I went to the public-house, and got assistance; and when Alexander came up, I asked him to take a glass of ale, which he accepted; I then told him he was my prisoner, and gave him into custody; I was going to take the other, when Alexander was making his escape, and I seized him by the arm, and gave him to the two men; Michael was then coming up to strike me, when I seized him, and secured him. Before the magistrates, Alexander gave his name Matthew Kirk, and the other gave his name Carse. I looked at Alexander's hand, and found the marks on it answering the description in the hand-bill. Alexander M'Keand, being called on for his defence, protested his innocence; he had treated Blears, and they had both got very tipsy; Blears struck him several times, saying, he could beat three such men as he, after which he could give no account of any thing that had happened. Michael M'Keand said, that, on the day of the murder, his brother, whom he had not seen for a week, asked him to assist him in getting in some debts due to him in the neighbourhood. He sent him forward to Blears's house, telling him to have a glass of ale, and wait his coming. The prisoner then described their all drinking together, and his brother getting very tipsy, and quarrelling with the landlord; he could give no further account; but his life hung upon a thread, and he called upon that God before whom perhaps he was shortly to appear, to witness his innocence of having committed the murder, or of ever having been aiding in such a crime. The jury found both prisoners Guilty. TRIALS OF RIOTERS IN YORKSHIRE AND LANCASHIRE. York Assizes, July 12. John Holdsworth and William Bolton were tried upon an indictment, in which they were capitally charged with having, on the 8th of May last, in the parish of Bradford, along with divers other persons, riotously assembled in disturbance of the public peace, and with endeavouring to destroy the factory or mill of Messrs. John Garnett Horsfall, William Horsfall, and Timothy Horsfall, situate in Bradford. The: indictment was on the 52nd Geo. III. cap. 30, sec. 2, which enacts that "if, after the passing of this act, any person or persons, unlawfully, riotously, or tumultuously assembled together in disturbance of the public peace, shall unlawfully and with force demolish or pull down, or begin to demolish or pull down, any erection, and building or engine, which shall be used or employed, in carrying on or conducting any trade or manufactory of goods whatsoever, then every such demolishing or pulling down shall be adjudged to be felony without benefit of clergy." A great number of witnesses were called; and from their testimony it appeared, that, some days previously to the 3rd of May, meetings had taken place among the poor people of Bradford who were out of employment. On the 2nd of May a hand-bill was published, announcing that a meeting would take place on the following day, to take into consideration the distressed state of the operatives. The meeting accordingly took place, on the 3rd of May, when upwards of a thousand people, armed with sticks and bludgeons, assembled together. After some speeches had been delivered, the crowd fell into a line, and proceeded in marching order to Messrs. Horsfall's mill. The mill is situated at one extremity of Bradford, and it employs powerlooms, which require few hands. The proprietors had been employed for some days in putting the mill into a state of defence; and, besides arming their own men, they had procured ten of lord Grantham's yeomanry. The mob arrived at the mill about one o'clock, and poured a volley of stones at the doors and windows. The windows were all driven in, and the mill sustained so much injury, that it became necessary for the persons within to fire. In doing so, they killed one person. Colonel Tempest and other magistrates then came up and read the Riot act. The prisoner, Holdsworth, said to colonel Tempest, "What are we to do, are we to starve?" The other prisoner Bolton was also observed to be active in throwing stones. Mr. Baron Hullock summed up the case, and the jury retired. At half-past twelve o'clock this morning the jury came into Court, and returned a verdict, finding Holdsworth Guilty, and Bolton Not Guilty; at the same time recommending Holdsworth to mercy. Lancaster, August 14.— Black burn Rioters. James Chambers, Simeon Wright, Thomas Dickinson, and Richard Entwistle, were indicted for being concerned in the late riots and destruction of machinery at Blackburn. Mr. John Kay the constable, and Mr. Eccles, one of the proprietors of the mill, proved the general riot and the damage done to the machinery. Mr. John Kay the constable, deposed to the activity of Chambers in the riot, and to his giving encouragement to the rest of the mob. Mr. Robinson, clerk to the magistrates, saw Chambers in the riot waving a hammer over his head, and encouraging the mob to break the looms, and never mind the soldiers, and afterwards took from him the hammer, which was produced in court. The rev. Richard Noble, a magistrate, saw Simeon Wright at is sufferings; he took a most exaordinary antipathy to Dr. Parons, and at last almost persuaded imself that the medicines he had ken of him, had killed him; and hat, in fact, he had been poisoned. There were about the deceased, ccasionally, some persons who eemed to have been not very ackward in encouraging the anger Le had conceived against Miss Bauden, on account of her having ecommended him to avail himself of doctor Parsons's assistance. Mr. Vigurs, another medical gentleman, stated in his evidence, that he medicines were calculated to have a good effect on the deceased's complaint; but had not, in fact, had a fair trial. However, under some momentary anger, probably, the will of January 1821 was written, but it was discovered, afterwards, cancelled by the deceased. That cancellation was quite consistent with the affectionate declarations he on several subsequent occasions made of his unabated attachment to "his beloved Miss Bauden;" with his inquiries of her at other times, whether the will of August 1807 was in existence, and his satisfaction at learning that it was; with his declarations in the presence of servants and others, of his intending to leave Miss Bauden as well off as ever she had been with him; with various acts and expressions, clearly proving his own reference to, and cognizance of the existence and the effect of that will, to the latest term, almost of his own life-with the cancellation of other subsequent papers, as unfavourable to Miss Bauden, as that of January 1821; and with his repeated manifestations, to the last, of his regard for her. Such being the construction, the learned judge added, which he felt himself VOL. LXVIII, bound to put on the circumstances of this case, and on the intentions of the testator; he pronounced for the validity of the uncancelled will of 1807, which had been propounded by Mrs. Frances Bauden, as the sole executrix named therein. COURT OF EXCHEQUER, MAY 16. The Attorney-general addressed the jury. This was a proceeding against Mr. Peto, to recover the penalty of a bond which he executed to secure the amount to the Crown, on behalf of the public, and which would become forfeited, provided Mr. Peto failed in building the new Custom-house, in the city of London. By the contract, Mr. Peto was bound to complete the work for the sum of 165,000l. ; exclusive of the charge of 12,000l. which he was entitled to make for the piling of the building. The building was commenced in 1813, and was completed in 1817 or 1818-and the charge of building, including that for piling, amounted to 370,000l., a charge more than double the amount that Mr. Peto contracted to execute the building for; and of this, 24,000l. was apportioned for piling. The commissioners were extremely dissatisfied with these charges; and thought they had reason to complain of Mr. Laing, their surveyor; and, after having paid upwards of 300,000%. they thought they could not, with justice to the public, pay Mr. Peto any farther sum of money. Mr. Peto, in consequence, commenced some proceedings against the commissioners, but before these proB* ceedings were concluded, apprehensions were entertained for the safety of the building; the walls cracked in several places, and it appeared to be in a tottering state, and at length the greater part of the building fell. The site was formerly a part of the bed of the river Thames, but it rested upon a solid stratum of hard gravel, which was 12 feet deep, and into which it was necessary that piles should be driven for the support of a building of such weight and magnitude as the new Customhouse. From the specification it appeared that the builder was to provide a necessary number of engines for the purpose of boring down to the gravel, to ascertain the firmness of the foundation; and he was also to drive the piles into two feet of the stratum of gravel, for, unless those piles were driven into this stratum, they would not afford support to the building. These piles were all to be cut the same length, and levelled. Instead, however, of these piles being of the proper length, to reach the sleepers, some were shorter than the others. There was no complaint made of the external appearance of the building. An immense chasm was, however, discovered in the King's warehouses and the Longroom, and before the cause could be ascertained, one pier sunk nine feet, and another four feet. The warehouses then sunk into the cellars, and this circumstance, he was sorry to state, would put the public to an expense of one hundred thousand pounds. The piling was then examined, and it was wonderful how the piers had stood till the work was completed; for instead of the piles being driven two feet into the gravel, they did not even reach that gravel, and it was impossible, therefore, they could have been the least support to the pier. Upon examination it was ascertained, that, out of one hundred piles, not one exceeded six feet in length. It was impossible, therefore, they could reach the gravel, and the consequence had been, that the whole of the piling had been removed, and a great part of the building had been taken down, to guard against a similar accident to that which had already occurred. The commissioners were dissatisfied with the conduct of Mr. Laing, and they had thought proper to commence proceedings against him. They also thought that his conduct, and that of Mr. Peto, had been such as not to entitle them to their confidence. The accounts were all made up in a hurry; the greater part was demanded, and paid in a hurry; and when the accounts were disputed, they were suffered to remain four years without being rectified by Mr. Peto; and then, when the building falls, Mr. Peto, for the first time, says, it was a mistaken charge, and it was also by mistake that the spandrels were filled up with rubbish instead of brick-work. had another complaint to make against Mr. Peto, for the improper mode in which he had laid on the roof of the building. The materials for the roof were to have been of the best quality; but it seemed as if Mr. Peto had collected all the old boards he could find in London. Some of those boards were ornamented with play-bills and other papers, and some were pieces of old boards, and in a very decayed state. He also begged to call the attention of the jury to the flooring of the Long-room, and which He |