9.--A fire occurred at the office of the "Norwich Mercury," Castle
Street, Norwich. The roof of the building fell in, and the compositors'
room, with most of the cases of type, was destroyed.
13.--Dr. White, the eminent translator of "D'Aubigne's History,"
delivered, in the old Council Chamber at the Guildhall, Norwich, a
lecture on "The Causes and Consequences of the Reformation."
27.--At the Norfolk Assizes, before Lord Chief Justice Jervis, the libel
action, Abbott _v._ Bacon and Another, was tried. The defendants
published a statement in the "Norwich Mercury," to the effect that the
plaintiff, a superintendent of the County Constabulary at East Dereham,
had stolen certain articles from the shop of Mr. Abram, a chemist and
druggist in that town. The jury assessed the damages at one farthing.
On April 16th a motion was made in the Court of Exchequer for a new
trial, on the ground of misdirection of the jury, and a rule _nisi_ was
granted. At a meeting held at the Norfolk Hotel, on April 5th, it was
resolved, "That the recent trial offered a most painful illustration of
the gross injustice which may be inflicted upon the editor of a newspaper
who honestly and fearlessly comments on matters of general interest," and
a public subscription was opened to recoup the proprietors of the
"Mercury" the loss they had sustained by their successful vindication of
the liberty of the Press. In the Court of Exchequer, on June 27th, both
sides agreed to a verdict being entered for one farthing damages.
28.--George Baldry (33) was found guilty, at the Norfolk Assizes, before
Mr. Justice Erle, of murdering Caroline Warnes, at Thurlton, by striking
her on the head with a hammer. The sentence of death was commuted to
transportation for life.
29.--At the Norwich Assizes, before Mr. Justice Erle, John Whitley Cooper
and Edmund Slingsby Drury Long, solicitors, and Frederick Goose, dealer,
were indicted for unlawfully conspiring to obtain, by false pretences,
from Sarah Roberts Tooke, widow, divers goods, furniture, and effects,
with intent to defraud. Cooper was at the time undergoing sentence of
twelve months' imprisonment, passed upon him at Norwich Quarter Sessions
on December 31st, 1850, for fraud. He was now sentenced to two years'
imprisonment in the Common Gaol; Long was acquitted, and Goose, who had
absconded, forfeited his recognisances. The victim of this conspiracy,
said the Judge, had been reduced from a position of respectability to one
of absolute ruin.