and William Habron,
who were about to stand their trial for the murder of Constable Cock at
Whalley Range.

The trial commenced at the Manchester Assizes before Mr. Justice (now
Lord) Lindley on Monday, November 27. John Habron was acquitted.

The case against William Habron depended to a great extent on the fact
that he, as well as his brother, had been heard to threaten to "do for"
the murdered man, to shoot the "little bobby." Cock was a zealous young
officer of twenty-three years of age, rather too eager perhaps in
the discharge of his duty. In July of 1876 he had taken out summonses
against John and William Habron, young fellows who had been several
years in the employment of a nurseryman in Whalley Range, for being
drunk and disorderly. On July 27 William was fined five shillings,
and on August 1, the day of Cock's murder, John had been fined half
a sovereign. Between these two dates the Habrons had been heard to
threaten to "do for" Cock if he were not more careful. Other facts
relied upon by the prosecution were that William Habron had inquired
from a gunsmith the price of some cartridges a day or two before the
murder; that two cartridge percussion caps had been found in the pocket
of a waistcoat given to William Habron by his employer, who swore that
they could not have been there while it was in his possession; that the
other constable on duty with Cock stated that a man he had seen lurking
near the house about twelve o'clock on the night of the murder appeared
to be William Habron's age, height and complexion, and resembled him in
general appearance; and that the boot on Habron's left foot, which was
"wet and sludgy" at the time of his arrest, corresponded in certain
respects with the footprints of the murderer. The prisoner did not
help himself by an ineffective attempt to prove an alibi. The Judge was
clearly not impressed by the strength of the case for the prosecution.
He pointed out to the jury that neither the evidence of identification
nor that of the footprint went very far. As to the latter, what evidence
was there to show that it had been made on the night of the murder? If
it had been made the day before, then the defence had proved that it
could not have been Habron's. He called their attention to the facts
that Habron bore a good character, that, when arrested on the night of
the murder, he was in bed, and that no firearms had been traced to him.
In spite, however, of the summing-up the jury co