s. The accused were John
Nunn, Simeon Nunn, the younger, and Ephraim Litchfield, labourers, of
Whittlesford. The facts as deposed to at the Assizes were briefly
these:--The late Mr. Henry Thurnall, of Royston, was in that year an
articled clerk to Messrs. Nash and Wedd, solicitors, Royston, and was
frequently in the habit of going from Royston to his then home at
Whittlesford, to spend the Sunday. On this occasion business in the
office had detained him later than usual, and he started from Royston
to drive home in a gig about 11 p.m. on the Saturday night. Near the
plantation between Thriplow and Whittlesford parish two men rushed out,
seized the reins and said, "We want all you have," and just as he
jumped out of the gig to defend himself a third man struck him and
knocked him down and stunned him. A further struggle, however, and
more blows ensued, and he was able in the struggle to identify the
three men, who did not leave him till they had made him stand up with
his arms extended, rifled his pockets, and then, left him covered with
blood and fainting on the road, not knowing who it was that they had
been robbing. Mr. Thurnall was able to walk home, though bleeding very
much, and after dressing his wounds, he, his father and others, watched
for the accused, and seeing them returning at dawn to their homes, the
men dropped sacks they were carrying, and these sacks were found to
contain each a fresh-killed sheep from the fold of Mr. Faircloth. At
the next Cambs. Assizes, as stated above, all three were found guilty
and sentenced to be hung. Mr. Thurnall pleaded for the lives of the
men, who belonged to his own parish, but the Home Secretary, Lord
Melbourne, wrote that their case was too bad to admit of any mitigation
of the punishment, and the day was appointed for their execution. The
poor fellows were desirous {91} of seeing Mr. Thurnall, and he went to
Cambridge gaol to take leave of them, and they thanked him for his
exertions on their behalf, and assured him that had they known him on
the night of the robbery nothing would have induced them to attack him!
Shortly afterwards their sentence was commuted to that of penal
servitude for life. The counsel for the prosecution in this painful
case was Mr. Gunning, a well-known name in Cambridgeshire, and it may
be of interest to add that I have gleaned the above facts from the
brief used by counsel on that occasion, which has been kindly placed at
my disposal by