Gloucester Journal, 9th April 1853:
SETTING FIRE TO A STACK OF WOOD.
Henry Hiam, a cripple, with a crutch, was charged with having maliciously set fire to a certain stack of wood at Sandhurst, the property of James Murrell.
Mr. F. Guise prosecuted; the prisoner defended himself.
The particulars of this case we fully reported at the time they occurred, It will be remembered that Mr Murrell, of the Prince’s Plume near the Westgate Bridge, had a stack of faggots standing in the Green at Sandhurst, and that on the night of the 5th November last, the prisoner, in a fit of drunkenness and probably for a frolic, set fire to the stack, and it was burnt down. It was worth £4, or £5, The marks of the prisoner’s crutch were in the vicinity of the stack. The jury, after consulting some time, found the prisoner guilty. Sentence deferred. The court rose at a quarter past six.
The above information and research courtesy Dr Martyn Beaufort