Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 1.djvu/295

 12 s. i. APRIL s, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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and stained glass. Opposite the faade is a column surmounted by a lion, which was erected at the expense of the city in 1502. Is it known what event it commemorates ? JOHN B. WAINEWRIGHT.

SUPPOSED MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE. At Lancaster, in 1817, four men were hanged at the same time for the murder at Pendleton, near Manchester, of two female servants of a Mr. Littlewood. Their names were James Ashcroft, David Ashcroft, James Ashcroft, and William Holden (father, brother, son, and son-in-law). On the scaffold all pro- tested their innocence, and joined in singing the well-known hymn

I '11 praise my Maker while I 're breath.

Regarding this crime the following state- ment has been published :

"Twenty-six years elapsed, and then, when on his death-bed, a man named John Holden confessed that he was the real murderer, and that the four this earth were innocent. Careful investigation followed, and it was proved that an awful mis- carriage of justice had taken place."
 * criminals ' who had been suddenly cut off from

When and where was the confession made ? Who conducted the " careful in- vestigation " ? Of what did the " proof " of innocence consist ? R. GRIME.

" As DEAD AS QUEEN ANNE." I should be glad to be informed as regards the origin of this expression. W. ROBSON.

13 Northcote Street, Stocktoii-on-Tees.

HORSE WASHED WITH RICE. This story is told about several warriors in different parts of Japan. For example, in the six- teenth century, during the investment of the Lord Ise's Ookochi Castle by Oda Nbbunaga with fifty thousand troops, the latter ascertained from captives the castle to be always short of water. But from an elevation he often descried the besieged profusely applying water to washing their horses, and, moreover, he nightly observed the inner gate of the castle to be kept open, its inmates freely passing it from the inner ward to the outer, and vice versa. Thence he inferred they had a reservoir of plenteous water and a complete agreement subsisted in their minds; so he concluded a peace with the lord and raised the siege. After- wards it transpired that, following the advice of the lord's counsellor Midzutani, they had used to pour rice over their horses to re- present them as if being washed with water, and, instructed by another counsellor, Toyanoo, they had intentionally kept open the inner gate, and used to pass it to and fro

with lighted lanterns in their hands (Mat- sura, ' Buko Zakki,' written in the seven- teenth century, ed. Kondo, Tokyo, 1894, torn. i.).

According to Tomita's ' Hida Gofudo Ki,' 1873, torn, xi., there was in Hida the so-called White Rice Castle, which name, the legend says, took its origin in its occupant, Ushimaru Settsunokami (c. 1334-5), having made his foes withdraw by distantly showing them the washing of his horses with rice. And Nagabayashi's ' Hosatsu Gunki,' 1749, torn, vii., attributes the same exploit to the then masterless soldiers who well defended against the Satsuma army the so-called Crane's Castle in the province Bungo in 1587.

It is very likely that some peoples other than the Japanese have tales of this pattern ; but hitherto I have met but one somewhat allied story from China :

"Tan Tau-Tsi (killed in 436) at the head of several brigades invaded Wei. When they be- came short of provisions, he caused his soldiers to measure sands throughout the night, telling quantities very loudly, and then to retreat after scattering over them a little rice. At dawn the enemy observed thereon his army had still abund- ance of grain, and refrained from pursuing it." Chin Yon, ' Sung-shu,' written in the fifth century, sub his ' Life.'

Can any reader kindly inform me of any other instance ?

KUMAGUSU MlNAKATA. Tanabe, Kii, Japan.

DEATH WARRANTS. (12 S. i. 49, 111, 157, 210.)

IN my previous reply I expressly confined myself to " ordinary crime." Beheading never having been a punishment directed by statute to be awarded either by the Lord High Steward or any judge of assize for treason or felony, warrants for the beheading of traitors and felons have probably always passed the Royal sign manual. Peers, peeresses, and persons of rank have been thus specially dealt with for treason, and even for felony (as in the Earl of Castlehaven's horrible case, 3 St. Tr. 416-18), after an original sentence of death by hanging. The statute 54 Geo. III. c. 146, s. 2, provides that for high treason the King may " by warrant under the sign manual, counter- signed by a Secretary of State," direct that the offender shall, instead of suffering the