Cambridge Independent Press 28 Jul 1849: Tollkeeper Cox assaulted

TUESDAY. — Before C.E. Brown and J. Enden, Esqrs.

A man named Cox, the keeper of a toll-gate at Trumpington, preferred a charge against a young farmer of Shelford, named William Wright, for an assault, and evading the toll. It appears that, last Saturday week, the defendant and another companion were returning from Cambridge, with a horse and gig, and having reached the turnpike at Trumpington, they were asked in the usual way for the toll, but being “fast men” they galloped through without stopping, and, by way of toll, gave the complainant a crack on the head with the butt end of a whip. This irritated the toll-man, and thought he was bound, under the circumstances to bring the present charge; and, in a pathetic appeal to the magistrates, said had it not been for his felt hat receiving the blow, he must have felt the effects for a long time, and concluded a very feeling address by asserting “he had no animosity against any one, but what he wanted was ‘pertection’.” — The magistrates took the same view of the case, and the affair was fine-ally settled by the defendant paying £1. and expenses, which served Wright quite right.

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