The Press. — London, England, 1858-08-07 00:00:00

I by the men who were employed in excavating for the b a sin of the new London dock, and he went to the spot and examined the soil. He explained that b' sins was a term that had only recently b een made g u se of among antiquaries, and that they were supposed to be articles worn by the monks in the religious processions of the olden time, and also when they made a pilgrimage to the shrine of any part i c ular saint. The whole of the articles were Made of lead, and in addition to those which he said would come under the designation of pilgrims' signs t h e re were other antiquities, such as belts, dagger .heaths, the bosses of shields, and also other reli quaries, the whole of which, he said, he had no doubt were genuine antiquities, and had really been found at the place mentioned. A box, containing a large number of the alleged valuable articles of antiquity, had been placed upon the table, and a good deal of amusement was created by the extraordinary character of some of those that were produced. There were warriors and woman fashioned out in lead in the most rude manner, and in all sorts of attitudes ; one of them, as the learned judge observed, looking very much like " Zarniel." One of the things that was produced appeared sorely to puzzle every one. It had some thing resembling the appearance of a chimney-pot, about eight inches long; but no one seemed able to give the least guess what its original object possibly could have been, and Mr. James sug • gested that possibly it might have been the model o f some ancient extinguisher. Various witnesses were then examined to prove the genuineness of the articles ; but at the close of the plaintiffs case, Mr. CHAMBERS submitted to his lordship that there was no case to go to the jury. He contended, in the first place, that the evidence failed to support the case of the plaintiff as laid in the declaration, and also that, even supposing the article in question to be a libel, which, however, he submitted it clearly was not, there was not a tittle of evidence to show that it applied to the plaintiff, and that consequently there was nothing to go to the jury. Mr. Justice WILLES, after a brief consideration, said he was of opinion that the article complained of was not a libel in the eye of the law. It had been laid down by one of the sages of the law that what a man said honestly and bonailde in the course of a public discussion on matters concerning the publio interest, no matter even if he spoke rashly, and what he said was not true, still any statement made under such circumstances would not be a libel. It had also been equally clearly laid down that before any plain. tiff could ask redress for a libel he must show dis tinctly that the libel complained of applied to him, and to no other person. It would be a new doctrine, indeed, if it were to be held that any person who said that all lawyers were rogues might be sued by every individual lawyer in the kingdom; and it appeared to him that the article now complained of seemed to apply to the particular trade of dealing in antiquities, rather than to the plaintiff personally. It appeared to him, therefore, that the plaintiff must be non suited. Mr. JAMES suggested that his learned friend, Mr. Chambers, ought to withdraw his plea which alleged that the plaintiff had been guilty of fraud in the transaction. Mr. CHasnizas said it was never intended to impute any fraudulent intention to the plaintiff, and he was not instructed to make such a suggestion. He had bought the articles, no doubt, under the impression that they were genuine. The jury then returned a verdict for the defendants. MURDER OF A YOUNG LADY BY HER LOVER. 'NE following are the latest particulars relative to this shocking occurrence :—The deceased, who was twenty one years of age, was the daughter of Mr. Thomas Scaife, a well-to do farmer, residing on his own farm at Fringhill, Darley ; and her murderer, who is apparently a few years older, is the son of Mr. Thomas Atkinson, flax spinner, of Fringill, a man of considerable wealth, though rather eccentric in his habits. The former was a prepossessing looking young person, somewhat gayer in her de meanour than is generally found in so secluded a dis , rict as the centre of Netherdale ; the latter is a good-looking young man, of middle stature, but de termined expression, and of very passionate habits, his temper frequently manifesting itself in perfect Paroxysms of rage. Their parents live on adjoining property, and have don,. so for many years, and as the children of neighbonrs the deceased and the Prisoner became acquainted with each other, and for the last seven or eight years they were generally coked upon as sweethearts, Atkinson's attentions being very assiduous. His temper, however, (corn pined, probably, with other causes), led to a suspen sion of the courtship a little more than two years %go, Miss Scaife accepting in his place the addresses lit a young farmer named Jeffrey Gill, living on some .and in the adjoining township of Ketlesing. Shortly after this Miss Scaife, with the view of breaking off THE PRESS, AUGUST 7, 1858. the courtship with Atkinson, was sent to Man chester, where she entered a gentleman's family as nurse. She remained there twelve or eighteen months, returning home in August, 1857. Both the old suitors renewed their attentions, and ulti. mately Atkinson was again accepted by her as her acknowledged lover, and preparations were made for their marriage, a union rendered the more neces sary from the position of the unfortunate girl a few months ago. Gill, however, still continued to see her occasionally, and at a gala at Beverley. park so late as Tuesday week he went up to her while she was in company with Atkinson, and en tered into conversation with her. Atkinson appeared very much annoyed, but he still paid her every attention, and continued to do so, seeing her daily up to Sunday last. On that day he accompanied her to church twice,—then going in the morning to Darley church, and in the evening to Hartwith chapel, the latter being about two miles from the village, on the northern side of the dale. Miss Scaife's brother and his sweetheart went with them to Hartwith in the evening, and returned with them to Darley, walking a few yards in advance. They got back to the village about half-past nine o'clock, and as they came out of Nidd-land a group of men joked them, a man named William Pullan remarking with reference to the deceased and Atkinson, "Yon see these old acquaintances ; they stick very close to each other." Atkinson replied, " Not so close as some of you think on." The reply was a singular one, and under the circumstances not unimportant, though it might be an innocent retort upon what might be considered as an impertinent observation. They turned up Stump•lane, Scaife and his sweet heart preceding them. The latter lingered behind, and it is probable that they got over the wall into a field on the left hand side of the road, as on the return of the first couple nothing was seen of them. Whether this was so or not they afterwards returned to the lane, and, after pressing her very strongly to marry him, Atkinson threatened her. These threats she treated lightly, and he then seized her by the throat and attempted to strangle her. She shrieked out, upon which he relaxed his grasp, and, with tho view of coercing her to comply with his request, pulled out his pocket knife and showed it her. She still, however, hesitated, and he then seized her again and cut her throat, she crying out " Lord have mercy upon me !" after which she fainted from loss of blood and fell backwarls. Her murderer then left her. It is highly probable that she had before fallen on her knees, as the lower portion of her legs were found doubled underneath the body. The first shriek appears to have been heard by the school master's wife and her daughter, who live at Fringill, a distance of 400 or 500 yards, and they speak of it as being a " dreadful noise " which they cannot describe. The latter was going on the Darle).road at the time, and was so alarmed that she turned back. The deceased, who was a weakly person, was evidently soon overcome, for although she herself bore on her person indications of great violence, Atkinson escaped without even a scratch, his clothes being bespatted with blood much more slightly than might have been anticipated. 'l' he murder was evidently of the most determined character, there being no less than eight distinct gashes on the throat, a punctured wound on the face, and another on the left clavicle. Some of the former must have been made after the fatal cut, and there is every appearance of the prisoner having "bagged" at his victim even after she was dead. After completing the deed Atkinson crossed the fields to his father's house, secreting the knife he bad used in a wall as he passed. When he got home the family were up, so he lingered about until after they had gone to bed. He could not rest, however, during the night, and about five o'clock the following morning he entered the bed room of another brother (Thomas Atkinson), exclaiming—" What have I clone? 0 Lori, have mercy upon me. What have I done? I have murdered Mary Jane Scaife." The brother said,—" You hav'nt? " and he replied, " I have," and at the same time requested the brother to go and see the body, stating that it was in Stumps. lane. In the meantime the body had been found by a pot hawker named Richard Howard. It was lying on the back, with the lower portion of the legs beneath the body, the right hand clasped to the chest, and the left thrown out. The bonnet was torn off, her parasol was broken, her hair dishevelled, her features distorted and covered with blood, and altogether her appearance was most ghastly. Assistance having been obtained, the body was removed, under the direction of Mr. R. G. Horton, surgeon, to the New Inn, where it remained up to yesterday evening. Atkinson was taken into custody by policeman Clifton between five and six o'clock, when he again confessed th 3 murder. He was con veyed to Ripon the same day and taken before a magis trate, by whom lie was remanded to Knaresborough. The deceased was in rather delicate health, and on leaving her home on Sunday evening to go to Hart with chapel, she was told by, er mother that if she was late she had better gto her uncle's (Mr- Downs's), and her absence during the night there. 765 fore excited no uneasiness. The tither, as soon as he beard of the murder, left home, and had not returned up to yesterday morning. On Wednesday the murderer was taken before the magistrates at KnaresborJugh, when be made the following confession :—" The reason I murdered her was because she wonlil not have me. Sbe told me her parents would not let her have me. She said she thought we could not be happy, as my father was also against it. She said, It's all my mother, Jim, that's caused this disturbance.' She said three times, Lord help me,' and I hope the Lord will help her. I told her I could not be happy without her—l could not rest in this world. She said it was all false—that I cared nothing about her, [ had behaved so badly to her. It was all because she was so queer with me that made me do it. I told her I should murder her if she would not have me, because I could not rest. I told her I had not been happy for three weeks, or more than that. She told me she had not been happy ; that she had been far from happy since her parents were against me, and were always calling' me. Her mother was the worst, she said, and never let her alone, day in and day out. Her father never said anything to her about me—he never changed words with her on the subject. I was in her house on Sunday, at tea time. Her sister and her mother came in. Her sister and her were in the house,' and I was in the kitchen. She came tout from her mother, and said, Come, come, go out before my mother ec.mes in.' I did as she wanted me, and we both thought her mother did not see me. I went to a house on the contrary side of the road, belonging to my father, but not where he lives. I perhaps stopped an hour there, waiting for her sister and her coming out to go to chapel. Her mother and her sister came out before her, and they stood talking about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. Then she came out, and I went up to her. They went up the lane, and her mother went home. I followed them up the lane and overtook them in a lane that takes into Stumps-lane, whore I murdered her. She didn't talk to me much, but her sister did. I went down to the bottom of Stumps-lane with them. My sweetheart told me to go home and change my coat, to get my black coat on. I said that what I had on would do for me, and we parted at the bottom of the land. I thought to myself I would go to Fur- ness, her sister's sweetheart, who was coming up. There were some more people with Furness. I stopped a little bit, and then walked forward. There were some more people sitting and standing on some would below. I went and sat down and talked a little hit. Furness and some others came up. I got up after a little bit, and went against Furness, and asked him if he was going to Hariwith. He said it was a long road to go, bat we set off down the lane together. We kept moving on slowly, until we got to the new line (railway), and her brother then came up to us, and we sat upon the wall and talked a little bit" The prisoner then described the manner of committing the murder, as detailed above. It was attempted to set up a plea of insanity on behalf of the prisoner, but this will be decided by jury, as he was committed to York Castle for trial on Thursday morning in close custody. The inquest on the body of his victim is deferred. EARLY MARRIAGE. AT Worship-street, last Monday, a gawky, under &zed stripling, accompanied by a timid looking young girl, whose united ages apparently numbered about thirty years, were brought into court by the mother of the girl and the father of the lad, the latter of whom requested the advice and assistance of the magistrate under the following peculiar circumstances :—The applicant, who presented the appearance of a sub stantial tradesman, stated that he had occasionally intrusted his boy, since his recent return from school, with the partial management of a branch establishment belonging to him which was situated a short distance from his principal place of business. He went there, as usual, on the morning of Tuesday week, but having absented himself for several hours, he was requested on his return to account for the tine, when he coolly repliel that he had just been married to a girl to whom he was attached. At this astounding intimation he was closely questioned with regard to the whereabouts and position of his juvenile spouse, which he reluctantly disclosed ; and the mother of his wife, who had been since commu nicated with, was now in attendance, and cordially concurred in the present application for the purpose of ascertaining whether the law afforded them any means to set aside such an absurd and probably disastrous union. The MAGISTRATE (addressing the father,: This ie a very extraordinary statement ; do you consider your son to be quite right in bis head! The Father : I never thought otherwise until now, but I don't know what to think after his late conduct. The mother of the young girl here stepped forward, and intimated that the boy bridegroom had made her daughter's acquaintance at a juvenile party