Star. — London, England, 1809-12-09 00:00:00

LAII mrsLLIGZATS. COURT OF RING'S BENCH, DEC. 5. cwt. co's.—w. D. TAUNTON V. HENRY WYROPN, /SQ. Mr. D.tMPIER stated, this was an action brought g ainst the Defendant, to recover damages for his ii. ring held a criminal conversation with the Plain tes wife. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL followed on the same s ide, and stated, that the Plaintiff was a S o li c i tor o f t hat Court, residing in Essex -street, Strand : the De fendant belonged to the same profession as himself, be was a Barrister of that Court, and also was an in habitant of the same street. The Plaintiff was mar ried on the 14th of July, to Miss Henrietta Atkinson, w hose father had an employment at the Mint, in the Tower. He largely expatiated on the respectability of Mr. Atkinson, and on the religious and virtuous inatuter in which he had brought up his daughter.-- lie also entered into the character of the Plaintiff, 'tom the time he entered into his clerkship, and sheaved :iiat it was truly respectable ; and that since he had '.come a husband, he was a truly affectionate one, ich was returned with equal affection by Mrs. r.iiinton, until she became attivainted with the De :madam, who was a married man. He then explain rd the different kind of adulteries, and contended that was one of the worst cases that had ever come to ',is knowledge, and he was convinced that the Jury must be of the same opinion, when they heard the evidence. The parties were friends—the Plaintiff, an attorney, assisting the defendant, a young barrister, by giving him briefs, an intimacy took place between their families, which the defendant courted—their wives were seldom separated. The Attorney-Geueral is a most eloquent speech, full of point and argu ment, but to which, from the length of the trial, we are obliged not to do that justice which its merits would incline us to do, expatiated on the circum stances of the case. He concluded by saying, that the damages were laid in the indictment at £lO,OOO, and lie was certain, when the Jury were in possession et the facts, they would conceive it quite too little : tc would not have mentioned the subject of damages, only he expected he would not have an opportunity -I addressing them again ; as he trusted, for the ho nour of the profession, that witnesses would not be txamined on the part of the defendant. He was sen sible if it was left to the discretion of his Learned Friend, Mr. Parke, he would make a speech with :11 that eloquence which he so eminently possessed, en the subject of damages, and leave it to the Jury. lie then proceeded to examine his witnesses. Mr. South proved the copy of the register of the marriage, which took place at the Tower Chapel, on the 14th of July, 1803. The Rev; Neville Stowe proved, that he perform. ed the marriage ceremony, and that he also chris tened Mrs. Taunton. He was acquainted with her father and family ; and he knew that Mr. Atkinson brought up ant educated his daughters in the most 7 intmus and religious manner ; he was a most atten tive father. William Elias Taunton. Esq. Barrister at Law, is a third cousin of the plaintiff, who introduced him self to the witness as such, when he first came to London, ten or eleven years ago, since which time f%ey had been intimately acquainted. The witness tad known Mr. Atkinson and his family much longer t)ats he had - Die plaintiff and his family. He had blown Mrs. Taunton from her infancy, and had had rank opportunities of observing the conduct and de. neanonr of Mr. Atkinson's children. They were ttnught up as virtuously and soberly as it was possi liie to educate them. Of Mrs. Atkinson he had not rich opportunities of speaking ; but of Mr. Atkin ass, if the witness were not a son himself, he should ny, that be had never seen his equal as a father. He ltd known Mrs. Taunton both before and long after I•tr marriage, and could say that there had not been ;more virtuous or Principled young woman in the King's dominions. He had had frequent opportuni ts of seeing Mr. and Mrs. Taunton since their mar nge, and they appeared to him always to live upon ie most affectionate terms. The plaintiff was of a omestic turn, and appeared to be a kind, affectio. tate, and indulgent husband, and to place his chief ride in his wife and children ; and certainly in this particular no man at that time had more reason to le proud. The witness remembered, that upon his re:urn from the Easter Sessions of his circuit in 1808, It found the families of the plaintiff and the defen- Lilt in close intimacy. Their houses seemed each :most common to the other family : the connection peared to him stronger between the wives than the lisbands; and as they were both young women, he 'ought it very natural that it should be so. For in- Mrs. Wyborn was oftener at the plaintiff's :use than the defendant ; indeed the witness ob .n-ved the defendant pay Mrs. Taunton no attentions all : he never saw any impropriety in their beha 'la, and indeed never saw the defendant in corn :Tay with Mrs. Taunton, except in the presence of s own wife. The son of the Gentleman with whom the plaintiff 'ad served his clerkship, had known the plaintiff 16 17 years ; and thought his age was new 38 or SC i t knew him when he first came to be articled to the - itnen's father, It Dartmouth, and had continued L.:s acquaintance during the whole of his clerkship, the present time. He had been several times at . ze plaintiff's house since he was married, and parti r:larly during two months, in which his wife was on visit at the plaintiff's. He always thought them a - try affectionate couple, and never saw any levity on :te part of the wife. _ _ _ John Welch Oriel, Esq. of Clifton, had known te plaintiff a year before his marriage, and had been itnmate with him ever since. He never saw a couple te more happily together, or pay each other more attention. He was on a vis►t to the plaintiff's for six weks, in 1805. Mrs. Hill lives at No. 20, Old Boswell-court, with her mother. The house is kept by Mr. Stuart ; but Mrs. Stuart manages it. The witness and her mother occlpied the front parlour. She remembered that a room on the second floor of the house was unte nanted, and afterwards let to a Gentleman, whom 4 tt now knew to be Mr. Wyborn ; he came about Frulay the third of March ; the Witness went to the door, and he asked what apartment there was !r, let ? She answered, a two pair of stairs, and althea Mrs. Stuart, and left her and Mr. Wyborn together. He came again on the following Mon lay :it about t Aro o'clock in the afternoon, and avi-tht a lady with him. The witness was sitting at her parlour window, which commands the door.-- th Mrs. Tongan ? She told him, a no." lie The door is generally open. Mr. Wyk** came as asked the witness, if ever she followed them up stairs, far as the witness's window with the lady, and then she answered," No, I never took that trouble." He went into Mrs. Stuart's parlour, the lady remaining then said, 64 Do t you know what we were .about ?" outside. When the apartment was let it was slfur- She answered, "'lt is impossible, as I was not pre• nished, and no furniture had been brought in between sent." He then said, " how do you know I went the Friday and the Monday. After he had been into into that room ? I might go into some other." The Mrs. Stuart's, Mr. Wyborn came to the door, held witness told him there was no other empty, and she up his finger, and said, " conic this way, my dear.l supposed he would not go into another person's room, The lady they came in, and went up stairs with him. besides, she had heard his door shut. He said, he They remained there about two hours, and the wit- wished to know all this, that he might inform his ness saw them when they came down. They went Counsel, as probably it might be the ruir. of him; the away together ; and the witness had seen them come witness had seen Mr. Wyborn since, in his gown and and go a great many times since. She had no doubt wig, in Westminster Hall. now, that the gentleman was Mr. Wyborn, and the Mrs. Dorothy Hill, the mother of the last witness, lady Mrs. Taunton. About the 11th of April a sofa, corroborated the statement of her daughter in every six chairs, a small table, and a carpet, were brought particular. She followed the lady home once to No. into the defendant's room. It was about a month or 21, Essex-street. The plaintiff's name was on the five weeks after their first visit, that the witness saw door. Mrs. Taunton gave a double knock, and was Mr. Wyborn and Mrs. Taunton come again ; and to let in without a word. In answer to a question from her knowledge neither had been in the interim ;—it Lord Ellenborough, she said, that in the number of was about the beginning of the week which foll owe d ti mes i n w h ic h s h e h ad an opportunity of seeing Mrs. that in which the goods were sent in. They let Taunton's features, whom she described tobe a dark themselves in, as the door was open, and went up small featured woman, she had no doubt but that it stairs. They continued there about an hour, or an was the same woman that she saw both in Essex hour and a half. It was a little after two o'clock street and Old Boswell-court. when they generally came. From that time they James Hill, son of the last witness, followed Mrs. frequented the house sometimes three times a week, Taunton home, and gave the same testimony as his sometimes twice, sometimes not so often, till about mother. the latter end Of May. Letters came to the house in Sarah Allright had lived upwards of three years the name of Jones, which the witness supposed were at No. 20, Old Boswell -court, in the room in the abut for the defendant, as there was no other person of anent which overlooks the defendant's apartment. the name of Jones in the house. The witness fib- The first thing that attracted her notice was seeing , served the lady's dress : the first time she came Mrs. T.'s bonnet in the window-seat of the defendant's she had a scarlet cloth cloak, a cottage bonnet trim- room, on the day of their first visit to it. This wit med with white ribbands, and a white handkerchief ness's evidence confirmed the testimony-of the tither tied round her neck, as gentlemen wear it. She had lodgers ; she was once desired by the landlady to the appearance of a gentlewoman. The witness saw leave off cleaning her stairs, while Mrs. Taunton her afterwards in Carey-street alone ; and knew her passed to the defendant's room. Her testimony, as to be the same person. On that day she was at No. to the defendant's visits to her after the discovery, 20, Old Boswell-court ; the witness saw her go into was similar to that of the other witnesses, the defen- New Boswell-court ; and in about a quarter of an dant having made similar representations to her. On hour the witness came home, and saw her enter the one occasion, when Mrs. Taunton had been to Old house with Mr. Wyborn. After some enquiries had Boswell -court, the witness noticed her dress, and been made into these visits, on the Bth or 9th of July, saw her very soon afterwards, through the window Mr. Wyborn called alone and saw the witness ;—he of her own parlour, at No. 21, Essex -street, in the asked if Mrs. Stuart was at home ? the witness called very same dress : she had not the least doubt of her her, and he asked the witness if she lived in the oppo- identity. The defendant told her she was Mrs. Taun site parlour ? He said he should be glad to speak ton by name. with the witness and her mother presently : the wit- Mr. Dyer (a coal-merchant and tax-collector), had ness said whenever he pleased ; and Mrs. Stuart soon made some enquiries at the house at Boswell-court brought him into the witness's parlour. He asked respecting Mr. Jones. The defendant having heard what the witness and her mother had been saying of those enquiries, called upon him, in company with against him to Mr. Dyer ? the witness said they had Mrs. Stuart (the landlady of the house), and asked not seen Mr. Dyer. He said he should be glad to the object of them. He afterwards told the witness know what they had seen, and what they had got to that his name was Wyborn, that he was a Barrister, say. The witness's mother said she knew the ,lady, but that he had taken the name of Jones ; and that because she had seen her go in at No. 21, Essex-street. he had taken the apartment for the purpose of meet- He then asked if the witness knew the lady ? she ing a girl to whom he had long paid his addresses, told him she did. He asked if she could swear to her? and whom he could not meet at her father's house. she replied, 46 yes." He asked if she knew the lady's The witness answered him, that this was a story dresses ? she answered that she knew two or three in which could not impose upon any man of common which the lady came. He said he had brought four understanding, and that no one ever went by false or five ladies there. She told him she had never seen names but for some bad purpose. Afterwards, when any other than that one. He said he could bring the defendant knew that he was suspected from four or five ladies for them to look at, and more than bringing Mrs. Taunton there, he again denied it, and one of them were alike : he could bring two in scarlet told him that he would produce the woman that had cloaks • they were both alike, only one was thin and been supposed to b e M rs . T aunton . H e did after the other fat. He asked if he brought the ladir.-. if' wards produce , a woman, whom he stated to be the' the witness and her mother would see them ? This one that was taken for Mrs. Taunton. This woman, was on Sunday ; and he would bring two on Mon- however, had nothing of the appearance of a gentle day. On Monday he came accordingly : the woman woman ; whereas Mrs. Taunton was described as a came first and went in, and immediately afterwards very elegant and charming woman. The witness Mr. Wyborn came. Mrs. Taunton had only once evidently shewed the defendant that he did not give arrived at the door first, and looked and waited about, credit to any of his assertions ; and the defendant then without coming into the house. The woman whom expressed a hope that he was not hostilely inclined, the defendant brought on Monday went into Mrs. and would not do any injury to the character of Stuart's room ; and Mr. Wyborn asked the witness Mrs. Taunton. to go and look at her. The witness was sure it was Phillis Wall (wife of the butcher, at whose house not she as she came up the steps. The witness's Mrs:Taunton was seen), proved the circumstance of mother would not go into Mrs. Stuart's room ; and her lodging with her at that time. said that if Mr. NVyborn wanted them to look at Mr. PARK on the part of the Defendant, declared, the woman, he might bring her in to them. He did ; that although he had been for a quarter of a century and they were certain she was not the same per- in dee profession, he never addressed a Jury under son. She was different both in dress and person : more distressing circumstances. Although his client she wore a coloured shawl and a coloured gown ; was of the same profession with himself, he did not they were meaner than Mrs. Taunton's things.— happen to be acquainted with him, from the circum- Mrs. T. had always been smart, and lady-like ; she stances of his belonging to another Inn of Court.— was much shorter too than the woman he then He believed the profession he belonged to, consisted brought ; she was small-featured, and pretty corn- of men who were generally very correct in the moral pared with that woman. That woman had not the and social duties of life ; and if it were true that one manners of a lady as Mrs. Taunton had ? and it was unworthy member disgraced that profession, he not possible to mistake the two persons. The wit- would at least require the proofs of that unworthiness ness had never seen the defendant bring more than to be fully made out. If he had at first required one person, and that was Mrs. Taunton. The De- strict proof of the identity of the Defendant and Mrs. fondant never brought any other woman besides this, Taunton, it was because it was necessary for him to whom the witness rejected, although he said he would see what sort of witnesses they were, who supported bring two. This woman said the witness had called the Plaintiff's case. He should not, however, now after her upon some occasion, and said," There she contend, that the identity was not proved, and he r; that's she." The witness replied, that Mrs. must allow, that the Defendant and Mrs. Taunton an had told her to say that ; the witness had never had been at that lodging in Boswell-court. It would made such an observation, so that it was not true. be, however, for the Jury to consider, whether this She had never seen this woman before. The defendant meeting must necessarily have been for criminal pur then said, 46 I hope you will say nothing against use, poses, or whether they believed in fact that the crimi as it will be no interest from that party ?" he added, nal act was done, of which there certainly was nothing that lie did not mind himself, so that he cleared the more than circumstantial evidence ? He would allow lady . ; that they met there upon business ; and that that it was not necessary to have witnesses to speak he could not receive strange ladies at home, as he to the act of adultery ; but, at the same time, he was a married man. On one occasion the witness would say that it was possible that the Defendant, a observed Mrs. Taunton to have a very neatly plaited very young man, might have had the folly to allow frill round her neck : it was smooth when she came himself to be made the confident of Mrs. Taunton's in ; but rumpled behind, and out in some of the plaits complaints against her husband, and to have taken when she went out. The witness often went out into this lodging to hear her complaints in confidence, and the court while Mr. Wyborn and Mrs. Taunton were give her his advice. There did not appear to be any up stairs ; the shutters of their windows were always thing like artifice used by the Defendant to seduce closed whilst they were in the room. If those shut- the wife of the Plaintiff. The acquaintance between ters had not been closed, Mrs. Allright, the occupier the families had not been of very long duration, and of a room in an abutment of the house might have the intimacy was principally between the females ; looked into Mr. Wyborn's room. The witness once but if Mrs. Taunton had any serious complaints to saw the lady in Essex -street, on the 25th of July, at make against her husband, and wished to part,with the two pair of stairs window of a butcher's there. him, she might have very naturally looked to the [This was after she had left the plaintiff's.] Mr. Defendant for advice, and yet have hesitated to Wyborn also came to the witness's house, in Noeem- meet him at either of their houses. The assuming a ber last, with a gentleman, the defendant's attorney. false name, although generally a wrong thing, was They asked what the witness and her mother were not of itself sufficient to render him entirely infamous, going to say against the defendant. Her mother did and an outcast from his profession. There was a not choose to tell him : he then said that Mr. Taun- remarkable deficiency in the proof oa the part of the ' ton was a very bad man, and had taken up with his Plaintiff. The first circumstance which was generally wife's own sister ; that Mrs. Taunton and he met proved in similar actions was, that the parties lived there upon business, and that both Mrs. Taunton's happily together until their domestic peace was distur family and his own knew of it. The witness told bed by the arts of the seducer. This was generally him she did not suppose lie could transact business proved by the near relations and friends of the family. in the dark. He asked her how she meant? she an- In the present case, however, no near relation or fe swered, " the shutters were shut." He asked her if male friend was brought forward ; but a distant male she had seen that ? she said " yes." He asked her relation, who *as a bachelor, and who very probably if she had ever seen hint take any indecent liberties saw them always. when he vi4tedthem, on apparent geed terms, whereas those who *ere more intimate Di the family, might have been able to tell a very dif• ferent story. One Gentleman from Somersetshlre, aud another from Devonshire, were called to prove how happily they lived together; but her own sisters and near relations were not called. He must now state a second point of his defence, that the plaintiff could not have suffered much from the loss of the comfort and society of his wife ; inasmuch as she had been unfaithful to his bed before that time. In the slimmer of 1808, she and her husband went down to Broadstairs, and she staid there a fortnight after her husband had gone. At that time she contracted an intimate connection with an officer of the Militia, of the name of Read. Mrs. Tamiton had brought this Lieutenant Read to her house at Broadstair, be tween two and three o'clock in the morning, and had let him out herself. Another time she went to a ball at Broadstairs, and took the key of the house with her, with which she let herself and Lieutenant Read in, in the middle of the night, sat with him for several hours, drank tea other, and hid one of the cups in the cupbo ar d : s h e . terwerds let him out in the morning, about the time the 'eremite were rising. It would be proved, that the plaintiff knowing this, and being advised to proceed against Read, instead of the present defendant, said, "lead has nothing to pay, but Wybom has; I shall therefore proceed first against him." Besides this profligacy on the part of the lady, he would prove that the plaintiff hell soliciteda young Naval Officer to go with him to a brothel ; and when the young Gentleman re. inonstrated on the impropriety of the proposal coming from him, repli e d "i t i s no great i n j ury to a woman . ' He had two farther circumstances to state, in order tQ shew that if Mrs. Taunton's mind was corrupted, her husband was instrumental to it. At Broadstairs he had introduced her to an intimate acquaintance with a woman of most notorious character; and; in his house in Essex -street, he had slept in the same bed with his wife and her sister (Mrs. Breeze), and that his wife, in the middle of the night, got out_ of bed, and left her husband and her sister together. These were the circumstances he was instructed to state in mitigation of damages, if the Juty should think the adultery sufficiently proved. He was instructed that it could be proved, that the plaintiff and his wife lived most unhappily together; and if that were proved to the satisfaction of the Jury, he trusted it would be a sufficient explanation of the various circumstances of the meetings, which certainly required some ex planation. Ann Bell was the first witness called for the De. fendant. She had served in Mr. Taunton's family in the situation of a nurse • she often heard words between the Plaintiff and Mrs. Taunton, and she has heard him say, that she behaved better to other gen. tlemen, than she did to hilt;. She went with the family to Broadstairs in the summer of last year.--. The servants were herself, another nurse, a man-ser vant, and a housemaid. Mrs. Taunton staid at Broadstairs for a fortnight after Mr. Taunton, and went to two balls, the one at Ramsgate, the other at Broadstairs. When she went to the ball at Ramsgate she slept out the whole night, and returned in the middle of the day, in company with Lieutenant Read, who stopped at the house for an hour or two. When she went to the ball at Broadstairs e she took the key of tie door herseif, and o r dered a ll the servants to go to bed. She returned about two o'clock in the morn. ing with Lieutenant Read, and sat with him in the parlour till about four or five in the morning, when she let him out just as the servants were coming down. She then confirmed the statement as to the tea-cups. She so far confirmed the statement respecting . Mrs. Breeze, as to say that the n i g h t t h at l a d y slept it the house, it was intended at first, that she should have slept with her, and that clean sheets were accordingly put on her bed ; but that Mrs. Breeze did not come to her bed, and that in the morning about nine o'clock, Mr. Taunton called to her to come into the room, and bring him the little boy ; that she then saw him in bed with his wife, and her sister, and that he asked her Is not this very proper ?" to which she answered, Certainly, if yuu think so," and immediately left the room. She was discharged in the month of July last, and went down to Leicestershire. Both the Plaintiff and Defendant wrote letters to her when she was in Leicestershire, and went down there to see her. She was subpcened on both sides in the present trial. On her cross examination by the Attorney-Gene. sal, she ,confessed, that she went to. Mr. Taunton's family in the capacity of a wet nurse, and that she had never been married. She confessed also, that Mr. Wyborn, the defendant, had induced her to swear two affidavits respecting what she knew of the business, before she came into Court. Sophia Cox was the next witness called on the part of the defendant. She contradicted the testimony of the last witness in several material points. As to the night that Mrs. Breeze slept in Essex -street, the ac. count she gave of it was as follows :—That lady had gone with Mr. and Mrs. Taunton, and some other relations to the Opera. It was too late to return to her father's dwelling, which was in the Tower, the gates of which were then shut. It was therefore in tended that she should sleep in a spare bed at her sis ter'shouse ; but when they came there, they found that a friend and Ills wife had arrived and occupied it. She therefore agreed to sleep in a night chair which was in the room where her sister and Mr. Taunton slept. The witness prepared this night chair, which drew out into a sort of a bed, for Mrs. Breeze, and positively declared that there never was any idea of her sleeping with Ann Bell, the last witness. She came into the room the next morning at eight o'clock, whorl Mr. Taunton had got up, and there she maw Mrs. Taunton and Mrs. Breeze in bed together.- Mrs, Breeze had gone to bed in the night-chair with all her clothes on, except that she took off her gown and put on a flannel dress. _ The witness also said that Ann Bell, the last witness, was very communicative, and apt to telk of every thing that occurred in the family ; and yet she never heard her sa y or i ns i nuate among her fellow -servants, that she had ever seen Mr. Taunton in bed with his wife's sister. She also stated, that she had heard Aun Bell say, that if she was call ed on as a witness in Court, 66 she'd be d...d at she would speak a word of truth." James Gates, the man servant, denial that he had seen Lieutenant Read at the house of Mn. Taunton at the hours stated by Ann Bell. That geneeman walked with her from Rarnegate, and 'staid about an hour with her. He also' saw hinr.walking with her about two in the nic.l nine, from a inver p,At ty Anstruther's to her own hoUse: HIC did not rl I