Star. — London, England, 1817-07-29 00:00:00

I LAW Tr. COM • JIILY 2t. ' Si • E. t' . • i.tt.:13211. In this ease t' ~ r • Lott gave his ),tag -:c.f. He v - :r ~ .1 from a decree of :.lister nt t' • , ::: ch Sir E. Knaielb.sll . - rns plaintiff. tid defendant ; and #he i „,, ye d , a t t i be compelleJ ec tic .14 to pet. rrt -erect be was alleged to .entered intn ..•!;•• •.• • ;., and that an ac ,...itc • mild be • dcrn. der of the Court. n 1 the t • t ae.ainst the defendant. :tt Oc • ' '•!;•• propel:ad tn sell an i n t. . •; • .• nne part of which WAS NA! •-rt ;••• 1:7 Stone Stile, and the :he NlArb! lri the ' , articular of the .ilt• l'•ey were t! •,.. -•;•••-c;:i-..ly described. On the ni Oct in, !.• vi:4 enterer'. into he ti, r are r 'ifi'.l.4l (11, that the estate should sold to •'••••• !-Intraet ; hut •1! :. at tie desire of Sir L. •, •tr.ction with an in fnr the defendant. met! 5!.4•.• (Irtlt) r was to putechage refi.!.t . t , t• fcor.Tis:;tl2 oh 1011 acres}; 7'l' ..; t • t•i , t n• an ;r 'hr.? • •wt- , irr.”,-.hate possession; • '2 • 111 tl t..r',•;r money of dt.5000 if t . ..• • '- ••• dnt his agreement. At' Nis:: (.‘ sir: w. s i i :scree of ground, caw w• , c 1) !!.1,1 hest. :::irchased by the late I!. 177 , 1, !imperfect title; an,: r eurch.r , d it ; but he did rot taiiC•• (tilis7S•;,••i ••i• with, accordO.e to the agree mew. E: nt S'.l• :I,d been purchased for al 4009, by A Mr . .t: • he desire of the dAtudant, as it had been :alleged; lee the latter, answer to the bill, denied that. Tl , :. hill stated, that Gruber had treated these estates as his own; and : hat the mansion house and ••rounds were still in his possession; that he had advertised part of the premises for sale, as hi own estate; anti that the plaintiff had offered to give him a pied tide, or to take back Cole Nash. Gruber, in his answer, said, tie resisted the prayer of tbe bill because the plain iff lid not been aloe to give him a good title to Cole 'Nash. He besides complane..l. that he had been obliged, at an expense of £55(4) ie purchase the stock of Nash Cutlet from one the occupying tenant of it, which had since been all driven away, by order of the plaintiff. The opinion of Mr. Preston, the Conveyancer, was, that the plaintiff's title. to Cole Nash was irreniedia ably bad ; and tie therefore recommended that the plaintiff should giv- the defendant an indemnifica. tion for it, if he chose to keep it,- or take it hack from him, if he would have nothing to do with it. His (the Lord Chancellor's) opinion was, that where a man purchased an estate from a person who told him he could give him a good title to it, the pur chase!, if be found the ilex bad, might insist on having it silted to the bottom, or else not pay his purchase money, or not have the property at all. It was also said, that Sir J. Collett, to whom this estate formerly belonged, had two sisters, and that it was not known whether they had kit issue or not; there fore, n period of 52 years peaceable possession was the best title that could be conveyed with this estate. At last the plaintiff offered to hive up the 85000 deposit, if Gruber would give up to him the poises aion of the estate. But the stock bought by Gruber from Rutter had beeh driven off the premises, by' order of the plaintiff; how then could he call on Gru. bet to perform a contract, after depriving him of the benefit which that contract was intended to give him ? At all events, he ought, at least, to be re stored to the situation lie was in when the contract was made. In his opinion, nothing had been done by Gruber, the purchaser, to warrant his being turned out of possession of the estate ; and therefore the de cree of the Master of the Rolls must be affirmed, VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, JULY 23. 311EICALST V. Tiromson 'The plaintiff and defendant are brush-makers, and the iormer professes to be the inventor of an inge niously constructed instrument for brushing the head, in which the bristles are place 4 in opposite directions, pointing upwards and downwards, so that while by its actin in one way it clears the hair, and throws it into grA.-elul order, it produces in the other a gentle' and agreeable friction of the pericranism. He con). plains that the defendant has pirated his invention ; and Mr. Titesenee now applied for an injunction to restrain the defendant from making and vending brushes similar to the plaintiff's. The Learned Counsel read two affidavits, one by the plaintiff, arm. thea by a person who had gone to the defendant's sbcp in Gray's Inn-lane to purchase some of the brushes. The latter deposed that the patent brushes shewn to bim by Mr. H. 'l'homson's shopman were similar to those made by the plaintiff. He asked the shopman whether Lis master sold many of these brushes and he answered a great many. The Iftce-CnaNcettou granted the injunction. MISUNDERSTANDING AT THE BAR. Mr. LEACH was about to make a motion, upon which the VICtt.CNANCELLOR observed, that as he had begun with the Gentlemen behind the bar, he thought it right to go through with them before he heard the ItiaA's Counsel. This arrangement was objected to by Mr. LEACH and Mr. AGAR, and the VIce•CHAW culoa intimated that he would confer with the Chan cellor, in order to have the point settled. Friday sight the stables of DANIEL MILFORD, Esq. of Woodford, were robbed of several valuable horses, one of them a fine hunter. A singular occurrence took place at the Custom how* yesterday morning, by a partial explosion of the pas at the toot of one of the staircases. Part of the pipes only being laid down, and the several pre parations being otherwise inconiplete, the reservoirs containing the syphons for preventing communica• tion were not filled with water as intended, and in this situation some gas had escaped which had been turned on in the main pipes. An accumulation was thus formed in the cavities ender the landing of the stairs, and mixed with such a portion of atmospheric air as to render it explosive. A person (without being directed) officiously opened a reservoir to exa mine it, with a lighted candle, and ignited the va pour, which exploded with much force. Several Jarge stones, forming the landing places, and scow step: were rent and forced out, but without doing any materi.'l damage ; and the person who occa. tinned the accident, together with mural Others who happened to be near, received no injury. ,scarp. YORI, SATURDAY, JULY 46 CROWS 31DC. be : jam:in Leawood, of S 41f ord, in Lockwood, in the West Riling of this come y, cloth-dresser; George rreifindte, of the same place, cloth-dresser; John rvileon, of the same place and profession; and Joeeith lysoft, of the same place and profession, were in dicted for a capital offence, in aiding and abetting, with many others, composing a tumultuous assem bly, a prrson unknown, who fi:ed at David Alexan der, on the nizlit of the Bth of June last, at a place called Falty-hall 'midge, near Huddersfield, with the intent of murdering the said David Alexander.— There were two other counts in the indictment, one charging the prisoners with aiding and abetting the unknown individual in attempting to disable the said Alexander, and another in aiJing the same person to do the prosecutor some great bodily harm. Mr. Toreteo, who, together with Mr. ScAttearr and Mr. ItIeIIARDIPN, was retained for the prosecu tion, addressed the Jury, explaining the nature of the charge, and detailing the circumstances of the of fence. The prisoners were not themselves indicted for firing at the prosecutor, nor was it. necessary to 'constitute the crime that the hand of any on: of them shculd have held ihe gun, or that any one of them should have given the order to fire—if it could be es tablished in evidence that they were present when the guilty transaction took place, and that they were aiding and abetting the individual who was the agent, their conduct would bring them within the penalties of the law, as much as if they had been principals.— He would satisfy the minds of the Jury that, what ever decision they should ultimately come to on the testimony that should be submitted to their conside tiou, such offences as those with which the prisoners were charged ought not to pass without an endea vour to bring them to justice. It would be deeply disgraceful to the laws, and highly detrimental to the peace of the country, to let such crimes pass without jud cial examination and public discussion. Some of those gentlemen who now sat on the pre sent Jury might have composed a part of the Jury of yesterday, when some prisoners were tried for committing a burglary to obtain arms. With the verdict of that Jury he was disposed to find no fault, as he was convi,iced that they conscientiously decided according to the evidence laid before them. The prisoners of yesterday were accused of felo niously taking away arms ; and the evidence that could be given against these now at the bar, would prove in what unlawful uses of violence and public disorder those arms were to have been employed.— Great numbers of persons had tumultuously assem bled at Huddersfield on the same night when the out rages which came under the view of the Jury yes terday had happened, although it was difficult to guess the object of their assemblage. One of them had fired a pistol at David Alexander, one of the cavalry yeomanry who went to disperse them, and the prisoners would be proved to have been aiding and abetting the felony. The Learned Counsel then stated the nature of the evidence he meant to bring fornfaid. One Taylor had been called out of his bed by the rioters, and compelled to go to a field with them, where he saw thirty or forty persons assembled for the purpose of outrage—some armed with guns, some with scythes, some with hay-forka, and ether weapons. Another witness, Armitage, who was likewise compelled to join this unlawful assembly, would describe what he sew of its proceedings, and would tell the Jury that lie saw ball cartridges 3:esti' out to men in arms—Abet he saw them ranged under a leader—that he heard them desired to tall into ranks, and to march in regular order, to the engine bridge, near Huddersfield—that he beard those who had guns desired to kneel, and those who had pistols, scythes, or other weapons, to fall into the rear. Why this great preparation, this regular discipline, ur thes military array took place, the Learned Counsel would not take upon himself to sat ; but. he left an account of the reasons of them to be given, it any could at all be given, by his Learned }fiends who were to con duct the defence of the prisoners. Such an outrage however was not to be committed on the peace of the neighbourhood without any exertion by the civil Power to prevent it—and accordingly a constable, Whitehead, of Huddersfield, having heard of the unlawful assemblage, took means to disperse it. Here . the Learned Counsel detailed the transactions which will be found in the testimony of the three fit st witnesses. Lockwood, and the three other prisoners, would be proved to have borne arms On she occasion t and though, when a number of persons were assembled for an unlawful object, and one individual committed the act of outrage indicted, it might be impossible to point oot that individual, yet it was not necessary for the purposes of law, as the deed of one person, in a multitude acting in concert, was considered in law and justice as the act of all. It would be (Mite im. possible to punish crimes, or to protect the public peace, upon any other principle; and the justice of the country might be made a laughing-stock, it' none could be prosecuted who joined in the perpetration of the most atrocious acts except the very individual could be pointed out who might be the agent of the rest, and who, as fulfilling their purposes, would generally be protected by the concealment of. his crimes against the consequences of his conduct. If the prisoners, therefore, could be proved to be present, aiding and abetting the hand that tired the pistol at Alexander, they were equally guilty as if they had any, or all of them, drawn the trigger. The Learned Counsel said, he should have to prove some of the material facts by means of a witness who, in some respects, bore the character of an accomplice, as, be was present on the occasion, but who in other respects, was perfectly unexceptionable, as his apparent concert was not a matter of choice, but of compulsion. some cases accomplices gave the only testimony that could be obtained ; and though he allowed it ought always to be received with suspicion, and canvassed' with care, yet be did not think that when confirmed by other evidence it ought to be rejected or disregard. ed. Here the witness was not an accomplice in reality, as his joining the mob did not depend on his own choice. The Learned Counsel proceeded to call evidence. Captain Armitage was the first witness examined. He, deposed that he commanded the Yeomanry Ca •alry of the district of Huddersfield, and that he was called up on the night of Sunday, the Bth of June, upon information that a tumultuary assemblage of persons bad collected at or Engine-bridge, ' near Huddersfield. Ere proteeded to the bridge with six patrole. and the constable Whitehead, about ten o'clock. The prosecutor, David Alexander, was one of the patrole. He went in advance before the test about 50 yards, till he came near the Engine-bridge, which WAS about a quarter of a mile from Hudders-, field. The horse t,f Alexander was grey. Shires, another of the patrt.le, Alexander, and the constable Whitehead, proceeded as an advanced guard to know what the assemhlage wanted, and to command them to disperse. Witness had almost lost sight of Alex ander when he arrived near the buidge, as he and the remaining four of the patrole were a little in the rear.. He heard then somebody sin, that they were halting. He rode up to Alexander and ShireN, A ho had actu hah.cl within a kw yards of the bridge. Witness adud why 111.1 had don? so? and Alessndtr soil here they are. Witness then loek .d, and saw an as semblage of men on the bridge, hut from the dark ness of the night could not p.m ive whether they had AIMS or not. He then called out to the constable to come up and speak to them. The constable obeyed the summons, and as st;on as he had conic up wi:ncss observed tire flash in the pan of one of the guns or pistols bornu by the rioters. The constable, Alex ender, and Shires, were before witness. The consta ble sail something, but witness coold not tell what. He was certain ill it the 11 ash proceeded from the party on the bridge. Almost instantaneously a gi.n was Bred irom the same party; and soon afterwards seve ral others, not in the ntanner of a volley, but irregu larly. All the show fired might be about 20. Wit ness remained till about ten shots were fired, and looked forward to examine the torce of the party by the light of their fire. They were assembled on the centre, and on the slope of the bridge farthest firms witness ; and he, judging that sonic on the slope were concealed fro n his view, while he saw a moviug body beyond the centre of the bridge, at about 40 or 10 yards' distance, concluded that all the intervening space was occupied by the party, and that conse quently their numbers were considerable. Having formed this opinion, and considering that his party only consisted of six to oppose them, he thought it prudent to retreg to Huddersfield for an increase of lorce. He accordingly did so; and returning after wards, when he had gained an accession of numbers, found that the rioters were dispersed. George Whitehead, a constable at Huddersfield, who accompanied the patrole, confirmed the testi mony of the preceding witness, in so far as he spoke to facts that came under their mutual observation. When the pktrole arrived at the bridge the last wit ness desiredm to go into the front, and demand of the mob what they wanted ? He accordingly went within a few yards of them. He saw a number of men armed, one of them pointed his piece at him, and fired, but the fire flashed in the pan. One of the mob plied out, 0 Who comes here ? ' Witness an swered the question by demanding who they were, and what they were doing ? Nothing else was sa ' d, when the firing commenced. The firing came from the mob, but how it was directed, witness, from tine darkness of the night, could not say. Witness be. lieved five shots were fired before he turned round his horse's head from the bridge and retreated. Alter he began his retreat other shots were fired. Witness could not judge of the number of the mob accu rately, but believed they might amount to about 400. 'There is a house some yards from the bridge on the road side, an. witness saw on the wall of that house on the following day the marks of a ball. Alexan der was nearer the wall than him. Cross-examined for the prisoners by Mr. Wieetests The witness said, that tit) or 40 had absconded from fear of prosecution since the riot. from his active search of those who were concerned in it. Witness's horse was of a bay colour, and Alexander's grey. The grey he allowed, after some discussion, could be more easily seen in the dirk than a black or a bay, and Alexander's horse was the most likely object in the party to be observed by the people on the bridge. Being asked, if he thought it a bad military practice to fire at the horse, and to bring down both the horse and thd rider at the same time, he thought that that was just as it happened. Being asked, if in his part of. the country people generally shot at what they saw or what they did not see ? he replied at what they saw. If it was so dark that he could not observe whether the fire was pointed in one direction or ano ther, could the party on the bridge see Alexander Witness did not know. Being asked if he was pro secutor of the prisoners in a bill of indictment that the Grand Jury threw out fur firing at himself, he confessed that he was. David Alexander was one of the yeomanry cavalry of Huddersfield, and was on duty on the Bth of June last. He wore a uniform of blue turned up with buff. He went to the Engine-bridge to disperse the rioters : he was a little in advance of the rest of the patrole s he halted at the end of the bridge, where lie saw men, but could not tell how many they were: they appeared to amount to sixty or seventy. Before the 'cirnstable spoke, the mob called out, " Who comes there ?" Immediately a gun flashed in the pan, 'another piece was fired, and soon after several more ; at the third shot his horse reeled and staggered back*ards : the party retreated after several other shots were fired. About an hour and a half after wards he examined his horse's head, and took out of it a pistol ball, which he produced in Court. He saw the mark of a shot in the wall of the house near the bridge, but there was no appearance of lead on the stone. This witness was cross-examined by MIATARKEY, the other Counsel for the prisoners, for the purpose of throwing a doubt on the accuracy of his conjec ture, with regard to the mark on the wall being made by a bullet, and for proving that the shot in tl.e fore head of his horse, as it was not observed till ton len afterwards, might have been . got in some other way, than from the party on the bridge, if not occasioned by the firing of his own pistol at that party. He . chewed that neither of these latter suppositions could be admitted. Nathan Taylor deposed, that he lives a mile and a half from Huddersfield; that on the Bth of June last he went to bed about ten o'clock ; that he was called up shout midnight by persons knocking at his door, arid threatening that if not opened it would be burst open. Upon going to the door he found two men there, who. desired him . to dress himself and accom pany them. Each of these two men.had a gun. They insisted on his going with them, but they would not tell where they would conduct him. He cheesed himself and went with them, very much against his will. He had no gun. He thought Benjamin Lt k. wood, the prisoner, one of those /terser's, but, en cross-examination, would not swear that he was so. He went with the men for about three quarters of a mile, till they joined a party at Knowleeill, when he ran away. The purpose fur which this wimess was caned was to speak to the identity of Leckasend, which, on cross-examination. lie retested cep es 'etch 'o do; though he had known the prisoner b fere, and had walked with him, by his own acceuet, three quarters of a mile on the night in question. George Armitage was the nest witness. lb stated that on the night of the Bth of June he was at Lock wood, a short distance Isom Hodder field. He had been courting there, and was returning about feels,: o'clock, as i.e thought, to Haddersfield, along with All aequeintance of the none of Charles Eernshay.-. Two persees with goes stopped them, and said eh , y moat go along with them to a tield close to Engine bridge, as it had b en leselved to try how malty could be mustered. Eembaw turned round to ti . e witness and said,“ Shall we go, Armitage ?" One those who stopped them said, " You must. gn, or pet hall be shut." The witness and his companion then went along with them to the field near the Engine bridge. A considerable norther of people, from to 70, were assembled there. The witness saw two handkerchiefs on the wall of the field, with some thing in each of them rather larger than a mast's hand. He heard sonic one say, " 'Those who have arms may Come hither." He saw one with a gun go to the place : something was piven him: he dad net know what : but the man having come fr. mehe wall, and stood near him, he hard him say that he had got twelve rounds. He saw others wlt ) )14d arms ads ancing to the wall, but did not attend to them :0 as to observe them get any thing. The Counsel for the prisoners t.bserved that all this was de km tire; for that it had tint been proved that any one of the prisoners was present at this nuctine. George Armitage (examination cantintied).— He saw none of the prisoners in the field except Wilson. They received orders to advance to the bridge, these who had arms having been previously desired to jars the rest of the body of men assembled. They came to the bridge, where several other. e ere A..S':rnbled. Two men with scythes, stretched out, stood on the crown of the bridge, mid prevented any one front passing, in case any one had attempted to get away. At the bridge he saw Benjamin Leckeiood and George Woffenden, who had guns. He sow the pre toner Jysop there also, with a scythe. A man of the name of Croft appeared to have the et matand on the bridge, and he heard Croft order those who 11:4.1 mono to arrange themselves on each side of the road, weile those who had not arms stood in the middle. Croft, soon after the witness came to the bridge, erjelcd those with arms to kneel. He heard the trampling of the horse,' feet when the cavalry were advancing; and then he heard Creft cell out, three times, " Who comes there ?" He did not hear *what answer w..s made to that ; but Croft ordered those why had awes to fire. The witness immediately ran back weal& Leckwood ; but, while running away, he heard the report of several pieces. As he was running. Wilson, along with several others,outreni and passed him. l'es then saw something in Wilson's teetd, but did not at the moment know what it was. .1 he party that raa off in this direction halted between the %south. A piece was tired at some distance, which was uncle:- stood as a signal to show where eclectics imtLy wee. Some on 4 e said, " His nobody le re any thing to ae swer it ?" and then the prisoner Wilson tamed leis hand, and fired a pistol. The party 5 , 1,11 atter dis persed. The witness did Got cheese to go t Hud dersfield thee, ;led therefore rc:urned to Lockwood, and knocked et t!.e Jo r t f the house where his sweet heart lived, but she e (mid not let him in. Cros exatnined.—lle said that he was forced to go to the field ; that lie had no gun in his head ; that there was a sufficient number assembled to have vim. pelled any two, or three, or even four, to have gone to the meeting ; that f r any thing he knew the pri soners might have been so fenced. Being asked whe ther they might not have been foreed to take arms in their hands ? he answered that he rid not know as to that. Being asked whether, it a piety of aimed men had threatened with the most dteadfel oaths to short him immediately if he did me take a gun in his hand, he would have taken it in his hall re- not ? he sated that he would soontr have peen shot than h.ve taken it on such an occasion, and that he is:eant to sae,:r 14) that. He would not :mear that he itad Rev: r sanders one William Stan:ey that he was nit at the hridre, or in the field, on the night of the Bth of June, Cut he would' swear that he had no recolfectiosica h.ei ss had any communication with Wiliam Stanley on the subject on the following d. y, or at any time. He had never said to 'William Stai.lvy, .6 By I W A) not there," as far as be recollect. d. He, t,ad idosmed James Geis,: of his being there at a secret. lie might have said that he did not know aha ssere there, 35 :se was afraid of bring shot. liter tithaw's sweetheart told him that they would thwt him it he att,ont d about the meeting. Re-examisied.—He said, that after havirg het n examined before a Magistrate, he had consented to be detained in custo.ly, because he was alr.td ef being shot. The prisoners said nothing in their defence, but several witnesses were called its their behalf. William S anley deposed, that on the 9.ti of June, being near the market-place in Huddersfield, ne had gone into a passage to avoid the rain. That a tenor of the name of Blades, and George Armitage, had come into the same passage. That dity'were talku.g of .the Dragoons who had come into HuddetsEtal that day, and of the assemblage of the night beture. That George Armitage then said, tl at his father's field, in the neighbourhood of the brid l e, had been, so trodden, that there was hardly a blade of grass stew ing, and that there must have been from three to tour hundred at the meeting. 'rhe witness said,' George, were you there?" No answer was made to the ques tion, and the witness then talked to some ether Per sons, and said nothing taore to Armitage. John Blades, a tailor at Hudderst!eld, who wets present at this conversation, deposed to it in the same manner. Armitage said, that his father's :'tell hod been trodden in such a manner that it was a sharie to see James Greig.—The witness, Ge3rge Armitage, had informed him that he was pit scut at meeting ; and knew some of tke men Cross-examined for the prowrutlrm.-7-7e said !hi!' Armitage had mentiotted it it a sectet, but t thAt. tie