The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-11-06 00:00:00

WINOA NTON.

The folledriny ease was heard on Monday la‘t before the
.lu4ires .

larollTtaT TO IttlLlCaNa. Vr. Thomas Sterrett, land-
lord of the Greyhound Inn, W:111,1111.4111. ,
by Th. miss Coleman, ti-hin ewer tic., of the sante plane,
for an assaelt. It will be remetulieretl that tin th,• last
occasion the rose W. adjourned on the application fix the
production of additional evidence to eorroborate his state-
ment, at the same time the chairman remarking that
there we, several points of law cenneetel with the I,i.e
which the Bench wished to further consider. The winless
the ~iniplaittent desired to c ill W. now unable to come
hi consequence if illness, and a doctor's certificate was
handed in.—Mr. C. E Balch, of Bornham, ant ear“l fur
the complainant ; and Mr. Trevor Davie. for defendant.—
Complainant stated that on the 15th of August he wetit to
Templecombe. Horsingten and Maperton, awl in the
evening returned to Wincanton. lie went into the
a:oohing-room of the Greyhound awl asked the landlord
for a i.;!,reo ef beer. Defendant rehired to suleoie hint
Milne him he load better take himself out of the room.
Then. were several persons in the room, and he said' " I
be. pardon, Mr. Sherren : I have walked from Mspert in.
hoe, and feel the want of a glass • lover," lint defendant
weiabi not serve him ; told him t•o leave, and caught him
hold, :owl thrust him inti the in ossage. He rettionsorated
with him, and defendant wished hiou roughly again-t the
wall and hurt his arna—Croes-exantined: lie carried a
basket upon his arm at that time, but there were no fish
in it. Had been hawking fish that day, lout bad sold out,
and the basket contain.' one or two cm:limbers. Ile
tem:illy went into the kitchen of the Greyhound when he
had a glass of beer; lie hart only gone iota the smoking-
room twice, and then was not refuses' drink, lie had
Diver been refused drink either there or in the kitchen.
Ile himself hail never cooked bloaters in the kitchen, but
Mr. Sherren's servants hail : lie had sold fish to them.
Had net er beeu t old to leave the house on any previous
eecasion: hut on one Sunday evening defentlatit refused
sepply in friend of his with a glass if 11-er. Hal no ver
nrele himself obnoxious by taking stinking fish into the
ronvii.—This being the coutplainanes case, Mr. Davies
addressed the Bench for the defendant. Ile witnitted in
piint ,of law that an assault had been eommitted ; but
deuissl that violence hal been used to eject the man; his
cententioit would he that defendant was justified in [Pur-
suing the course which he did He should prove that
complainant repeatedly went into the defendant's house
nal made himself ~11110Ii0uo to his customers; that he had
been forbidden by the landlord to come upon the premises ;
th.ot on this particular occa he came into t heamoking-
root° with a basket which had contained fish anti whieh
omitted& very offensive odour, and that he was requested
three times ii, leave before Mr. Sherren reorient to the
means which he did of putting him out. Mr. Davies then
drew the attention of the court to a point of law in con-
nection with the case—as to what constituted a bona fide
traveller within the meaning of the statute—and quoted
the decisions of Chief Baron Kelly in the case of Reg. it.
Rymer, Justice Heilman, awl Mr. Bushby (A LOrigloll
stipendiary), who had held that, whether a man walked
20 or nine tniles, if he were within 1,5,10 yards of his
own home, lie could not he designated as a traveller or a
wayfarer within the meaning of the common law. —For
the defence Mr. Davies called Mr. Lock, farmer, of
Chariton Mesgrove. who rail he Was at the Greyhound
Inn MI the 14th of August and saw the complainant ...me
in. He asked for a glass of beer, hut defendant nail he
should not serve him. Complainant deposited his loasket
against the door, and wired again, but received a similar
&newer, defendant telling hie: to take himself elf the
premises. A. e.iinplai tient was a long. time thinking about
going, defendant took hint hoht awl thong him into the
passage, lout nil not push hint violently. Did not hear
plainant say where he hsil been that day.—Cross-
easnoined After the compl-ainant had been ejected
defendant retitrned into the 10,111 and gave in, rein ins for
refusieg the glase of heir; he soul he often Caine into the
kitchen and made himself obnoxious ti his mond niters. lie
(witness) did not on this occasion smell ail, offensive odour
fr -iii t he e.implainant's ba-lint. —AI tera few remaiks from
Mr. It doh as to the point of law which had lwen raised,
the Bench retired, and ion their return after a long
absence, the Chairman said they had given great coneirler-
ati in to the various points of law which had been ably
raised by the advocates, and, although all the magistrates
could not a4ree in the construction put upon those points,
still they came to the same conclusion in the end. One
question, and a very important one, which had been
raised W.—WRII Coleman on this particular occasion a
wayfarer! Did the fact of his living in the town of
Wincanton put him out of the category of being a way-
farer in the sense in which a publican is bound to enter-
tain and supply refreshments to such a person! He was
of opinion that an inkeeper was bound by the common law
of the realm to provide footbsustenance,and accommoda-
tion touch as fairly may be required—for instance, it &man
were on a journey with shorn' and earring.' and required
lodging, an inkse-per was bound to provide it if he hail the
means; and a man hat the right te demand of an inn-
keeper sucb refreshment WI was nereasary for the print-i.e
of enabling him to continue his jooirneY. They were all
agreed in the result in this mac, that the man, being an
inhabitant of the town and, therefore, clone to his own
home, failed tin establish his claim to be a wayfarer. His
own opinion, founded upon the evidence of Mr. Lock, who
was a dieintereeted witness, was the complainant did not
tell Shen-en where he had walked from that day. The
mins of showing that he was a wayfarer rested upon
Colman, and he had failed to establish a case upon that
point ; but if he had done so—if it was clear to his (the
chairman's) mind that he did tell defendant where he had
just come from on that occasion—he sh.ould have given
his voice for • conviction ; now, however, there was no
case against defendant. The other magistrates expressed
their disapproval of the conduct ,of defendant in going to
the utmost limits of the law in ejecting the complainant

VAGR.UICY.—At the police-station on Saturday, before
Mr. 0- Ben•ball. • tramp who gave his name as Walter
Freeways, and said he had no home, RIM charged with
bearing alms at Sherlmrne, the previous evening. I
13muley, was brought up in custody charged with I
• similar °Rem-v.—TM: Bench sentenced each prisoner to
14 days' hard labour.
UNDER the auspices of the Church of England Young
Men s Society, • debate took place on Monday evening, m
to whether or not total abstinence from alcoholic liquors
was beneficial to society. The debate was yelled by
by Re,. F. Chase; Mr. Pollard advanced a long argu-
ment in opposition; but at the close the majority seemed
inclined to argue with Mr. Chase—some however, urging
moderation.
CHtIICH Merriam. —A meeting was called by the vicar
(the Rev. W. Lyon), on Tuesday last to elect four laymen
as members of the ruri-decanal conference, which appoints
synodsmen, to represent the Rural Deanery ist Salisbury
Amongst those present were the Vicar On the chair)—
Major Falwaseer. Mr. W. W. Panay, Mr. W. Newlyn, Mr,