The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-06-06 00:00:00

Roroet Coutitti Expren. '

TUESDAY. JUNE a um

NOT.EI3 OF THE WEEK.

The representatives of law and authority seem
more disposed every day to put a stop to any-
thing like public betting. Raids upon betting
men when they are saaembled in crowds to
transact " business " on some great race which
is about to take place, have become almost com-
mon occurrences. In many cases bookmakers
have been so impressed with the difficulties of
carrying out their peculiar calling on British
soil that they have taken refuge in France, only,
however, to find themselves once more in
trouble. The latest development of police
prosecution intended to prevent, as, far as
passible, this form of gambling has in it very
unusual features. The cue was brought by
the superintendent of the West Riding Police
against a groom named Ill= Stephenson, resid-
ing at Barnsley. The charge against this groom
was brought under a seldom enforced section of
the Betting Act Stephenson was apparently in
the habit of betting, and had sent a telegram to
another man named Schofield to the following
effect : "Put me tan shillings on Organist, win,
and ten shillings for place, at eight te two." It
may possibly strike an ordinary reader that it
would require a special education to make such
a message intelligible. There can however, be
little doubt that it conveyed a definite meaning
to the person addressed. For this proceeding
Stephenson was brought up at the Barnsley
Police Court,Friday. The section of the Betting
Act referred to enacts that where any letter,
circular, telegram, placard, handbill, card, or
advertisement inviting any person to make or
take any share in or in connection with any bet
or wager is sent, the sender shall be liable to
penalties. The prisoner was convicted, though
the magistrates remarked that this being the
first offence of the kind brought before them
they would only fine defendant 20e. and costa,
with the alternative of seven days' imprison-
ment. It appears that thebookma.ker Schofield
had already been arrested and fined. The case
is important, because it imposes responsibility
where it has not hitherto been laid. Stephenson
was clearly not a betting man by profession; he
was apparently only one of the very numerous
fraternity who dabble in betting in an amateur
fashion. To make the sending of a telegram or
even a letter conveying instructions to the
book maker to bet a penal offence must obviously
have a serious effect upon betting circles.
Whether, however, it will materially diminish
betting remains to be seen. Not a few people
hold that the habit is ineradicable amongst
large classes of Englishmen. If it has no other
influence the decision of the Barnsley magistrates
will assuredly make all persons connected with
betting transactions more cautious.

Sir Wilfrid Lawson's "gay wisdom," as Mr.
Disraeli calls its was never better evidenced than
in the lecture he read the House, on Tuesday,
anent the Derby. In keeping with the occasion
the humorous baronet was, to the letter, racey ;
but although the pill was gilded that he admin-
istered to a grandmotherly legislature, it was
none the less bitter to swallow. Sir Wilfrid
fails to see why the Nation's Council should
give itself a holiday to see a hone race. And
It certainly seems preposterous that a body,
boasting to be the first assemblage of gentlemen
in the world • considering itaelf, whatever other
people may think of it, the concentrated essence
of the wisdom of the country, should suspend
its deliberations, in these days of dark uncer-
tainty, to patronise the annual carnival of
blackguardiam: Don't let us walk about the
world with a supermundane expression upon
our faces, but at the same time don't let us be
arrant humbugs. The mamas no more require
legislation than those who consider themselves
Is creme de la creme. A bank-clerk may loose
the savings of years over a single race, but how
many " honourable§ " have found Tattersall's
the nearest cut to the Bankruptcy Court I
What is all this outcry against touts" but
that swindling the public may be made the
more easy; and who is the greater scamp, the
man who "books' your bet, and when he sees
he has lost makes quick tracks across country,
or the noble owner who enters a couple of
animals, and names the one to win which he
privately knows doesn't stand a chance against
the other. An unfortunate publican who allows
the mild dissipation of a "sweep" in his house
is pounced upon by the police, pulled up at the
court, morally harangued by the beak, and
heavily fined; while young Lord Sawdust, with
more bullion than brains, squanders unre-
strainedly the acres which it took his forefathers
years of frugal thriftiness' when—probably—in
the soap trade, to accumulate, and is generally
reckoned—pace Mantilini—a " demned" good
fellow. An Act of Parliament is paned to
preclude the insertion of betting advertisements,
and the conglomerated rank and talent of
England, Scotland, and Ireland throw up their
cape like schoolboys and scamper down to
Epsom to see 15 little undersized men ride 15
nobler brutes, for the sake of the lucre which
the same virtuous rank and talent have laid
upon them. Surely, Sir Wilfrid, Quixotic as
some of his tilts may be, never had a better
case than on Tuesday.

The 81-ton gun may be a useful piece of ordnance,
but it is hoped that we may not be obliged to manu-
facture many of them, for they are very expensive.
The cost of the one now under trial at Woolwich was
put down at £B,OOO, but the Duke of Cambridge
believes the cost will reach Lts,ooo. His Royal
Highness's estimate is fiir wide of the mark, if we may
believe opposition gurunakers, who say that ‘25,0X1
has already been expended in the experiment. And
this is likely to be exceeded, for to the cost of manu-
facturing and altering the gun has to be added the
cost of the ammunition its, and of the transport
the monster from one place to another. As to the
expense incurred in testing the weapon, some guess
n
may be made when we mention that at each disc
some twenty-five pounds sterling is blown from e
muzzle in the form of sso or 300 lbs. of gunpowder,
and a smooth and 'lastly-turned iron bolt weighing
nearly three-quarters of a ton. A hundred tons have
been or will be fired, and the aggregate cost is a mere
matter of arithmetic. The conveyance of the gun may
be looked upon as a trifle. Far from it. Before it
could be moved at all from the foundry at Woolwich to
the proof-butts, a gun carriage had to be specially
built for it, anda tramway laid upon which this carriage
could run. Then it was estimated that the conveyance
of the gun from Woolwich to Shoeburyness would
LostZt,sooo, but no contractor can he found to do the
work anderZ7,ooo or ,CB,OOO, and rather than accept
such high tender. the Admiralty intend to do the work
themselves, they hope for £5,000. When the gun is
finished, attention will be have to be directed to the
machinery with which to work it. Altogether
the 80. ton gun is an arm of the service not to be en-
couraged by economists. Securing peace by thus pre-
paring for war is as costly as war itself. So far we
are al-one in possessing the mcnster. We should say
we are likely to continue singular in this respect. No
other country could afford to spend, say, £50,000 in
producing a gun, and then feeding it at the cost of‘ss
for every shot it fires.

/MUM Mathews, of Stratton, !shepherd, and the k
of a little grocers shop, who was represented by tasTi
was summ pt oned by Su. Betty, inspector of weights
wows% for having In his possession unjust. weights and
seeks. The weights 11h and ;lb, were deficient, the
former about • dram, and the latter kn. They were else
tinetemped. In the cede of the scales they were correct,
but by placing paper and the cover of a book underneath
them, the woman made them jos. against the purchaser.
For the first offence the defendant was fined LI and own;
0., 611. and ordered to forfeit the weiehts. In the second
cue defendant was fined 10s, and the costs, at the same
time the Bench remarked it was an excessively bad ease.
and 004 Of deliberate robbing of her poor neighbours.
Saunders, farmer, of Piddlebintiel. was sum-
moned for a similar offence.—Supt. Batty visited
the defendant's dairybouse and examined his weights.
He found • 41b. weight lox. deficient, • lib. weight
dram, sad another 11b. nearly lj drams, and /lb. I dram.
Defendant stated he only sold butter and cheese to his
labourers, and that be didn't know but his weights were
correct -The Superintendent said he believed it to he
more a cam of neglect than of fraud—Defendant rifled
his dairyman to state that he (defendant) never had any-
thing to do with the weights—in reply to the Superin-
tendent, the witness could not recollect that he said to
him he ere; glad he had opine, for he had spoken to defendant
several times, but he refused to send them to be tested.
The Bench regarded it as a case of negligence, and imposed
• penalty of 10s. end costa
Clement Christopher, who did not appear, was charged
on the information of PC. Matcham (71) with Poaching.
On Monday, May 1, about seven in the morning, the con-
stable was on duty in the parish of Dewlish, when be saw
the defendant go on lands belonging to Mr. Brymer.
When he mine off be stopped him and asked him what
he had in his basket, and he said nothing but some bread
and cheese. Researched the basket, and in it found a
rabbit with • wire round its neck. There were six per
vices convictions against him—He was fined £3 and
costa 10.. &L, or two months' hard labour.
Beau& Valkas appeared in answer to • second 'summons
taken out by Begat Brown,, to show MUM, 811C.-11r. R.
N. Howard appeared for the complainant, and Mr. M. C.
Weston for the defendant—The case was of a very
prosaic nature, and was dismissed on the last occasion for
want of corroborative evidence. The plantiff was •
domestic servant, and the man • labourer. They formed
an acquaintance at Lougbredy, were generally supposed
to he sweethearts, and the end of the matter was that a
child was born on the Mith January. The girl gave her
evidence very creditably.—The defendant was put into
the box by the plaintirs attorney. Asked a certain
Ilineation he was advised by Mr. Weston not to answer
on the ground that he might climb:nits himself—Mr.
oward quoted a ease heard at the Swansea police-court
when acting under the advice of the Solicitor General, the
gtieendar7 istsistrat• compelled the defendant to
answer—Kr. Weston said that was not a decision of the
LISA nlt wor kintawloanw opinion
uponßefinvcehuss d awebve.:t framed
was beard—Mr. Howard mid four or five weeks ago.—Mr.
Weston: And you are reading from a newspaper cutting.—
Mr. Howard: Don't despise newspapers. We get all our
learning from there.—Mr. Weston, only, snapping hls
fingers: I don't care that for them—Mr. Howard:
Perhaps net to-day but you will to-morrow. —The vritness
subsequently went on to Mate that he offered the girl
f 4 If she would say it was his child. She declined to
inesrirsi,aCt even after that he aWricnesered to marry her.
The Bench, after a lengthy . made so order on
defendant for fit 6d. a week and fla 6d. meta. " the
expression of his countenance" as he left the box being
" more thoughtful than beforis."—Prior to the twain( of
the case. the Clerk to the Magistrates requested all
respectalte females to leave the Court The women were
unable to ignore this gentle hint, and accordingly left,
but they chatted about it outside the Court like • flock
of startler:a.
Janes Ward was brought up in custody charged by Mr.
Wm. Pearce, the master of the Dorchester Union. with •
breach of the Workhouse Act—The defendant was
admitted on Thursday last into the casual ward. One of
the luxuries provided for this mart of travellers is a cold
bath. He put his feet in, but declined to proceed further,
Intimating that be would see the master somewhere else
before he aid.—The defendant mid it was cold water, and
be was subject to the rheumatism; the regulations were
that the water was to be of a suitable temperature—He
was sentenced to 14 days' bard labour, and told he would
be washed at the gaol whether he liked it or not
Georps Duckworth, a private in the 31st, was charged
with larceny. Mrs. Jane Winter wife of John Winter,
of the Chenl Beech, Portland, dated that on Wednesday
about half-past nine In the evening, she had occasion to
leave her house on an errand. On her return she found
the defendant there. She told him to go out, but, he did
not do so. He seemed the worse for liquor, ultimately he
left while she had gone to fetch • neighbour; and she
then found an old slop was missing from the window
bench. She had also lost her clothes-brush. P.C.
Hutchins (&), was communicated with, and about 11 the
sense night he found the prisoner in a low house with
three prosUtutes. He searched him and found him wear-
ing the slop over his shirt. He admitted having taken it,
when chard, and said he did so because be wanted to be
a navvy. The brush the police constable afterwards
found in the house, but, the prisoner denied all knowledge
of It. He was drinky and used frightful
Defendant now Intimated that he thought sontniortre
friends had put the smock on him for him to sing •
"comic" song. A sergeant in the regiment was called and
said he had been about two or three years in the service,
he was a very bed character, had been tried by court
martial and had only just come out of the cells. Son-
teeced to one month hard labour.
PORTLAND.
A TERRIBLE DEATH.
The schooner Andromeda, which arrived in Port-
land on Thursday mornlng, had on board the dead
body of her captain, Tames w, who was found
dud on the morning, of Wednesday, the filet. The
body was seen by Dr. M'Lean, and found to be much
swollen from decomposition, and it appeared of various
ghastly hue& From the statements of the ship's hus-
band, the sailors and a boy, it wee found that deceased,
who belonged to Goole and was about 36 yeardold, was
very much addicted to drink, and then would go on
shove, and quarrel and fight They lately were at Par,
In Cornwall, where Earnshaw as usual, had a lot of
drink, and he next went on to Fowley, and quarrelled
with some shore people, A Cornish miner gave him •
thrashing, and he was determined to go and fight it
out with his opponent, for the time before he was so
drank that the spectators would not let the fight be
finished Earnshaw seem/ to have got a more severe
beating than he bargained for, since he lay in his
bunk, and never went on shore as he declared he would.
The ship's husband, Thomas Ramsey, from some tele-
graphic information, joined the ship at Fowey, and
the crew agreed to on with him. The miserable F.arn-
slum could not find the ship's paper.: but at last some
of the men found them, and Ramsay seems to have
taken charge. Earnshaw, before they sailed from
Fowey, sent ashore the cabin boy, and gat a quart of
brandy and half -a-judlon of ale. This we, on Monday
last week, on Tuesday morning he armed himself with
a revolver and threatened to Shoot Mr. Ramsey, but
the cabin boy got the pistol away, also a razor and two
knives which he saw in the captain's hands. By this
time Earnshaw had drunk up a store of eau.de•Cone,
and by Tuesday night, half of the quart of brandy and
half of the ale, were gone, and Earnshaw abandoned
tbe charge of the vowel, laid to sleep in his berth, and
at three o'clock next morning was found dead and
cold. The ship's husband directed the schooner's
course for Portland, where the body was brought on
shore. The inquest was held on Friday, at noon, at
the Breakwater Hotel, and the jury returned a verdict
of "Died from Excessive drinking."