The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-02-13 00:00:00

ENVILLE.

ACTION AGAINST THE EARL OF STAMFORD. —At the
Court of Cononue Pleas. on Tuesday last, before Mr.
Justice Brett and a Special Jury, the plaintiff' in this
ease, who is a saddler in Oxford-street, sued the Earl of
Stamford and Warrington for the breach of an agreement
that the earl should have the plaintiff's racing mare Tor-
mentor for twelve moutha, that he should pay £2OO in
advance, that he should pay all stakes and expenees, and
should hand the plaintiff one-third of her winnings ;
and, farther, that the earl should in the spring put the
mare to his horse Cambuscan free of charge Defend.'
ant pleaded that lie had been induced to enter into the
contract by fraud ; but the principal question was whether
the plaintiff had falsely represented that the ware was
sound and fit for training. Mr. Field, Q.O , and Mr.
Pike appeared for pleintiff; and Mr. Quinn. Q C , Mr.
Russell, Q C., and Mr. R. U. Williams for the defendant.
—lt was stated that in October last the plaintiff woo de-
sirous of disposing of eight or ten racehorses, and they
were advertised for sale on the Bth of October, at New-
market. Among them was Tormentor, a more, which
was five yeara old, and Mr. Ellam had had her ever since
she was one year old. Her performances had been very
good. She won the Oaks in 186 G, and in 1868 she ran
fifth in the Cesarewitch. At the sale Lord Stamford
bought her in on the part of Mr. Ellam for £1,500. On
the morning of the Bth of October she was exercised
close to Lord Stamford's house. Ile saw her at exercise,
and he was perfectly well acquainted with her perfor-
mances, On that same day the agreement now sued on
was entered into, though it was not signed until the
morning of the next day. On the 9th the mare was
taken to Lord Stamford'e stables, but almost immediately
she was returned upon the ground that she was lame, the
lameness complained of arisiug, it was said, from an en-
largement of the suspensory figaineut of one of tile hind
legs. The learned counsel said there woo no doubt that
there was some little thing the matter with the leg, but
it did not amount to unsoundness, nor render her unlit
to be trained. There WA, no doubt that the principal
question t between the parties was whether the ware was
or was not sound, nor was there any doubt that this
question might be better decided,as at one time had been
proposed, by some member of the Jockey Club, but what
the plaintiff was most anxious about was that he should
be entirely relieved from the imputation which was cast
upon him by the plea of fraud—At thia stage of the
proceedings communications passed between the learned
counsel with the view of having the utter disposed of out
of Court.—Mr. Qeitin said he wished to stitte that Lord
Stamford knew nothing about the perfortnances of the
mare when he entered into the agreement, nor had he
i ever seen her exercised. It was Mr. Ellam who was de-
sirous that the defendant should take the mare, and no-
thing could be more straightforward than the conduct of
the earl in the matter.—Mr. Justice Brett said that no-
thing disreputable ought to be imputed on either side,
for the simple question was whether or not the mare was
sound at the time of the agreement—After some further
discussion, it was agreed that the plea of fraud should
be withdrawn, mud that the real question should be re-
ferred to the arbitration of Admiral Roue.—The record
was withdrawn, subject to these terms.