The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-02-08 00:00:00

A BULL IN A BEER CELLAR.

At the Kingston Assizes the cause of " Harding v,
Smallman " has been heard, and was an action by a publican
In Great Suffolk-street, Southwark, London, against a
drover for damage caused to the plaintiff by the totrusion
of a bull.—The following report of the case is taken from
The Times :
It appeared that about half-past eight on the even-
ing of the Bth of Ally last the defendant was driving
a herd of 39 balls and bullocks from Smithfield to the
Kent-road, through Suffolk-street, when one of them,
tired, heated, and thirsty, ran out of the herd and
sought coolness and refreshment in the publican's
house, which was open. The bull first went to the
smoking-room, which was full of guests, and the door
of which was open and put his head in at the doorway,
trying to enter. His great size, however, prevented
his getting in, and there he stood in the door-
way, The guests were startled at his sudden appear-
ance and alarming aspect and some sought to escape
out of the window; but others began to belabour the
bull and thus to force him to retire, which he strove to
do, but being unable to tutt round, he could only
back, and his enormous weight thus put in motion by
his backing and struggling broke down the floor, and
as it gave way bentath him the animal fell down into
rather a deep cellar where the publican kept his beer,
and there floundered and plunged among the casks
which nearly filled it, vainly endeavouring to get up.
The particular cellar into which he fell was the ale cellar,
into which there were various connexions by means
of metal piping between the engines above and the
casks below from which the beer was drawn. In his
fall the animal broke six of these connexions and
knocked off the taps, and the consequence was that
the cellar was soon flaoded with beer, so that as the
soil was dry and loose (a " thirsty " soil as the learned
Judge called it), it was soon converted into mud and
slush. The poor animal finding himself in this uncom-
fortable position, cramped up among the casks and
unable to move, continued vainly to plunge and.
struggle to get up, and his frantic plunges further
displaced the casks, some of which were tapped, and
caused fresh damage. It was attempted to get some
of the casks out of the way into an adjoining cellar,
the porter cellar; but this was diffioult, and to get
the animal out appeared impossible. The incident, of
course, soon got wind, and great numbers of Remus
attracted by it flocked into the house to get a sight of
the bull in the cellar, until the police, thinking it un-
safe turned them out and locked the door. About
half-past nine, the publican, who had been absent, re-
turned and found the street blocked up by a great
crowd of people and his house locked up and in the
charge of the police. Efforts Were now made by pro-
curing the assistance of a great many men with ropes
attached to the animal to hoist him bodily out of the
cellar. This, however, was a work of no small dif-
ficulty,. and the publican, in his evidence, stated
that as many as 150 men had hold of the ropes
which were used to heave the animal up. At
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full, others half full, and the loss of beer he put down
at £lO. Then there were the pipes to be repaired,
which a pewterer estimated at £5. Then a temporary
flooring had cost 305., and the estimate of the cost of
full repair of the floor was £lB. Then, he said, £5
had been paid to the men who had hoisted the beast
out of the cellar. And, lastly, there was the entire
less of custom for some days and its depreciation for
some weeks, which he put at £lo—altogether about
£5O, just the amount fixed as the limit of the County
Court jurisdiction. However, the action was brought
in the superior court. The cause of action was ad-
mitted and the sum of £25 was paid into court as
sufficient to 'cover the damages. The publican, how-
ever, was not satisfied with that sum, and sought, as
already stated, to make out a ease for £25, and that
was the question fo be tried.
After a long trial which took nearly all day the
jury retired to consider their verdict, and in the re-
L. sult they found a verdict for the defendant on the
ground that the sum paid into court (225) was
sufficient.