The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-11-27 00:00:00

BURTON v. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY
COMPANY." _ .

_
The above cause has been before the Court of Queen's
Bench, and was an action by a weaver to recover from the
defendants' compensation in damages for injuries he received
by thenegligenee of the defendants' servants, and upon the
cirenmstatmes disclosed by affidavits since the trial, when
the jury awarded the plaintiff £750 damages. The case is a
very remarkable and novel one, as the following outline will
Show;—
The plaintiff was travelling on the defendants' line,
when the train in which he was came into collision
with another, and the plaintiff alleged that he was Co
seriously injured thereby as to be rendered wholly un-
fit to follow hie occupation as a weaver. At the trial
at Westminster, before Mr. Baron Martin, the plaie tiff
Was carried int., court on a chair, and undoubtedly
presmted a very horrit le and ghastly appearance. So
completely exhausted did he. armear to be that it IVAS
elluti bee LeAlloss OSITICUIty his answeis to Lim caroms
questions put to him could be beard, and medical men
of eminence gave a decided opinion that the nymph ms
exhibited were not exaggerated, but, were fairly saris
butable to, or the natural consequence of, the accident
he had met with. The plaintiff declared that since
the accident his sight had become impaired ; that he
had had several fits; in a few words he swore that he
had been rendered wholly incapable of following his
employment, where physical strength and the exercise
of clear sharp eyesight were required. His wife and
other persons were called, and swore that before
the accident he was a strong man and never had
a tit. In the early morning of the day of trial
he was seized with a fit and Sir William Fer-
gusson was sent for to see him. When Sir William
arrived the plaintiff had recovered his center. Sir
William was called as a witness to depose to the state
in which he found the plaintiff, and in the course of his
reexamination was asked whether, in his opinion,
the plaintiff's symptoms were real or greatly exagge-
rated, and replied that, not having examined him with
view to ascertain the extent of the injuries he had
received, if any, he could not give a Batisf avtory answer ;
but he should say, looking at the plaintiff then, that he
was seriously ill, and he Raw nothing to lead him to a
canclasion that the plaintiff was either counterfeiting
or exaggerating the symptoms he exhibited. For the de-
fence some medical gentlemen of standing and repute
were called, and said that they took a serious view of the
case, supposing the evidence they had heard about the
fits were correct, but they thought if the plaintiff.had
not been attacked by fits thi re was a fair pro-
spect of his recovery within a reasonable term to
health, and also that the lose of sight the plaintiff com-
plained of resulted from a cataract formed on the eye,
and the suggestion on the part of the defendants was
that the plaintiff, who had formerly been a soldier,
was discharged from the service on the ground of de-
fective vision. Mr. Overend, Q.C., moved for and ob-
tained a rule for a new trial on the ground of fraud and
surprise. Mr. Overend stated it could be proved
that prior to the trial the plaintiff had been
Been walking about, although he had sworn he had
been confined to his bed for weeks ; that subse plea
to the trial he bad been to Scarborough disporting
himself with great vigonr, picking up shells and crabs,
and jumping from rock to rock, and bathing ; but as
soon as he discovered he was being watched all his
energy left him, and he relspsed into utter helpless-
ness. The company paid the damages that the
plaintiff might be thrown completely off his guard
and enable them to see if they had Wen deceived by
him.
Mr. Dishy Seymour and Mr. Yeatman now showed
cause against the rule, and Mr. Overend, Q C., and
Mr. Alfred Wills, supported it.
It appeared that the plaintiff's attorney had written
to the defendants' attorney saying that he was not in-
structed to oppose the rule, the fact being that his
client had some debts to pay, and from that and other
causes had spent the money he had received. Subse-
quently the same gentleman wrote saying that he
should oppose the rule, and instructed counsel to do so
accordingly. Against the rule it was denied that there
had been any exaggeration by the plaintiff of his
symptoms, but there had been exaggeration in the ae-
oims of the way he ,onsluot.oi ssal seaosca Ishoss,AS st.
Scarborough ; that he was still subject to hts ; and an
affidavit by sevmal deponents was used in which it
was stated that they bad seen the plaintiff since the
trial in a lit in his attorney's office. The plaintiff had
been subjected to a fresh medical examination, and the
result was a general concurrence in the medical evi-
dence given on his behalf at the trial, and a belief that
the plaintiff was still in a very precarious etate.
After Mr. Overend and Mr. Wills had supported
the rule.
The Court thought, under all the circumstances of
the case, the rule for a new trial ought to be made A-
solute, and also that the damages and costa should be
repaid.—Rule accordingly.

EXPERIENCES of the "TWELVE DAYS'
MISSION," by a CLERGYMAN.
A writer In the Doug Notes elves the following short ac-
remit of the "Twelve Days' Mission" in London, designed
as a "special attack on sin and Satan;" and however
°Onions may tiller as to the means employed, it is to be
hoped that the " mission" may result In good to men, and
disadvantage to "mall's great toe "
A Broad-Church clt-rgyman, in easy harness, I am
holiestly anxious to discover whether this sudden
"special attack on sin and Satan" on the part of the
Church of England be simply spasmmlic or a sign of
real vitality. I have no pre-conceived ideas on the
subject, though I may say frankly I do not like the
idea of the Confessional grafted in the originally
colourless scheme so innocently sanctioned by the
Bishop of London. Still, if • a good end be gained, it
is the extreme of folly to quarrel about the memo.
The question to be iuttled is whether this " Guerre tie
Douse Jours" will do Satan any harm. If it does not
do him harm, it will to him good in its recoil. I pro-
pose to chronicle diary-wise my experier cee of as many
of these missiomeervices as a somewhat busy life will
enable me to attend.

MOM AY EVENING,NovIS.

I went to the eight o'clock service at St. Mary
Magdalinee, Paddiroten, taking with me (impru-
dently, as it appease I) a lady. Determined to be in
time we got to the church nearly half an hour before
service. We sat down, after the heathen custom pre-
valent in Ititualiet'c Churches, exactly as desired—
myself on one side, my companion on the other,
somewhat in front, that is, near the pulpit. I was
much struck with the number of poor pinwale, not
only women but men, who came in. Perhaps they
looked a little too much polished up for the omaeion,
like the shiny apples so disagreeably suggestive of
pocket-handkerchiefs at an old woman's stall. Their
evident acquaintance with the pions middle-aged ladies