The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-02-25 00:00:00

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Ate Dun WILL CASi.—A will case of some interest,
which occupied the Dublin Court of Probate several
days, was concluded on Tuesday. The declaration of
the plaintiff propounded • will of the late Timothy
O'Connor, of the Causeway, county of terry, dated
the let of hia7, 1847, and the defendant denied the
validity of this instrument. He alleged that the last
will of the deceased was one dated the 28th May, 1842,
and that be (deceased) executed a codicil on the 19th of
May, 1859. To this defence • replication was filed, to
the effect that the will of 1842 was revoked by that of
1859, and that the codicil of 1859 was invalid in eons.-
guanoe of its not having been executed pursuant to the
statute, and that It was obtained by undue influence.
The undue influence was as to the testator's wife and
two priests, one of whom lived in the house of the
deceased for two years, up to the time of his death.
The codicil in question gave his wife absolutely £BOO
out of £3,800 in the bank, and all the money in the
house to do what she pleased with, it happened that
there was in the house • sum over £l,lOO, and more
than £2,000 came into the old woman's ‘handsfunder the
residuary clause after her husband's death. She survive i
him only five weeks, bat in the meantime she disposed
of ttie money in gifts and donation to pious persons and
charitable uses—inieste and nuns being the chief reci-
pients. The instrument was impeached on the ground
of undue influence and want of testamentary capacity.
It was revoked by the jury, whose verdict was in favour
of the plaintiff, a nepliewof the deceased.
Colonel White, the Irish Lord of the Treasury, has
published his address to the electors of the county
Longford. He states that he has not taken office with-
out the approval of numbers of the most influential
electors in the county, and that he is "unfettered by
any pledgee whatever. ' Incapable of deporting from
the princaplee of his family, he declares that he will use
the opportunity which his office affords-" to promote ,
the material and social improvement of Ireland," and I
on the important questions of "Education and the
amendment of the Poor Law" his votes will be given in
accordance with the opinions of the constituency. "By
these votes," he says, • I ask to be judged, resolved to
prove that my independenee will in no degree be affected
by the duties of my new position." The Daily Express
earnestly urges the Conservative gentry of the county
to support him in the event of • contest. His return is
expected as • matter of certainty.
The Bray correspondent of the Daily Express gives
an account of • dreadful shipwreck, with the loss of
nine lives on the Wexford coast, near Arklow. The
Portia, • bark of 500 tons, left Liverpool on Saturday,
with a cargo bound for the Brazils. She struck on the
fatal Blsolcwater bank, eight miles from Arklow. She
capsized and sunk on Monday night. The crew got
into the boats and being beaten about for some time,
were driven ashore near Mizenhead. The boats were
upset in the surf of a heavy sea, and swept back into
the seething waters, when nine men were drowned.
The captain and four men fortunately escaped, having
been carried by the returning waves high upon the
shore. The vessel and her cargo are said to have been
insured.

At the Ennis Assizes on Tuesday Donlan' O'Cal-
laghan was found guilty of homicide, coin nutted under
the following singular circumstances :—lt appeared in
evidence that there had been some potatoe stealing
going on in this neighbourhood. William Holmes (the
deceased) was • caretaker in the employment of Captain
O'Callaghan, brother of the prisoner. The prisoner, on
the night in question, went out after dinner in the
direction of the potatoe pits near the house, armed with
a double-barrelled gun, accompanied by James Clanchy,
Captain O'Callaghan's coachman, who was armed with
a revolver. The weapons, both loaded, had been given
to them by Captain Callaghan. At the very time at
which the prisoner and Clanchy went out, it happened
that Holmes, swore that he saw a man approaching
with • gun in his hand, who, when within a short
distance of him and Holmes, reified the gun and fired.
The shot took fatal effect upon Holmes, who imme-
diately fell and died in about 15 Minutes from the
wounds he received. The man who fired immediately
came up and proved to be the prisoner. When he and
Clanchy arrived at the spot where the unfortunate man
lay bleeding, and saw what had happened; the prisoner
became quiet distracted, and said to Clancny, "Shoot
we I" Mr. Justice Keogh, in charging the jury, said,—
'"lt is important to impress upon the people that the
Government of this country exude for the preservation
of the lives and property of the people. It is equally
important to impress upon them that no mania justi.
fled in taking away the life of another, except in sell-
defence. No man Is justified in protesting his property
by shooting another man. If Captain O'Callaghan, •
person holding a position in which he is bound to
protect the lives and property of Her Majesty's subjects,
is to be tolerated in giving dead weapons to his brother
and his servant for the purpose of protecting potatoes,
it eau be easily imagined how many guns will be loaded
and carried under the pretense of protecting potatoes
in the dark nights of October." The learned Judge
further observed that, if the gun went off by aocident,
• were bound to acquit the prisoner, but if they
At if the prisoner, with culpable negynee„,
pi; and therth theman's estlt,
they were bound to find the prisoner guilty. The
learned Judge having commented at length on the eel-
deuce, the jury retired, and, atter taking a short time
to consider, found a verdict of Goilty. Sentence was
deferred.