The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-12-19 00:00:00

_
innkeeper,
ice other la.
defendant,
'-e operations,
celebrated
steward,
-1 Heath

lair
Horton

11117RMINSTER.

COMPTON ABBA&

with these two, and foot-paths meeting at one point
leads to the three houses. For some time peat the
plaintiff-AA defendant have not been on the trst of
terms, as the nlainiiff's son.in-law had lost a valuabl
dog, what was found to have been shot on the defen
dent's farm The plaietiff himself had • sheep dog,
crossed by • luroher, which was a great favourite of
the family. He had paid two pounds for having it
broken in, and it was saki lobe so well trained that it
understood anything that was said to it almost as wel,
as &child would. It would fetch in the sheep or cows
when told, entirely by itself. On Sunday, the 10thi o.
September la,t, between six and seven in the mornin:,
Mrs. Bennett went to their orchard, situate) near the
defendant's house, taking the do,/ with her. She inMsed
the dog "vial, there, and whi'e she was returning hoin,
heard the report of a gun in the direction of defendunee
house. On her return home, she asked her husband if
he heard the report of the gun. He said he did, and,
On being fold the dog was missing, added, "Depend on
it tie dog is shirt" Nothing was heard of the dog
during the day, and on the following morning in a
turnip field adjoining defendant's larluse, he mine upon
the spot were the dog was when shot. He traced
the blood out of the field, over the stile, and across oine
small meadow into another meadow, along the foot-
path, where he me a pool of blood, and where the dog
had evidently died, Thence h traced the marks where
the dog had been dragged, and in • ditch adjoining the
defendant's orchard saW the earth had been
recently moved. He removed the sods with a
dung fork he had in his hands, and saw
the body of his dog. On examining it, he Immo
that the charge from a gun had entered the side of its
face—chiefly the lower jaw, and a few shots had entered
behind the ear. Among other parties who ha I seen the
carcase of the dog after it had been dug was a young
girl, 15 years of age, named Mart'ia Hodder, who lived
servant to the defendant at the time in question. Her
version before the court was, that on Sunday morning,
the 10th September, the defendant came down stairs
shoat seven o'clock, or a little before, and went to the
door. He said, " Hold hard, PM," took up • gun, went
just outside the door, and fired it cif. She looked to sees
what he fired at, and i,aw it was bPs plaintiffa dog—she
knew it before, as she had sedn it many times. The
dog cried out twice, and went to the stile, and along
the foot-path towards its home. She watilhed it till it
was out of sight. It did not appear to be able
to go very fast and she asked her master if
he had butt the dog mach. He replied,
"nit very much." This witness said abe ha I before
given quite a different version of the affair. She had
left the defendant's service and was in a new situation.
One day the defendant came to where she was now
Using and told her she mast tome along with him. He
did not tell 11,r what he wanted with her. He took her
down to the office of Mr. Weston, at Dorohester, and
Mr. Weston examined her, She told biro that the de-
fendant did not shoot the dog and that he tired the gun
In the air; that she WAS busy getting breakfast, and
that she never saw the dog that morning. The reason
she told that falsehood was, that her mother had before
told her she must bay she knew nothing about it if any-
ooe questioned her about the *hooting of the dog, and
she was afraid to week the truth, lest defendant should
do her an injury. —Benjamin aims, a boy about 11 or 12
years old, is the employ of the defendant, was milking
the cows, when he heard the report of the gun. After
he had done niilking he and his master went to attend
to some sheep, and on tettirsing home, they saw the
plaintiffs dog lying dead in the footpath, about 200
yards from his master's home. They dragged the dog
to the ditch adjoining his roaster's orohard, and his
master sent him home fora spode. His toaster dug a
hole in the ditch, and after the dog was thrown in, he
was ordered to cover it up. On the following Wed-
nesday, Mrs. Bennett saw the defendant and Mr.
Teomas Bennett, botcher, of Wimborne, to whom the
defendant lets the shooting over his farm, passing
through one of the fields. She called to them and they
stopped. She asked the defendant why he shot her
dog, to which the defendant replied, "I didn't know it
Was thy dog; but I'll shoot 40 dogs if they come
here." Ho made nse of • good deed of foul and disgust-
ing language towards her and on her Raking if he would
give the dog up said "No, you want to have • funeral
osier it, I suppose; but I'll burn it first" A sawyer
working close by, overheard this language and gave
eorroboratile evidence. Mr. Munokton who was called
for the defence, said that had the rimer& which had
been alleged to the dtfeudent been inside, be must have
heard them, but he heard nothing of the kind. As this
evidence was simply of a negative character it proved
nothing, and the only evidence bearing on the point for
the defense was that of the defendant himself. He
denied that he bad • gun of his own, or that be ever
fired a gun at anything in his life. He denied shooting
at the dog, or even of seeing the dog on the morning in
question, till he saw it lying dead on the footpath. Ur.
Munckton, he said, usually left his gun at his house,
after he had been over the farm shooting, said he left it
as usual after a day's shooting on the 9th September.
His wife was exceedingly afraid of having loaded fire-
arms in the house, and be therefore, at her request, got
up.to fire off the gun on the morning in question. He
fired it in the air. It was a double-barrelled gun but he
fired off bat one barrel. He did not know whether or
hot the oilier barrel was loaded. He did not try it with
the fan Prod or in any other way to see if it was
charged. He had sinew learned that the barrel was
loaded, but there Was no sap on the nipple. His
honour commented in strong terms on the way the girl
Martha Hodder had been tampered with in order to in-
duce her to make a false statement; bat what she
stated at Dorchester, was not made upon oath, whereas
that which she had made that day heti been given mem
oath, and he had very little doubt which of the two
statements he ought to believe. But even without her
evidence, the thing to his mind WAS perfectly conclusive.
It was not inferred that any other gun was fired off in
that neighbourhood that morning. The dog was shot
at a spot that could be reached by a gun fired from de-
fendant's house. Then defendant seemed to be very
anxious to bury the dog out of the way, and his remarks
to the plaintiff's wife, when accused by her, were tanta-
mount to an admission that he did shoot the dog.
With regard to what the defendant had stated in the
whams box that day, he must suppose that he (the
Judge) mutt be devoid of common sense, if he supposed
that he could believe warmly • word of it. Why, he
said that begot up purposelylo fire off the gun, and
that his only object in tiring it off was because his wife
was so timid at having loaded fire-arms in the house;
but in the very next breath he contradioted this state-
ment, and acknowledged that both barrels were loaded,
that he only fired off one barrel, and did not try to Bra
off the other, nor try in any way to ascertain if the
other was loaded. He should therefore make an order
For the plaintiff for £5 the sum claimed 44 esimpens•tion
for the loss of the dog, and that the defendant Pay ail
the costs at the Court and the expenses of all the
plaintiff's witnemes.

SHAFTESBURY.
A MOND crop of rupberries has just been gathered
from mum in the garden of Mr. W. BriokelL

THI magistrates meting for the Sturminater
division have closed the markets in their district
for the next three months, as a precautionary
measure against the spread of the Cattle Disease.

MILDNESS Or THE Basso/v.-1u this village two
broods of rooks have been hatched, and the old birds
may be seen daily feeding their young.