The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-03-14 00:00:00

A REvuI.TING DUEL.

A duel between two French noblemen is reported to
have taken place on the Belgian frontier, under the most
revolting circumstances. According to the account just
made public, the quarrel originated in a fashionable
drawing-romu. A Count awl a Duke were discussing
;old
his
tacmoren vr .er in ; frg,
becamei, so
hot that the
former 10 t himself as to
strike his noble opponent a blow on the face. The latter
dhl not ',ply. but .aught hi. friends immediately after-
wards, and swore to them that he would never Iseo his
family again until he had washed out the insult with the
blood of his adversary. No time was lest in arranging
fur the meeting, whieh took place nest day. The combat
was the bitterest description. Before they had fought
long- the Duke was wounded in two places, in the erre and
in the chest. With the blood streaming from his hurt.,
he continued the conflict, though hardly able to maintain
himself erect. When shout to succumb from weakness,
he suannumed all his strength for a final attack, and cue.
ceeded in striking his adversary a mortal blow, m fro the
D effects of which he instantly fell dead. The uke then
staggered forwards, and, bending over the dead man,
steeped his handkerchief in the blood that Bowed from
the fatal wound. After ruld,ing the gory cloth on his
face, he turned to his fricuds and said. "I confide this
handkerchief to you, that you may hand it to the duchess,
my wife. Tell her to place it among the marriage gifts et
our daughter; it is the dowry of her father—the purity of
his name." Scarcely had he uttered these words when he
too expire.l, going into eternity with a smile upon his
face, produced by the sentiment that his honour had been
satisfied.

SINGCLAR, CO:NI/ITT OF A CLERGYMAN.
Mr. Baron IludHeston, who is at present going the
Midland Cirduit, bad before him on Saturday morning a
case which is in many respect, of a peculiarly sad character.
The defendant. Margeret WFadden, a young woman
apparently about thirty years of age, was indicted for hav-
ing published concerning her mistress. Mrs. Johnson, a
false and defametory libel, and also another on her master,
the Reverend G. A. Johnson. With regard to the libel
upon Mr. Johnson, no evidence, as ean be made out from
the report, appears to have been offered, but the offence
coiunutted against Mrs. Johnson was practically without
excuse except that which the Jury embodied in their re-
commendatMn to mercy. It seems that the Reverend Mr.
Johnson is a clergyman of the Church of England and
curate of East Claytlon, the rectory of which ia held by the
Reverend Canon Freinantle. The prisoner enteral the
service of Mr. Johnson's mother in the year 1850, when
she was a girl only twelve years of age, and she remained
with that lady until her death, after which she became
the housekeeper of the Reverend Mr. Johnson himself.
Towards the end of 1874 Mr. Johhson married, and the
prisoner, who still remained in his establishment as houses
keeper, was, it is said, from the first excessively insolent
to her new mistress. What precisely took place is not
told, hut it seems that Mrs. Johnson actually left
the house, and declared that she would not go
hack until the prisoner had been discharged. In
this unpleasant crisis the Rev. Mr. Johnson by some
means or other, persuaded his olihousekeeper to take
her departure, and, out of generos , made her a present
of £37 over and above her wages. c difficulty, however,
was but temporarily surmounted, for early in the spring
of 1875 Mr. Johnson himself received a letter from his
former servant, directly charging him with having ruined
her, while a letter to the same effect came to his wife,
containing, also the grossest and mind abominable accusa-
tions against that lady. -Shout the Midsummer of last year
these communications were followed by a long letter to
Canon Fremantle, Mr. Johnson's rector, in which the
Name charges against both the reverend gentleman and
his wife were repeated in a more pronounced and definite
form. This letter, in so far as its contents reflected upon
Mrs. Johnmii, formal the libel for the publication of
which, by sending it to Canon Fremantle, the prisoner
was convicted, and it in sufficient to say that these was
no doubt whatever that it was written and sent by the
unfortunate woman, while its matter wasof such a nature
that the published reports cannot do more that attempt
to give • general notion of then,.
The prisoner's defence was,in effect, that the imputa-
tion+ which she be cast upon Mr. Johnson were
substantially true, but that for those which she had
thrown on his wife she could hardly be held responsible,
as they were made in a moment of extreme exasperation,
to which she had been driven by the cruel and heartless
conduct of her master. It was auggestal in her behalf
that, from the death of his mother, down to the day of his
marriage, in the November of 1874, the prisoner, while
ostensibly Mr. Johnson's housekeeper, in reality stood to
hint in a much closer conneetion,. and one altogether
incompatible not only with his position as a clergyman,
but also with the ordinary rules of common decency and
morality. It is due to Mr. Johnson to admit that he got
Into the box and expressly dewed upon oath that he bad
ever been guilty of any . aininorality. He admitted,
however, in croes-examination, that several letters which
were handed to him had been wnten by him at different
times to the prisoner, and it is extrentely difficult, on any
ordinary view of human motives and action, to reconcile
and that he
these extraordinary epistles with Mr. Johnson's version
de for all her
of his own conduct. In one—although penned immedi-
ately after his marriage—he tells Itis late honskeeper that
wishes"ttro hsehrowintthainsggraalqnitc4
kindness and love to him for so lowly years," while he
suggests a private conversation between them that even-
Ithiblemdohhinlis It"iesr to
inc on their way to the parish church. Thisis certainly
not the kind of letter which a newlyonarrial clergyman
is in the habit of writing under has own roof to his cook
and housekeeper. The "them however, which follow it
are even more strange- "I cannot bear tome you in such
trouble," writes the affectmnate master, "whet, I find I
am the cause of all this grief. My heart is broken at the
thought of my being only a trouble." This singular
epi•tle is signed "Your loving and affectionate friend."
In the next, which is signed "Your broken-hearted but
sincere friend," the writer encloses a £.5 note, and declares
himself " wretched about her feelings beiug altered
towards hiau." In the last after announcing that he
intends to leave England, he enda. Kay the Lord help
me and foive me for all the grief and trouble I have
caused you. Without reference to the fact that they all
commence "My dear Maggie. these letters—apart, of
course. from Mr. Johnson s own explanation of thein—
wmild seem to speak for themselves. The most surprising
portion of the story, however, is what. according to the
reverend gentleman's owo admission. as reported,
happened when his wife, to whom he had not been
married a couple of months. left ha house, vowing that
she would not return until the howiekeeper had been
dismiss/A Mr. Johnson's evidence shows that he gave
Frtit.—EPILEPITC li'ns OR FALLING SIeKNVIS.—A certain the prisoner £37 beyond the amount of her wages, as some
method of cure has been discovered for this distressing solace to her grounded feeling+, and then accompanied her
complaint by a physician, who is desirous that all sufferers by train to Paddington. This
.latter attention is intel-
may benefit from this providential discovery; it is never Bead°, although unieniaL It Is difficult, however, to
known to fail, and will cure the most hopeless case after , understand what posoble reason he could have had for
all other means have been tried. Foil particulars will he j accompanying her to the Norfolk Hotel immediately
dsent by post to any person free of charge.— Adre dss:— I mil:tren Western to the Great lermintn, and there positing
M. H. Wituaiss, its, Oxfonl Terrace, Hyde Park. London the whole night with her.
TIM Ray. Furei, Crum 's resignation as vicar of Christ After evidence of Oda kind It was impossible for the
Church has been accepted by the Bishop of Gloucester and Vert, seriously to consider the charge of libel against the
as Bristol, and Mr. Jenkins h been allowed by the curate emend Mr. Johnsou. Of the Idle; however, against
In charge of the church in Mr. Cook's absence to take part his wife, they found the defendant guilty, accompanying
with the rest of the congregation in the administration of their verdict by a recommendation to mercy on the score
the Hole Communion. All, therefore, that now remains of extreme provocation. It might he thought that this
Is to Pay the bills of costa, and suggestions have been made recommendation would have been attended to by the
that than bills than be paid on both sides by public learned judge, but he sentenced her to nine months'
sublicsiPtion. imprisonment

AGRICULTURE IN THE WEST.
The agricultural returns for 1875 have just been
issued. We find that in Gloucestershire only 11,580
make returns. or 250 less than in the previous year; in
Monmouthshire 4.520, showing a falling off of 19; and
In Wilts only 7,851, showing a falling off of 109. But,
on the other hand. 150 more make returns in Somerset
and Devon (17,655 aril 18,638 respectively), and a few
more in Dorset. The average extent of land held by
those making returns is 55 acres in Gloucestershire, 47
in Somerset, 58 in Devon, 87 in Dorset, 95 in Wilts,
and 48 in Monmouthshire. In Gloucestershire there
was a falling off in the total acreage under crops and
, the proportion being 642,463 acres against
grass,
in 1874, whereas in all the other western
counties there was an increase in the area under crops
and grass of, in each case, a few thousand acres; but
this is probably explained by the larger decrease in
the number of Gloucestershire owners who make
returns this year, as compared with the slight falling
off, and in some cases increases, in the other counties.
In all the western district there is an increase in the
number of horses, the augmentation being about
equally spread over the different counties. Glouces-
tershire (with 23,955) and Somerset (with 31,831)
showing increases of between MO and 600 in each;
Devon boasts the largest increase (50,700 against
49,195) ; Dorset, Monmouthshire, and Wilts having
Increases of only a few hundreds each. I)evon, WHIN
is the only western county that shows an increase of
cattle (218,158 against 216,142), all the others showing
decreases—Dorset of 1,000 (76,348), Illoncestershire of
5,000 (115,822), Monmouthshire of 3,000 (31,841),
Somerset of 5,000(205.696), and Wilted 3,000(88,816.
All the counties named, however, had less sheep and pigs
last year than in 1874, the reduction of sheep in Glou-
cestershire being nearly 20,000 and in Somersetsitire
23,000, of pigs about 8,000 in each county, sheep num-
bering in Illoucestenshire about 450,000 and in Somerset
720,000, and pigs 55,000 and 50,000 respectively. We
stated that there was a falling off in Gloucestershire in
the total acreage under crops and grass, and we find that
the reduction was almost entirely in the area devoted
to wheat, of which only 89,214 nen,, were sown,
against 96.296 acres in the previous year ; the only
other reduction was in beans, the 16,828 acres showing
a decrease of about 800 acres; while the barley area
was increase,) by 5,000 acres, oats by 2,000 acres, and
peas by 800 acres. All the other western counties also
showed less wheat last year, Somerset by 6,000 acres;
but while its neighbours fought shy of bean., sowing
less than usual, Somerset increased its quantity by
2,000 acres. The returns thus prove the wisdom of the
farmers, who while planting less wheat because if the
low price of that article, were led by the high price of
fodder to sow more barley and oats. Gloucestershire,
Somerset, Dorset, and ',even sowed each about
; 4,000 acres more barley than in 1874, Wilts 7,000 more
acres, and Monmouthshire 1,000; while all these
counties, except Somerset, sowed each about a thou-
, sand acres; more oats than usual, and Somerset 3,000
I acres in excess. It is remarkable that the six counties
we have been dealing with each had a smaller quantity
of potatoes under cultivation last
.year than in the
previous year, the reduction avera.nng from 11 acres
in Monmouthshire to 800 acres in Gloucestershire. On
the other hand, they all grew more turnips and
swedes than before, all of them more mangohl, and
' most of them more carrots. In this we see the same
Imotive power--the dearness of toed for horse and
cattle, and the cheapness of the food for the people,
Iviz., bread and potatoes. The growth of flax and hops
is not much affected in the western counties, but we
find flax everywhere dropping off, until in Gloucester-
shire none is grown, while the cultivation of hops has
increased 45 per cent, in that county, though now only
, 30 acres are grown, and none in Somerset, Monmouth-
! shire, and Wilts, and only four acres in Devon, and
nine in Dorset