The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-07-12 00:00:00

THE CHOLERA IN FRANCE.

The returns of death from cholera in the South of
France are slightly on the increase, and the disease is
reported to have spread to Aix.
The disinfection of passengers arriving at Marseilles
by railway from the direction of Toulon commenced
on Sunday. A brigade of police directs the people
into a hall, where an officer is in attendance with a
chemical apparatus, which discharges disinfecting
vapours upon each passenger and upon his opened
luggage. This process is repeated along the line at
the principal stations between Toulon, Lyons, and
Bordeaux.

At the stations in the Pyrenees Railway pacsengers
are compelled to undress, and while their clothing is
hung in a waggon full of disinfecting vapours, they
themselves are sponged all over and brushea. Tney
are then permitted' to continue their journey in
possession of a certificate of their having been dis-
infected. •
Such is the dread of arrivals in other parts of
France from Marseilles that, as an illustration, one
Municipal Council in the interior hearing of the
approaching arrival home of a scholar who has been
at school in that locality, telegraphed to say that he
would not be allowed to return home.
In Faris, great dissatisfaction has been caused by
the announcement that the 14th July fete is to be
held as usual; and the feeling is so strong that a hope
iaentertained that the Government will reconsider
its determination. Meanwhile Paris is emptying very
last. All -those who are not compelled to remain in
Paris are hurrying away as quickly as they can, and
the railway companies have to put on extra trains to
meet Abe extraordinary pressure of traffic. The
' authorities are taking" active- precautions. The.
watermg of the.streeti is much improved, and in some
parts sze the town- there is an-averpowering smell of
phenie acid, In-the CoMmunal Schools, where the
children take their'breakfasts from home with them,
their baskets are. examined, and everything in the
h p -e
s'
act cjif w fr4ll°l`6alati Is removed, and a ration of
allowed to .:151PkPliweaat-eri,nstb-euacit aCe-gniven.-Pdllutelsd ateall-nc6rt
coffee with a few drops of rum in it.

NOT FAR FROU THE TRUTH. - Boating Man
"They'll start for the diamond sculls in five
minutes." Ethelinda : "And we haven't finished
dinner. What a nuisance! Oh, how delightful
Henley would be if it were not for those ttresorne
races!"—Rnny Folk-

ACTION AGAINST SIR JOHN ASTLEY.
On Tuesday in the Queen's Bench Division of the
High Court of ,Tustice, the cause of Allen v. Astley was
tried, and was an action brought by Thomas Allen, a
isian in the employment of Messrs. Wilcox, manu-
facturers of mineral waters, at Walworth, to recover
damages from Sir John Astley, Bart, for persmai
injuries caused to the plaintiff in a collision in the
street between the plaintiff's van and the defendant's
hansom cab. The defendant denied liability an& that
the timn who drove the hansom at the time ims then
in his employment.
Waddy-. WO., in ope&zig the case for the
plaintiff, said that Sir John Akley was at the time of
the •collision the -owner of a hansom cab, Nwhich had
sirce been sold. The horse -was a hunter; and people
knew the cab, r-hich did a very good trade indeed.
en the sth of July last year, Allen, the plaintiff,
was out drivirg a van in tire employment of Messrs.
'Wilcox—the van containing mineral waters. That
was the day ,of the accident. He was at the time in
Piccadilly. 'Sir John's cab, with his groom, had driven
ip to the door of theßachelor's Club, Hamilton-place.
On driving up to the Bachelor's Club,the groom jumped
down and an into the house. He called out to a Com-
missionaire to look after the cab, and the commission-
aire did look after it, but only to see it tearing
down the street. The horse had run off.
The • commissionaire ran after it, and the groom
himself came running up from the club and began
clambering up behind, but both were thrown out, and
away went the horse down the street. He ran down
Parli4lane into Piccadilly, and came to where plaintiff
was •driving his van, with soda water bottles. The
plaintiff saw this horse bearing down upon him and
could not get out of his way in time to avoid a colli-
sion. Crash came the hansom cab into his van. He
was thrown down and sustained a fracture of his
skull. He had been rendered permanently deaf upon
one side, and had been permanently weakened.
The plaintiff was called in support of his case, and
stated, in reply to Mr. Cross, that when the runaway
horse dashed into his vehicle he was thrown violently
out, and was so much shaken that he could not walk
to the hospital.
Cross-examined by Sir John Astley: Why did you
not get down and hold your horse's head when you
saw the horse and cab coming on?
Witness: I believe it would have been the death of
me if I had.

Sir J. Astley : Don't you know that it is only a
soldier, a sailor, or a police-constable who is bound to
stand up for the defence of his country? (Laughter.)
Had you any friends sitting on your vehicle with
you, between you and the soda water? (Great
laughter.)
Witness: Yes, two of them.

,
And they had the good sense not to be thrown out
along with you. (Laughter.) In consequence of my
calling on your wife you came to see me with your
uncle?

Witness: Yes, sir.
Your uncle is a doll manufacturer in the Waterloo-.
road, and a man of considerable means ?—Right, sir.
Did you not say you were sorry you had brought
your uncle with you; for if not you would have taken
what Sir John offered you ?—I swear I did not.
Sir John Astley Did you think I was liable?
The Plaintiff: Only through your going to the
manager of Messrs. Wilcox, and saying, "Don't pay
this man his wages. I will see to that, and that'he is
compensated."
Did I ever admit my liability to you ?—Never, sir.
Dr. Wm. Bule, who at the time in question was
nouse surgeon at St. George's Hospital, stated he
was there when the plaintiff was brought into the
surgery in a totally insensible state arising from con-
cussion of the brain, and he had blood flowing from
the left ear.

Sir John Astley then opened his own case. Ho
said perhaps it would have been better if he had
engaged counsel to conduct his case, but for various
reasons he had not done so. He had understood that
it would cost him a considerable sum for the lawyers,
and he could not afford to pay that, being a very poor
man. The plaintiff pretended that he had been
badly hurt. He (the defendant) did net admit that
he had been so injured; and he maintained that he
could easily have resumed his former employment.
It did not take an extraordinarily clever man to drive
a van and quiet pail. of horses about the West-end
of London. He (Sir John) felt satisfied
when complaints were made to him on the
subject of the action that the plaintiff and
his uncle were trying to get some money out of
him. He told them he was very sorry, but did not
think he was liable. Still, as the man had had such a
crack on the head, he was willing to give him some-
thing for his injuries. He therefore offered the man
£25, and afterwards £5O, but would give no more.
The answer was, "I am sorry you are only game for
£5O. (Laughter.) That is not a young man's wages."
A man, Sir John continued, might have a crack on the
head, and be as good afterwards as he was before.
(Laughter.) As to the plaintiff's deafness, he was not
so deaf as he (the defendant) was himself, and he felt
sure he could drive a van. He told the plaintiff and
his uncle that the offer of £5O was his
ultimatum, and that if the plaintiff did not
take that, he must satisfy himself in some
other way. He was then served with a summons.
With regard to the agreement he had with Rumph,
he had a private cab of his own, without a number,
and a cab with a number which could ply for hire.
The agreement was that he should pay to Rumph
255. a week as standing wa;es all the year round.
He had had him five years, and on the days when he
(Sir John) was not in London Rumph could go and
ply for hire with the numbered cab, on the terms that
he would pay to him (Sir John) 10s. a day. What-
ever Rumph earned over that was his profit. What-
ever loss was his loss. On the day of the accident
Rumph was plying on his own behalf, and was his own
master for the time being. He did not think there was
a better driver in London. As to the Bachelors' Club,
he (Sir John), not being a bachelor, did not frequent it
so often as some others did. He submitted with respect
to the accident that if the plaintiff had been looking
out he would have seen the horse without a driver ap-
proaching him, and have got out of the way. In all
the circumstances he (the defendant) thought the
offer he made to the plaintiff was a very generous
one. He had never been accused of being a cheese-
paring, hard-hearted sort of person. He had always
spent money freely—too freely, perhaps—At all
events he had never withheld from a man anything he
felt that he was justly entitled to. Although believ-
ing that he was not liable, he offered the man £5O,
and if it had not been for Uncle Edmunds and the
doll-shop (laughter), he would have had that present
in his pocket, and been still earning his regular
income.

William Rumph, the driver of the cab, was then
called by Sir John Astley, and described how the
horse bolted after he had told the commissionaire at
the club to look well after it. He went into the club
to get a fare that one of the members owed him, when
the horse started off. He ran out and caught hold
of the reins, when the horse backed, and he was
thrown over the wheel. _ . _ _

Sir John Astley : And then the horse vanished?
Witness: Yes, Sir John.
Mr. Waddy, cross-examining: Where is your
licence? _ _

Witness: The Duke of Marlborough has it.
Mr. Waddy: The Duke of Marlborough? Does
the Duke of Marlborough rtm cabs like Sir John
Astley ?
Witness: Yes, sir. I am in the Duke of Marl-
borough's service, and that is the reason he holds my
license.

Mr. Waddy: That may be so, but I confess I can't
quite understand it.
This closed the eNidence, and Sir John Astley
offered to make a statement on oath, if required, but
Mr. Waddy said it was not necessary, and Sir John
then addressed the jury, observing that Mr. Waddy
seemed to think that because a man was old he must
be "placed," but that was not his own experience,
for he knew many me,n with grey hairs like his
learned friend—(great laughter) —who were not
placed at all.
Mr. Waddy, in replying on the whole case, said
that the defendant, who said he offered to com-
pensate the plaintiff by presenting him With £5O, had
shown much sympathy for him when he had con-
vulsions, but he had evinced but little sympathy
towards him that day when the case was brought into
Court, for Sir John Astley had addressed them in
two speeches in his " Go-as-you-please " sort of
fashion. (This allusion to Sir John's directions in a
six-mile handicap created much laughter, in which
the defendant heartily joined.)
The jury, after a short deliberation in the box,
found a verdict for the plaintiff for £125.