The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-02-04 00:00:00

"THE QUEEN v. STANGER."

In the Court of Queen's Bench, in London, the
ab ive cause has been heard (,of ore Mr. Justice Mellor
and Mr. Justice flaiinen), and was an application on
the part of the Rev. Canon Greenwell, a magistrate of
Durham, against the supposed publislip-r of the New.
comlle Chronicle, for a criminal information for lihel. It
in time reported in The Tones:—

. •
the matter arose out of the case of Mr. Maw, a farmer
emir shop's Auckland, who was it 'egad in Durham Gaol
for snail ling a warder, and whoseicaae attracted some steer.
trots In the masse if last year. The case had arisen
thus, as it appeared from the Mb lavite,—Mr. Maw had
been on the 18th of April lad convicted by the mettle
Crates at Bishop's Auckland of an tumult and sentenced
to fourteen Mips' imprisonment with hard lab., In
Darhem Gaol. Ile was, it appeared subject to delirium
Ire :Ilene, though this dose riot appear to have been known
or obet reed in gaol. For some trifling irifrection of
prison discipline he was ordered by the Governor to be
put into solitary confinenieut for three days upon bread and
water. If was stated on medical authority, and was not
disputed, teat the effect of this, might probably be to heirs
ou a flt of itrlirium Wm.., and there was strong evidence
that what occurred was the resell of such a fit. On the
door being opened to liberate him he flew i the warder,
with whom it did riot appear that he had any quarrel,
and attacked him violently. For this he was broneht be-
fore the Rev. C.lllOO Greenwell, the nearest magistrate,
under the provision in the Prison Discipline Acts of 18-.5
(28 and 29 Vic , cap. :26, sec. IS , which enacts that persons
convicted of felony or sentence I to hard labour, and
who may be guilty of repeated acts of instahardinatiou,
may be aubj-cted to corporal punishment by the triter
of a magistrete. Ihe rev. gentleman. on the evi-
deuce of the Governor and warder, on the lob of April, sum-
marily sentenced Mr Mew to receive 24 lashes with the eat.
The seldom° was Infficted, and the next day--the 30,h of
Aesil—bie sentence of impri-onment expired, and hewn, 015.
charged. There was strong evnience as to the distressing
state In which be was seen to conic from the prison, hardly
able to stand and supported by two female. In this state he
was taken home. The case made a strong impro edam and
there was a meeting on the fith of Islay, attended by several
hundreds of pereous, at which great indignation was ex-
pawed at tt.e severity of the puid;hment which had been
I Meted, and the attention of the members for the town was
directed to the case. An account of the cane appeared in the
Durham Chronicle, simmer published on the morning of the
day on winch the punishment was It if toted. The editor of
the Nrlncirstle Chronicle Bent a reporter to icquire Into the
case, aid he drew nip a etateruent of it, web% was not com-
plained of, and which appeared to befall. aed temperate This
was printed by the defendant, and it declared that Mr. Green.
well deeisil being aware that the man was laleuriug under
delirium tremens, and declared that if he had known it he
would not have inflicted smh a sentence. Upon this stale-
want of fleets two articles afterwards appeared in the
defendant's paper on the 25th and 30th of May, commenting
upon the ease, and which were the an' j .01 of the present
proceeding.. The nest commenced the. The brutal
treatment of Me. Maw," and it represented him $5
"half killed," ‘becribed his treatment as illegal as it was
Inhuman, anti declared that clerical magistrates were not,.
Monet, the most merciless and the least fitted for judicial
duties. The second article alai deuoueced the sentence as Illegal
and bartiarmir, and declaret that It. illegality was patent,
because the magistrate was not a Vieitit g Justice, a reason
which it turned out was erroneous. It also denounced the
lehumenity of ieffictine such a sentence mien a man suf.
tering from (I.•liriunt tremens, which it was said must have
beer, known to the i tenon e Otcinta; A phrase which could
not he applied to Me. Oreenwell, as the article asserted his
Interference to have been Illegal because he was not a Visitleg
/intim None of the expressions in the article appeared to
be stronger than those used by the speakers at the mild,:
Meeting. Ihe rule for a criminal information had been
granted—fist without some hesitation on the pert of the
L .rd Chief Justice—chiefly on the cut pietaon that the libel
Imputed—in Me. Green well that he knew the man was gutter-
lug under ild.iriterii trentene, which did not now appear to be
Imputed, and which was negatived by the alit Invite of the
iev gentleman and the surgeon of the gall ; while, on the
other hand, that the man was, in fact, labourieg under that
dreedful disease immediately afterwards was prove I hy
medical evidence, and it was sworn by a medical witness that
Ire believed the ni an was at the time labouring nt der the in.
new eof an atteck of that disemc. The defemiset, Mr.
Stinger, against whom the rule was obtained, made an affidavit
that he wan merely the bookkeeper and had nit written or
directed the writing of any ef the snicks in the paper, nor
their pebllcetlon. The writer of the article at d the editor
also made slit tomtits that they had no personal knowledge of
Mr. Greenwell and no feeling whatever against him, and that
they had written and published without any 11l feeling and
merely on their honest belief anti impreesion NI to the facts
and the merits; of the Case. Such was the substance of the
affidavits, which were very voluminous. The manager of the
paper mad. an affidavit that he was infemasel and believed
that Mr. el vw was discharged from prieon without having
his wounds dreseed, and without having been visited by any
surgeon, with one of the bones of his wrist broken and In a
state of mental derangement, and that he was half killed by
the patilshment, end that he Is still in weak arid precarious
health, end suffering acutely from the punishment inflicted,
and this was supported by the evidence of other witnesses,
Including a medical attendant The affidavit added that the
article was written upon Putney, and on the Information of
respectable and creditable permits, end on statements made
at a public meetieg, and that the case had excited great public
Indignation.
Mr. Dlgby Seymour, Q C with whom was Mr. Udell, ad-
dressed the Court at great length, urging that there ear a
founded in In undoubted fact, which warranted a public
writer In expressing his opinion, and that he was not liable,
at all events, to the extraordinary expense of prosecittion, un-
less he was guilty of wilful misrepres-ntatlon of the facts,
or malicious and re,klees expressions, which amid not, he
urged, he Imputed in the present instance. Ile inststed that
the Infliction ~f such a eueishment in such a case was, even
If strictly b cal, and within the letter of the law, yet not
within Its spirit, lint was rather • straining of the law ; that
the whole proceeding was hurried and careless, to say the
lease and without sufficient consideration ; that even
assemble. the legality of the punithment. It was inap-
propriate In character and ministers in degree, and fully
excused a public writer for very strong and severe

expression' of reprobation. So far from there being any
evidence of malice, on the contrary there was abundant
fr dance to disprove of It The rewspaper had not taken up
he care until it h sal been the sill j •ct of danuneation at a
public meeting, and then there had been • 'careful inquiry,
and, though there might have been a mistake as to the e33e,
there was no material, and c,rtainly no wilful misstatement
of the fact.. The ventenoe for a mare assault was as severe
as could be inflicted on a convicted felon, a burglar or
garrotter, guilty of atrocious felonious violence, and surely a
public writer who expressed In strong terms his opinion of It
was not liable to be treated as a criminal And, finally, how
could the Court grant a criminal information against a mau
who had not written the libel, or had anything to do with the
writing, or the publication of it
The Solicitor-General, who, with Mr. Berestord, appeared
for the prosecution, argued that, as Mr. Stanger did, not
deny that he was publisher of the paper, it must be taken
that he wee so. As the Court were against him on that
point, and the ease broke down for want of proof of publica-
. lion, the Solicitor-General did not enter into the rest of the
came.
- - • • •

After a short consultation, the Court delivered their opinion
that the proof of publication failed, arid therefore that the
application must he dismissed. They therefore were not
called upon to determine on the nierits of the case, but it
should be st &Led that in the course of the argument they
Intimated their concurrence he the opinion expressed by the
Lord Chief .1 ustice on the original application that the In-
notion of corporal punishment by order of a magistrate was
a itt subject for tree discussion by a public writer, provided
that he was not guilty of exaggeration, or of wilful or rock.
less ink-statement.
-

.....
Mr. Justice Blackburn, in delivering the Judgment of the
Court, said 110 doubt the sentence was severe, and it was
open to any one to comma it, hut they did not think that
there was any ground for imputing to the rev, gentleman
any intentional illegality or inhumanity. If Indeed, he
hail known, or even believed, that the man was labouring
wider defirilein tremenc his conduct would have been open
to such Imputation, hut there was evidence that it was
sot so. Its was called upon to discharge a painful duty, and
he did so upon such statements as were laid before him, and
there was no ground for imputleg that he was acting ilk
Rally. The C tort did not feel tht mselves called upon to enter
further into the merits of the case. The rule must he dis-
charged, but as it was not upon the merits, it would not be
discharged with costs.

A NEW PNEUMATIC TUBE AT THE
GENERAL POST-OFFICE, LONDON.
On Saturday • number of gentlemen were present by invi-
tation at the °infra! Post Of 800, St Ilartin'sLe-Grand, Lin-
den, to witness the working of • pneumatic tube whioh bas
been laid down by Messrs. Siemens, in connexion with the
relegraph Department, mil for which the w rangements. as
tunas this country is concerned, are entirely novel, and the
following particulars of which (from The Times) will be ib-
tereatleg to many readers.
The current through the tube is always in the same direc-
Lion, and the tube, being bent upon itself, and carried back t
Its startkg point, fU111151103 wont may he called an up 11111%
down line for ,lespatch In either direction between its terrului
or intermediate stations.
• •

The principal object of pneumatic tube communication Is
to do away with the necessity for the retransmission by wire
of telegraph,C messages which arrive at the central station
of a large city, and which are to be delivered In tome eubtnh
or distant part. For example, a message arriving from tilt:-
burgh at Telegraph-street ,London,) for delivery lu Whitehall
would at one time have been retransmitted by wire from
Telegraph-street to the station at Clawing-cross, and sent out
thence by a menet ger. This system occupied considerable
time, employ, d a large number of clerks and instruments,
involved the construction ant maintenance of an Intricate
system of Intra-amtropolitan wires, and elouWed the rink of
errors In transmission. ruder the new arra cement the
me-sage 6111 he mice for all transcribed upon the efficial form '
at Telegraph—treet ; en . this form, rhot throng-, the tube to
Charhsg.croae, will there be taken out placed in an envelope, •
and instantly despatched. The illustration is at this moment .
not perfectly true to the facts, since the tube does not yet
extend to Clearing cross, telt it will du ro in the course of a i
few weeks from this Onto runt will also be carried on to
Surname, t-street and the flours, of Commons. At present
the tube starts frost Telegraph street, passes through the
office at St. Martin't.',G rand, and thence to Tenmee-har,
where it makes a comelete bend. and returns to Telegraph
street b the side of its outward curse In the tffice at St.
hi irtin'e-'t -Grand there are, therefore, two tubes, or rather
two portions of the semr tube, in one of which the course of
traffic is westward to Temple-bar; in the other, eastward to
. Talegrapt -Itreet It would be equally practicsWe to make
he tube desert, a c rant Instead of returning through the
offices by which it a.,ers forth.
The tube now wi eking is of wrought iron three inches In
diameter in the clear, and the despatches are contained in
guttaperche cylinders covered with felt, and fitting the tube
accurately by means of a felt wad at the ea, eie eud. Those
cylinders, which are called ' carriers," are about eight or
nine inches long, and the curves of the tube must be on radii
of sufficient length to permit the carriers to pass easily. At
each Intermediate station tilere Is a so-called shunting sp.
parsing, by means of which carriers can be itetroe need or
withdrawn. At a shunt, the main tube treat for a length
of about two feet, and the gap can lee tilled either by a piece
of similar tube furnished with a little outside toll, acted ninny
bps stud within, or by a sort of cage, furnished at one earl
wtth a perforated plate to stop a carrier, and with a glazed
lid, through which the carrier may be seen. Both the short
piece of to. MOO the oar e are accurate'y ground at their ex-
tremities, so as to make an air-tight j snit with the cut sum'.
faces of the malts tube ; WA, they are attached to the same
leeer, a single movement of which tills the gap either w.th 1
the short, permeable tube or with the ininrcnpilng cage. I
The whole apparatus is worked on a block system by I
telegraphic signale. Let us euppose that Telegraph Erect I
has a carrier for Temple.llar. It being signalled that the
line is clear, and the officiels all through knowing what is
she'd to be done, the short perne-eble tube would be
left in positien at St Merthe's.le Grand. The carrier,
: passing through Unchecked, would, nevertheless, touch
, the stud inside the short tube, and would ring the hell
as it dii so The live from Telegraph street as far as tit.
Martin's le.Grand would then be clear, and a eienat to this
effect could be meet back T,egraph-street might have its
next carrier for St. Martio's.le-Grand, and, in this being
mgnalled, the short permeable tube would be replaced try
the Interceptieg cage Oa entering this the carrier would
be stopped by the perforated plate, and, the lever being
again moved, the cage would be taken out, so that the
carrier could he withdrawn from it The solid portion ~f
the inteictutlhg plate serves, of course, to interrupt the
current of air through the tube, but this difficulty is mot by
throwing out a loop or arch of copper pipe from one end
of the gap in the main tube to the other. The calibre of
this pipe is equal to the surface of the solid portion of the
intercepting plate, and when the cage is moved into the line
of the main tube, a communication between this and the
c ,pper pipe is also opened.'
The time cccui ied on Saturday in the passage eta carrier
front Telegraph-street to St. SI artin'iole-Grand, a distance
ot Stitt yards, was one minute and 40 seconds, and the time
from Telegraplbstreet to Temple-bar, a dietance of 2 008
yards, was four minutes the tubes being worked both by
preseure and vacuum. When worked by vacuum only the
time required is usually about one-third more. 'Chit rate Is
considered highly satisfactory.
The new system way brought before Mr. amdarnore by
Mr s!emens about f..ur years ago; but its execution was '
delayed needing the aequisition of the telegraphs by the
I,,st tithed. lx order to carry it into complete operation, it
would be uece,sary to divide the metropols into a certein
number of main circuits of four.ineh tube, to connect the
principal Post.offices with one another, and into a much
larger number of branch circuits of three-loch tube, to
connect the principal Poet offices with breech offices in
all parts of the town The corning power of the
tubes, arranged on a circular system, is such that it would
suffice for the transmiselon of telegrams and letters through.
out London with a certainty and despatch that cold not be
attained in any other way. Carriers might leave ea it station
every live minutes throughout the dey..d the letters con.
tabled In them, on being received at the principal offices,
could be sorted and fore arded ire °this. c enter. to branch
offices near their death, atn. e, SO se to be delivered within
half an hour of their being posted.
The priecipal impediment to the establishment of such a
system of c •mninolcation has hitherto been the difficulty of
piecing the retiolred steam engines, pumps, and reservolra
lu cro wde I localities w Imre space is very valuable and diffi-
cult to obtain We are Mort-tied, however, that Mr. Stn.
Mans hae lately succeeded in constructleg a simple exhaust-
log apparatty, which prombes to accomplish the work with
ouly a small outlay, both as regards first cost and working
expenses.