The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-06-27 00:00:00

A LATE ILLUSTRIOUS VISITOR.
Me. Mathew Arnold in hie new book on POrliia thus
wfllea
_ _

"The religion of the Persians—of the Shah sect of
Mahomedans— gives no supernatural attributes to the
Shah. Ile is the "Shadow of God" (Zil-ullah ), not
infallible in his government, but because he is charged
with the duty of ruling in strict accordance with the
scriptures of Mahomined. To their faithfulness in regard
to this false standard of life, to the abuses and exceeases
of the purely personal and irresponsible government to
which their lives and honour and property are always
exposed, we must ascribe the miserable condition of the
Persian people. While other nations of the world are
progressing, Persia is declining, because ignorance and
sensuality, and the rapacious habits of depotism, are
there established by the priesthood and confirmed by the
Government in every province ; and the Mosque school,
which has no higher standard than writing and the
ability to read half-a-dozen verses from the KOMI], is for
the people the highest mark of education.
In the Persian Church there is only one important
schism, and that is troublesome to the priests of Islam,
rather from the fanatical devotion of its partisans than
from the numbers of the followers of Bab-the MINS, who
in August, 1552, attempted to assasinate the Shah. The
baffled criminals on this occasion were put to death with
the cruelty which the offences of this sect always meet
with. Lighted candles were inserted in slits cut in their
living bodies, and after lingering long in agony the) were
hewn to pieces with hatchets. In Persia, true to the
principles of the Koran, the theory of punishment is that,
not the State, but the relative of the victim, must have
vengeance on the actual or would-be murderers; and in
allegiance to this principle, the Shah's steward or
chamberlain executed, on his Majesty's behalf, and with
his own hand, one of the conspirators. Bali, who set
himself up to be a prophet of the nineteenth century, was
the son of a grocer at Shiraz. He had been executed at
Tabriz two years before his followers attempted to
murder the Shah. In his execution he all but achieved a
"miracle." The bullets of the firing party before whom
he stood for execution did not seriously injure his body,
but the cords which bound him to • stale were severed
in the smoke of the firing he escaped and concesded him-
self, most unluckily in a guardhouse, where he was Won
discovered and dragged to death. Had Bab been wore
fortunate in his place of hiding, it is probable that the
soldiers who shot at him, and half the people of Persia
would have become Bahia on the strength of so obvious a
" Miracle." In succession to this imposture, there is now
• man named Behar imprisoned in Arabia by the Turkish
government, who, saying that Bab was his forefather,
gives himself out to be God the Father. He has, in this
monstrous and absurd language, addressed ..vera ~f the
Powers as Mahommod did, to beware how they neglect
his presence upon the earth; and it is • fact that this
miserable delusion his found believers and followers even
among the well-to-do classes in Ispahan, where, however,
such opinions must he tkcpt secret, for heterodoxy in
Persia is punished with death

SOCIAL REVELATIONS.
In tke Exchequer Division, Second Court, before 13aron
Huddleston, on Friday, the following extraordinary
action was tried.

STUART V. ALFORD.
It was an interpleader issue, to try the right to
certain articles of furniture.
The plaintiff was Kiss Helen Constance Stuart, living
at A„ Chepstow-place, Bayswater, isr,d the defendant
was Miss Louisa Alford, residing with her mother, •
widow. at 42, Manchester-street, Manchester-square.
From the evidence it appeared that about July, Hilt a
medical assistant nanied Walkee went to live at the house
of Mrs Alford, and becoming acquainted with the defeat.
dent offered her marriage. With the consent of the
mother the offer was accepted, but after a time be
refused to fulfil hij engagement, and an action being
brought and no defence being made, the damps were
assessed in the Sheriff's Court at .1:300. In @atm/action
of the judgment execution wu put in upon the furniture
In question at Chepstow-place, when the present plaintiff
(Miss Stuart) set ups claim to the property under • deed
of gift from Walker to herself, and the result was the
present proceedings.
The principal witness was the plaintiff, who gave souse
extraordinary evidence. She said that previous to I/V5
she was acquainted with a nobleman, whose name she
declined to mention, and that I/ iu teat year, le
answer enappbca4dge ter he mit& her •
present of Xl4OO. Shortly afterwards she became so.
g_uainted with Walker, and lived with him as his wife as
Kra Walker at New-street. Belgravia, Southend, and
lastly at elumatew-plaoe. The whole furniture she
bought entirely with her own money, but afterwards she
consulted Ms. Edwin James, who knew her father, and
he advised her, notwithstanding to have a deed of gift,
th
as, in e event of Walkers death, his Mende might
came and MALTS the goods. On the bit of December, 1 5,
the deed of gift was executed, and soon afterwards the
furniture was seised.

In 7rx,minu=tioa the plaintiff, who frequently
Ourst into two and refused to answer questions electing
her eeeirieue life, said the nobleman came to her lodgings
in South 110 ton-street, and gave her the dlioo as a gift
of pure affection. having known her (rem the age of three
rirLShe put the money in her dressing-case and kept
there for nearly three months. Afterwards she
became acotialated with Walker, who was • medical
...intim. At this aree she had an allowance of 450 a
year from a gentleman she had previously been living
with. She first met Walker at Hy-park-cornier; he

•
was introduced to her by a medical man she knew.
Walker called upon her in South Idolton,treet and
orteewarde they lived together at New-street. She lent
Walker .1:800 out of the .0100 because she loved him., and
he gave her an I. O. U. She would have lent him Lrypie
if ',he had possessed it. She also paid for his cletbes and
would continue to do SO as long as be lived. Tbs money
was taken by her out of the dressing-case :no one was present at the time. She positively denied that when
the gift of deed was executed she knew of ally Procee,l.
ings against Walker in an action for breach of prom" ot
marriage. In Noventher, 1875, Walker left her liesue they had a quarreL Ile wished to know where she went
when he wag not with I or, and she replied she would net
be
controlled by any one. She did not see Min Again until about a fortnight ago, when ehe was,,ibreetiee to
the Bankruptcy Court.
In re-examination, Mr. Murphy asked the plaintiff if
ohs was a daughter of a colonel in the Army, %lieu il,
burst into tears and exclaitued, "Oh, pray its not taps.
my family, and app wiled t 3 the Judge to protect her arid
save her from exposure.
Baron Iluddleston said that no far the questions were
perfectly regular.
The plaintiff then replied, "Yes;" and in answer to
other questions said she had been left an orphan, and wan
educated at the house of a gentleman in Carlton-terrace,
whose name was handed up to his Lordship At the age
of le she eloped with her drawing /neater, and lived with
him until January. 1875. She then partly supported her-
self by painting pictures, one of which was received at the
Royal Academy. She left the drawing matter because ha
d her
_r and a deed was executed allowing her 4:
use 50 a year. In March or April she sent a communication to the
nobleman who bad been referred to for &existence to enable
her to procure a livelihood on the stage or elsewhere, Bed
she received a reply froui him.
The plaintiff, on leaving the box, fainted.
After sonic other evidence had been given,
William Mott Walker, who said he was now a wheal
assistant living in the neighbourhood of Reading, eorreh.
orated the pLuntifTs evidence as to the intimaey hetwees
them and the loan, and swore that the plaintif paid for
the furniture in Chepstow-place out of her money, and
that none of it was
In cross-examination, the witness said that &see three
years ago £1,500 was left to bitu by his grandmother, and
that at the time he borrowed the TAM he might L had
£4OO or £5OO to his account at the Old Hank, /xfor.l. lie
admitted his engagement to Miss Alford, but denied he
ever said he would not marry her. Ile finally quitted the
mother's house because Miss Alford did net agree „th
his speculating on the turf. While he owel Mee Stuart
the two he was living at her expense. The ei ss,
paid to him in notes and gold. Ile kept the niene)
him. and it did not take many weeks to apend it. The,
might have been ,elOO in gold. Ile got rid oi the
by betting.
Baron Huddleston-- Do you mean to say that, havaigio
niucii money at your bankers, you condie,cend
money from a woman, in order to liay 100
debts.
_ . _

--s
--iFtness. —I intended to speculate with it.
Why did you not speculate with your owl
was in hope. of winning—or turning £6OO int. meek
This wee the Mee on the Part of the plaintiff,
Mr. Claw having called one witness to prove the
of the writ in the breach of promise CIMIG. addressed
jury on behalf of the defendant, and contended that 'weber
Mims Stuart nor Walker was to b°helievi, fl4teat the deed of gift was a sham and • fraudulent contrivance to deprive the defendant of the fruits of hr judgment If the plaiatifTs story was true, there we, HO re 11 why the nobleman who made the alleged gift of Isoi
not be celled.
The learned Judge in summing up, tra•cl tho earoer
whom he had discarded, uf the fr its
1 of the plaintiff from the period of her eloperuent with her
nwfwohriethhni.sytheshakweeaahrad.ouneliepoltriyini,,uweanotionveeftfe:4l4.tepriti
th
drawing-toaster,
rhiheciareduneldfaetoanvehro:et.had obtained against him fur brawl' of
promise of marriage. His Lordship also dwelt inilig.
nant terms on the pert that Walker had playtei thre„tb.
out, from his first introduction to the plaintiff 1075
until he left her.
The Jury retired, and, after an absence of unwards of
an hour returned into court with a verdict for the defen•
dent, as, in their opinion, the plaintiff had not ins& out
her claim for the goods.

_
I A "WISE MAN" AND HIS DUPE IN
SOMERSET.
Spite the School Boards and all the rest of the
paraphernalia by which legislative wisdom is going to
raise the standard of education to such a pitch of
excellence that even in the benighted districts had
grammar will be a thing of the past, and the residuum
will pass through life,figuratively, in a state of kid-gb cc
gentility, there are yet plenty of nooks and corners
where wise men and wise women flourish and evil eyes
and witches are not a scarcity. That this should be
the case among the lower orders is not a matter for
surprise when we are continually reading in the
police reports that these old cronies, whose only title
to wisdom is their ugliness and their itnpuilenee, are
nightly visited by titled swells and ladies in broughams.
Really the School Board officers should fly at higher
game. Superstition has its votaries among all classes,
and these imposters cin scarcely reckon upon the
ignorance of one clam more than the stupidity of
another. Lady Fandangle wants to know if there is
any likelihood of her ever being in that position Nhieh
is said to be the delight of ladies who hive their lords,
and borrows her servant's clothes, and by the Aid Of a
~•-reasy pack of cards receives a half-guinea peep into
futurity. Miss Chicory, the well-to-do traglesman's
daughter, desires to ....et rid of a troublesome wart that
threatens a "tip-tilted" feature, and when Pa and
Ma are away gives 2s. fici. to old Sally 3luggins for a
bit of elder stick to bury in her garden. While Miss
Jemimer Hann. anxious to know whether she will one
day wed • " hoissifer " or a " hearl," acquires the
desired information in exchange for a esL and one of
minus's old silk dresses. Not very long ago a young
farmer in Eoriget took his trial for thrashing an old
woman who he thought hag-rude him -whatever that
may he; and nos- an impudent quack has been sent
to take his trial fur obtaining money under false
pretences in the neighbouring county of Somerset.
At the Yeovil borough petty newesuoi Friday, before
the Mayor (Mr. J. Hill), Mr. B. Phelps, and Ail% H.
13. Tomltyrea, Frrdi rick fhilliford, of Crewkerne, war
charged with obtaining 38. from Hannah Foot, of
Odoombe, by false pretences in Felai oary last. Pro.
secutrix's mother had been ill for a considerable time,
and some neighbours advised her to call on defendant,
who had been in the habit of holding consultations at
a beershop in Yeovil. She did so, and he informal
her that her mother was "overlooked." So a bottle
of water was procured for him into which he put sonic
thorn prickles and a curse. This was to be buried,
and the poor WOUtall was to get well. As she got
worse instead of better the girl took up the bottle and
r,ginoved the paper goi which the curse was written.
, The affair got noised abroad, and the police summoned
the defendant. The ("Moving is a copy of the osy
awful curse used : "A, bow as this paper MO:WV
this bottle of water gil mine I hope Satan will pour
out his wrath upon the person that has been pri%ately
, injuring of me for a long t: past, and put them
upon a bed of sicklese,, with the most violent pains
that ever man was tneibled with for ever, and such as
no man or woman living can cure_ and as the water is
fermented and troubled with these thorn prig kiss on
shall the flesh on their leidy be al.• ferment,' and
troubled at the same time with the met violent pains
for ever; and as this water II" weak, anil dry away AO
shall the flesh I m their hotly rot and dry away until
there is nothing left but the skin and bare : and
they shall not live for more than 90 days from this
day and no longer, and then go into hell evei bating,
there to dwell with the devil and his angels until the
terrible day of the Lord, and then to he judged lic the
deeds done by them towards int while Upoll earth:.
Mr. Glyde, who defended, tried to show that there
was no attempt to defraud, inasmuch as the proosu
trix went to the defendant of her own no onl awl paid
for advice.

The Mayor thought if it were not a .ost .4 obtaiii.
in money by false pretencex there never %vas
Prosecutrix amid she paid the loan for what he did
with the bottle. If he thought he could not cum her
mother, she argued, he ought not to base talen her
money, but she didn't want to injure hing.
Mr. Glyde wanted to know how she could have
expected the defendant to cure het mother if :Ile did
not awry out his directions?
The Bench nail he underts4 to .1, that ail: h he
was not able to perform. They should witunit hsics
for trial at the session&
Defembutt said : lam an herbalist. The homey I
reteived from the woman wax oily for my wlviet., and
that alone. I never elaw-ged am-thing bo any bottle.
The Bench consented to aceelit hsal (ii defendant in
£720, and two sureties for situilar amounts, but they
were not obtained.