The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-04-26 00:00:00

COUNTY COURT.

ACTION FOR ALLEGED BREACH OF CONTRACT.
v Atng and Co.—At the County Court, on
Thursday, before R. Kettle, Esq„ this was an
action brought by George Smith, coal merchant,
of this town, to recover the sum of £3l Is, against
Messrs. King and Co., colliery proprietors of
Netherend, tor breach of contract. Mr. Perry
appeared for plaintiff, and Mr. Motteram of the
oixford Circuit) instructed by Messrs. Bernard
and King for the defendants. Mr. Perry briefly
opened the case, and called plaintiff who deposed :
I am a coalmerchant at Stourbridge, and defen-
dants are colliery proprietors at Netherend. Have
previously had dealings with the defendants'. On
the 21st December 1671, I went to the defendants'
office, saw the clerk and told him I had come to
order some coal-100 tons of seconds, and 100
tons of lumps. The clerk said you had better
make it 150 tons of seconds and 100 tons of lumps.
I said, "very well." Nothing was said about
price. Defendants said they were busy with the
trucks, but would send it as soon as they could.
They might have reasonably sent the coal in
three months. On the Ist March I saw Millward,
one of defendants' agents, at my office, and paid
him the last account, for coal previously had in
January and February, which came in my own
trucks. 1 spoke to Millward about the coal
ordered, when he said they had no order that he
knew of. The next day I received a letter from
the defendants', dated 2nd March, 1572, which
stated that I was in error as to them sending coal
on account of an order given, and that the coal
sent was in my own trucks. A few days after the
2nd March, 1 saw Millward again and refused to
pay him the account for coal had in January and
bruary. Millward said he would see Messrs.
King and Co. about it. Saw Millward again in
October and I refused to pay the account, when
Millward said he would give me £5. The judge
remarked that it had not been proved that the
agent had authority to offer .25.—Witness : On the
21st December similar coal was worth 9s per ton,
and lumps is; on the 6th March, seconds were
worth lie 6d, and lumps 98 6d.—R. J. Millward,
clerk to Messrs. King, said he was not authorised
by Messrs. King to pay the plaintiff £5 as com-
pensation for breach a contract, but offered him
as a present ..e? for plaintiff running his trucks
during the winter season, because defendants'
were short of trucks. Plaintiff did not make a
complaint to him that his order was not executed,
but expressed himself dissatisfied. This being the
evidence, Mr. Motteram contended there was no
case made out, as when an order was given for
merchandise Ac., it was necessary that it should be
given in writing. As this was not done. there
could not be a breach of contract; and plaintiff
was mistaken about giving the order. Mr. Perry
replied, and his Honor gave a non-suit.
Lambert v Lambert.—JUHY Casa.—Our readers
will recollect that this case was heard on the last
Court day. The jury could not agree, and were
disclutrged, and a new trial was granted. The
action was brought by Benjamin Lambert, of
Quarry Bank, to recover two sums of money-220
168 tid and £6—money lent to the defendant, who
is a son of plaintiff. Mr. Homer appeared for
plaintiff, and Mr. Homfray for defendant. A full
report of it was given in our columns at the time,
but on Thursday several additional witnesses were
examined on behalf of plaintiff, and several others
for defendant. His Honour carefully summed up
the evidence, and the jury, after a short delibera-
tion, found a verdict for plaintiff for £25 lus
The hearing of the case lasted about five hours.

FATAL ACCIDENT.-011 Saturday last, John Bird,
labourer, in the,employ;ol Messrs. Collis and Co.,
Wire Merchants, met
,with an accident which
terminated fatally on Sunday evening. The
inquest was held on the body on Wednesday
evening, at M. J. Dalloway's, the Woolpack Inn,
before Mr. Corbett, Esq., Deputy Coroner. The
first witness called was William Henry Scott, who
said he lived in Market-street, and was manager
to Messrs. Collis and Co., Wire Merchants. The
deceased was also employed there as chaff cutter
and labourer. He last saw him alive about one
o'clock on Saturday, going up the steps to get
into the loft to cut chaff. About half-past two
the same day, he saw him again lying in the arms
of Joseph Kendrick. Deceased was bruised and
bleeding from the ear. Witness at once sent for
Dr. Bailey, who came, and deceased was removed
to his home in Mill Lane. The accident was
caused by a rope breaking whilst he was going up
the steps. John Russell, porter to Messrs. Celli,
said that about half-past two o'clock he found the
deceased at the bottom of the steps leading into
Messrs. Collie and Co.'. tallet. Deceased was