The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-11-05 00:00:00

tEl'e -')tottrioribqc ebserltr
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SATURDAY, NOVENIBER 5, 1837.

THE CASs CASE.

THE issues involvedin what came to be called
the Cass case have held the interested
attention of the public for a lengthy period, .
and now that the legal question concerned
has been closed by the acquittal of Constable
Endacott, we may fittingly consider the
v, hole affair and its lessons to the community;
for, like many another pereon who has for a
tine bulked large before the general gaze,
Miss Cass that was, Mrs. Langley that is,
will speedily fade from sight and he forgot-
ten. Whether her own indiscretion or even
more questionable action in the streets of the
West-end of London led to the unenviable
notoriety which the Stockton young woman
has recent_ly experienced, .or whether it was
Policeman Endacott's improper or mistaken
conduct, as the agent of the law, which
lifted Miss Cass to her doubtful eminence,
are puzzles, the solution of which it does not
seem likely will ever be demonstrated. The
constable was flatly charged with perjury of
a most henious character, but the prosecu-
tion, backed by -all the acumen and forensic
skill of Sir Edward Clarke and other emin-
ent counsel, were linable to adduce any
evidence of weight in support of the allega-
tion. There was virtually no case to go to
the jury, and the Solicitor-General allowed
his client to collapse, defeated without wait-
ing for the other side's witnesses to be heard.
It was an instance of "not proven," as
Scottish legal procedure would phrase it;
and, in law, Police-constable Endacott leaves
the court without a stain upon his character,
for the accusation against him completely
failed. Here we have the main point of
general moment in the whole history of the
Cass case. Constable Endacott, arraigned
for perjury, or in ocher words for making
oath to a statement which might or not have
teeos cs mistake, the result of over confident
self-reliance, was honourably acquitted, he-
el-11SO 1115 0•001:10,r0 oonala r
vincing corroboration of the truth of their
charges against him, were unable, in fact, to
fasten on the officer the crime of wilful swear-
ing to corrupt lies, well
_knowing them to be
without the slightest foundation. Hence-
forth Endacott has a right to consider him-
self vindicated, and no one can with im-
punity revive the allegations against him.
He recovers his status in the force, and may
claim to have the whole affair regarded only
as one of those irritating experiences which
will now and again happen to the least
blameworthy ot men, How different was
the case of Miss Case? She has been pat,
by her arrest, to the necessity of proving
herself an honest woman to all the world, in
the moral sense. A charge, than which one
can conceive none more repugnant and
painful to respectable womankind, was pre,
ferred against her. She was arrested in a
crowded street, submitted to the degradation
of being marched off to the police-station,
described in the charge-sheet as a common
prostitute, placed in a cell, and next morn-
ing put into the dock to answer the indict- .
ment of her accuser, whose wholly uncorro-
borated evidence was believed by the sitting,
stipendiary, despite the protestations of the
prisoner's only forthcoming friend for the
time being. She was not honourably
acquitted, by reason of the absence of sup-
porting testimony to the truth of the officers
crushing allegation, bat had extended to her
the doubtful mercy of a widely-reported
sterial lecture, and a let off on the
ground of not being " known " as a pre-
viously-eonvicted street-walker. The police-
man's experience, integrity, and intelligence
were relied on by the bench, and a cruel
clemency of the " you may go this time, but
don't do it again " sort was severely dis-
pensed to the woman, who went away from
the court with the brand of the sin-soiled
unfortunate upon her for ever, for aught
magistrate, constables, or the general public
then knew. The case of Miss Cass exhibits
the system, and in this aspect it is the we
would regard the inattor. We hold that be-
fore any magistrate is convinced of the
I ruth of suen a terrible accusation against a
female, it slit uid he necessary that he should
have evidence ;:f he most undeniable and
unmistakeable character, not the bare word
only of an officer. A policeman on duty at
a busy time in e cruseiled street where many
females of th- bi,ser sort stalk about pursue-
jug their forbidden occupation of tempting
the pessees-by to immorality may make a
mistake, and arrest an innocent woman.
With shatttred beliet in general innocence,
he way still adhere to the idea that he is
iht nil protesting prisoner but an
eetress of the part of ;lie wrongly accused.
Or, coining to feel th.it lie has egregiously
sltindere,i, i at.inr than confess to his error
end es submit himself to disciplinary treat-
ment he may stick to hie tale, and, base per-
-4 e he knows himself to be,. swear away
4 wmuan'e prim:lets treasure of fame to spare
4,!heeelf temporary discomfort. Even police-
men, though not by any means, as Lord
Munlson'e" Northern Farmer" thought the
poor, " bad in the lump," are mortal, and
the refore fallible. Where there is no cor-
roboration, we hold there should be honour-
:o4e discharge of the accused. It ouseht not
ebe difficult to prove a woman to be a
prostitute if such she be. To revert
iloe t%srticular cue in point, if Miss Cits-i
j;nii ,1 Regent-street as a solicitor of
geatlemeu for esix. weeks, and had been dis-
tinctly noticed by Endacott to annoy or
jaelest pump= jevaral times, had

been specifically complained of to the officer
one person immediately prior to being
tr„ken into custody, it should not hare been
all hard for the constable to hav(.• called
iuclependent witnesses in support of the
theory on which he based the justification of
his action in haling the young- woman
off to the station-house. As in the Cass
case, so in all others of similar nature. The
law should eive the benefit of the doubt to
n y accused person against whom nothin;-;
, has been previously recorded, unless the
arresting poiceman's story is properly sup-
ported by additional evidence; the prisone-.-
.ought, indeed, to be held innocent in the
absence of sufficient corroboration. That,
we contend, is the lesson of the Cass case,
which might with advantage be applied to
the reform of police-court procedure every-
where where modest women must walk in
the same streets as their less reputable
sisters, and at, the same time. Miss Cass, to
again consider her individually, has been
able to prove, at great cost and no little
trouble to herself, that she is no shameless
woman ; that, if she 13.;.-Ld occasionally flirted
with male acquaintances in the North of
England—a very different thing from being
a woman of ill-fame—she has led a life not
open to reproach in any way since her
removal to London.
.But her vindication,
such as it has been, ~is very different from
Endacott's. Thc law stocd his friend, de-
spite the attacks. Of powerful newspapers,
the hostile criticism of a Parliamentary
opinion snfficieptly strong to defeat a Gov-
ernment, and the searching if at times
somewhat ludicrous investigation of his
superior officers. The charges against him
were not proved in law; he emerges from
his ordeal therefore innocent. Miss Cass
Ind to raise her friends, and through then
.the country, to do battle with all the
majesty of the law, to tilt against the awful
power of the police. She -was as little
proven guilty as Endacott,, corrobora-
' :ion of one accusing man's word been wanted
before an aspersion were permitted to have
any legal weight, Issiiss Cass would not have
been a celebrity, Mr. Magistrate Newton
would not have been assailed for his cavalier
treatment of her, an officer whose discharge
of police duty has been hitherto praiseworthy
would not have been placed on his trial for
perjury, a Ilona° 'Secretary would not have
experienced a severe taking-down at St.
Stephen's, and the public would have been
spared a scandal.

police are in clearing the streets. Aprlpo,!,
one cannot but compliment the police coin-
miBsioneri on the detenuinecl front they have
,;110v,rn in the face of a great clangan

cordial reception given by the Pre-
side.it of the 'United States to the English
.lelm,ation who have gone to America to do
bloolless battle for the peaceful object of
international arbitration was most satisfac-
tory. We trust that lasting wood to th-
cause vr,7'.11 be the result of the interchange
of authoritative opinion. A. man named
Andrew Carnegie," as a Wolverhampt n
jury cuttingly called the the millionaire i eon-
master whose name is on the title page of a
not very tasteful book about " Triumphant
Democracy," introduced our countrymen to
President Cleveland. Another proof that,
though the ',..rue Yankee may bark at times
harshly against England in bnmptio:is mo-
ments, he will always bite for tl.le land his
fathers sprung from when the cro i 1 point
comes

clioice, of less than three months." To obtain, this
intervi.:m he hal lowered himself from his bed room
winl,)w, a distance of 32ft., and hal 'walked from
Stour: rn. C oirt into Stoorbridge, where Miss Devitt
es Ec.v ..iti.l:2; him at the vaults. It was previous to
this tik ~: h had on one ocaasion ridden by bicvole
FE • Jni ill .!w ,- 9, 13 ty 150 mi'es to see his adored. Tae
i ty aft r tl!e ert;age.nent he returned to his erivat .
:t. Cirenc.,:ter, and the tutor annonnc, d his
1-terari iation to act Loon the instruction e .
C votan Foste:, and do all in his power to stop the
a:lnailvanz,.e. The yowl.; heir, however, kept it.p
lis carr.2speodence, and in three weeks he ran away
.o Bi,•mingharn. Her- ~e eluded the detectives
1 ,t2l ',el by the family, who were tracing "a dark
v •ung .fellow." Ly do &n light hair, w'aiskers,
:val inonstaches and by painting his eyebrows. A
if.tek latter aeltnet Nfiss Devitt by arrangement at
rate thell, near Wolverhampton, and later on con-
sented to nil int?.rview in Wolverhampton with his
,nolher. As already stated, the interview was from
a family point of view fruitless. young Foster de-
claring that he would "only return home wits the
.:.i'l he love i." Having determined to marry, in
,pite of every opposi• ion, and his first effolt to
r' tain a special licease in . Wolverationlhaving
"roved unsuccesEful, he obtained a license in Derby
, a Monday week laLt, and repaired to Burton,
1
-4•113 re nies,p-.)vitt anived from Stourbridge the
two night, staying with a relative. On the Wed-
.:eBrlay the pair were married at Winsill Church, a
-- , Ale outside Burton. In the absence of the rector,
1
a services of another clergyman were secared.
:he next (lily the bride',:z.nd bridegroom appeared
at a bszaar at Barton, lod the news of their twir-
ri,ge then quickly sproa,;,—Birminghain Daily Post
Prilty, Nor. 4.

D/11.TNXENNE93 —A.t the Police Clirt yesterday,
oef.ire Clonal Cochrane Messrs. W. J. Taraev and
I. D. Thomas, Felix Dunn was cbar4el with bein;
trunk and disorderly on the 30th ult. at Cr,lelley,
U. Wel)l) proved the case. Fined. 29 61 and
costs.—William Watson was charged With a similar
,ffenee on the 25th ult at Bromley Street. Lye.
P.C. W. .Tones!proved the case. Fined 6s and Costs
John Fl,rence was charzecl with being drunk and
iacapable at Stamber Mill, on the 3rd inst. P.C.
.'bore pr.-iced the case, and dehndant was fined se.
4v:biding costs. Tuomas :134does was charged
Nith bring drunk and incapable in Market Strcet,
on the 3rd inst. P.C.Perry proved the case. Fined
iruluding costs, or 7 days.
CAUTION TO 80YE1....' Joseph Hackle was charged
with lettin-, off firew)rks in Enville Street, on the
27th ult. P.C. Ball proved the case, and:said defend-
ant wus letting off cra.ckers. There were ho:s3s
passing at the time. Defendant was let off on pay-
ment i• 1 costs.

WreruL Deereese—Edward Jester and William
Williams weter charled with wilfully damaging an
eak tree and a fence, the property of Mr. H.W,FI.J. '
Foley, on the 31th tilt, at Wollraton. P.C. Cart.
riot said he saw defendants throwing at an oak
tree and breaking branches off it by throwing stones
['hey wore knocking acorns off and had a bagful'
of them. They also got over a fence and damaged
t and the tree oeztent of Is, Fined is each in-
cluding costa.
A. eearuns CITA TOL—John hunt hammer driver,
Blakedown was charged with unlawfully refusing
to al.l and assi et P.C. Holloway whilst in the
.!secu• ion of his duty when called upon to as iist on
the 16th ult at illelcedown.—P.O. He:lowly said he
was statione iat tila.kedown, tee the 16th ult he
tad tee men leveed George and William Smith in
uslcely on a cheriee of druekness and assaalting
him. Defsndant was present at the time looking
on. Whilst defendant was there George Stei,h
4ieked and struck- wArees several times. William
Smith also struck witness. A third person who
was there triel to rescue George Smith. Witness
was overp we-ed and git to the ground by the
hree in a. Defendant stood about 6or 7 yard:
tway and witipers s mid to him "John Hunt, i call
:Ton you to aid and assist me in taking these two
Alen to the stati -ea." Defendant did nut say any-
thing but dsliberaLely turned t'oend and walked
away. Witness called on others to aid and assist
himn and they did so and it teok four of them to
.et the two Smith's to the station.—Defenclant
said he was mere titan twenty yards away when
. he officer spoke to birth—Thomas Bishop, labourer.
Cnorchll, corro orated Holloway, Defendant
called a witness named Elizabeth Howles who said
she lived at Elakedown. On the 16th nit she saw
he ass tult committed on the officer by the Smith's.
She saw defendant about 20 yards from the assault.
The was n t much of a judge of distance and could
act say the length of the court room. She could
not tell whether he room was 100 yards long or not.
Sltie did not see the wimess Bishop. Defer-Limit
was c ezimittel to take his trial at the nest Wor-
cestee Sessions bail bsing accepted himself in ..£2O
and one eecurity of £l.O or two in £5.
A CURIOUS AFFAIR--William Davis wa3 charged
with indecently asaulting Caroline Taylor, on the
ult at the Lye. Mr. W. Waldron defended.
Complainant said she was married and resided with
tier husband at Spring Street, Lye. On the day in
qcstion defendant was at I.er house. Her
eusband was also there. She was in the back
kitchen Defenda.at caoked her husband to show
-trim some tools and her husband went into the
shop to fetch them. The shop was two or three
yard, from the kitchen, and both doors were open
tier husband returned with the tools and defendant
asked him if he bad any larger tools than those.
lie told him he had and was going out to fetch
them, Defendant at that time was on the sofa,
and he got up to her and put his hand up her
clothe.. She had the baby on her lap at the time,
She up wi•la her fist and knocked him backwards on
the sofa. Her husband was at the door of the
room and defendant got up and walked out. She
_ . _ _ _ _

afterwards told her husband what defendant had
done. Cross-examined : Defendant was a stranger
to her, and she had not been in the habit of
talking to him, and never :spoke to him until that
evening. She occasionally went to public houses.
On the night of the 24th ult, sho went into the
Fox Inn. Rer husband was not there. She was
standing in the passage when defendant came in.
ilte did not say :'Hallo old un. How are you get-
on. You never come down to see us," She did
not know defendant's name when she saw him is
the passage. He used to live in Spring.st. She knew
him. Re asked her where she lived and idle told him
.-Just down th street, at the hJuse with the bow
wiudJw " She did not invite de!esidunt to her
aouso Sh went to the Holly Bush the same
night t A quarter to nine She was drinking with
lier hasaitud. Mary Ann Kendrick and others were
t ere, ‘Vnilst. ,he was the edefendtintcarne in and
sat down Let w• en her and her husband. They were
drinking to her. Defend int gave her Bd. to take
same ale hou.te and her buzoarta carried it. 'When
they got home her husband poured the beer out; she
had a glass out of it —The Bench did not consider
it any us •of Mr. Waldron going on w.th the else
and dismissed it.
BOARD OF GUARDIANS. Mr. P. Pargeter pre-
sided at the weekly meeting of this Board yesterday.
Admitted into the Rouse during the week 6, dis..
c'oarged 4, remaining 490. egainst 514 in the cor-
esponding week last year. Out-door relief
liingswinford district £45 12s sd, Stourbridge .2.13
17e91 Halesowen £23 7s Oid, non-resident paupers
£1 Lis 4d, total £ll4 153 51d, against £lll 11 61d
last year.
CONSUMPTIONT.—I have a positive remedy for the
above disease ; by its use thousands of cases of the worst
kind of ling et-lading have been cured. Indeed so
[areal; is my faith in its efileAcy, hat 1 will send TWO
BOTrI.KS FREE, together with an ENTIRELY NEW
AND VALLJABLK ItibUTISE on the Disease to any
suil,rer. (live Address in fall. Dr T. A. SLOCUM
5 Pinm Tree Coart, F-irring ion Street, London.

"BRITANNIA RI7LE3 TFIE

From The Thrtsmltath Ti >z eg ani N'avaT Gazette.

liras i ore has Tvisitei the Royal Dockyards at
N'Toolwi:h and Chatham, and inspected the grew
shipof w tr with their pa serul: artnament,Thich
the admiralty aro providing for the protetnion ol
!ler xteuivi coast lines, he is at once
d that -Britannia still rules the waves, "
While tire are obvious differenees of oi.,inion be.
tween experts, relative to the value of large and
-mall war shirts in action, one has only to come tc
.eort m extb. Harbour and see such formidable ships
as the Tejlc.ri6lc, the Iron Duke, the Derwtaiion, and
ethers of equal armament, costing upwards of a
tnillien atteling to produce. with tnyraids of small
torpedo craft, to become convinced that in the
matter of naval construction, England is net only
keeptag abren,st with other countries bat is excell-
ing ti:elm Portsmouth Dockyard and Portsmouth
larboor are names familiar throughout the canil-
'sad rorld. It is here that all the war vetsuli and
rnagnifi;lnat troopships of tier Majesty's s,n-,-ice are t
titt, (1, et for foreign stations. It is satd theee
shine *re supplied wit') every coaceivable iernssity
for t! comfort of the &liens and men ; every pre,
eauti .n is taken to provide against sickness and
disea,,e caused by the sudden change of climate to
which troops :ire sublioted It is said thet every
vessel belengi ig to Her Majesty's service leaving
Portsmouth is not considered ready tor se,. with "lUt
4 liberal su,)ply of St., JaeoOB Oil. TiliS in Arvoll,m74
renvely is not only used extensively on shipbo
bat also in the several ,lockyarils ab3VO tneutialed.
11•.. Frederick Ve.yae, whe 117e5 at t 32, GI-ladatone
Street, latudport, Portsmouth, and who has been
coon totted with the Portsmouth Dockyard for irp•
wards of fourteen years, hands us the particulars of
;.he most miraculous cure effected by the use o; St.
Jacobs. Oil in the ease of his wife who for eight
yeers had been a fearful sufferer from rheu uatisna.
Her limbs. and shoulders were swollen to three
times their natural size ; her arms and hands were
slisp•ilabs uufa of the time her right shoulder was
swollen to that extent thet-the. top of the shoulder
and the side of her face came together, and she
suffered the inert intense pain. 'Four years ago the
disease settled in her back making her completely
helphss, the heart be,artme so anuch 'involved that
she was unable to make the slightest exertion with-
out experiencing great difficulty in breathing. The
oay way she conli lie in bed was by having the
back of a chair set up behind her, and padded with
pdlows. Her huebaad was obliged to carry her up
and down staiis, eiglit and morning, and she suffered
rticli excruciating agony that she repeatedly fainted
away. She became so much reduced in flesh that
Mr. Payae says she was little nr...re than a skeleton,
She was treated by the best medical skill in Ports•
mouth and vici,ity, employing four medical gentle-
men in all, each of whom tellher and her husband
that they could do nothing whatever for her— that
her c is.: was chronic and past all hope of recovery.
Last summer, hems a little better, she went to a
small tWO it Sussex for a few weeks, where she
nad another violent attack, suffering the most in-
tense agony, and here follows a very interesting
and most providential circumstance : It seenis that
the lady to whose house Mrs. Payne was carried
had herself Leta' cured of rnetnnatisin in the
.iionh-ler by the use of St. Jacobs Oi!, trirl wits very
argent in her regitest for Mrs. Payne to try it. in
icsA than five minutes aft.zir the first apphcation
Ara Pain began to experience cesmtion from pain.
after the second appiieaVon the pain had almost
irrirely ii.-uppeored, and betute the eontente of
one bottle was exhausted, the pain and sw.•lling
toe uti.e'y gene and, although weak and feeble,
ii a. Payne C0,11,A walk about the hoaae sand
groauds. From that time on she made a most
satisfautory. rapid, and permanent recovery. Both
ldr. Payne ani his wife say that she has not been
as well as she :s now for fourteen years. Mr. and
alrs. Payne out respected people, both are
atembers of the -Wesleyttu Chapal in I,sulport, and
Nita PaY;l.i, as above stated, mae teen employed at
Poftsrnouth Dockyard for fourteen years. The
:Above ws• swot: a ftinarkith!:, case that soul,' of the
ehennets and dealers in Landport were calle I upon
wito the object in view of obtaining farther infor-
mation reipect ng this marvellous remedy, ameeg
ithers, Mr Tizmitny White, 158 aud 1.60, Commer-
aial. Road, loundport. Portsmouth, when interviewed,
etated that the demand for this popular remedy
as r,picily increasiug, that he never buys less
than sixty dozen at ene order. When a remedy
possesses auch remarkable curative properties as
those aim Je ntendoned, it is not to be wo iderei iii
that fir kiajeary's troop3hips are never considered
ready for ale until a supply is on board.

!!ft