The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-06-27 00:00:00

lURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

prisoners were then committed to take their trials at the out Brittain gave bun money.—How much? Halt*.
next Sessions (except Hall, who was discharged); bail crown—(laughter). Then the last witness went away.
being accented for Glove—two erratic. in LOS, and him • and he went away.
seH in 240. Cross: examined • Never had been with Mr. and Mrs.
Diu•ses Awn tlvernnw—Willianl Kendrick was brought . 'Lathan in their house In the presence of the last wit-
up on a remand charged by Stiperintendent Freeman ne is. Had never been in a beerhouse drinking *Rh Mtn
with being drunk and riotous on the 13th inst. The case Brittain before their marriage.—Are you sure ? its. sir,
was adjourned fur an additional witness. Mr. Ponton all right—(laughter).—Did your present wife ever visit
Witness: The Judg eA:I
l Your ig l
it. must
A nu n
right—hood
the 's ;dr alat Logter).
nh
defended, and called several witnesses to prate that de- von before she married, Mr. Brittain? I have told you
fendant wet aobrir. The Bench considered the case all I have to tell yott—Fll sal, no mote,
proved, and fined defendant fid and costs, Ina; in de-
fault seven days.
AsSAVI T C.F.—Charles Morris wee charged by John .._ Serjeant O'Brien: You didn't go into the Church ?
Giniver with alseulting him on the 17th itistanf. Mr. I no, sir. I was in charge of the pony and trap.—And
Maltby appeared for the complainant, and Mr. Punton , Brittain and your wife were then in church' They
for the defUndant. Complainant said be lived at Hagley, *ere; and the:ell be a witness who will prove it, directly.
, and was a fruiterer. Deicndaet also lived at Hagler; —lndeed. Now, who is that witnees 7 He'll be cane's'.
On the above date he was in charge of Lis horse and EnsentlY--Who is hg? You'll bear soon enough.—
cart, and defendant wax in cherge of another. Defend- Whet is his name? Hell tell you himself—What is his
ant made use of abusive language to him. Defendant name? Witness (in 4 stigma whisper): Jones, sir—
afterwards got out of his cart and struck at wane,. with (loud laughter).—Where does Jones lite sln Birming-
the tr.il•hoard of his curt. Tr warding off the blow it ham.—But where in Birmingham ? He'll tell yon him-
struck his hand and injured him. There was plenty of self, when he comes.—But I want yeu to tell me ? What
room for the defendant's cart to pees. John Britiain where Edward Jones lives ?—Yes, sir. Oh, all right
said that defendant called complainant a scamp ;
and a you'll know by and by.—But I'm carious, and want you
rogue, and efterwards struck him with the tail-board af to tell me? All right; he lodged in Cregte tired, Hol-
the earl. Vo iiness was called for the ilrf"ridarir, and after loway Head, with Mrs. Kingdom.—Oh I with Mrs. Os-
bearing the evidence, the Bench considered the weight borne's sister? Yes, sin—He was her lodger? Yes,
of evidence in favour of the defendant, and dismissed about two yeare age.—oh. Well, bow calms lie
to be at
the ease, the church? He " promisencuzly - called there--
FURIOUS DRTVING.—WiIIiam Hicklin was charged by (laughter).—Then it took two to hold the pon:( thgt morn-
Superintendent Freeman with furious driving on the Slat sag ; it was frisky, I suppose? No sir ; the pony visa
lof May. Parieh.constable Pearce proved the offence, and not as frisky as either you or ate—(laughter).—That will
!said that defendant was driving Very fast. Pleaded do. Oh. all right— (laughter).
guilty. Fined Is and costs, Li is; in default seven Several other witnesses gave evidence for the plaintiff,
days. a or which
' ASSAULTING A WOXASL—Jonas Robins, residing at the Sarjaant O'Brien addresses' the jury for the defendant.
Lye, was chargep by Maria Pardae with assaulting her and expressed at the outset his surprise at the non-pro,
on the 14th inst. Complainant said her little girl WRS
duction of the " Jones " who saw this lively old men
silti(ig at the door, when she heard her crying out. she married, as had been alledged. His learned friend Dr.
' went to see what was the matter, and saw the defendant Deane had , n the part of the plaintiff undertaken to show
" hipping " the child's head against the door. She cont. incontestably that on the morning of the dint of Febru-
plained to the defendant of his conduct, when he attack ITS, lstri, and he (Serjeant O'Brien) believed that if the
her a violent blow on the bend. Matilda Fardoe corro- ease was allowed to rest as it did at the close of the plain-
berated the last witness. For the defence, defendant tiffs case, no one could say, who had attended carefully
esid that complainant's children were beating his child, to the case as the jury had, would for a moment believe
Fined Is and costa; in default 14 days. in the case that had been set up. But let the jury look
DRUNK Awn thaTOUS,—Willian2 Harris and Benjamin at the case as it stood; let them see the old man nearly
, Hill were charged by Superintendent Freeman with being ' eighty no fired with anxiety to wed hls honeekeeper, who
and riotous on the 15th inst. Folice-eonahade Smith i had been his help, his aid, his everything—(laughter)—
said lie saw the defendant Hill, who Was drunk and fight- because she was jealous of the seductive Mrs. Gibson.
ino yeah Harris. Defendant denied being drunk, but At some length the learned counsel urged that
in point
Morris said he was fighting. Hill was discharged, and of fact there had been a personation of James in
at
Harris fined Is and COSta, that marriage, and it would be seen that the man who
did actually 00 personate that person was not the first
one who had sought to adopt suds a position. He then
reviewed the evidence of Mrs. Kingdom and 51ra. Os-
borne, and commented strongly on the unaccountable
absence of" Jones," who the other side had not dared to
put into the box. The whole ease was pregnant with dif-
ficulties to the other side, and it would appear that a
great fraud has been committed, especially proved by
the fact that they made the mistake—as they called it—
if the Christian mune of the father, but odely enough—if
it was not far more than odd—in the occupation of the
father, who, instead of being, as described, a nailer, was
in reality, as it would be proved, a miner. The learned
counsel then detailed the evidence he intended to call,
which would show that on the 21st of February ‘,1,1 Brit-
ten Was at home all day ; that several persons called upon
him, and transaeted business, and he had people at work
for Lim repairing some tiles to the warehouse. The case
wee one demanding the most anxious and careful atten-
tion which most result in a verdict for the defend-
ant.
Samuel Brittain, examined by Dr. Tristram : I am
the nephew of the late James Brittain, and we, .10 friendly
terms with him, seeing him constantly during the last
Iwo years of his life. I knew his housekeeper, who
' sore below him. He livod by himself, and
' • 0 with him since the autumn
. ' did not attend

lived nye
she did not live in Die
of MG. She attended on my nada, ay.
on him ell the, day.
By the Sedge : I , suppre she was the e part of the
day, and earl as clerk to
By Dr. Tristram : I went to his home the day of his
death. I saw the woman Shaw. I first heard from
Rowland Price that any uncle iris said to he mend( d to
Shaw. She was present, and I said, on Itowland Price
' speaking of the property, "What do you mean ? " He
said the real estate glee to the beir-aLlaw, and half of
the residue to the widow. I said, " Who is trio widow ?"
and Mr. Price said "there she is," pointing to the woman
Shaw. I asked her how long they had been marriel,
and she said " two years aga about but I can't tell exact.
ly." I then said " where were yen married and she
said "at St. Andrew's Church, Bordesley." I said to
her " show roe your marriage certificate," and she went
to a book to link for it, but could not find it, and she
, said ea, addieg that if I went to the church I should
Iget the certificate there. I then asked her whether they
i *ere method by Leung. and she said they were cried in
I dburch.
George Brittain, examined by Br. Trietam : I am 73,
and James Brittain was two or three years older than me.
I remember his going to Worce.iter Assizes last year.
11, r,as drawn down in his foot, no that he walked lame.
On the 4th iif February. 1868, in conserpience of a letter
I received I went to ri publimhouse at Aston, and from
the garden deg np a handle of deeds and books belong-
ing to rev tote brother. The mortgage was with them.
John title. of tile Lye, nailer. prove,' selling sonic
eminter or : ors shoe ntS Is to James IS i tain on the list
February, 15b7. It sits lelrrecn Moe arid ten o'clock in
the morning. Brittain WVS in tire house alone. Scott
was there. The nails would not do, no I took them back
about a quarter to two. Mr. Brittain made an entry in
Iris boo!:. His hands were quite right. and I never knew
hini when he could not write. He was quite bane. and
could not with an inch without his stick. He could cer-
tainly not week a mile. He might walk to Stourbridge,
but it would take him mach time.
William Fisher, of Watery.lane, Birmingham, church
keeper. gave evidence similar to that which he gave on a
former occasion.
Mrs. Jordan, wife of a shoemaker at Birmingham, said
she wag at Bordesley Chureii, to get a certificate of the
baptism of a child. She saw Mrs. Osborue, Mrs. Klug-
dom, and stall non with grey hair.
James Scott and Benjamin Scott, also gave evidence.
William Shields stated Viet on the day of Brittain'a
death he saw Mrs. Osborne and Mrs. Kingdom looking
for a bailiff named Sankey. He went with them to some
liquor vaults. Kingdom asked for a jug of ale, and while
aim was getting it, the plaintiff pulled out the marriage
lines from her bosom, and he said "This makes the
ease better," and tires tapping him on the breast she
said, " You see, although you wouldn't do it, I got it
done all right." The plaintiff leughed at the time, and
or did Imr sister. It was in December, 1568, that the
pinintilf asked him to go to Birmingham, and b mar-
ried to her in the name of James Itrittain. He told her
it was a hard thing lobe married in the name of another
man. _ .

Cross-examined by Dr. Deane: Now, I should like to
know something about you. Arn't you rather fond of
orange.? Not more than other folk.—Did you ever take
any without paying for them? No.—You have been
cured of that peculiar fondness for oranges ? Yes; but
it was all a mistake. (Laughter).—Had you not three
months' hard labour for that little mistake 0 No, it was
not hard labour.—But you were sent to gaol? Yes, I
was.—You had a sullen affection for 250 oranges? It
was miadetnetinaur, not a felony.—Then you took a
liking to a battle jack? Yes.—And you got 21 days for
that? Yes, bat was Mr. Wilton, on the other side, who !
did that.—How did it! Why he owed me 31., and I gold !
the jack, which he gave me to carry for him, and paid
myself out of the money. (Lou-i laughter).—Have you
ever been in any trouble? Nothing more.than a fight.
ing job. (Loud laughter).
Alderman Hawkes was then briefly examined with re•
spect to the difficulties he had experienced in conducting
the case by the papers, books, and other leg :1 documents
having been kept from him by the other side.
The ht aring of the evidence in the case lasted from
Wednesday morning over Thursday, and on Friday the
Judge summed np.
His Lordship occupied a little over an hour in his
summing up.
The Jury retired to consider their verdict at half-past
two, and returned into Court at ten minutes past three,
with a verdict for the defendant on the ground that the
case was not proved.