The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-15 00:00:00

Pill anb Volta.

THE first meeting for proof of debts and choice of
trade assignees under the extensive failure of Daniel
Mitchell Davidson and Cosmo William Gordon, of
Mincing•lane and Upper Thames street, colonial
brokers and metal agents, and of West Ham-lane,
distillers, took place at the Bankruptcy Court on
Saturday last. From the statement prepared by the
accountants it appears that the bankrupts' unsecured
debts are about 30,0001., liabilities on bills payable
80,9201., ou bills receivable 92,7051., and on account
of Thomas Webb, from whom the bankrupts pur-
chased the Ham distillery in September last, about
8,0001. The total liability exceeds 200,0001.
Proofs to the amount of about 19,5001. were admitted,
and trade assignees were appointed.
THE VALIDITY OF THE LATE DUCHESS OF MAN-
CHESTER'S WILL, which a jury had affirmed some
time since after a protracted investigation, has been
argued at great length before Vice-Chancellor Sir W.
P. Wood, upon a motion designed to obtain autho-
rity for a new trial. The arguments upon the issue
now in question extended over six days, and on Mon-
day last judgment was given by the Vice-Chancellor.
In pronouncing his decision, his honour disem-
barrassed the ease of every allegation set forth in tho
original bill attributing fraud to the defendant, that
being, as lie believed, entirely displaced and dis-
proved on the part of the Duke of Manchester. In
the course of an elaborate judgment, of which the
condensed report fills several columns in the daily
journals, the Vice Chancellor then stated the question
at issue :

What WAS the capacity of this lady to make the will? It car•
tinily was as nice and difficult anti delicate a caseto decide u he
ever remembers t to have occurred. The q uestion of law was one of
some nicety, but the question of fact was of much greater. The
real question of fact he took to be this—not whether, according
to the very exaggerated statement of the bill, the lady was in a
state of acute mania, or, as was said in some ruts, unconscious;

THE PRESS.

but whether or not—it being confessedly clear that the lady was
neither in a state of mania nor in a state of unoonsciousness--
she was in that capacity of mind that he could be satisfied on
these facts, and, under all the circumituumes, that the will is de.
finitely established in such a manner as that this court can ulti.
mately decree that it should be carried into execution? lie was
sorry to say that he could not come to the conclusion that he was
so satisfied. He said he was sorry, as he could not conoeiveauy
very great degree of benefit that could result to the parties from
the further litigation of this painful matter. But the question
was one that the parties hail a right to have tried. The really
delicate question was this—that as it was certainly proved that
the duchess was in a state of mind incapacitating her from axe.
outing any instrument up to the 11th of October, and, according
to some witnesses, to the 17th, whether between the 17th and
the 28th this lady was in a different state of mind? Between
those dates she was in a very different state of mind—a state
which to his mind caused him a considerable degree of doubt,
which he wished to have solved by the intervention of a jury,
directing their minds fairly, and in au unembarrassed manner,
to this particular subject.
Upon further analysing the case, and tracing the
bearings of the issue which had, on the former oc-
casion, been presented to the jury for decision, his
honour carne to the conclusion that the above-stated
points, which, in his opinion, comprised the real pro-
blems to be solved, were not placed before the jury
with sufficient fulness and precision to warrant him
in accepting their verdict as final. With their find
ing, so far as it went, he fully concurred, but he did
not think that it included all the points, or even the
principal points, upon which the main question of
" capacity " in the testatrix depended. The judg-
ment is accordingly to the effect that a new trial

must be granted.
AN ORPHAN GIRL, named Stephens, was taken
from the Liskeard workhouse and employed as a
servant in the family of Mr. Creddick, a well•to-do
farmer residing at St. Dominick, in Cornwall. There
she was subjected to such cruel treatment from the
farmer's wife that the woman was summoned before
the magistrates at the Plymouth Petty Sessions upon
a criminal charge. Many acts of cruelty alleged
against the prisoner were of a gross and disgusting
character. Besides these she had beaten and kicked
the complainant repeatedly, and once flogged her on
the naked back with stinging-nettles. The only
cause of this violence seemed to have been that the
girl was employed to watch the children, and they
" told lies about her." After hearing the evidence of
the complainant and a solicitor for the defence, the
bench ordered Mrs. Creddick to be imprisoned, under
the recent act, for three months. The woman ap-
pears to have expected that the worst result would
have been the infliction of a fine, and was quite over-
come on learning that she must go to gaol.
A CHARGE OF GROSS AND REPEATED ANNOYANCE was
laid against Eliza Delacourt, the wife of a commercial
traveller, by Mr. Geddes, secretary to the Seamen's
Pension Society. The case was beard at Worship-
street on Monday. The complainant and his
wife had formerly occupied a house at Limehouse,
adjoining the residence of the prisoner, who appeared
to be labouring under the delusion that Mr. Geddes
had formed an improper intimacy with one of their
daughters, to whom he was in the habit of paying
clandestine visits. There were no grounds whatever
for such an imputation, as Mr. Geddes was an entire
stranger to them ; but the defendant allowed her
mind to be so completely warped by her jealous hal-
lucinations that she was in the habit almost every
night of presenting herself in front of the house, and
assailing them in language of the most scandalous
and disgusting scurrility. On one occasion, when
they had an evening party at their house, they were
favoured with the usual visit from the defendant, who
hurled a heavy iron missile through the drawing•room
window, which passed close to the head of one of the
daughters, and struck with great violence against the
wall of the apartment. The prisoner was then given
into custody, brought up at the Thames Police Court,
and ordered to find bail for her good behaviour, but
had no sooner obtained her liberation than she resumed
the same course of molestation and annoyance,which
compelled the complainants at last to move out of the
neighbourhood, and take up their residence at
Homerton. The prisoner, however, succeeded in
tracing them cut; and on the previous evening
suddenly made her appearance in front of the house,
to which she directed the attention of every one that
passed, and reviled their daughter with such oppro•
brious and disgusting epithets that she was again
given into custody. When called on for her defence,
the prisoner renewed her vituperations against the
complainants and their family, and displayed so much
violence that Mr. D'Eyncourt sentenced her to pay
40s. fine, or suffer a fortnight's imprisonment.
DIVERS inhabitants of the parish of Allhallows
Barking were summoned before the Lord Mayor on
account of their nonpayment of tithes to the rector.
The summonses were issued under a statute dating
from the time of Henry VIII. When the case came
on for hearing on Tuesday last the Mansion-house
Court was crowded with. parties interested in the
result. The fact that no tithes had been paid for
many years by the several defendants summoned was
satisfactorily proved. Another defaulter, whose
arrears amounted to 501., had settled the claim, it
was stated, since his summons had been issued.
Of the others, one said he had paid no tithes for
twenty years, and thought it hard to be called on to

SATURDAY,

do so now. Another, a Jew, pleaded that he had
taken his premises under the belief that they were
tithe-free, and. moreover, that he contributed hand.
somely towards his own synagogue
Mr. BALLANT/NE, who appeared for the rector, said that his
client felt his position would be one of considerable difficulty in
reference to the incumbent who should succeed him, if he did
not require the inhabitants to pay those dues which the law
made compulsory for the maintenance of the clergyman. It was
far (ruin the wish of the present incumbent to press unneces-
sarily upon the inhabitants, and with a large number, who no
doubt had to struggle with unavoidable hardships, the yectorwas
perfectly willing, sod hadoarried the intention out iu a great many
instances, to mitigate the burden so that it might not fall upon
them too heavily. All he contended fur was the maintenance of
the principle of sufficient payment from the class of individuals
to which the defendants belonged to maintain the exigencies of
the act of Parliament; but in the case of others, whose pecuniary
circumstances were such as not to stand in need of such lenity,
he was determined to enforce that which the law empowered him
to obtain, as he considered he was acting in a fair and liberal
spirit by consenting to take about two-thirds of the amount to
I which the law entitled him.

Some questions arose as to the power of the Lord
Mayor to pronounce judgment under the act, as well
as of the practical effect of his judgment, if given.
The alternative seemed to lie between a summary
decision in the Mansion-house Court or an appeal to
Chancery. Eventually it was suggested and agreed
to that the defendants should wait upon the rector,
who the Lord Mayor entertained no doubt would be
happy to meet them iu a fair and liberal spirit.
APPLICATION was made by a young Russian on
Wednesday to Mr. Yardley, at the Thames Police-
office, but which, owing to the applicant's imperfect
knowledge of English and the absence of any Rus-
sian interpreter, was with much difficulty understood
by the worthy magistrate. Mr. Yardley at first thought
that he wished to obtain an order for the payment of
wages, and told him the case did not lie within his

juns ction
Applicant: No, no; me ship Francisco.
Mr. YARDLEY : Are you a prisoner on parole ?
Applicant: No, no; ine Russ.
Mr. YARDLILY : Then you are an enemy at large in the heart
of the country ; but still we must treat you civilly. as I hope we
shall always treat our open enemies. Where were you born?
Applicant: Me born Riga.
Mr. YARDLZY And how did you come here?

Applicant: Ship Francisco.
Mr. YARDLYI : Well, though you are a Russian enemy, you do
not seem to be a very formidable one. (Lotui laughter.) Tell
me, my man, do you belong to a captured vessel; sud what are
you doing here ? We cannot allow our Russian euemies to be
thus at large amongst us. (More laughter.)

Mr. Yardley, on further inquiry, having ascertained
that the Russian ship was sold in Belgium after the
breaking out of the war, directed an officer of the
court to make inquiries at the Alien-office, to see
what might be done in the case. When informed of
this course, the applicant said,
Me not go back Russia; me not go back to the tyrant; me stay
here.
Mr. YARDLEY : Well, it is a very laudable resolution. I see
we have not much to apprehend from 3uu, and the officer shall
see to your case.
SOME CURIOUS PROCEEDINGS are stated to have
taken place at Bow-street Police-office on Wednesday,
when Dr. Peithman, formerly of Bonn, an author of
scholarly repute, and about fifteen years ago a Ger-
man professor in Ireland, was brought up by warrant,
charged with being a person of unsound mind, and
unfit to be at large. The charge was preferred by
Mr. Reynolds, solicitor to the Treasury, and much
mystery seemed to attach to the case from his re-
questing to have the investigation conducted in per-
fect secrecy in the magistrate's private room, and
with the attendance of only a single officer of the
court—namely, Mr. Burnaby, the chief clerk. Mr.
Otway, M.P., as a personal friend of Dr. Peithman,
and Mr. Lewis, in the character of his solicitor, ob-
tained permission to be present after much difficulty.
Notwithstanding these attempts to keep the detals
from the public, the reporters seem to have suc-
ceeded in accomplishing their purpose, and a circum-
stantial account of the case was published in the
papers next day. From the defendant's own account
it would appear
that in the year 1840 he came over from Ireland with some
testimonials and letters of recommendation, which he left at
Buckingham Palace for the perusal of Prince Albert., his object
being to obtain some professional employment. He states that
he was promised an Interview with the prince, and after waiting
about two hours at the palace was eventually dismissed by
Colonel Phipps, with an intimation that the prince could not see
him. His subsequent endeavours to obtain mu audience of his
royal highness, or to get bark his testimonials, led to his being
conducted by a detective officer to the Hume-otrice.where he was
taken before the chief magistrate (whom he says he was led to
expect would be the Marquis of Normanby), and declared to be
of unsound mind. He was then sent to Bethlem Hospital, and
there remained in confinement for fourteen years, without a sin-
gle act of violence being recorded against him. He states that
he was liberated a few months ago upon the certificate of one of
the medical gentlemen who were then present to certify to his
insanity.
The medical certificates given in at the bearing were
stated to be sufficient to warrant the issue of an order
for Dr. Peichman's transference to a lunatic asylum.
This was accordingly done, and he was conveyed in
the course of the evening to the Colney Hatch estab-
lishment. Remonstrances against the ex parte nature
of the proceedings were offered in vain, but Mr.
Lewis declared his intention of obtaining a habeas
corpus for his release, and Mr. Otway is stated to
have promised to bring the subject before the House
of Commons. The immediate cause of the proceed-

I

AMY 15, 1854.

gluibtnts an effnuts.

ings against the defendant was, it is said, his unex-
pected presence in the private chapel of Buckingham
Palace during divine service on Sunday last.

THE POOR FRENCHMAN LATOUR, who was so much
hurt by the fall with his parachute, after a balloon
*scent at Cremorne Gardens, has died from the in-
juries he received. At the inquest held on Monday
last Mr. Henry Adams, the aeronaut who had the
management of the helicon, stated that he ascended
with the deceased from Cremorne Gardens on the
27th of June. Deceased was seated on a parachute
formed as a horse, a pair of wings on each side
being attached to it. His feet rested on a treadwheel
intended to move the wings. Finding the parachute
would not act, and knowing the danger of liberating
it from the balloon under such circumstances, wit-
ness made the descent. The ropes were twisted
round the parachute, which he attributed to their
being damp. The deceased made n 9 attempt to
separate the parachute from the balloon. The grap-
pling-irons were put out and caught in a ditch. The
balloon and its appurtenances were carried over a
tree, against which the deceased was dashed with
much violence. He was extricated and removed to
an inn at Tottenham, near where they fell, and where
he lingered until his death. Mr. C. Green, the
aeronaut, in answer to the coroner, stated that if the
ropes had been braided they would not have twisted.
Verdict, " Accidental death." Deceased was in his
forty-ninth year, and it is said that he has left a family
in very indigent circumstances in Paris.
THE premises of Mr. Wilberton, a carpenter and
builder at Hornsey, were destroyed by fire on Mon-
day, and the valuable stock in trade and working
tools consumed. The building was insured. Con
siderable damage was also dune to the adjoining
home and its contents.
WHILE some boys were engaged a few days ago in
taking a bird's nest from a tree on the premises of
Mr. Cooper, tanner, at Milton, near Gravesend, one
of them, named Gowen, thrust his hand so resolutely
down the hollow in which the nest was situated that
he wai unable to extricate it, and it was found neces-
sary to saw the tree asunder in order to liberate him.
THE DEFALCATIONS OF H. SWABEY, the late Re-
gistrar of the Court of Admiralty, are set forth in a
report just printed by order of Parliament. The
committee state that the total amount of the dell.
ciency in Mr. Swabey's accounts appears to be as
follows, namely—
In money £35,328 18 8
Exchequer Bills
Stock, 3 per Cent. Consols
Stock, 3e per Cent. Reduced 2,842 8 9

. .
and the amountof dividend on such stock, from July,
i 843, and interest upon Exchequer Bills, for varying
periods, amounting to a considerable sum. Mr. Swa •
bey's salary was 1,400/. a year : he gave no security,
ior was he ever called upon to render any account,
except in the comparatively unimportant case of the
fee fund.
A CONVICT escaped from Dartmoor prison last week
under extraordinary circumstances. He got out of
Jis cell by cutting a piece from the lock of his door,
Which enabled him to reach the large hall. He then
proceeded to make a hole in the roof, which occu-
pied him three hours, and thus got outside the prison,
but had another difficulty to surmount—the boundary
Tall, upwards of twenty feet high—he succeeded,
aowever, in scaling it, and, on finding himself out-
side, broke into the house of Dr. Campbell, with
which he was well acquainted, having been there to
work, and stole the plate, as well as the doctor's
macintosh, frock-coat, leggings, and riding-boots,
with which he equipped himself, and started for Two
Bridges. Here he broke into a stable, and, taking a
horse and saddle, mounted, and was off on the road
to Exeter. He had not proceeded far before hernet
with the owner of the horse, who had been to a fair
about seven miles off, and was returning in company
with another person. They stopped him, and de-
manded to know where he was going to take the
horse; and, on perceiving that he had on a part of
the prison dress, they took him into custody and
brought him back to the prison.
Tux Dirego, which sailed from the Mersey on
Thursday week, with 420 Government emigrants on
board, returned to Liverpool on Monday last, seve-
ral deaths having occurred, and about 100 passengers
suffering from diarrhoea. The vessel, it appears, had
reached Queenstown, when the disease became so
alarming that it was deemed prudent to return to
port. Up to Tuesday night 44 cases had proved fatal
among the emigrants. The late accounts are more
favourable, and no new cases are reported to have
oectured.
A YOUNG MAN, clerk to a solicitor who is clerk to
the board of guardians, committed suicide last Wed-
nesday at Haslingden, He was addicted to drinking,
and often was not able to be at his post in conse-
quence. It appeared also that he had recently ob-
tained a check for 201. as money required for one of

THE PRESS.

he relieving-offioers when no such sum was really '
wanted, and which he never handed over.
A MELANCHOLY AaCIRENT took place at the Syden-
ham Crystal Palace on Monday. A glazier engaged
in repairing the semicircular roof of the great transept
had neglected to secure himself properly by a rope
while working at that dizzy height. He fell upon the
ledge which runs along the side of the roof, and was
killed almost instantaneously. Singularly enough,
only one pane of glass was broken by his fall, the
framing, frail as it looks, being sufficiently strong to
prevent his falling through.
AT THE WORKS OF MR. J. B. EDELSTEN, Warring-
ton, last week, a large grinding-wheel of stone, turned
by a steam-engine, while at its greatest velocity, sud-
denly broke in pieces, some of which passed through
the wall and roof of the building, and killing instan-
taneously a young man named Tickel, who was
standing at the wheel.

grtlata

THE GOVERNMENT have determined upon an im-
portant step in the employment of the Irish constabu-
lary, instead of the military, in what may be termed
strictly garrison duty. The Evening Post gives the
following account of the proceeding
" We have learned that 900 of the constabulary are to be
brought from out-stations through the country, and placed
in barracks in Dublin, fur the purpose of occupying all
the military positions of the metropolis, with the exception
of the Castle guard. They are to be on duty next week.
After the embarkation of the 03rd Regiment, there will be
left in Ireland, exclusive of the depots, only two complete
regiments. Six English militia regiments, it is stated in
the military circles, are ordered for Ireland, and a number
of Irish militia regiments are to be forthwith embodied."
It is considered probable that the Irish militia regi-
ments will be placed on duty in England.
THE application to admit Mr. Carden to bail on
the charge of abduction was made on Monday in
Dublin, before Chief Justice Lefroy. After hearing
counsel on both sides, his lordship refused the mo-
tion—first, on the ground of the near approach of
the assizes ; and secondly, because it was doubtful
if a much. more serious charge might not be pre-
ferred than that of attempting to commit an abduc-
tion. It appeared by the informations that the
prosecutrix, Miss Arbuthnot, was moved from her
position in the car or carriage in which she was
seated, and the Chief Justice would not say that an
actual abduction had not been committed in point of
law. A charge of conspiracy might also, perhaps, be
preferred.
AN INVESTIGATION took place on Tuesday, before
the magistrates of Cork, into a case in which a young
man named John Walsh, a printer, was charged with
fraudulently taking away a Miss Mary Spillane from
her parents, she being under the age of eighteen
years, and entitled to personal property of consider-
able amount on attaining her majority. The young
lady's mother was present, and stated that her daugh-
ter had disappeared on Friday, and that she had not
since discovered her whereabouts. Sbe was last
seen in the company of the prisoner. The magis-
trates took informations and refused bail.
A TIPPERARY POLICEMAN, emulous, it would ap-
pear, of the example set him in higher circles, car-
ried off a young woman from her family last week.
IT is stated that a valuable iron-mine has been
discovered on Lord Carew's estate in Queen's
county
Mr. BIGGER, a magistrate for the county of Louth,
who has been an active co-operator with the Rev. Mr.
Ashe in missionary efforts in that quarter, has re-
ceived from the Ribbon Society the following intima-
tion of their disapproval of his zeal :
" Bigger's—take this warning from our society, that,
on the pearl of your Life, and also your wife's and children,
if you keep to be a companion of Paddy Ashe's, and aiding
him in his dambed confedresy making anti-crista, or going
to his church ; on the pearl of your lives, do not attempt to
come to Filips-town, or you may meet with worse than
Eastwood of Castletown—we will leave ye that ye wont tell
Ho hurted yes. We also intind to give Paddy what Sante
Stevin met wid—stoned to death. Take this as a warning
from a member of Saint Patrick. You need not suppose
that we are all hung yit, or that you wil Get Slippin so
handy as you got Before from our Hands ; for we will go
early to work this turn, if yes dont stop from coming to
Paddy. So take that as a warnin, and have your coffin
ready if yes do come.
" Son to Molly Maguire, and no mistake."
THE ARMY IN IRELAND is now reduced to four
regiments and four depOts of cavalry, and four regi-
ments and twenty-eights depOts of infantry. This
force, exclusive of artillery, might be estimated at
about twelve thousand men. When the 21st Fusi-
leers and 63rd Regiment embark from Cork for the
East there will be only two regiments and twenty-
eight depots of infantry in Ireland—a smaller force
than has been in that country for many years, not
excepting the period of the Peninsular war.
POTATO DISEASE.—I have seen letters from Cork,
Balling, Sligo, and Westmeath, all of which state
that the potato blight has appeared, but only to a
very small extent.

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