The Press.
London, England, 1858-04-03 00:00:00

Sad an Volta.

THE TRIAL OF BERNARD will take place at the
Central Criminal Court, before a special commission,
composed of Lord Campbell, the Lord Chief Baron,
and Mr. Justice Erle, on Monday, the 12th. 'lndio
is to be brought over by the French authorities for
the purpose of giving evidence in the case. The
Attorney-General (Sir Fitzroy Kelly) will attend to
conduct the prosecution, and Mr. Edwin James, Q.C.,
will conduct the defence. Truelove, the bookseller,
charged with a libel in publishing and selling the
pamphlet entitled Tyrannieide, will be tried at the
ordinary session of the Old Bailey next week, and
will be prosecuted and defended by the same learned
gentlemen. Both trials are expected to excite very
considerable public interest.
THE TRIAL OF PHE REV. MR. SMITH AND HIS WEFE
for the extraordinary attack upon Mr. John Leach,
formerly a suitor of Mrs. Smith, will take place at
Gloucester Assizes, before Baron Channell, this day.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith have had an interview in
Gloucester prison, in presence of their legal adviser.
The defence will be a joint one, and Mr. Huddleston,
Q.C., and Mr. Symons are retained for the defence.
A number of witnesses will be examined on both
sides ; but the nature of the defence has not yet
transpired. A good deal of curiosity is excited in
Gloucestershire as to the result.

ATTEMPTED ROBBERY IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE is now
becoming so common an offence that scarcely a week
passes without a case being reported. On Monday
a gross case was brought before the bench at Croy-
don. An Irishman, one Cummins, was charged as
follows :—On Sunday a man, named Mulley, got
into a third-class carriage at Red-hill for London.
In: the same compartment were Cummins and a
woman. Upon entering the Merstham tunnel, the
prisoner Cummins got close to the side of Malley,
who put his hand in his pocket to protect his purse.
Suddenly Cummins struck Malley a tremendous
blow in the face. Mulley seized him A desperate
strnggle now took place. Cummins at length got
hold of Mulley's legs, and succeeded in forcing nearly
the whole of his body out of the carriage,
and it was only by a desperate effort that the latter
saved himself from being thrown out. Eventually,
however, he got the upper hand of the prisoner, and
when the train arrived at the Caterham junction,
the latter was handcuffed, and sent on to Croydon in
custody. It required four policemen to take the
prisoner from the railway station to the police sta-
tion. The woman who was in the compartment of
the carriage when the struggle took place was in a
fainting state when the train arrived at the Cater-
ham junction. Cummins was remanded till this day,
Saturday.—Another, and a worse case, came
before Mr. Baron Martin for trial last week at
Liverpool. Michael Brannon, also an Irishman,
was tried and convicted of laving garotted and
robbed a Mr. Wainwright tinder similar circum-
stances, but with the additional aggravation of pour-

ing chloroform over him after he (Brannon) had got
him down. Mr. Baron Martin, in passing sentence,
said :

it would be frightful, indeed, if men were permitted to
escape from the severest penalty allowed by law for crimes
of such a character. No man, indeed, would be safe in
travelling in railway carriages, particularly express trains,
which only stop at long intervals. Persons might be
robbed and murdered without any means of communica-
ting with the guard. He might direct sentence of death
to be recorded, but as he did not wish to pass a sentence
which probably would not be carried out, he should sen-
tence the prisoner to penal servitude for his natural life.

REPRIEVES FROM SENTENCES OF DEATH have been
granted by her Majesty, at the recommendation of
Mr. Secretary Walpole, in the case of John Gordon,
convicted of the Hagley burglary ; James Jones, of
Carmarthen, for wounding with intent to murder ;
and Emma Groom, for the murder of her own child.
The sentence in the cases of the men has been com-
muted to penal servitude for life.
THE QUESTIODI OF OPENING THE CRYSTAL PALACE
ON SUNDAYS was negatively decided last week
by the Vice. Chancellor, Sir W. P. Wood. The
issue was raised by Mr. Kendall, a shareholder, as to
whether the company, by the Act of '5O, which
empowered them to give tickets in exchange for
surrendered shares, did also permit them to allow
such ticket-holders admission to the grounds on
Sundays. The Vice-Chancellor decided that such an

adraisiion would be a violation of the company's
charter :

Parting with a share, which was a valuable property, for
a ticket of admission upon the terms proposed was, in
effect, procuring a ticket of admission on Sundays in
consideration of money paid indirectly to the company.
The company were not authorised to issue tickets of ad-
mission on these terms, and the demurrer must be over-
ruled. The injunction sow-lit by the bill and notice of
motion would be granted, restraining the defendants from
issuing tickets so as to admit persons to the gronuds on the
Lord's Day, in consideration of any money payment, directly
or indirectly.

AN ADJUDICATION OP BANKRUPTCY was made on
Monday against Mr. John Townsend, auctioneer, of
Greenwich, and M.P. for that borough.
JANES Matzos, a " respectable " attorney of
Ashton-under-Lyne, charged with forgery by altering
a receipt for 1501. to one for 4501. ou behalf of one of
his clients, a Mrs. Clarke, by whom he was deputed
to pay 4501. to a creditor, and so robbing that client
of 3001., was tried at Liverpool on Saturday before
Mr. Baron Martin, convicted, and sentenced to penal
servitude for life.