The Press.
London, England, 1854-08-12 00:00:00

gaio aitO Voila.

AN AcnoN Fon LIBEL came before a jury at Staf-
ford Assizes on Tuesday, the complainant being a
surgeon practising at Brewood, near Wolverhampton,
and the alleged libel consisting of an article in the
Wolverhampton Gazette, imputing to his unskilful
treatment the death of a person named Clift. The
deceased was a farmer, and his sons were the defend
ants in the action :

It appeared that on the 28th of May, 1853, Mr. Clift, who was
aged seventy-one, broke his arm, and the plaintiff was called in
on the following day to attend him. According to his account
he reduced the fracture, placing the broken parts in perfect ap-
position; but, in consequence of the patient's bad constitution,
the bone did not unite, and at the end of seven weeks the splints
were taken off. The family were not satisfied, and Mr. Edwards,
a surgeon of Walsall, was called in. Plaintiff and Mr. Edwards,
nevertheless, met in consultation the following day, and the
splints were put on again. Mr. Crean continued to attend the
patient occasionally. He died in October from a carbuncle. A
good deal of recrimination took place in the neighbourhood re-
lative to the alleged improper treatment by Mr. Crean, and a
pat-mortem examination was made, conducted by Mr. Edwardis
partner. Mr. Crean subsequently called on Mr. Edwards to re-
tract what he was supposed to have said against his professional
skill, and, on the latter declining, Mr. Crean held a whip over
him, and told him to consider himself horsewhipped. Au angry
correspondence then ensued in the Wolverhampton Chroniele. At
last the libel in question appeared in the shape of a letter from
the defendants, stating that they came forward injustice to Mr.
Edwards, and characterised Mr. Crean's statements as utterly
devoid of truth. The letter, in substance, also insinuated that
the death of the old man was occasioned by the maltreatment.
A number of witnesses, professional and unprofes-
sional, were called on each side, and the arm was
produced in court. The jury eventually found a ver-
dict for the plaintiff—Damages, 251.
THE ESHER MURDER CASE was tried at Guildford
on Wednesday, when the unfortunate woman Bzough
was arraigned upon six separate indictments for the
murder of her children. The case, of course,
attracted a crowd of spectators, and occupied many
hours in recapitulation and the examination of
witnesses. Throughout the proceedings the culprit
exhibited much indifference, if not absolute uncon-
sciousness of her awful situation. The facts of the
crime have already been published, and were estab-
lished in legal form to the jury. Medical evidence
was then given at much length as to the probable
state of mind of the prisoner at the time the acts
were committed. Ultimately the jury returned a
verdict of Not Guilty, on the ground of insanity, and
the woman was consequently ordered to be kept
closely confined during her Majesty's pleasure.

755

ANOTHER EXIGRA.NT PASSENGER ACTION has been
brought before. a jtiry, the defendants being the well•
known shipping firm of Wigram and Co. The
plaintiff in the case, Mr. Fieldhouse, formerly carried
on the business of a wheelwright at Melbourne, in
Australia. The present action was brought. to recover
compensation for a breach of contract in putting the
plaintiff and his family in inferior cabins on a voyage
from Melbourne to London, he having taken passages
in the ship Kent, the property of the defendants, for
that voyage. The plaintiff also complained of the
filthy state of the ship and badness of the provisions.
The evidence offered on both sides during the pro-
gress of the case was very voluminous, and, as usual,
very conflicting. The witnesses for the plaintiff de-
posed to a variety of discomforts from dirt, insufficient
accommodation, bad or scanty provisions, &c., while
the defendants produced testimony to show that
these causes of complaint were either non-existent
or presented nothing more than the ordinary
disagrimens inevitable in the course of long voyages,
further protracted by accidents of wind and weather.
The case occupied two entire days at the Devizes
Assizes, and terminate,don Tuesday night in a verdict
for the plaintiff—Damages, 501.
AN ENGLISH CASE OF ABDUCTION was tried at
Appleby, on the northern circuit., upon the 4th inst.,
when John Atkinson stood charged with having, on
the morning of the 25th of May, unlawfully taken
Anne Jane Ward, an unmarried girl, under the age
of sixteen years, out of the possession, and against
the will, of Jane Bishop, who had at the time the
lawful care and charge of the said Anne Jane Ward.
The prisoner was a music-master, who gave lessons
at Miss Bishop's school, where Miss Ward was one
of his pupils. The girl seems to have been prema-
turely developed, both in mind and person. Some
of the witnesses stated that she appeared to be six-
teen or seventeen, and several letters read in court
showed an unusual precocity of sentiment and con-
trivance. It was proved that she was a consenting
party, having voluntarily and vary skilfully contrived
to escape from the school and join her lover, when
the pair proceeded to Gretna-green and were united
by the officiating practitioner of the place. They
were, however, closely followed, and the prisoner was
arrested very shortly afterwards. On the trial it
was ruled that the consent of a girl so young and RO
situated did not justify the abduction ; and Mr.
Atkinson, being found Guilty, was sentenced to nine
months' imprisonment in the county gaol.

glltibtats anb Offturts.

AN INQUEST was held on Tuesday relative to the
sudden death of Robert Snow, Esq., aged furry-nine,
late of the firm of Snow, Dean, PaukSttallan, and
Co., of the Strand, bankers. It appeared by the evi-
dence that deceased, who had previsusly been subject
to fits of an epileptic character. was found dead in
his bedroom by a servant on the previous Friday
morning. The post-mortem examination showed
that death was occasioned by disease of the heart,
and the jury returned a verdict accordingly.
Dn. OusnAmstry, the inedical superintendent of
the Worcester City and County Lunatic Asylum at
Powick, committed suicide on Monday last by taking
prussic acid. Dr. Grahamsley was in Worcester on
Saturday in his usual health and spirits, and no cause
is assigned for the melancholy deed. The doctor
was a Scotchman by birth, and was appointed to the
asylum at its completion about two or three years
ago. He was greatly respected in Worcester.
THE CONVICT LEWELLYN GAIMATT TALMADGE
HARvEy, who murdered the poor girl Mary Richards,
was executed on the morning of yesterday week, the
4th inst, in front of Exeter gaol.
Tim Loss OF THE Situ Gu/nare, of Liverpool, with
the fate of the captain and mate, who perished in
attempting to save the gold from the ship, wasnotified
at Lloyd's on Saturday last, through a letter forwarded
by their agent at Cape Coast, dated likt. June. The
Gamete went ashore on the beach, about sixty miles
westward of the Cape, on the morning of the 26th of
May last. The captain and mate were drowned,
owing to their having loaded themselves with gold,
which immediately sank them, and neither was Seen
to rise after. The natives congregated in large
numbers on the beach, robbing the survivors, and
seized everything that come from the wreck. The
bodies of the captain and mate were afterwards found,
stripped of everything, and completely naked. The
ship became a total loss.
Two OF Tar DrvEas employed in the diving-bell be-
longing to the Clyde trustees, and stationed on the
rock in the bed of the Clyde at Spiershedge, near
Renfrew, were engaged in blasting a piece of rock at
the bottom of the river, when from some accidental
canse an explosion took place, and splinters of the
rock were (lashed into the bell, injuring severely, if
not fatally, both of the workmen. Their names are
Stirling and M'Nair. The latter, it is feared, cannot
survive his injuries. ,