The Press.
London, England, 1858-11-20 00:00:00

THII PRESS, NOVEMBER 20, 1858.

himself, together with the copy of the article to
which he had taken exception, to the committee of
the Garrick Club. " I think," wrote Mr. Thackeray,
" I may fairly appeal to the committee of the Garrick
Club to decide whether the complaints I have against
Mr. Yates are not well founded, and whether the
practice of publishing such articles as that which I.
inclose will not be fatal to the comfort of the club,
and is not intolerable in a society of gentlemen."
Mr. Yates, having heard that Mr. Thackeray had
adopted this course, wrote to ask the committee to
suspend their judgment until he could consult his
friends and prepare his own version of the case to
lay before them. This was on the 10th of June, but
on the 23rd Mr. Yates wrote to the committee,
questioning their right to entertain the matter at all.
" The article," he said, " may be in exceedingly bad
taste, but the committee is not a committee of
taste." The committee held a special meeting on
the 20th, and came to a decision expressed in certain
resolutions. They resolved that it was competent to
them to entertain Mr. Thackeray's complaint, that
the complaint itself was well grounded, and that the
practice of publishing such articles, being reflections
by one member of the club against any other, would
be fatal to the comfort of the club and intolerable
in a scciety of gentlemen. The committee further
resolved that Mr. Yates was bound to make "an
ample apology," or retire from the club. Mr. Yates
declined either to retire or to apologize, and stated he
would appeal to a general meeting on two
questions—first, whether the case between Mr.
Thackeray and himself was such a case as should be
submitted to the committee at all ; and secondly,
" Whether Mr. Thackeray has any right to call for
an apology from me when he has so very arrogantly
and coarsely addressed me." The result was that
Mr. Yates's subscription was returned, and it was
intimated to him that he was expelled the club. He
has therefore instituted an action against the corn•
mittee for trespass, in refusing to allow him to enter
the club, and this will raise the important question,
as affecting the rights of members generally, whether
the club had the right to expel Mr. Yates or not.
It is understood that there will be a large array of
legal talent on both sides, and the trial, both from
the nature of the issue and the position of the
parties, will possess great interest. The Attorney•
General has been retained for the committee of the
Garrick Club. Mr. Edwin James, Q.C., is to lead the
ease on behalf of the plaintiff, Mr. Edmund Yates.

THE CHARGE AGAINST THE LONDON GENERAL OMNI-
Bub COMPANY of conspiring to injure and ruin the
Metropolitan Saloon Company, was resumed at
Westminster police court on Thursday, before Mr.
Poynter. It was denied that the object of this pro•
secution was to induce the London General Omnibus
Company to purchase the stock of the Saloon Omni-
bus Company. A good deal of conversation ended in
an adjournment to the 21st of December being agreed
to, at which period, in default of an agreement 3ut of
court, the case will be gone on with until the whole
of the depositions have been taken.
THE TRIAL FOR MURDER OF ALEXANDER MURRAY
took place iu the High Court of Justiciary, Edin-
burgh, on Monday. The prisoner was charged with
the murder of Janet Tod, or Campbell, his grand-
mother, at her house, Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, on
the 21st of August last. He was only twenty-three
years of age, and had been ten years a seaman. He
had within the past two years had two attacks of
delirium tremens; and while suffering from these
attacks, or from mania thereby induced, had twice
attempted self-destruction, and had been in conse-
quence confined in lunatic asylums both in Paris and
London. He had come home from a voyage on the
19th of August, having previously spent some days
at Greenock in a course of excessive drinking, and
after having been at home two days suffering from
the horrors of delirium, be attacked his aged grand-
mother with a breakfast-knife, and murdered her in
the most determined and shocking manner by cutting
her throat and severing the jugular vein. This net
was evidently committed in a paroxysm of mania, and
in the belief that he was destroying a roan whom he
thought was attempting his capture. Tlie most
remarkable fact in connection with his case was that
about eight hours after the murder his sanity
appeared to return, and he became conscious of the
dreadful crime be had committed. Among the wit•
nesses adduced in defence were Dr. Moreau, of the
Bicetre, Paris ; Mr. Whitfield and Dr. Goulden, St.
Thomas's Hospital, London ; and Dr. ehristson,
Edinburgh. The result of the case, which lasted two
days, was a verdict of " Not Guilty," on the ground
of insanity at the time of committing tho act. The
prisoner was ordered to be detained in custody during
her Majesty's pleasure.
A TERRIBLE ENCOUNTER between gamekeepers
and poachers took place on Wednesday on the estate
of Richard Watt, Esq., of Bishop Burton, a small
village about three miles from Beverley, Yorkshire.
A gamekeeper was killed by gunshot ; a watcher so
seriously wounded that he was declared by the medi-
cal men to be rapidly sinking ; and a third received
so much shot in 126 abdomen as to render impossible

1129

his removal to give evidence. Ten or twelve poachers
were engaged in the affray. Two of them have been
arrested.

DANIEL MITCHELL DAVIDSON and Comm William
GORDON applied for their certificates at the Court of
Bankruptcy on Saturday. The bankrupts were
colonial brokers of Mincing•lane, and Cousin-lane,
Upper Thames-street, and distillers of West Ham-
lane, Essex. The transactions in which they were
engaged were the subject of a criminal prosecution
at the Old Bailey, where they were sentenced to a
considerable period of incarceration. .4 lengthened
inquiry took place, and the sitting was adjourned to
Friday, the 26ttk inst. The bankrupts received
protection from arrest. _ _

AN EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCE OF MISTAKEN
IDENTITY has just occurred at the Worship-street
Police-court. On Sunday a burglary was committed
at a butcher's house in Shoreditch. The servant
girl saw the burglar issue from tha drawing•room
and presented a blunderbuss at h;m, but as it was
not loaded he managed to escape. On Tuesday she
saw, in Shorediteb, a young man named Abbott,
whom she gave into custody as the thief, and in two
examinations before the magistrate she swore posi-
tively as to his identity. The young man, however,
has brought forward most sati,factory evidence to
prove that at the time of the burglary he was in a
chapel two miles distant from the prosecutor's
residence. The magistrate discharged the prisoner,
considering that tl.•er3 could not be the least doubt
of his innocence.

JOHN' CULPECK, a plasterer, was brought or. Tues.
day before Mr. Broughton, at Marylebone Police.
court, on the remanded charge of stabbing his wife
with intent to murder, and was fully committed for
trial. The wretched man had afterwards attempted
to take away his own life, both crimes arising, as
was alleged, from improper conduct on the part of
the wife. A large assemblage outside vented their
feelings towards the wife of the prisoner in hisses
and groans as she left the court, and the aid of the
police was required to protect her from some rougher
demonstration.

A JUVENILE Callum, named Robert Sherwood,
pleaded guilty, at the Surrey Sessions on Monday,
to stealing a fourpenny-piece from Hannah Breedon,
and a purse and 4s. 61. from Alice Wake. Though
only sixteen years of age, the prisoner 'dad been four
times tried and convicted of picking pockets, and
several times summarily convicted berme the magis-
trates. He was sentenced to four years' penal ser-
vitude.
AN IMPORTANT DFCIBI•IN under the new Building
Act wt.s given on Tuesday by Mr. Beadon at Marl
borough•street Police-court, which his worship had
postponed from last week for consideration. The
act requires that a certain vacant space be left behind
dwelling houses for the purposes of light and venti-
lation. It was represented by the district surveyor
that a house situated in Charles•street had the area
in the rear covered in and lighted by a skylight, and
this he considered to be in contravention of the act.
The magistrate, however, held that, as the lower
part of the budding was used as a shop or warehouse,
and not as a dwelling-house, and as provision was
made for sufficient light and ventilation, the premises
were constructed iu accordance with the terms of
the act.

ttatitts a 0 Offencts.

" FAST LIFE " AT CAMBRIDGE has been exempli-
fied at a coroner's inquest on a girl named Susan
Butler, who met with her death while out driving
with a female friend, and accompanied by two young
members of the University, Mr. Pearson and Mr.
Hulbert. The evidence at the inquest explained
how the accident occurred. Sarah Walker, of Ches-
terton, deposed—l pass by the name of Clark. I
knew the deceased, and was very intimate with her.
We had been together a whole fortnight before the
accident. She would have been twenty-four on the
26th of next January. L have frequently been out
with her when she has been driving a horse and
trap. She used to ride on horseback a good deal.
She was well up in the management of horses. We
breakfasted together at. her house about half-past
ten on L'hursday. I left her about half-past eleven
at my house, to which we went after breakfast. She
then returned home. I went on to Cambridge, and
on my return to Chesterton, at half-past one, she
was at her house, upstairs, dressing. She called me
into her bedroom. I remained with her about twenty
minutes, and she pressed me to go with her to the
boat-races. I consented, after a great deal of per-
suasion, and went home to dress. We left Ches-
terton in a fly at half-past two. There was a glass
of brandy and water in her bedroom while she was
dressing. I did not see her drink it, but suppose
she did. I saw her take no liquor before that. She
did not, while dressing, appear as if she had been
drinking. We went from Chesterton to the Plough
at Fen Ditton. She smoked cigars as we went along.
(The witness here became tQo e 4eited to Moped,