The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-04 00:00:00

yalu au police.

A DOMESTIC MUTINY.
A VERY singular charge of exciting some men of the
13th Light Infantry to mutiny was heard a few days
ago at Winchester, before Mr. W. Hutchinson, the
mayor, and a full bench of magistrates.
Colonel Horne, of the 13th, was the complainant,
and Mr. Roe, the manager of the railway business of
Mr. Lipscombe, residing in Upper Brook•street,
Winchester, was the defendant.

It appeared from the evidence that Colonel Horne
had formed the acquaintance of Miss Cleaveland,
step-daughter to Mr. Roe, and had apparently carried
on a correspondence with her through her servant.
On the 25th of October the colonel received an
anonymous letter, attacking him for his conduct to
his men, and hinting at dark schemes of revenge.
General Scarlett also received the following letter:—

Winchester, 1858.
Sir,—Now you are in this city inquire the reason there
is to have so many deserters front the 13th Regiment.
There must be something, and you will not have much
difficulty in finding the cause, and if not removed, you will
lose numbers more, and then, perhaps, the poor fellows
w►ll be let back from the cat; and, old Home, the iron.
hearted (02 years old), the end will be worse than you
anticipate. Take warning.

Colonel Arthur Home put the letter in, and pro.
duced the letters he bad received from Miss Cleave•
land on the subject, the lady having waived her ob-
jection to their being produced.
The first letter, as read by the clerk, ran as fol-
lows :

Dear Sir,—l cannot refrain from presuming upon our
slight acquaintance to write and say how truly sorry I am
to hear of the unpleasant affair which has occurred between
you and Mr. Roe. He has, in the presence of mamma,
knelt before me, imploring me to exert any infinewte I
may have with you to save him. This I would gladly have
done, from the position in which, unfortunately, he stands
with my own mother; but then, in the event of a failure,
he dares to threaten me with the implication of my name
in the concern, as " being under his roof," to make up a
case to defend himself with. Now, as you may suppose,
feel very much anuoyed and disgusted at the idea of haring
my name associated with such a transaction. Mr. II ie
appears to be ignorant of the consequences of &lawn.
raising a lady. Seeing the questionable position in which
I am likely to be placed, will, I trust, sir, be a sufficient
apology fur the liberty I take in writing.—Yours, sincerely,
E. T. D. CLeAYELAND.

Upper Brook-street, Monday.
Colonel Horne.
The second letter ran thus :

Tuesday, Nov.':
My dear Sir,—l received your letter this morning, asking
me if I could identify either of these disgraceful letters. I
will candidly tell you that I no sooner rested my eyes ou
the one to the general than i recognized a well-known hand-
writing, and I have not the slightest hesitation in saying I
believe that letter to be Mr. Roe's own production. The
other, as far as the writing is concerned, is not at all
familiar to me, but the expressions contained therein are,
many of them, what both mamma and myself have beeu
continually annoyed at hearing. It is a great pity you
cannot get some clue to the writer.
You alluded again to my name being brought up in the
case. You are quite at liberty to use it as connected with
either of the letters I have sent you, if they are required ti
be shown ; but I shall esteem it a great favour if you will
not permit them to be otherwise used in so disreputable
an affair.—l am, dear sir, yours sincerly,
Upper Brook-street. E. T. 1). CLEAVELANP.
Colonel A. Horne.
In reply to Mr. Faithfull, who appeared for the
defendant, Colonel Horne said further: The letter
you produce is in my handwriting. The envelope
you produce addressed, " Miss Norgott, Mr. Roe's,
Upper Brook-street, Winchester," was written by me.
The letter inside was not intended for the person to
whom the envelope was directed (it was inclosed in a
blank envelope inside). It was meant for Alas
Cleaveland.
The colonel's letter was put in by Mr. Faithfull,
and was read by the clerk amid general laughter :
My own darling,—l shall expect to see you on Monday,
at a quarter past one. 1 shall be able to get on without
you, dearest, but will tell you more when we meet. So
bring your sweetest kisses; yes, your very sweetest, for I
shall want them all. Your affectionate A.
The two privates whom Mr. Roe was accused of
exciting to mutiny were then examined. Acccording
to their evidence Mr. Roe questioned them about the
colonel's age and character, and whether a young
lady had been admitted into the barracks at night.
To the latter question an affirmative reply, on the
strength of rumour, was given. It was further
alleged that, at two interviews, he repeated the re-
mark that it was a wonder no one had attempted the
colonel's life on account of his severity.
This was the case for the prosecution.
Mr. FAITIMILL said he could not but think that
if his friend Mr. Greenfield had been zonsulted be-
fore the case had been begun, it would never !we
been before the bench at all, for be could not ima-
gine a more flimsy proof of the offence charged—
that of maliciously exciting some person to commit