The Press.
London, England, 1857-06-27 00:00:00

Saba aub Vein.

AN AcrioN OF CAIN. CoN., brought by a solicitor,
Mr. Armitage, against the Hon. Colonel Macdonald,
was tried at the Court of Common Pleas on Monday.
The damages were laid at 5001., and the case was
simply this. Mr. Armitage married his wife in
October, 1847, and in March, 1848, the young lady
left her husband, and declared " she would rather
die first" than live with him or allow him the
privileges of his position. For two years they corre-
sponded in the most affectionate tone, but she
steadfastly refused to live with him. In 1850 she
suddenly disappeared, and could neither be found by
friends or husband. One night Mr. Armitage saw
her in a theatre in London :
Mr. Armitage was in the theatre, and he went to the box
she was in, and he called the gentleman out of the box,
and the gentleman assured him that the meeting was
purely accidental. Mr. Armitage said to the gentleman,
" Are you aware that that lady is my wife ?" and the
gentleman said he was not. Mr. Armitage demanded his
address, and the gentleman gave a card with the name of
Mr. Lloyd engraved on it. Mr. Armitage demanded the
address, and the gentleman wrote in pencil, " Palace-
chambers, St. James's-street." During the conversation
the lady escaped altogether, and Mr. Armitage could find
no trace of her. He found she had left in a cab with an
elderly gentleman. He gave the waterman some money
to find the cabman and send him to me. We found the
cabman who had taken her to Lord Aberdeen's house in
Argyle-street, and she went in at one gate and out at the
other. Lord Aberdeen's porter told me so. I insisted on
seeing Colonel Gordon, and having the whole matter in
qnired into. In my own mind I acquitted the earl.
In July, '5l, it was discovered that she was living in
Gloucester•place, Hyde park, and was on terms of
great intimacy with Colonel Macdonald. Several
witnesses were called to prove that she never went
less than twice a week to the colonel's chambers in
the Albany, f om four p.m. to six and eight p.m., and
remained there three or four hours. In 1852 the
lady changed her lodgings to Hill-street, Knights-
bridge, and Colonel Macdonald was a frequent visitor.
Two or three "cousins" also came to see her fre-
quently. The identity of the persons beingiproved, Serg.
Shee for the defence maintained that no injury was
inflicted upon Mr. Armitage, as it was impossible to
prove on the part of the defendant knowledge of the
previous marr►age of Mrs. Armitage. The jury re-
turned a verdict for Mr. Armitage, with 1001. damages.
ESSEX has been the scene of two horrible murders
this week. At Chingford Hatch, near Woodford,
on Sunday last, the farmhouse of a gentleman, Mr.
Small, while the family were at church, was entered,
robbed, and the old housekeeper, seventy-two years
of age, most brutally murdered. The murderer was
tracked to the railway station, but there all trace of
him was lost. The police are out in every direction,
and it is to be hoped that before long the villain will
be hunted down. In the other case, the police were
more fortunate. Michael Crawley, an Irish labourer,
living at Stratford, upon his wife refusing to give
him Is. (id. to spend in drink, deliberately beat out
her brains with a billhook. The poor woman, when
found a few minutes afterwards, was still breathing,
and lingered some hours. The villain has chopped
at ber in seventeen different places, He was ar-

THE PRESS.

rested next morning at Ilford, contessed his crime,

and was committed for trial.
THE GAMBLING CASE OF CULVERWELL AND SIDE-
BOTTOM was again brought before the public this
week, in the shape of an action by Mr. Sidebottom
against a Mr. Adkins, a confederate of Culverwell,
for 6,5281., as money lost at play. The facts of the
case were again detailed, as to how Mr. Sidebottom
came to town and lost 25,0001. at the Berkeley, in
Albemarle-street. There was no defence, and a ver-
dict for the sum in full was returned.
THE APPEAL IN THE CONDEMNED CONVICT MAN-
SELL'S CASE was heard this week at the Queen's
Bench and re used. The execution of the prisoner