The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-25 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

THIS DAY.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

BITITROII A? NA[ PRIV. AT

-lberoam Lo Cams=

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MID ♦ COUXOII JURY.

WOODS V. THODUS.-ACTION FOR FALSE Ii

Mr. M. Chamber, Q.C., and Mr. Metcalfe were counsel
for the plaintiff; and Mr. Knowles, Q.C., and Mr. Field ap-
peared for the defendant.
This was an action brought by a carman, who sued in
forma pauperis, against the superintendint of the Iron-
gate-wharf, Thames-street, to recover compensation in da-
mages for false imprisonment. It appeared that on the
25th of last May the plaintiff went to the Irungate-wharf
with a cart to fetch some paper. After he had left the wharf
he was brought hack and given in charge for Ptcal-
ing some paper. Upon this charge he was taken
before Mr. Yardley, the magistrate, at the Thames
Police-court, and, after I a remand, was committed for
trial at the Old Bailey, and was finally acquitt«l.
The defendant having refused to say that be had not reason-
able cause for giving the plaintiff into custody, the present
action was brought. .

These facts hiiving been duly proved,
Mr. Field, in the absence of Mr. Knowles, addressed the
jury for the defendant, and contended that his client had
tern justified in the course he had taken. The plaintiff
had been seen on the afternoon in question coming from
under his van with a canvass bag, which had
something bulky in it, which turned out to be
paper. Upon this bag the plaintiff was seen leaning,
in such a manner as to hide it from sight. The plaintiff
was also seen talking to a person who had no business at the
wharf, but was in the habit of hanging about the wharf.
The paper which was found in the canvass bag was disco-
vered by the foreman of the wharf to be part of a quantity
of paper that was about;to be sent to a stationer's. Under
these circumstances, he (Mr. Field) submitted that the de-
fendant had reasonable and probable cause for giving
the plaintiff into custody, and, therefore, he was entitled to
a verdict.

Evidence was then given on behalf of the defendant to
prove the facts which the learned counsel had stated in his
speech.
Mr. Chambers having replied,
Lord Campbell summed up, and
The jury immediately returned a verdict for the defendant.
Lord Campbell then said he much regretted that eases
were so often brought before him in which the plaintiff sued
as a pauper, as it was a ease of hardship upon defendants in
actions like the present. It was no reason because a person was
acquitted of a charge that he should bring an action against
the individual accusing him, thr the purpose of vindicating his
character. He (Lord Campbell) did not blame the gentle-
men at the bar who certified, because they were bound to
certify on the facts laid before them, and he was sure no
gentleman at the English bar would certify when there was
not good cause for bringing the action.
Mr. Chambers observed that the remarks his lordship had
just made ought to be, and he hoped would prove very
useful.

REPRESENTATION OF BEDFORIESIHRE.—YuntgreIft3r
the High Sheriff attended at the shire hall, to declare the
state of the pull, and he Linnoune..l the numbers as follows :
for Col. Gilpin, 1,562;
_for Mr. Houghton, 458. He there-
upon declared Richard Thomas Gilpin, Esq., duly elected ;
and the two candidates having briefly titian:well the
electors, the proceedings terminated
HARWICH ELEcrios.—Mr. Crawfordisa candidate
for the representation of this borough, vacant by the eleva-
tion to the peerage of Sir John Cam llobliowie. Mr.
11. T. Prime") also is expected to offer himself.
ROYAL COLLEGE OF SERGEONS.—The following
gentlemen having undergone the necessary examinations
Mr the diploma, were admitted members of the college at
the meeting of the Court of Examiners on the 21st inst.:—
Messrs. W. J. Broedwater, Cannon-street-road, St. Gen 's-
in-the-East ; W. C. Beale, Kennington : A. D. White,
Winchester, Hants ; E. Bishop, Kirkstall, Yorkshire ; W.
F. J. Turner, Horton, Gloneostershire ; J. Brady, Dews-
bury, Yorkshire • J. D. Baker, Gakhill. Somerset ; J.
Roulston, Ilelperisy, Yorkshire; C. King, Hon. East India
Company's Service, Bengal; T. J. Valiance, Stratford,
Essex; and W. 11. Sheehy, St. John-street-road, Islington.
At the same meeting of the court Mr. S. R. Potter passed
his examination for naval assistant.

COLLIERY EXPLOSION AT BYRNLEY. TIMER
Lives Losr.—A painful occurrence, terminating in the haat
of three lives, took place yesterday morning at the colliery
of Messrs. Vulgate and Cardwell, Burnley. Soon after the
hands arrived at the bottom of the pit, a number of those
who worked in what is called the lower bed, proceeded
thither ; some two or three hundred yards from the shaft,
one of them, named Thos. Stephenson, having no nil in his
lamp, took a lighted candle in hie hand and put the lamp in
his tub. His cousin, Henry Stephenson, begged of
him not to take the candle in his hand, hut
it was of no avail. Thomas rushed on. calling those who
remained behind, cowards. Some find air coming in con-
tact with the lighted candle immediately ignited, and caused
the death of the said Thomas Stephenson (who has left a
widow and two children), John St, phenson, a youth, and
Henry Weatwell, an unmarried man. Henry Stephenson,
who strove to prevent Thomas from taking the candle, nor-
rowly escaped with his lifr. He is much burned, as in also
a person named Nicholas Thompson, of whose recovery
there in scarcely any hope. Several hours elapsed before
the bodies could be found, in consequence of the foulness of
the air, though many attclityls were made to find them.
TOE MERCANTILE MARINE ACT.—MEETINO OF
SEAMEN AT SHADVVELL,—A very numerously attended
meeting of the sailors of the port of London was held last
night at tho Albion Tavern, High-street Shadwcll, for the
purpose, as stated in the advertisement, of taking into con-
sideration the best means to be adopted to relieve them
from the grievances they
.now labour under, in consequence
of the unjust restrictions Imposed upon them by the present
Mercantile Marine Act. Mr. J. Smith was called to the
chair, and in a long speech enumerated the complaints
usually made by the opponents of the Marine Act. Subse-
quently it was resolved to petition parliament for the repeal
of the act, and a committee was appointed for making the
necessary arrangements for that purpose.

TUE BRIGADE OF FOOT GEARDS.—The usual half-
yearly change of quarters of the Foot Guards will take
place about the 7th of neat month, as fellows:—Grenadier
Guards, Ist battalion,
battalion, from Portman-street to Altrinehr. stet 3rd
from the it:MU to Windsor; 2nd
battalion, from Chichester to St. George's Barracks. CoN.
stream Guards—let battalion, from Windsor to the Tower
and 2nd battalion, from St. John's-wood to Wellington
Barracks. Seats Fusiliers-Ist battalion, from St. George's
Barracks to Portman-street; and 2nd battalion, from Wel-

lington Barracks to St. John a-wool
CAVALRY MOVEMENTS THIS SPRING.—The fol•
lowing regiments of cavalry arc in April next to change
their quarters:-2nd Dragoon Guards, from York to Man-
chester; 3rd ditto, from Manchester to Birmingham; 4th
ditto, from Birmingham to Doodah(; Ist Dragoons, from
Nottingham to Brighton; 2nd ditto, from Canterbury to
Dorchester; 6th ditto, from Dundalk to Edinburgh; Bth
ditto, from Brighton to Hounslow; 11th ditto, from Nor-
wich to Nottingham; 13th ditto, from Edinburgh to York;
16th ditto, from Hounslow to Manchester.

POISONING BY BEETLE WAFERS.—Mr. Wakley,
jun., held an inquest yesterday at the King's Mead, on the
body
.of a child nine years of age. The deceased was play-
ing in the streets with other boys, when, seeing some
bright red wafers lying before the doer of an oil-shop, they
tasted them, and subsequently ate some. All the lade were
taken ill, and deceased, who had eaten mare than the others,
died. The wafers contained red lead, and the symptoms of
the boy's illness were those which ordinarily follow poison-
ing by that metal. The jut 7 returned a verdict of acci-
dental death, with an admonition to the tradesman from
whose shop the wafers had been incautiously swept.

• • ,
STATISTICS OP BANK RUPTCY.—In Lord Brougham's
bill for the extension of county courts jurisdiction some
interesting information is given as to the number of bank-
ruptcies from the year 1813. In the year ending the 11th
of November, 1813, there were 658 bankrupts in London
and 712 in the country, making 1,370 ; m 1844, 596 in
London and 511 in the country, making 1,107 ; in 1845,
611 in London and 529 in the country, making 1,140 ; in
1846 there were 706 in London and 787 in the country,
making 1,493 ; in 1847 there were 824 in London and 892
in the country, making 1,716 ; in 1848, 850 in London and
1,080 in the country, making together 1,930 ; and in 1849,
613 in London and 731 in the country, making 1,314
making in the seven years 10,100 bankrupts, consisting of
4,8.58 in London and • ,242 in the country, being an average
of 694 a year in London and 749 in the country, or 1,443
bankruptcies a year. In the year ending the I Ith Nov.
last there were 412 in London and 425 in the country,
making 837, or a falling off in the year as comnared with
the average of seven years 282 in London and 324 in the
country, or 606 a year.

ST. PAUL'S CLOCK.—I send yon the following ex-
tract from Easton's " Human Longevity," London, 1799 :
"James Hatfield died in 1770, aged 105. Wu formerly •
moldier : when on duty as a sentinel at Windsor one night,
at the expiration of his guard, he heard St. Paul's clock,
London, strike thirteen strokes instead of twelve and not
being relieved as he expected he fell asleep; in which situa-
tion he was found by the succeeding guard, who soon after
came to relieve him ; for such neglect be was tried by a
court-martial, but pleading that be was on duty his legal
time, and asserting, as • proof, the singular circumstance of
hearing St. Paul's clock strike thirteen strokes, which, upon
inquiry, pored true—he was in consequence soquitted."—
AWN' waif Queries.

SOMPLETION OP TUE PARIS AND AVIGNOW
Rattway.—On Saturday the parliamentary committee
charged with the duty of watching over the introduction of
new bills into the chamber took into consideration Messrs.
ißanet and Laborde's proposition relative to the completion
and working of the railway line from Farb' to Avignon,
and the construction of the line from Moulins to Roanne.
According to the tenor of this proposition the line between
Chalon and Avignon will be constructed by a company of
English contractors. The same company will also construct
the branches to Air and Auxerre, and will furnish the
necessary material for both lines. These works will oast, it
is expected, 200 million francs. This sum will be paid in
rental at par, or in bonds at See per cent. A French
company of lessees will undertake to work the line between
Paris and Chalon and its branches under • forty years
lease. This company will engage to repay the 200 millions
paid for construction, so that at the erpiry of forty years
the state Will eater into possession of the line without
having incurred any cost. The same company will further
advance, besides the 200 millions just referred to, a further
sum of from 30 to 40 millions, with which it is intended to
construct the lino from Moulins to Roaring. M. Betting
do Lansastel has been named reporter on this proposition.