The Express.
London, England, 1847-12-23 00:00:00

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.

Mow Perna—give Mr P. Peßeck,C.B., and London Special Juries.
HEILIIIIO O. HUDSON AND OEREBA.—ASEAULT cos.
YIETED IN TO. QUllin'S BENCH Pll/1011.—Mr. Camben,
Q.C., and Mr. Bramwell, were counsel for the plaintiff; Mr.
Walnut, Qx., and Mr. Unthank, for the defendants. This
Nee wa pert heard on Tuesday, but we deferred
oir meet in fairness to the defendaats, the plain-
dr. ewe set having been closed at the rising of
la wart ea that evening. It was an action for
seemat sad botany, to which the defendants pleaded the
gamed Wart denying the commission of the trespass coin.
=a et It appeared the plaintiff, Mr. Philip Herring,
Blke • eonsiderable time imprisoned in the QUAIL'S
ites, under an attachment for non-payment of
smile le meek Olssiery proceedings in which he had been
Fir* :niblled " imir
tiealMgutadtt io"r a wife
Ws°.
"Alt plaintiff,
tin
anduerted his own case. obtained, in 1846, through the
astrumentality of a Mime Emily Mitchell, a writ of babas
napes to enable him to attend before the judge of the
AM. Court, from time to time, whenev his presence
there was n Miss Mitchell whenever
had been previously
prohibited from ho sling personal communications with the
plaintiff, or entering the prison,of which the defendants were I
officers, Mr. Hudson being governor, Mr. Ellison, assistant-
governor, end the others turnkeys and tipetaffs. Her exclusion
led to a personal conflict between her and the authorities
at the prison ; the result was, indictments and aces indict-
ments were preferred at the Newington sessions, near Hone-
emenger-lane. The suit in the Arches Court stood adjourned
to the Bth of December, 1846, and an endorsement to that
effect was made upon the habeas corpus by the registrar of
that court for the purpose of informing the gaoler when the
plaintiff's presence there would be required. It appeared
another writ of !abeam corpus was issued at the 'malice of
the plaintiff in person, to enable him to attend as a witness
on behalf of his friend Miss Mitchell, at the Sessions Court.
In obedience to the latter writ he was taken there on the 7th
of December, but the indictments were not found, and be-
fore the adjonrainet of the court it was stated that the pro-
ceedings were rams* br certiorari. On that evening a
formal intimation we made to Mr. Hudson and Mr. Ellison
that the plaintiff did net watt to attend the Arches Court
next day, an his there could be dispensed with, but
that he was to Mend as a witness for Min
Mitchel at the sessions, which were being held in
the Immediate neighbourhood of the prison. The answer
was that Mr. Hamm and Mr. Ellison would do as they
pleased with the writs, and that the plaintiff should go to
the Arleta Court. Written notices embodying the lose kb.
Sarelea es heel bees previously given to Mr. Hudson yen
thee mesa Ms and his assistant. Next morning,
_the.
elk of ,at half-past 9 o'clock, six of the dela&
anto, assisiskeye, and two tipstaffs, proceeded to the ple
dr.satta reed desired he should accompany them to the
AramOwet He said he would not, but, if he els so-
mei be wee sot wanted at the sessions, he would • 'eft
them with pleasure to the Arches Court, although he boa
already given notice that he was not wanted there air*.
He was only half dressed then, and the turnkeys, hadeg ob-
served that the plaintiff's wish was no affair of theirs, laid
hold of, and were proceeding to force him down stairs,where
a cab had been put in requisition when by loud cries of
" murder," he attracted the notice of several of his fellow-
prisoners. He was (awarding to the description of the wit-
nesses) thrown down upon the floor, and otherwise used
violently. His dressing-gown, shirt, and trousers, the only
articles-he had on at the time, were torn to shreds, be was
perfectly naked from his chest to below his knees, his *s
and feet were bleeding, his head wounded; he was ultimately
completely overcome; each of the four turnkeys laid; hold of
M of the pLaintifl's limbs, and in that state they thrust him
lad foremost into the cab. Mr. Hudson and Mr.
Ellison were all the time walking up and down one
of the omit-yards, flourishing about the written nod. es
Nerved upon them the evening before. He was in that con-
dition taken to the Arches Court, which was " up" on his
arrival there, and returned to the prison shortly after-
wards. The injuries he had sustained were such as to render
it necessary that he should have a nurse ; but Mr. Hudson
refused to allow him to have one, stating that he should go
to the infirmary, and several of the inmates volunteered to
sit up with him. The learned counsel, during his opening
statement, questioned whether a gaoler had any right to re-
sort to violence to compel obedience to a habeas corpus is
civil proceedings. It might be a different matter in cri-
minal cases. If Mr. Hudson had refrained from getting the
plaintiff dragged from his room by a force of ten or eleven
men, and treated u he had been in the most cruel, brutal,
and ignominious manner, no attachment could lie against
him for the plaintiff's disobedience of the writ. Amongst
the witnesses called in support of the learned counsel's state-
ments was

Emily Mitchell,who deposed that she had known the plaintiff
for thirteen years ; he had several law-suits, in which she
acted as his agent. In 1844 she was excluded from the
prison. She obtained certificates from eminent members of
the Chancery bar, Mr. Hominy, Q.C., Mr. Tinney, Q.C.,
and others, stating that it was absolutely necessary that she
should be permitted to see and communicete with the plain-
tiff, u she had been so familiar with all the circumstances
relating to his legal proceedings. Those certificates were
not attended to. The inspectors of prisons investigated the
matter in Sept., 1845, and she was still encluded.—Croes-
examined : I live at Park-plaoe, St. James's. I decline,
unless I am directed by the coact, to state whether I used to
sleep with the plaintiff in the Queen's Bench Prison. I con-
ducted all the plaintiff's legal proceedings for him while be
wu in prison. I heard from the plaintiff that adultery was
the ground of the proceedings by Mn. Herring for a divorce
in the Arches Court. The habeas corpus to enable the plain-
tiff to conduct his own sue in that court was obtained upon
my personal application. I never passed myself off IN Mrs.
Herring, although I have often been so called by Mr. Re-
milly, Q.C., and others. I duo conducted the plaintiff's
ap to the House of Loris. I obtained thirty or forty
ham for him. (Laughter.)

Another witness proved that Mist Mitchell did not live at
Park•place, st. James's, but that the has an office there.