The Express.
London, England, 1848-07-18 00:00:00

defendant said he shoul.l prefer a very handsome sofa, and
witnesssaid he would give him one when he was niarried.
The oourtship went on until Christmas, and shortly after
that period the defendant discantinued coining to the farm
to visit his sister. On the Bth January, 1847, he suet hem in
Hitchin market. He came up to him, and complained of
being very ill, and said that he and Hannah were going to
be married, but that his mother and sister were quite dis-
tracted at the thought of his doing so.
Mr. Hawkins,--Did he say anything else upon this occa.
lions Witneu : yes; he said ho knew the din ippuintment
would be the death of him, hut that when he died he would
be sure to leave all his property to Hannah. (Laughter.)—
Examivation continued : suet the defendant again on the
following market day, and he told him he wu no better.
(Renewed laughter.) lie said his heart was very had ; he
wanted to marry Hannah, but his mother would not let
hint. (Laughter.)—Mr. Hawkins: How old is d .fendant ?
Witness: Nearly 50. (Renewed laughter.)—Mr. Hawkins:
And so he said his 'wither would not let Lim get married
Perhaps she thought he was not old enough. (Laughter.)
Witness : He only said that she would not let him ; and he
told me his heart was so had that he th.,ught some day he
should drop down dead. (Renewed laughter.)
Examination continued.—Witneses sister MIA delivered
of a child on the 13th July, 1847, and in September the de-
fendant came to the house and attempted to renew his inti-
macy with the plaintiff, but, as he said nothing about mar-
rying her, the tamily would not allow him to come to the
house. lie saw the defendant, a short time after the child
was born, at market, and asked him if he intended to fulfil
his promise of marriage. when be replied that he should never
marry because he was 48 years old, and he should not live to
see his family brought up. Witness told him he was a wry false
man for acting as he had done to his sister, and he said it was a
bad job, but it could not be helped. In October the
defendant came to his father's, and wanted his sister to let
him have the child, but witness refused to have any commu-
nication with him, and ordered bins out of the house. Upon
another occasion he heard the defendant say that his sister
night go to law with hint if she pleased, but he did not care,
for he had got more money than all of their randy put
together. The defendant farmed same land, and he heel
often heard hint talk of buying lend, and also heard him say
that he had money in the Dank of England.
Cross examined.—The defendant lives with his mother,
who is an aged woman, and a sister, who is older than him-
self; and he believed they were both dependent upon him.
According to his account they were both distracted when
they heard of his intended marriage. His sister was still
living with them. Did not know how much land the defen-
dant occupied.
William Crawley, the father of the plaintiff, and Mary
Abbess, gave similar testimony. Some other evidence WAS
adduced which showed that the defendant 111/ possessed of
two small copynold estates, comprising about ten acres, and
that be was assessed at 301. to the poor rate of his pari‘h.
Mr. Chambers then addressed the jury for the defendant,
and said that after the evidence which had been adduced he
should net attempt to deny that the defendant had made a
promise of marriige, and that he had not performed it, and
their verdict must consequently be against him ; the
only question that remained being the amount of damages
to which the plaintiff ass entitled. In order to arrive at the
proper conchoion upon this point it would be necessary for
them to look at all the circumstances of the ease, sod sec
what real injury the plaintiff had sustained. He reminded
them tle.t the circumstance of the plaiatiff haring hail a
child ought not to have any weight upon their decision on
the present occasion. The defendant would still be amena-
ble for that under another form of action, and all they had to
do on the present occasion was to assess the damage the
plaintiff had sustained by reason of the defendant not having
kept hie promise to marry her. What were the facts of the
sue ? Here was a poor man, with two little eupyhold estates,
having a mother and a sister entirely dependent upon him ;
and it the plaintiff had been married to him she and her
children must also have been dependent upon his small re-
sources, and therefore he submitted the prospect was any-
thing but a flattering one; and so tar as the an irriage was
concerned, it appearee to him that the plaintiff bad sustained
very little loss by not contracting such a marriage. It
appeared pretty clear that the plaintiff herself looked
at the matter in this light, for she did not seem to have made
any complaint, and was living with her :early just the same
as before, and he expressed his opinion that it some attorney
had not interfered, and told the parties that there was a
ground of action, the jury would never have heard of this
cause. The learned counsel then called the attention of the
jury to the ages of the parties, and said there was very great
difference between such a case as this, where the complaining
party was a woman of mature age and that of a youeg girl
whose aft:olsoS had been trifled with by a practised seducer,
and he expressed his opinion that under all the CireUtil•
se Arleell the jury would think that a very moderate amount of
damages would satisfy the justice of the case.
'1 he Chief llaron hiving briefly addressed the jury they
returned a verdict fee the plaintiff,—damages, 1001.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—Oxvono, JULY 17.
Ni4l PhlVA.—lidure Mr. Baron noire.
The case of breach of promise of marriage was not gone
into, it being anncunced when it was called on for trial that
a compromise had been effected by the lady consenting to
receive 2001. as a compensation for her disappointed hopes.
Coorca v. EXIIZALIat.—THE ABINGDON BANK.—This
case arose out of the bankrup!cy of Mr. Knapp, the bicker
at Abingdon. The plaintiff is the registered officer of the
London and County Bank, and sought to recover the sum of
151. from the defendant, a stationer in Oxford, who paid on
the 12th of October last in'o the Oxford branch a cheque of
Mr. Trenelell's, on the Abingdon Bank, for that amount,
which cheque was never honoured in consequence of Mr.
Knapp's failure. The judge in summing up said the cheque
was not worth a farthing ; and tho jury found for the plain.
tiff, reserving to the def edam the right of raising the ques-
tion as to the validity of the cheque, which bore nu super-
scription.
ALLEN o. GILAY.S.—In this case the plaintiff, a lawyrr at
Baubor sought to recover 611., the amsunt of an I O.U.
given by y,
the defendants fur a loan, but as it appeared that
the money advanced by the plaintiff had not exceeded 341.,
and he had charged interest at the rate of 6.5 per cent , the
jury found a verdict only for the original loan, 351.
ELIE& 111004 V. WILLIAM HENRY ORECIORT.—A LADY'S
ANNUITY.—This was a special jury me. The counsel for
the plaintiff were Mr. Serjeant Talfourd and Mr. Keating ;
for the defendant, Mr. Whateley.—Mr. Serjeant Talfourd
stated the case to
tiff, whose
from which it ap-
peered that the plaintiff, whose name before her
marriaae was Eliza 'elegy, formerly lived in this city,
sad i . Ihlo was al d.stiliguished for her beauty, that eh:
attrected the notice of Mr. R slim Gregory, a gentleman
commoner of Trinity College, Oxford, and father of the de
fondant, formerly member for Dublin, who was sued as his
executor. Through the perseupion of Mr. Gregory the
plaintiff was allured from her father's roof, was maintained
by Mr. Gregory, and had three children by him, two of
whom died, and one, adaugliter, was still slice. When Mr.
Gregory broke off the intimacy with the plaintiff, he wrote a
letter to liar promising to allow her 1001. a year during her
lifetime and that of her child, That promise he fulfilled up
to nearly the time of his death, when illness prey, nted his
so doing. The :.rrears amounted now to 200/., and as the
son, who swi executor and succeeded to the estates, refused
to pay, this action sea'. brought, —Mr. Whatcley consented to
a verdict of 2001., the arrears due, with leave for the de-
fendant to apply to the court (~r a judgment of nonsuit if the
lodge's construction ul the letter was not a correct one.

MIDLAND CI RC ULT. —OAK HAM, .1 t: IN 15.
The opening of the cemmi-sion for the county of Rutland
took place at Wkham to-day.—Sir John Patteson,nn taking
his seat on the bench, congratulated the grand jury upon
the lightness of the duties that would devolve upon th, m,
there beig only one case on the calendar, viz., a charge of
burglaryn against two men, named Thomas Atkinson, 23,
and John Jones, 27.—Mr. Roberts conducted the case for the
prosecution. Toe prisoners were undefended.—The learned
counsel having called witnesses in support of the charge, the
jury returned a verdict of Guilty against both the prisoners,
after which his lordship sentenced them to 15 yews' tran-
sportation each.—This terminated the business of the Hosier,
there not being a single case entered for hearing in the Nisi
Pries Court. The learned judge, at the rising of the court,
' proceeded to Northampton.
NORTHAMPTON, JrLY 17.
The commission of assize for this county end borough was
opened on Saturday, by Lord Denman. His lordship was
accompanied by the high sheriff for the county, the Hon.
Henry Hely ilulehinson, to the respective courts, where the
usual forms were gone through, after which the courts ad-
journed till this m trning. The calendar contains the names
of 24 prisoners ; the offences include 2 intent to murder, 2
sonslaughter, and 7 highway robbery.
Canwte COVl.T.—Beforo toed Dennis's.
HIOHWAY HOBRISKY.—J. Browning, 27, 11. Best, 27,
J. Fisk, 19, G. Crowder, 28, J. Nutt, J. Brain, 29, E.
Daniells.26, and E Baker, 26, were charged with having
feloniously assaulted Henry Wightman at the parish of
Warkworth, and stolen from his pavan 191. lls. in silver.
—Mr. Miller was for the prosecution.—The prosecutor is a
subcontractor ow the works of the Oxford and Birmingham
Railway, in the parish of Warkworth. The whole of the
prisoners were in his employ except Nutt, who had been dis
charged on the tiny previous to the robbery. It was cus-
tomary to pay the men once a fortnight, and on Saturday,
the 20th June, the prosecutor went to • beer-shop, kept by a
person named Edweros, for that purpose, taking with him
131/. lie bad about 70 men to pay, and had paid 57 out of
the number, whew a man Named Cooper (not in custody),
who had formerly been in prosecutor's employ, said
"he wanted hie back time. Prosecutor inked him
to " wait till he had got through his pay-sheet,
when he would pay him or any one else that
had any claim upon him." Cooper replied that "he
wou:d not go back be would have his money there and
then." Prosecutor immediately began to collect what
money was on the table together, assisted by James Walker,
• parr ia his employ, when Cooper said to the latter, " if
pia tea& may of that copper I'll knock your brains
we A fight then took place. One of the men seized hold
of prosecutor's neckerchief, and twisted it so tightly as to de-
prive him of breath. His head was at this time projecting
over one of the stairs, whilst his body was supported by one
foot catching at the banisters, otherwise he must have
pitched " neck and heels " down stairs. A labouring man,
named Nicholls, came to prosecutor's assistance, in conse-
quence of which he was enabled to get away and run home.
The prisoners, with several others, followed, broke
open the doom, and entered the house, whew
another sub-contractor, named Fogarty, who occu-
pied part of the same horse, came out and said, presenting a
gun fif any of you attempt to advance a step nearer you
shall have the contents of this," The prisoners,
_however,
nutted forward, seized the prosecutor, and ragedd him out
of the house to the beer-house, striking him head re-
peatedly. Seeing several persons whom he knew in the par-
lour, prosecutor escaped and rushed into it, followed by the
prisoners, by whom he was again knocked down ; a mass
sassed fisher (not in custody) lying underneath and picking