The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-14 00:00:00

WANDSWORTH.

KINGI'IAR RAILWAY DIMPUTF.-RZLIMVPRIROMIL247.

A well-dreamed young man, of gentlemanly manners, was
placed in the deck on the following charge :
The prisoner first inquired whether he could reserve hie
name.

Mr. Ingham told him that he could all himseU by any
[Mlle he liked. He wished to know, however, by what
name he would like to be called.

Seymour, one of the officers of the court, said the pri-
soner had refused his name and address.

In reply to the magistrate, the prisoner gave the name
of William Hevriaq.

It appeared from the evidence that the prisoner arrived
by a train belonging to the South Western Railway Com-
pany from Kensington to Clapham Junction, and showed a
return ticket for riding by the Brighton trains from
Victoria station to Clapham Junction. On being told the
ticket was not available, and that he would have to pay
3d., the fare, be complained of the arrangements, and re-
fused to pay on principle. As he refused to give his name
and address, he was given in charge.
The prisoner read his defence, from which it
that the reason he did not give his name and 6117i:07,11dr
apply for bail after he was locked up, was to resist what
he considered an attempt at extortion. He complained of
being treated as a common malefactor for simply disputing
a matter of debt.

Mr. Ingham explained to him that the officers of the
company had a right to detain him if he refused to give
his name and address.
_ . _

Tir•piisonerarrmitted that was correct, as he had since
found that he was wrong.
Mr. T. Bent the company's superintendent of police,
was called, ,ind in answer to questions b 7 the prisoner,
said that the South Western Company earned the Brighton
passengers from Kensington to Clapham Junction, but
not their passengers with return tickets from Victoria
Station to Clapham Junction.
The prisoner said he could prove that the Brighton Com-
pany allowed return ticks.. from Victoria to Clapham
Junction to be available from Kensington, and therefore
he argued that the South Western Company by their
treaty with the Brighton Company were bound to carry
him from Kensington to Clapham Junction.
Mr. Ingham said the arrangements of the Brighton Com-
pany had nothing to do with the South Western Company.
He, however, admittedthat the arrangements at Clapham
Junction were exceedingly puzzling, but if the prisoner bad
been deceived by the Brighton Company he could bring an
action against them. He then ordered the prisoner to pay
the fare and a line of ls.
The money warn immediately paid.

THE HOXTON TILAGEDY.—There are some addi-
tional particulars to report respecting Henry Thomas
Fletcher and his wife, whom be murdered at baton on
Saturday night. It appears that about seven week, ago
he summoned her before the magistrate at the Thames
police-court, on • charge of assault, and alleged that she
attempted to bite his nose off in the public street.
He is said to have been • respectably connected young
man, who in the course of a rather feat life had made the
acquaintance of the girl whom he afterwards made his
wife. At the time she had an illegitimate child living.
The marriage was opposed by his friends, but in vain.
After the birth of their first child she became addicted to
habits of intemperance, and about two months ago he
found her lying, prostrated by drink, upon the floor of a
public-house. The sight so disgusted him that he deter-
mined to separate from her. He agreed to allow her ss.
per week for her two children. She consented to this ar-
rangement at first, but afterwards wished to break it. On
one occasion she went to his father's house in a great rage,
broke the windows of the lower rooms, and tore the cur-
tains down. She then left the house, and, chancing to
meet her husband in the saeet, she struck him, and then
attempted to bite his nose. The magistrate bound her
over to keep the peace for six months. She then went to
live with her friends until Thursday last, the day upon
which she entered the Bridge-house Tavern, Hoxton, as
a servant. It seems certain that her husband planned
her murder several days before he accomplished it. He
went to • public-house to inquire for her on Thursday
night, but failed to find her then, and only learned where
she was in time to go on Saturday night. Before going to
her he went to the house where the children were, and left
a little money for their support. He walked on to the
Bridge-house Tavern, and having shot his wife, fired •
seemed pistol at himself. By trade he was •• ship's car-
penter, and was noted as being a steady, intelligent, and
industrious man. About thre.i years ago he was employed
upon an Australian vessel, and whilst he was on board the
ship took fire. He suffered considerable injuries then, and
on recovery it was observed that he was very excitable and
eccentric in his manner.

HORRIBLE Cm:retry. Richard Bishop, the
marker at the Hereford rifle butts, stands remanded on a
of cruelty to his child, Ann Bishop. The child de-
before the magistrates that she was 11 years of age,
and that on Tuesday night week her father tied her to a
beam in the garret and flogged her with a nape. She got
loose and he tied her up again, and she was in that post.
tion nearly an hour. The rope was doubled, and she bad
no clothes on. She escaped through a skylight on to the
roof, and fell down into the yard, where • woman picked
her up and took her to the police station. The child
further stated that her father beat her with stinging.
nettles on the Sunday previous ; she was then naked. Her
mother did not interfere, and she got under the bed to
escape. Her father tied her to • beam round the waist,
with her feet just touching the floor. The evidence of •
doctor and the nurse at the workhouse confirmed the poor
girl's statement.

A REMARKABLE ESCAPE.—On Sunday morning
last, Mrs. Cl , wife of Mr. Cleaver, station-master at
the London and Brighton station, Tunbridge Wells, was
sitting at • window over the glass verandah in front of the
station with her daughter, about three years of age, when
the little girl soddenly fell out of the window on to the
verandah. Before Mrs. Cleaver could rescue her child she
was greatly alarmed at seeing her break through the glass
and fall on to the flagstones beneath, a distance of nearly
20 feet. The feelings of the mother, however, were
greatly relieved on finding that her little one had sus-
tained no injury beyond a few scratches and a somewhat
severe Amt.—Maid:lose Journal.

THE WEATHER AND THE CROPS.—The past week
has been one of very extraordinary character considering
the period of the year, indeed, such as has rarely been ex-
perienced during the month of May. On Monday the day
was moat brilliant and the temperature rose to a height
which seemed at once to plunge us into the full heat of
summer. The same magnificent weather continued,
though with somewhat modified heat, until Friday, when
a change was obviously impending, and on that evening a
very severe storm of thunder lightning, rain, and wind was
experienced throughout this district. The wind blew a
perfect hurricane and the fruit and other trees suffered
considerably from its fury. Early on Saturday morn-
ing a recurrence of the storm though much more
modified in its violence, took place, and since that day the
weather has been wet and cloudy, with a greatly reduced
temperature. In fact the wind has been quite chilly, with
" a sharp edge on it" from the north.eut. The heavy
showers of rain have been very beneficial, following after
the previous four or five dry and hot days. The reports
from the agriculturists are very satisfactory. The grain
crops—indeed crops of all descriptions -are looking re-
markably well. The dry weather enabled considerable
progress to be made in cleaning the land and killing weeds,
whilst the subsequent rain has found the earth In a con-
dition to take advantage of every drop that fell. The pro-
gress of vegetation during the past ten days has been
almost marvellous ; indeed, to use a common expression,
"one could almost see the grass grow."—dsssex ddrer-
Vier. _ _

SOUTH KENSINGTON MIIBIOII.—ViiitOGI during
the week ending May 11 : On Monday, Tuesday,
and flaturda,v, free, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.,
6,712 ; on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (admis-
sion 6d.), from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m., 1,550 ; national por-
trait exhibition, by payment, 1,732 ; total, 9,994. Average
of corresponding week in former years, 11,573. Total
from the opening of the Museum, 6,696,811.