The Express.
London, England, 1861-02-13 00:00:00

COURT OF PROBATE AND DIVORCE.

Fm. 12.
(Before the Judge Ordinary.)
TALBOT AND °THUS r. TRAHERNE AND OTHERS.

The case for the plaintiffs was again resumed, and which
had occupied nearly five days, was closed.
Mr. Macaulay, in the absence of Sir F. Kelly (who is
suffering from indisposition), then commenced his speech for
the defendants, remarking that the length of time the muse
had occupied was not disproportionate to the importance of
the issue to his client, Mr. George Traherne—not, indeed,
as regarded his pecuniary interests, but for the purpose of
relieving him from the imputation of undutiful or improper
conduct toward,, the deceased. The ease of the plaintiffs
had been opened and conducted by Sir H. Cairns with great
adroitness. He hail, io fact, laboured to withdrew from
the minds of the jury the real question which they would
have to consider. lie (Mr. Macatday) did not deny that
Mr. Traherne was a remarkably well-educated and agreeable
man, but he asserted that during the last two years of his
life, and notably during the last few months, he had
laboured under an obscure cerebral complaint, which was
known by the painfully familiar name of softening of the
brain. He should contend that the result of that gradually
increasing disease had been to deprave the feelings
and the judgment of the patient, to an extent that ought to
realer has testamentary disposition invalid. During his
brother's life the deceased had lived on the most
affectionate terms with him. His brother, the Rev.
George Traheme, was vicar of St. Hilary, and being •
man of fortune, had built for his family • much better
mansion than the manor-house itself. After the rev.
gentleman's death the testator lavished him offers of sym-
pathy and assistance on the widow ; and it wax by his con-
sent that the grave, which had been formed forty years ago
for the children of his brother, had been reopened. To be
sure, as • matter of ecclesiological taste, he thought that
the grave had been made too near the tower of the church
to be consistent with the safety of the edifice ; but that was
all. And yet the jury were now asked to believe that the
manner in which the deceased had at the last turned on
his brother's widow was only the result of his natural
irritability of temper. The defendant was a young man
of 35. When he left college he proposed to enter
one of the inns of court and read for the bar ; but the tee.
tator forbade the scheme, and said, " You are to succeed
your father. Live as my eldest sou. Here is an introduce
lion ;go and be presented at court, and get placed in the
commission of the peace. Keep hounds as the Trahernes
have always done ; awl I will give you 1001. a year towards
the expenses of your pack." Never was there • more nom-
, plete adoption ; and till the 2nd of October that continued
to be the relationship existing between the testator and the
' defendant. Mr. G. Traherne was accustomed to foreign
travel, and his uncle had largely assisted him with funds
' for his tours. The testator was greatly attached to his
Isister Louisa, and it had been to that lady a bitter sorrow
that she had seen her brother from day to ilay doing acts
of injustice, not only to herself, but to her nephew. From
the beginning to the end of the case not • scintilla of motive
, had been suggested for the testator's change of purpose
towards has sister. It was indeed suggested that
it would be useless to leave her a life estate after
Mrs. Traherne, because she was the elder of the
two. But what a reason! Mrs. Traherne might die
to-morrow, and in that case Mir Traherne would
immediately have to walk out of St. Hilery Manor and
make way for young Mr. Sanderson, who now for the first
time appeared upon the scene. His learned friend had eel-
deafly felt the onus which pressed upon him to suggest an
' adequate motive for the change in the testator's mind. At
first he referred to the testator's dislike of the hounds.
though it would be proved that the 100/. a year was given
for the express' purpose of supporting his nephew's pack ;
and then he had put forward the imputation that young
Mr. Traherne had circulated false reports as to his uncle's
sanity. But a reference to the dates would show that the
testator had contracted rabid and utterly inexplicable anti-
pathies against the young man and his widowed mother at
least • week before the defendant could by any possibility
have heard of or circulated such report. Mr. George Tra-
hems could not have heard any medial opinion as to the
state of his uncle's mind till Oct. 7, whereas the outbreak
in the testator's mind against him occurred in the last slays
of September. He (Mr. Macaulay) should call evidence to
show that a marked deterioration in the mental powers of
the deceased had occurred in the summer of DOS, and would
prove that he forgot appointments, and called three or four
time.' on the same day at the same shop at Cardiff to pay
the lame bill. One mark of approaching incapacity was an
extra amount of restlessness, manifesting itself with refer-
ence to the pursuits to which the patient had previously
been addicted. In this case the deceased had become more
loquacious about archamlogy and art, more worried about
his estate, and more generous with money. Why should
he say that the people at Teuhy reported him to be mad, or
that they looked at him at the newsroom, if he had not
excited some attention by his excited demeanour. Tnen
how could they account for his dismissal of his
servants' Murrill, who had been in his service
thirty-five years, would swear that no reason what-
ever had been assigned to him for his discharge. Then
what reason had he given for dismissing Mr. Halkett, the
receiver of the testator's rents, who had only, gone to live
thirty miles distance by railway' All these, if not matters
any one of which was sufficient to prove insanity, were at
all events an accumulation of odd acts to be performed by a
mime man in the course of two or three weeks—all, more-
over, being quite foreign to the natural character of the
deceased. Whether the change which had taken place in
'his mind was sufficient to affect his testamentary capacities
was anther question, but be (the learned gentleman)
should be ashamed to argue further the case that there hail
been a change in the testator's mental coalition. He would
not do his clients the injustice of saying with his learned
friend that the almost brutal conduct of the deceased to his
brother's wife and his brother's eon was the result of his
natural disposition. How had Mrs. George Trallerne of-
fended him? The churchyard wall was out of repair, noto-
riously en, for it was said by the testator himself to be a
disgrace to the pariah. The churchyard was, however, very
beautifully kept, and the pigs and mountain sheep used to
break through the fence. Mrs. George Traherue, therefore,
meaning no hero, offered the parochial authorities • sum of
201. towards building a new wall. If Mrs. thsorge Traheroe
had not been his brother's wife, but simply a lady in the
parish, it would have been impossible for the testator,
when he was a year younger, to have acted as he had done
towards her. It was obvious, therefore, that he was already
hopelessly involved in au insane antipathy towards his two
Dearest relatives, and that some days before the event re-
curred which was relied on as furnishing a justification for
altering his will. The learned counsel then proceeded to
comment at great length on the evidence already given, and
was speaking when
The case was again adjourned till Thursday.

THE EXTRAORDINARY ATTEMPT TO MURDER IN
DCBLIN.—The case of Joseph Dwyer, who stood charged
with the extraordinary attempt to murder a porter, for the
sake of stealing the goods which he carried, by inveigling
him into a stable and shooting nt him with a pistol over a
yawning grave, again came before the Court of Oyer and
Terminer in Dublin on Saturday. The prisoner pleaded
guilty, and affidavits were put in with a view to show that
he was at the time of the atrocious act, and hail been for
some time past, labouring under insanity. On Monday the
prisoner was again brought up, and Mr. Justice Christian,
after dwelling at some length on the extraordinary nature
sod atrocity of the crime with which the prisoner was
charged, sentenced him to 20 years' penal servitude. The
prisoner was quite unmoved during the delivery of the sen-
tence, and walked firmly out of the dock.
A GIRL SCALDED TO DEATH.—A shacking acci-
dent occurred yesterday morning at the residence of Mr.
Appleby, Upper Smith-street, nerkenwell. Mies Mary
Ann Appleby, aged twelve years, was passing the fireplace,
when her foot slipped. In falling she caught hold of a
kettle of boiling water standing on the fire and upset the
contents, which went completely over her. She was so
frightfully scalded that, though taken to St. Bartholomew's
Hospital and treated with every care, she died shortly after
her adeslaios.