Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-13 00:00:00

MM. CON. EXTRAORDINARY.

LYLE v:• lizarazne.—This was an action brought by the
plaintiff at the Croydon assizes, on Tuesday, to recover
damages from the defendant for having seduced and
debauched his wife. The defendant pleaded Not Gault ye
Mr. E. James, Q.C. in opening the case to the jury,
s lid that it was probably one of the last of the saute
description that would be brought before a court Of
justice, but at present the plaintiff had no other legal
remedy for the wrong that he had sustained at the hands
of the defendant. :The plaintiff was a young man who
was carrying on an extensive business as an upholsterer
in Charlotte-street,. Fitzroy-square, and the defendant,
who, he was instructed, was a person .Of property, was
considerably older than either the plaintiff or his wife,
and heibelieved was nearly fifty, years of age. The plain-
tiff met his wife, who wasethe daughter of an I Indian
officer, and probably in a condition of life somewhat
-above him, at a ball at Birmingham, at which place she'
-lived with her family, and they were ma'ried on the 7th of
April, .1851. 'At the latter erid of the year 1858, the plain-
tiff was anxious to obtain additional capital in order to
extend, hiS business, and ha inserted an adeertiserriteit in.
the. Times for a parmer with capital. The defendant at
this time-was living at Croydon, and he replied to the
advertisement' and stated that he had some capital Iyhlg
idle, and after some negotiation'an arrangement' was en-
tered into that the defendant and the plaintiff shoal&
become partners, and the former was to advance the ne-
ceseary capital for carrying on theleusiness, and was to
receive a large amount of interest for that capital. Thee
defendant after 'this, of coerse; vrent- to the plaintiff's
warehouse and took an active pert is the business, and
there could be no doubt that he took advantage of the
opportunity thus afforded, him to seduce- the affectiens of
• the plaintiff's wife, The following evidence vyas, adduced
—Mr. E. Foster said : /am a btiilder. "I>knew the plain--
tiff, and he airl his wife formerly lired in one of my'
houses, arid they appeared to. be on very at-Lctionate
term;. The plaintiff i 3 about thirty-four years old, the
wife is under thirty. She has no particular personal at-
tractions. The' plaintiff bad a _very good business in
Charlotte street, and the defehdintdjecame his partner at
Ctiristmae'laSt, and be then weal. to reside at the plain-
tiff's house. Cross-examined -.Never heard the wife of
the plaintiff complain of his being intimate with a servant
girl named Elizabeth Thomas. The husband saw the de
few:la:it and his wife is bad together,. and witness and he
afterwards Went out 'and ,had 'something to drink at a
neighbouring public-house. There were several other
persons.with him.. They might have had some supper at
ttie publichouse together. 'He and -the plaintiff- had a
cigar, and they might also have had some "humble
porter." (A. laugh.) There 'were four or five persons
preseat at " the discovery," acid Mr. Lyle was among
them, and after it was made they all wont to have some
supper. Did not know that the discovery had caused the
plaintiff to•want his supper. Alter, the discovery had
been made -all- the' parties went' to "ha'Ve something to
drink, and then they returned to the plaintiffs house, and
seine of them partook of pickled salmon. (A. laugh.) -
Cauldnot say. whether the plaintiff had any of the pickled
salmon. (Renewed laughter.) One of the party, was a
-lady, but they took her home to'her !nether. (Laughter.)
Would-swear that the plaintiffand: all the rest of the
party did not sit up drinkiag during the remainder of the
night. lie believed that the plaintiff had been watching'
in the. next house on the night the discovery, was made,
.but he was not aware that he had done so for three or
four nights before. Witness was aware that he had
hired a room in the next house in order'to detect- his wife
and the defendant, and he advised him to do all he could to
fled out such
.a disgraceful business. He had heard that
two holes. were bored in the party-wall, so • that the
plaintiff might see what took place iu his wife's bedroom.
-(1 laugh.) Sophia Buckle said shevvas forrnerlya lady's
maid, and was acquainted with 'the.plaintiff and his wife
'after their marriage, and in 1856 she was staying with
theine They appeared to live very happily together.
Cross-examined: She believed that npon • one occasion
Mrs. Lyle went to a bal masque in the Character of a
page, . with a male 'friend, with' the knowledge of her
husband. Her sister was with lien: They had a servant
named ElZebeth:.. She had heard Mrs. Lyle complain of
her husband being too intimate with this girl, and that he
had kissed her, and also that he had taken her to the

theatre. Never heard that Mrs. Lyle had a latch key to
let herself in when she came home late at night. Mr
James said he believed that married gentlemen liked to
have a latch key, but he never heard of a lady haying one.
(A. laugh.) Cross-examination continued: Mts. Lyle
used to go out sometimes in the evening, but .she believed
that she only went to visits. friend,in the neighbourhood.
Maria Taylor deposa that she was in the service of the
plaintiff in September, 1856, and remained until a fort-
night, before Christmas. During this time M. and Mrs.
Lyle appeared to live very happy and comfortable
together, and Mrs. Lyle assisted in the basineis. She
went a second time into their service, in March, and she
then found Mr. Herbert was lodging in the house. She
noticed 'directly that there were improper looks and
.remarks between Mr. Herbert, and Mrs. Lyle. She once
saw Mr. Herbert sitting on a chair in his bedroom,-and
Mrs. Lyle was sitting at his feet, and she thought she
heard her say, "Oh do," and " Henry." On Easter
Sunday afternoon she found the door of Mr. Herbert's
room locked. On the Good Friday before, . Mr. Lyle
went out to the Crystal Palace, about two, and
While he was away, Mrs. Lyle, Mr. Hemwood, Mr. Her-
bert, and Mr. Venn, the partner, were in the during-room
and Mr. Venn offered Mr. Herbert a cigar, but he would
not take one, and Mrs. Lyle and Mr. Herbert winked at
one another, arid Mr. Herbert said he was sleepy, and he
should go and lie down, and he went to his room, and
Mrs. Lyle followed him,_ and she remained ,in his room
until five o'clock. On Easter Sunday she found Mrs. Lyle
in the defendant's room.. The door was locked. She re-
membered Mrs. Lyle leaving home to visit her fiends at
Birmingham. She was away about a fortnight. On the
10th of June Mr. Lyle went into the country, and Mrs.
Lyle and Mr. Herbert were very much together,and they
were in the sitting-room together all the evening. Mr-
Herbert remained in the ho6d until the 18th of June. Ore

the evening of that day she heard a noise oa the top of
the house, and some one came down from the, roof, and.

said they were in bed together. A person named Taylor
went up with her, and she saw )%/Irs. Lyle and,Mr. Herbert
fall from the bed together. and she was b 0 frightened that
she ran away. .(A laugh.) William Taylor was then
called as a witness.. He said he remembered Mr. Lyle '
making some communications to hint upon,the subject of
the conduct of his,. wife on the m irniog of her departura
for Birmingham. Witness had previously mentioned
something to him.upott the same subject, wad arrange-
ments were made. to detect the parties. A room was
first taken in Cumberland-street, at the backer Charlotte-
street,"but this, was not found to answer,, and another
was afterwards- taken next door, by witness. He
then bored a hole in the party-wall, but th 4 was of no
use, and he fixed up an apparatus with,an, index attached
to it, that would indicate when auy,person got into the.',
defendant's, bed. He could tell by the apparatus whether.
one, two, three, or four persons got into bed. (A laugh.) -
He called the- apparatus an "-indicator." (Laughter.),
On the night of the 18th of June he was watching with
his ear to the hole, and the indicator acted. (A laugh.) -
The lever fell aac3rding to the NWig:ht. (Laughter.) It
first informed him that one person got into bA.I, and then
that a second person had done so.- Otenewed laughter.).
'lle immediately proceeded to thereof and
,entered by, the
trap-door, took the servant by the hand, opimed the rigor
of the defendant's bedroom, tore deven the. curtains, and
turned the bull's eye upon them. (A roar of laughter.)
Mr. Herbert and Mrs. Lyle were In bed together. Mr.
Lyle was at this time making 0.y.; ,the best of his wto the
place, awl Mrs. Lyle rushed up stairs to her own room„
On the following day witness. saw Mr. Herbert; in. the
plaintiff's house, and he .said. he was prepared to pay for-
] his guilt, and it was a pity there was such a fuss Inaoie
'about it. Cross-examined:: This "indicator" • was an

invention of hisiewn. He. had( not taken out, a patent for
it. Since this- discovery ho had been liviag, with Mr.
Lyle. He offered his services to detect the parties. Ho
might have had as much as from Mt% Lyle for the
expense he had incurred. Ile might /Ave told Mr.
Field,' the detective. offl.frer, that he should "sap In
a good bill to Mr. Lyle if he succeeded., Would not •
swear whether he did ca. not. Field came to "pump"
him, and he told him. what he li'‘ed. Ho had been out of
work about a month, when he undertook this job- His
business was that of a cabinet-nadte.r. The apparatus.:
consisted of a lever attached to a spring, and when any,
one was on the bed it moved. (A. laugh:), The defendant.
was not sleeping in his own bed-room.at the time of the'
discovery, bat 111 the bed-room that had been occupied by,
the plaintiff and. his wife. Was not aware, that it was. at,
the instigation of the plaintiff that the defendant was
placed in this room. Mr. Lyle was watching the indica-
tor while witness was looking threugh t:he hole. (A roar
of laughter.) An hour and a half elapsed before the
instrument began to act, and daring, that time they drank
some gin and water. He suggested that the partieashotild.
have every facility afforded them, initrder that they. might
detect them. Would swear that ha did not sit, upon the
tiles dressed in women's clothes ilk order to watch Mrs.
Lyle and the defendant. H 9 inaratt'a rough model of the
"indicator," but was not aware whether it was in court or
not. Mr. James said tbis.mod,el should be produced if his
learned friend-wished to see it. Serjeant Parry said ho
really had no desire to, seer it. He hel been shocked.
casequitef
enough already. already. (A. laugh ) This closed the
P
intimated thatintend to call any evidence,
Mr. James proceeded to sum up the plaintiff's case. Ho
tigi not nn
h leal d Serjeant Parry having
said that his learned friend had admitted that he had no,
answer on the part of the defendant, and he had, only
endeavoured to laugh the case out of court, but he hoped.
the jury would not take this view of the matter, and that
they would give to the plaintiff the reparation to which he
was entitledfor the injury he had clearly sustained. Mr.
Serjeant Parry made a most able and humorous speech
for the defendant. The Lord Chief Baron summed up
very briefly, and after calling the atteniion-of the jury to
seine of the points in the evidence, he observed upon the
absence of the testimony of any relatives of the parties,,
to show. the terms upon which they lived, and that none.
but strangers or servants were called to prove that they
lived upon terms of affection and happily together. He
concluded by stating that if they believed the witnpsses,,
the plaintiff was by law entitled to a verdict, and the
areount of damages was entirely ler them t.o cionsider.
42he jury, after a short deliberation, returned a veralot
I Tor the plaintiff. Damages—One Farthing: