The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-09 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.-LIVERPOOL, MONDAY.

find no business to detain me here. Write every day, and
say how you are getting on, and pray keep on friendly terms
with every member of your family. Bremridge has just
come in. With kisses for the children, and love to yourself
—always yours, old girl, affectionately, "T. T. LING."
What did the jury think of that letter ? Was it not plain
that he promoted, nap courted, the departure from virtue of
hii young wife ? She had been married to him when only
sixteen or seventeen years of age, at Calcutta. Major
Croker returned in the same vessel with the plaintiff
and his wife, and he would prove that all through the
voyage the major, under the very eye of the plaintiff, paid
the most marked attention to Mrs. Ling, while on the other
hand, the plaintiff showed her no attention whatever. The
learned counsel, after commenting with severity upon the
terms of the above letter, proceeded to state that on her
arrival in England, in August 1855, Mrs. Ling went to
reside at Breckinham, in Devonshire, with her mother, Lady
Littler, and he would now read to them a letter, addressed
by ; the plaintiff to his wife, which in terms advised her
to keep up intercourse and correspondence with the
defendant.

" Shumla, 13th April, 1856.
" My Dearest Marian : I have not yet heard from your
mother, though you say she has written. My opinion is
that she will not write at present. I ehell answer her pretty
sharply if she does, so mind and leave the matter for me to
settle. Keep yourself quiet and your tongue tranquil.
Remember, if you bring me home now, by any imprudent
conduct on your part, I lose my present position for ever
and the advantages attached to it. My advice to you is to
keep quiet, and let no persuasion induce you to communicate
to the party referred to in my last. lam happy out here,
but your letters have saddened me a good deal. I try
to do all in my power for your comfort and you might
try and feel satisfied by living where you are, where you
know 1 never stint you for whatever money you want
while lam away. As to your joining me in this country
it unless to think of such a thing; no lady could live here.
lam only in a tent. My servant (Smith) is along with me.
He is an intelligent goad fellow, cooks splendidly, and I
find him of great assistance to me. There is a Mrs.
out in these parts; the only petticoat almost that I have
seen since I left home. She is a devilish pretty woman.
You may remember her h :sband in India. She
lives with any one I believe. This letter concluded
with a passage, showing that the defendant had been on
terms of criminal intimacy with the lady alluded to, and
was coached in the most coarse and indelicate language.
Early in the year 1856 the plaintiff joined the Turkish
Contingent, leaving Mrs. Ling residing with her mother,
and on the 18th of April in that year, he addressed to her a
letter, which the learned counsel stigmatised as the most
intolerably disgusting :
" Shumla, 20th June.
"My Dear Marian,—l received this morning those
d—d letters from Lady Littler. You see what a hell of
a scrape you have got me into through that b—d mother
of yours. I shall take Mrs. C.'s advice, and Burke the whole
matter, providing you agree to certain. conditions the only
ones upon which I will allow that cursed scoundrel
to escape. Between you, I care not how, I require that the
£250 which you have spent, be immediately placed to my
account at Cox's, Powell's, receipt for which must be sent
me; and that in two months, from this time, you
place at my disposal the further sum of £3OO, avail-
able, should I desire it. Solely and entirely upon
these terms alone, do I consent to squash the damnatory
evidence of your guilt. You have your choice. No other
conditions do I take ; so you may setae the matter as you
think fit with your lover, and let me know by telegraph to
Constantinople whether you have made up your mind. One
stipulation I will make in your behalf, which is, that £350
shall be paid back to you within three years from the date
of your lodging it to my credit, security for which
assurance you can obtain on my arrival, in the presence
of competent witnesses; and in the event of death in the
interim it will be the first debt chargeable on the estate. I
shall return to India, allowing you half of my regimental
pay. You can live where you like, and with whom you
please.—Believe me, yours affectionately, "T. T. LING."
What right had a men to come into court under circum-
stances like these ? He would prove theca facts, and it
would be for the jury to say whether even a farthing was
not more than the plaintiff was entitled to. Sir F. Thesiger
called in reply, as to the evidence of handwriting, Mr. A.
Cornell, Mr. Alexander, and Captain Gordon, who were of
opinion that the letters attributed to the plaintiff were not
in his handwriting, but that they were tolerably good
forgeries. Mr. Justice Willes summed up the ease and left
it Co the jury to say whether they believed that the plaintiff
consented to his wife's conduct. If so, he was not entitled
to recover at all; if rot, they would say what damages he
was entitled to. The jury retired, and after an absence of
about forty minutes, returned with a verdict for the plaintiff.
Damages—£l,ooo.
COLLIERY EXPLOSION NEA.R