The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-08-10 00:00:00

YORKSHIRE ASSIZES.

MONDAY, AUGUST 2.
"TIM? V. ATKINSON, Clerk, mad OTHERS.
Mr. Serjeant H vt.t.ocx opened the case to the
Jury. This action arope from • trespass committed
by the Defendants, in taking away • grave-stone
from the grave it► which the Plaintiff's ancestors
were interred. in the church-yard of Maud. near
Halifax ; the grave-stone had, indeed. been re-
stored, but not till after the action hail been
brought, and the real ground of action now was the
expenses. The first Defendant, the Rev. Mr. At•
kilning)' was perpetual curate of Elland ; the other
two Defendants. Mande and Broadbent, were the
churchwardens. They had forbidden any epitaphs
to be engraved in this church-yard without their
consent, conceiving that none were qualified for
that profound craft but their sexton. The father
of the Plaintiff had been sexton, and had been
removed by Mr. Atkinson, and succeeded by
Brookes, who claimed the exclusive right of en-
graving any epitaph he chose. The Plaintiff, how•
ever. naturally wished to exercise his own skill
in engraving the epitaph of his fathers—and skil-
ful he must be, at least if skill came by (lowest',
for his father and grieidfirther had bees siexiour
and engravers. There was much legal jargon or
nonsense, called ecclesiastical law, connected
with this case. in which he was not deeply read.
But with all due deference to the Proctors and
Doctors, he .could establish that the property of
the grave-stone was in the heir at law, although
the property of the soil to which it was attached was
in the Rector. The apeoperty was of importance
to the Plaintiff, who, in his humble situation in
life had no other means of 'hewing that his father
hadl lived and died. The Plaintiff had applied to
the Rev. Mr. Atkinson for leave to make some ad.
ditiun to the inscription on the tomb of his father.
Mr. Atkinson had so much difficulty, that he could
not at once accede; but thinking that all the in-
jury would be to the Plaintiff, in lying three or four
hours on his breast on the cold stone, lie afterwards
said, " You may go." The Plaintiff did not go im-
mediately, but in November last lie went to prepare
the Stone for entering the seamen of the branches of
the families who had died. On the 17th of No-
vember he began to engrave, having raised the
stone for that purpose by placing some kind of bar-
rel under the one end and two stones under the
other. He proceeded as far as " Sally died Au-
gust—" when the darkness of night intercepted
him. He left the stone in that position. The De-
fendants, in the course of the night, having conceived
that the Plaintiff had put the rights of the church
in hazard, had taken away, and confined the sin-
hippy stone in a channel-house under the church.
Mr. Alexander. the attorney, was applied to
to wuite to the Defendants, and on the 2d of
February the stone was restored. The only cause
of contest now was the expenses which had been
incurred. and which the Defendants refused to pay.
Mr. SCARLET?, in addressing the Jury for the
Defendants, animadverted, with much severity, on
what lie called this paltry oction, which he con-
tended had been brought merely to recover costs.
The real questibn at issue between the parties, lie
raid, was, whether any man had a right to engrave
in the church-yard, without the clergyman's per-
mission. He toutesided they had not ; and the
Jury, after an hour and a half s consultation, re-
turned a verdict for the Defendants.