Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-10-14 00:00:00

SERIOII6 CHARGE AGAINST A CLERGYMA.N.

A commission, under the Church Discipline Act, issued
at the instance of the Bishop of London, was held at
Doctors' Commons, yesterday morning, to inquire into the
truth of a charge made against the Rev. }eXerard John
Smith, perpetual curate of Norwood, of "having offended
against the laws ecclesiastical, by having within two years
from the date of the commission, in his parsonage h)use
at Norwood, at sundry times, invited or permitted John
Douglas, then in his service as footman, to sleep in the
same bed with him, and having taken at sundry times
divers imprope-, indecent, and filthy familiarities with
the said footman, and by having generally demeaned
and conducted himself towards the said footman in a
manner unbecoming a clerk in holy orders." The
c mtnission was directed to Dr. Lushington, the Vicar-
Genera), Dr. Sinclair (the Archdeacon of Middlesex), the
Rev. R. C. Dalton. perpetual curate of St. Michael's,
Highgate ; the Rev. Michael Gibbs, vicar of Christchurch,
Newgate-street, and the Rev. W. Curetou, rector of St.
Margaret's, Westminster. All the commissioners were
present except Mr. Cureton. Dr. Phillimore appeared ou
behalf of the bishop, and sLr. Bodkin, Q C., for the rev.
defendant. Dr. Phillicaore having briefly opened the case,
and proved by the evidence of Mr. Watts, the registrar of
the diocese, that Mr. Smith was licensed to the curacy on
the 13;11 of July, 1838, calla,' Henry Mayhew, a former
servant of the defendant, who deposed that on several
occasions in the months of April and May last, he found.
that John Douglas, the footman, did not sleep in his own
bed, and came out of Mr. Smith's bedroom early in the
morning; that on one occasion he placed a ladder against
M. Smith's window, and saw that gentlemen al the foot
man in bed together ; that he afterwards mentioned the
matter to Mr. Smith, who said it was feoltshness on his part
to steep with Donglae, bat that he had done so because he
had a very bad cold, and he asked him (the witness) not to
mention it, as people were vary wicked in the village, and it
would rain him if it got absoad,.and also requested him to
endeavour to prevail an the female servants not to name it
to the washerwomen who ware caning to wash on the
following Monday. Harriet Salmon ant Isabella flue,
wh 3, at the period referred to., were respectively cork and
housemaid in the defendant's service, stated that on
occasions alluded to by the previous witness the footman's
bed had not been slept in, and that in their opinion two
persons had slept in the defendant's bed. They also spoke
of tit., defendant having excused himself to them ou the
ground of his having a cold, and requested them not to
mention the circumstance. Mr. Alfred Welsh, church-
warden of Norwood, stated that a meeting of the vestry
was held in July last to investigate the charge, and that
the rev defendant being present, admitted that the foot-
man had slept him, assigning as the reason that he had
a very bad cold, and denying that he had been guilty
of any criminality This witness also stated that the
attendance at the parish church had fallen off in conse-
quence of the charge having been made, and that the
scandal on the subject had been very injurious to the cause
of religion in the parish. Mr. Bodkin briefly addressed
the commissioners on behalf of the defendant. He said
that Mr. Smith did not deny, and had never denied that
the young man slept with him ; but he was prepared to
state on oath, if the court would receive his evidence,
that neither in ast, in thought, nor in moire had he been
guiby of anything criminal The learned counsel contended
tnat the mere fact of two persons of the same sex sleeping
together did not of itself justify the inference of crimi-
nality against nature, observing that his cheat admitted
that he had been guilty of an indiscretion, but nothing
beyond. He also remarked that he was at that moment
surrounded by several of his brother clergymen, awl many
of his parishioners, who had some forward to testify their
confidence in his inno !once aid their respect for his gene-
ral character. The Vicar-General having intimated that
the evidence of Mr. Smith could not be received in his own
c Lse. The rev. defendant said he hoped, nevertheless, he
should be allowed to say a few words. Ile had submitted
to the commission, in order that he might have an oppor•
tunity of asserting, as he did now most solemnly, that he
was perfectly innocent of any criminaity, either in act or
motive. The rev. defendant was proo eding to make other
remarks, but was interrupted by the Vicar-General, who
said that the commissioners could not hear any further
statemeLts froui him The commissioners then retired to
consider the evidence, and after an absence of about half
ah hour, returned, when the Vicar-General reported that
the commissioners were of opinion that there was sufa-
eientprirn3 facie ground for further proceedings.

CIIkRGE AGAINST A SURGRON AT

M iN CHESTER.

At the sitting co! the Manchester Court of Record, on
M ondsty, before J.ln DI onk, Esq., recorder, there was
tried a case, " Dale v. 'Wainwright," in which the plaintiff.
a dressmaker, sou; ,t dameges for an assault committed on
the 15th janua-y. The defendant, John Welts Wain-
wright, is A physician, practising as a surgeon, and
tee ding in Burliageon-s rest, Oxford-street, Manchester.
The defendant pleaded that he had not committed the
assault, and that the plaintiff being unlawfully in his
house, &e , ha gently laid his hand up on her, for the purpose
of ejecting her. .13.)tn plaint ff anddefandant were examined.
After counsel had been hoard on each side. The
Deputy-Rewriter, in summing up, remarked that this was
almost as painful a case as had ever been seen in a coart
of justice. On the one hand, there was a young woman who
publicly .avowed that she had fallen from the paths of
virtue, and lived for years in sin ; and on the other hand a
-defendant who did not deny that he hid taken advantage
-of the cpportunities afforded him by his being the medical
attendant in a respectable family, to bonnie acquainted
with the plaintiff, and to • seduce her; diet he continued
to seek her society so long as the small legacy, to which
-she became entitled on her mother's death, enabled her
to maintain herself ; and that when she had nothing to
live upon he abandoned and left her without the
smallest means of obtaining the very necessaries of life.
When tWo persons were found"coming to a curt of justice,
each confessing an eqnaliky of sin, the one manifesting
some shame and confusion of face at the confession, and the
other bearing a bold—he had almost said an audacious—
front under the zecaeation, it was for the jury to say which
of them came with the most -credit, and which of them they
thought best deserved their "syhipa,h es. In this case, he
(the deputy recorder) saw no way whatever of liberating
the jury from the conclusion that one party or the other had
intend-A to deceive them, an by their verdict they mast
sly which of the two was so deceiving them. The learned
judge then real through the whole of the evidence,
making occasional comments upon it. He said he
cencer ed is the observations of the learned counsel who
had just addressed them with so nrech eloquence and
power, as to the heartless manner in which the defendant'
spike of burning the-poor girl's letters. It was as heart-
less a =thing as he lied ever heard a men confess. For
a min who had recen.ly lost his wife, to whom one
would supplest he had .at one tine been tenderly attached,
who had seduced a young girl, and who knew her
misery, destitution, and wretcaednese, to burn her letters
without even seeing what her stetement was, seemed to
him (the jeep) a very cold, herd, odious action. Almost
, the last observation of thelea tied counsel for the defendant
was, a ou-have seen the way in which the plaintiff gave
,her evideaes " imputing that; it was diecreditsble to her;
but it seemed to him (the judge) that she . was to some
extent overpowered with a sense of the degradation and
disgrace that ehe had brought upon-herself, and her general
demeanour appeered to be in .her favour. The jury would
have to say, in the.fist place, whether diere was any assault
'committed. If they believed her, in estimating the amount
of damages which the; would give, they had no right to con-
sider the seduction, nor to think of punishing the defendant
because he had behaved heartlessly to wads the unfortunate
victim.of his lust; but they had a 14g'it to compensate her
fur her bodily suffering, and for each mantel suffering as
she had endured through being struck by the man to
whom she had given her affections. If they gave damages
at a'l, he would advise that they should be reasonable and
moderate, and not what were called winintive damages
The jury eoneulted fur a few minutes, when the foreman
inquired what amount of damages could be given in that
court. The Deputy-recorder said he thought he ought not
to tell them; but upon Mr. Wheeler remarking that the
amount at which the damages were laid was stated in the
record, and that he had forgotten to mention it, the learned
judge said ' the jury must only give what they be-
lieved to be reasonable damages. The extreme ameltint
laid in the deAsration was ..-e3O. After ten minutes'
consultation, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff—
damages £4O. .

THE ROUTE BY Su z.—The Pays has received a letter
from London o' the 9,h; sta:ing that tso agents of the
East la3ia CAnp:my were to leave f•r Alexaudria cn the
following day, with full power to make all necessary pre-
paration for the passige of Engliih trovs across the
Isthmus and Suez _

FEROC Tr.--A fe rful instance of feroci'y i i a child has
been witnessed at Fu nril, in the Llt et G .rtnne, where a
boy, aged three ani a half year;, procured a knife from an
aunt w th whom he was living. cal then hurled it at a
wom in who W. 13 s auding in the ki e'.en Toe knife
penetrat,d the region of ale heart, wiel the poir woman
expired two h_u7s after wards.
A resp-ctab e ginutry wupla wlre exam:ning
picture, '‘ Tee D.straint for fleet," in the Art Treasures
Exhibition, the other .'ai. !While t' e husband was EX-
as wife's attention wee fix d upon the infant
is tie er,xlle in the f iregr pan), and the exclaimed, with
motherly fe9liug, bye, my love, they went take the
baby,"

DARING ATTEMPT AT ESCAPE FROM PRISON.

CLONMEL, SATURDAY NlGHT.—Considerable excite-
ment was occasioned here to-day, upon the announcement
that James Neale, committed for trial at next spring
assizes, for the late murderous assault on Captain Inman,
Staff Officer of Pensioners, had attempted to regain his
liber y, undeterred by the vigilance of his jailors and the
strong bolts and bars of our county gaol. Since his com-
mittal and identification his demeanour has been most
careless and unconcerned to all appearance, heeding but
little the serious nature of the charge against him. On
last evening he was locked up for the night at the usual
period—six o'clock. p.m.—immediately after which it is
supposed he commenced the operation to enable him to
regain his liberty. Having provided himself with an
iron bar, probably part of his bedstead, and the cells
in his immediate vicinity being untenanted, he soon made an
aperture through the massive walls of the cell sufficient to
enable him to reach the next, when he commenced a
similar operation, and had nearly terminated it success-
fully, when his further operations were put a stop to by
the sudden and unwelcome apparition of one of the gaol
guard, who had been attracted to the spot on hearing a
slight noise. The earlier operations of Neale had been
favoured by the fact of the arrival of several prisoners
for the night from the police-office and other places,
during the interval which elapsed between the time he
had been locked up and that at which he was detected,
viz., a quarter past nine, p.m., some noise having been
occasioned in the prison in accommod sting the late
arrivals. It was most fortunate that Neale was not
permitted to penetrate farther, and much merit is due to
the turnkey on d ity for his vigilance on the occasion ;
much had been done since six o,clock, ann had a
few hours mire elapsed no one can say what the
consequences might have been. There is but one
gua'rd on dusty after ten o'clock, p. m., and had
Neale penetrated the next cell, he would have got into
an apartment from whence he might easily get into
the corridors of the prison, and it is supposed his inten_
tion was to secret himself in seine dark nook of one Of

them, and lie in ambush with his iron, weapon for the un-
suspecting guard going his round, and having overcome
him, made his escape the mare certain. It is due to the
governor, and all his officials to state that there is no
more efficiently conducted or vigilantly watched orison.
than that of this town. and although the part of i: allotted
to untried criminals is very old, such a thing as the escape
of a prisoner therefrom is almost unprecedented. The
public feeling is one of universal joy at the detection of
Neale, for had he escaped it would have been most diffi-
cult to recapture him, and as he had been fully identified
as-the iirty who fired at Captain Inman, it would be the
greatest pity that the ends of jostle should ever have a
possibility of being frustrated, the more especially as he
and two or three others of his gang; were the terror of
the Caher road last winter from the robberies they per-
petrated.