The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-02-04 00:00:00

ILICTION FRACAS.

Mr. Ws csow. on behalf of bir.Ansell. one of the
Sherifs of Norwich, moved for leave to file a
Criminal Information against a Mr. Charles Hardy,
a respectable grocer of that city, on the following
grounds k-it-
Upon the 3d of November last, during the elec-
tion for the sit y of Norwich. several riots took
place in the market-platy, and much mischief was
apprehended. Mr. Ansell was sitting in his own
Court, upon business, when he was called out to
quell the riot; he immediately proceeded to the
place (having his civic gown on) where the dis-
turhance was, attended by some constables, and
found the mob had almost dragged a gentleman
off his horse. Mr. Ansell, upon this, took the
most foie@ rioter into custody, and was proceeding
with him to the Guildhall. when Hardy came up to
him, grossly abused him, shook his fist in his face,
and, by this sort of resi.tance on his part, the min
was actually rescued, and ran up alone; the Sh•rif
followed him, and when he got to the top of the lane,
he was again met by beady ; and the man, through
his means, escaped a second time. The Sheriff
immediately afterwards Laid luild of another man,
who had all', been vety adive in the riot, and was
proceeding likewise with him to the Guildhall,
when Hardy again interfered, called the Sheriff " a
scoundrel," and, seizing his gown, tore it in pieces ;
and, by this means, the second man escaped. The
Learned C nmsel observed, that Hardy was a man
of considerable properly in the city of Norwich ;
and if such an offence was to be tolerated. the ends
of yitstice must be wholly subverted. The reason
for not making an sailer application to the Court.
he stacrA to he, that the eledion for the county of
Norfolk, coming nn a few days after this transac-
tion; and just as the Norwich eledion concluded,
the Sheriff was occupied until too lam to apply
last term. His brother Sheriff being old and in-
firm, the whole of the duty devolve.' upon kin. alone.
The Court granted a Rule to chew Cause.
Mr. MOORS moved fir an Attachment against
the Bishop of Durham, for not retaining a r a..rew
rapiw. He doubted whether he should move for
a direr/seas nran Attaeiment.

The inter.ll curse of praftice being by Attach-
ment, the Court granted a Rule to bile*. Cause.

COMMON MEAS.

Y[YtON O. CAE;if.
This was a motion made nn the part of the De-
fendant. that a bail•bond (tilt() which she had en-
tered, for the payment of a debt of 'AI.) should be
delivered up to be cancelled. oa entering a comma
appearance.

4eljeant VA von sts observed, that the Defmd.
ant's application could net be attended tee, if the
facts stated in the affidavit he held in his hand,
Gould be rvlied on, in which the Deponent, I lenson,
swore, that the Defendant, rtfrs. Carey, had come
to lodr at his house, in ttse character of the widow
of an effacer; tha, she had. in his house, contract -41
debts to him, amounting to 241., for which he had
repeatedly applied, in vain ; at length, the Depo-
nent tocatened het with arrest, in cue. of non-
payment ; whereupon she declared, that Captain
Carey, whose mistress, r.a:. wife, she had been, was
then in the 3d Royal Veteran Battalion, quartered
in Jersey, on whom, if the Plaintiff' would draw,
he would undoubtedly accept the bill, and provide
for its payment in due course ; the Plaintificomplied
with her request, and wrote to Captain Carey, in-
closing a draft, which; in a few days, returned
unhonoured ; he then waited on Mrs. Carey, who
told him she was sorry for the disappointment, but
was easy as to any consequences resulting from it to
herself, as she assured the DepOnent she was the
legal wife of Captain Casey, from whom, for some
private reasons, she had lately eloped ; sbe, of-course.
could not be liabl.2 fir the deht, while her husband
was 1 ving. The affidavit farther stayed, that she
now went by the name of Carr, ard lived under
the proteltion of a Gentleman in Wetiminstet.
l'he Counsel urged, that as, in this case, the fait
of coverture was at best very dmhtful, which was
the ground oii which the application was made, the
Defendant's application must fail ; for this he cited
an authority from 21 Blackstone's Reports, 903.
For though the Defendant might swear ia har affi-
davit, as he understand :he had, that she had been
married, yet, as :hat:term might be differently ap-
plid, she might only mean to say, that a sort of
form et marriage m:ght have passed botween the
parties, which was not at all binding in Law. Such
instances were unhappily too frequert ; he, there.
fore, hoped, that except the case of covertute were
made out by other documents beside the Defend•
ant's affidavit, the Court would refuse the applica-
tion to cancel the bail-bond.

Serjeant Bess observed, that supposing the whole
of this scandalous affidavit true, the tac• of her
coverture was in no wise impaired by it. The
answer even of Captain. Carey In the Plaintiff's
letter did not declare she was not his wife ; bat only
said, that he could not then accept the draft. By
perm sting her to use his nom*, and ss.'n calling
her in his letter Mrs. Carey, the matter was almost
placed beyond a doubt ; but the Counsel observed,
he could even bring in evidence the deposition of the
Chaplain of the ftsgiment, who married the par.
ties, if the Learned Judges thought it absolutely
necessary.

The Court not deeming an; thing farther neces-
sary to establish the •alidity of her covertnre, grant-
ed the application.

On Wednesday last, the body of a man was seen
fl.,ating near Lo.thester Bridge by a person who
was passing over it, and who gave immediate inti
matian of the circumstance to some watermen.
The watermen proceeded directly to the place where
the b.dy was seen, and soon re•urned with it.—
]he unforinnate person was dressed in a vet y re-
speCtable maQner, and had every appearance of a
gentleman. Upwards of '2O guineas and some
silver were fund in his pockets, but not any thine
that cotlld lead to a discovery of his name co
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