The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-14 00:00:00

IMPOB.TANT CASE.

This was an action to recover ss. for two counterfeit
half-crowns, alleged to have been taken at the defendant's

house.
Plaintiff said that he sent a girl for a quartern of gin, and
gave her half a sovereign. In the change she brought back
were the two half-crowns now produced.
Tho girl said the two half-crowns were the same that she
received from the defendant's barmaid.
By his Honour—l had no more money but the change I
received from the barmaid,
The barmaid said that the change was all very carefully
examined. The change was not returned till the next day.
Mr Watson was a most respectable man, who had been a
long time in business, and the girl could not swear that she
received the money.
His Honour—But she says that she had no other money.
Do you mean to insinuate that the plaintiff has come here
to deliberately tell a falsehood ?
Defendant's witness—Oh I no.
His Honour—There is no class of tradesmen so likely to
have bad money passed to them as licensed victuallers.
Defendant's witness—All the silver received in the day
in which the change was given came from the London and
`Westminster Bank, and was very carefully looked over.
His Honour—That might be so, but you are not in a
position to deny that which the plaintiff has sworn, and you
must pay this claim.
Verdict for plaintiff,

DEATH ON THE TREADMlLL.—Yesterday after-
noon Dr. Lankester held an inquiry at the House
of Correction, Coldbath-fields, touching the death of George
Williams, a black man, aged 57, who had been sentenced to
14 days imprisonment for an assault. Annetta Williams,
who said sheiwas the wife of the deceased and had no home,
stated, that her husband was a carpenter by trade, but that
they ussd to get a precarious living by going about selling
books which she bought in Paternoster-row. lle was a run-
away slave, and was a very great drinker. He sometimes
had palpitation of the heart, and complained of pains in
the head. Henry flymes said he was the master brushman
of the yard, and was attending at the bottom of the wheel
last Friday, when deceased fell off. On going to him he
heard the rattles in his throat, and he died immediately.
The prisoner had to go on the wheel 15 minutes each turn,
and deceased was on his last turn when he fell off, at half-
past one. The deceased did not complain to him of being
ill, and he seemed to work at the wheel as well as any other
man. He had been in the prison seven days, but ho had
not been put to work on the wheel until the day on which
he died. William Smiles, M.D., surgeon to the House of
Correction, said the prisoner was admitted last Friday
week, when he complained of his heart, on which he was
excused the wheel. He ordered that the prisoner should
not be put on the wheel on account of his feeble heart.
Contrary to these instructions, he was placed on the wheel
on Friday last. He was of opinion that the deceased died
from the effects of an effusion of blood on the brain. Wil-
liam Davie, the warder of the yard, said he had only held
that position a few days, his predecessor having gone out
on leave on the Sunday, and he had not had time to exa-
mine the books and sheets containing the directions. It
was his duty to examine them, and he should have done so

if he had had sufficient time. The prisoner was given over
to him as a wheel man. The coroner having summed up,
the jury returned as their verdict—" That the deceased died
from the effusion of blood upon the brain, and expressed
their opinion that the conduct of William Davie, the war-
der, in not examining the relieving sheet before sending
the deceased to the wheel, was highly reprehensible." The
coroner said he would report the result of the inquiry to

the Governor of the prison,
THE RAM TENNESSEE.—The Confederate ram
Tenneesee,captured inMobileßay,had been some two
years building at Mobile, under the immediate eye of Ad-
miral Buchanan. Her iron armour consists of 2i-inch iron
plates in bars 8 inches wide, which are crossed and bolted
together so as to leave no seam. Inside this iron plating is

24 inches of solid oak, making about 30 inches of solid work
on every part exposed to shot. Forward of, and including
her forward casemates, which embraces perhaps 15 feet in
length, and takes in also her pilot house, this thickness is
increased to six inches of iron and 30 of wood backing. It
is a noticeable fact that this extraordinary strength of iron
and wood enabled her to withstand all the steel shot from
our rifled pieces, our 11-inch solid shot from our ships of
war, and 15-inch shell from the monitors, not one of which
penetrated her ribs of iron, while nearly 50 shots altogether
struck her in the engagement. The nearest approach to
penetration was from a 15-inch missile from the Manhattan,
which made a deep indentation in her broadside, and by
impaction stove through her two feet of oak backing, caus-
ing the splinters to fly promiscuously inside. Though under
way when this struck her she is said to have stopped as if a
magic wand had touched her. She was armed with four
6.inch Brooks rifled guns, of English make, on her broad-
sides, and two fore and aft, 7 and an 8-inch of the same
pattern. These, by the completeness of their carriages,
could be handled by a single gunner with the greatest ease.
Her ports were closed with shutters made of iron plates
similar to her external plating. These were attached at the
centre of ono of their sides by a pivot, on which they re-
volved by means of a cogwheel inside, and turned out of the
reality,w ay ou t
as i
dd ea fwe
cht
ievne her
arrangement p ert s we e
andopened.in t
the
gThht i sp rwa
provedin
, an
element of weakness to her. Two of these shutters had
their system of ratchets and coge deranged during the ac-
tion, and could not be afterwards opened. A third (her after
one) was shot away entirely—that is to say, the pivot on
which it turned was shot off and the shutters fell to the deck,
leaving that port open and exposed to our gunners. The
precision with which our gunboats aimed can be appreciated
by the fact that some ten shots struck her in the neighbour-
hood of this port, and it was here that Admiral Buchanan was
wounded. One of our shells, striking in the edge of this
casemate, splintered the woodwork badly, and the rebel
Admiral was directing a gunner about clearing this so as to
use the after gun, when a shot struck the casement and ex-
ploded, literally tearing the gunner to atoms and wounding
Admiral Buchanan seriously in the thigh. He fell with the
blood and brains of the slaughtered gunner literally covering
him. The Hartford had undertaken to run her down; the
Lackawanna had followed suit, as had also the Monongahela
and the Ossipee, but without making the least effect upon
her solid walls of iron and wood. The Hartford had poured
in a broadside, but her 11-inch shells had bounded off from
her sick° like peas. The whole fleet had rained an infernal
hail of iron upon her, fore and aft, and on either hand. The
Manhattan had sent the persuasion of her 16 shells
to add to the din about her head; but she held out
until her Admiral fell, and then, seeing that nothing more
remained, she ran up the white flag and surrendered. Her
rudder chains were a most serious element of weakness
with her, being carried along her deck, and covered only
with a plate of half-inch iron. They were, consequently,
broken early in the engagement, and her rudder was sub •
se quently managed by means of ropes and blocks, which had
been attached prior to the action, evidently with a full ap-
preciation on the part of Admiral Buchanan of this defect.
She was armed with a formidable iron prow, which was
intended to do some heavy ramming when other offensive
devices failed her, and with this she steered for the Hartford
at the beginning of the engagement. The superior sailing
qualities of the Hartford, together with the eagle eye of the
bluff old Admiral, enabled him to out-manssuvrs the Ten-
nessee, and, instead of receiving her running, the Hartford
poured into her a broadside. " Give her one bell, give her
two bolls, give her eight bells," said the impetuous Farra-
gut, and they blazed away accordingly. The balls flew off
like hail from her iron sides, but she was brought up stand.
ing by the concussion, and afterwards grew more cir.um-
epect in her movements, Had this formidable craft remained
under the guns of Morgan until dusk, and then with her
wooden consorts come out to the attack, she might have sunk
and destroyed half, if not our entire fleet inside the bay, as,
in the darkness and confusion which would have envied our
own gunboats would have proved as formidable and mis-
chievous to each other as the rebel boats themselves. —Noe
Orleans Times Correspondence.
A VALUABLE DERELICT.--Information has been
received at Liverpool of the picking up at tea of the aban-
doned schooner Ostrich, of Jersey, by the captain and crew
of the screw steamer Mary. The Mary fell in with the de-
relict on her voyage to Bermuda, and put four men on board
to take her into port. The Ostrich is only 99 tons register,
but of considerably more value than ordinary vessels of that
size. She was built expressly for the African trade, in
which she has been on a voyage from Sierra Leone for
London, with a full cargo of African produce. Nothing
has been heard of the crew.
CRYSTAL PALACE.--One Shilling day, Tuesday.
—Admissions on payment, 4,074 ; do., by season tickets,
773—total visitors,' 4,847.