The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-15 00:00:00

A Horse-Trainer Charged with Libel.

Yesterday a wilt of inquiry
was executed at the Town
Hall Croydon, by the Under Sheriff of Surrey,orlibel brought
Arr. C. Ab-
bott, to assess the damages in an action for
and who
f
by Mr, Sydney Jacobs, an owner
of
r horses,
is well known upon the turf, against Robert I'Anson, the
t
trainer, in which judgment was allowed to go by default.
Mr. Joyce was counsel for the plaintiff, and Mr. Robin-
son for the defendant.
d said that the plain-
Mr. Joyce addressed the jury,
a trainer, and brother
and the defendant was well known.a
the north of England.
to a more celebrated man residing
intendant had the care of
In the beginning of the year the
de
1 intiff called Passion
tiff had been for many years connecatnesd with racing matters,
and Duchess of Kent ; but in February
two race-horses belonging to the P
butstill remained at
the latter sold thee
they to a gentleman named Simons,
the defendant's stables. After they
had
them, and on the
l been there some
time, Mr. Simons was desirous to m
10th of June he went down to gikl
of doing so. The defendant was not at home, and his wife
remove
for the purpose 1
,
objected to the horses being take— away, and he was there-
forem. On the following
obliged to return without the
day he received the letter that
was the subject of the ae•
tion. The learned counsel read the letter, which contained
the following passages—" I am not surprised that you
should have come down to Mickleham to remove the
.
.
horses, at a time when you knew I was away.
yourself to play into
;he .and tlo his dirty work for
the subject of the
him." This was the portion
which w "Jacobs with having
libel; but the letter went on to charge
the stables, and stated
attempted to bribe the boys
about
until the defendant
that the horses should not be removedhim,
adding that he did
hands
of
that I wondertbi
ef yot t
Jacobs,can allow
had been paid what Jacobs owed 'las
the poor people about
not care so much about
the'd plaintiffot ask for vindictive damages,
Mickleham, to whom
I learned counsel said he di n
admitted the libel, and they ought
but the defendant had
tas would clear his character in
to award such an
amount
show that there was no founda-
tion owed money. The
the eyes of the world, a
was' then examined, and said : He
Mr. H. M. Simons
practising in Walworth, and he also
was a medical
manracing matters. He knew the plain-
took an interest
inconnected with the turf, and in the beginning
tiff as being
sed
ea. two horses of him which were at
of the year he ruc—
tion for the serious charge that had been made against him
g with the defendant, Mr. I'Anson. At
the time in training
obs he continued to keep the horses
the request of Mr.
purchased them, but about the
reasons which it was not necessary for
month of June, for
was desirous to remove the horses, and
at Mickleham
him to mention,
he
defendants stables for that purpose;
he went down to theme,
and his wife objected to the horses
but he was not at
uhdo
be
came away without them. He
being removed,
and
the letter which was the subject of the
afterwards received
the plaintiff."
t to
libel, and showeddi:
-Witness was a surgeon by profession,
Cross-examine
little racing with it at times. He had
but he combined a.
~,
, regularly for a few months since he
only followed rTonse
horses. He had known Jacobs a good
had purchased t
s not related either to himself or his
He Wn
after he had
many years. _ aware that he knew a good deal about
wife ; but he was
racing matters, and he therefore consulted him. The de-
d, had been his trainer for a consider-
fondant, ho believablee time.
Mr, Robinson asked the witness whether he had not
time these horses were sought to be re-
heard that at the
owed I'Anson a considerable sum ?
moved, Jacobs
d to the • •
b:eete question being put; but the
Mr. Joyce 0 J
that it was • •
If ruled admissible.
Under-Sheri
The witness then said he might have heard so, bit he
knew nothing about it. He was aware that Hampton Races
took place on th
but be did not go down
that day to fetch
particularly on the horses, because he
thought the defendant would be at the races. He had
heard that the defendant. had sent an apology in writing to
the solicitor
for the Plaintiff, but he never saw it. One of
Passion, was dead;
up the other. They had both run since they had been wit-
ness's property. Passion ran at Epsom, and the Duchess
of Kent at Reigate, and the latter was in the Oaks the fol-
lowing year. the horse ran in the name of Madeleine,
name suggested
which was a by Mr. Jacobs on account of
its being an uncommon one. He acted under the advice of
Mr. Jacobs in all matters relating to racing. Witness had
brought an action against the defendant to recover £3OO,
the value of the horses, and for neglect in training them.
Upon one occasion the witness accepted an engagement for
a horse called V u
steer, and became responsible for the
amount of the sta Ikes,t. and he did so at the request of Mr.
Jacobs.
Mr. Robinson then addressed the jury on behalf of the de-
fendant in mitigation of damages. He said he did not dis-
pute that the defendant had acted improperly in writing the
letter, but immediately afterwards he had made all the re-
paration in his power, and he submitted that this was all
that could be expected, and that the present action ought
never to have been brought against him, the only object of
which was to gratify a feeling of vindictiveness and saddle
him with expenses and law charges. He commented upon
the absence of the plaintiff, and said if he had been called as
a witness, he should have been enabled to have elicited from
him whether there Was any truth in the suggestion that at
the time the attempt was made to remove the horses Jacobs
was indebted to defendant a considerable sum for training
and other expenses. He said, hewever, that, as the case
stood at present, he thought the jury could not entertain
any doubt of this fact; and it was clear that the defend-
ant was under the impression that the pretended salet theof
the horses to Simons
was merely a juggle to shil
sion
ownership, and enable the latter to obtain Pesa to
of the horses, which he considered he was entitled keep until the lien which he had upon them waB
dis-
charged. He went on to contend that it was very
• natural
and
for the defendant to be under such an impression,
taken
of
also that he should think that advantage had been
to go to
knowing that he would be at the Hampton Races
and
his stables during his absence and carry out the project,
bethe case,
that, upon his return at night, finding this to
t the races,
and probably a little excited from having been aever,
apoio.
he wrote the letter in question.
He h 9•41, however,
that
gised immediately ; and he submitted, n
i damage" whatever,
the plaintiff had in reality sustained ne
verdict.
and he hoped the jury would say so by their
returned a verdict for
The jury, after a short deliberation,
casof this the plaintiff, damages one farthing. The effect
ver-
dict will be that each party pays his own t

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