The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-23 00:00:00

the present question. The learned counsel next called at-
tention to the evidence that had been given by the clerks
from the Bank of England and the London Joint-Stock
Bank, men who, he said, were not hackneyed experts, but
men who were in the habit of paying large sums of money
upon their knowledge of handwriting, and who by their great
experience were able to detect a forgery in an instant, and he
urged that it was imr,ossible not to give the greatest possible
effect to evidence of such a character. He next went on to
give a general outline of the case that had been set up for
the plaintiff, and asked the jury whether they thought that
upon the facts before them they would be justified in re-
turning a verdict that would deprive the poor ladies who
were the real defendants in the action and their children
of this property, and enable Mr. W. Roupell to obtain
£200,000 worth of property for his family, upon the sup-
position that the deeds by which he had passed the property
away were forged and counterfeited.

Mr.Bovill had not concluded his address when the court
rose.

The Attempted Murder in a Railway

Carriage.

On Wednesday morning Michael Lyons, aged 40,
of Bampark, Ballymascall, near Dundalk, Ireland,
was brought before the magistrates at Newport
Poguell, charged, under the 20th section of the 24t4
and 25th of Victoria, cap. 100, with having unlaw-
fully and maliciously inflicted grievous bodily harm
upon the persons of one James Worland and Peter
M'Llean. The magistrates present were Mr. M. G.
Duncan (chairman), Mr. C. M. Chester, Mr. J. C.
Maul, the Rev. C. Selby Lowndes, and the Rev. J.
Tarver.

The prisoner since he has been under confinement
has appeared to be perfectly rational. He has re-
peatedly stated that he had no reason for committing
the assault beyond the belief that the two persons
whom he assaulted in the carriage were about to rob
him. He has written two letters, one to his wife
and the other to a solicitor at Aylesbury, who ap-
peared for him.
Upon the prisoner being placed at the bar Mr.
Inspector Cox, of the S division, who had charge of
the case from the Marylebone Police-court, stated, in
reply to Mr. Powell, the clerk to the bench of magis-
trates, that the medical gentleman who had been
attending the two sufferers, Dr. Bain, of Blackwell,
had handed him a certificate at the Euston station
jest prior to the starting of the train. It certified
that Mr. M‘Lean and Mr. Worland were both so ill
as to be unable to leave the house, and that Mr.
M•Lean had that morning lost a child. Inspector
Cox added that he had no evidence to offer at pre-
sent, and that he had to ask for a remand.
John Orpen, the constable who took the prisoner
into custody, was sworn to his information, andtLe
following letters were handed to the bench for
perusal :
“Ravensdale-park, Newry, July 20.
"Sir,—Having just been informed of the arrest of Mr.
Michael Lyons, a schoolmaster, residing on my estate in the
county of Louth for assaulting persons in a railway carriage
while in a state of insanity, I beg leave to say that I am
aware that upon another occasion, about three years ago,
Lyons was attacked with insanity. His wife goes by the
steamer to-night to try to see him, with a hope to be allowed
to do so. As he is a respectable man, I trust he will be
treated with every consideration under the unfortunate cir-
cumstances int ) which his dangerous malady has misled
him.--I am, Sir, y.,ur obedient servant,
" CLAREMONT.
" To Inspector Brearyt Fenny Stratford."
Inspector Breary said that letter was from Lord
Claremont.
The next letter was in the following terms :
" "University of London, Burlington-house, July 20.
Sir,—Having read an account of the assault committed
in a railway carriage by Michael Lyons, and having seen
that he has been brought up before you, and is to appear
again on Thursday next, I think it well to inform you that
I have reason to believe in the correctness of his statement,
that he was on his way to undergo an examination here.
He had requested me to enter his name as a candidate for
the first Bachelor of Science examination, which commenced
this morning, and had furnished to me the necessary certi-
ficates, and I consequently expected him here yesterday.
I shall be ready to put his communications on the subject in
evidence if it should be considered desirable. It seems to me
not unlikely that his brain has been unsettled by overwork
and by anxiety about his examination.—l remain, Sir, your
obedient servant,
" WILLIAM B. CARPENTER, M.D., Registrar.
I, To Lowndes, Esq."
The solicitor for the, defence applied to have a
sum of money, amounting to £8 3s. Bd., given up
to the prisoner for the purposes of the defence.
After some consultation the Bench agreed that
the sum of two guineas might be given up for the
purposes of the defence.

The prisoner said he would willingly undertake
his own defence if the money could be given to his
wife, who had no means of support either for her-
self or the four young children she had left. Lord
Claremont had generously given her money to get
to London, but she had no means of returning. He
(the prisoner) desired to ask the Bench whether
the railway would let her use his return-ticket
home.
The Chairman said that the company would de-
cide that, and the Bench desired Mr. Orpen to
state to the proper officials of the company the
suggestion which the Bench wished to make, that
the company should take into consideration the con-
dition of the woman and act according to their dis-
cretion.
Mr. Orpen undertook to convey to the railway
authorities the opinion of the Bench, and the far-
ther hearing of the case was adjourned for a week.
It appears that the old lady who was in the car-
riage was Mrs. Eaton, of 21, Herbert-street, I-Tox-
ton. Although 80 years of age, she so far preserved
her presence of mind that on recovering from the
shock which induced a sudden faintness, she bound
up Mr. Worland's forehead with the handkerchief,
and that she took two others out of the bag she had
with her, in order to stanch the blood, and she
maintained her self-possession throughout the jour
ney, and was enabled to tell Orpen, the constable,
what had taken place, It was Orpen who secured
the knife which the prisoner had firmly held in his
hand, although both M'Lean and Worland had
managed to keep him down on the floor of the car-
riage, by kneeling on him for an hour and a quarter
after the ferocious attack had been made.