The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-24 00:00:00

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

THAMES.

DASTARDLY OUTRAGE.—Thomas Davies, a watch-
maker, was brought before Mr. Partridge charged with
violently assaulting James Hilton, a police-constable, 457
K, who was completely disabled from the injuries he re-
ceived, and whose right hand was bandaged.
The prisoner and others were drunk and disorderly in
Narrow-street, Ratcliff, at two o'clock this morning, and
upon the policeman requesting them to depoirt and go home,
one of the party pulled his coat off, gave it to the prisoner,
and knocked down the constable. When Hilton rose he was
knocked down again. The prisoner then gave his friend's
coat to another person, and struck the police-constable, and
felled him a third time, and when he was down trampled on
his hand. The constable again rose, and the prisoner,
who was like a madman, rushed upon him, threw him and
fell uon him. Another constable, named Thomas Bonce,
No. 24G K, came to the assistance of Hilton, took the pri-
soner off him and secured him. The other ruffians, who
were as cowardly as they were brutal, ran away when the
second police constable approached, and crept into their
dwellings.
After some further evidence, in the course of which it
was proved that the disturbance originated in apublichouse
from which the rioters were turned out, and that a woman
was brandishing a knife and threatening to have blood for
her supper, Mr. Partridge called upon the prisoner for his
defence. He gave a general denial to the charge, and called
a man named Joseph Powell, who stated that the prisoner
was a very respectable man and a teetotaller.
Mr. Partridge—He was drunk last night.

Witness—He only drank gingerbeer and brandy.
Mr. Partridge said that was very likely to make a man
inebriated, This was a very serious charge, and if police
constables were not protected in the discharge of their duty
no decent man would enter the force. The prisoner was a
dastardly ruffian. He fined him £5, and in default of pay-
ment, two months' imprisonment.

THE CAT A FOREIGNER.—A positive argument
for the foreign introduction of cats may be founded
on the terms in which they are mentioned amongst the old
Welsh laws of Howell the Good (943 A.D.) They were
evidently scarce at that time, for it is there laid down—
"The worth of a kitten until it shall open its eyes is one
legal penny; from that time till it shall kill mice, two legal
pennies ; after it shall kill mice, four legal pence, and so it
shall always remain." A law of one of our own Edwards
made the killing a cat punishable with death—a remnant of
barbarism only expunged from the statue-book, we believe,
by the late Sir R. Peel. Both the ancient Welsh and our
own law concurred in a curious penalty for killing the
king's cat, "the guardian of the royal barn." The offender
was mulcted in a heap of corn sufficient to cover the defunct
animal when held up bp the tip of its tail with its whiskers
touching the floor.—Once a Week..

AN OLD BUSHMAN'S description of his being lost
for nine hours at night in a snowsterin.—The snow
was blinding me, the air was so thick that I could not see a
hundred yards before me, and all the fences were now buried
in the snow-drift. , I fired off my gun, I shouted, but no
answer. I floundered on, not knowing where I was steer-
ing, for I was quite lost. And if I had tried to make back
tracks' the darkness and the heavy falling snow prevented
me seeing my spor. I tried to keep to a straight line,
hoping at last to find some familiar object. On I toiled,
sometimes the snow-drifts in the hollows four feet deep,
always above my knees ; and so great was my exertion, that
in about an hour more I felt myself beaten. And although
I should reckon there was then at least 13 deg. cold Cel-
sius, the perspiration poured off me in streams. Again I
fired off my gun and shouted, but no answer. No one was
likely to be out round here on such a night, and even if a
cottage window had been blazing within 200 yards of me I
could not have seen it. I could keep no note of time, but
I fancy it must have been near midnight when I reached
another clump of trees, and being now faint and overmes•
tered, I sat down at the foot of one with my back to the
wind ; but as soon as I had sat down a complete revul-
sion came over me. My blood seemed all at once
to stagnate, my. head reeled, my eyes appeared
to be starting from their sockets, and a drowsi-
ness which I had never felt before crept upon
me. I felt my life depended on moving on. If I could
struggle on till the morning I might be saved. But I
reckoned it still wanted eight hours to sunrise. To push on
was my only alternative, and I again struck out into the
waste of snow. The cold had caught one of my hands, and
I had lost the use of it. and my ears and nose felt just as if
I could have snapped them off like icicles. I became weaker
and weaker. Suddenly my foot struck against an obstacle.
It was a sunken fence. The snow-drift here just reached
to my waistcoat pocket, and it took me a quarter of an hour
to clear the fence. The cold seemed eating into my marrow.
My feet appeared to hang my legs like lumps of lead.
My senses seemed going.' I was bee wing light-Leaded,
and when I rem again I reeled like a drunken man. A
kind of languid inditlerence stole over mo. I almost longed
to sleep the :sleep of death. In the early evening I had felt
frightened. Now hope had N anished and I dashed on with
reckless exultation. Such curious thoughts came into my
head; trifling incidents of the past, long since forgotten,
crowded on my mind, and the whole history of a life seemed
to be condensed in the few hours of that dreadful night. I
thought of suicide and loaded my gun. And then I dashed
my gun in the snow. I was no longer master of myself, my
whole disposition seemed changed, I moved mechanically
as in a trance.— Vide A Spring and Summer in Lapland.

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The disputed question arising out of the dismissal
of the coroner's summoning officer by the St. Pan-
cras vestry, was resumed yesterday at the ordinary
vestry meeting.
The CHAIRMAN, Mr. Churchwarden Taylor,
pointed out the position in which the matter stood
at the present time. There were before the meeting
a resolution, to the effect that the report of the com-
mittee presented last week should be adopted, and
that the vestry should proceed to the appcintment
of a beadle in the room of Murray, and have him
duly sworn in by the magistrates to discharge the
duties in reference to inquests; and ar amendment,
to the effect that the question of the legality or
otherwise of Murray's dismissal, he not having been
allowed to be heard, should be referred to the
solicitor.

Dr. COLLINS said that on a previous occasion the
coroner had spoken to him with reference to nume-
rous complaints by medical men, to the effect that
they had not received their fees for making post-
mortem exam:nations, alleging that the St. Pancras
vestry must consequently be very negligent. He
was therefore surprised that Dr. Lankester should
be led to come forward now and make an attack
upon a public body like that, and support the re-
instatement of Murray.
Mr. WELLBY said that Murray had been grossly
misrepresented. The beadle was a persecuted man,
against whom unscrupulous means had been used,
and was therefore deserving of the support and
sympathy of the vestry. Dr. Lankester was a gen-
tleman better qualified than aty present to form
correct opinions as to the character of the man, and
he had declared that Murray was an excellent officer
and a sober, steady, and honest man ; and if he were
discharged the public in general, and the parish of
St. Pancras in particular, would suffer for it ; and
if they did not rescind the resolution for his dis-
missal, they would every where be set down as great
noodles.

A stormy discussion ensued, which resulted in
the amendment being lost by 16 to 22.
Cep!. CAMERON moved a second amendment, to
the effect that the question as to whether the resolu-
tion dismissing Murray was legally carried should
be referred to the solicitor. He contended that it
had not been carried, inasmuch as the bye-laws of
the vestry provided that the amendment should be
carried by two-thirds of those who voted,and not by
two•thirds of the vestry; therefore the 27 who voted
for the amendment for rescinding the dismissal of
the officer--40 only voting—must necessarily con-
stitute two-thirds. The chairman declining to vote
ceased to be a vestryman for the time being. There-
fore he considered that the amendment had been
legally carried.
Mr. JENKINS concurred in Captain Camercn's
opinion, and seconded the motion.
The amendment being put to the meeting, was
lost by 23 to 13.

The original motion was then put, and carried
by a large majority, and
The proceedings terminated.

MARKETS---This Day.

MARK-LANE.

IMPERIAL WEEKLY AVERAGES.—Wheat, 41s 2d ;
barley, 32s 6d ; oats, 19s Od ; rye, 298 4d ; beans, 34s 9d ;
and peas, 33s 7d.
THE SIX WEEKS' AVERAGES. Wheat, 40s 6d;
barley, 33s 5d ; oats, 19s 4d ; rye, 29s 8d ; beans, 35s 6d ;
peas, 335 11d,

_
ENGLISH GRAIN SOLD LAST WEEK.—Wheat, 112,204;
barley, 113,114; oats, 15,301; rye, 30; beans, 5,537; peas,
1,864 quarters.

NEWGATE AND LEADENHALL.

The supply of meat on sale at these markets is moderately
large. The trade, generally speaking, is slow, at our
quotations,

Per Slb. by the carcase.

edad o d s d
Inferior beef .. 2 10 3 2 Middlingmutton 4 0 4 4
Middling do. .. 3 4 3 8 Prime do .. 4 6 4 8
Prime large do. 3 10 4 0 Veal: .. 3 8 4 8
Do. email do. .. 4 2 4 4 Small pork 4 0 4 4
Large pork .... 3 6 3 10 Lamb .... 0 0 0 0
Inferior mutton. 3 6 3 10