The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 15, 1863.

LAW INTELLIGENCE--This Day.

SECONDARIES COURT.
(Before Mr. Potter and a Common Jury.)
PETERS V. GORDON.
This was an action sent down from one of the superior
courts to recover arrears of money alleged to be due for an
illegitimate child, •
Mr. Clarke, of Stanley-place, Paddington-green, for the
plaintiff, said he should prove such facts in this case as
would satisfactorily prove that the defendant had acted in
a most heartless way to his client, and he called Amelia
Peters, who said—
lam the plaintiff. In 1861, at Easter, I lived at Red-
hill. Defendant also resided there. Defendant's father is
a grocer, and he keeps the post-office. I came up to Lon-
don by a cheap train at Easter, 1161, and defendant came
also. We did not come by the same train, but met
at London-bridge. We spent all our time together, and
he induced me to sleep with him. The child I have in my
arms is the result of our intercourse. When the child was
born he gave me money to come to London, so that his
family might not know of it. I paid the nurse, but Gordon
gave me the money. After I had been in London a short
time, I told defendant I must have some arrangement. I
said that if he did not do something for me, I must affiliate
the child. He begged of me not to do so, as it would come
to his father's ears, and he might be turned out of doors.
He then allowed me fis per week. This sum he paid for
some time, but finally discontinued, I am unable to go
to service.

Cross-examined by Mr. Palmer—l have never had any
improper connexion with a person named Younger.
The learned Secondary did not think the question ought

to be put.

Mr: Clarke—lf the girl's character is to be traduced, pray
go on.
The Learned Secondary—And besides, it is not material.
Plaintiff—The money was paid to me for the support of
the child.

Mr. Palmer did not think plaintiff was in a position to
recover upon the mere promise to pay.
Mr Chake urged that these was plenty of consideration
for the promise. There was something very material in
the agreement not to expose defendant to his family. There
was more than one case in the books which ruled a case of
this kind.

Mr. Palmer then said the woman was not to be be-
lieved, and he regretted that he had not witnesses here to

prove it.
Mr. Clarke—Then it ought not to be said.
Defendant was then called, and said—l am a grocer,
living with my father at Redhill. I met the young woman
at London-bridge at Easter, 1861. I was with her all day.
I did not sleep with her that night, or any night. I never
promised to pay plaintiff ss. a week. I never went to the
house where she stopped in London. I never saw the
house. I never told her to go to London. I never asked
her not to expose me. I know Younger, and I have never
sent money by him to the plaintiff. I did not meet her
about any arrangement. I did not meet her, because it was
not likely any one would promise to pay ss. when he could
get off for 2s. 6d. I saw her, and said I could not do any-
thing for her. Younger is here.
Plaintiff recalled—l know Younger, who is a friend of
Gordon's, and he has paid me money for Gordon. Gordon
himself has paid me money.
Mr. Clarke—The defence is a most impudent and
cowardly one. The first blow levelled at the character of
the plaintiff was as to her connection with Younger. She
has indignantly denied it, and she has proved most fairly
that defendant paid her money, and that he has not kept
up his payments. I put it to the jury that plaintiff has
fairly made her case out, and I confidently ask your verdict.
The learned Secondary having summed up, the jury
found for the plaintiff without a moment's hesitation, The
learned Secondary granted a certificate.
Verdict foe plaintiff.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT—This Day.

OLD COURT.
(Before the Lord Chief Baron.)
THE FATAL FIGHT AT HAMMERSMITH.

Joseph West surrendered to take his trial upon the coro
ner's inquisition of manslaughter,
. . .

The deceased and the prisoner were labouring men in the
neighbourhood of Hammersmith, and on the evening of the
6th June they were in a public-house called the Seven
Stars with a number of their companions, and they were
both somewhat intoxicated, the deceased being the worst.
It did not appear that any quarrel took place between them,
but the prisoner said he was the better man of the two, and
he would stake a sovereign and fight him for that amount.
Collins at first refused saying nehaa no money, but ultimately
they went out to fight, and after they had been so engaged
they both fell down, and the deceased's head came in con-
tact with the ground, and soon afterwards he was observed
to be oleeding. After several niunds Collins gave in, and
they both went in to the public-house together, had some
beer, and shook hands. Collins went to work for several
days after, and about the 27th of June he was taken ill, A
surgeon was seat for, and on his arrival he found the de-
ceased in a semi-unconscious state, and on examination a
large wound was discovered on the top of his head, which
had been strapped up. The man got worse, and eventually
died on the 30th of June. On a post mortem examination
it wan found that an abscess had formed on the brain,
which produced death.
The jury returned a verdict of acquittal.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

Robert Hayter, a respectable-looking man, described as
a foreman, and living at 55, Dorset-place, Pall-mall, was
charged as follows :

Shrives, 82 C, said that about a•quarter to three this
morning he saw the defendant and two others come out of
" Kate Hamilton's," in Princes-street. They were all
making a great noise, and when they got to the corner of
Whitcombe-street they got to very high words, and were
about to fight. He spoke to the defendant, requesting
him to go away, when he seized him and threw him
against the railing, and on attempting to take him into
custody he threw him on the pavement, tore his trowsers,
and hurt his leg. He then took the defendant into
custody.
In answer to Mr Tyrwhitt, the constable said the de-
fendant had been drinking, but was not drunk.
Defendant said he certainly had been to Kate Hamilton's
with two friends, Mr. Belasco being a customer of his.
They had a bottle of wine there, and on coming out had an
altercation, and the constable pushed him and he pushed
the constable.
Mr. lyrwhitt fined the defendant ss.

Mr. Glaisher's Twelfth Balloon Ascent.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MIN.
Sir,—This ascent, which took place on Saturday
last from the Crystal Palace, was intended to have
combined both extreme height and distance, and
almost until the time of leaving the earth there
seemed to be a promise that both purposes in these
respects would be realised. As the direction of the
wind was almost due east, the paths of the pilot
balloons were such as to indicate that our course
would have been towards Devonshire. The sky
was nearly covered with cirrus and cirro-stratus
cloud, and the air was in very gentle motion. The
earth was left at 4h 55m, the balloon moving to-
wards the west till 4h 591 m, when in a moment we
came under the influence of a north wind, and moved
almost due south ; at this time the balloon was
2,400 feet high; at 5h 19m we were nearly over
Caterham, where a large number of persons were
collected celebrating some festival ; at 511 36m we
were near Epsom Dawns; at 5h 49m, near Reigate;
at 6h 39m, over Horsham ; at 7h 14m, within five
or six miles of Brighton. Up to this time we had
frequently consulte_ together with the view of as-
cending higher, but it did not seem prudent to at-
tempt extreme elevations, moving so directly to-
wards the sea, and therefore we kept low, with the
prospect of crossing the Channel to France, and then
ascending four or five miles ; but, on approach-
ing the Channel, the circumstances did not pro-
mise success ; we therefore abandoned the at-
tempt. On descending when at the height of 2,400
feet, again fell in with an cast wind, being exactly
at the same elevation as when we lost it at five
o'clock. After this time we were compelled to
keep at a low elevation, passed very nearly parallel

to the coast, and continued moving at the rate of
about 15 miles per hour, at elevations varying
trom 1,000 to 2,000 feet, till, at 8h 25m, we were
over Goodwood park, the seat of the Duke of
Richmond, where Mr. Coxwell determined to de-
scend, and managed the balloon so that, finally, it
had to be pulled down, and we were not aware
when the car touched the earth.

The temperature at the time of :leaving, at the
Royal Observatory, Greenwich, was 751 deg.; at
the Crystal Palace it was 74 deg., and in the bal-
loon it declined to 59 deg. by 5h 4m, at the height
of 3,600 feet. We then entered a warm current,
the temperature increasing to 61.5 deg., then de-
creased to 60 deg., at the height of 4,300 feet. We
determined to descend to repeat these observations,
and found all temperatures down to 3,000 feet
nearly 5 higher than at the same heights on ascend-
ing. We then turned to ascend at 5h 35m, and the
temperature decreased gradually, agreeing with
those at the same elevations as last taken, and con-
tinued to a height of 6,200 feet at 6h 28m, where
the temperature was 521 deg.—we continued at
this elevation, with very slight variation, for halt
an hour, during which time the temperature fell
from 1 deg, to 2 deg. At 7h we were nearing the
coast, and we descended to 2,000 feet by 7h
20m, the temperature gradually and con-
stantly increasing to 651 deg. ; from this
time we were moving westward almost
parallel t 3 the coast, and were compelled
to keep below 2,000 feet, to avoid approach-
ing the sea, and the temperature at these elevations
varied from 63 deg. to 65 deg., and was 681 deg. at
Goodwood at 8h 50w, about ten minutes after we
had touched the ground. At this time at Greet -
wich the temperature was 64 deg., at Brighton (as
communicated to me by J. 0. N. Rutter, Esq.) it
was 68 deg. On comparing the successive tempera.
tures at the same elevations taken after 5h 8m with
those at Greenwich, a corresponding decrease was
shown, but somewhat less in amount.
At 5h 27m, when at the height of 3,400 feat, the
Times newspaper, folded four times, accidentally
fell over the car ; its descent was watched, and after
a time it looked like a bird ; it reached the ground
at sft 35m, passing over seven or eight fields in its
descent.
Whilst passing from Brighton to Chichester,
without any sense of motion ourselves, at an eleva-
tion of less than 2,000 feet, over so beautiful a
country, in all respects like Devonshire, with its fine
Parks of forest trees, noblemen's mansions, and all
the features of rural landscape, a moving panorama
in fact, of great extent, appearing in quick succes-
sion, like a fairy scene, was most enjoyable; and I
must confess it was with some regret that we were
compelled to conclude this aerial voyage.
The currents of air on this occasion were remark.
able. There was no transition state from one to
the other; the stratum of air moving from the
north must have been in contact with that from
east. After nearing Horsham the north wind must
have been compounded with some west—that
is, at heights exceeding 5,000 feet, which vies
lost on falling below this height, for then for a
time we were moving towards Worthing. When
near the south coast, the smoke was frequently
moving in a different direction to that of the bal-
loon ; at Arundel it was moving in the opposite
direction. It was this state of uncertainty which
prevented us from passing to the Isle of Wight, as
I very much wished to have some observations over
the sea. At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich,
the horizontal movement of the air between the
hours of five and nine was at a rate less than two
miles an hour, whilst during 31 hours the balloon
had passed over between sixty and seventy miles.
It is very evident that our instruments on the earth
do not give anylndication of the real velocity of
the air. A similar result was shown last year in
Mr. Coxwell's rapid journey from Winchester of
seventy miles in sixty-five minutes, whilst the
anemometer at Greenwich registered fourteen miles
only, and every occasion on which the actual
motion of the air has been measured by the bal-
loon, it has been a multiple of that determined by
instruments. The difference between the two is so
large that it seems scarcely to be accounted for by
the undulatory nature of the surface of land, and
implies that our hitherto estimated velocities of the
air are erroneous.
Shortly after we left, the sky was overcast, mostly
with cirro-stratus clouds of such density that at
times there were faint gleams of light from the sun ;
but for the most part the sun's place was only just
discernible, and for some time before sunset there
was no trace whatever of the sun.
These clouds, when viewed from a height exceed-
ing 6,000 feet, seemed then to be as far above as
when viewed from the earth; they must have been
four miles high at least. The atmosphere was thick
and misty ; very distant objects were invisible ; and
the earth not being lighted up at all by the sun was
dull. The fact of clouds reaching to four miles
high where the temperature of the dew point must
be some degrees below zero, as in the preceding
ascent, would seem to imply the presence of very
little water, yet there was enough in both cases not
only to be visible, but to exclude everything beyond
them. This fact is important, and indicates that
our theory of vapour must be reconsidered.
In this ascent we were favoured with the company
of Fredk. Norris, Esq., of
th
and Lieut. H. Turner, of the Rifle Cn
Brigade.
The place of descent was Goodwoodos Conservative te.
ve
Park,
tuhbe,
seat of the Duke of Richmond, and our best thanks
akrienddlyuegtaoveCoapstaiion Vevaelreynttihniengf,oorotthoenalyssi instance be
having
my instruments
properly taken care of, packing up
the balloon, &c,,
silElt•
I am, Sir, yours, &c., JAmEs GLAT
but also for his kind hospitality
Blackheath, July 14.

SOUNDING NIAGARA RIVEB.--The
gentleman
wHao h b trying the experiment of
,sounding
the river Niagara below the Falls writes as follows :
"Another attempt was made with a similar iron of about
ten pounds weight, attached to a No. 11 wire, all freely sue-
pended, so as not to impede the fall of the weight. I then
let the weight fall from the bridge, at the height of 225 feet.
It struck the surface fairly, with the point down, must have
bounce like
to some depth, badeas not longer out of sight than
one second, when it mats appearance again on the sur-
face, about 100 feet down the stream, and skipped along
gravity to
like a chip until it was checked by the wire. We then
acquired by a
menced hauling in slowly, which made the iron
Its sur
a ball, when a cake of ice struck it and ended th
when striking; must
am satisfied that no metal has sufficient specific gravity sport. /
and consequently its
pierce that currant, even with a momentum
inches, This will give an
face opposed to the
fall of 225 feet. The velocity of the iron,
have been equal to 124 feet per second,
momentum was near 5,0001b5.
current was about 50 superficial
idea of the strength of that cUrzetit.''