The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EIVENLI;I6I-, APRIL 23, 1532.

AO.RTII ITALY.

(From the Correspondent of the Times.)
TURIN, APRIL 23.
In the hurried correspondence I very lately sent
you from Parma and Modena I had frequent occa-
sion to mention several cases of desertion among
the Italian troops, especially among those quartered
on the Austrian frontier. The number of soldiers
quitting their standards begins to be rather con-
siderable, and their defection can scarcely fail to
have a demoralising effect on their comrades and to
cause some alarm in the country. An instance of

this evil practice occurred, however, lately at Lodi,
a brief account of which will afford to English
readers the means of fairly estimating the evil, re-

'erring it to its true causes, and appreciating its

probable results.
On the night between the 16th and 17th of this
month 29 troopers of the Royal Piedmont Cavalry,
the finest horse regiment in the kingdom, left Lodi ;
they were all Neapolitans. Lodi is, as you know, a
considerable way from the Mincio, and upon the
alarm being given to the Gendarmes or Caribineers'

station at Crema, the two pickets, both of Lodi and
Crema, set out in pursuit of the fugitives, searching
the country on the right banks of the Adda, which
the deserters must needs strike across if they
wished to roach the Mantuan or the Venetian tern-

.ory. After a good deal of trouble they found the

29 runaways hid in a thicket near the hamlet o:

Caseletto Ceredano, in the district of Crema. They
had still their military dress on and their broad-

swords by their side. They were bidden to sur-
render,•but drew their weapons and put themselves
in an attitude of defence, when the non-commis-
sioned officer (a marechal de logis), who commanded
the Carabineers, by name Nannetti, wishing to avoid

a useless effasion of blood, bethought himself, by

way of stratagem, of setting up the cry of " Viva
Garibaldi!" This redoubted name had its usual
spell; the deserters sheathed their sabres and gave

L'emrielves up.

It is important that I should state the share the
rural population of these Lombard districts took in
the pursuit and capture of these prisoners. Some
of th; peasants, to whom the fugitives applied for
help and guidance to be enabled to gain the Aus-
trian frontier, pretending readiness to comply
with their wishes, led them about the country till
they had tired them out, then induced them to take

•
shelter and rest in the bush, where, they said, no
one was likely to fall in with them. The peasants
having thus made sure of their whereabouts, carried
their information to the authorities, by whom the
carabineers' steps were turned in the right direction.

When the two small Carabineers' patrols had me
at Caselto Ceredan they asked for the support of the
friendly peasants, and although most of them were
scattered about in the fields, intent upon their work,
they succeeded in collecting about a dozen of them,
and armed them with the muskets of the National
Guards. The parish priest of the place named Gio-
vanni Ragazzi, showed great zeal and activity, both
in supplying information and enlisting his
parishioners in the auxiliary service requitsed by the
public force,—a proof that the lower clergy, especi-
ally in Lombardy, is sound and well disposed at the
core. The Carabineers and their 12 rustic allies
would, however, have been no match numerically
for the 29 outlaws. Yet the untutored boors be-
haved with gallantry, and would have stood their
ground creditably, had not the strife been averted
by the little:ruse before described. When the fugi-
tives had been secured and were being marched to
Crema they were met by the batallion of the Na-
tional Guard of that little town, which, assembling
in great haste, was proceeding to the spot. An
equal stir was instantly visible in all the surround-
ing minor communities—a satisfactory evidence of
the good spirit and unanimous readiness of those
good Lombard provinces. The runaways had 122 f.
in their pockets, a larger sum, than could in the
ordinary course of things, be expected to be in pos-
session of mere troopers, and suspicions are natu-
rally entertained that the would-be deserters had
found secret abettors of their projected flight.
The soldiers of all corps and arms who have
hitherto achieved, or attempted desertion, are mostly
and, indeed, almost exclusively Neapolitans. Of
late, however, the evil example has been fol-
lowed by natives of other provinces, and especially
by Venetian emigrants. These, who were induced
to quit their country out of invincible antipathy to
the Austrian rule, and who, from a laudable im-
pulse on their first arrival, enlisted in the national
army, with a view to bear a hand in the deliverance
of their own province, fall victims, it would seem,
to home-sickness and hope deferred, and grow weary
of a military restraint to whiCh they had only sub-
mitted in the expectation of instant hostilities, and
which becomes intolerable to them in this long-
protracted inaction. It is freely asserted, and it is
by no means unlikely, that these discontented per-
sons are not bona fide exiled patriots, but Austrian
emissaries, crossing the frontier on false pretences,
to foster and spread among their unwary
companions, and, by precept and practice, to encou-
rage dereliction of duty. The Neapolitan; at least
many of them, require no seduction. No doubt the
Southern people will, in the long run, be made into
as dutiful and efficient soldiers as their brethren of
the North ; some of them, however, especially among
the half-reclaimed Bourbon veterans, are incorri-
gible; and, as they are great dissemblers, they can-
not be trusted even when they affect great defer-
ence to their superiors, cordiality towards their com-
rades, and contentment with their lot. They arc
the most " artful dodgers" that ever were seen, and
the work is incessant. The soldier's life is a severe
trial, and several even of the new and young re-
cruits break, as it were, in the trainer's hands, pre-
cisely as flawed or soft-tempered blades under the
armourer's hammer. The final result will, no doubt,
be satisfactory, but there must necessarily be some-
thing distressing and heart wearing in the progress
of the arduous experiment.
This plague of desertion is, in the meanwhile,
rather disquieting. The Italian army has of late
reached its complement of 300,000 combatants, but
elements have been introduced into its ranks which
will certainly not add to its strength, and which
must be either better assimilated or carefully
weeded out. The excellent spirit and better dis-
cipline of the Piedmontese army had created so full
a security, just before fhe annexations, that all the
military codes and institutions had been reformed
with a view to adapt them to the humane views
now prevalent. Where the offences of desertion
and resistance to the law of conscription had be-
come very rare occurrences, it was thought that the
mildest penalties were sufficient to meet all exigen-
cies. This was done pree!sely in the year previous
to the outbreak of the Lombard campaign of 1859.
The military authorities have good reason now to
repent their reasonable, yet, as it turned out, im-
provident resolutions; and I hear a general outcry
that the army can no longer be kept together with-
out severe, and more or less exceptional measures,
strengthening the power of the law, and charging
Courts martial with its execution. The press begins
to speak loudly and resolutely about it.
The King left Turin yesterday morning at half-

past eight o'clock for Genoa, where he arrived at a
quarter past twelve. He embarked at eleven in the
evening on board the Adelaide, bound to Leghorn.
A crowd of cheering people accompanied him to the
Turin station, and he was greeted at Genoa with
the greatest enthusiasm. His Majesly will stay
three days in Tuscany, and re-embark for Naples
on the 27th. He has with him the President of
the Council of Ministers, Rattazzi ; the Minister
of Grace and Justice, Conforti—the only Neapoli-
tan in the Cabinet ; and the Minister of the Marine,
Admiral Persano. Two of the Neapolitan deputies,
Lr•zzaro and Pallotto, loth of the Left, embarked
with the King, but a'e their own request, and with-
out any official invitation. The Deputy Mandri
Albanese, who was said to have been asked to join
the King's retinue, is still at Turin; the Deputy.
Sqndonato preceded the King.
The Prince of Capua, b:other of the late King
Ferdinand 11. Of Naples, died at the Hotel Trom-
betta, in this city, yesterday morning at 3 o'clock.
He had been suffering from an excruciating com-
plaint for several weeks. He was iu his 51st year.
He is the Prince, as you know, who in 1836 mar-
ried a young Irish lady, Miss Penelope Smith,
thereby incurring the displeasure of his brother,
who banished him from Court, and deprived him

of the income of his appanage. He lived for
many years in France, England, Belgium,

and Malta, where he often courted the acquaintance
of Italians abroad, and made a certain display of

liberal and patriotic tendencies. For several months
he had been a suitor with the Italian King and
Parliament for the recovery of that property of
which he had been deprived by his brother. His
family were with him to the last hour, and they are
now at the Royal Hunting-box at Stupinigi, where
Xing Victor Emmanuel offered them a quiet home,
and where they will remain for some weeks.

APRIL 24.

All the political interest connected with Italian
matters is now removed from Turin, and coneen-

trated in Naples, whither the King and his Prime
Minister will soon betake themselves from Tuscany.
It was always lamented as a great misfortune for
Naples, and for all Italy, that Cavour never had
leisure to visit the Southern provinces, and to con-
sult their wishes by personal inspection; and M.
Rattazzi deserves great praise for his determinatiou
to proceed to the South at the very outset of his
administration. How he will employ his time at
Naples, what means he will find to put himself into
direct communication with that dissatisfied and
never-to-bc-satisfied peop'e, is what remains to be
seen. He has taken with him hardly any of the
Neapolitans, for the good reason I have already told
you, that it is difficult to find one man there who
numbers less than a hundred enemies in his own

country fer one friend that he may boast. He is
accompanied by Count Alfieri, a Piedmontese De-
puty, a man of great name, a descendant of the
well•known tragic writer, the son of the amiable
and accomplished Marquis Alfieri, the husband of
Count Cavour's sprightly and gifted niece, but a
rather dull, pompous, stiff, indifferent sort of man,
both as a politician, and courtier, for what concerns
his own person ; Prati, the poet, also goes with
Rattazzi, and if he hopes to renew at Naples the
miracle of the Orpheus, the choice of that
one member of his retinue deserves praise.
M. Rattazzi himself, however, possesses tact,
and address, subtlety, end a great variety of
clever devices. I should not be surprised if
great results attended his present move. It is
difficult to say how Neapolitans should be
handled. Nothing has been done since the annexa-
tion to concilitate them; nothing but blunders have
been committed by the Italian Government, be it
under Count Cavour, be it under Ricasoli's auspices.
It is already sometning in the way of success that
the man who reigns instead of those two statesmen
will be received as one who was thought to oppose
their views, and that, moreover, he, at any rate,
takes the trouble to go to Naples in poison and see
things for himself.
The Deputies Crispi, Mordini, Lazzaro, and
Marceli, in their own name and in that of 15 others
of their Neapolitan colleagues of the Left, presented,
the day before yesterday, to the Secretary of the
Home-office, Capriolo, a memorandum intended for
Rattazzi, in which, after dwelling on the errors
committed by the past Ministers, and proposing a
new system of instruction and education, new ad-
ministrative institutions, the confiscation of church
least, monastic—property, .the armament of
mobilised battalions of the National Guard, rail-
ways, harbours, roads, and public works of every
description, reforms in the magistracy and the ad
ministration of justice, and the division of domainal
or national lands among the people, giving them in
lots either in fee simple or in long leases, and add-
ing a supply of means for cultivation, they wind up
by recommending Garibaldi's presence in those
Southern provinces, the emancipation of which was
due mainly to him.
I know not whether Rattazzi's actions are likely
to be greatly or at all influenced by these sugges-
tions; but that Garibaldi contemplates*a move to
the South, in spite of the gout, which still keeps him
at Brescia, is a positive fact, and if he goes it will
be for Rattazzi to consider whether the popular
hero when there is to be for him or against him.

LAW IMELLIGENCE.---April 26.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

(Sittings in Banco, at Westminster, before Mr.
Justice Crompton and Mr. Justice Mellor.).
BIGGS (APPELLANT) V. MITCHELL (RESPONDENT)

GUNPOWDER IN TRAN SITU.
This came before the court on an appeal from a
conviction by the Lord Mayor, under the statute of
the 12th Geo. 111., chap 61, sec. 11, relative to hav-
ing and keeping a larger stock of gunpowder at one
time on premises within the city of London than
that statute allowed. The respondent, a London
City police inspector, laid an information against
the appellant, who was a licensed carman, carrier,
and warehouseman, of Swan-yard, BishOpsgate-
street Without, for unlawfully keeping at one
time in his warehouse more than 501bs weight of
gunpowder, he not being a dealer therein. The
appellant was convicted in the penalty of £lO
and costs. On the 15th March, 1861, the appel-
lant had .six packages of gunpowder, weighing
3001b5., for transmission to different parts of the
country, at what was found by the Lord Mayor to
be a temporary halting place for gunpowder in
transit. Against this decision there was this appeal.
Mr. Hannen, in support of the conviction, said
that it was a case of great importance as regarded
the public safety, as there was a belief that the
railway companies were contravening the act con-
tinually. By the 11th section of the act, dealers in
gunpowder were not to keep more then 2 cwt. at any
one time, but persons who were not dealers in the
article were restricted to 501bs. weight. The mode
of packing and conveying gunpowder was particu-
larly specified in the 18th and 21st sections of the
act, but no complaint was made against the appel-
lant on those heads, but merely for warehousing,
and the latter was the particular object of the act,
to prevent large quantities of gunpowder being
kept together in one building.
The Court observed that the case found that the
gunpowder was in transitu, and it would appear
that the conviction should have been under the
carrying rather than the warehousing clauses.
Hannen said that parties receiving gun-
powder 271 transitu contravened the act, if they had
more than 501bs. at one time.

Mr. Justice Mellor said that unless temporary
halts were permitted the trade could not be carried
on unless a railway ran through London.
Mr. Hannon contended that such halts should
not be made in London or crowdLd places; the
halts should be at other places. If this conviction
should be quashed any quantity of powder might
be kept in London, and it would be impossible to
imagine the danger that might ensue.
Mr. M. Smith, Q.C., and Mr. Sleigh, for the
appellant, urged that if the appellant had commit-
ted any offence at all it was under the carrying
clauses. The object of the statute was relative to
dealers in gunpowder, not to those who were carry-
ing it from one place to another, but found it. neces-
sary to have a halting-place ; this could not be
considered a " having and keeping" within the
statute.
Mr. Justice Crompton said that the observations
as to the damage that might arise from keeping
large quantities of gunpowder were very important,
but he did not think this was a "keeping" within
the act, as that meant a "storing." The appellant's
object was to convey the powder from one place to
another, and it was more a shed than a warehouse.
The conviction must therefore be quashed.
_

(Sittings at Nisi Prius, at Guildhall, before Mr.
Justice Wrightman and Common Juries.)
BALLS V. BOURNER.

This was an action brought to recover £B5 10s.,
the amount of a bill of e..cchange accepted by the
defendant, and other sums, money lent by the
plaintiff to the defendant. The defendant pleaded
that he received no consideration for the bill, and
that when the other sums were advanced he was a
co-partner with the plaintiff.
Mr. Sergeant Shee and Mr. Beresford were coun-
sel for the plaintiff; and Mr. Joyce and Mr. Cutbill
represented the defendant.
The plaintiff was an omnibus proprietor, living at
Brixton, and the defendant formerly kept the Tem-
ple Bar Hotel in Fleet-street. The parties had been
friends for many years, and the defendant applied
to the plaintiff for various loans, and also requested
him to become security to Messrs. Symonds and
Sharphurst, wine merchants, for goods he wanted.
The plaintiff having agreed to this proposition, the
bill in question was given to Messrs. Symonds and
Cox, but it was not met when due. In April, 1861,
the defendant entered into a deed of composition
with,his creditors, whereby they agreed to accept a
composition of 4s. in the pound. In that deed only
one of the loans from the plaintiff was entered, viz.,
' a bill for 1:50, upon which the plaintiff agreed to
accept Ss. in the pound, the defendant undertaking
to pay him the rest of his demand (over £200) in
full. Since that time the plaintiff had been coin-
pelltd to pay the balance of Messrs. Symonds's bill,
is.. in the pound on £B5 102. For these sums this
action was brought...
The plaintiff, i 7 cross-examination, swore he was
not a partner wit the defendant in the business-
I He had signed to composition deed, which was a

generalrelease for£so only,although at that time the
defendant really owed him £344 15s. He had
never ordered goods to be sent to the Temple Bar
Hotel in his name. He might have appointed a
young lady to be a barmaid there in joke, but had
never done so seriously.
For the defence it was stated that the plaintiff
agreed with the defendant to take the Temple Bar
Hotel between them, the plaintiff to find the money,
and the defendant to do the work. The plaintiff
was anxious that his name should not appear in the
business, as he had been lately bankrupt, and his
father objected to his having anything to do with
publichouses. The defendant accordingly carried
on the business, the plaintiff furnishing the money,
ordering the goods and directing the defendant as
to the manner in which he should carry on the busi-
ness. When it was discovered that the business
did not pay, the plaintiff told the defendant he had
better assign everything to him, and go through the
Bankruptcy Court ; and on the defendant refusing
this, he asked him to dissolve the partnership and
to take care that it did not come to light, The de-
fendant agreed to this, and subsequently sold the
business, and divided the proceeds among the cre-
ditors.
His Lordship left it to the jury to say whether or
not in their opinion there had been a partnership
between the plaintiff and defendant.
The jury, after some consultation, found that no
partnership had been proved.
His Lordship said in that case he must ask them
to say whether the 15s. in the pound paid by the
plaintiff on the £B5 bill was paid before or after
the plaintiff signed the deed of composition. Any
debt that was due from the defendant to the plain-
tiff before the signing of the deed of composition
was satisfied by that deed, and therefore the plaintiff
could only recover the 153. in the pound in case it
was paid by him after the signing of the deed.
A conversation ensued bei.ween the judge,thejury,
the counsel, the w tnesses, and the attorneys eu
gaged in the case, at the end of which it was disco-
vered that nobody knew either when the deed was
signed by the plaintiff or when the money was paid
by hint.
The jury found that the plaintiff paid the 15s.
in the pound on the bill after he had signed the deed.
His lordship said that would be a verdict for the
plaintiff for £64 2s. Gd., with leave to the plaintiff
to move to increase it by £2OO in case the court
above should be of opinion that the deed of compo-
sion did not release the defendant from any debt
due before it was signed.

THE YELYERTON 211ARR1AGE CASE.

TUELWALL V. YELVERTON.

The arguments of counsel on this motion, opened
on Wednesday last, to amend the bill of exceptions,
were resumed at the sitting of the court, at Dub-
lin, on Friday.
Mr. Sergeant Sullivan was heard against the mo-
tion on the part of the plaintiff. He said if the
motion were granted it would lead to the most dis-
astrous consequences, and that there was no pre-
cedent for
-any such application, which, he said,was,
substantially, for a mandamus, as it were, to the
judge who tried the case to alter his bill of excep-
tions. There was no precedent for any such appli-
cation on motion in all the books.
The Chief Justice—Supposing this motion were
complied with my charge should be altered.
Judge Keogh said he expected at first that there
would be a preliminary objection to the motion.
Sergeant Sullivan said he would have made a
preliminary objection, but that he gave Dr. Ball
credit ft)r making the motion upon some authority
which, he contended, he did not produce.
Judge Christian also observed that he thought a
preliminary objection would have been taken to the
motion.
Dr. Ball contended that the case of the trustees
of the Evans Charity v. the Bank of Ireland was an
authority for the motion.
Judge Christian asked if Sergeant Sullivan's pro-
position was that, no matter what the judge who
tried the case chose to put upon the bill of excep-
tions—no matter how irrelevant and wide of the
case—the full court had no power to amend it P
Sergeant Sullivan replied that he contended it
could not be done on motion.
Judge Christian—Suppose, for argument sake,
that the jury said " We find the defendant should
pay the costs of the case, and we find that he should
be sent to penal -servitude for the term of his na-
tural life," and supposing that the judge put that
finding on the bill of exceptions, and refused on
motion to expunge it, would this court be bound to
set its own record right by expunging these find-

ings ?
Sergeant Sullivan said it was not a record in the
sense of a record, ordinarily speaking. He contended
that the court would have no jurisdiction to ex-
punge it upon motion.
Judge Christian said it looked a very large pro-
position to say that, no matter how irrelevant might
be what the judge might think proper to put upon
the record, the court in banco had no power on mo-
tion to interfere with it.
Sergeant Sullivan said he would go that length.
Judge Keogh said if the judge contumaciously
refused to take a bill of exceptions, was there to be
a motion to this court to compel him ?
Judge Christian said the act provided for that.
In such a case, however, there was nothing wrong
on the record ; but it was a different thing if he put
on the face of it what was irrelevant and absurd.
Sergeant Sullivan said the court should allow it
to remain on, but they could deal with it when the
bill of exceptions came on for argument.
The Chief Justice said when the matter was be-
fore him settling the bill of exceptions, it was ad-
mitted by the counsel for the defendant that, if the
case went to the House of Lords, and the Lords
were of opinion that these matters should not be on
it, they should get judgment, if they were entitled
to it the same as if it was not there. It occurred
to him that if he struck these matters out he would
prevent the parties arguing the. point, and there
would be no appeal from what he did, but that by
leaving them there, both parties would have an op-
portunity of arguing the ease.
Judge Christian asked Sergeant Sullivan, sup-
posing there was no bill of exceptions, but the or-
dinary postea, and that in it the judge put the
opinion of the jury on these two collateral ques•
tions, did he think the court would have no juris-
diction to amend the postea.
Sergeant Sullivan said he would go the length of
saying that the court had no right to interfere
with the postea, which was the judge's sole duty.
Judge Keogh said in an application of this kind,
there should be direct authority that such jurisdic-
tion had been exercised by the court upon motion.
Sergeant Sullivan said, if the exceptions settled
by the judge who tried the case could be afterwards
cut up by the court, it would lead to the greatest
hardship and injustice. It appeared to him that
this motion was made for the purpose of confusing
the record and of blinding any court before which
it came, and which was not cognisant of the facts
connected with the case. What was wanted was
to leave the judge's charge standing, to leave his
questions to the jury standing, and to strike their
answers to those questions out. What would the
House of Lords say to such a record as that ? It
would be the greatest injustice to strike out these
answers. The question at the trial was, were the
goods sold to the defendant's wife ; and, of course,
in that issue was involved the question, was she
his wife. There were two marriages—a Scotch
and an Irish one—the first being prior in point of
time. The judge asked two questions, and got
two answers, and then suppose the case went before
a tribunal which had no cognisance of the fact con-
nected with it at all, it might be said at the other
side, "-We have an exception to the Irish marriage,
and we sustain it. How are we to know but that
the jury were divided—six for the Irish marriage
and six for the Scotch marriage ?"
Judge Christian said the extreme reasonableness
of what the Chief Justice did was shown by this
consideration. If the court should be of opinion,
on the argument of the exceptions, that the excep-
tions as to the Scotch marriage should be overruled,
but that those as to the Irish marriage should be
allowed, the plaintiff, if these answers were suffered
to remain on the record, could say there was still
enough to enable him to have judgment, but if they
were struck out, it would be impossible to say on
what they found that the lady was the wife of the
defendant. His lordship, however, said that the
case of Davis v. Lownes was his difficulty in the
matter. When the jury found that the Scotch mar-
riage was a valid one, it became apparent that the
Irish marriage was invalid, and yet the jury went
on, and found that the Irish marriage was a valid
one.

Sergeant Sullivan said if this was a motion to
strike out all about the Irish marriage, he could
understand it.
Judge licogh said the finding as to the Trio.:
marriage was, as to there being a good and valid
marriage in Ireland, without considering the pre-
vious circum stances of the parties.
Sergeant Sullivan, in conclusion, said the justice
of the ease and the merits were with the plaintiff,
that if the motion were granted the judge and the
counsel in the case would be exposed to observations
of the greatest severity, and that the application
was made for the purpose of endeavouring to creep
out of the case.
Mr. Whiteside followed on the same side. He
said he addressed the full court under protest, as
he submitted that he should only address the Chief
Justice. He had the highest respect for the three
other members of the Court, but he should protest
against them interfering on the present occasion
with the Chief Justice. (Laughter.)
The Chief Justice said there ,vgas no application

- -
to the court to send back the Nll of exceptions to
him, but to order the officer to award the record.
Mr. Whiteside said that was worse. He con-
tended that the motion was unparalleled and illegal.
Counsel for the defendant did not like the record of
the exceptions or of the case, and when the books
were delivered and the briefs out to argue the case,
this motion was made at the end of ten months to
upset the exceptions. The attempt was to get up
a venire de novo, contrary to fact, and to the finding
of the jury. He contended that the answers of the
jury were not irrelevant matter, for the question
from the beginning to the end of the case was,
whether the lady was the wife of the defendant,
and he submitted that the case of Davies v. Lownes
was not applicable. After the defendant had got
an opportunity of raising serious questions on the
record, he came to the court and asked to have the
whole record altered for him, so that he might here-
after say that the jury relight have been divided on
the marriages. L.st term there was an application
to force the defendant to an aejument of the excep-
tions, and then began an undertang to do so, and
now, after the lapse of time, an application was
made, the record vague, indeterminate, and con-
fused. He submitted that the motion aliOuld be
refused with costs as untenable and unprecedeelted
—that the Chief Justice had signed the exceptions,
according to truth and justice, and that nothing
could be more unjust, under the peculiar circum-
stances of the case, than to alter these exceptions.
Mr. Jellett replied generally, on the part of the
defendant, in support of the motion. He stated, in
answer to an observation of Mr. Whiteside, that the
case which they considered bore on the question in-
volved had been mentioned to the Chief Justice at
the settlement of the bill of exceptions. He pro-
ceeded to argue that the motion was supported by
precedent, and that these findings of the jury were
on collateral matter, as they need not be unani-
mous upcn both marriages.
The Chief Justice asked, if the jury said they had
found half and half as to the two marriages, whether
any court of justice would allow any such verdict
as that ?
Mr. Jellett said they would.
Judge Ball said that meant that half of the jury
were agreed that there was a valid marriage in
Scotland, and the other half that there was a valid
marriage in Ireland, and that a compound verdict
could be made out of both.
Judge Keogh said if he had the misfortune to try
the case, and if the jury gave him such a verdict as
that, he would not receive it.
At the conclusion of Mr. Jellett's argument,
The Chief Justice intimated that the court would
give judgment on the motion on Monday next.

211 E lIDRDER NEAR REDDITCH.

REDDITCH, SATURDAY.
The inquest on the body of the ill-fated young
woman, Sarah Kirby, who was shot by her fellow.
servant, George Gardener, on Wednesday last, was
he house where the murder was
held last night at t
, about five miles from this
committed, Outhill
armcoroner for Warwickshire.
town, before Mr. Poole,
The accused, Geo. Gardener, was present at the in-
quiry, and appeared quite unc(;.ncerned at his posi-
tion. The first witness called was—
Miss Davis, Mr. Edge's aunt, who deposed to the
deceased handing the gun to the prisoner on the
day of the murder, and to his taking it into the
back kitchen. She asked him what he was going
to do with it, and he made some answer which she
did not hear. She then said to him, " Remember
it is loaded, George," and he replied, i 0 Yes, ma'am,
I know it is." She hen came back into the kitchen,
thinking all was right. Almost immediately after-
wards she heard the report of a gun from the back
kitchen. Thinking there had been some accident
she went towards the back kitchen, and, at the door,
met Gardener coming towards her with a gun in
his hand. As soon as he saw her he pointed the
gun towards her. He was about two yards' dis-
tance, not more. She desired him to go back with
the gun, and he made no reply. She turned to go
back into the kitchen, and he persisted in following
her, without saying anything. She went directly
into the parlour from the kitchen, and locked the
door between them. The witness then went on to
describe the attempts made by the prisoner to gain
access to the room in which she was and her escape.
She added that the prisoner had always appeared
in his right mind. She did not believe Gardener
had ever courted the deceased.
James Dyer, a boy who was employed in weeding
Mr. Edge's garden on Wednesday morning, went
with his mistress to Mr. Savage's house when she
left Mr. Edge's, and on returning to his mas-
ter's found the deceased lying dead in the back
kitchen, and gave the alarm. Had seen Gardiner
walk round the house with the gun under his
arm just after he had heard the gun fired. Gardener
had thrashed witness on one occasion when at
pl.ough because he did not take his horses straight.
Martha Holloway, wife of a labourer living near
Mr. Edge's, deposed to Miss Davis coming to her
on the morning of the murder, and expressing her
fears about the deceased, and to her subsequently
proceeding to the house and finding her dead, her
head resting in a pool of blood. Had previously
seen Gardener making his way across the fields
towards Pool's "Wood.
Mark Savage, farmer, also a neighbour of Mr.
Edge, went to the house on the alarm being given,
and corroborated the evidence of the boy and Mrs.
Holloway as to the position in which the deceased
was found lying. The face of the deceased was
quite calm, and there was a smile upon it. Had
never heard words between the deceased and the
prisoner. Had seen the prisoner going in tho di-
rection of Pool's Wood before the alarm was given.
Mr. Edge deposed as follows :—About eight
months ago, deceased came to me and said that
George Gardener had made several attempts to kiss
her, and she refused, and he struck her on account
of it. I spoke to him that evening about it, and
said that if he could not behave himself on my pre-
mises he must leave. Since that time there have
complaints made to me through Miss Davis that he
had been disagreable in different little ways to the
girl. lam not aware that the deceased had any
follower. I had seen both Gardener and the girl on
Wednesday morning. Gardener had been out all
night, but he was not intoxicated. He was locked
out that night, as he did not come home. I did
not speak to him about it, as I was thinking of
turning him away. The girl slept in the next room
to that of Gardener, with a passage between them.
No one slept in the same room with the girl. The
gun now produced is mine, and is generally kept in
my bedroom, but sometimes left in the kitchen, and
sometimes in the parlour. The last time I had
used the gun was about a fortnigt ago, and I
believe no one had used it since. The gun is al-
ways loaded. It was loaded with shot and powder
that morning. There were:no angry words between
me and Gardener on the Wednesday morning. Gar-
dener had never complained to me about the girl.
Gardener had the gun occasionally to frighten the
rooks. I think it safe to leave a gun with the caps
on when the hammers are down. Gardener has
always appeared to me to be perfectly sane.
Policeman Oliver next deposed to the apprehen-
sion of the prisoner about half-past six the same
evening at Honeyborne station, which was 18 or 20
miles distant. He had 12s. 71d. in money on him.
When charged with the murder, he said, "Then I
suppose I must go." He was quite drunk. There
were no marks of blood on his clothes or his hands.
George Kendrick and George Beck, of the Stmt•
ford borough police, produced Mr. Edge's gun, with
which the prisoner had shot the deceased, and
which lie bad sold the same afternoon to Mr.
Cooper, gunsmith, of Stratford-on-Avon.
Miss Cooper proved that the prisoner offered the
gun to her father for a sovereign, and that he bought
it. Gardener said it was his own gun, and that it
was no use to him. Both barrels were loaded.
Edwin Podmore, parish constable for Studley,
was one of the first persons at Mr. Edge's house,
and in the kitchen saw the desk, with the lid
smashed, and with a coal hammer on the top of it.
There was a mark on the lid of the desk, as though
it had been struck with the hammer. All the little
drawers in the desk were partly pulled out, and the
papers pulled about. It appeared as if it had been
ransacked and turned all over. There was no injury
done to anything else but the desk. Examined the
brewhouse, and found that two shots had gone
through a pane of glass in the window, opposite the
head of deceased. There were also one or two shots
in the uprights of the window.
Charles Russell, the boy who was ploughing with
the prisoner on Wednesday morning, proved the
threatening expressions made use of by him. He
said he would murder somebody. He sharpened
his knife and said he would kill witness. He did
not say anything about the girl. Gardener had
said such things before, but witness never saw
him sharpen his knife in that way before, and was
very much frightened.
T.vo or three other witnesses were examined, la-
bourers on the farm, who spoke to the behaviour of
the prisoner just before the murder, but their evi-
dence did not carry the case against the prisoner
any further, and the inquiry terminated in a ver-
dict of wilful murder against George Gardener.

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