The Sun.
London, England, 1862-01-31 00:00:00

DEWES V. DEWES AND FRAMPTON.

This was a suit by the husband, a solicitor, in
partnership with his father, at' Ashby-de-la-Zouch,
and was instituted for the purpose of obtaining a
divorce, on the ground of his wife's adultery with
the co-respondent, a clergyman of the Church of
England. The suit was undefended.
Mr. Macaulay, Q.C., and Dr. Swabey were
counsel for the petitioner.
It appeared that the parties were married in 1848,
and lived together for some yeardy during which
time they had four chil;lren. The co-respondent
was curate of Ashby, and visited the family of the
petitioner, when, according to the evidence, he
succeeded in seducing Mrs. Doves, who eloped with
him in the August of 1860.
The ease was proved, and the Court pronounced
a decree nisi, with costs against the co-respondent.

C'ENI.RAL CRIMINAL COURT.—Jan. 30,

OLD COURT.
(Before the Recorder.)
James Nutt, 38, a well-dressed man, described as
_ _

a silversmith, was charged with feloniously and
contemptuously omitting to surrender and pass his
examination at the Court of Bankruptcy, after he
had been declared a bankrupt.
The prisoner pleaded guilty.
He was then charged, upon a second indictment,
with having feloniously concealed and embezzled a
portion of his estate and effects, after being duly
adjudged a bankrupt, with intent to defraud his
creditors.

To this charge the prisoner also pleaded guilty.
He was then charged, upon a third indictment,
with having obtained goods within three months of
his bankruptcy, under the false colour andpretence
that they were to be used for the purposes of his
trade, with intent to defraud his creditors,
The prisoner pleaded guilty to this charge also.

Mr. 'Tindal Atkinson, who-(with Mr. Kemp) was
instructed for the defence, addressed the Court in
mitigation of punishment, and said the prisoner had
carried on the business of a silversmith in Cheap-
side, wad had a wife and six children. He was in-

formed that in August he was pressed by one of his
creditors, and at his suggestion he made away with
a considerable amount of property, in order to raise
money to meet his bill, which was becoming due, and

,his Was the commencement of all his difficulties,

It was certainly-true that he had placed some portion
of his property in the hands of a friend, and that
his object in doing this was to give him an oppor-
tunity of doing something for himself and his family
after his bankruptcy, which he knew was inevitable,
had been settled ; but he also begged to be allowed
to state that the creditors had obtained possession
of a considerable quantity of property, and they
would receive a dividend of 10s. in the pound. He
was also instructed to state that the prisoner had
rendered all the assistance in his power to enable
them to recover this property.
Mr. Gifftrd, who (with Mr. Poland) appeared for
the Prosecution, s4id he was sorry to be obliged to
state that his learned friend was not quite correct in
saying that the prisoner had given all the informa-
tion in his power to enable the creditors to obtain
possession of their property. The facts were that
within a very short time of his bankruptcy, and
when he must have been perfectly well aware that
that event was inevitable, he obtained a considerable
quantity of goods from some of his creditors, and he
afterwards disposed of this property for his own
use, and then absconded. It was also his duty to
inform the Court that within a very few days of
his bankruptcy the prisoner went to his shop, and
took away almost every portable article that it con-
tained. He then absconded to Brussels, and was
traced to that city by Foulger, the officer, and taken
into custody.
The Recorder, in passing sentence, said that the
prisoner had pleaded guilty to three offences, every
one of which was most serious in a commercial
community ; he, therefore, felt it his duty to pass
such a sentence as was likely to deter others from
the commission of similar crimes, and that sentence
would be that he be kept in penal servitude for the
space of three years.
Thomas Fox, 36, labourer, was charged with felo-
niously killing and slaying George Norris.
Mr. Warton prosecuted ; the prisoner was de-
fended by Mr. llickie.

It appeared that the prisoner, the deceased, and
several other labouring men were in the taproom of
the Kentish Drovers publichouse, in the Kent-road,
on the 23d of December, and that the prisoner and
one of his companions were amusing themselves by
playing at the game of " shove halfpenny." The
deceased, who was drunk, interfered with them,
and said that they were not playing the game fairly.
The prisoner requested him to sit down and be quiet
and not interfere with them, and, upon his doing
so, the deceased offered to fight him, and threatened
that he would serve him as some other man, whose
name he mentioned, had done. He at the same
time pulled off his gloves, apparently with the in-
tention of preparing himself for fighting, ar,d the
prisoner accepted his challenge, and a struggle took
place between them. After they had had one round
the deceased fell and struck his head with consider-
able violence. It was observed that immediately
after this fall the deceased appeared to be very

and. some water was given to him, but he was un-
able to drink it, and he was taken away on a truck
to his own house, were he was attended by a doc-
tor, but he remained in an almost unconscious state
until the Bth of January, when he died. There
were no external marks of injury upon the person
of the deceased, but the cause of death was alleged
to be the sho'k sustained by the nervous system
from the fall he had sustained in the struggle with
the prisoner.

Mr. ])ickie, in his address to the jury for the de-
fence, urged that the deemed had brought the
misfortune upon 'himself by his own misconduct,
and that he had forced the quarrel upon the pri-
soner, who was consequently not criminally re-
sponsible for the unfortunate result that had taken
place.
_ _

- The Recorder having summed up,
The jury, after a short deliberation, returned a
verdict of not guilty.
_ _

The Recorder Observed that in this case the
grand jury had made a presentment to the
effect that, in their opinion, the landlord of the
publichouse where the affair took place had not
acted properly in the matter, inasmuch as he had
not taken any steps to procure assistance for the
deceased when he had evidently received serious
injury, and he directed that a copy of this present-
ment should be forwarded to the licensing justice
of the district.

Mr. Diekie subsequently addressed his lordship,
and said that Mr. Wheeler, the landlord of the
Kentish Drovers, was in attendance, and anxious to
assure his lordship, and also prove to his satisfaction, if
necessary, that there were no grounds for the alleged
neglect on his part. He had kept the house for 14
years and had always conducted it respectably, and
upon the occasion in question, so far from there
having been any neglect on his part, he sent imme-
diately after the affair for his own medical man, and
did all that was possible for the unfortunate de-
ceased.

The Recorder said that he had no power to enter
into those particulars. He expressed no opinion
upon the subject, but, as the grand jury had made
the presentment to which he had referred, it was
the duty of the Court to send it to the proper
quarter.