The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-25 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, JULY 24.
Two political notabilities have been engaged in a
legal contest in Sligo. Mr. P. Somers brought an ac-

tion for slander against Mr. J. Reilly. Mr. Somers
is a gentleman whose family once possessed an estate
in the county of Sligo, to which he succeeded on the
death of his father when he was yet but a child.
He was educated at Harrow,where he made steadfast
political friends. Having returned from his travels,
Mr. O'Connell advised him to take part in public
affairs. In 1837 he was returned to Parliament,

without opposition, for Sligo. In 1847 he was re-
elected, but was unseated on petition. In 1848 Mr.
Townley offered him a large sum of money to retire,
which he indignantly refused. Mr. Townley was
unseated, and Mr. Somers, his opponent, became
member for the borough again. Since that time his
public life has been one of unsuccessful opposition.
At the last election he opposed Mr. Tenison. Mr.
Reilly, a Dublin barrister, on that occasion stated
" that Somers was a traitor, and sold the borough
of Sligo to Mr. F. Macdonogh for hard cash." Every
word of this he declared himself able to prove.

Both the plaintiff and the defendant were
placed in the witness-box. Mr. Somers, examined
by Mr. J. Robinson, Q C., gave his electioneering
history. In 1852 he fought a contest with Townley,
in 1853 with John Sadleir, in 1857 with Mr. Wynne,
and in 1860 he was a candidate, with three others—
Tenison, Macdonogh, and Reilly. He polled only
two or three votes at the close of the poll. On that
occasion the defendant called him " traitor,"
" caitiff," a "snake in the grass," and said that he
had been trading all his life in the borough as his only
capital. Mr. Ball retired from Sligo in 1857 because
demands were made on him with which no gentle-
man could comply ; Mr. Tenison in 1860, because,
he said, " he was in the hands of the Philistines."
He admitted on cross-examination that he had
called the defendant a " stump orator," with no
reference to his physical infirmity ; but he denied
that he called Lim a " tailor." Mr. Reilly, cross
examined by Mr Morris, admitted that he charged
Mr. Somers with selling the borough, and said, " I
will tell you the story by and by, and I will fit the
cap so tight on the traitor that when taken off it
will not leave a hair on his head." The people
were so excited that they burnt the plaintiff twice
in effigy, and he (the witness) " roasted him next
morning." Mr. Robinson, Q C., replied for the
plaintiff, end in a review of the case showed that
Mr. Somers did not complain of any reflections on his
political character, but when the defendant charged
him with basely telling the borough for money he
did that which any right-minded man would do—
namely, give the defendant an opportunity ef justi-
fying the slander if he could, and which he dared not
attempt to do. His lordship having charged the
l jury, they retired, and, after half, an-hour's consul-
tation, found for the plaintiff, with 61 damages and
6d costs.

The trial of William Herdman for the murder of
Mr. John Herdman, at Belfast, excites extraordi-
nary interest. The prisoner was arraigned yester-
day, when the spacious court was filled with a select
assemblage, admitted by tickets ; but at the request
of the prisoner's counsel, to which the Attorney-
General assented, the case was adjourned to this day.
Mr. Walter Fitzsimons, solicitor, who was charged
with having committed several forgeries on a pro-
vincial insurance company for which he was agent,

was yesterday placed on his trial, and, before Ser-
geant Sullivan had completed his opening state-
ment, pleaded guilty. Sentence will be passed to day.
in the threatening letter case against John
O'Connell and Morgan O'Connell, the trial was post-
poned until next assizes, on the application of the
Crown.

Next to the lierdman case, the most interesting
trial at the present assizes was the poisoning case at
Clonmel, which has ended in the conviction of the
prisoner, Richard Burke, on the clearest evidence.
The poison used was strychnine; the victim was his
wife, and the death was one of frightful torture. If
guilty at all, the prisoner's guilt is enormous. It was
,:
cool, deliberate, well-planned murder of a wife by
ne r husband, with the view to get rid of the burden
of her support,
and to be at liberty to marry another.
Yet, strange to say, the jury recommended the pri-
soner to
The trial wa',,,nY on account of his good character!
I)%reastnenced on Tuesday, at Clonmel,
before Baron
to the respectable social
position of the tic,:c.l :()wiug
the .who since 1850 has held the
situation of clerk to
great
interest.
Union of Water-
ford, the case excited
married in terest. The deceased
and
pdltB47, but never had
any family,
Prisoner wereee
his
a
poin
t
lived together, he residing at mrzt the had had not
and she at
Clouheen, in the county of Tipperary, where she had
she was subject to epileptic
property. il
fits and vio-
lent palpitation of the heart. In August,lB6l,ms
Burke, having heard that her husband had formedr
an improper intimacy with a.notner woman, eisited
him at Waterford for the purpose of getting from
him a separate maintenance. On that occasion he
guve her £5, and she returned to Clogheen. This
circumstance was dwelt upon by the Solicitor-Gene-
ral as supplying a motive for the commission of the
crime. On the Bth of last March Burke visited his
wile and spent two days with her, during which his
manner was very affectionate. He commiserated
the state of her health, and promised to send her
some medicine made up by a Dr. Harrington, which
he strongly advised her to use. On the 2gth of
March he sent her a parcel containing some coffee, a
bottle of essence of turpentine, and a paper package
of a white powder, labelled in his handwriting,
" Dose of salts and magnesia—to be dissolved in