The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-30 00:00:00

SINGLETON V. SELKIRK.

Mr. Sergeant Wilkins and Mr. Overend appeared for
the plaintiff; and Mr. Hugh Hill, Q.C., for the defen-
dant.

This was an action brought by the plaintiff to recover
compensation for the injury he had sustained by the
seduction of his daughter by the defendant.
Hannah Singleton— I am the daughter of John
Singleton, and live with my parents at Gosforth,
in Cumberland. I am twenty-six years of age, and
have two brothers and two sisters. My father has
an estate of about 100 acres. The defendant is the
eldest son of Mr. Selkirk, who is a bacon curer and far-
mer in Cumberland, and resides near us. I first knew
defendant in September, 1851. I met him at Eskdale
fair, where I went with my brother. I saw him a fort-
night after at my father's. He said that William Her-
bert had shown him the way. After this he visited me
frequently. My parents saw him once. He said he
would marry me. He seduced me in December, 1851 ;
and after this, in the month of July, I told him that I was
in the family way, and he said that it could not be the
case ; afterwards I told him again, and he gave me a
bottle of stuff from the chemist's to take as medicine. I
took two bottles of the medicine. I told him that I had
taken it, and that it had not had any effect, and he got
another bottle, which he gave to me at Whitehaven ; he
took me to a shop, when he got the third bottle. I did
not take the third bottle.
His Lordship here asked if the plaintiff's counsel were
going to show that the medicine had any effect upon the
young woman ?
Mr. Sergeant Wilkins—No, my lord.
His Lordship—Then I decide that it is inadmissible as
evidence.

Examination continued—He continued his visits until
December. The last bottle was obtained in December,
and after this I never saw him again. I was delivered
of a child in January last, and was attended by a medical
man for-some time. The defendant manages his father's
business. I have been poorly ever since.
Cross-examined--The defendant's father has seven
children. There was a dance at the fair when I met the
defendant. I was not known at the fair as a good
dancer. I did not go to a great many dances. I stayed
at the dance till eleven o'clock, and afterwards went
home with the defendant. The Sunday week following
he came to see me at half-past ten at night. My father
and mother were gone to bed ; he knocked at the win-
dow and I let him in. Mary Singleton, a relative, was
in the house. Whilst he was there I heard my mother
talking, and say to my father, " It's one of them Gos-
forth lads ; get up and see." After this I took him out
and lit him across a field, and he turned back, and at
the fold-gates we met my father. I had more than one
lover before the defendant, who visited me at night and
remained some hours. The week after the defendant
came at night and stayed in the same way. I remember
the dance at Thornholme, in July, 1852. I was there
with the defendant, and we walked out into the fields.
The defendant seduced me at home long before this. I
did not write secretly to the defendant for a bottle of
medicine.

Re-examined—lt is a common thing for farmers'
daughters to go to fairs. There were four of us in the
cart when we went from the fair. He put me down about
a mile from my house. I wrote to him before he came
to see me at his request. I am not good friends with
my cousin, Mary Singleton. In one part of the county
it is common for young people to court late at night. I
have never been with any man but the defendant. He
first got the medicine in October, 1852. We bad a party
at our house on the 4th of June. The defendant was
there.

William Herbert—l live near Gosforth, and know the
plaintiff and defendant. On a Sunday, in Sept., 1851,
the defendant came to my place, and inquired if I could
dhiirtneet,heimw the way to the plaintiff's house, and I showed
Singleton's. The
In June last I was at the party at Mr.
sinlngleThunetleanindatnbtewpalasintthifreres.
btheeentiumn eldest son. Since
sister. has been in the family way she has
time
eyto assist in the farm. I know the defendant,
and recollect him beingu at the dance at Eskdale in Sept.,
1851, and after thHateleaften saw him at my father's house
of
Jur to see her. Recollected the
with my sister.
Themen defendantcommenced,
viviz.,
i nwFa was
February
party on the 4th
Since this action huiefbaeln:
saidceneo.auenollsettle the case, as he had
privately,
and to
would pay it to
he wished to speak
some
last, o
withnae 1
flint heoe,nadenye defendant
ona
asked
kahnei
dts
own
0 ow 1 snpae, akbutto
Ithneevdeer-
me. I was to see the plaintiff,
htiltleehaven
fendant upon it on the
druggist Thursday
saf_tol
pl
w;
saw him to speak to him.
medicineThies
compound decoction of aloes and compound decoction of
botSttlaeseyprGoede—uceld aarme afrom my b
steel, and is called Griffith's mixture. Il know the
de-
fendant and the plaintiff's daughter. I have seen them
at my shop. •
Mr. Hill addressed the jury for the defendant, he said
that a verdict must be given in favour of the plaintiff,
and the only question was the amount of damages which

they would award. The child being born in January,
early in February an attorney's letter was sent, and the
defendant was prevented from coming to terms with the
Singleton family, and avoiding further exposure. A father
bringing his action for the seduction of his child usually
came into court showing that he had taken all proper
precautions to bring up his child in a virtuous manner,
but a case might occur, like the present, where -the child
had had such license allowed as was inconsistent with a
virtuous line of conduct. He' did no iimpugn. the cha-
racter of the plaintiff ; and it was said that it was the
custom of the country that the young men should court
the young girls after nightfall at there father's house.
He did not mean to say anything against such al custom,
but if such a custom, did exist, no action to recover dam-
ages for seduction should be allowed to be brougb t in that
district. Looking at the facts of the case, ought the
plaintiff to recover damages for that which was the
consequence of his own conduct in allowing such a course
of familiarity ? This was Dot an action for any injury
sustained by the young woman, but for damage done to
the father ; and no doubt the same haste and zeal which
brought the present action for the purpose of enabling
the attorney to recover costs, would produce another
action by the young woman to recover compensation for
the breach of promise of marriage. The young woman was
not a young girl of 16, but of 25 years of age, who had
fallen, and having fallen under the circumstances proved
to them, the smallest damages would meet Ithe justice
of the case.

His Lordship having summed up, the jury returned a
verdict for the plaintiff, damages 501.

OXFORD CIRCUIT-HEREFORD, MARCH 28.

The two courts sat this morning for the trial of pri-
soners.

James Greenhaf, a collier, was charged with the wil-
ful murder of William Peake, at Hope Mansell, on the
Bth of December last.

Mr. Skinner and Mr. Cooke were counsel for the pro-
secution ; and Mr. Huddlestone for the defence.
The circumstances of this case were rather peculiar.
The prisoner and the deceased were neighhours, and
there was no evidence whatever of an quarrel or differ-
ence between them. Peake and a few acquaintances
were at a beer-house called the Royal Oak, near the
Forest of Dean, from about five to eleven o'clock, on
Wednesday, the Bth December. The prisoner came in
about eleven o'clock, and had some drink too, and be-
fore leaving was, like Peake, the worse for liquor. They
both could talk and walk, and Peake was so much more
sober than he usually was at night that a police con-
stable, who came in about eleven o'clock, said to him,
"Peake, you are sober for a wonder !" He' was a bigger
and stronger man than the prisoner. In the course of the
evening a farmer complained that he had had some sheep
stolen from him, and Peake said (pointing to two gip-
sies who were in the room), "These are the men who
are likely to have taken your sheep," at which the gip-
sies were very angry ; but he explained that he said it
only in joke, and he and they became friends, and drank
together, and they went away with the farmer in a di-
rection not very different from his (Peake's) way home.
When the police sergeant came in Peake wanted him
to drink, and pressed him to go home with, him, but
did not state his reasons. The constable said he
could not go that night ; and thereupon the pri-
soner said he was going home, and would go with
him part of the way, and they both went off to-
gether, and were heard talking loudly for about a hun
dred yards. At about a quarter of a mile from the
public-house the road the prisoner was to take branched
off to the right, Peake's going straight towards Ross ;
but before they came to that divergence ;there was
another way, more hilly, and difficult and longer, which
the prisoner, might take to reach his home, and which
the prisoner, when arrested the next day, said ho had
taken, adding that he had not gone five yards with Peake.
On the Thursday morning, about five o'clock, Peake was
found dead on the road side, just at the corner where the
roads diverged, lying on-his backf with his hat on, the
front of his dress quite clean and in proper order, with-
out any traces of any struggle on or *near him, or of any
injury whatever,-except a wound through the left eye,
which the surgeon said must have been inflicted with a
knife or other very sharp instrument being driven with
such force as to break the bone behind ball of the eye,
and so deeply as to divide the ophthalmic artery. Death
must have been instantaneous upon the blow, and he
could never have moved afterwards. The injury was
in such a direction that it was almost impossible for him
to have inflicted it on himself by falling. It was possible,
but very improbable. On the discovery of the body the
neighbours assembled, and three or four persons ran to
give the alarm. As the prisoner and his brother were going
to work, they met a woman who was coming from the
place where the body was discovered, and who told them
if they had been earlier they would have seen a dead
body; to which John Greenhaff said, " Is ibßill Peake,
the sawyer ?" and she said it was. In explanation of this,
it was elicited that many other persons had been to see
the body, and might have met the prisoner and his brother
previously. When the prisoner and his brother came up
to where the body was, they stopped awhile and passed on
without offering any assistance or going near the body.
An answer to this was that there were sufficient, as there
were ten or a dozen persons there to remove the body,
and ten and twelve others standing by looking on. On
the Thursday, the prisoner was seen using at dinner a
white-handled knife, such as might inflict the wound
that caused the death, and this could not be found on
the Monday afterwards, when attention was called to it,
and that day he was seen dropping something into a
deep quarry in the neighbourhood ; but the witness who
saw him do so admitted that he himself threw stones
into the same quarry for the purpose of ascertaining
whether the water was rising or sinking, and the quarry
was afterwards drained, and no knife found in it. On
the same Thursday a towel was found in the house of
the prisoner's father, where the prisoner lived, on which
there were some spots, which the police thought were
from drops of blood, but which the surgeons, when they
saw them a few days afterwards, could not undertake to
say wore blood. This towel was left at the house from
the Thursday till the following Monday, and no attempt
was made to wash out or remove the spots.
At the close of the case for the prosecution,
Mr. Huddlestone asked his lordship if he thought
there was a case to go to the jury?
His lordship said he could not withdraw the case from
the jury..

fwowitnesses having been called to give the prisoner
a character as a peaceable, quiet, and humane man,
His Lordship recapitulated to the jury the main fea-
tures of the case, pointing out the insufficiency of the
evidence to establish satisfactorily the charge against the
prisoner, and desired them to consider for a few mo-
ments, and if they were disposed to find the prisoner
guilty, he would read over the evidence to them.
They deliberated for two minutes, and declared him
not guilty. _ _

This was the last case at these assizes, which closed at
a quarter-past three.

To-morrow is the commission day at Monmouth,
where, it is said, the business will be very light.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

GUILDHALL.—The poor soldier, whose injuries,
received in endeavouring to save the life of Sergeant
Patterson of the City Police force, at the late fire on the
premises of Mr. Button, the chemist of Holborn, have
confined him to the hospital during the last three weeks,
applied to the sitting magistrate for some assistance,
when, from his statement and that of Police-constable
White, 24, who accompanied him, it appeared that he
belonged to the 7th company of the 9th battalion of
Royal Artillery stationed at Woolwich, to which place
he was returning at the expiration of his furlough on the
night of the fire, when, perceiving the danger to which
Sergeant Patterson was exposed, and no one offering to
relieve him from his burning garments, he rushed to
Patterson's assistance, and, although suffering from the
burning phosphorus which fell continually upon him, he
persevered until he had torn off all the unfortunate man's
clothing. Notwithstanding this act of magnanimity,
Patterson was only saved from the peril of the moment,
for he died within a few days afterwards, leaving a widow
and an orphan child to lament his loss ; and the worthy.
individual, who had acted with such courage and firti-
tude, was so severely injured that for several days after
his admission to the hospital his life was despaired of,
and even when the crisis was over it was apprehended
he would have to lose both his arms, and with such a
fearful anticipation before him he said he had only done'
his duty, and if it were to occur over again he would not
shrink from it. Amputation has,however, been avoided ;
but in consequence of the contraction of the muscles and
tendons, he will never be fit for service again, which is
the more unfortunate, as he bears four stripes of good
conduct on his arm, and a good character in his regi-
ment, and six months' more servitude would have en-
titled him to a pension, of which it is probable his gene-
rous act of assistance will deprive him, as he was not on
military service when disabled.
Sir R. W. Carden inquired if Mr. Button had com-
pensated the poor fellow ?—White said no application
had been made, as the soldier had only just been dis-
charged from the hospital ; but he thought nothing might
be expected from Mr. Button, for he had done nothing
for the widow of Sergeant Patterson.
Sir R. W. Carden asked the applicant what he in-
tended doing ?—The soldier said he was returning to his
barracks at Woolwich to be tried by court-martial.
Sir R. W. Carden (much surprised)—Tried by court-
martial ! For what ?

The soldier said it was merely a court to inquire how
far he had exceeded his duty in being absent from his
regiment, after his furlough had expired, without leave.
Sir R. Carden said the poor soldier's conduct was ex-
tremely meritorious, and he would reward him with 2/.
from the poor-box. The worthy alderman expressed his
regret that the funds at his disposal would not enable
him to render him assistance that might be of some per-
manent benefit to him ; but he hoped, through the me-
dium of the press, who never refused their aid in works
of charity, to place the applicant's case before the public,
and he doubted not but that a second appeal to the sym-
pathies of the benevolent in behalf of so deserving an ob-
ject would be unnecessary. Sir R. W. Carden then
gave the poor soldier 2/. (for which he appeared exceed-
ingly thankful), and said he should be happy to receive
any donations that might be forwarded to him.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.— Edward Taylor, a
well-dressed young man, was brought before Mr. Hard-
wick, charged with maliciously stabbing Jane Hall with
a carving-fork.

The prosecutrix deposed that sho was a widow, and
lived at No. 10, Grosvenor-mews, and that she had been
living with the prisoner as his wife for five or six years,
and had had one child by him, now five years old. She
left him about three weeks ago. On Saturday night last,
about eight o'clock, she met the defendant at the post-office,
and as she was putting a letter in the box he snatched it
from her, and told her the child was ill, and she went to
his lodgings to see it, and after some conversation with
him, she agreed to pay the sum of 3s. a week towards
maintaining it, and to pay 4s. in advance. On Monday

night she took the money to his lodgings, and before she
gave it to him sbe told him she would have her watch
that he had got. He said he would not give it up, and
they quarrelled, and used a great deal of aggravating
language towards each other. He then said he would
finish her, and that one plunge would be enough. He
then picked up a carving-fork from the table. She said
if he finished her he would leave her child without a
mother. He then stabbed at her with a fork, and the
two prongs entered her shoulder. She seized his arms,
and told him she would be a long time dying with a fork.
he had better take a knife. He then took up a knife,
and her hands got triflingly cut, but being stronger than
the prisoner, she held him, and he threw down the knife
and fork. She then got a policeman, and gave him into
custody. At the station-house she looked at her shoulder
and saw it was bleeding. The fork produced is the one
he did it with.

Hawes, 31 C, said he took the prisoner into custody,
and at the station he examined prosecutrix's shoulder,
and found blood oozing from the wounds. He applied
the carving-fork to them, and found that the prongs
matched the wounds. He also found holes in her shawl
and gown which corresponded with the fork. The pri-
soner denied stabbing her, and said she was drunk. '[hey
were both perfectly sober.

In. answer to the charge, the accused said they had
had a quarrel, and she took up the knife, and he seized
the fork to defend himself. He then took the knife out
of her hand, and that was the way she had got herself
cut, if at all. She struck at him with the knife, and he
retaliated with the fork.

Mr. Ilardwick said he should send the case to a jury,
and committed the prisoner for trial.

_HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE WEEK.

( From the Registrar-General's Report.)
The deaths in London, which had declined to 1,274
in the previous week, rose again in the week that ended
last Saturday to 1,321. In the ten corresponding weeks
of the years 1843 —52 the average number of deaths was
1,165, which, with a correction for increase of popula-
tion, gives a mortality for last week of 1,282. The ac-
tual number of deaths registered last week therefore
exceeds the estimated amount by 39.
In comparing the results of the last two weeks in re-
ference to fatal diseases, there appears a considerable
uniformity, except in plhisis, the mortality of which
rose from 131 to 153, and pneumonia, which declined
from 101 to 88. Bronchitis numbered in the two weeks
174 and 175 deaths, which is double the average at this
period of the year ; hooping-cough 70 and 65, typhus 56
and 53. The mortality from scarlatina continued the
same, and amounted in each week to 37. The son of an
oilman, aged 4 months, died at 135, High-street, Kent-
road, on 21st March, of " cholera Angelica (4 days)."
Last week the births of 752 boys and 728 girls, in all
1,480 children, were registered in London. In the eight
corresponding weeks of the years 1845-52 the average
number was 1,556.

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height
of the barometer in the week was 29.762 in. The mewl
temperature of the week was 33.3 deg., or 9 deg. below
the average of tha same week in 38 years. The mean
temperature was about 8 deg. below the average on four
days of the week, and on Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday, the depression was more than 10 degrees. The
mean dew point temperature was 26.6 deg. The wind
blew generally from north-east.