The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-31 00:00:00

BOW-STREET.-(THIS DAY.)

CHARGE OF ASSAULT AGAINST A GENTLEMAN.—Mr.
George Bargass, described as a gentleman, was placed at
the bar before Mr. Hall, charged with assaulting Mr.
Richard Ormond Potts; 12, Chapel-street, Cavendish-
square.

The prosecutor deposed that about seven o'clock
and
on
Saturday evening he and his wife were in Pall-mall,
he went into the Reform Club to speak to a gentleman,
and not expecting to be detained more than two or
three minutes, he told his wife to walk quickly to the
end of Pall-mall, and then return. On leaving the club
and going down the steps, he saw some one accosting his
wife, and in front of her; but from the distance he could
not tell what took place. Complainant went to her as
quick as he could, and found her crying and leaning in
a fainting state against the balustrade in front of the
house ; and on his asking her what was the matter, shesaid,
said, " That man (pointing to the prisoner) has grossly
insulted me." The prisoner was then walking quickly
away, and prosecutor ran after him, and said to' him—
"Yo have assaulted a lady most grossly—what do you
mean by it ?" The prisoner replied, "Oh ! if I did it, I
am very sorry—I did words to that effect, not know who she was "—or
Witness then told him, he must
Prisoner said , " If you use language of that kind
me, I shall give ray card, and I will thank you
for yours.' Complainant declined giving him his card,
apolowhen defendant said he would walk back with him and
gise to the lady. Prosecutor said he did
not know
nature of the offence, and told him if he walked

back with him to the lady, he (complainant) wt iul(I in-
quire what was the nature of the effence, and be gi tided
by that whether he accepted the apology, on wkich pri-
soner walked to where complainant's wife was start, ling,
and witness then said, " this man is come back to. apo-
logise to you, and before you listen to him, I must re-
quest you to state what occurred, and in what Ix ay he
assaulted you. She then said, in defendant's: presence
and hearing that she was walking very p tick, when
defendant overtook her from behind, and, acct milting her,
said, " Where are you going to, my dear ?" He then
put his hand in her muff, and seized hold of her wrist,
and held her forcibly, at the same time eltc laiming,
"Your way is my way, and where you go L shall go
with you." She said, I expect my husband here directly,
and now see him coming down the steps of ftio Reform
Club." The prisoner said, "Husband, indeed, " and still
held her by the arm. The prisoner the 0. walked
away as fast as he could. Defendant on hear-
ing the lady's statement, said, " I admit it,
I did not know who you were at the time." H.e then
quested his card back, and prosecutor too k the card
from his,pocket, tore it, and threw it at hi in ; at the
same time telling him he was a d-d snob. Defendant
turned round and struck witness on the cliciek, when
blows took place between them. A policeman. came up
and took defendant into custody.
Mr. Huddlestone cross-examined complainant at consi-
derable length, but elicited nothing to shakes his testi-
mony.
Two witnesses, named Griffiths and Davie is, proved
seeing defendant struggling with the prosecut4 )r, who ap-
peared to be nearly strangled.
Mr. Huddlestone addressed the Court on b thalf of his
client.

Mr. Hall, having gone through the whole of the evi-
dence, considered the assault proved, and fined.4efendant
51., which was immediately paid.

AWFULLY SUDDEN DEATH AT THE qi7NERAL

POST-OFFICE-(THIS MORNING..)

An especial example of the uncertainty of b,uman life
took place this morning in the inland office of - the Gene-
ral Post-office. The following are the particulars fur-
nished to the reporter by two officers in the establish-
ment, who were witnesses of the melancholy se( 3ne :
This morning shortly after 5 o'clock the a 'ecea,sed,
whose name was Richard Pritchard, comma iced his
duty as bag-opener at one of the divisions.. A few
minutes before 6 o'clock, whilst there engag(?,d, he ivas
seized with a violent fit of coughing, which so increased
that he was obliged to leaye the opening-table, .and pro-
ceed into the clerks' kitchen, whither he went, o.r rat] ier
was led, by one of the senior clerks. Soon afterm.rds
he began to vomit a quantity of blood, whic'h alan ncd
his fellow-clerk, who instantly sent to Dr. Neild , of
Little Britain, who, upon seeing the patient, immedi-
ately intimated that he was afraid medical aid would I be
of no avail. He 'returned, however, to prepare s. )me
medicine, but the poor fellow died before seven o'clock.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE.

The half-yearly nTeeting of this company was hel d at
Stoke-upon-Trent, on Saturday. Mr. Thos. Erode 'rick
occupied the chair.
Mr. SAMIIDA, the Secretary, read a report, of Which
the following is an abstract. After referring to the pro-
posed purchase of the railway by the London ai id North-
, Western Company, upon the terms which hay a .already
appeared—the capital to be taken at 2,82(40‘00C.,
dividend of 3 per cent. for the first year, 31 for the
second, and 3t for the third and future yea.r,s, to be
guaranteed by the London and North-Western Com-
pany, and the whole to be confirmed by an act of l'ar-
liament—the directors in their report observe— -" That
a bill has been brought into Parliament to amalgamate
the North Staffordshire Railway Company with the
London and North-Western Company ; that the ne.ces-
sary arrangements for transferring the thoro ugh tr.; tffic
between Manchester and London over the North taf-
fordshire line are now under consideration, and. although
the directors fear that they cannot be bro ught into
operation, as to passenger trains, before the Ist of M arch
next, they expect the passage f goods trains will take
effect forthwith." The report concluded :
" The accounts for the half-year have already been
placed in the hands of the shareholders. They- disci, )se a
result which enables the directors to recommend a divi send
of 3s. per share, free of income tax. Thus—
Balance of revenue
Dividend on 161,507 shares,
at 3s 224,226 1 0
Income tax to be paid by
the company
24,9132 13 0

Leaving a surplus of £1,70.9 7 7
which your directors deem it prudent to reserve to meet
any possible claims upon revenue that may not have b.
taken into account."
The CHAIRMAN moved the adoption of the report..
Mr. KYNNERSLEY seconded the motion.
The report was adopted, a dividend of 3s. per slare
declared, a vote of thanks passed to the chairman, and
the meeting broke up.