The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-16 00:00:00

OP SHIPOWNERS.

The defendant in this case is the owner of a vessel,
and the plaintiff, who is an able-bodied seaman, had en-
tered into an agreement to work in the ship during a
voyage between Plymouth and Calcutta. The declara-
tion having recited the agreement, alleged that the de-
fendant's vessel was unseaworthy, in consequence of
which the plaintiff had been unable to sleep in his ham-
mock, had got wet and become sick. A second count
alleged that the defendant had neglected to provide his
vessel with sufficient medicine for the cure of sickness.
Both counts were demurred to.
Mr. Kingdon, in support of the demurrer, said this
was the first time such an action had ever been brought,
and it was contrary to all principle. A shipowner was
not bound to provide his seamen with a vessel which
was seaworthy at the commencement of a voyage. The
seamen might receive higher wages in consequence of
the defective state of the vessel. The learned counsel
cited Seymour v. Maddox (20 Law Journal, p. 327),
and Priestly and Forster (Ist Mees. and Wells, p. 1), to
show that a master was not bound to have premises
upon which he hired servants to work in such a state of
repair that the servants could not possibly sustain
injury.

Millward, in support of the declaration, referred
to Gibson and Small, which was decided in the House
of Lords last session, to show that the shipowner was
bound to provide A seaworthy vessel for the seamen he
hired as well as for all other purposes.
Lord Campbell said the court would look into the
case before calling on Mr. Kingdon to reply.
Judgment deferred.

Alderman Humphery—Had they been paying you any
money ?
Complainant—No, sir—not a farthing.
Alderman Humphery—But might they not have
bought tickets of other parties that would have entitled
them to some claim upon you ?
Complainant—That is possible.
John Cochrane—l presented a ticket, your worship,
that I bought for 305., and the complainant immediately
tore it up and said when the person who sold me the
ticket paid him what he owed him, he would pay the
amount of the ticket.
Alderman Humphery—Well, Mr. Palmer, is that true?
Complainant—Yes, sir, it is—l did tear up the ticket.
Alderman Humphery—Then why did you not tell us
the whole truth at once. It seems now that these men
had a right to be in your office.

Complainant—But they had no claim upon me.
Alderman Humphety—l know they have no legal
claim, nor can any one from the manner in which betting
offices are conducted. It's a very fortunate thing for
you that the new act for the suppression of betting-
houses is not yet in force, or I [should most assuredly
have sent you to Bridewell for three months.
John Cochrane—How am I to get my money back,
sir ? I have paid 1/. on this ticket ?
Alderman Humphrey—You must go to the County
Court.

Complainant—Am I to be subject to this annoyance
again ?

Alderman Humphrey—lt is very plain that you have
had these men's money, and it's hard for them to be
robbed of it.

Complainant—But we ought to have protection.
Alderman Humphrey—You don't deserve protection,
for you take the money of these people and in many in-
stances men and boys are induced to rob their em-
ployers to enable them to go to these betting-houses,
the consequence of which.. is that many are utterly
ruined and the comfort of thousands of families for
ever destroyed.
Complainant—The holder of the ticket only sold it
for the purpose of annoying me, and if I am not pro-
tected these men will molest me again,

Alderman Humphrey—And serve you right ; you
should pay these men their money.
The defendants were then discharged.

WORSUIP-STREET.—Mr. Vann, the solicitor ac•
companied by several master boot and shoe manufac-
turers in the neighbourhood of Shoreditch and Hoxton,
applied for summonses against certain persons who were
alleged to be connected with a recent strike for an ad-
vance of wages, for having entered into an unlawful
conspiracy for the purpose of injuring them in their
business.

Mr. Vann stated that a handbill had been circulated
which bore the signatures of John Connelly, chairman,
'and Wm. Marlow, secretary to the committee of the turn
outs, and which after a brief statement of the matters in
dispute, proceeded as follows :—We, therefore earnestly
request the public to support us by not dealing with those
shops who refuse to pay such a trifling advance to their
workpeople, at the same time charging the public so much
more than those shops that pay the full wages ; and the
journeymen shoemakers are also earnestly requested to
co-operate with us, by not working for the under-men-
tioned shops." Then followed, in large capitals, the
names and addresses of all the masters who had refused
to submit to the demands of the workmen. Not satis-
fied with this, the committee had employed several men
to stand before the doors of their late masters, in ordei
to dissuade the public from entering their shops to make
purchases ; and some of the men who were satisfied with
the existing rate of wages, and continued in their em-
ployment, had been subjected to such gross maltreat-
ment and intimidation that they had returned their
work in an unfinished state, and had declined to execute
it. Under these circumstances, he was instructed to
apply for summonses against Connelly and Marlow.
Mr. D'Eyncourt—Are you in a condition to prove
that the persons complained of took any part in the cir-
culation of the offensive placards, or were at all privy
to their publication ?

Mr. V-ann—l have been assured by Mr. Richmond,
the printer of the bills, who appears to have acted in
entire ignorance of the law, that he received direct in-
structions for their publication from the man Connelly,
and it will also be shown on a future occasion that Mar-
low, the secretary, was equally implicated in the trans-
action.

Mr. D'Eyncourt said that it was a case of great
public importance, and he had no hesitation in directing
a summons to be issued against the parties.

MURDER AT DUNSTER.

The hitherto quiet neighbourhood of Dunster, in
Soraersetshire, was on Wednesday thrown into great
excitement by the perpetration of a horrible murder,
committed on a girl about twelve years old, named Cole.
She resided with her mother (who is a widow) and
brother, a lad about seventeen. On Tuesday the mother
and brother went out to work, and left the girl at home
in care of a lonely cottage, situated in the parish of
Cutcombe, near Dunster, Somerset. There are two
dwellings under the same roof, the other being occupied
by an old woman more than eighty years of age, who on
Tuesday morning about ten o'clock saw a young man,
named Bailey, in the house with the girl. He Boon after
left the house, and did not again return. On the return
of the mother and brother, they made a search for the
girl, and at last found her in an old barn close by, with
her throat cut, and quite dead.
We.extract the following particulars from the aFomerset
County Gazette :
" Information of the circumstances having been given
to the constables, they immediately proceeded to the
house of Bailey's father, who lives at a short distance
from the cottages, but whose house is in the parish of
Luxborough. They found the son in bed, and having
stated that they were come to take him into custody on
a charge of murder, the prisoner exclaimed, "I didn't
murder her ;" but he admitted that he had been at the
house on his way from work, and stated that on his
leaving she accompanied him a short distance, and then
returned.

" On examining the barn, blood was found on some
ashes near the duor, and also oil part of a buckle-
strap, which was identified as beloaging to the pri-
soner ; the other part was found upon him. Near the
barn is a stream of water, and a little beyond this,
from the barn was discovered a foot print, which cor-
responded with one of the prisoner's boots. On examining
the prisoner's clothes, blood was found on different
parts, and there was a line of blood over them, from left
to right, which had been partially washed ont. On
Friday Mr. Hole, surgeon, made an examination of the
body of the deceased. Marks of two severe blows were
found on the top of the head, and also a mark of a
violent blow over the left eye. There were two stabs
in the neck, one on each side,and these corresponded
with the blade of the knife found on the prisoner.
There was a horrid gash right across the neck, from left
to right, which divided all the principal parts down
to the bone, and at the bottom of this cut was the
mark of another stab. between two of the vital verte-
brm or neckbones. From the appearances there could
be no doubt that the murderer first stunned his vie-

tim by striking her on the head, and then dragged
her to a darker part of the barn, where placing the
back of her neck on one of the stone sleepers, he
completed the horrid crime.
"On Friday the prisoner was taken before the Rev.
G. F. Luttrell and Mr. Hole, at Dunster, magistrates
of the district, and an investigation into the circum-
stances took place, the result of which was that the
prisoner was fully committed for trial on the charge
of wilful murder.
" The position in which the deceased was found in-
duced a suspicion that another crime had preceded that
of the murder ; but we understand that the examination
by the surgeon fully showed that no such crime had been
committed. It is said that the prisoner has often taken
indecent liberties with females, and that on their resist-

ante he has evinced great anger, and on one occasion he
went so far as to pursue a young woman whom he had
thus treated with a pick-axe, threatening to take her
life, because she refused to submit to his brutal desire.
It is also said that he is somewhat unsound in intellect,
and we understand that he has shown some peculiarities
of disposition since his confinement in Wilton gaol,
where he now is. To judge from his appearance one
would not suppose him to be labouring under insanity,
nor anything bordering upon it."

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE,

PORTSMOUTH, Nov. 15.
The order for the St. Jean d'Acre to proceed to Ply-
mouth to be docked has been cancelled, and the Caesar,
90, has been " plugged," and undocked to make room
for her, and thereby escape the ridicule which sending
her to Plymouth would have entailed upon such a pro-
ceeding, while a Russian frigate maintains possession of
the principal fitting in this yard.
In the absence of Major-General Simpson, Colonel
Menzies, K.H., Royal Marines, commands this garri-
son and the south-west district.

Commander Bunce has been appointed to the Prince
Regent, 90, at Spithead, vice Stewart, to command the
Modeste sloop, in the Mediterranean. This appoint-
ment has been made some weeks, but not given in the
daily journals.
Captain Nicholas Moore, of this division of Royal
Marines, has proceeded to Chippenham to relieve Capt.
Delacombe in the recruiting service, the latter officer
being required for foreign service.
The Princess Charlotte, 104, old sailing ship, is
ordered to be brought down from the ordinary, it is
said to be refitted or fitted for some service, though
what we are at a loss to conjecture, unless to take the
place of that noblest of sailing three-deckers, the Nep-
tune, 120, ordinary depot ship.
A sailmaker of this port, formerly in the employ of
Mr. Childs, late alderman of Portsmouth, who went to
St. Petersburg some time ago as chief sailmaker in the
Russian Government dockyard, has just returned, and
arsenalsstztt states
that
has e
beenve r every
summarily Englishman
discharged. employed in the Russian
The Marquis of Winchester (Colonel) and the staff of
the Hampshire Militia Artillery have been at Ports-
mouth to-day to select head-quarters for the officers,
and we believe the Government premises in St. Thomas's
street, lately the official residence of the Commandant of
the Portsmouth Division of the Royal Marine Corps,
will be chosen.

The Frolic, 14, Commander Nolloth has been un-
docked to-day and taken to her hulk (the Dryad) to
complete her fit out for sea.

PLYMOUTH, Nov. 15.
The broken cast iron fan (Griffiths's) of the Agamem-
non, 91, taken up last week, has been returned to the
Devonport Dockyard. Her former fan, which is made
of brass, is to he replaced, and it is probable that she
will sail on Thursday for the Mediterranean.
The masts of the frigate Pique were placed on board
the Rhadamanthus yesterday, and she is appointed to
sail to-day for Pembroke.

The frigate Alarm, having been docked, is to have her
copper taken off and her bottom caulked.
The Undine steamer arrived at 8 o'clock last night
from Falmouth with the hull of a cutter in tow.
The following order has been promulgated to the ships
in commission at this port :

"Impregnable, in Hamoaze, Nov. 5.
" It having come to the knowledge of the Lords Com-
missioners of the Admiralty that a practice, heretofore
unusual and most detrimental to the service, is practised
on board some of her Majesty's ships—namely, that the
officers second in command (more especially ships of the
line) are in the habit of sleeping out of their ships when
in harbour, or elsewhere—their lordships hereby desire
to remind commanders of ships of the line that their duty
is essentially that which was formerly required of the
senior lieutenants, they being the executive officers re-
sponsible to the captains for the discipline and well-being
of the crew during the temporary absence of such cap-
tains. Their lordships are pleased to direct that, except
under special circumstances, the captain and commander
of a ship-of-war are not to sleep out of the ship on the
same night ; and, when the captain is on the spot, the
commander is not-to sleep out of the ship without, on
each occasion, having obtained the consent of the cap-
tain. The same rules are to apply to ships not having a
commander as second in command ; and no senior lieu-
tenant is allowed to sleep out of his ship without a like
sanction from his captain or commander.
"JOHN A. OMMANNEY, Admiral.
"To the respective captains and commanders."

The General Screw Steam-shipping Company's mail-
packet Indiana, Commander Lambert, arrived at 7 o'clock
this morning from Southampton to ship the mails for the
Cape of Good Hope and Calcutta.
At 2 p.m. yesterday a large paddle-wheel steam-vessel
with three masts, mizenmast well aft, no head, supposed
to be a mail packet, passed up Channel outside the har-
bour.

WOOLWICH, Nov. 15.
APPOINTMENTS.

Masters.—Peter Wellington (1840), at present in
command of the Tyne store-ship, refitting at Woolwich
for service in conveying stores to the island of Ascension
and Rio, to the Victory flag-ship, at Portsmouth ;
James B. Tucker (1830), to command the Tyne, vice
Wellington.

Midshipman J. L. Pearson to the Princess Royal, 90,
screw steam-ship, at Portsmouth.
Masters' Assistants.—R. R. T. Quinn and Samuel M.
Spry to the Scorpion, 6, surveying-vessel, at Devonport.
The Archer, screw steam-sloop, Commander James
N. Strange, was paid off here to-day, and in the after-
noon a.number of the crew took their departure to pro-
' ceed by railway to the eastern ports.
One sergeant, one corporal, and eight gunners of the
Royal Marine Artillery, with eight privates of the
Woolwich division of Royal Marines, were landed from
the Archer screw steam-sloop on that vessel being paid
off to-day at Woolwich, and marched to the barracks
of the division. The gunners of the Royal Marine
Artillery will shortly proceed to the head-quarters of
that branch of the corps at Portsmouth.
The Jasper steam-vessel was in readiness to go down
the river, in charge of Second Master Richard Reed,
of the Lightning steam-vessel, to try her engines, which
were to be worked by the officers studying steam at the
factory at Woolwich Dockyard ; but the dense fog
which prevailed during the day prevented her leaving
her moorings.