The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-20 00:00:00

Mr. Watson, with Mr. Phipson, was counsel for the
plaintiff; Mr. K. Macaulay, with another learned gen-
tleman, appeared for the defendant.
This was an action brought against the proprietor of
the " Wellington" (omnibus) which runs down the Park-
road, to recover damages for injuries which had been
sustained by the plaintiff, in consequence, as it was
alleged, of the negligence of the defendant's servant.
It appeared that on the morning of the 9th June last,
the plaintiff was an outside passenger on an. " Atlas"
omnibus, of which a person named Brooks is the pro-
prietor and driver ; when, just as the "Atlas" was start-
ing, after having taken up a passenger, the " Welling-
ton" drove up against it, broke off the iron on the front
seat, and threw the plaintiff into the road, when the fore-
wheel of the " Atlas" passed over hislleg and considerably
injured it.
The defence was that the Atlas was endeavouring to
cross the road in front of the Wellington when the acci-
dent occurred.
A great number of witnesses were called upon either
side, being the persons riding in both of the omnibuses,
and bystanders who had witnessed the occurrence, who
gave very contradictory evidence with regard to which
.of the drivers was in fault.
The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff. Dam-

ages 200/:
Lord Campbell refused to certify for a special jury, as
he thought a common jury might have disposed of the
case very satisfactorily.

WILLIAMS V. LANG.-DREADFUL ACCIDENT ON BOARD A
GRAVESEND BOAT.

Mr. Serjeant Wilkins, with Mr.' Dawson, appeared
for the plaintiff; Mr. O'Malley, with Mr. Lush, repre-
sented the defemiant.
This was an action brought to recover damages for
injuries sustained by the plaintiff's wife while she was a
passenger on board a Gravesend steam-boat, in conse-
quence, as it was alleged, of the carelessness of the crew
of that boat.
It appeared that, on the evening of the Bth August
last, the plaintiff, who is a sweep, and his wife, who is a
charwoman, were on board the Dryad, which started
from Gravesend at about half-past 5, and soon after-
wards stopped at Rosherville to take in more passen-
gers. The boat being very much crowded, Mrs. Wil-
liams who had a child in her arms, bad sat down upon
one of the fenders, or dummies, which are used to pre-
vent the boat from striking against piers. When the
order had been given to move on from Rosherville, the
noose of the rope which attached the boat to the pier
was not immediately thrown off, and some rope which
was lying loose upon the deck got coiled round Mrs.
Williams's foot, and took it quite off just above the
ankle. She was taken on shore to a surgeon, and after-
wards went to the hospital, where she was obliged to
have her leg amputated, and remained for seven weeks.
She had not since been able to do any work, but bad to
be carried up and down stairs. She is only 20 years of
age.

Mrs. Williams, and some of the passengers by the
Dryad, were called, and proved the above facts.
The defence was, that Mr. Williams alone was to
blame for the accident, and the captain and other per-
sons on board were called to show that the boat was not
crowded on the evening in question ; that when Mrs.
Williams came on board several seats were vacant ; that
after she had seated herself upon the fender, with one
of her feet inside the coil of rope, she had been toll to
remove by two boys and by the stewardess, but had re-
mained in the same place, and that the strain upon the
rope, .which was the immediate cause of the accident,
was unavoidable, as there had not been time to pay out
the rope before the accident happened.
Mr. Sergeant Wilkins having replied,
Lord Campbell summed up, telling the jury that they
were to say whether it had been made out to their satis-
faction that the misfortune was caused by the negligence
of the defendant's servants. If they found for the
plaintiff, they must award a reasonable but substantial
and ample amount of damages.
The jury retired, and after an absence of half an hour,
returned and gave a verdict for the plaintiff—damages,
3501.