The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-27 00:00:00

SURREY SESSIONS—May 25.

(Before T. Puckle, Esq„ and a Bench of Magistrates.)

SENTENCE OF THE REV. (!) MR. GIBSON.
Just before the rising of the Court, Robert Gibson, alias
the Rev. Robert Gibson, was brought up for judgment,
he having been found guilty on the previous night, after
a very lengthy trial, of committing an aggravated assault
on Samuel Cookson Kelly, a young man 19 years of age,
and son to a female whom ho had cohabited with, having
seduced her from her husband and family.
On the previous day, during the trial, he exhibited the
utmost levity, and at one time distributed handbills among
the auditory, maligning the character of the husband
whose peace of mind he had destroyed, and vindicating
that of the base woman who had so far disgraced herself,
and dishonoured her husband and family, by living with
' him in open adultery. However, when placed in the dock
to receive sentence, he seemed much chop-fallen and
dejected.

On the Chairman asking him whether he had anything
to say why sentence should not bo passed upon him, he
said that he had indicted four other parties at the last
sessions for assaults upon him, and true bills were then
found, and he should like them to be tried. He had, how-
ever, to say that, if ho struck the blow with the jug, it
was in self-defence, as he was much pressed upon and
threatened by a number of persons. Ho might have
struck the first that pressed upon him, as he was much
frightened, and knocked about himself.

The Chairman said ho should then proceed to, ; en-
tenco. The defendant had not been sentenced on the pre-
vious evening, as it was the wish of the court that he
should be brought up to-day, which would enable them
to calmly and deliberately look over all the circumstances
of his case and see what sentence he really deserved. They
considered it a very gross and shocking case, especially in
a man who professed himself a minister of the Gospel, and
by such facilities as were afforded him by that profession
to introduce himself into the bosom of a respectable family
and ruin the peace of mind of those he ought to comfort.
He had opportunities of seeing the dishonoured husband
and disgraced children, and if he had ever any faith in the
words he formerly preached, he ought to have comforted
them rather than seduce the mother and wife from her
family. And what did he do that for ?—to live in adultery
with her. However, he had to remark, that he was not
tried for adultery, but for committing a very aggravated
assault on a lad—one of thesons of the unfortunate woman
he was living with. It was feasible that her children must
have a desire to see her, and when they were in her pre-
sence he ought to have humbled himself, or conducted
himself in a much milder manner to the injured children.
It ill became him, in his disgraceful position, to take up a
jug and t A•ow it at the head of one of these children. The
Court, it must be considered, in passing their sentence, did
not punish him for adultery • that they w uld now
entirely forget, and merely look to the offence h • was con•
vioted of. The opinion given by the jury that his witnesses
had perjured themselves, greatly aggravated his case, and
no fine that the Court could inflict upon him would be
adequate punishment. Tho sentence of the Court was,
that he be imprisoned in the House of Correction at
Wandsworth, with hard labour, for three months.
The defendant received the sentence with much surprise.
Tho other cases stand over until next sessions.

GOVERNMENT PRINTING AND STATIONERY.—No less
than 255,560/. is required for the expenses of printing
and stationery. Last year the vote was only 216,420/.,
showing an increase on the present year of 39,1401.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRES.—PROBABLE Loss OF LIFE.—
' A fire happened between fou rand five o'clock on Thursday
morning in the premises occupied by Mr. J. Stanton, a
printer, carrying on business at 5, Bishop's-court, Old
Bailey. The discovery was made by a police-officer of
the City force, who, on passing the end of the yard, per-
ceived smoke pouring forth from the composing-room
on the third floor. The officer, knowing that the pre-
mises must be on fire, at once sent for the engines and
fire-escapes. In a very few minutes the Royal Society's
fire-escapes attended, closely followed by the brigade en-
gines from Farringdon-street, Holborn, Crown-street, and
Chandos-street, with others from Jeffrey-square and Wat-
ling-street, and also that of the West of England station in
the Waterloo-road. A plentiful supply of water having
been procured, the engines were with as little delay as
possible set to work, and by conveying the hose to the top
of the adjoining houses, the firemen were enabled to scatter
torrents of water through the windows until such time
as the flames penetrated the roof, which, however, was
scarcely done when the firemen took advantage of the
breach made, and directed the water from their engines
into every part of the floor in flames. This was a work
of no little risk, but fortunately it had the desired effect,
and in less than two hours the conflagration was extin-
guished, but not until the floor in which it originated,
together with the valuable stock of types, cases, frames,
&c., contained therein, was entirely destroyed, and the
lower floors seriously damaged by water, &c. The
origin of the fire is unknown, and it could not be ascer-
tained whether or not the sufferer was insured. The
police mustered in strong numbers, and kept a great
crowd out of the way of the firemen.—Yesterday fore-
noon, between eight and nine o'clock, a fire of a dis-
tressing character broke out in the premises of Mrs. Har-
rison, No. 22, Crispin-street, Spitalfields. It is pre-
sumed that a spark had shot forth from the grate, and
alighting upon some wearing apparel in the room set the
whole in a blaze. Unfortunately, at that time a child
about 16 months old was in the apartment, and became
surrounded by fire. The inmates rushed into the place,
and with the aid of buckets of water they succeeded in
getting the flames subdued, but not until the greater
portion of the furniture in the room was seriously da-
maged, and the unfortunate infant so dreadfully burnt
that little hopes can be entertained of its recovery. The
child was forthwith removed to the hospital, where it at
present remains. The sufferer waa not insured for a
single penny.

LAMBERT'S MAP OF THE SEAT OF WAR, Price is. 6d.,
in neat case, 2s.—lt would be difficult to produce a Map
more satisfactorily distinguished by the merits of clear-
ness in printing and accuracy in arrangement. It
cannot but be eagerly welcomed by our intelligent
population.—Sun. It is an easily intelligible, accurate,
and complete delineation of a region with which every
one should now be as familiar as with the Map of Eng-
land or Palestine.—Nonconforinist. We have already
found it of great use for reference, and can confidently
li e
recommend it to our readers, for it is, in our opinion,_ _
the
most useful Map of the Seat of War yet publisb.!l,..n.
York Herald. London Dobbs, Kidd. and Co_.,
-
burgh : Menzies ; Newcastle : Lambert, and all
,Seller&wldNertiieittent.