The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-30 00:00:00

THAMES.

James Cowderoy, a cab-driver, of No. 4, Bluegate-
street, Shadwell, was charged before Mr. Yardley
with beating his wife, Mary Ann, in a very savage
manner, and breaking her arm.

The wife, a dissipated-looking woman, about 30
years of age, with a child in her arms, stated that on
Sunday night she was in the Bull's Head public-
house, in High-street, Shadwell, with a female ac-
quaintance, and her husband came in there after her.
He was in a most fourious passion, and, after abusing
her and applying the most disgusting epithats towards
her, he beat her severely with his fists about her head
and face, and then knocked her down and kicked her
on the side and chest until she was nearly disabled.
He lastly seized her arm, wrenched it forcibly, and
broke her wrist. The wretched woman, whose arm had
been set in a splint in the London Hospital, added,
that her husband had been convicted of assaulting her
before ; that her life was in danger from his violence ;
and that he had repeatedly threatened to murder her
and held a knife over her.
Robert Durrant, barman at the Bull's Head, con-
firmed the statement of the complainant as to the
brutal outrage committed on her on Sunday night,
and said he had great difficulty in pulling the pri•
soner away from his wife, and preventing him from
sacrificing her on the spot, which appeared to be his
intention.

The prisoner, in defence, said he had only been
once convicted for beating his wire, and not three or
four times, as she stated ; and that she wasted all the
money he gave her for housekeeping in satisfying her
propensities for gin and other strong drinks. She
was in the frequent practice of getting drunk, and
was so on Sunday night, when he found her in the
Bull's Head.. She began to abuse him, and provoked
him to strike her. He came home several nights in
succession, expecting to find a meal prepared for him,
but his wife was from home at the public•house.

Potter, a police-constable, No. 212 IC, said that he
took the woman to the hospital, where her fractured
limb was dressed, and that upon taking the prisoner
into custody, he made use of the most repulsive ex-
pressions respecting his wife. Potter added that the
wife kept a house of ill-fame, and the prisoner occu-
pied a room in it.
Mr. YARDLEY expressed the greatest astonishment
on hearing this statement, and asked how it was that
such a fellow was licensed to drive a cab? The
prisoner said he had driven a cab for many years, and
had never been " pulled up" in his life.
Roche, the gaoler of the court, said the prisoner
was the greatest blackguard in the district; and when
he (Roche) was in the police force, and stationed in
Shadwell, he had to keep a constant watch on the
prisoner, who was always a suspected person.
Potter also said he knew the prisoner to be a sus-
pected person, and that his mother-in law, an old
woman named Hillman, who had been connected with
many robberies, kept the worst brothel in the district.
Mr. YARDLEY directed that the prisoner's badge,
2,813, should be taken from him, and delivered up to
Inspector Bell, and that a statement relating to the
prisoner and his conviction should be returned to the
Registrar of Hackney Coaches and Cabs. He could
not understand the system of licensing cab-drivers
when such a ruffian as the one before him, who had
been a suspected person for many years, and kept a
brothel, was permitted to have a licence to drive a
public conveyance. The licensing system was of no
use at all if such persons were to have licences and
badges. There was no doubt whatever that the wife
was a most worthless woman ; but, if the prisoner
was not restrained, he would commit a murder, and
be hanged. If he were to allow the woman's misconduct,
bad as it was, to be pleaded as an excuse for, so much
brutality, there would be no safety for her. He:,sen-
tenced the prisoner to pay a fine of 51. for the assault
on his wife, and, in default of payment, committed
him to the House of Correction for two months. If
the prisoner was again licensed to drive a cab, or
allowed to have a badge any more, it would not be
his (the magistrate's) fault.

LORD Baoucarkm ON LIGHT.—At the meeting of
the British Association for the Promotion of Science,
recently held at Birmingham, a very interesting account
was given, by Sir David Brewster, of Lord Brougham's
experimental and mathematical inquiries respecting the
properties of light. Sir David spoke in the highest
terms of eulogy of his Lordship's fine apparatus, the
work of M. Soleil, the celebrated instrument-maker at
Paris. The delicacy and exactness of the philosophical
instruments made by M. Soleil were warmly praised
by Sir David Brewster, certainly one of the most qualfied
judges of such matters in Europe. It is fortunate
for science to have such servitors as M. Soleil.
Lord Brougham is now at his soat near Climes, in the
South of France, and it is believed that he has gone
thither so early this autumn, for the express purpose of
prosecuting his experiments beneath the clear sky and
fine sun of that beautiful clime. Before he had reached
the age of twenty he had communicated to the Royal
Society, of London, some valuable papers on the
flexion and reflexioa of light. There were not only
favourably noticed in foreign publicatons, but led to
their author's being elected. F.E.S., and were published
in its Transactions. Thus early did his active and in-
quiring mind apply itself to mathematical and exact
science.
A physician stopped at the shop of a country
apothecary, and inquired for a pharmacopmia. " Sir,"
said the apprentice, "I know of no such farmer living
about these parts."