The Sun.
London, England, 1822-11-22 00:00:00

THIRGAR V. MORLEY.

This was a motion for a new trial. -
The LoRD CHANCELLOR read the Lord Chief Justice's re.
port of the case as tried before him upon issue from the Court
of Chancery. The issue was, whether the plaintiff was entitled
to one-eighth of the ship /Miley. The Jury found him en-
titled, and the Lord Chief Justice communicated to the Lord
Chancellor that the verdict was satisfactory to him.
Mr. HORNE appeared for the defendant to move his Lord-
ship to grant a new trial. Mr. Morley, who was confessedly a
man of money, engaged in the building of a new ship. The
plaintiff's nephew, Mr. Morgan, was to be Captain, and he
and his uncle, the plaintiff, were to have 3-Bths; the defendant
holding the other 0-Bths. That was, Mr. Thirgar was to have
3-16ths ; Mr. Morgan 3-16ths ; and Mr. Morley 5-Bths. But
Mr. Morgan having the command of a vessel, and not choosing
to wait for the building of the Morley, declined any share in
her. His name was never entered in the register. It was not
pretended that he had resigned in favour of Mr. Thirgar ; there-
fore, as 3-Bths were only mentioned for both, 3-16ths were all
that the plaintiff could claim, and that they had formerly offer-
ed, and now repeated the offer.
Messrs. CAMPBELL (front the King's Bench) and ROSE fol.
lowed on the same side. _ .

Mr. PARK (from the King's Bench) opposed the motion.—
There had never been any division of the 3-Bths into two
3-16ths, but a letter from the defendant distinctly asked whe-
ther both names, or what one name, should be registered fur
3-Bths.

Mr. HORNE replied.
The LORD CIIASCELLOR.—I confess I cannot see sufficient
reason for granting a new trial. There are difficulties in the
case ; but if the verdict were the other way, it would not be
more satisfactory to me. I lament that the Act of Parliament
does not require the several shares as well as the names of
shareholders to be registered. The defendant, Morley, was
about to build a ship, to be called the Morley. The plaintiff,
Thirgar, was to have some interest in her, and his nephew,
Morgan, was to be the captain.' The plaintiff and his ne-
phew were to have 3.Bths. The builder went on until two
instalments were paid. It appears that the plaintiff had
made sonic advances. A letter was then written by the ne-
phew, stating that he would have nothing to do with the ship,
as he could not wait till she should be finished. This is
clear evidence against Morley, that the uncle was the person
with whom all arrangements were made. A letter is then writ-
ten by Palmer and Tomlinson for Morley, inquiring whether
both names were to be registered, or only one for the 3-Bths.
One name could, not stand for the other in the register • but
the inquiry whose rime was to be registered for 3-Bths clearly
showed the view of the defendant then of the amount to be
shared. Thirgar then says that he will have nothing to do
with her. It might have been a question upon this, whether
he did repudiate, or could`repudiate. It does not appear that
this was urged on the trial. Thirgar was in fact registered,
and a letter is written to him, stating that what belonged to
him would be assigned to hint by bill of sale or otherwise, re-
gard being had to the expences of building the ship. What
interest had he at this period ? Morgan claimed none. The
Jury have been of opinion that it was 3-Bths, and I see no rea-
son to disturb their verdict. The letter of Thirgar, containing
what is said to have been a new proposition, received no an•
swer ; therefore, if Thirgar had any interest at all, it was
3-Bths. I cannot say that he had no interest, and that is a point
that was not so much pressed as it might.
Mr. PARK applied for costs.
The Lonn CHANCELLOR.—This is not a case for costs.—
If parties will make their contracts with so much ambiguity,
they must suffer the consequence.

FIELD AND OTHERS V. STIRRUP.

Mr. HORNE stated that this was a motion to pay money into
Court, and also to have a receiver appointed. The plaintiffs
were assignees on the estate of Mr. Hewitt, a bankrupt. The
defendant had kept house for the bankrupt for many years.—
He did not mean to cast any insinuation against her on that ground.
But his dwelling-house( Fairrnill-house, Henley-upon-Thames),
some cottages, and several acres of land, had been conveyed to
her by the bankrupt. This conveyance, the assignees con-
tended, was fraudulent. The defendant had also received
money, by checks and otherwise, belonging to the bankrupt, of
which she gave no account. The prayer of his motion, there-
fore, was, that she should be directed to pay into Court the
money which she had received belonging to the bankrupt, and
that a receiver should be appointed to receivethe rents and pro-
fits of the estate. _ _ _

The Loan CHANCELLOR inquired the value.
Mr. HORNE-2,6001. or 3,0001.
Mr. BARKER followed, and contended that the conveyance
was voluntary.
The Loan CHANCELLOR.—Why, then, apply for a re-
ceiver? Why not bring an ejectment? I think you might
think it fortunate if this were not opposed.
Mr. HART opposed the motion. The first point was the
receiver. _ .

The Lon") CHANCELLOR.—That is out of the question.
Mr. HART.—Then the second question was whether any ba-
lance was due, and whether it ought to be paid into Court.—
Now for this, he submitted, that an action at law would lie as
well as a bill in equity.
Mr. ROOTS (we believe) followed.—lt had been said that
this conveyance had been kept secret.—What ! was she to pro-
claim it to all the world ?
The LORD CHANCELLOR.—No, she was afraid, perhaps,
Of Mr. Barber.
Mr, lIoRxE replied.—He would not contend against his
Lordship's opinion : but did not his Lordship think them en-
titled to any thing ?
The LORD CHANCELLOR.—No. As to the bankrupt be-
ing in possession, thou.& personal property in the possession
of a bankrupt be liable to his creditors, it is not so with his
real property. I remember a rich banker proposing to bring
in a bill to make real property liable ; but when I said it would
be necessary to have all encumbrances ascertained, he became
from that moment most anxious to prevent such a change.--
This motion must be dismissed with costs.
The LORD CHANCELLOR, in the course of the day, stated
that as the Recorder was to make his report to-morrow, lie
could not sit in that Court more than an hour and a half, and
that time he shouldrequire to prepare him for the duties he had
to perform. He would not, therefore, come into Court at all to-
morrow.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Nov. 21.
THE ILCHESTER GAOLER.
THE KING V. BRIDLE.

It will be recollected that this defendant, the Gaoler of Ildies-
ter, was tried at the last Assizes for the county. of Somerset, on
an information filed against him by his Majesty's Attorney-
General, charging him with illegally applying a blister to the

head of' Thomas Gardiner, a prisoner in the gial,,and keeping
him in a strait waistooat, and with acts of cruelty to another
person, named Mary Cuer. The Jury found himluilty on the
case applicable to Gardiner, but acquitted• him as to Cuer, and
recommended him to mercy, on account of the excellent charac-
ter given him at the trial.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL now moved for the judgment
of the Court, and the-defendant appeared on the floor.
Mr. Justice BEST read the report of the trial.
A-great number of affidavits were put in by the defendant.
The first was the affiavit of Mr. Bridle himself, giving a history
of his life, and of the circumstances attendant on the transac-
tion for which he was convicted. He stated that his father, a
small tradesman in the country, with ten children, was unfortu-
hate in business, and entirely unable to maintain his family.—
Determined not to continue a burden to his parents, under
such circumstances, he left his home when between fifteen
and sixteen years of age, and had ever since supported
himself entirely by his own exertions. He first enlisted
in a regiment of cavalry, commanded by Captain An-
derton, as a private soldier ; but having attracted the notice
of his superior officers, was successively promoted to be corpo-
ral, serjeant, and quarter-master to the regiment. Having left
the servicehe became 2d mate to a largepriton ship atWoolwich,
and so conducted himself for six years in that situation, that the
command of a large vessel was offered to him, if he would remain
when he became candidate for the office of gaoler at Ilchesler.
He was elected gaoler in preference to between 30 and 40 can-
didates, and immediately began to assist the Magistrates in a
reform of the regulations and discipline of the prison. In this
he succeeded so well, as to receive their public thanks, and
brought the order of the gaol to so high a perfection, that the
Magistrates of neighbouring counties sent individuals personally
to inspect it, in order-that they might adopt its improvements
in other prisons. In the twelve years and a half during which
he filled that office, he received more than 4,500 prisoners under
his care, from whom no complaint was ever successfully pre-
sented to the Magistrates, and none of whom left his care with-
out an expression of gratitude for his kindness. Gardiner, the
man whom he was charged with illegally punishing, had been
capitally convicted of housebreaking, but his sentence of death
was commuted to la months' imprisonment to hard labour.—
He refused to work ; he was guilty of a long series of refractory
conduct, for which he was seven times punished—once for
stabbing a fellow-prisoner in the thigh, without provocation,
and once for picking the pocket of another prisoner of the few
shillings which were all he had in the world. He was placed
in solitary confinement; he still remained either insolent or
sullen; refused to make any acknowledgment of his offence,
and broke out into repeated imprecations against the defendant
andt,the Magistrates. Still the application of the blister was
entirely unpremeditated ; it arose out of an accidental conver-
sation between Mr. Briar, the surgeon, and the defendant. As
Bridle was walking round the prison, he met Briar, and asked
how his patients were ? Briar answered, " Well ;" the de-
fendant replied, that he wished he could cure his patients as
easily; and, after alluding to the case of Gardiner, said, " If I
were master of the medicine-chest, I would try a dose of dirty
physic." Briar answered, "I have not a dose, but I have a
blister, which may do better." Bridle replied, "You know
best," and walked away. The blister appligd, in consequence
of this consent, was of the ordinary kind, and not of any un-
usual pungency. The defendant further declared, that he
never, on any other occasion, administered medicine or a blister
by way of punishment; that he had reduced the weight of irons
in the gaol nearly one-half • that he had applied the savings of
his income to the support of his aged parents, now almost 80
years of age; that 500 men, who had been under his care on
board the hulks, had begged to be permitted to testify to his
humane and benevolent conduct towards them ; that the most
unfounded and atrocious statements had been widely circulated
against him ; that he had been put to an expence by the prose-
cution which he was little prepared to sustain ; and, on the
whole, he trusted that the sufferings he had already endured
would be regarded as some atonement for the offence which lie
had, in a moment of inconsideration, committed.
An affidavit of Sir John Palmer Arland, 45 years a Magis-
trate, and 15 years chairman of the Quarter Sessions of Somer-
set, corroborated the defendant's statements respecting the im-
provements in the prison, the general approbation of the visiting
justices, and the humanity of the defendant in attending on the
sick and suggesting plans for the amelioration of the miseries of
those committed to his charge. In this testimony other Ma-
gistrates united. Dr. Woodburn deposed to the attention of
Bridle to the sick during the time when the typhus fever raged
in the prison, at the hazard of his own life, and to the expres-
sions of thankfulness which they used respecting his exertions.
Mr. Briar, the surgeon, made affidavit that th blister admi-
nistered to Gardiner was not dangerous, but might safely be
applied to an infant at the breast. The principal turnkey and
the constable of the prison concurred in the high character for
humanity given to him, and in the statements made respecting
the conduct of Gardiner. Persons who had known the de-
fendant from his youth, and in the various situations through
which he had passed, deposed to his usual good conduct, and
described him as uniformly kind to his inferiors, and respectful
to those above him. Cain; Smith stated that he had behaved
with equal humanity and firmness while at Woolwich, and
that great numbers of those who had been under his care were
eager to testify in his favour. Rebecca Webb, a poor woman,
of Shepton Mallet, whose son was executed at Ilchester, de-
scribed the exertions of the defendant to obtain a commutation
of the punishment, and the gratitude expressed by her son to
him in the last moments of his life. It appeared that he had
received the thanks of many of the inhabitants of Shepton
Mallet on the occasion, and had obtained a similar compliment
for his efforts to raise a subscription at the jubilee for distressed
debtors. As the officer was proceeding to read the other affi-
davits,
Mr. C. F. 'WILLIAMS rose and said, that there were many
more affidavits to the general good character of the defendant,
and to particular, incidents in which his humanity had been ma-
nifested ; but after what the Court had already heard, he should
not feel justified in occupying more of their time uliless it was
wished on the part of the prosecution.
The Loan CHIEF JUSTICE asked if there were any affida-
vits on the part of the prosecution ?
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL replied in the negative.
Mr. C. F. WILLIAMS addressed the Court on behalf of the
defendant, whom he trusted he might now describe as respect-
able, though unfortunate. When he had said a few words, the
Judges consulted together for some minutes, during which he
paused, but ultimately receiving no intimation from them, he
proceeded. He urged that it was quite clear the defendantwas not called on to answer for inflicting a degree of punish-
ment'cruel or excessive in itself, but for authorizing a mode of
punishment not authorized by law. This, undoubtedly, was
an offence; but when the Court had heard the conduct which
provoked the infliction—wherithey were assured that the blister
might have been administered to an infant without injury—.
when they contemplated that life of virtue, of humanity,
and of usefulness which the defendant had passed—and when
they thought on all he had already suff.ered, they would
rather regret that such a man should thus he held up to
public gaze as an offender, for such an. accidental fault,
than desire to inflict on him any additional suffering.—
The Learned Counsel then proceeded to contrast the charac-
ters of Gardiner and the defendant ; he dwelt on the hard-
ened villainy of the convict, young in age, but mature
in crime, whom a capital sentence could not awe, nor mercy
soften. He contended that this man had given false accounts
on his trial of the conduct which led to the infliction of the blis-
ter, and reminded the Court that the .Judge had declared him
unworthy of credit, unless corroborated by untainted witnesses.
He then adverted to the whole course of the defendant—how,
rather than break the bread which his father had hardly earn-
ed, he had gone out a youth to the wide world—how, amidst
the temptations of poverty and friendlessness, he had been un-
spotted by crime—how he hail gradually risen from a private
soldier to a respectable station in his regiment; how, in a situ-1
ation of extreme difficulty, lie had displayed both humanity
and courage;. and in his conduct as a gaoler he had sustained
an inquisition, the most severe to which any man's demeanour
could be subjected. This man, who had been held up to the
world as a." monster"—whose mental agony exceeded that of
almost any human being—had acquired such influence over the
minds of hundreds of desperate men, that when they were most
tumultuous, if he went in among them unarmed, they became
still ; he.had been the friend of those from whom their natural'
relatives shrunk with horror ; he had been chosen to perform
their dying wishes, and received their last blessings. When
I the prisoners were sick, the first piece of bread broken, the first
meat cut at the table of this calumniated individual, was sent
to them ; their wants were supplied, their pains tenderly alle-
viated by all the means in his power, without restriction and
without reserve. Even when they breathed pestilence, Mr. Bridle
did not shrink from his duty, but ministered to their necessities
at the peril of his life. It would, perhaps, be difficult to find any
individual, who, in so humble a station, had opportunity for the
exercise of such virtues, or who could produce so honourable tes-
timonals of his excellence. Five hundred individuals had eagerly
pressed forward to give a triumphant refutation to the charge
of cruelty which they heard with astonishment—who had
nothing to gain from his favour, nor any motive but grate-
ful recollection to prompt them. Such was the individual
-now to receive judgment; and well assured he (Mr. Wil-
liams) was, though in the unusual and delicate situation of
the -Attorney and Solicitor-General, they might not feel at
liberty to give free scope to their feelings, that those feelings
would lead them to regret the duty they were compelled to
perform.
Mr. Justice BAYLEY asked if the defendant had not been
dismissed from his office in consequence of this charge ?
Mr. WILLIAMS replied, in consequence of this and of other
charges. The accusations against him were as numerous as
there were words in the language; they were the result of un-
paralleled malignity ; their author was a man who produced
discord whereyer he came, like the champion of whom it was