The Sun.
London, England, 1809-12-02 00:00:00

SHAW V. COTTLE.

Mr. GARROW stated this be an aetion for an,
assault. also,. but of a mOre•aggravated nature than
the two which 'preceded it. The plaintiff was -a
green-grocer, residing :in. the ,neighboiarhood of
Windmill-street, Tottenham-court-roard. " The de-
fendant .came to•ithe plaintiff's house, and made
a great disturbatice there, and infliCted on his
person, a severe injury. The defendilut tollowzd
a person of the name of Burton into. the Plain-
tiff's house, alleging, that thabundle,which Burton
had under his arm, - was stolen by him ; whereas the
bundle was made up of a parCel of books, which
Burton had that day pbid for, and offered to shew
the bill of pircels ; hut that would not do, the De,-
feridant wa, determined on fighting somebody ; de-
clared his readiness to fight all who were in the
house; Barton having, passed the Defendant and alto-,
ther in .the street, thought by their look that they'
wanted to .rOb him, as they followed him ; he ran
into this house for protection, and the defend-
-ant followed him ; when they entered, the Plain-
titidesired them both logo into the street, and settle
their dispute, and.not make his house the scene of riot
and confusion, and then put his hand gently on the
'defendant, desiring him to go out, when the defen-
dant assaulted the Plaintiff, and itt 'treated him
shamefully. They:called for a constable, and then
the Defendant said he was a constable, and then he
produced his staff of office.—No matter whether he
was a constable or. not ; he had no right to commit
assaults, if he was a constable; nor to apprehend
any body„ without the authprity of a Magistrate,
except upon a charge of felony, which he had not,
for there was no pretence of saying that the parcel
‘vhith Burton had under his arm was'itolen. There
was therefore no pretence'for this % iolence; and the
Jury would make the Defendant_ pay for it ; the only
ques:ion would be, what should be the amount Of
the damages in this case. ,
William Shaw, the Plaintiff's, father, said he
lived in his son's house; that between seven and.
eight o'clock.in the evening of the 2d of November
last, he saw a person of the name of Boron come
into the house, while he, the witness, was sitting
quietly by the fire-side, With the family, • arausing-
themselves : suddenly they heard a violent rush of a
person into the. shop. The Plaintiff went to the
door, and demanded the cause of it ; another rushed
in after him; the mul Haan who ca; in first dared his
,tark to the..counter ; the Plaintiff asked him what
he wanted—he said that. he. was pursued by two
men„ whom he suspected were going to rob 'bun;
on which the Plaintiff tnrned round, and the second
man who came in said " D---n your eyes--L•roli you,
say, roW'you." On which the Hamill
took this person gently by the arm, and said, " You'
• are both strangers to site; I know nothing of your
business, go and settle it-in the street, .and do not
disturb me in my house." He, the Defendant, im-
mediately said,. "-a—n your house, will go where
I please ;" the Plaintiff desired him to walk out, and
a seutlle ensued ; the Defendant, with an oath, said,
.you shall not turn we out,. I will go where .1
please.' The Plaintiff said, "Is -there no consta-
ble to be got i" 'Oo.which -Burton, the man who
came in first, went out to. call " Watch !" and said ,
he.wouhl find a constable;' on which•the Defend-
, ant assaulted the• Plaintiffs and they had a tussel to-

gedier.
Another came and asked " What .was the mat-
ter ?" on which the Plaintiff said, " See how he has
used nue in iny own. horse; - What a blow be has
given inc." The witness• did not see the- blow
given. He'was iu 'another 'room, but he heap.' the

ti;sel, and he heard th'. blow ; he then railed; as
touchy as he could for a cohstable:. The Defendant,
who-then stood in the Rissage, said, "I tma con-
stable of Mary-le-bone," and pulled-out
-his staff; on
which • the witness told him he was not then in
Mary-le-bone. but St. Pancras. parish. He then
stripped and asked the plaintiff if he v.:AM fight ;
D---.t) your eyes, will you fight ?" putting himself
in a fighting-attitude; put hip fist to the witness, a
feeble old wan. " D—n your eyes, are you fighta-
b:e ?_ I will lick you all four, or a wholetoOm full of
you." By this time a ftibb of near an hundred people
had collected at the door, in, consequence of thiS vio-
lence and noise. The plamtiff,Put his hand up to his
e)ki„, on which was the mark of a violent blow, and
there was besides a wonnd on his-head, the blood.
tunnit,g- down his back. ~The witncts.then Went
away,,being feeble and afraid.
Cross-examined lnj Mr. SA wvti, he said that both
plaintift and defendant's clothes were torn in this
scuffle. , •

_
Ilichard Burton, a dealer. in books, gave an
count of his having bought a, parcel of books on the
day ih qut?stion,_ and of 'his passing the Defendant
and another in the street. Stipecting that Obey'
wanted to rob him, he ran for shelter into the. Piain--
tiff's' house, whitherthe-D2tendint'follov,'ed him.
He corroborated
,the other witness as tO the asault,
and addefl, that when the story wai related at Marl-
borough-street .Police-office, tite. Magistrate observ-
ed to the Defendant—" Why, von' must have been
drunk, surely." To which the Defendant: nodded
and bowed assent. •
Mr. JAUVIS addressed the Jury for the- D:lfetid-
ant.

Lord ELLI.sIBOROUGH sumn)ed up the evi7
dence, and c'u,k'rvvci' that e cast~ a wanton
ontragc Cotonntted b) the Defendaut on the person
of the Ivhtimiiiin his own dwelling. • It was a pure
goestioh of damages, of which the Jury were the
only judges.
Verdict for tlib Plaintd—Damages 201: