The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-13 00:00:00

AN ATTEMPT AT MURDER.

On Friday last a foul attempt was made by a man to
murder his wife, at Swinton, a parish adjoining the
town of Nottingham. The event occurred about half-
past seven o'clock in the evening, in a secluded part of
the road called " True Lovers'-walk," leading from
Swinton Church to the Hermitage. The parties, Jacob
Parrott, a dyer, aged 28, and Elizabeth, his wife, have
been married four years, but owing to her inconstant
habits, the man has led a very unhappy and miserable
life. Soon after marriage she began to form illicit con-
nexions, and she has absconded three several times with
three different married men. On the last occasion she
was away with a man for nearly four months, and only
vhheeefyormidable wound on
returned to her mother's house in Milk-street, Notting-
,oubtutwbaelkininggto
ham, a week or ten days ago. Parrott wishing to avoid
coming in contact with his wife as much as possible, on
pas-
sionately attached to her, he came back again on Thurs-
daythey were in
hearing of her return went out ofstwtaoetweredu
drew a razor from
Being a strong, resolute
weapon with her ri h
t:rheirset
True
elee t.et
Ln
sioni
DocketvdAgee.
Lovers'-walk,
saoa, n-fntwdhahaeo
lenkrt, Fridayinalweinflictedechkea.r
be
oat
g r
hand ; and, though she seriously cut her hand and
fingers, she succeeded in wresting it from him before he
could make a second attempt. A violent struggle must
woman, she seized the deadly
have taken place between them, as her straw bonnet was
very much crushed and broken, and her dress extremely
dirty, as though she had been upon the ground. The
paroxysm of jealous fury seems to have given way after
al, Nottin hheapmo, f
the deed had been done, to a relenting tone of mind, as
ani
the wretched m assisted
the his
s wife a distance of nearly
a
Mr. Edward Cox,
druggist,
followed by several
persons, who were attracted by her appearsece, as her
neck, bosom, and upper part of her dress were saturated
quarter Ffiswith blood, and she carried an open razor in her hand.
On entering the shop, Mr. Cox's assistant, not being
aware of the circumstances, desired the man to run to
haerin-
gte g
Mr. Wright's surgery; but the people collected at the
door detained him, and ascertaining there had been foul
play, handed him over to Police-constable Dunstan, who
conveyed him to the county police-station. The woman
was placed in a hackney-coach, taken to her mother's, in
Milk-street, and from thence to the General Hospital.
The wound in her neck, though frightful and danger-
'us,will not, it is believed, proved fatal. On Saturday
, Parrott was taken before Thomas Nixon, F. Hart, and
R. N. Legard, E:,c15.9 at the County Hall, when he was
remanded for further examination.

'TOOTH .
uasneedi
Koss and Sons,a finding
gg
eachvisited
es en vale
THE UNITED l/ENTISTS
from the inventors,
ral first. rate surgeon. dentists,
immediately
mending some peculiar no.t.truiNen,i,idl.ttr.eemyovheavtehecomtabruitneaeeil
strengthen ga
nthde
cnntrhee
tgnuem s,
these together with
convincedoterngtrbeatiettbnesykbnaovwenproondly to
themselves, and are
a perfect tooth powder.
entirely
s t rpereet.,
Captain Hewitt, belonging
after leaving tie sick room prevert infection.—Address,
y....--Yesterday afternoon
She had on board 140
tooth Purify
ache,t h e breath,
and i f
Roqs and Sons, 119, and 120, Bithopsgate
London.
bouT the
HAN/Frost, StiNDA.
magnificent and stuptndous steam-ship Washington.
to the Ocean Steam Naviga
Lion Company, New York, left our river for that port.
yesterday
to Friday night), and nearly 500 tons of merchandise
principally manufactured silks, muslins, &c., for tb,.
passengers; the mails (made up
United States market. A greater portion was imported
passengers were also from France. This afternoon,
from Havre to Southampton, and a great number of her
prised t •the river, end on pro
but the o see her steaming up
seeding on board • the cause of her unex-
however, at half-past three o'clock, we were much sur
to ascertain
pected re appearance, found before the pilot left her
to be similar to the anthracite of the United State•,
clinkered sod burned out one set of grate bars. A trial
is ex that the coal being anthracite, and supposed
trial proved unsatisfactory,
was made by burning antracite and bitumenous together.
the fire continued to
Pected it will
burn the bars. Under these circumstances it was deemed
prudent not to proceed on the voyage, and the ship
arrived at Southamton as before stated, to get rid of
of recording the death of Mrs.
the anthracite and take a suppl 3 of the other coal. It
this.
The Washininon is advertised to leave New York
for England on the 15th of August, but previous to her
leaving v
after. many
—sw York, it is intended to alter her machinery.
take at least two days to accomplish
We •
sincerely regret to have the tnelancholy duty
(Lliiiiillan, Esq., and only daughter of the venerable Poet
Laureate
the Quillinan, wife of Edward
Wordsworth. She expired at P.ydal Mount,
Poet's resulence, at one o'clock on Friday morning,
as winter.
lion. At
r• and Mrs. Quillinan had bren in Portugal last
weeks' suffering from pulmonary consump-
rar, and it was hoped that she had quite recovered her
health, but she never rallied from the effects of a cold
eau ;ht in a short journey in the north incautiously made
b the other d,
and ITl'
.3e:e many have seen, and so many more have thought of,
Rydal Mount, that happy retirement which
Ihusnbow the abode of bereaved parents and a bereaved
sorrowing over the loss of one of the brightest
~,,,i kindliest spirits that ever gladdened a home.
. ki• oamous GROWTH OF POTATOES.—Mr. Smith,
root,the gardener at Brodsworth Sall, took up one potato.
er of one hundred and eighteen full-grown potatoes
i which had the extraordinary num-
attached. We are
__happy to learn that the sample Was
entirely free from cuesse.....Donccutfr Chronicle.
•

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
OXFORD ClRCUlT.—Abingdon, July 10.
CIVIL SlDE.—(Before Mr. Justice COLLRIDGE and
a Special Jury.)
SMITH V. SC:)TT AND OTHERS.

Mr. Whateley and Mr. Phipsori appeared for the
plaintiff; Mr. Godson and Mr, Maynard for the de-
fendant.

This was an action against the prooprietors of the
Morning Advertiser newspaper, for a libel contained in a
report of proceedings at the Judges' chamuers, before
Mr. Justice Erie and Mr. Justice Cresswell respectively,
on application by the plaintiff to get released trom cus-
tody by virtue of his discharge and certificate under the
bankruptcy laws. The defendants pleaded only "Not
Guilty," aid the principal question in the cause was,
whether the report was not a fair and correct account of
what took place.
It appeared that the plaintiff was formerly a barrister
on the South Wales circuit; that he, about the year
1836, originated some waterworks in Glamorganshire,
and subsequently started the Swansea Journal, and
afterwards, having become involved to the extent of
upwards of 20,0001., had a fiat in bankruptcy struck
against him in the Bristol District Court, passed his
examinations, and was discharged and granted a
certificate by the commissioner. Being afterwards
taken into custody by some of his creditors, who had
not proved at Bristol, he applied at the Judges' cham-
bers in London for his release by virtue of his certi-
ficate—first to Mr. Justice Erie, and subsequently to Mr.
Justice Cresswell. These applications were resisted.
on the ground that he had lost more than 201. in one
day by gaming since he had become a trader, this alle-
gation, of course, being supported by a sufficient number
of affidavits ; and on this ground, under a provision of
the bankrupt laws, that where a trader shall have lost
more than 20/. in one day, or 2001. in one yetis, by
gaming, his certificate shall not be a protection to him,
the plaintiff's applications were refused, and he was re-
mitted to custody. All these facts the report in question
set forth, and so far the plaintiff did not complain ; but
the reporter, under a misapprehension as to the state of
the law with regard to what a bankrupt should swear
before getting his certificate, added that the plaintiff in
his examination at Bristol denied that he had ever lost
more than 201. in oue day by gambling ; and, further,
in his statement of the argument of Mr. Thomas Chitty,
the well. known special pleader, in opposing the plaintiff's
application, described that gentleman as contending that
the plaintiff had obtained his release by misrepresenta-
tioe, whereas, in fact, the plaintiff had no occasion to
make such a denial in his examination at Bristol, and
Mr. Chitty had confined himself to urging that the loss
of more than 201. by gambling in one day made the
certificate void, and did not at all allude to the examina-
tion at Bristol. The plaintiff's counsel, in stating the
case, expre-sed his readiness to take a verdict for
such damages as would carry costs, if the defendants
would even now consent to apologise, and state that
they were in error in representing the plaintiff to have
denied that he ever lost more than 201. by gambling in
one day ; but this the defendants' counsel declined to do,
saying that the report was a correct one, and therefore
the defendants should not be punished in costs for its
publication.
On the part of the plaintiff it was admitted that he
had gambled largely before he became a trader, and the
gravamen of the libel was that he should have been re-
presented as having denied that he ever gambled, whereas
what he denied (not at Bristol but at the Judges' cham-
bers) was, that he gambled since he had become a trader.
It appeared that by the bankruptcy laws the plaintiff
should have made an oath that he obtained his certificate
by fair means, and that the certificate should set forth
that he had conformed, in all respects, to the bankrupt
laws; but the form of each oath etas so vaguely framed,
that on a careless reading of it the deponent would seem
to swear that he had conformed in all respects to those
laws, whereas, he merely swore that he by fair means
obtained a certificate that he bad conformed in all re-
spects to those laws; indeed, so apt was the frame of the
oath to lead an unlearned layman to the former conclu-
sion, that a quarter of an hour was consumed to day by
the Learned Counsel on both sides, and the Court, be-
fore the counsel for the defendant appeared satisfied
with, or rather ceased to contend against, the version
which we, in accordance with the decision of the Court,
have given as the orthodox one. It appeared in the
course of the case that the defendant's liabilities were
between 25,000/. and 26,000/., and that there were no
assets in hand. _ _

Mr. GODSON addressed the jury on behalf of the de-
fendants, contending that the report was a fair and cor-
rect one; that when a reporter was compressing into a
reasonably readable compass the substance of what
occupied for several days the attention of judges at
chambers, where no regular course of proceedings was
pursued, but every one interrupted everybody else, and
all was scrambling and confusion, no other errors could
be sought to be established against him—that from
the nature of the discussions which were proved to have
taken place, the very statements reported in the de-
fendants' paper must have been made on the part of
those who opposed the plaintiff's application for his dis-
charge; and that even if an error had been accidentally
committed, the plaintiff was not a chat acter who could
possibly be entitled to more than half a farthing da-
mages.
His LoRDsuIP, in summing up, told the jury that if
they thought the report in queution a correct account of
proceedings in a court of justice, then they should find
for the defendant's; but if they were of opinion that,
though not correct, yet it was a fair, bond fide, and well-
intentioned statement of what occurred, they should give
the defendants the benefit of this impression, by limiting
the amount of the damages to which they should think
the plaintiff entitled.
The jury, after a few minutes' consideration, gave a
verdict for 40, damages; and an observation having been
subsequently. made at the bar as to costs, it being for a
moment doubted by somebody whether an action for
libel was not within the jurisdiction of the county courts,
the jury said that they intended to secure the plaintiff
his costs.