The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-26 00:00:00

t,. II

17. E INTELLIGENCE.
YIE CIRCUIT=-Croydon, August 25.
usinea of this Assize did riot terminate until late last
/rafter most. unexampled duration. The Court has been
occupied for thirteen days, nearly ten hours per day, and Lord
Chief Justice Tindal has disposed of upwards of a hundred
cases during that period.
PITCHER A. PARSER V. G. W. ROBERTS, ESQ.
This was an action brought by the plaintiff, who sued in forma
pauperis, against the defendant, a Magistrate for the County
of Surrey, to recover compensation from him for an alleged
false imprisonment.
The case possessed no other interest than this, that, through
some informality or legal technicality, the pauper was defeated
by the Magistrate—a matter of every day occurrence.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.

An old man, named John ChailesThorn, was charged
by his wife with having refused to maintain her, and
also with having offended against the law in other re-
spects. The examination was the third, and the follow-
ing account contains the substance of the three, on this
very odd case :

Mrs. Thorn, who appeared to.be a very mild but reso-
lute person, aged between 60 and 70 years, said that her
husband had cruelly refused her maintenance, and she
was therefore determined to bring him to justice. They
had been 35 years married, and had lived together in one
place for 20 years, and a better or kinder fellow never
breathed until he took to drink, and then he never stopped.
The LORD MAYOR—Do you mean that he never re-
frained from drinking ? Mrs. Thorn—l do, please your
Lordship. For 22 years he has never been once sober.
—(Laughter.)
Prisoner—Hollow, stay, stay. Please you, my Lord,
I never was so sorry for anything in my life as marrying
this here body. She to as the impudence to complain
now that I refuse to support her when she never brought
me a mag in her life ; and, besides, the moment we were
married, she began to run sich a rig that old Harry
himself, God bless us, c,mld'nt live with her, and how
could I ? Besides, she has a freehold that's quite
enough to keep the life in'her, and I have got nothing,
God bless me.

The LORD MAYOR—Is it not better for you to come
together again at your your advanced years ? . Mrs.
Thorn—No, no, my Lord ; I tried him long enough.
Besides, he has another wife, and he manages to maintain
her like a good 'un, for it was only the other day I went
in to look arter him, and I sees 'um both together a feed-
ing upon the tail of a salmon and some cucumbers and a
pot of half-and-half.

The LORD MAYOR—Do you mean to charge him se-
riously with bigamy ? Mrs. Thorn—Certainly I do,
and I'll stick to it. I've fount'', out all about it.
Prisoner—Tuts tut, where are the witnesses ? You
can't move a step without witnesses. Besides, if I did
marry another, I thought you was no more.—(Laughter.)
Mrs. Thorn—No, no, John, you knowed very well I
was alive. I a'nt dead yet.
Prisoner—No, Lord help me, I see now you ain't.—
(A laugh.) My Lord 'she's been to me the most tor-
menting wife as man ever was plagued with. Her tongue
is for ever on the move, so that no man could stand it a
minute without drinking the first thing that came to his
hand. However, if she ain't unreasonable, I'll make her
an allowance. I'll give her five bob a week.
Mrs. Thorn—No, no, I can't depend upon you, John,
I've got you here now, and I'll keep you. You must go
to the Bailey, John.—(A laugh.)
The LORD MAYOR—Pray is the second wife a young
woman ? Mrs. Thorn— No, she a'nt younger than me ;
but it's my belief he's got a young wife too.
On the second examination, Mrs Thorn said that her
witnesses would be ready in a couple of days, and she
was determined to give Sohn a taste of the Bailey, and
yesterday she again appeared.
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, Mrs. Thorn, have you come
to any arrangement with this old man ? Mrs. Thorn—
No my Lord, I'd much rather go on against him. I've
triad him long enough. Now I mean to have him for
the bigamy.
Thomas Wiggins, sexton at St. Mark's Church, Ken-
nington, deposed that he witnessed the man age of the
prisoner to Maria Fraser on the 12th of October, 1840.
William Easter, clerk of St. Mark's Church, also stated
that he witnessed the marriage. He produced a copy
from the register.
The Prisoner—But she must prove that she was mar-
ried to me herself. Where is the proof of that I'd be
glad to know ?
The LORD MAYOR—Why, you have spoken of her
all along as your wife.
Mrs. Thorn—Oh, I have the witnesses. One of them
is a clerk in the Bank, now on leave of absence, and
the other is a near relation of his own. I'll match him
with witnesses, I rather think. (A laugh.)
The Prisoner—Well I hope your Lordship will order
her to give me my watch and other property, besides 7/

of mine which she has. You 'ain't going to let her rob
me and try me at the Old Bailey too ? •
The LORD MAYOR—I shall not tell her to give up any
thing. You know you told her, when you married her,
that "with all your earthly goods you (lid her endow,"
and I shall not attempt to deprive her of them.
The prisoner—l know that, but I ain't the only one
that's gone astray about women. There's one thing I
can tell you. I'm heartily sorry I ever married her; i'or
she's been my plague now for 35 years.
Mrs. Thorn—Oh, then, I'll make you sorry that ever
you married any body else, John.—(Laughter.)
The prisoner was ordered to be brought, up again on
Thursday next, when he will be committed for trial.o
BA RTHOLOAIEW FAIR. —A deputation from the in-
habitants of Smithfield, all of whom, with the excep-
tion of three, who were not at home, signed the memo-
rial, came to the Justice-room to solicit the Lord Mayor's
attention to a very important subject.
Alderman WILSON, having sat for the Lord Mayor, read the
memorial alluded to, of which the following is an abstract
That the inhabitant householders of West Smithfield, sensi-
ble of the great injury which several of the neighbours had
suffered from the partial abatement of St. Bartholomew Fair,
which had been holden for several centuries, and was to be
holden pursuant to the directions of one or more of the Char-
ters belonging to the Corporation of the City of London, ex-
pressed their conviction that the attempt at the abatement or
discontinuance of it which t,ok place last year in no way les-
sened the inconvenience arising to the trade of the neighbour-
hood. That they also felt that as tke fair hung upon charters
which conveyed many privileges to the inhabitants of the City,
it would be wise to allow the fair to continue, subject to the
same arrangements as to the standing shows, 8:c. as existed in
1839, and to the same description of police regulations as were
at that period acted upon, and which conduced to lessen the
inconveniences the respective trades of the inhabitants were
suffering." The memorial concluded by praying " that the
fair should be regulated by the plan of 1839, or discontinued
altogether."
The gentlemen of the deputation assured Alderman Wilson
that the exclusion of the shows by the Markets' Committee
last year prevented respectable persons from attending the
fair, and that the only persons to be seen were idle boys and
thieves,so that tbehouses of the inhabitants were more in danger
of being plundered, and there was a more annoying interrup-
tion to business than ever. The standings were not filled up
on account of the absence of the respectable people, so that the
fair was a complete nuisance.
Alderman WILSON said he understood the deputation to mean
that the want of attraction prevented the decent people from
attending, and that those persons who did attend laid out no
money. He did not think the Lord Mayor could interfere,
but he would send this memorial to the Lord Mayor, who
will no doubt send it to the Markets' Committee, who will
deal with it according to their judgment.