The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-07 00:00:00

i

OCIETY FOR PROMOTING TWO
AM.ENDMENT OF THE LAW.
A meeting of ibis ..society was held yesterday a eir
ioms,•2l, Regent-streel;for
witting
nne new members, and of hearing a. communication
om Mr. Boyle, of the state of New York (advocate),
upon the law and practice of registering deeds and
instruments in the United States of America. The
attendance of members was very thin. Lord Brougham
presided.

The SECRETARY having read the minutes, the following
gentlemen, having been ballotted for, were admitted
members :—Messrs. Alexander Colvin, Edward Lawrence,
A. E. Cockburn, F. N. Walsh, Alexander Pulling, and
Peter Cator.

Mr. STEWART, Q.C., then read the report upon the
subject of registration of deeds in the United States.
The document, which was of a voluminous character,
described the great facility for registering legrl instru-
ments in the United States, and the economy with
which letters of administration and probates of wills
were obtained. The practice referred to was that
which prevailed in the State of New York, but the
law, with differences of detail, was the same in all the
states. In the State of New York there is a registrar
afikeleeds, who takes custody of the legal records to
1111111 ch the report referred, but where there is no
registrar of deeds, the state is divided into two counties,
each county having an officer, bound in sureties, who,
by virtue of his office, is the recording officer of that
county, and takes charge of all records, which may be
examined at his office without fee or reward. There is,
in addition, another officer in each county, called the
Surrogate, or Judge of Probate, who is empowered to
grant letters testamentary and administration of wills.
The registration of instruments affecting title to real
estate is constituted, by filing the instrument in the office
of the surrogate or clerk of the county in the county in
which the estate exists, or in the several counties sepa-
rately in which it may be situated, if there should be
several, that being done, the registration is completed
for all legal purposes. Parchment is seldom or never
used, and on receiving the paper, the clerk of the county
minutely examines it, and notes the day and even the
hour when it is received, after which he has it carefully
transcribed, and placed in the volume of public records.
The instruments entitled to be thus recorded are all
deeds and instruments conveying real estate, or creating
an interest in real estate for more than a year, or other-
wise charging real estate for more than a year with
effect to be valid against subsequent purchasers and
mortgagees, and those instruments are only valid from
the moment when they are, thus formally recorded. In-
struments affecting less than freehold require one sub-
scribing witness, but if more than freehold, two sub-
scribing witnesses, and in every case a subscribing
witness must appear before a judge of the Court of
Record, or other person properly qualified, such as a
commissioner of records, and prove that the party sign-
ing and sealing did so in his presence, and with the
purpose set forth in the instrument. The greatest care
is taken to secure the proper authentication and regis-
tration of such records, and any neglect of this is fatal
to the validity of the document. Judgments and devises
can by that record become liens for twenty years, and
then, if necessary, the lien can be renewed by scire facias.
The facility thus afforded of obtaining access to the
volume of records has proved of great advantage to the
public, and renders the expense of examining for records,
&c., comparatively trifling.
The report, which is very ably drawn, went at length
into the details of the law upon this subject, the above
being merely an outline of its leading features.
The report was received, but without any decision on
the part of the meeting either as to the approval or dis-
approval of the whole or any part of the details.
There having been no other business before the society
for that evening, the meeting adjourned to the first Wed-
nesday in February.

HIGHWAY ROBBERY AND AT-
TEMPTED MURDER.
A highway 'robbery, accompanied by very consider-
able violence, was committed in the neighbourhood of
Bristol on Monday night. It would seem that a young
man, named John Tucker, bad hired himself as servant
to a Mr. Watkins, who rents the rabbit warren and
farm belonging to Sir John Smith, Bart., in Leigh-
woods, and on Monday evening, as he was on his way to
his place, he happened to call in at a roadside beer-house
to have a little refreshment. There were several men
drinking there, and not being suspicious of anything
wrong, the young man incautiously pulled out his
money in their presence. Ile paid for his beer and pro-
ceeded on his way, when, at about half a mile from the
beer-house, one of the men whom he bad seen drinking
there overtook him. They proceeded some distance in
company, when, upon coming to a by part of the road,
the man jumped before him, seized hold of his hands,
and in a menacing tone demanded his money or his life.
At the same moment a second man came up, and poor
Tucker was knocked down and beaten. The man who had
demanded his money then began to plunder him, steal-
ing 19s. 6d. in money from his pockets, stripping him of
his wearing apparel, and robbing him of a bundle of
wearing apparel. Tucker struggled with them, and
cried out " Murder," upon which the fellows swore they
would kill him for snaking an alarm, and one of them
seized him by the throat and tried to strangle him. After
a time they ran off with their booty, leaving him upon
the ground in a state of exhaustion and alarm. As soon
as he came to himself he Rent back towards the beer-
house, and gave information of the injuries done him.
The police of. the Bedminster division immediately- went
in quest of the robbers, and in the course of the night
they apprehended two men, named James Flower and
Edward Milisins. Upon Millsins's person they found a
portion of the stolen property, and several articles were
likewise found in his house. The felloAs were taken
before the magistrates on the following morning (Tues-
day), when Tucker identified them and the property
found with Millsins. He swore pwsitively to Flower as
having been the man who followed him from the becr-
house and first attacked him, and to Milkins as having
aided and abetted him in the robbery. Evidence was
called to prove that the prisoners had been seen to follow
the prosecutor from the beer-house, and they were both
committed for trial.

THE MYSTERIOUS ROBBERY BY

A YOUNG FRENCHWOMAN.
Yesterday, at Winchester Sessions, Malvina Florentina
de Saumarez, described in the calendar as of 19 years of
age, and of superior education, was tried for having
stolen, at Farehans, on the 28th of October last, a ja-
panned cash-box, containing 135 sovereigns, 23 half-
sovereigns, a guinea, and other articles, the property of
Thomas Purkis.

The extraordinary nature of this robbery, and the
somewhat romantic circumstances attending it, of which
a full notice appeared in this journal about two months
since, created an intense interest in Hampshire, and
long before the case was called on every available seat
was occupied. A great number of ladies were in attend-
ance, and some belonging to the first families in the
country were on the bench. The fact of the prisoner
being a Frenchwoman had created considerable sympathy
on her behalf, so much so as to induce several benevolent
individuals to furnish the means of providing her with
counsel.

The prisoner, who was led into the dock, appeared to
have suffered much during her lengthened imprisonment.
She was respectably dressed, and wore a black veil, ap-
parently to conceal her features from the public, and
during the whole proceeding avoided observation as much
as possible.

The facts stated in evidence were to the same effect as
those deposed by to the witnesses during the examination
before the magistrates.
The CHAIRMAN (Sir W. Heathcete, Bart.), summed
up the evidence with great precision, and the jury, after
a short consultation, returned a verdict of Guilty.
The prosecutor recommended the prisoner to mercy.
The CHAIRMAN then said, notwithstanding the recom-
mendation to mercy, he could not discover any exte-
nuating circumstances in the case. He had seldom seen
cases where the advantages of education had been applied
to such deep-laid schemes of vice. The sentence of the
Court was, ten years' transportation.
The decision appeared to create extreme surprise, and
the prisoner fainted.

PUNCH'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.—Gentlemen,—
Brevity is the soul of Punch; he will not, therefore,
like Polk, write you a letter as long, but not so lively, as
a volume of " Sam Slick." Your thanks are due to your
national stars for the successful settlement of the Oregon
question. You will learn with regret that you are in a
decided fix. With a view to business you have marched
into Mexico; but you have no business there. You are
likely to meet with more drubbings than dollars. You
had better imitate a former king of France, with his
thirty thousand men, and march back again. If you do
not take care, you will involve yourself in a national
debt. You owe quite enough already; and I recommend
you to pay it as soon as possible. I advise you to repu-
diate—not indebtedness, but—slavery. Industry is more
profitable, and less hazardous, than annexation. The
saimdeerndatmioeen. t oGf
etuhtelelma weno, fI Lwyisnhc i
you
ous worthy ouirtehryryosfes,yslu n-
ur
session, and
a happy new year.—Punch.
OZThTellEexpLreOsNsDOtrNainANoDa
BRIGHTON MIRACULOUS
EXPRESSE S C
TA
BP
4E r
Monday morning reached London an hour and ten
minutes behind its time, owing to an accident opfroace
everyd
d e
alarming character. The train started from Brighton,
a
o butin and
hefirst
car immediately-
all
usual, ten
lriht as far
a s minutess t
Stoats
beforeat,s
Nest
st o clock,a'ti
n,
after it passed the station the passengers
viage, which was attached to the luggage-box, felt some,
thing give way, and almost at the same instant the
carriage sunk, but still kept on its course. The pas-
sengers were greatly alarmed, not knowing what was
sthtiell morematte alarmed r The . passengers in the third carriage were
on finding the wheels of that car-
riage protruding through the bottom. All of them had
the presence of mind to keep their seats, but in a
dreadful state of alarm. In a few moments they were
somewhat relieved by finding the pace gradually slacken,
till they came to a stand-still, and the whole of them got
out in safety. On examining the train, it was found
that the axle and the wheels were entirely gone from
the first carriage, which, when stopped, was off the line,
hut was still attached to the other carriages by the:,
coupling chains. • The second and third carriages wert,
off the line on the opposite side, and greatly damag.ed.
Mr. Rowland Hill, Mr. Peter Clarke (the maeagrJr of
the London and Brighton Railway), and Colonel, Lane
Fox, were in the train at the time.

SUDDEN DEATH OF THE COMPTROLLER.GENERAL
AT SOMERSET-110ITSE.—Last evening an inquest was
held before Wm. Carter. Esq., on the body of William
Furdige, Esq., the Comptroller at Somerset-how4e. It
last the
appeared by the evidence, that on Moniay week
deceased, who resided close by the Duke of Y,Jrk in the
Camberwell New-road, where the inquest vv." held, wasputting on his boots, when he became such:leely ill, an
fell from his chair and died. Verdict, qhat the de.
ceased died from natural causes."