The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-11 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

THE CHARGE OF SHOOTING AT CONSTABLES. —Leed-
ham, the man who is charged with having fired at three
police constables in the East-end a few nights ago, has
been committed for trial for shooting with intent to mur-
der or do grievous bodily harm.

SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST A SCHOOL GGVERNESS.—The
body of a newly-born child was discovered on Tuesday
concealed in one of ehe desks of the Bardsley School, near
Ashton-under-Lyne, and consequent upon information ob-
tained, the police arrested the governess of the school,
Ann Mercer, on a charge of concealment of birth. At the
direction of the coroner a post mortem examination of the
body was made by Dr. Gardner, who states that the child
might have lived for some time, but that it bore some
peculiar malformation which rendered it impossible for it
to have lived any length of time. The accused has been
committed for trial on the charge of concealment of birth.
THE RIVER Aim—An appeal has been heard in the
Court of Chancery from a decree of Vice Chancellor
James restraining the corporation of Leeds, the defendant
in the case, from opening any further communications
with the existing outfall into the river Aire, and from con-
tinuing the outpouring of the sewage into it
after a specified time. Their lordships, how-
ever, were of opinion that the order of the
Vice-Chancellor was right, and that the corporation had
no power to execute the works in question so as to create
a nuisance. The question of delay had been raised, but
the court held the simple fact of forbearing for a certain
time to interfere had not barred the right of the relators
to interfere, and was not such an amount of lathes as to
lead"the court to say that the evil ought not now to be
arrested. The conclusions of the Vice-Chancellor were,
in their lordships' opinions, right, and the decree would,
therefore, be affirmed.
CURIOUS CASE IN BANKRUPTCY.—An application was
made to the Chief Judge in Bankruptcy under the follow-
ing peculiar circumstances :—A Mr. Impey, builder, of
Bromley, Essex, bankrupt under the late Act, had been
last year sentenced by Mr. Commissioner Winslow to
two months' imprisonment, on the ground of having put
his creditors to unnecessary expense by vexatiously.de-
fending an action ; a warrant was issued, and placed
in the hands of the messenger of the Court, but the
bankrupt absconded, and his apprehension had never been
effected. Information had now been obtained of Mr.
Impey's return to this country, and the question was
whether, notwithstanding the change in the law, the
warrant was still in force. The Chief Judge directed a
formal application to be made notice of, which must be
given to the bankrupt.
FRAUDS ON A RAILWAY COMPANY.—Two labouring men
named Steele and Simmonds were indicted at the Central
Criminal Court for a conspiracy to defraud the London
and South-Western Railway Company. They were also
charged with obtaining money by false pretences under
circumstances that evidenced considerable ingenuity. Tie
prisoner Steele was the gauger of a number of men at
Hounslow, and substantially the offence with which he
was charged was that he placed in his list the names of
men who were not at work in his gang, and thus appro-
priated the pay that appeared to be due to these
supposititious persons. On inquiries being made the other
prisoner was brought forward, and he represented himself
to the paymaster as one of Steele's gang ; but this was
proved by the other labourers to be untrue. There was
also a charge against a Man named Henry Wood, the in-
spector of several gangs, including Steele's, but he had
absconded, and a warrant was out against him. They
were found guilty, and sentenced, Steele to six months',
and Simmonds to three months' hard labour.
THE PERSONAL LIABILITY OF CHURCHWARDENS.—AU
important case, as affecting the personal liability of
churchwardens for matters connected with their official
duties, came before the Court of Queen's Bench in the
form of an appeal from the judgment of a county
court , judge. The action was brought by a parish
registrar named Veley against the churchwardens
of his parish, to recover his fees and expenses
in attending the visitation of the archdeacon ; and the
churchwardens denied their personal liability, while at
the same time they pleaded that they had no fund arising
from church rates. The Court of Common Pleas and
Exchequer Chamber had held that a similar action was
maintainable, in so far as to the fees being recoverable;
and the question now before the court was whether the
wardens could be made to pay the amount out of
their own pockets, in the absence of Church-
rates. The Solicitor-General cited cases to shew that
corporations were held to be liable even where the special
fund chargeable did not exist. On the other hand, it was
denied that the services rendered were for the benefit of
the churchwardens. The counsel argued that the fees
were properly chargeable to the parish. The court held
that the liability was one affecting the parish, and not the
churchwardens individually. The decision was, therefore,
in favour of the defendants.

BEQUEST OF PROPERTY BY WILL.—In the Court of
Chancery, Sir R. Malins has deliVered judgment in a
matter respecting the bequest of property by will, upon
which various authorities have differed. A gentleman
executed a will, by which he bequeathed certain pro-
perty to his four children, with remainder to their issue.
He did not die fOr a considerable period, and he sur-
vived one of his children, who left one child,
the issue of a legitimate marriage. The question was
whether this child was barred from the benefit of his
mother's interest in the property in consequence of his
parent not surviving the testator. The Vice-Chancelhjr
held in the negative both on the principles of law and
equity, it being clear that the testator did not require that
the interest of the grandchildren should be dependent
upon the accidental circumstance of the whole of the chil-
dren surviving his death.

THE ASSIGNMENT OF CONTRACTS.—In the Lord Chan-
cellor's Court an appeal was •heard. against a deci-
sion of the Master of the Rolls, who a short time since in
a suit instituted by the official liquidator of the
Birmingham Banking Company, made Sir William
Foster, Bart., liable for the loss sustained
by the bank by reason of his neglect of a
notice , that the party with whom he had contracted
for the assignment of a lease had assigned the benefit of
the contract to the bank. The Lord Chancellor reversed
the decision of. Lord Romilly, on the ground that the case
involved an entirely new equity; in support of which there
was no recognised authority, and which it would be ex-
tremely inconvenient to establish.
SACRILEGE AT WIMBLEDON.—At Wandsworth, Frede-
rick Smith, aged eighteen, and Thomas Street, aged seven-
teen, were brought up on remand, charged with being in
the unlawful possession of sixty-five crossed cheques,
which hid been stolen from Christchurch, Ridgway.,
Wimbledon. The coristable went to Christchurch, and
found. the wirework removed from a window,
the franie bent, -and a pane of glass broken.
On examining the • interior of the church he
found a bottle of wine by the door, a cup-
board in the vestry forced open, a robe on the ground
and the contribution boxes removed, one of which had
been forced open. The cheques belonged to the trustees
of the church, and had all been paid. The prisoners de-
clared that they were innocent of the robbery at the
church. Mr. Dayman said they had not given a satis-
factory account of the possession of the cheques. He
committed them to prison for two months with hard
labour.

SERIOUS IMPLICATIONS AT AN INQUEST.-At an inquest
held at Stepney respecting the death of . Mrs. Sarah
Tuson, aged 25, some serious revelations were made. The
deceased was a performer at the Alhambra Music Hall,
Shoreditch, where she appeared under the name of "Miss
George." She had had two children' and told her husband she
would have had a third, but shewent to a doctor at Greenwich,,
who has since been sentenced to fifteen years' penal
servitude for his mal-practices. A few weeks afterwards
she told a witness that she was going to a man in the City-
road, who would help her to get rid of her child; as she
wanted to play Mazeppa at the music halls, and
in that part she had to throw herself upon
the stage down a stone staircase. She went pa
the house of a retired medical practitioner, named
Harding, in Windsor-terrace, City-road, and on her return
home she was taken ill, and died in great agony. Hard-
ing is now in custody on a charge of being concerned in
causing the woman's death. The coroner said that he had
himself knowledge of a fact which, if it could be estab-
lished by legal evidence, would be of great importance.
It did not bear so much against Harding as against other
persons. The inquiry was adjourned in order that further
investigation might be made.

• The diamond known as the " Star of South
Africa," the consignment of which from the Cape of Good
Hope to Messrs. Mosenthal and Co. was reported in July
last, having been cut, has proved a matchless stone, of
most resplendent quality, of about 186 grains weight. It
is understood to have been sold on behalf of the con-
signees by the brokers, Messrs. Ochs 'Brothers, of London
and Paris, to a jeweller in London.

The sixteenth anniversary of the openinc, of the
Crystal Palace has just passed away. During the sixteen
years it has been open it has been visited by 24,655,712
persons. The last great Flower show (with display of
table decorations, &c.,) takes place to-day (Saturday).
The show will be an unusually fine one. The full band
(4 the Coldstream Guards will attend and co-operate with
the orchestral band of the company.

According to the Liberte, a bootmaker has just in-
vented a boot with small wheels, which will enable any
one to go as rapidly as a horse, with the facility of stop-
ping at a moment's notice. What is this, however, but
skating on wheels, which we have all seen at the Crystal
Palace or elsewhere ? It is a curious and no doubt plea-
sent recreative mode of locomotion, or velocipedestrianism
but can it be made suitable to roads ? That is the ques-
tion.

The Church Review says that on Friday, the 17th
inst., the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council will
resume their sittings, and the case " Elphinstone v.
Purchas " will be mentioned for a new promoter. The
appeal of the Rev. Mr. Voysey from the Chancery Court
of York, is pending, but there seems to be no likelihood
of its being heard during the next sitting, as the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury is not expected to attend, and the
Privy Councillors .on the Episcopal Bench cannot take
part in the proceedings.

The Civilian states that a committee is now sitting
to consider the means by which the junior clerks in the Ad-
miralty may be compensated for their scant prospects of
promotion, owing to the reduction of the senior classes.
An entirely original scheme—something quite new to the
service—is likely to be the result. The reforms in the
Customs' department are also beginning to assume defi-
nite shape, and considerable reductions in numbers and
salaries will shortly be effected in the " Supplementary
Establishment" of the,Treasury.