The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-13 00:00:00

ALLEGED NEWSPAPER LIBELS.

Two applications in reference to alleged newspaper
libels came on Wednesday before the Court of Queen's
Bench. Mr. Pope, Q.C., moved, in the case of
Clayton v. Harper, tried at the last Manchester
Assizes, before Mr. Baron Martin, for a rule for a new
trial on the ground that the damages of £l,OOO
given by the jury to the plaintiff were excessive. There
were two actions, one against the Huddersfield Chronicle
ind another against the Huddersfield Observer, but it was
agreed that the verdict in the first case should influence
the second. Accordingly, when the jury found damages
against Mr. Harper for £l,OOO, a verdict was also entered
for the plaintiff in the other case, but with only £lOO
damages, so that no complaint was made with regard to
the latter. The plaintiff was a member of the Board of
Guardians at Huddersfield, a vendor of newspapers, and
the keeper of a circulating library. A paragraph, written,
it must be admitted, in bad taste, and inserted in the
absence of the responsible editor,appeared in the Chronicle
charging the plaintiff withhaving been discovered withthe
nurse of the workhouse in a shed under circumstances
which left no doubt of his object. But there were
circumstances which went to shew that the state-
' fault in the newspaper was not a malicious
I invention, and that it had been the common talk of the
town. To justify such a large amount there should have
been evidence of malice or injury; but it was elicited that
the plaintiff's newspaper business had been actually
increased by the sale of the very newspapers
in which the libel complained of appeared.
Besides, the plaintiff's character was by no means clear.
The court granted the rule, but told the learned counsel
that he must expect the case to be dealt with as one in
which there ought to be substantial damages.
In the second case, Mr. Field, Q.C., applied, on
the part of Mr. Thomas Frear, for a rule nisi
Icalling upon Timothy Cheeseborough to shew cause why a
criminal information should not be filed against him. Mr.
Frear was clerk to the magistrates of Winterton, North
Lincolnshire, and in consequence of proceedings which he
had been obliged to take in his capacity as a solicitor,
' Cheeseborough had conceived a dislike to him, and
had annoyed him in various ways. Eventually he in-
! etructed a solicitor, of Hull to apply to the Winterton
magistrates for a summons charging Mr. Frear, their clerk,
with embezzling moneys, part of the fines inflicted at
petty sessions, which he received in his official
capacity. The magistrates, after examining Mr.
Frear's books, and going into the cases on which the
application was founded, refused to grant a summons.
Subsequently they refused a second application, and then
a letter, sent by Cheeseborough, appeared in the Eastern
?forning News, stating that an application had been made
for a summons against Mr. Frear, and arguing, from
c•bservations made by the magistrates and the course pur-
sued by the bench, that a stipendiarymagistrate was required.
Ur. Frear objected to the terms in which he was here
spoken of and desired to deny the charge on oath. The
Lord Chief Justice said that the letter attacked the magis-
trates only, and that this was not a case for a criminal
information. The applition was accordingly not per-
, sisted in.

The death is announced of Tenerami, the Italian
sculptor. He was 70 years of age. He was born at Torano,
and studied under Canova and Thorwaldsen.

MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF THREE CHILDREN.—
An investigation has been opened by the coroner for the
Isle of Wight, into the cause of the death of Frederick
William, Percy, and Kate Foster, three children of W. F.
Foster, Esq., surgeon, of Newport. It appears that the
whole of the children died within a day after they had
oeen seized, of tetanic spasms. Two medical men proved
that their deaths were caused by irritant poison, and a
post-mortem examination was ordered by the Secretary of
State. Pending a chemical analysis of the contents of the
stomachs the jury expressed a wish to hear further evi-
dence, and at the adjourned hearing it was shewn that
Mr. Foster's assistant had given the children cough mix-
tures, and that over the shelf containing the bottles which
he states he used there were bottles containing poison.
He does not, however, consider that he made any mis-
take.

AN INTERNATIONAL WRESTLING MATCH. -
krrangements are being made for a wrestling match of a
-2ovel and most interesting character. At the present
time certain French wrestlers are fulfilling an engagement
in connection with one of the London music-halls, and it
is proposed to pit two of them against Jameson and
Wright, the well-known North-country wrestlers, or
against Jameson and another to be selected hereafter. The
thallenge provides that there shall be four falls, two in
the French and two in the Cumberland and Westmoreland
style, that the stakes shall go to the man who gives the
last of the four falls, and shall be in value £5O a-side. As
the two styles are almost entirely different, the match,
which it is hoped will come off in about h.fortnight,
be exceptionally attractive. It maybe mentioned that the
French rules of wrestling are more assimilated to those in
furce in the West than in the North of England, and that
they stipulate for a fair back-fall, do not allow the hands
to be clasped, and forbid the use of the cross-buttock.

Nothing appears to have been heard at Chatham
of any intention of the Government to introduce
a measure removing the exemption of Govern-
ment property generally from local taxation ; and it
would seem that the reports of such intentions
rest only on the belief expressed by Sir Charles
Dilke, in addressing his constituents at Chelsea,
that Government intend to introduce such a bill
next session. It is not known that any pressure
has lately been put on Government to grant such
an act of justice to certain localities where there is
Government property. Chatham receives an an-
nual grant from Parliament towards the poor rates,
but if all the property of the State at Chatham
were subject to local rates, a much greater pay-
ment would have to be made from the Imperial
Exchequer. The people of Chatham, Rochester,
and Gillingham can but wish that the rumours are
well-founded•