The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-16 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

ESSEX WAGGONERS.—Two Essex carmen were brought
up at the Thames Police-court on a charge of being asleep
in their waggons in the Bow-road. It seems that the men
come up to London three or four times a week, with hay,
straw, and vegetables, and work from two to seven
days' without getting any more sleep than they can
obtain in the carts or in the stables. They had been
attending the Whitechapel hay-market and said the
horses were sure to find their way home. However, the
magistrate told them they must not go to sleep while in
charge, and fined them eight shillings each.
A CASE FOR THE HUMANE SOCIETY. —A woman named
Esther Heale, fifty years of age, was fined 40s. for throw-
ing herself into the Regent's Canal. She was saved with
great difficulty by a man named William Darrell, who
stated that he had saved twenty lives within the last
twelve months.
THE SHAM INSURANCE COMPANY.—The charge against
William Henry White of having, in his capacity as a
director of the Manchester Insurance and Banking Com-
pany (Limited), unlawfully' published a false prospectus,
has been again under investigation at the Mansion House.
A number of witnesses who had been induced to insure in
the company were examined, and ultimately the defen-
dant was remanded.
SHEFFIELD TRADES' UNIONS.—Four Unionist colliers
have been charged at Sheffield with molesting and intimi-
dating five non-ilnionists. The non-Unionists were em-
ployed at Thorncliffe, and were passing throu Chapel-
town, when they were assailed by a mob of Unionists,
stoned, beaten, and otherwise ill-treated. Some of them
were unfit for work for some days. Two of the
prisoners were sentenced to three months' imprisonment,
and two to two months', the bench expressing their
opinion that the Thorncliffe reign of terror should be put
an end to.
CHARGE OF MURDER.—Thomas Warburton, labourer,
of Poynton, has been charged at Macclesfield with the
wilful murder of Daniel Eccles, collier at Poynton, on
the 18th ult. About five o'clock in the morning of that
day the prisoner took possession of an empty house in
German's-square, Poynton, and whilst standing behind a
window with a gun in his land, deliberately fired through
the window just as the deceased was passing on his way
to work. The marble with which the gun was charged
entered the poor fellow's back, and he lingered until the
sth of June, when his injuries terminated fatally. The
prisoner has been committed for trial.
THE COUNTESS OF DERWENTWATER.—The case in con-
nection with the non-payment of poor-rates by the so-
called Countess of Derwentwater, has been heard at the
Gateshead County Police Court. The defendant was not
present to answer to the summons requiring her to present
herself hefore their worships. The clerk stated that the
case arose out of the non-payment of certain rates
amounting to £4l3s. 9d. on a house in Blaydon, due
from Lady Amelia Matilda Mary Tudor Radcliffe.—
Mr. Ramsay : She is no lady.—The clerk stated that she
was so called in the rate-book, and they were bound to use
the names in the rate-book. —Mr. Ramsay said all the
magistrates could do was to give an order to seize her
" ladyship's" goods and chattels.—The clerk suggested
that Mr. Bennet could take a distress warrant, and if
she did not pay him, he could try to have her committed
in default.—An order was accordingly made.—Northern
Express.
CLAIM UrrDnit Arc ALLEGED INVALID MARRIAGE.—The
part heard cause of " Hill v. Hibbet " was continued
before Vice-Chancellor James. A sentleman of large
means was married, and there was issue by the marriage.
He deserted his first wife, and subsequently con-
tracted a bigamous marriage with a woman
who, as well as himself, soon afterwards died.
He died intestate, and the sister of the second
wife now claimed to be the heir-at-law, and entitled, con-
sequently, to the property, the value .of which amounted
to something like a quarter of a million sterling. An
enormous mass of evidence was produced • but the Vice-
Chancellor, in an elaborate judgment, held first mar-
riage to be valid, and the second bigamous, and discharged
the bill, with costs, which, it is supposed, will amount to
several thousand pounds.
THE ALLEGED LIBEL ON A POOR LAW GUARDIAN.—In
the Court of Common Pleas Mr. Serjeant Robinson
moved for a rule for a new trial in the case of Edmunds
v. Eyre, tried on Friday last before Mr. Justice Byles.
The grounds on which the application was made were,
that the verdict was against the evidence, and that there
was surprise. Dr. Edmunds was a guardian of
St. Pancras, and at the late election a pla-
card was published, charging that he had conspired
with the surgeon of the hospital to discharge uncured
paupers, in order that there might be empty beds in the
workhouse infirmary, and thus defeat a motion to erect a
new building. The jury found a verdict on Friday for
the defendant. The ground of surprise was abandoned,
and the court intimated that they would consult with Mr.
Justice Byles before deciding whether they would grant a
rule or not,

MR- D'ARCT IRVINE.—A commission de lunatico in-
quirendo to inquire into the state of mind of Henry Mervyn
D'Arcy Irvine has been held in Dublin. • Mr. Lefroy,
Q.C. appeared for the petitioners, Messrs. Francis
and 'John D'Arcy, brothers of the alleged lunatic,
who assumes the name, of Irvine by royal licence.
Medical evidence was called to shew that Mr.
Irvine was suffering from great mental excite-
ment, and that it was necessary to keep several attend-
ants constant with him. Major D'Arcy, brother of
the alleged lunatic, deposed that he had one son, Henry
Huntely Mervyn D'Arcy Irvine; who was his only child.
He would be seven years of age in August. Witness had
, been receiving his brother's rents as a receiver for the last
two years. His rental was £5,844 odd. He had besides
his castle gardens, saw-mills, &c., which were worth
£1,500 a year. He had also jewelleg, plate, and furni-
ture which were worth £50,000. The jury found that Mr.
Irvine was of unsound mind, and incapable of managing
his own affairs.
DEFRAUDING A CHARITABLE SOCIETY.—An accountant
named Banks, his assistant, and a solicitor named Law-
rence, have been charged at the Guildhall with conspiring
to defraud the Society for the Relief of Persons Impri-
soned for Small Debts. The prisoners, it seems
have been carrying on a system of taking
people through the Bankruptcy Court in forma
pauperis, for the purpose of bringing them on the funds
of the society, and then taking a considerable share
for themselves by way of commission. Another
charge was that they- created fictitious debts and got
the debtors arrested on them in 'order to bring them
within the jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court, and that
in order to carry out that purpose they suborned the
bankrupts to commit perjury. A, man named Hill, who
had been through the Bankruptcy Court with the assist-
ance of Banks, gave evidence that Banks told him of the
society and drew up a petition for him. He
arranged to give Banks £5 if he received £5O, and £lO if
he received £6O. He also promised to give him an
extra guinea. Mr. Hill received fifty pounds and gave
Banks five pounds, but Banks wanted the guinea, which
he refused. The next day he received a letter from Banks
saying that unless the guinea were at once paid he should
see Hill's creditors and explain the particulars of his arrest
and bankruptcy, and get the bankruptcy annulled, as ho
was not to be " humbugged " with impunity. After some
more evidence had been taken, the prisoners were re-
manded.

•
MR. DICKENS AS A PEDESTRIAN.—At one time of
his life Mr. Dickens was a great pedestrian. That he
was a great walker is borne witness to by much
that he wrote. In the wanderings of Little Nelly
and her grandfather, Mr. Dickens's own experiences
crop up. The Punch and Judy men, and the scene
in the inn, are manifestly photographs of people
the author had met and of places where he had been. The
same may be said of the account of David Copperfield's
journey on foot from London to Kent; and the inimitable
paper on " Tramps,". which-we are never tired of reading,
could have been written by no man who had not
had. opportunities of closely studying the begging
fraternity, their habits, and modes of expression.
Indeed, scattered through his works are scenes
and allusion's that bespeak the practice- of pedestrianism,
if not of humbler modes of travelling. It is hard to be-
lieve that the description of the journey in that night
wagon in " The Old Curiosity Shop," and the morning
picture, the.passengers, cheerless, cold, ugly, and discon-
tented; with-three nloriths'-irowth--of hair in' bile night,
was not a realistic sketch that grew out of Mr. Dickens's
own personal experience. —Bath and Cheltenham Gazette,