The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-10 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

SHOOTING A YOUNG WOMAN.—A young man named
Walter Bliss has been committed for trial at Lambeth,
for firing a pistol at a young woman named Emily
Bachelor. It was the old story of a lover's quarrel, but
fortunately the young woman escaped unhurt.
A BAKER'S WEIGHTS.—The vexed question of how to
sell bread has been discussed in the Bail Court, when it
was decided that a baker must not only sell his bread by
weight, but that the act of weighing must be
at the time it was sold, not when it is
made. The appellant, a baker of Daventry, who
had been convicted of selling loaves of different weight,
was in the habit of weighing the dough and making allow-
ance for evaporation, and other reducing influences.

THE NATIONAL BANK AND THE LUNDY GRANITE COM-
PANY.—The Master of the Rolls had before him a claim of
upwards of £16,000 on the part of the National Bank
against the Lundy Granite Company (now in course of
liquidation) in respeet of loans for the purpose of carrying
on the business of the company. The claim was resisted
on behalf of the official liquidator ; first, on the ground
that the directors had no authority to borrow the money ;
and secondly, on the ground that the money was not ex-
pended for the purposes of the company. Lord Romilly
allowed the claim.

OBTAINING GOODS BY FALSE PRETENCES.-At the
Central Criminal Court, Joseph James Rusk Rumbelow,
32, Cornelius Edwards, 38, described as painters, and
Henrietta Edwards, the wife of the last-named prisoner,
were indicted for unlawfully conspiring together to obtain
goods by false pretences. It was alleged that the prisoners
had pretended to carry on business at Notting-hill and
elsewhere, and had thus succeeded in defrauding a number
of persons of goods of various kinds, which were imme-
diately turned into cash. The male prisoners were
convicted and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment
each. The female prisoner was acquitted.

INJURING TELEGRAPHS.—Three men named Stead,
Hudson, and Lancaster, have been charged at Thirsk
Petty Sessions, with willfully breaking ten telegraph
insulators on the line between Thirsk and South Kilving-
ton. Another man charged with the same offence
had absconded. The four had been drinking
together in various public houses, and then went along
the road to Thirsk. The identity of one of them was
clearly proved, and he was fined 20s. and 30s. 6d. costs.
The others were dismissed with a caution. At Notting-
ham two boys aged fourteen and twelve were fined les.
each for throwing stones at insulators on the posts near
the Trent Bridge.

WATERTON'S BANKRUPTCY.—In the matter of the bank-
ruptcy of Edmund Waterton, of Walton Hall,
Wakefield, son of the late distinguished naturalist, the
public examination was fixed to be heard before the chief
judge. Mr. Bagley applied on behalf of the trustee for
an adjournment, on the ground that certain requisitions,
which had bean served upon the bankrupt with the view
of ascertaining the disposition of the income arising from
the estate in Yorkshire, had not been satisfactorily
answered. The bankrupt's unsecured debts amounted to
£9,418, the secured debts to £14,099, the only assets being
furniture at Walton Hall and Ostend, valued at £3OO ;
the Walton estate was mortgaged up to the hilt, and a
suit for foreclosure was pending in the Court of Chancery.
Mr. Heed said the bankrupt made no opposition to
the application. The judge ordered an adjournment to
the 7th July.

THE VENEZUELAN LAW.—In the Rolls Court, Lord
Romilly gave judgment in a cause which arose under the
following circumstances :—Two gentlemen, who were
relatives, possessed a large interest in a mine at Venezuela.
They died, and bequeathed their property in different
ways. Subsequently the mine was sold to a railway com-
pany for .275,000, but after the death of the
testators a deed was found under very peculiar
circumstances in London, which set aside the
devise of the wills and gave the property to the plaintiff.
The question was whether the Venezuelan law took effect,
and the plaintiff was thereby precluded from assert-
ing his right. His lordship was of opinion that the Vene-
zuelan law ought not to interfere with the deed, which
must overrule the original devise accoi ding to the princi-
ples of English law. A division of the property must, con-
sequently, take place in the way indicated by the deed.

CHARGE OF ASSAIILT.-At the Clerkenwell Police-court
John Woodes was charged with being drunk and assault-
ing Mr. Richard Stannard. On Wednesday night,
about twelve o'clock, Mr. Stannard, who is a solicitor's
managing clerk, was walking in the Holloway-road wi th
his wife and daughter, having been to St. James's Hall,
when the defendant and another man, who were both
drunk, rolled up towards them. He put his
hand out to prevent the defendant from falling
against his daughter, and the defendant aimed a blow at
his head, kicked him, knocked his hat off, and kicked it
about the road. The defendant said that Mr. Stannard
took hold of his wife, as he thought at the time. to insult
her, but he now thought differently. He called his sister-
in-law, who swore that Mr. Stannard pulled the defen-
dant's wife's shawl. Mr. Cooke said he believed the
sister-in-law had committed wilful perjury, and ordered
the defendant to pay a fine of 23, or in default to be im-
prisoned for six weeks.

BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE.—An action, in
which judgment was allowed to go by default by the
Court of Exchequer—" Huet v. Duke "—was heard before
Mr. Under-Sheriff Burchell and a jury, at the Sheriff's
Court. The damages were laid at £l,OOO. The plaintiff
was Annie Huet, a young woman of about
26, and defendant was a young man, who had
been manager to Messrs. Spence, Turner and Co.,
draper, Lisson-grove. The evidence went to show that
the parties became acquainted in 1861. The marriage was
fixed for December last. Dresses were provided, and on
the 13th December he wrote to the plaintiff to break off
the engagement, and in three days afterwards he was
married to a widow who lived at Camden Villas, Ealing.
Mr. Lewis remarked that he had married a widow with
lots of children. The witness who was under examination,
the plaintiff's brother-in-law, replied, " And lots of money."
Mr. Talfourd Salter submitted that it was a case for
fair damages, after an engagement of nine years. Mr.
Lewis said it was happiness in some cases to break
a promise of marriage. - In this case there was
only poverty before the parties if they had married. It
was a case for very small damages. The jury assessed the
damages at £2OO.

DISTRESSING CASE.-At the Central Criminal Court,
Ellen Wallis, 27, widow, was charged with feloniously
attempting to drown John Chapman. There was a
second indictment which charged the prisoner with at-
trmpting to droIN n Jane Chapman. This was a case of a
very distressing nature. It appeared that the prisoner
had cohabited with a man named John Chapman for
several years, and she had two children by him. He had
recently expressed his intention to separate from her, and
this had caused her a good deal of excitement. On the
day mentioned in the indictment they happened
to meet upon Blackwall Pier, the man Chapman
having one of the children with him, and the prisoner
the other. She became very much excited, and expressed
her intention to drown herself with the children, and,
according to the prisoner's statement, he taunted her, and
said, "Do it, do it." Chapman positively denied having
made use of this expression, but the prisoner declared
that he did so, and a witness was called by the prisoner,
who said that she distinctly heard Chapman say to the
prisoner, "Do it, do it." The prisoner then
appeared to have jumped into the river from
the pier head, the water at this place being twelve feet
deep, with the two children, and it was with great diffi-
culty- that they were saved. The prisoner had been drink-
ing at the time the occurrence took place, The jury, in
the course of the case, expressed their opinion that the
conduct of Chapman had been most disgraceful. Mr.
Justice Blackburn said he concurred with the jury in this
opinion ; but this was not the question they had to decide
which was whether the prisoner at the time she jumped
into the water really intended to destroy the lives of
her children, or whether she was in such a state of frenzy
and excitement as not to know what she was doing.—
The jury, after a short deliberation, returned a verdict of
not guilty. The second indictment, which charged the
prisoner with attempting to murder the other child, Jane
Chapman, was not proceeded with. The. prisoner had
pleaded guilty to the charge of endeavouring to destroy
her own life, and for this offence she was sentenced to six
months' imprisonment.

SUSPECTED INCENDIARISM.— On Tuesday evening con-
siderable alarm was created in Hammersmith by the dis-
covery that the residence of Mr. H. R. Capes, Ravens-
court Park, was on fire. A number of persons were
early on the spot. and by their efforts and those of the Fire
Brigade and the Salvage Corps, who were very promptly
on the scene, the fire, notwithstanding the deficient
supply of water, was soon got under. It was observed,
however, by those who were first to arrive, that the
fire was issuing simpltaneously from all the rooms in the
house, and there were other strange circumstances which
induced the police at once to arrest a servant who had
been left in charge of the house on suspicion of having
wilfully set fire to it, and on Wednesday she was brought
up at the Wandsworth Police-court, before Mr. Ingham,
charged with the offence. The name of the accused is
Sarah Ann Nash, la Several witnesses were examined,
from whose evidence it appeared that on Tuesday evening
last the prisoner was left in charge of the house, her
mistress having gone to the Horse Show, and
late in the evening joined her hmsband at a
dinner party. They returned home about twelve
o'clock at night, and found the house in charge
of the firemen and the police. The furniture in the dres-
sing-room was entirely destroyed, and the beds and furni-
ture in the other rooms were seriously damaged. On open-
ing the wardrobe the prosecutor found that there had
been a fire within it, and that the drawers were empty,
A further search was made, and a large quantity of wear-
ing apparel was missed, and between £3O and £4O in gold
and bank notes, and some jewellery. The fire was disco-
vered about six o'clock in the evening, when smoke was
seen issuing from all the rooms. A bundle, together with
some pictures, and other property, was also found in the
garden. The bundle was opened, and it had in it the
missing jewellery and bank notes. When Mr. and Mrs.
Capes arrived the prisoner was under the charge of Detec-
tive Blake, wb.o, having noticed that the bundle in the
garden was tightly fastened, asked the prisoner if she had
tied it. She replied, "No." She was pressed further a 7
to whether it had been tied by a woman, and she said it
had been tied by a man, who had been with her for in
hour and a half. She said she had no money, but on
being searched £3 10s. in gold and 7s. in silver as well as
her mistress's thimble, were found in her pocket. It ap-
peared that the prisoner was under notice to leave her
situation on Monday next, and that she had told her
mistress she was about to be married. Mr. Ingham, at
the request of the inspector, granted a remand.