The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-10 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE,

FRACAS AT A RAILWAY STATION.—Mr. Joseph Groome,
a builder, was re-examined at the Westminster Police_
court, charged with assaulting the Station Inspector at
the Sloane-square Station of the Metropolitan Railway.
Mr. W.D. Smyth defended. Th© evidence lox the coin,
plainant alleged that the defendant was drunk' at the
station and knocked a passenger down ; he was put out a
the station and returned, striking the inspector a deliber-
ate blow, cutting his nose severely. Mr. Smyth cross-
examined the witnesses at great length, and stated that
his client was a roan of position and respectability, but
had been grossly ill-treated by the Uailway officials, who
had trod on his toes, thrown him out of the gtation, and
smashed his hat ; if any blow was given by the prisoner
was a pure accident, given in a general scuffle ; a person
did fail down, but it was a friend of the defendant.
Witnesses &moil to these facts, and clearly proved that
the defendant was roanbly handled and jeered at by the
porter ; he was thrown Out with violence, and his hat
smashed. Mr. Arnold was of opinion that there was no
premeditation, and bound the defendant over in his own
recognisance to keep the peace : at the same time the in-
speotor was justified in removing the defendant, even if
the person he knocked down Were his friend.

A SNAPPER UP OF 13-NEONSII)ERED TRIFLES.—EIIen
Murphy, a stout well-fed Irishwoman, was brenght up on
remand before Mr. Paget, at the Thames Police-purt,
charged with being in the unlawful possession of a variety
of articles which had been stolen or unlawfully procured.
Mr. Paget said the prisoner was taken into custody a
few days ago by Sheppard, a detective of the H division,
and he would read from the police-sheet a list of articles
found upon her :—A piece of pork, a breast of mutton, a
piece of beef, a loin of veal, 2 potatoes, 2 odd boots, both
e w ; 3 herrings, a pig's foot, 3-apples, an orange, a lump
of hmon, a. piece of fur, and a child's frock, and a quan-
tity of Brazil nuts„ He called on the prisoner to give a
satisfactory account ,of bow she became possesed of the
artialo. The prisoner said that shp hqnght them for her
daughter's alai, who was going to America„ the linci of the
free.: Mr. Paget : You did not buy herrings for lie,cllild i
The prisoner Faith, I did for a relish. Air. Paget: .L\Ta,me
any place where you bought any of those things and I will
send the officer there to make inquiries as to the truth of
what you say. Prisoner : My memory is all gone entirely.
Mr. Paget ; I believe you stole those things, and I sen-
tence you to two ponths' imprisonment, with hard
Labour.

In the Divorce Court, before Lord Penzance, the pg,use.
of " Mirehouse V. Mirehouse ". was heard. Tt was a
wife's 'petition for a judicial separation, on the ground of
her husband's adultery. The 440nd did not deny the
allegation, but pleaded that his wife had also been guilty
of adultery. The case was a somewhat singular one, the
respondent having been a captain in the army, with an
income of £1,400 a year. After living two or three years
with the petitioner he married her. There were frequent
quarrels, and they ultimately separated, the husband
making an allowancp of £5OO a ye ix, with servants, &o.
Mrs. Mirehouse made the acquaintance of a gentleman
named Wallace, and the letters alleged to have
been written by her to him 7,yepp the principal
evidence of her guilt. One commenced "My
dear, dear, dearest Fred.," and at that time
Wallace was only 18 years of age.—Mrs. Mirehouse
was asked if she admitted the letters to be hers ; but for
a long time she would not make up her mind,
and then only said, They are such good
imitations, that I cannot swear to them not
being mine; but the expressions are not mine."—
Lord. Penzance said if she swore the letters were not hers,
she would be placed in a very serious position.—The wit-
ness then stated she would not swear they were not hers.
—Lord Penzance was glad of that, as if .the petitioner
had taken the other course, it would have been the duty
of someone to have brought her before another
tribunal.—The jury then found that both petitioners
bad committed adultery, and the judge dismissed the
petition.

DESTRUCTIVE FIRM AT MANCHESTER.--Yester-
day morning a fire broke out iu a chair manufactory be-
longing to Mr. Reilly, at Hulme, 04,e of the districts
round Manchester. The fire i•aged from six o'clock till
nearly ten o'clock, causing damage to the extent`: of
£lO,OOO. The building was formerly used as a cotton
mill, and was four storeys in height. A. large fire brigade
was engaged in attempting to extinguish the fire, and
worked for three hours, but the supply of water was in-
sufficient, and the works were completely gutted.