The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-23 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, DEC. 21.

(Sittings in London at Nisi Prius before the LORD CHIEF
JUSTICE, and a Special Jury.)
SOANE V. CRAWFORD AND CO.

This was an action to recover 1,600/., the amount
of a policy of insurance effected with the defendant,
Mr. Crawford, the Member for the City, by the
plaintiff, who is agent to an Oporto Brazil merchant,
of the name of Silva, on a vessel called the Castro
Vimeiro. The underwriters refusing to pay the in-
surance, on the ground that it was not a bona fide
one, this action was brought.
The captain of the Castro Vinziero, a Portuguese,
said the vessel made a successful voyage to Pernam-
buco, and, on the sth of February, he wrote a letter
stating this, and likewise informing him of his inten-
tion to load with a homeward bound cargo of sugar,
cotton, &c., to the amount of 5,000/. The vessel
sailed on the sth of March, and arrived on the 19th
of April off Villa Conde, about eighteen miles from
Oporto. On the 20th he arrived off the bar of
Oporto. At seven o'clock of the morning of the
21st. the vessel tried to pa's the bar, but struck
on a sand bank, and lost her helm; the vessel then
sunk ; the crew escaped. The vessel had leaked
on the 11th of April, and the men continued pump-
ing till she sunk. He had obtained assistance from
a pilot-boat and a fishing-boat, and expected to go
over the bar. When off Oporto he sent letters to
the owner of the vessel, M. Silva, informing him of
the leak, ►he bad weather he had experienced, and
requesting assistance. Witness sent no letter by
the fishing-boat which came to them when off Villa
Conde.
The steward and some of the seamen corroborated
this, and deposed that the swell of the sea and
the very bad weather prevented them getting over
the bar.

The defence was, that on the morning of the 19th
the owner had a letter from the Captain informing
him of the distress of the vessel, and that he then
wrote a letter :to his agent (the plaintiff) to insure
the vessel.

A fisherman who went with his boat to the ship
when off Villa Conde on the 19th of April received
three letters from the Captain, which he delivered
to M. Silva, at Oporto, on the same afternoon, at
the same time informing him that the pumps were
at work in the ship, and that she was in danger.
Another fisherman whom the Captain took on
board saw no letters sent except by the fisherman.
He sent none by the pilot•boat.
Other witnesses proved that the morning of the
20th was fine, and that the weather could not have
hurt the ship.
Fut ther evidence was about to be called, showing
that directions were given for insuring the ship after
notice of the distressed condition had been given by
the Captain, and not before; when—
Mr. Sergeant TADDY agreed to take a nonsuit,
which was accordingly entered.—The case lasted
till eight o'clock.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER, DEC. 21.

RIXON V. DUNN AND OTIIERS.

This was an action by the plaintiff, the owner of
the brig Briton, to recover 4741. damages for the
injury done to his vessel by the fouling of the de-
fendant's vessel. On the 16th of February the
Briton left the river for Stockton. On the 18th
the vessel was off the Dudgeon, on the coast of
Norfolk; about seven in the evening the defendants'
vessel, the Allowhouse, was seen coming in the
track of the Briton. The Allowhouse continued her
course without altering her tack, and came into col-
lision with the Briton, carrying away the bulwark
and sweeping the deck. The Allowhouse went
down, but the Briton did not.

The Jury found for the plaintiff—Damages 4741•

PREROGATIVE COURT, DEC. 21.

IMPORTANT JUDGMENT.-BEQUEST OF TEN TIIOU-

SAND POUNDS TO THE BLIND ASYLUM.
BOSANQUET V. GOREN.

This was a suit for trying the validity of the last
codicil to the will of the late Mrs. Swamis!' Curtis,
wbo died worth 15,000/. The deceased gave at first
100/. to the Asylum for the Indigent Blind; but,
having gone over it, and seen the blind children at
work, and having, as she stated, experienced as much
attention and respect as if she had been a duchess
she executed a will leaving about 10,0001. to the
Asylum. On the 27th of October last, however,
a codicil was prepared by Mr. Goren, her solicitor,
by which she gave 3,0011/. to him, R 3 one of her ex-
ecutors, and 3,0001. to Mr. Green, an old friend, the
other executor. The codicil was opposed by the
Treasurer of the Blind School, on the ground that
the deceased, when she signed it, was not fully aware
of its purport, being then extremely ill, and dying a
few days afterwards, at the age of about 58 years.
Sir J. NICIIOLL must pronounce against the last
codicil, and in favour of the will giving 10,000/. to the
Asylum, but without costs, all of which should be
paid out of the estate.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT —Kr.vosro.v, DEC. 21.

HIGHWAY ROBBERY.—James Tilling and William
King were indicted for robbing W. J. Sharp on the
highway. The prosecutor, on the evening of the
19th of June last, left Cuckfield with his wife and
child, in a chaise, to proceed to Reigate, and was
stopped on the road by two men, who presented
p'stols, and demanded his money. }I made no
resistance, and gave the men five half sovereigns
and his watch. One of the men afterwards said,
" I have only 64. a day for working on the road,
and I have no wish to hurt you ; so give us your
hand, and be off." On the following day, as the
Prosecutor was returning from a meeting at Croy-
don, for the protection of property; he was fired at
I y two men with masks.
The .Jury found the prisoners guilty of the high-
way robbery.
The prosecutor's wife was so alarmed at the rob-
bery, that she was taken ill, and died a short time
since.

LIFE AND DEATH. —A gentleman adver-
tises for board and lodging in a respectable family, " to
live with them, and be done for;" and to render his views
still less equivocal, he adds that "quietness is his object."
MELANCHOLY CONDITION OF THE SMALL
FARMERS OF THE COUNTY.—Some idea may be formed
of the extent of the distress which prevails among the
small farmers of this county, from the statement of the
following circumstances, which a few days ago fell under
our observation. A poor farmer, holding about IS acres
of land, from the neighbourhood of Tullaroan, came into
town a
pigs
forthe produce of
pwuceh t
it we
is
soon as he r
oe f k
coursewith
needlessf four
the
tosay, did not get into his
sold
pigs, he waited until
one of them was killed, for the purpose, as he said, " of
taking home some of the entrails and blood, to afford him
someting to eat for himself and his family during Christ-
mas !! !" Is it any wonder that this state of things
should exist, when such an anomaly,
as the County taxa-
tion presents (an account of which will ha found elsewhere),
is suffered to continue. But the above fact is not all.
We know it to be the case that the pawnbrokers' shops in
town are filled not only with almost every article of cloth.
ing which a sense of decency alone can spare, but with all
those little household articles of the most sacred kind,
which nothing but the direst distress could induce the
poor people ever to part with, such as presents, keep-sakes,
love-tokens, relics, nay even wedding-rings ! How long,
we ask, shall such a state of things be suffered to continue?

• No. 4,204. The general habit of the Irish farmer is to
consume his pig, is it not ?_No; the pig pays the rent ; a
very large proportion of the lower class of persons connected
with the land seldom or over taste animal food more than two
or three times a year.—Mr. Sandar's examination before the
Agricultural Committee.—.Kilkenny Journal,