The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-02 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
ROUSE OF LORDS, July 31.
LLEWELLYN'S DIVORCE.

'moon the House sat 'at an earlier hour than
!usual, to proceed with Llewellyn's Divorce Bill.
The Lords present were' the Lord. Chancellor, the
'Lord RedesdAle, the Earl of . Devon, aad Lord
;Menteagle.

The LORD CHANCELLOR inquired whether counsel or
the agents in Lie wellyo's divorce case were in attendance.
.The agent for Mr. Llewellyn approached the bar,
when
The LORD CHANCELLOR asked if he had any 'further
evidence,or any application to make to their Lordships
this matter.
The agent replied that *he was not in a 'position to
'offer any farther evidence in support of the petitioner's
case, and therefore he must leave the matter altogether
in the hands of their Lordships,
Th&LORD CHANCELLOR then said that the evidence in
this case was such that he could not adiise their Lord-
ships to give their assent to the second ceding of this
Bill. The Learned Counsel who had addressed their
Lordships upon A former day had misenderstood what
the procedure was in that Houie in cases in which a
divorce was sought. Contrary to the impression under
which •the Learned Counsel had appearel to labour,
their Lordships required direct proof to begiven at the
bar of the. House that the husband was without excep-
tion in his conduct. His Lordship went through the evi-'
deuce, which has already appeared •in our coluinne, and
then said that the proof was defective in more than one
respect... In the first place, the petitioner. as .bound to
give reasonable evidence that therehad•beeri no conta-
gion; that he had Hot done. It,was difficult 'for their
Lordships to understand how it had happeied-that he
had seat money—two miserable sums.ol. five ptiunds—
towards his wife's maintenance, through .the.bands of
the very person to whom he ;had imputedthaigittltery.
Whatever conviction their Lordships might hstrived
at as to the conduct of Mrs„ Iclewellmstb, ese-ueutty to
the SepsratiOn, there was no direct rMsnaii to eh°.
that any act of adultery had been committed prior to the
separation, however, much their. Lordships might be in-
clined to arrive at the opinion that such act had been
committed. The petitioner had failed. to give any suffi-
cient evidence as to the cause of separation, evidence
which he ought to have adduced at the bar of the House.
It had been said, it was true, that Mr. and Mrs. Lle-
wellyn had been heard to quarrel, bat it had not
been suggested that the cause of quarrel had been
owing to the supposition on the part of the pe-
titioner of the misconduct Rpf,„kis .a:vsifg. It ,
too, be asked bow it
,v*, OW Mr. Lle-
welVti had been absent froth, home at the time tIA4
wife had. left" his hotide. It ',appeared :that after .
Llewellyn; had` away he had .ritareed„L!at it did.
sot aPpear that heliaci mtNde any inquiry.as to what hed,
beennierof her*,,,rkor,that.ha .hacjima,de provision forther.
EvidetaCe ougl4t, ;to, have teee,,giyea.on these points.. It
unfortunately happeaed tbat upon .the evidence of proof
,this easa-was totally denuded of all those circumstances
which their Lordships invariably, considered' necessary
to be placed 'bents them, in .ctrder to induce them to
gnat "pilj of divpre. When ;the, husband sought so
solenan a ielieL4e, that, Qf from.his wife, and
leave to marry again, it was absolutely incumbent upon
hire to offer the best evidence of the grounds on which
he sought to obtain that relief. It had been stated on
behalf of the petitioner that he was unable to offer any
further evidence. No doubt it was a matter of regret
that a gentleman should be tied to a lady whose conduct
clearly, subsequent to the separation, did not entitle her
to the position of wife; but still the evidence of the
adultery prior to that time was not enough. Under these
circumstances he should move that the second reading
of the Bill be taken on that day six months.
The question having been put,
The motion that the Bill be read a second time this
day six months was agreed to.
The Bill is therefore lost.

VICE-CHANCERY COURT, Aug. 1.
(Before Sir J. KNIGHT BRUCE.)
MURRAY V. INGRAM.

This motion again came before the Court to-day, when
the defendant submitted to the injunction. The defendant,
through his counsel, stated that he had caused the two
volumes of Boswelfs Life of Johnson to be examined by
his friead, Di-. Mackay, and he bad found that the par-
ties he bad einployed „to annotate ibp work bad'availed
themselve&of Mr, Crdker's 'annum in 'a manner 'which'
he nevei would haVe sanctioned bad he had thwalightest
idea of the fact, and that when he ascertained the fact
he immediately intimated to Mr. Murray his intention
not to offer the slightest opposition to the motion for an
injunction.

Mr.RussELL, and Mr. COLE, for Mr. Murray, stated
that he 'vas quite satisfied Mr. Ingram was ignorant of
there being any cause for complaint; and also that Mr.
Murray 'lad much pleasure in stating that Mr. Ingram
had met the case in the fairest and most candid manner.

His HONOUR accordingly made the order in the terms
prayed for.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
WESTERN CIRCUIT.—Exeter, July 51.
CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justioe COLERIDGE.)
CHARGE OF WILFUL MURDER..—This was the day
for the trial of William Rowe fur the murder of John
Bunker, and the court was thronged with people
anxious to get a sight of the prisoner.
The trial lasted two days.
The Clerk of Arraigns delivered the abstract of the
indictment as follows:—!' William Rowe, you are in-
dicted for the wilful, murder of John Bunker, at the pa-
rish of Brixton, on the 4th of March last, by tying and
fastening a rope about his neck, thereby strangling and
suffocating him. There are other counts in the indict-
ment varying the charge. Are you guilty or not guilty?
The prisoner, in a firm voice—Not at all guilty, my
Lord.

Mr. COLLIER, on the part of the Crown, stated the
case. The deceased, John Bunker, was eighteen years
of age, and a farm servant, living with a Mr. Rowe, a
wealthy farmer of Halwell Farm, in the parish of Brix-
ton, in the county of Devon. Mr. Rowe has a house
and farm-yard. In the farmyard opposite to the house
is a stable, on the opposite side of the yard where
the carts. aro kept, On the other side of the yard
aro some pent houses and shippen. Immediately out-
side the yard runs the public road, and to the rightof the
road is an orchard called Pond Orchard. On the 7th
of March last, Bunker, the deceased, got up at his usual
hour, was sent upon an expedition to carry lime, bar-
uessed his horses to the cart, lit his pipe, and proceeded
on his journey. He was at that time in perfect health.
The family of Mr. Rowe consisted of himself, an old
man of eighty years of age, two some John and Wil-
liam, William being the prisoner at the bar; a daughter,
Jane; a female servant, Hannah Couch; tour boys—
Bunker, eighteen years old; Vincent, fourteen; and two
other little boys, James and Stevens, ten years of age. '
Bunker started off at' about a quarter before six; be-
tween ten and eleveno'clock he was found in the orchard
dead, stiff, and cold. He was found tied to the centre
limb of the tree. A rope was fastened round his neck,
and also round the branch by a single half-hitch knot.
The knot round his neck was called a bowling knot. He
was found with both his legs on the ground—one under
the other, and resting on the ground, and both his hands
on the ground. He was found in a sitting posture and
almost, but not quite touching the ground—and he was
stiff and cold, indicating that ho had been suspended
for some considerable time. His hands and
legs were on the ground, and it seems al-
most impossible for him to have strangled him-
self without a very determined resolution to keep
his hands in front of him, for he had nothing to do
but put his hands on the ground and free himself from
the pressure of the rope. There was no fall from a
height, which might have dislocated his neck or pro-
duced sudden insensibility. It is not likely or probable
that he would have been hung up higher and slipped
down, for this was an old apple-tree, covered with moss,
which shows where the rope was tied round the branches,
but which presents no indications of its having been tied
higher up, and slipped down. The crown of the boy's
head was about a foot from the fork of the tree. The
legs where he was hung hardly touched the ground—
one leg was under the other, the right leg a little across
the left leg; the right leg was lying upon the ground,
and the knees just touching the ground. The horse and
cart were found fastened to a gate in the road near the
orchard. The boy's cap and whip were found at a little
distance from the tree. Some blood was seen on his
hand and also on his temple, where there was a severe
blow, such as -would have been produced by a fist, and
would have produced insensibility; There were marks
of two or three other blows on his body. There were
patches of road dirt on the knees of his trowsors and on
his hands, indicating that he had been down on his
hands and knees. The grass in the orchard was
short and would not receive the -print of footsteps, or
make any dirt upon the clothes. The apple tree
was covered with, moss. There was the mark of a
rope round the centre limb; and also round the fotk
of the tree. The moss indicated that on the side
of the tree where Bunker's body was found the
moss seemed to have been pulled upwards, and on the
opposite side to have been pulled downwards. There
were some excrescences, or " nobs, on the tree, to
which human hair like that of the deceased was found
attached. The hair was found lower than where the
head was found, which, with the marks on the moss,
went to indicate that the body (whether before or after
death) was drawn up from the ground, and suspended to
the tree. There wore no marks of blows on the boy when
he left the farm. He went away at a quarter before six,
and between half-past six and seven o'clock screams were
heard by three witnesses at Chittlebarne. All the wit-
nesses described the sounds as shrieks or screams which
a person would utter in a violent struggle with another,
or which a lad would raise if being violently ill-treated.
It was quite clear that there was a violent struggle going
on at that time and place, for all the witnesses thought
the screams proceeded from the wood, or from Pond Or-
chard, which was in the same direction. It was an un-
frequented neighbourhood, and they had been unable
to find out that a struggle was going on anywhere else.
The shrieks did not last but a few seconds—not half a
minute. Two unbroken eggs were found in his pocket,
which might have been put there to suggest the idea
of the boy's having committed suicide; but from the
position of his hands he might have removed the pres-
sure of the rope by merely putting them forward.
The medical evidence stated that there could be no