The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-27 00:00:00

MARCH 27, 1851

The jury eventually found the prisoners Clarke and
Thomas, and both the Wilsons, Guilty, and Acquitted
Summers.

The Learned JUDGE sentenced Clarke and Thomas to
13P transported for life, and Thomas Wilson and Harriet
Wilson to be transported for fourteen years.
The accomplice Turner, who had pleaded guilty to an-
other charge of felony, was sentenced to be imprisoned
and kept to hard labour for six months.
These cases occupied the Court the whole of the day,
and were not finished until very late, and they concluded
the business of the assizes.

`MIDLAND ClRCUlT.—Warrick, March 25.

CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.)
Christopher Hedy, aged 19, and Joseph Marshall, aged
20, were indicted for a burglary at Birmingham.
Mr. Sergeant Miller and Mr. O'Brien conducted the
prosecution; and Mr. Willmore defended the prisoners.
From the statement of the prosecutor, Thomas Mar-
ston, it appeared that during the night of the 7th of
October he was aroused from his sleep by hearing a noise
in his house; that looking down stairs he could see a
man crouching along a passage, and that he immediately
went down. Upon reaching the parlour, however, he
found two men there, and, considering he was over-
matched, ho retreated up stairs. Tho men followed him,
and began beating him violently about the back and legs.
He then got one of the rails of the banisters to defend
himself with, and ho struck at them and beat them as
well as he could; but one of the men had in his hand a
poker, and with that he struck the prosecutor several
times on the head, inflicting four severe wounds, which
bled profusely, and afterwards confined him to his bed
for a fortnight. The men made their escape at the time,
but without taking any property away with them. The
prisoners were a short time afterwards apprehended, and
the only question was, whether they were satisfactorily
identified as the men who committed the burglary. Many
circumstances wore proved to connect them with it;
and after a protracted investigation,
The jury found a verdict of Guilty; whereupon sen-
tence of death was recorded.
March 26.

CIVIL SlDE.—(Bofore Mr. Baron ALDERSON and a

Special Jury.)
SPHOSTON V. DAVIES.

This was an action of false imprisonment, to which
the defendant had pleaded not guilty, and, by way of
justification, that he was coroner of Birmingham, and
had ordered the plaintiff to be imprisoned for a contempt
of his court during the holding of an inquest. The
pleadings were very complicated and voluminous, admi-
rably calculated, according to the statement of the coun-
sel and the judge, to render the matter as unintelligible
as possible.

Mr. Macaulay, Q.C., and Mr. Mellor, appeared for the
plaintiff; Mr. Humfrey, Q.C., and Mr. Hayes for the
defendant.

The plaintiff is a surgeon and general medical practi-

tioner of Birmingham, and the defendant is a physician
there as well as coroner for the borough. The present
action arose out of the proceedings at an inquest held
on the Bth of October, 1849, upon the body of one Abra-
ham Bullows, who had died of cholera; and the Learned
Judge in the course of the trial commented upon the
folly and impropriety of holding such inquest, whereby
the privacy of families was invaded without assisting at
all the detection of crime. At the inquest in question
the plaintiff, who was the medical attendant of the de-
ceased, was examined as a witness, and the foreman of

the jury was now called upon to prove what took place
upon that occasion. He stated that the coroner
first asked the pllintiff, " At what time did you first see
the deceased?" To which the plaintiff answered " be-
tween twelve and one." The coroner then said, " When
next?" To which the reply was, " between five and six."
In answer to another question as to when he next saw
the deceased the plaintiff replied, "It may be halt-past
twelve or one." Whereupon the coroner said," That
will not do, sir, I must have a definite answer. If you
have any doubts you must say about." The plaintiff
replied, " Then say about, sir; but I believe it was be-
tween f.vvE;lve and one." During this colloquy the plaintiff
had ben sitting rather behind the coroner, who then
said, " Come from behind me, sir, and take that chair

in fr.int of me and look me in the face and answer my
questions in a becoming manner." The plaintiff took
the chair in front, and said, " sir, I have endeavoured to
ans.wer youtiquestions in a becoming manner." The
conner said, "I won't be spoken to in that way;" and
tte plaintiff answered, " I have treated you as a gentle-
raau, and expect the same treatment in return." The
,axamination of the plaintiff was then continued, and at
the end of it the coroner rose and severely reprimanded
the plaintiff. He said, " I have been her Majesty's
coroner for ten years, and was never so insulted before.
As supreme judge of this court—(Laughter)--I will up-
hold the dignity of the court. Now, sir, leave the room;
go; begone!" (Laughter.) The plaintiff was about to leave
the room, but as he was going he said to th© coroner,
" You shall hear from me, sir, in another way;" upon
which the coroner called out, " Do you threaten me in
the execution of my duty? Come back, sir." The
plaintiff came back, and then the coroner said, " You
hold out threats against me." The plaintiff replied, " I
hold out no threat, but you shall hear from me in ano-
ther way." The coroner then said he would commit
him unless he retracted or apologised; but the plaintiff
refused, adding, " What I have said I reiterate." The

. --
coroner then said to a policeman of the name of Long,

who was in attendance:'‘ Take him to Moor-street." In
Moor-street the prison is situated in which at that time

all persons were -detained who were awaiting removal to
the county gaol at Warwick. Long, however, instead of
taking the plaintiff to Moor-street, took him to the po-
lice-station in New-street, and the inspector at that
police-station, when he was told for what cause the
plaintiff had been brought there, sent to the coroner
to request that he would come and prefer a
charge, as otherwise he could not detain the
plaintiff. The coroner refused to go or to
sign the charge-sheet, which described the plain-
titra offence as contempt of court; but he sent word to
the inspector that the plaintiff must be detained, and
that if the officer discharged him it would be at his peril.
He also stated that the charge was quite right. The
reading of the charge-sheet caused no little amusement.
It was divided into columns with separate headings.
Under the heading " Witness" was written "By order
of the coroner;" and under the head " Offence proved"
was written the word " discharged." The Learned
Judge suggested that it was a curiosity worthy of the
Great Exposition.—(Laughter.) The plaintiff was taken
to the police-station at ten minutes past nine in the
evening, and at ten minutes past eleven let out on bail
to appear before the magistrate next morning. On the
following morning he did attend in the magistrates'
room, and the only magistrate present was the defendant.
Upon taking his seat at the table he said, " I take my
seat here to day as coroner, and not as magistrate." He
then turned to a policeman and said, " Put up Mr.
Henry Sproston." The plaintiff stood up, and his at-
torney then endeavoured to address the defendant, but
he would not hear him. He called upon the plaintiff to
retract or apologise, but the plaintiff refused to do so;
and then the defendant suddenly said, " The case is dis-
missed."
For the imprisonment of the plaintiff under the cir-
cumstances above described the present action was
brought. On the part of the plaintiff it was contended
that a coroner has no right to commit for contempt et
all; and that question was reserved for future considera-
tion in the court above. It was also urged, that, at all
events, the defendant had no right to commit for an in-
definite time, or to any place but the county gaol or the
House of Correction; and that the imprisonment at the
station in New-street, and at the magistrate's office on
the following morning, was altogether unauthorised, be-
cause, as soon as the inquest was over, the defendant's
authority as coroner terminated.
The Learned JUDGE, in summing up, expressed his
regret that this matter should have been brought "'
court. It would have been much better if
the, two
and
doctors had used the language of the old it 0h
said—
hat the " Brother, brother, we're both in the wrong.
However, in point of law, he. had no doubittyt;
for there
co-
roner, at all events, exceeded his authoorzn
indefinite time.
was no tribunal except the House ofne
could legally commit to prison for
_ll ,_ve an opportu-
If he was wrong the defendant would 0*
court above; and to
nity of setting him right in the coons which
he would ask them to
avoid the expense of another trial
of the imprison-
assess the damages separately for each
ments complained of. and found a verdict
101. for the imprisonment
and at the magis-
The jury retired for some time. • •
for the plaintiff—Damages,
at the police-station imprisonment during the
the itn2
trate's office, and ls. for
inquest. Now-street

of the "meof
her children into
ur.—Esetor, March 2ric4a.tthtoe
Cst
tended
BradfordDivineservwicaes
WESTERN Cl'?
with having
themurdered her two children
The Learned Judg©
Cathedral yesterday.
A poor woman
the bar charged
committed to prison,
wa and was
by throwing canal. This
woman was deranged upwards of two years unhappy
thew into
while in that state she threw two of ago, and
She wan
the canal.
brought into court two years ago, but
to plead. She was again put to the
she was so
bar at the last
two insane
summer assisco, as it was then supposed
much better that she could hav p
e leaded an
charged. Seeing so many people in d been dis-
the offence with which she was charged,
court, and naming
effect upon her that it was necessary had such an
move her from the court. To- day instantly to re-
and
to quite calm and she was brought up,
collected.
upon to plead, she said she was, When called
Mr. Lopus, on the Not guilty.
part of
he should not offer any evidence, and a verdictthe prosecution,
of Not
said that
Guilty having been recorded
and given up to her
husband.
indicted Henry Dodge was • cted for .
of corn, the property of setting fire to a stack
19th of August last. Ann Pitts, at Dawlish, on the

Mr. Jerw—ood was counsel for Abe prosecution, and Mr
Carter defended the prisoner.
The facts were extremely simple. The prisoner was
a farm labourer in the employ of Mrs. Pitts. He did
do his work to the satisfaction of the son of Mrs. Pitts,
and he was paid his wages and told to leave; he made
use of some threatening language, and in the evening he
was seen to set the rick on fire.
The defence was that the sons of Mrs. Pitts were not
to be believed.
The jury, however, found the prisoner Guilty.
Ile was sentenced to 10 years' transportation.
Mr. Butt, Q C., tried prisoners all day on Saturday.
The cases in the civil court have been most uninter-
esting so far as the general reader is concerned.

TUE COLD WATER CURE :FOR VAGRANTS.-At
Wexford—says an Irish paper—they have got rid of va-
grants by a simple process: twenty-four hours' imprison-
ment and u thorough wa,thing. No beggar submitted twice
to the cold water. It is an old belief that Truth hat bout.'
in a well; and, it would seem that her sister Charity—in her
best moments—is to be found at a pump.—Punch.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MARYLEBONE.
ROBBERY BY A POLE AT LORD DUDLEY STUART'S.
—Yesterday a Pole, named Rauhuski, was placed at the'
bar, before Mr. Broughton, on the charge of having
committed a robbery at the residence of Lord Dudley
Stuart, Stratford-place, Oxford-street.
It appeared from the evidence that on Friday last the.,
prisoner went to the house, and having rung the bendiest
was admitted by one of the servants, to whom he'
handed a letter addressed to his Lordship; he took the
said letter upstairs, leaving the prisoner in the hall, and
on his going down to give an answer, be found that the
prisoner had decamped, taking with him a coat belong-
ing to Mr. Birkbeck, a barrister, who, at the time, was
his Lordship's guest at dinner. The letter alluded ,to
falsely purported to be written by Lieut. Szulczewski,
secretary to the Literary Association of the Friends of
Poland, and it recommended " the bearer" to assistance
in the sum of 7s. 6d. At six o'clock last Monday even-
ing Police-constable 172 C took into custody
the prise-
ncr, who was pointed out to him by the secretary, by
whom he was recognised while walking along Piccadilly.
Ue admitted having stolen the coat, and said that he
had sold it to a Jew, giving his name and residence, for
es. It was further stated that the prisoner was knows
to Horsford, of the Mendicity Society, as a begging imp
postor.
Mr. Birkbeck was not in attendance, nor had the coat
been traced, and, in order to afford time for the officer
employed in the case to institute further inquiries, the
prisoner was remanded until Tuesday next.
SOUTHWARK.
Yesterday William Huggen, a journeyman tanner in
Bermondsey, was placed at the bar before Mr. A'Beckett.
charged with inflicting such injuries on his wife that she
is not expected to survive.
A policeman stated that on the previous night he was
called to a house where the prisoner and his family
lived, at Bermondsey, and on entering a room on the
ground floor he found his wife lying on the floor in a
state of insensibility. There was a part of a broken bed
rail at a short distance from her, which he (policeman)
was informed her husband (the prisoner) bad broken
while in the act of beating her and inflicting the injuries
which she had sustained. Finding that the woman was
in such a bad state he (the policeman) procured a cab,
and had her placed in it, and drove her off to the hospi-
tal. On being examined by the house-surgeon the latter
gave a certificate (produced), which described that t et
patient was utterly incapable of attending the (sour
owing to the severe contusions inflicted on body.
her
often
The policeman added that the woman bad never sp
since the alleged acts of violence had been committed,
and that be accordingly took the prisoner into cust
as ody.
Upon subsequent inquiries being instituted, it w as-
certained that the prisoner was a hard-workingindus-
trious man, having a family of children, bat that his
wife was aiven to habits of drunkenness and neglecting
her home; that upon a recent occasion, after having
pledged and made away with most of her husband's and
children's clothes, she left home and stayed away
week. On the previous night she returned, and the
prisoner being at home at the time, under exasperated
feelings at her conduct in abandoning:her children under
such circumstances, he grasped the first thing that came
to hand, and that was one of the bed rails,
her with such violence as almost to deprive her of lira.
Mr. ATECKETT, upon the production of the °or"'
cate from the hospital where the injured woman is
it
o!
lying, remanded the prisoner, who said nothing, until
was ascertained whether she is likely to survive the Tie
.
lance inflicted upon her. and beat
Thomas Wales, late a patient in St. Thomas's linsPi-
tal, was charged with stealing a suit of clothes belong-
ing to an inmate of the same institution.
The prosecutor stated that he was a patient in tae
above hospital, and the prisoner being in the same ws,
and convalescent, he asked him to brush his suit of
clothes and clean his boots, preparatory to leaving she
institution. This the prisoner consented to do on the
promise of remuneration, and the clothes were accord-
ingly given to him for the above purpose. The pri-
soner, however, instead of performing the job, the m°-
went he had possession of his fellow-patient's clothes'
rl
left the hospital with them, and converted them to hi
own purposes, and was not heard of again until the pre-
ceding night, when he was apprehended in Shoreditch
with the complainant's coat on his back. The remainder
of the garments he had disposed of.
The prisoner said be could say nothing in extenua-
tion of his offence.
Mr. ATECKETT said the offence was aggravated from
the circumstance of the prisoner acting in such a man-
ner towards an unfortunate fellow-patient in the stun°.
hospital. The magistrate, however, added that if he
sent the prisoner for trial on the charge of stealing the
clothes, there was a probability that he might escape, es
the complainant had asked him to brush the clothes, asd
entrusted them to him for that purpose. Instead, there-
fore, of dealing with the case in that way he (the Magis-
trate) should deal summarily with it, and should con-
vict the prisoner and sentence him to two months im-
prisonment.
The prisoner was committed accordingly.

RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS.
BRISTOL, Matto' 26.
STOCK ExcHANOI.—The market has been rather heavy
to-day, and prices generally are lower. The traansas,ctions
were as follow: Great Western, Original Shre 88—
South-Eastern and Dover, 27% —South Devon, Preference, 14
LIVERPOOL, M.ARCH 26.
STOCK EXCHANGE.—The business done to-day has not
been extensive, owing to the settlement, which is to-morrow.
Prices, however, were firm, and the market closed steadily.
The transactions were as follow :- Caledonian, 15,A —East
Lancashire, 17%—Lancashire and Yorkshire, 621,4—Ditto,
Fifths, 6,q dis.—Liverpool, Crosby, and Southport, %p.-
London and North-Western, 129 % Ditto, New Quarters,
p. Ditto, Quarters (C), 2 1546 p. Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, 364—Ditto, Preference, 121/4—
Ditto, New Preference, 5,, p.—Midland, 63%—Ditto, Halves,
13 dis.—North British, 10% - Shrewsbury and Birmingham
(B), 6%—South-Eastern and Dover, 27%—York and North
Midland, 273/—Dutch Rhenish, 4% dis.
MANCHESTER, MARCH 26.
STOCK EXCHANGE.—The transactions to-day were as fol-
low :—Caledonian, 151%—Eastern Counties, 73/4—East Lan-
cashire, 174i—Fleetwood, Preston, and West Riding Junc-
tion, 634 dis.—Great Northern, 18%—Lancashire and York-
shire 62- Ditto, Fifths, 6%—London and North-Western.
130—Ditto (Manchester and Birmingham, Quarters, C),
3 1-16 p.—Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, 364
Ditto, New 6/. Preference, % p.—Shrewsbury and Birming-
ham (A), 37,'3 dis.—South-Eastern and Dover, 27%.
BI R 5111 s/ GHAM, MARCH 26.
STOCK EXCHANGE. —The share market was dull to-day.
Prices of stock were generally about the same as last quo
tations.

YORK, MARCH 25.
&row( EXCHANGE.—The transactions to-day ware 111
follow :—North British, 101,E _York, Newcastle, and 1351r-
wick (G. N. E. Purchase), 71—York and North Mid-
land, 273/4.
___.--......-..-,-...........

FRENCH RAILWAY TRAFFIC.
The following are the last returns of the gross re-
ceipts of the principal French Ray
;Egom—o.dl2r2o6n:7stilsafr.; l
total,2 t o
3M9ailwa6r,
4. s
1168 f:. Passengers,
169N,6°5118Ttgu
.
ROUEN.—From Mar. 9 to Mar. 15 : Passengers,
58,464 t.; goods, 76,130 E; total, 134,594 f.
AVIE.—From Mir. 9 to Mar. 15 : Passengers,
21,634 f.; goods, 31,234 E ; total 52,868 f.
ORLEANS.—From Mar. 10 to Mar. 16 : Passengers,
Passengers,
4f.
Itoottaol,mlBa2r.,B;64:f.
33,2431.; goods, 35,223 f.; total, 68,466 t.
VIERZON.—From Mar. 10 to Mar. 16 : Passengers,
34,061 E; goods, 42,714 f.; total, 76,775!.
BouLoGNE.—From Mar. 10 to Mar. 16 : Passengers,
12,320.; goods, 17,088 f.; total, 29,474 f,
DIEPPE.—From Mar. 9 to Mar. 15 : Passengers,
3,132 f.; goods, 9,266 f.; total, 12,398 f.
;3art.ottlao2l,tltlo2asM;2.ar. 18: Passengers,
Newrzs.---Froci Mar. 8 to Mar. 14 : Passengers,
17,913 f.; goods, 16,877 f.; total, 34,790 f
6358,9TAL8ii.5.;13-Ig:riioraodm—s,
6Flrio3malr7.Mf.
total, 33,4349f79.
17,647 f.; goods, 15,787 f.;
MoNTEREALL—Prom Mar. 5 to Mar. 11: Passengers,
32L,M3y7.4.02RNEss;E:gi.oLF0Erdsos.m,--2F3m,r2oar3r
.f.M;
2atro.tsa tol 0545Ma5ar8r.5.
1.811 •
Passenger,
Passengers,
•
9,7941.; goods, 14,5701.; total, 24,364 f.
97,224 f,; goods, 34,0011.; total, 131,2251.
CHARTRES.—From Mar. 3 to Mar. 9: Passenger,
23,7431.; goods, 12,907 f.; total, 36,650 f.

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and at Professor Holloway's Establishment, 244, Str
London.
_._._............