The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-18 00:00:00

A FIGHT WITH THE OFFICERS OF THE

LAW.

A day or two since Mr. Hinder, a sheriff's officer,
accompanied by an assistant, presented himself at the
residence of Captain Hunt, of Boyton House, Wilts,
under the authority of a writ of capias against Captain
Llunt for a sum of about £230. The butler said his master
was not at home, but Mr. Hinder went into the house and
up stairs, leavinghis man below. He found Captain Hunt
and told him the cause of,his visit, whereupon the Captain
ordered him from the house. Mr. Hinder said he could
not leave, as the writ he held was against the captain's
person, and he trusted they would be able to settle
the affair quietly. Captain Hunt, however, armed him-
self with a poker and aimed a terrible blow at Mr. Hinder,
who escaped it, but the poker coming in contact with the
wall, was broken into two pieces. Mr. Hinder then called
out for assistance, and his man and several servants in the
house were quickly in the room where the fight was going
on. By this time the captain had armed himself with the
tongs, and with them dealt the sheriff's officer a heavy
blow across the bridge of his nose, giving him a black eye,
and causing the blood to gush freely from his mouth and
nostrils. Mr. Hinder and Lis man then attempted tosecure
the captain, who, seizing a revolver, declared he would blow
out their brains. He presented the revolver at the head
of the officer's man, and fired. The man dashed his hand
up and at the same moment dropped on the floor unin-
jured. Captain Hunt then presented a revolver at the
head of the sheriff's officer, but the butler caught it from
his band. A struggle ensued, during which the sheriff's
officer and his man were roughly handled and ultimately
turned out of the house. The matter was immediately
reported to the sheriff, and warrants were issued for the
apprehension of Captain Hunt (who has left Boyton) and
also against a servant who took part in the fight.

IRELAND.

The Daily News correspondent is still pursuing his
investigations into the agrarian outrages in Irelai7d. His
latest communication is from Mullinahone. He has
already given the opinions of the landlords, the land
agents, the lawyers, the magistracy, &c. They all pointed
in the same way—that while the products raised from
land may be bought and sold in the best market, the
letting of land must be done on other principles. The
view of the tenant farmer is precisely the same. The
correspondent tells the following story :—" A man living
near Mullinahone purchased a seven or ten years lease of
a farm, for which he gave £7OO. On going to the
landlord for a renewed lease of the farm, the
'andlord asked for £7OO and an increased rent of 10s.
an acre. The man hesitated ; he probably thought
that a hard bargain was being driven with him.
But the upshot was somebody else offered higher terms to
the landlord, and got the farm. It is possible that the
case may be differently stated, for I heard two or three
versions. One was that the landlord asked possession,
which was at once given, under the impression that the
occupier would get the renewal of the lease ; but, posses-
sion being once yielded, the land was handed over to
another. Ido not vouch for the correctness of
the particulars, which I have given only from
Hearsay, though I took the trouble to inquire as
near the spot as my time would allow. It was treated
amongst landlords as a hard case. But, as I have remarked
more than once, I do not see how the landlord is to
blame on the doctrines that are rreached and practised.
A man buys a lease for £700; when he did so, it is to be
presumed that the lease was worth that money ; when it
fell in the landlord asked another £7OO and an increase of
10s. an acre. Meanwhile, another man, not in occupation,
offered a higher sum and got the farm. If land is a com-
modity like every other, subject to the variations of supply
and demand, why should a landlord be stigmatised for
taking the highest price, any more than the farmer who sells
the cattle and the sheep off the farm to the highest bidder?"
This view of the case the writer set before a tenant farmer,
asking him if the question was not one of simple contract,
and if the owner and tenant stand on equal grounds.
He gave me a look of astonishment that I shall not
aasily forget, and answered my question by an apostrophe
You know very well they do not. You might as well
say that one man armed with a revolver and another with
a bow and arrow are fighting a duel on equal terms.
The landlord possessing the elements 'whereby I live
has me at a disadvantage.' Then you would not
be satisfied with a measure like that of Lord Clanricarde's
which provides the means of carrying out contracts
freely made between landlord and tenant? It would make
hings worse than they are.' " A visit to a released Fenian
prisoner is described. " I found Mr. Kickham in a small
house looking towards a dismantled and ivy-covered
castle, the walls of which were of unusual thickness.
After a few words of introduction, he told me that
the English of Mullinahone was the ' Mill of St. John;'
that the origin of the castle was lost in the darkness of
time ; that in 1798 a Croppy's head was hung upon
it as a warning to all rebels, but that the hook
from which it was suspended was sent to the Chicago
Fenian fair two years ago, and sold as a relic for the
benefit of the Fenian war treasury. I told him the object
of my coming to Ireland. I was surprised by his ready
• nswer—though he spoke through an interpreter with his
ngers, being wholly deaf—' Wherever the Fenians went
hey discouraged individual assassination."' And taking
own a book of poems he sheaved the vow made by
Penians against that way of relieving Ireland of landlords.
Mr. Kickham made no allusion to his connection with
Fenianism, but he 'complained, not so much in
• nger as in bitterness, of the treatment he received in
prison. " It is a disgrace,' he said, to the British
Government. I cannot think the officials ' woufd have
acted as they did if they had not received orders from their
superiors. It is a shame to make political prisoners the
.ompanions of the most debased and depraved felons.' I
could well understand the feeling in Mr. Kickball* case,
for I perceived that I was talking to a man of very refined
mind and of a gentle nature. In different circumstances
neither the felon's dock nor the prison's cell would have
been Mr. Kickharn's place. Whatever his political senti-
ments, his moral principles and his gentlemanly demeanour
were unfitted for a gaol life, and, as he said, If I had not
been liberated, I would have been dead now.' "
Cork seems to be quiet just now. Mr. Murphy, brewer,
who was nominated by the moderate Liberals as the suc-
cessor to Mr. O'Sullivan, has, for business reasons,
declined to accept the mayoralty of that city. The more
advanced section of the party is anxious to secure the
election of Mr. 1). A. Nagle, who is the proprietor of one
of the Cork newspapers, but it is stated that the general
feeling is in favour of Sir John Arnott, who has already
filled the office for three years. The election takes place
on Friday.

Up to a very recent period Kerry has been remarkably
free from crimes of an agrarian character; but lately the
spirit of lawlessness has exhibited itself. A land agent,
Mr. Hussey, who found it necessary to serve some
notices of ejectment on tenants, had some turf
and hay destroyed by an incendiary. A couple
of days afterwards Mr. Hussey received a threat-
ening letter, bearing the Castle Island post-mark.
" I am sending you these few lines," the letter
said, " warning you to take care of yourself, for you are
doomed. Don't you think it enough of harm that was
done last Wednesday night (meaning the malicious fire).
If the Lord spares us our health, there will be grass
growing over your head before many months." This
epistle was read before the magistrates at Tralee Pre-
sentment Sessions, when Mr. Hussey applied for, and was
granted, the hum of £6G, as compensation for the property
destroyed.

Archbishop Leahy has issued a long and eloquent
pastoral on the outrages in Tipperary. He expresses his
horror of the crimes, exhorts the people to forbearance, and
laments that a few desperadoes, acting singly and without
accomplices, should tarnish the fame of gallant
Tipperary. He attributes the antipathy of tenant
against landlord to the long protracted settle-
ment of the land question. He emphatically
denies the existence of an agrarian conspiracy,
It could not exist without the knowledge of the
Catholic clergy, and they have no knowledge of any such
thing. He denies that promises of any change in the land
laws by Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Bright have had anything
to do with the murders. He thinks the expectations of a
settlement, so far from increasing, would diminish them.
He bids the tenant to look for hope to the Imperial Legis-
lature, and points out the danger of the people of England
being disgusted and estranged by these outrages.

VELOCIPEDE RACING.—On Monday foiir profes-
sional velocipedsins had a race on two wheel bycicles for
sweepstakes oflo, at Streatham Common, over a mile
of ground well adapted for the trial. The competitors
were Messrs. Richards, Joyce, Anset, and Freuti. At the
start the pace was made by Anset, who maintained the
lead for half a mile, when Freuti headed his opponents
and increased the speed, and, after a sharp contest, came
in first by four lengths. Anset second ; the others tied for
third place. The last portion of the road was on the descent,
and the mile was accomplished in minutes.
VELOCIPEDE ACCIDENT. —On Saturday afternoon
a gentleman was proceeding down Key-hill, Birmingham,
on a bycicle, at a moderately quick pace, and at the
bottom of the hill a brougham came at ordinary speed
along Icknield-street. The velocipede and the broughani
almost met, and the rider of the former endeavoured to
cross in front of the carriage. Just at that moment the
velocipede turned completely over, and the wheel of the
brougham went over the rider's shoulder, inflicting serious
injuries. The injured man was conveyed to the General
Hospital. During the week several persons have been
injured by falls and bruises sustained while riding on