The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-02 00:00:00

the man was entitled to an acquittal. It was evidently
a compromise.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—WARWICK, July 31.
CROWN COURT.—(B,tore Mr. Justice Cresswell.)
SENTENCE ON THE REV. PATRICK KING.
This clergyman was brought up on Thursday to re
ceive sentence.

The Judge said—Patrick Bing, I have to discharge a
most painful duty in passing sentence upon a clergyman
of the Church of. England for a very serious misdemean-
our indeed. From the wording of the indictment, which
charges you with a common assault, it might seem of a
trivial character, because there was no bruise or bodily
ha^m inflicted upon this infant ; but when the nature
of the assault ix considered—that it involve.] the expo
sure of that child by the s►de of a road, the desertion of
that child, and that you must have been acting either
without the consent of the mother cr as an agent to a
wicked mother in deserting that child, and leaving it
on a public road—the offence assumes a very serious
aspect. One can fancy the strong feeling which may have
misled you on the occasion ; but if we are not fed to
expect from a clergyman of the Church of England that
he can. resist temptation such a, that of committing
an offence of this description, what may we expect
of those who, without education, without re:egious in-
struction, without a sense of their responsibility, are
tempted to conceal shame by dealing with iofint chil
dren in such a manner. I discharge in the lightest pos-
sible manner the duty which I feel incumbent on me in
sentencing you, as I do, to imprisonment in the gaol of
this cuun:y for six months.
The prisoner then bowed and retired.
The assizes terminated at 7 o'clock.

OXFORD CIRCUIT—MON3IOI3I7, AUG. 1.
(Crown Court - -Before Baron Alderson.)
The courts opened at 9 o'clock.
RIPE.
Garrett Landrese, 22, labourer, was indicted fock
rape upon the person of Betsy Heard, at the parish '67
Bedwas, on the 24th of May last.
The charge was most conclusively proved, the prisoner
having been in fact caught iu the act by some partles'whe
were attracted to the spot on the road where the poor
woman had been thrown down by her cries of "Murder,"
He was found guiles and son t....a to six
.yeask...stpcd
ser vi too e;ltia learned jiWaiiiikiaiiftqf that he hadlootn.:
witted the highest offence known to the law except that
of` murder.

MANSLAUGHTER AT NEWPORT,
Peter O'Donnell, a sailor, aged 26, was indicted for the
manslaughter of John Quin, at Newport, on the 15th
May WI-,

Mr. Skinner and Mr. Vaughan prosecuted ; and Mr.
Smythe defended the prisoner, who had been indicted
for wilful murder, but the grand jury threw out that
bill.

The evidence showed that on the 15th May there was
a fair at Stow-hill, in Newport, and that several fights
took place near the booths. The prisoner and the de-
ceased were engaged in a fight when it was dark at night
After the men bad fought three or four rounds, the pri-
soner was seen to strike, with something he bad in his
hand, at a man named Luff ; after this he struck the
deceased on the shoulder blade, and the blood flowed
profusely. The deceased fell, and the prisoner jumped
upon him. He then ran away, but was soon appre-
hended and identified. The wound inflicted upon the
deceased was described by Mr. Bust, a surgeon, as three
inches deep ; it had cut through a large vein, and caused
death in a short time. The whole facts were very con-
clusive against the prisoner, and he was found guilty.
Sentenced to four years' penal servitude.

_ .
ROBBERY, WITH VIOLENCE, AT NEWPORT.
Charles Hale, Joseph. Domaine, and a young girl,
named Sarah Morgan, were indicted for having vio-
lently assaulted Thomas Thompson, and stolen 141, from
his person.

Mr. Smythe prosecuted, and Mr. Somerset defended
Dumaine.

The prosecutor was passing along a street in Newport,
near the Bridge Inn, about 12 o'clock at night of the
12th of July, when he saw the three prisoners together.
Dumaine followed the prosecutor for a short distance,
and asked him if he should carry his basket ; prosecutor
refused, and Dumaine pushed him against the girl, call-
ing him by an offensive name. The parties then went
on about 100 yards, when the girl took off Dumaine's
cap and threw it on the ground. Dumaine asked pro-
secutor for his cap, and when he said he had not got it,
Dumaine threatened to hit his head off, and directly
afterwards knocked him down. A regular scuffle and
fight ensued, in which other parties were concerned, and
in this row the prosecutor had his coat and waistcoat
pulled off, and his money taken out of an inside pocket
in his waistcoat. In the course of further evidence, it
transpired that other parties, who were present at the
row, might have taken the prosecutor's money, and
that when the prisoners were immediately afterwards
apprehended nothing was found upon them. Under
these circumstances his Lordship stopped the prosecu-
tion, and directed a verdict of acquittal.

SOUTH WALES CIRCUIT.—BRECON, July 31.
,(Before Mr. Justice Crompton.)
MANSLAUGHTER.
folot Prosser, a young farm labourer, was charged
with the manslaughter of Henry Davies, at St. Michael
Cwmdu, on the Bth of April last.
It appeared in evidence that on the day in question
several farmers had met at the Six Bells public house,
in the village of Cwmdu, and that the prisoner and de-
ceased, who had been hauling lime, stopped there with
their carts and horses; they bad some beer, and some
wrestling matches took place, in the course of which the
deceased was thrown heavily by the prisoner. Some
angry words passed, followed by blows, but the men
were at once separated by a farmer who was present,
and whose servant had also a horse and cart there ; be
then desired them to take their teams home, but they
had not gone far along the road when the dispute was
renewed, and according to the statement of the prisoner
the deceased threw stones at him. The servant lad with
the cart following, however, saw the deceased running
after the cart, in which prisoner was standing up, and
saw the latter raise a shovel that had been used for
loading lime, and strike the unfortunate man on the
head. The witness called out to his master, who was
crossing a neighbouring field, and they
conveyed the
unfortunate man to his home, where he lingered for
three days, when he died from the effects of a very se-
vere wound at the back of the left ear.
Verdict—Guilty. Sentenced to be imprisoned to hard
labour for 12 months.
SENDING A THREATENING LETTER.
Wm. Williams, lime burner, was charged with sending
a threatening letter to Evans Evans, with the view of
extorting money.
The letter which gave rise to this prosecution was one
demanding five pounds from the prosecutor, a respect-
able farmer at Llanelly, near Abergavenny, for not
bringing forward a charge of attempting to commit a
• rape upon the prisoner's wife.
The prisoner was undefended, but on cross-examina•
tion, the prosecutoradmitted having kissed Lis wife while
engaged in planting potatoes on his farm, lie also achnitted
having taken hold of her dress and having endeauoured
to gf.t her inside a barn, but he positively denied carry-
ing her into the barn or throwing her down.
Much amusement was occasioned by the examination
of an Irishman named Hammett, who avowed that he
had written the letter at the request of the prisoner,
and that he occasionally " gave advice" to people who
were too poor to go to a lawyer.
His Lordship, who animadverted very severely on the
conduct of the prosecutor, who is a married man, said
that he had great doubt whether in this case there had
not been, in the words of the statute, " reasonable or
probable cause " for the charge.
Mr. 11. Allen, who conducted the prosecution, con-
tended that there was not sufficient, even if the pri-
soner's allegations were true, to amount to an attempt
to commit a rape.
The case was then tent to the jury, who after being
•

HOME CIRCUIT.—CHELMSFORD, August 1.
(Before the Lord Chief Baron).
WOROP V. THE EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY COMPANY.
This was an action to recover damages from the defen-
dants for having failed to convey the plaintiff at the
time fixed by the isompany in their time bills.
Mr. Hawkins was counsel for the plaintiff ; Mr. Bovill,
Q.C., and Mr. Thorp, were for the campany-
it appeared that the plaintiff resided at Colchester,
and that he was summoned to attend the Chelmsford
Quarter Sessions in October, 1854, as a juryman, and took
a place in the train that was advertised to arrive in
Chelmsford at five minutes to ten o'clock, which would
have enabled him to be in court in sufficient time to be
sworn upon the jury. Instead, however, of the train
starting at its proper time, it appeared that it was shunted
into a siding, where it was detained for more than an
hour, and did not arrive at Chelmsford until half-past 12,
and during his absence he bad been fined 40e., and he
had .to pay that sum. The present action was brought
to recover that amount, on the ground that the company
had illegally broken the contract they bad entered into,
to convey the plaintiff 3t the tame specified in the time
tables published by the authority of the company.
Mr. Bovill urged, on behalf of the defendants, that
there had been no cataract by them to carry the plain-
tiff positively at the time specified, but natrey that they
would me all reasonable exertion to do' so. The cause
of the delay on the occasion in que.tion was that an
accident had occurred which rendered it impossible td
use the down line for a certain distance, and the down
trains were consequently compelled to make lace of the,
up line, and it was absolutely ne.ceasary under these cir-
cumstances to detain the train by which the plaintiff
was travelling in order to prevent accident.
The Chief Baron, at the close of the case, expressed
his opinion that the plaintiff could not recover. In the
first place he did not think any such contract as the one
alleged in the declaration had been made out ; and even
supposing that it had, it appeared to him that it was no
undertaking to convey the plaintiff, under all circum-
stances, at the time specified, and that in the case of an
accident, or any other unforeseen occurrence, the com-
pany would not be liable for the train not arriving at
the time specified in the tables.
The plaintiff was therefore non-suited, leave, however,
being given to Mr. Hawkins to apply to the court upon
the point of law, if upon consideration he should fee,
justified in doing to.