The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 12, 1860.

description of carriage for naval service. The car-
riage is similar in its chief points of construction
to the old 24-pounder depressing carriage used at

the siege of Gibraltar. Some further experiments
will take place from the Illustrious, which will

move her position in Portsmouth harbour tempora-

rily for that purpose.
The further progress in the stripping off the iron
plates and inner and outer planking of the Meteor
iron-cased battery, in No. 2 dock, at Portsmouth,
fully confirms the statements which have already
appeared in The Sun as to her rotten and defective
state.

One of Major Fitzmaurice's gasometers has been
erected in the steam factory at Woolwich dockyard
by order of the Board of Admiralty, and was yes-
terday put into operation experimentally for the
purpose of testing its availability for supplying the
ships of her Majesty's fleet and the service gene-
rally with gas, in which case one of the gasometers
will be fitted in the engine-room of each vessel, to
supply the burners fixed in the various compart-
ments of the ship in a similar manner to that on
shore. The cost of the apparatus when fitted is
trifling when compared with its advantage, the
price varying from £5, according to the number of
feeders. The gas is termed " olefiant" gas, being
made from any kind of oil, grease, bones, cocoa-
nut, fat of every description, or even shavings,
peat, wood, &c., and the apparatus may be
managed with perfect safety by a mere lad,
so extremely simple are its arrangements. The
lights were pronounced of a greater brilliancy than
the common gaslights, being at the same time free
from smoke, and the flame was observed to be of a
thicker and stronger quality, although the heat
produced was considerably less. The gas will con-
tinue in use for a short time in the factory, experi-
mentally, in order to obtain a correct testimony of
its superiority, for their Lordships' approval.
A number of wrought-iron slabs, intended to pro-
tect the sides of the screw steamship Warrior,
building at Blackwall, have been received at Wool-
wich from the firm of Messrs. Seaward and Thames
Iron Company, and are in course of preparation in
Woolwich factory. The slabs are 15 ft. 3 in. long,
3 ft. 3 in. broad, and 41 in. thick; and the process
of grcoving, planing, and preparing each slab for
use occupies about 14 hours, under the powerful
agency of the steam machinery. At 3 the work is
urgent the men are employed on ghat is termed
" time and a half," and will turn out eight slabs per
week.

A naval court-martial assembled yesterday on
board her Majesty's ship Victory, in Portsmouth
harbour, for the trial of a private Royal Marine,
serving on board her Majesty's ship Excellent, on
a charge of having on the 6th inst. struck Sergeant
Brampton twice, on the quarter-deck of her Ma-
jesty's ship Excellent, while in the execution of his
duty. The charges were found proved, and the
prisoner adjudged to receive 48 lashes, and be after-
wards imprisoned for two years in Winchester
gaol, with hard labour.
The undermentioned gentlemen have been nomi-
nated to naval cadetships :—A. M. Bowles, A. B.
Brooke, A. M. R. Hamilton, T. B. Howard, Vesey
Knox, J. Laws, C. G. Michaelson, F. E. Marsland,
J. C. Paget, J. W. Ramsay, C. B. K. Smith, W. J.
Talbot, C. Tuffn ell, A. Vautier, Hon . E. Willoughby,
and H. R. H. Wood.
The following appointments were made yesterday
at the Admiralty :—Commander J. W. Webb, to
the Ajax, additional, for service in the Coastguard;
Com. G. E. K. Gore, to the Ajax, additional, for
service in the Coastguard ; Corn H. B. Beresford,
to the Edinburgh, additional, for service in the
Coastguard ; Dr. J. S. Levis and G. Clark, acting
assist.-surge. additional, to the Victory ; Dr. Geo.
Monteath, acting assist.-surg., to the Immertalite ;
W. H. O'Toole and J. F. Parr, acting assist.-surgs.
additional, to the Impregnable.

Government to rely upon them as men of action in
the hour of trial—(cheers)—would be adopted.
A committee having been appointed, and several
names enrolled, the meeting separated with a cor-
dial vote of thanks to the chairman.

The cup given by the Prince of Wales, to be shot
for by members of the Oxford University Rifle
Corps, has been gained by Mr. T, Lee Warner,
scholar of Trinity College.
The 2d Essex Artillery Corps is to be in future
known as the " North Thames Artillery Corps."
Two places of drill have been fixed upon, at Grays
and Orsett, and the War-office will shortly send
down a competent instructor and two guns.
The members of the Aylsham (Norfolk) Company
have just had a competition for two prizes of £4
and £2, presented by Lieutenant Ernuin. The
first prize was shot for at ranges of 400, 500, and
600 yards ; and the second at 200, 300, and 400
yards, three shots each. The winners were Private
Gay and Private Soame.
The Duke of Northumberland has placed Percy-
square, North Shields, with two cottages, at the
disposal of the Ist Northumberland Volunteers, for
purposes of drill. It is proposed to form a Cadet
Corps, consisting of young lads of from about 12
to 16 years of age, in connection with the Ist
Northumberland Rifles, The corps will be one of
Foot Lancers, the lances being similar to those used
by the cavalry, but only about 6 feet long.

LAW INTELLIGENCE—Dec. 11.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.

'Sittings at Nisi Prius at Guildhall, before the
Lord Chief Baron and a special jury.)
WILLIAMS V. THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY
COMPANY.

Mr. Power Q.C. and Mr. Quain were counsel
for the plaintiff; Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., and Mr. C.
Pollock represented the defendant.
This case commenced yesterday, mid was an ac-
tion brought to recover compensation in damages
for injuries which befel the plaintiff by reason of a
train in which he was travelling, in the centre
compartment of a first-class carriage, on the 20th
of May last, running through the King's-cross
station over the street into the New-road, where
its further progress was arrested by an embank-
ment which had been thrown up by the men em-
ployed in making the Metropolitan Underground
Railway. From the plaintiff's account of the
transaction it appeared that, having been in busi-
ness with others as a corn and flour factor he failed,
paying to his creditors a composition of 7s. 6d. in
the pound, and that starting again upon a borrowed
capital of £9O, his business thrived until he paid
an income-tax upon £6OO a-year. That coming to
London upon business the accident happened as
above described, injuring his head and shoulder at
the time, but not so severely as to prevent him
from walking back to the station and then
across to his lodgings. That upon the follow-
ing morning, upon getting out of bed, he felt a
soreness across the loins and a stiffness of his
limbs generally, but attended his business ap-
pointment with a Mr. Nelson, an attorney in the
city, who conceiving him to be ill, advised him to
return and leave the business for some future time.
The plaintiff returned home to Liverpool and con-
sulted his medical adviser, who eventually sent him
to Wales, where he, it appeared, was visited by Mr.
Millwood and Dr. Hariison on behalf of the com-
pany. The plaintiff complained that he was totally
unable to attend to his business, although he had
made efforts to de so, and was still suffering from
soreness about the loins, and his sight was very in-
different.

Dr. Hensman, of Liverpool, the plaintiff's medical
attendant, said that upon examining hiss he found
a contusion over the temporal bone, besides one on
the right shoulder, with loss of power in the arm ;
a discolouration of the right and left side of the
spine among the lumbar muscles ; numbness of the
lower extremities, great depression of spirits, and
an inability to describe what had happened to him ;
the brain had been disturbed, causing the affection
of, or injury to, the optic nerve. The plaintiff
complained that all objects appeared yellow to him.
The spinal column was uninjured.
Mr. Quoin, the eminent surgeon (in company
with Dr. Owen Rees), had examined the plaintiff,
and stated that in his opinion the principal injury
was to the brain, which accounted for a want of
intelligence he noticed in him, as well as the defec-
tiveness of vision. The recollection that the plain-
tiff had of things long past, and no memory relating
! to things of a recant occurrence, he considered a
very bad sign.
It is needless to go through all the medical testi-

mony.
The negligence and liability of the company
through the drunkenness of their servant was ad-
mitted, and the only question for the consideration
of the jury was the amount of damages the plaintiff
ought to receive under v.ll the circumstances of the
case, _ _

Mr. Coulson and other - surgeons of eminence
were called for the defence, who did not appear to
take so gloomy a view of the plaintiff's condition as
the gentlemen on the other side. Mr. Coulson was
of opinion, after a careful examination of the plain-
tiff, that his ultimate recovery was more than
probable.
The fact that the accident has caused all things
to appear yellow to the plaintiff's sight raised a
question for the discussion of the medical world at
some future time, as no one appeared able to ac-
count for it.
After Mr. Hawkins had summed up his evidence
for the company, and Mr. Power replied upon the

whole ease- -
His Lordship left the matter in the hands of the
jury, who retired to consider their verdict, and,
after an absence of some time, returned into court,
finding for the plaintiff—damages, £1,200.

COURT FOR DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL
CAUSES, DEC, 11.

(Before the Judge Ordinary and a Common Jury )

MINTER V. MINTER.

Mrs. Sarah Margaret Minter prayed that her
marriage might be dissolved on the ground of
adultery, coupled with cruelty. The respondent,
Edwin Minter, pleaded a denial of these charges
and also condonation, and that the petitioner had
deserted him without reasonable cause.
Dr. Spinks and Mr. Biron appeared for the peti-
tioner; the respondent conducted his own case.
Mrs. Minter is the daughter of Mrs. Knight, who
keeps a fish shop in the Strand. She was married
to the respondent on the 25th of March, 1854, she
being then 18 and he 21 years of age. They lived
with Mr. and Mrs. Knight in the Strand until the
end of June, and then removed to Eversholt street,
St. Pancras, where with the assistance of their
parents he set up business as an
,upholsterer and
cabinetmaker. Mrs. Minter charged her husband
with having committed several acts of gross bru-
tality. She said that within a fortnight of their
marriage he told her that he had only married her
for her money. He scarcely ever spoke to her with-
out an oath, and he frequently pinched her till her
flesh was discoloured and slapped her. When she
was in the familyway he forced some medicine,
which he said he had procured from a foreign doctor,
down her throat. She was taken ill about an hour
afterwards, and was in such violent pain that she
fainted. She bad to keep her bed, and for two
days and two nights the doctor was unable to leave
her room. Shortly before her confinement she
went downstairs at her husband's request, but he
refused to speak to her. She put her arm round
him to try and get him to speak, and he then
kicked her and brought on premature labour. After
her confinement, and while she was still in bed, he
continued to ill-use her in various ways. She was
still suffering from a blow she had received on the
breast. Mrs. Minter stated other acts of cruelty
by which she had been most seriously injured, but
they were of such a nature as to render the evi-
dence unfit for publication. He had told her that
she would be ashamed to communicate them to any
one. The child died when it was a few months
old. Mrs. Minter was cross-examined by the re-
spondent, but he elicited nothing tending to cast
a doubt upon her statements. She left his house
on the 13th of March, 1855. On the previous
evening she had followed and seen him with a
woman. When he returned she remonstrated with
him. He said that he was keeping the woman.
that he loved her little finger better than he did
his wife's whole body, that he was going to bring
her into his house to live, and that his wife might
either stay and share their bed or be her servant,
or she might go home to her parents. The next
morning she returned to her parents, and wrote a
letter reproaching him with his conduct, and hoping
that he would be happy with the woman he had
chosen. She had since supported herself by keep-
ing a school in the country. At the conclusion of
Mrs. Minter's evidence she was taken very ill and
had to be assisted out of court.
The evidence of Mrs. Minter was fully corrobo-
rated by Dr. Fraser, the medical man who had at-
tended her; by the nurse who had waited on her
in her confinement ; and by Mrs. Dickinson, who
had lived with them for some months in Eversholt-
street.

After the petitioner left her house the respondent
removed and went to live at 419, Oxford-street. It
was proved that he had there committed adultery
with a womaii named Simons. The landlord of
the house said that he did not approife what was

going on, and he distrained upon Mr. Minter for
arrears of rent, and got rid of him.
The respondent was then sworn, and declared
that he had never at any time raised his little
finger against his wife. What the witness had
sworn was false. His wife's parents had set them
at variance, and she had not instituted this suit of
her own accord, but at the instigation of her
femily. He had begged her to return home, but
she had refused.
The Foreman of the jury said the petitioner's
evidence was so convincing that they would not
trouble the learned counsel to reply, nor his lord-
ship to sum up, and returned a verdict for the peti-
tioner upon all the issues.
His Lordship granted a decree nisi with costs.
STOATE V. STOATE. _

In this case the respondent had obtained a judi-
cial separation on the grounds of cruelty and deser-
tion ; and the petitioner, who was said to be a
barrister, now prayed for a dissolution of the mar-
riage on the ground of his wife's adultery. The
respondent, in her plea, denied the charge, and
alleged connivance, adultery, cruelty, and desertion
against her husband.
The marriage took place in 1852, and the coha-
bitation appeared to have lasted two or three years,
at Ramsgate and Bath. In 1835 Mrs. Stoate went
to live at a Mrs. Sarginson's, at Bristol, under her
maiden name of Haynes. A number of witnesses
were called to show that the respondent had been
leading a drunken and dissolute life. On the
other side evidence of cruelty and desertion was
given, the other recriminatory pleas being aban-
doned.

Dr. Swaby appeared for the respondent. The
petitioner conducted his case in person, and was
frequently reproved by the Court, the learned judge
remarking that he could hardly believe that a per-
son could really be of the law who manifested such'
gross ignorance, and comported himself so offen-
sively.
The jury found the issues in favour of the peti-
tioner, and
Sir C. Cresswell said he would consider whether,
under the circumstances, he would decree a dis-
solution.