The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-23 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE

THE MERCHANT'S COMFANY.—The nearing of the first
charge against some of the directors of the Merchants'
Company was resumed on Monday at the Mansion House,
when Mr. Richard Stuart Lane, Mr. Horace Edward
Chapman, and Mr. Frederick Helbert Helbert were
accused of conspiring to defraud the shareholders by
ssoing, a prospectus well knowing it to be false in certain
material particulars. The case is quite distinct from that
heard on Friday, and in which Mr. Lane and Mr. Childs
were committed fur trial. Mr. Cape, the official liqu:•
iator, was recalled and examined, and the case was again
adjourned until Saturday next.
DARING HOTEL ROEBERY.—A French medical student,
gamed Henry Antoine Lavalley, was charged with
sobbing a Russian merchant of napoleons and roubles to
the value of about 2124. The prisoner, who bad
ills card printed " Marquis Henri de la Vallette, Faris,"
net the prosecutor at Ostend, and traveled with
him to London. They stayed together at Salter's
Hotel, when the Frenchman took an opportunity of steal-
mg the money from his fellow-traveller's portmanteau.
When detected, he declared that it was all a bad joke.
Ile prosecutor strongly recommended the prisoner to
nervy, because he belonged to a good family, and was
highly educated. The prisoner pleaded guilty, and *was
sentenced to six months' imprisonment, with hard
'abour.

BELL-RINGING AT CAMERMCE.—A good deal of interest
has teen excited in Camlaidge by an undergraduate of
John's College being brought up at the Guildhall,
-,barged with mischievously ringing the door-bell of Dr.
Ransom. It seems that fur several terms a mania for
bull ringing has I:riyaileil among the undergraduates, and
Dr. Ransom's Len is the spezial objcct of the crusade.
When the first offender eras apprehended Pr. r:knsom, in
the opinion of his eon& a ;nes in mischief, was unduly
In:Hulls for his punishment, so that they have
revenged themselves' by ringing his night-bell at
Xll sorts of hours, without any reason. The
zulprits have not always escaped detection, for some
half-a-dozen of them have been fned at different
times for ringing this particular bell, and the bench
intimated on the last occasion that they would send the
next offender to prison. Those who bad crowded the
7.ourt in the expectation of seeing an under-
graduate snatched off to prison, were, however,
disappointed. The defendant, who is a Creole, declared
that being a freshman, be did not know that it was Dr.
Ransom's bell which he was ringing, and he called in evi-
dence the dean of his college and his tutor, who both gave
him ran excellent character for steadiness. Under these
circumstances the bench contented themselves with
inflicting a flue of 405., which was at once paid.

---
Mr. Ralph Barnes, Secretary to the B:shop of
.:xeter, died suddenly on Monday afternoon, in his COth
year. He was in practice as a solicitor in Exeter for sixty-
seven years.

Several assaults were committed in Sheffield on
i;sturday night. An Irishman was half murdered, three
Englishmen were injured, and a man, in the employment
,f a tobacconist, was knocked down in his van, and an
attempt made to !I b him of his master's money. Sheffield
has become notorious for its disturbances of late, and the
sentences which have been passed on the offenders do not
appear to have produced any salutary effect.

THE NEW INFANTRY SHAKO.— Although the
eatteru for the new shako for infantry officers has not yet
been sealed, it is so far decided on as to enable us to say
that it will be a great improvement upon the one now in
wear. It will have a smarter appearance, being somewhat
taller, and will be 1 ound ror.ni at top and bottom with
two or three rows of gold gimp chain or braid, and the
peak will be similarly ornamented.— United Service
Gazette.

A meeting of the. Gloucestershire Chamber of
Agriculture was held at Gloucester on Saturday, when the
sanitary regulations Of the home cattle trade, and the
establishment of safety markets for imported animals,
were discussed. Resolutions were passed recommending
further legislation respecting the introduction of foreign
cattle, and Government inspection, to secure animals con-
veyed by rail or steamboats from needless suffering. It is
said that in former days, alien cattle were driven slowly
along the roads, and well supplied with water, many
diseases now decimating our herds were scarcely known.
SCIENTIFIC FARMING AMUSEMENTS.—For catch-
ing rats in a cheap and effective manner we recommend
the following :—Cover a common barrel with stiff stout
paper, tying the edge around the barrel; place a board so
that the rats may have easy access to the top ; sprinkle
cheese parings or other "feed" for the rats on the paper for
several days, until they begin to believe that they have a
right to their daily rations from this source ; then place in
the bottom of the barrel a piece of rock, about 6in. or
Tin, high, filling with water until only enough of it pro-
jects above the water for one rat to lodge upon. Now
replace the paper, first cutting a cross in the middle, and
the first rat that comes on the barrel-top goes through
into the water, and climbs on the rock. TLe paper comes
back to the place, and the second rat follows the first.
Then begins a fight for the possession of the dry place on
the stone, the noise of which attracts the rest, who share
the same fate.—Scientific Farmer.

A CURIOUS STORY. —A servant girl, lately in
the emr boy of Miss 'Hopkins, an old maiden lady, residing
in Stourbridge, wa.s last ~reek charged with a very exten-
sive robbery from the l •use of her late mistress. The
aleged robbery was sink ular in respect cf the miscel-
laneous character of the articles said to have been stolen.
For instance, amongst them was a bed, an article
entirely out of the category of those which are
generally found to tempt the cupidity of domestics
afflicted with kleptemani:.. But a matter cropped up,
almost incidentally, in the course of the case, which is sufli-
c'ent to make the most cr :dulous stare. The prosecutrix
stated that she had been] ,eked up by the prisoner in her
bedroom for five days am. five nights, and that during the
whole of that time she wa : without food. The girl alleged
that the prosecutrix 100 l ed herself up, and refused to
come out. It would thus Appear that she had been in the
bedroom for that length )f time, whether with her own
will or against it ; but Ns as she without food, the whole
time? Would it be possil le'for an elderly woman to sun
vive that length of time without eating and drinking? Ii
she did; wom 1' 8 not, come, out a raving maniac?—Bir.
int:ltaly-on Gaze! e.