The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-23 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

Tin BIRMINGITAM HosprrAr..—A suit has been insti-
tuted in the Rolls Court on behalf of the General Hos-
pital at Birmingham, to recover a legacy of £l,OOO.
Many years ago the testator, ➢lr. "Wade, bequeathed
his property to his mother and daughter, for
their lives and the life of the survivor, and
then as his mother should appoint. His mother
appointed by will—subject to the daughter's life interest—
£l,ooo to the hospital, and both died more than thirty
years ago. A like sum was left to the Leeds Infirmary,
and duly paid several years ago by the defendant, Mr.
Smith, who was one of the executors, and also medical
officer of that infirmary. His lordship said the payment
to the Leeds Infirmary did not constitute an admission of
assets, and until a fund was set apart, which was not don*
in this case,ll, no trust was created which would prevent the
Statute of Limitation from being a bar to the claim. Bill
dismissed with costs.

THE FAMILY ENDoirismrr LITE ASSITILANCE.—An appli-
cation has been made by General Patt, an annuitant of
the Family Endowment Life Assurance Society, in Vice-
Chancellor James's Court, asking that the society may be
wound up compulsorily by the Court. The Society had
been amalgamated with the Albert in 1861. The plaintiff
had received payments from the Albert Company, but it
was contended on his behalf that there was no
evidence of his assenting to the amalgamation.
In opposition to the petition it was argued that the
society had ceased to exist before the Companies Act of
1862 came into operation, and that no winding up was
possible. Further, that the receipt of the payments from
the Albert was a clear proof that the petitioner assented to
the amalgamation. The Vice-Chancellor said that in view
of the extreme importance of the questions raised, he
should reserve his decision.

"Ecuoas OF THE CLUBS "—ln the Court of Queen's
Bench Mr. Justice Lush has granted a rule for a new trial
in tho case of libel against the proprietor of the Echoes of
the ClOs. The damages were £5OO, and the rule was
granted on the ground of their being excessive, unlessther
were reduced by consent to £250.

CHARGE AGAINST A MONEY LENDER.-At the Central
Criminal Court, Robert Cooke, a solicitor and money
lender, has been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to
twelve months' imprisonment. The charge against him
was that he had induced a widow named Hall to execute
a deed by which she assigned to him a policy of .E2OO in
the British Equitable Assurance Office on her husband's
life, she being unaware at the time of the nature of the
deed.

LIBELLING rn EUROPEAN COMPANY.—In the New
Court, Joseph Bentley pleaded guilty to an indictment
charging him with publishing a libel on the European
Assurance Company. His counsel said that he had been
misled by the institution of certain Chancery proceedings
and by current reports. He now wished to express his
regret for having published the statements complained of,
and to apologise for them. Under these circumstances the
prosecution had agreed that the defendant should enter
into his own recognisances to come up when called for.
Mr. Commissioner Kerr said that in the absence of
evidence of malice he would allow that course to be
taken.

A STORY FOR TEETOTALLRRS.—A man, named William
Howell, has been charged at Westminster Police-court
with assaulting his wife and son. It was stated
that the prisoner was a good tradesman, but
a drunkard, and had been imprisoned for four
months, for assaulting his wife. He had so beaten
his son that he was a cripple for life. Last Friday he came;
home drunk, and made the boy stand naked in the passage
for several hours. On Saturday he again came
home drunk, and kicked tho boy cruelly. The
mother interfered, when he attacked her and cut her
face, when fearing murder would be committed she gave
him in charge. He had once sharpened a carving-knife to
kill them, and another time he knocked four teeth out of
his son's head. The prisoner excused himself by the plea
of drunkenness. The police gave . evidence of his
violent conduct, and the sobriety of his wife.
Mr. Selfe said he had never met a worse
case, and he regretted he could not administer the lash.
For the assault on the boy he sentenced him to six
months' hard labour, for that on the wife to two months,
and then he must find bail to keep the peace for six
months.

Reports have been called for by the Cabinet as td
the working of the Cornwallis Land Settlement in India,
and an able member of the Indian Civil Service, who is
acquainted with the land system of the East and West,
has been commissioned to visit India and to report on its
condition.

Mr. Commissioner Kerr still believes in heavy sen-
tences. On Monday George Checseman, who bad previously
suffered five years' penal servitude for passing counterfeit
coins, was found guilty of a similar offence, and the Com-
missioner, who said previous warnings had no effect, sen-
tenced the accused to fifteen years' penal servitud•.
A case of alleged misconduct of a Master of
bne Court of Common Pleas was brought before Mr.
Ju=tice Willes, in Judges Chambers on Monday. It
was an application on tchalf of the piaintiff, an executrix
named Cox. to review Master Bennett's taxation of
costs. Mr. Coote, for the plaintiff, declared that the Mas-
ter's taxation was "unfair." Mr. Justice Willes said, after
an allegation of misconduct, he would not hear the appli-
cation. A charge of misconduct must be heard in public
court.

A FRIENDLY lIINT.—The following lines were
not long since written on the wall of the tramps' ward of
the IVhitechurch Union, in Hants:—

" The Governor's name is Sutton,
The pauper's diet is mutton. -
But you must not be a glutton
When you come here to lodge,
You had better go on to Andover,
Where you can feed on clover,
By a far better dodge.
Martin Leonard; alias Bow street,
Spider, Squirrel."
EXPLOSION AT AN IRON FURNACE.—On Monday
morning a " tuyere " burst in one of the furnaces
belonging to Mr. James Holcroft, at the Level Furnaces,
Brierley-hill, near Dudley. In a second the bed for the
casting 'pigs " was all torn up by the molten metal, and
five persons, including the manager, Mr. George Pearson,
very dangerously burnt. This gentleman was standing
near the furnace talking to a workman named Coombes,
when the explosion occurred, and they received the
brunt cf the shock. The whol4 -of Mr. Pearson's
clothes were burnt off his body, and as he
wrung his hands together the skin and flesh fell away,
causing the most intense pain. An uninjured workman
wrapped him in a coat and bore him away. Coombes was
also severely scalded on the head, neck, and hands. The
other sufferers were struck by pieces of the scoria, but
being farther off, they did not get the full force of the
heated missiles. Their names are Robert Evans, Edward.
Barnes, and Joseph Smith. The damage done to the
place is considerable, but at present it cannot be esti-
mated. It was thought the three last-named men would
recover, but the opinion as to Coombes and Mr. rearson
Wasl_Vierved.