The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-24 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

RAILWAY COMPENSATION CASES, —Several actions to
obtain compensation for injuries received in railway acci-
dents have come before the law courts. In the
Curt of Exchequer a music teacher and his
wife, named Lomax, were awarded £1,300 damages
for injuries received by the female plaintiff on
the Metropolitan Railway. In the Sheriff's Court seven
actions in which judgment had been suffered to go by
default were heard in one day, all arising out
of the New-cross Railway accident. In most cf the
cues the jury awarded small sums, but a plain-
tiff, named Wilson, laid Ma damages at £1,500.
He had been a drayman for more than twenty years in
the service of Barclay and Perkins, and was severely
injured by the collision which produced concussion of the
brain. He had drunk a half-pint of gin a day besides beer,
and it was suggested that the drink ho bad taken had pre-
disposed him to nervousness. The jury, however, awarded
him £BOO.

ALLEGED FRAUD ON AN INSURANCE COMPANY.—A case
of alleged fraud on the Scottish Insurance Company has
been tried at the Liverpool Assizes, two days having been
occupied in the investigation. A clothier and jeweller,
named Fry, sued the company upon a policy of insurance
for £7OO effected on his furniture and stock. The
defendants pleaded that the claim was fraudulent, and
that the fire occurred by the plaintiff's connivance; also,
that he had included property which had not been
destroyed. It was stated that the plaintiff bad not kept
any books by which the inquiry could be assisted. The
witnesses for the defence consisted chiefly of policemen
and firemen who witnessed the fire. None of them agreed
as to the exact length of time the fire lasted, but they all
thought it could not have burned beyond twenty minutes.
They could not account for the fire occurring. The jury
found a verdict for the defendants, on the ground that the
plaintiff had sent in a fraudulent claim.

The llarvard crew have published a statement in
the New York papers disclaiming some of the a: elegies that
have been put forth in their behalf We wish to say that
we received the bast of treatment from the English people,
and were fairly beaten in the race. The only member of
the crew who does not sign this peper, Mr. Simmons, is in
Europe, and we have not had time to procure his signature."
Deaths of little children, through wrong mediciLee
got from druggists being :riven them, are constantly recur
ring. Two have joet taken place in Laucashire. At Wigan
a mother gave her chll.l more gamboge than should ly
given ordinarily to a grown .up person. At Warrington a
mother administered a whole botrie instead of twelve dn.},
of a liquid. In both cases the children died.
Nature announces that the Gold Medal of tilt
Royal Astronomical Society has been this year awarded to
M. Delaunay, the eminent mathcruat'cian and astronomer.
—The question of meteorological standards is now
occupying the attention of the Royal Society Council.
—The Professorship of Botany in the Royal College of
Science, Dublin, is now vacant, Professor Wyville Thom-
son's resignation having been accepted by the Science sad
tat NitArtaleat, 4