The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-20 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

THE ST. ALBAN'S RACECOURSE.—An action has been
orought in the second Court of Common Pleas to
recover damages in consequence cf the defendant having
refused to carry out an agreement to let the plaintiff
the booth ground on St. Alban's racecourse.] The defendant
was owner of the racecourse and grand stand, the plaintiff
the progrietor of the Alexandra Hotel at Barnet. The
plaintiff paid £2O deposit for the ground on which he
proposed to erect booths, and have betting lists. The
defendant appears to have objected to the betting lists, as
he had understood the booths were for refreshment only.
The jury found for the defendant.

A LORD FINED FOR Asseuvr.—At the Wandsworth
Police-court, Lord William Bercsford, an officer of the
9th Lancers, stationed at Hounslow, was charged
with assaulting a police constable. It appears
that the constable saw Lord William drive up
to a beerhouse at night, and kick at the door. He was
answered by the landlady's son, with whom he got into an
altercation. On the constable going up to inquire into the
disturbance, the defendant struck him on the face. The
defence was that his lordship had ,put up his horse at the
beerhouse, as he was dining is the neighbourhood, and
as he returned, found his rug was missing. The magistrate
said the constable had a right to interfere, and fined the
defendant £5.

THE AFFRAY VIM POACHERS IN VriNWOR PARK,—
Thirteen men charged with night poaching and with
firing at a keeper in Windsor Park, have been brought
before the magistrates at Chertsey. The affray took place
on the night of the 9th November, and one of the pri-
soners fired a gun at the keepers, one of them, named
Fog, being dangerously wounded. He is now better, and
able to give evidence. The prisoners were committed for
trial at the March assizes, bail being refused.

Mrs. Henry Wood will commence a new serial
story, with the title of " B easy Rane," in the January
number of the Argosy.
Thomas Bell, the mqn who a short time ego eto'e
a number cf Llank money-order forms from the Ent hmin, a
Post-office, war Dublin, and, 17 forgi 'g s'gnaturus, ,ne-
ceeded in ea.hing many of them in England, was COLIVie:OI
t L'v, rp::ol assizes and sentenmd to ten years' purl
servitnde.

THE PORTRAIT OF A FRIEND.—The new pocket
elition of Tennyson's works will contain a portrait—we
belie'e the first ever published—of Arthur Hallam, the
friend of the poet whose early death furnished the theme
of "In Memoriam." It will necessarily possess much inte-
rest for admirers of that poem—Daily News.
SUDDEN DEATH OF THE COUNTESS OF FIFE.—
The Countess of Fife died suddenly on Saturday evening
at the family residence in Cavendish-square. She was a
daughter of William, seventeenth Earl of Erroll, by Lady
Elizabeth Fitz9larenee. Her ladyship was born in 31ay
1829, and married, March 16, 1846, James Duff, Earl of
Fife, by whom she leaves issue Viscount Macduff and four
daughters, the eldest two of whom are married to the
Marquis Townshend and Mr. Adrian Hope. Numerous
noble families are placed in mourning by the much-
lamented lady's death.
THE PAYMENT OF TA XES.—The following copy
of an official notice has been circulated. The paper is in
the form of a demand for payment of the half-year's
assessed taxes due on September 20, and it runs thus :
"N.B. The Assessed Taxes on articles of Establishment
(viz., servants, carriages, horses, armorial bearings, and
hair powder) for the year ending April 5, 1870, are due,
and payable in moieties on September 20, 1869, and March
20, 187,1. But the house-tax, land-tax, and property and
income taxes for the entire year ending April 6, 1870, aro
due and payable in one sum on January 1, 1870. Vide 32
and 33 Vie., c. 14, s. 8."

STRANGE SCENE AT A CONCERT.—There are two
great factions in Paris which are not often noticed in the
English papers, and which have lately encountered each
other in a sort of pitched battle not undeserving of record.
The scene of conflict was at the Pasdeloup Concert. Hera
the lovers of classical harmony assembled in great numbers,
but their zeal was nearly outdone by the pugnacity of
those who adhere to the Italian school. M. Pasdeloup, it
was announced, would lead the overture to Richard
Wagner's " Maitres Chanteurs." It begins with a gentle
murmur, which imitates a breeze among the trees. The
Anti-Wagnerites imagined that as the murmur imitates
a breeze, they might imitate the murmur. No sooner did
this murmur arise than it was overwhelmed by a thunder
of applause from the Wagnerities. It was at this moment
that the enemy, in their detestation of the "music of the
future," seized the decisive weapon, and shrill whistles
resounded from all sides. Applause again answered,
and a prolonged uproar followed. Never have
these fashionable concerts been so disturbed. Won-
derful, indeed, is party spirit, but surely the near
approach to blows on a question of musical taste is novel,
and not insignificant. It is interesting to know that
Wagner has a strong party in Paris, capable of sustaining
such a fight as this which is now reported. There are few
in England who as yet like "the music of the future," but
very many of us may like to hear of anything, even in the
shape of Wagnerism, which can hold its head in Paris by
way of opposition to the prevailing taste for Offenbachana-
Han music.—Daily News.
BREACH Or PRO/ABR.—An action for breach of
promise of marriage was tried before Lord Ormidale and
a jury in the Court of Session, Edinburgh, on Thursday
and Friday last. The pursuer was Miss Amelia Fleming,
residing at Frenchie, Fifeshire, and the defender was
William Alice, tanner, Leslie, in the same county.
Damages were laid at £l,OOO. It appeared that the pursuer
had been carrying on a good business as a dressmaker,which
she had given up in consequence of the expected man iage ;
that the bride's cake and wedding dresses had been pur-
chased ; that it was generally understood by the pursuer's
acquaintances that the marriage was to be solemnised;
and that her health had suffered a good deal since the
ewdasefebnrcookietnw:sff.staltnedththeatcotthiresedeoffentdheer
wevais-
mdenen:geachegegfmoirveentnht to drink ; that at the time the premise of
marriage
excitement
was
;that
adfeo r hteh three ae
swleaebkcsu hein was ausnadlemr og rs
te ca ot nnsetr va
notul ys

in bed without taking off his clothes; that he kept shouting
for drink and crying that his Lrain was on fire ; and that

when he did get out it was in the evening to a public-house

It was also alleged th It when he went to buy the wedding

dresses he was in a state of intoxication, and that on all
occasions when he made reference to the marriage he was

under the influence of chink.

One of the witnesses—a

washerwoman who had given Miss Fleming a broom as a

marriage present—declared that the defender was of

" drucken" habits, and always "stottin' fou." Another
witness said that the defender "had betters and waurs,

but Saturday nicht was aye a sair nicht wi' him." Tho
jury, after being absent about twenty minutes, gave a
unanimokui verdict Ler the puraur, aseekliaLthe slawages
1450, „ ,seepa2

PETITION FOR WINDING-DP.—Two petitions have been
presented in Vice-Chancellor MalMs' Court for the
winding up of the General Company for the Promotion
of Land Credit ; one by a creditor for £lO,OOO, the
other by the International Land Credit Company, who were
creditors for £450,000, of which it was stated that
£257,000 was unsecured. The company was registered
in England in 1865 with a capital of five millions, in
five hundred £lO shares, and had an office in Westminster,
but its principal place of business was Brussels, and its
directors were foreigners. It was mixed up with
a number of ethers, and it was admitted to be insolvent,
but it was said to be possessed of land valued at
40,000,000 f. The petitioners contended that it must be
taken to be English, and the court had no power to -wind
it up. The only opponent was a princessof the royal house of
Austria, whose brother, the Prince de la Tour and Tagis,
has transferred a number of shares, and the purpose of the
opposition was to delay the order twelve months that he
might escape liability. On behalf of the Princess of Reuss,
the holder of twenty paid-up shares, it was urged that the
company could not come under the Act of 1862. The Vice-
Chancellor thought so too, and dismissed both petitions.
No order for costs.