The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-01 00:00:00

THE HAYMARKE2' NIGHT-HOUSES.

Sir William Bodkin, at the Middlesex Sessions, on
Friday, thought it necessary to defend his decision in the
matter of the Haymarket night-houses. The counsel for
the police told the court that the convictions by Mr,
Knox, against which appeals had been entered, would be
allowed to be quashed. Sir William protested against
the misconstruction which had been put upon his decision.
" These convictions," said the Assistant-Judge, " have
been a subject of considerable comment, and have been
the cause of interrogation in the House of Commons. In
these cases there is no question of law ; it is entirely a
question of fact, and each case must stand on its oIA n
merits. On one occasion we quashed a conviction on the
hearing, and upon that decision a great deal has been said.
The sole evidence then was that a police-constable
went to the house between twelve and one o'clock,
and found men and women having refreshment, some of
the women being prostitutes. No question was asked,
and there was nothing to shew that the person who kept
the house knew that they were prostitutes. There was
nothing to shew that any warning had been previously
given against harbouring or encouraging them to come.
There was no ringing of any bell to give notice of the
approach of the police. In fact, there was nothing but
the mere incident that the police, before the licur of en?,
when those houses should be closed, found persons in
them taking refreshment, some of those persons
being prostitutes. Although Ido not shrink from taking
on myself the chief responsibility, there were many
magistrates present who -formed their own opinion upon
the question, which was a question of fact, and seemed so
clearly not to be a case which satisfied the requirements
of the law, that we did not call upon the counsel for the
appellants, but at once quashed the conviction. Indeed,
after all that has been said, I have no hesitation in
stating that if another case came here, and was presented
in such a bald and unsatisfactory manner, we should again
quash the conviction. We are equally as desirous as Mr.
Knox is of putting an end to any nuisance, whether
in the Haymarket or elsewhere ; but we cannot forget
that we are in a court of law, and bound to
act upon such testimony as is sworn before us,
and not to embark upon inquiries of another kind. There
was not a tittle of evidence as to ringing a bell, or of any-
thing more than persons taking refreshment within the
houses allowed by law, some of those persons being pros-
titutes. I do not think that any magistrate in the kingdom
could under the circumstances have arrived at a different
conclusion. If other cases come before us, we shall treat
them in the same manner, according to the effect of the
sworn testimony, and in no other way. I am sorry if
our decision should have induced Mr. Knox, for whom
I entertain a great respect, to have abstained from
convicting other cases, unless those cases were of
the same unsatisfactory character as that which we
decided. There were two cases for hearing to-day, and I
thought we might have had some further evidence to
justify the conclusion at which Mr. Knox came ; but
when they were called on we find there was no evidence
forthcoming, and that a letter has been written to say
that no attempt will be made to sustain those convictions.
I have nothing more to say than this, that as in the
last case we decided on the real merits of the question
as proved by the testimony before us, so we shall en-
deavour to decide when any similar case is submitted to
this court."

DEATH AT THE BUTTS.—WhiIe a party of the 7th
company of Ayrshire Volunteers were practising a night or
two back at the butts near Stcv,,nston, a boy came running
up from the direction of the targets and told them that his
companion had been shot dead. On proceeding to the spot
the dead body was found at a point about 230 yards beyond
the butts, with a bullet wound in-the breast. The boy and
his companion were playing at marbles on the san(l, and
the deceased, on feeling himself struck, h..d only t ime to
ejaculate "Oh ! %la t's that ? ' when he sank dowt; a .1 ex-
p'red. Ire was seven years old, the son of a r
named Moodie. The Procurator-Fiscal is making inquiries
into the case.

Tiu LIGHT OF THE SKY.—A gentleman—Mr.
Harrington, of Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, has propounded
a new theory which explains the light of the sky to be the
result of chemical change in the inflammable gases which
form so large a proportion of the earth's atmosphere—that
these inflammable vapours, while under the agency of the
sun's actinic, and gravitating power, form a tide in that
part which is opposite the sun, in which sufficient heat is
developed to render that half of our atmosphere luminous,
thereby producing the bruit and light which warms and
euliveus_the ;401'13 surface,