The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-07 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

THE CONSUMPTION of SMOKE.—In the Court of Queen's
Bench, on Saturday, a case was heard which had been
stated by the justices of Halifax for the opinion of this
court. The appellant, the engineer of Messrs. Holds-
worth and Son, manufacturers in Halifax, was convicted
for using a furnace which did not consume its own
smoke. No notice had been served upon the owner or
occupier of the mill, and the appeal was grounded
on the wording of the Act, which allows a
month's notice. The court held that the month's notice
required by the statute only applied where an information
was laid charging any person named in the Act with con-
tinuing the offence from day to day, and not to a person
charged with one single offence.

THE RICHT OF VOTING.--At the Court of Common
Pleas, on Saturday, an appeal was decided on the ques-
tion whether the members of Cambridge University who
had chambers in college were entitled to vote for the mem-
bers for the town. The case stated that each scholar occu-
pied rooms in his college as sole tenant, and rented the same
unfurnished at £lO a year or upwards. The Lord Chief
Justice said that the Legislature had left certain
ambiguous terms to the judges to decide. He had come
to the conclusion that the appellants did not occupy as
lodgers, and that their rooms were not lodgings within the
meaning of the statute.
THE CREOSOTE NUISANCE.—Mr. John Schwartz, a
sugar-refiner, in Mile•end New-town, was charged with
having occasioned a nuisance by burning creosote in lieu
of coal. It was shewn that injury was done thereby to
the health of the neighbourhood. It was stated, after a
consultation had taken place, that the defendant had
agreed to reconstruct his furnaces in accordance with the
provisions of the Smoke Nuisance Prevention Act.
THE SUSPECTED POISONING IN NORFOLK. Satur-
day the Swaffham magistrates were occupied for some
time with the investigation of a case of suspected poison.
ing of some interest. Two persons named William George
Davy and Susannah Davy—husband and wife—were
brought up charged with administering a quantity of
arsenic to John Mayes Davy, a brother of the male
prisoner, with intent to kill and murder him. John Mayes
Davy is a single man, and a working miller at Swaffham;
William George Davy is a baker at Pakefield, near Lowe-
stoft, Suffolk. The mother of the Davys lately died; she
left a little property, which she bequeathed in equal
portions to her sons. On the Bth ult. John Mayes Davy
went to London to receive his own and his brother's
share of the legacy. He returned from London by way of
Pakefield for the purpose of spending a few days with his
brother, to whom he paid £4O, his share of the legacy,
keeping £4O, his own share. Before John Mayes Davy
left his brother's house, Mrs. Davy gave him six small
currant cakes, which she said she had made for him, as
she knew be liked them. John Mayes Davy ate three,
and felt no ill effects, but while eating a fourth cake he
remarked to his landlady, Mrs. Harvey, that the cake
contained some white specks in it. This was on Sunday
evening, the 23rd ult. In the course of the evening John
MayesDavy went to some Dissenting chapel ; but he felt
so unwell that he was obliged to leave the chapel before
the service was ended, and as soon as he reached home
he was seized with violent vomiting and purging,
which continued nearly all the night. Mr. Marriott,
surgeon, was sent for, and at once pronounced the
man to be suffering from the effects of poison. The
remains of the fourth cake, which had not been quite
eaten, were handed to Mr. Marriott, who, on analysing
the contents, found a great quantity of arsenic, so much,
indeed, that it could be seen with the naked eye. The
Davys had lived on good terms ; but the theory of the
prosecution now instituted against William George Davy
and his wife is that they wished to obtain possession of
the second share of the legacy. John Mayes Davy was
confined to his bed for some days, Lut he is now recovering.
The further hearing of the case was adjourned.

CABINET COUNCIL —At the Cabinet Council held
on Saturday, in Downing-street, the Ministers present
were the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, the Lord Chan-
cellor, the Earl of Kimberley, the Right Hon. H. A.
-Bruce, the Earl of Clarendon, Earl Granville, the Right
Hon. E. Cardwell, the Duke of Argyll, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, the Right Hon. Hugh Childers, the
Right Hon. J. Bright, the Right Hon. G. J. Goschen,
the Marquis of Hartingtun, and the Right Hon. C.
Fortescue.

THE SUPPOSED NORFOLK MIIRDER.—As already
briefly reported, the skeleton of a woman of middle age
and small stature has been disinterred at Hilgay, near
Downham, Norfolk. The skeleton was found by some
men who were digging for sand near premises occupied
by a Mr. Barton. Some years since a shed stood on the
site, and it is conjectured that in this shed the woman
must have been secretly buried. The shed was used as a
small coal depot. A woman named Archer, who had been
living with a man named Smith, disappeared nearly
twenty years since from the village, and has never since
been heard of. Smith is now a bedridden old man.
Superintendent Watson, of the Norfolk police, is carefully
investigating the circumstance. The skeleton was not
perfect, and perhaps it would be more correct to describe
the remains found as a cluster of bones.
SHOCKING TRAGEDY IN MONMOUTHSHIRE.—The
quiet locality of Newchurch, situate about eight miles
distant from the town of Chepstow, was on Saturday
morning last the scene of a horrid tragedy. A man, named
John Lane, son of a farmer, appears to have cherished a
feeling of animosity against his brother-in-law, Mr.
William Richards, to whose dwelling he went on Saturday
morning with a loaded gun, intent upon mischief. Finding
that Richards and his wife had gone to Chepstow market
he ordered the servant girl out of the house, then he went out
himself and locked the door, the girl making the best of
her way home in terror. tam then commenced scatter-
ing Richards's cattle, and at the time a labourer named
William Nicholi.s, ..7^3 just going to do some work
for Diehards, came up. Upon his speaking, Lane hzeit
*Aim, the charge entered the head, and Nicholls dropped
dead on the spot. This was no sooner done than another
man, named James Davies, a butcher, came up, and
whilst he was looking at the unfortunate victim on the
ground, Lane reloaded his gun and shot him in the right
arm and face. Davies managed to get away to the lidose
of a farmer named Baglin, who immediately conveyed
bim..to Chepstow Infirmary. The body of Nicholls was
taken to the nearest lan to await the coroner's inquiry.
Lane, it is said, is insane. There appears to have beeu
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