The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-14 00:00:00

VELOCIPEDING AT THE AGRICUL7 URAL

HA LL.

The Agricultural Hall at Islington was opened to the
public on Saturday in a novel capacity---that of a veloci-
pede practise school and racing arena. A better covered
space for this purpose could not be found, and favoured
by the strong bicycle mania which has broken out amongst
us, the speculation; properly managed, ought to be
remunerative:- The Hall has been converted into
something as near a ring as possible by enclosing
in an immense oval the whole area of the Hall. A
handsorrie silver cup was 'offered for competition amongst
velocipedists, and all corners were invited to enter the
lists. The card contained twenty-three entries, although
there was an entrance fee of 10s. There were six heats,
and then the competition was confined to two young
velocipedists, Mr. R. B. Turner and Mr. J. Hook. Each
race was nine times round the course a distance
of about a mile. The deciding heat Was an exciting•
one: The riders kept close together, Hook evidently
running purposely a yard. in Turner's rear. In
the last, round but one, however, Hook put on
a tremen,:ons :punt, and shot ahead GC. his opponent
amidst bud cheers. Turner soon after gave up, and it
was said he had by a previous tumble injured his foot, ti,nd
therefore p!aced himself at a disadvantage. Both arc
excellent velccipedists, but the general opinicn was in
favour of Hook. The races were run at an average rate
of fifteen miles an hour, a speed which it would be impos-
sible to attain over a less smcoth surface. The
attendance of spectators was large. It is a question
whether the presence of the betting fraternity, shouting
their slang from barrel heads, is likely to be an attraction
for such a quiet sort of assembly, or whetlfer the tolera-
tion of 'ragged and unscrupulous sellers of "c'rect cards"
within the Hall will invite the attendance of timid ladies
and nervous gentleinen. Of course, if velocipeding is to
become a new kind of "national sport," with the
" national" attributes of betting, bookmaking, and
welshing, these are the proper things to do, not
otherwise. The proceedings were varied by nume.
rous accidents. • The spectators, we are told,
appeared to be on a pinnacle of delight when a
velocipedist spinning along at ten or twelve miles an hour
lame crash against the barricade, and rebounded head
over heels, while numbers two and three, hotly pressing
on behind, and too late to stop or turn aside, made rapid
cannons, and, in the twinkling of an eye, became part of
A singular moving mass of wheels and legs on the floor.
No serious injury appeared to be sustained by the fallen.
Some of the riders or fallers leaped into the saddle
again at once, and hurried off upon their mission.
The best riders were those who sat bolt upright,
and preserved a rigid seat, leaving the legs, and especially
the knee-joint, to do the work. Simultaneously with the
skilled riding in the arena, ordinary amateurs and learners
were rattling round the galleries with various degrees of
success, oftentimes to the great amusement of the
pcc tators.

LAW AND POLICE.

--__..._____-

• A TRADE DRVICE.—Ou Saturday the Master of the
Rolls heard the case of " Guinness v. M`Manus." The
plaintiff, the well-known Dublin brewer, filed a bill to
restrain the defendant front using labels in imitation of
those used by Messrs. Guinness. The labels were
alike in form, colour, and devices, the letters " A.
neitli -the date being substituted in Mr. M`Manus's label
fur the letter " A" and a number ; while " James Gate,
Dublin;" •stood • for " James Street,' Dublin."
Ins lordship granted a perpetual injunction, and ordered
the delivery of all the defendant's labels. This was the
last day of term. The court sits again on the 22nd
inst. •

TICIIBOENE CASE. —ln the Vice-Chancellor's
Court, on Saturday, two motions connected with the
Tichborne case was heard by Vice-Chancellor Stuart. In
the case of " Tichborne v. Tichborne" a motion was made
on behalf of Sir Roger Tichborne, plaintiff, for an order
directing that the time for retaining the bills

ilea in the causes might be extended to the
tast day of Easter term 1870. The Vice-
, Chancellor made the order. In the other case
application was made on behalf of three creditors of the
late Lady Tichborne for an order for an account on her
personal estate, or that the receiver might be appointed
administrator ad Wein of the intestate estate. The Vice.
Chancellor made no other order than that the parties
might take liberty to apply to the Court of Probate.
THE LONDON, CHATHAM, AND DOVER RAILWAY.—In
the Vice-Chancellor's Court, on. Saturday, a motion was
made on behalf of the directors of the London, Chatham,
and Dover Railway for an order to vary an order made
- by this court on the 7th of May. That order provided
that Mr. Kettlewell and Mr; Cadman should join, as
representatives of the mortgagees, in opposing the bill now
pending before the House of Lords. It was stated that
hince the recent decision of the Lards Justices those gentle.
- men could not now oppose the bill as representatives of
the mortgagees. Vice-Chancellor Stuart declined to
make an order, being of opinion that the application ougLt
to be made to the Lords Justices.

DRAMATIC COPYRIGHT.—In the Bail Court, the right of
gnoprietorship in the drama of "Tile Ticket of Leave Man"
was argued on Saturday. The question was raised
between Mr. Tom Taylor and Mr. Benjamin
Webster, of the Adelphi Theatre, on the one
hand, and Mr. Emden and another, of the
Olympic Theatre. The right to the copyright was sold in
1863 to Messrs. Robson and Emden by Air. Turn Taylor ;
but the question was whether such sale was limited to the
period during which Messrs. Robson and Emden were
managers of the Olympic Theatre. The case stood over.
WEARMOUTH COLLIERY STRIKE.—At the Sunderland
Police•court, the other day,William Richardson, a hewer,
was charged with assaulting a fireman at Wearmouth
Colliery. Defendant was one of the men out on strike,
and insisted on taking coals from the engine-house. Com-
plainant, who was fireman, refused to let him have them,
and a dispute arose, in which defendant struck com-
plainant with the pail he was carrying. He was fined 10s.
and costs.

At one of the theatres in Vienna an actress is
about to appear mounted upon a bicycle, and will go
through the entire performance on that animal !
THE QUEEN'S VIEWS AS TO DAMAGES BY GAME.
—Her Majesty, having recently learned that one of the
tenants on a property adjoining the royal estates on Deeside
had been obliged, in self-defence, to protect his crops from
the ravages of deer by shooting some of them, at once
expressed surprise and regret that any farmer should
suffer from such a cause, and gave orders for the imme-
diate erection of the fencing necessary to prevent the deer
passing from the royal estates to his lands.—Dundee
A dvertiaer.

THE INTERNATIONAL BOAT RACE. —The four
oarsmen who are to represent Harvard College in the
racss with Oxford and Cambridge fours of England, pull
down Charles river, at Boston, every evening between 6
and 7 o'clock, stripped to the waist, in a six-oared shell,
in which one or two other oarsmen assist them. The day
of departure is fixed for July 10, so that the Harvard four
will be enabled to practise on the current of the Thames,
where the tide rises and falls 18 feet.—New Fork Times,
June 2.

A ROYAL GAMBLER.—The Russian Princess
Suwaroff, who possesses the reputation of being the
greatest female gambler in Europe,.is now irl Paris. Last
summer she was to be seen at Baden-Baden playing every
day for large stakes from morning till night. When the
Baden season ended she rushed off to Monaco, and she
there passed the winter in gambling incessantly. The
Monaco season ended, she is now in Paris en route for
Baden. Sometimes her losses are enormous, at another
her winnings are very large. She is very rich, and has
been three times married, but she lives apart from her
last husband. She is still young, and very handsome. In
early youth she must have been -a splendid woman. Like
all gamblers she is extremely superstitious ; sometimes
thinking that if her face be placed in a particular position,
luck will be certain ; at others, making certain signs with
her.hands.as the cards are being dealt out, or the roulette
ball is rolling; at one time gravelybegging people whose
faces. displease her to be pied enough to leave the table, at
another asking perions. whose- lOoks she likes to stand by
•
her side.

MURDER IN THE . BOROUGH OF LONDON,—An
inquest was held on Saturday eVening, in the Borough,-
respecting the death of Henry Johnson, aged 37 years.
Martha Clayton, wife of a porter, said that the deceased
was a labourer at the Eastern Counties Railway, and he
lodged at. her house. _ Last Friday fortnight, at
twelve o'clock, the deceased was in his room, and a man
came to see him, and he remained an hour and a half.
Thegi-there was a sound. of the breaking of crockery. The
dccegtspd then e.xylahned, '' Oh,
.pray, foi• (4.)d's salve do
'not Inil '::,, ''' Witne,ts then catere,l dr,. -,,r;in and she saw
tilc dc:::z-t ,-11 sti;C:ding c: thd. lied with Lli:oLl fiev,ing from
the dile t:f his fa,',.e. '"The in tii'lial a ,p:,ker; an'l he pt:oick
the decea.ied on the legs and face , it!, it -e. era] tiult,9. f-:i1;e
cried out. The deceased then (trawled off the bi d and ilown
the stairs.-:. Ifer husband wrenched the poker out -of the
hands of the strange man and held him until the police
came. He had often called upon the deceased about money
scatters, and he had often threatened " to do for. him."
Mr. R. C. Lucas, house surgeon at Guy's Hospital, &poked
that he saw the deceased when he was brought to the hos-
pital, arid he found a large deep lacerated wound on the
right cheek. It was three inches long, and it went down
to the cheek bone. There were also several other wounds
on the body. They were all the result of separate blows,
caused, no doubt, by a blunt instrument. The jry u re•
Maud 6 yexclict_9f Wilful)Jurder against JameiDalton, 1