The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-21 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—Wvinc 19,

- _
COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.
(Sittings at Nisi Prins in Middlesex—Before Lord
Chief Justice Coc‘Aburn and a special jury.)

RICE V. GRA.HA.NI........EXTRA.ORDINARY CHARGE OF
ASSAVIT AGAINgT A COLONEL.
The plaintiff in this case was a lodging-house-
keeper, and. some time ago he let apartments in
the house, 3, Park-street, Grosvenor-square, to
the defendant, Lieutenant-Colonel Graham. The
action was to recover damages for an assault, and
for injury done to some furniture in the apart-

Inuits.
Mr. O'Malley, Q.C. and Mr. Russell, appeared
for the plaintiff ; and Mr. Sergeant Ballantine and
_ .

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—June 18.

Mr. Quain for the defendant.
Mr. Richard Rice said—l am the plaintiff, and I
get my living by going out waiting and by keeping
a lodging-house. In the. latter part of last year
Colonel Graham had my principal apartments, at
4/ 15s a week, including attendance. On New
Year's Day last I put a dish of apples on the table
—the apples belonging to Colonel Graham—
and I pointed out that one was rotten. The
colonel said, "Take it away, " and I did
so. He said rather angrily, t, Why do you put
rotten apples on the table"?'and asked me where
_e
I
kept them, and I said, "In the sideboard." H.
ll
said, " Why do you keep them where they
rot I said, in a proper tone and manhnere ,
e l a
they would probably rot the same atnyewweerrda.Hsee.
Be said, " What 1" and i repeated
'he Go out of the
then got up, came to me, an sad, da
di
will,l sir, as
room, you scoundrel."
soon as have got my things. He Instant y caught
hold of me to put me out of the room. I said, "I
don't go out like this." Colonel Graham has lost
part of his right arm, but has on the end of the
artificial arm an iron stump. He struck me twice
in the face. The lamp was upset and put out, and
we got on the floor. I let him get up, and he
struck me once while lying on his back, and again
when he got up. We still scuffled. He took hold
of my right hand and put it in his mouth, and
held it there for more than a minute. I thought
he would bite my finger off. Whilst my hand
was in his mouth he struck at me, and bit the
door, on which there are seven distinct marks
made by the iron stump. The butler's
tray was upset, and knives were lying about
the floor. I thought that a man who would bite
might do worse, and I called for the police. Two
policeman came. I then had hold of the colonel,
who was lying on his face on the floor. I after-
wards went into the room again, in consequence of
the oil having been upset, and the things lying
about. He came at me in a menacing way, and
said, "Get out of the room, you scoundrel," and I
went. I had two black eyes for more than a
month, and had a bruise on my forehead. The
damage to the furniture was 3/. 17s. 6d., and oil
was also upset on the carpet, and glass broken.
Compensation was applied for next day, and pro-
ceedings threatened, and the answer was a letter
from the colonel's attorneys, saying they would
appear to process.
The witness was cross-examined, but his first
statement was not materially altered.
Mrs. Emma Rice—l am the plaintiff's wife. I
was at home when the affair occurred. I got
home at half-past five. My husband was stand-
ing at the door. His face was much bruised,
and there was blood over his face, shirt, and
trousers. Colonel Graham was gone out. He
came home at about half-past nine. He was very
quiet when I went into the room .There were no
marks of violence on him. The next morning the
colonel said he would leave, and I said he must
give a week's notice. He said he had done it, and
would go to-morrow. I asked for compensation for
the broken furniture, and he said he would not pay
a farthing.
Henry Elliker—l am an upholsterer. I went to
the plaintiff's house on New Year's Day, at a quar-
ter to eight. Mr. Rice was at the door with the
policeman. There was much blood on him. One of
his eyes was much swollen. I saw the colonel next
day; there were no marks on him. The damage to
the furniture was 31. 17s. 6d. There were seven
marks on the door of the colonel's room made by
some blunt instrument, a quarter of an inch deep.
George Thorpe, a police constable, said—When
I went into the room the colonel was on the floor,
and the plaintiff was holding him, apparently to
prevent his striking him. They then got up. The
plaintiff had bruises on the face, and his finger was
bitten and the flesh torn. There was a good deal of
blood. The plaintiff was so exhausted that he could
not speak for some time. There were no marks of
violence on the colonel.
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine addressed the jury for
the defendant, and then produced the following
evidence.
Col. Graham said—l am a major in her Majesty's
19th Foot, and a breve' c lone!. I lost my right
arm in the Crimea, where I was aide-de-camp to
General Eyre. I took tlie apartments of the plain-
tiff in November last. On the evening of the Ist of
January I was dining by myself, and after dinner
turned to the fire to read, when Rice put the apples
on the table, and said some or one was rotten, and
I said. "Take them away." I asked, " Where do
you keep them ?" and when he told me said, " Why
the deuce do you keep them there; it is too hot.'
He said in an insolent tone, " I do not make the
apples bad." I said, "Leave the room ; you are
insolent." I told him to leave more than once. He
said, "I will not leave ; it is my room." I said he
was an impertinent scoundrel. I put nay hand on his
shoulder to remove him. He seized me round the
throat with greatforce with one hand, at the same time
catching me round the body with his other arm,
pinning my arms down. We then struggled some
little time, and iu the struggle the tablecloth was,
pulled off, causing the lamp and other things to be
thrown down. It ended in my being thrown down.
I was undermost. He had his hand on my throat
aud held so tightly that I thought I should be en-
tirely throttled. I tried to get my left hand loose.
I succeeded, and struck at his face as he was beset--
jug over me. This made him draw back a little, and
I succeeded in getting on my legs. He regained
hold of my throat, and forced me into a corner. He
had hold of my throat with his right hand, and
kept his other arm round my waist, pinning my
arms to my side. Being nearly throttled, the only
way I could make him leave hold was by biting his
finger, which I did severely. This made him loose
his hold, and I got my left arm and the stump of
the right arm free. I contrived to get him by the
back of the head, and it was then I struck him with
the stump. I confess at this time I tried to do him
all the harm I could. The stump is a leather stump,
and there is a socket into which a hook may be
fitted. The socket did the harm. (It was a socket
projecting some distance from the stump.) The
struggle continued fer some short time, o• he tailing
out all the time "police." It ended by his throw-1
bog me down again, and grasping my throat' nearly
throttling me. It is not true that I putf his finger
got
into my mouth and bit it. I holdo it with my'
mouth whilst he had hold of my throat.
The Lord Chief Justice—l do not knt.
o w how you
could bite the hand without carrying it to your
mouth.
Witness—lt is difficult to explain, but I should
not bite any man unless obliged. I did not carry
the hand to my mouth. I bit him to make him re-
lease my throat. I got several bruises on my head,
but I bathed the place to prevent there being any
mark. The chief injury was on my throat from
being nearly throttled.
Cross-examined—I was very much excited, but
1 can say I did not put his finger into my mouth.
I bit him to make him release my throat. I was
excited when I called him " an impertinent scoun-
drel," but I only put my hand on him in a
very quiet way. I had told him once or twice be-
fore to leave the room. I had got his head "in
Chancery " when I pummelled him with the stump.
Re-examined—l cannot tell exactly how I got
his finger in my mouth. I had before felt a throt-
tling sensation.
To the jury—When I called him "an imperti-
nent scoundrel." I told him to leave the room, and
put my hand on his shoulder. He then seized me
by the throat, and then I struck him. The man
bad twice before refused in the most insolent man-
ner to leave the room before I put my hand on his
shoulder.
The Lerd Chief Justice directed the jury that it
was admitted that the defendant had committed the
first act; tuft by putting his hand on the plaintiff's
shoulder, but the important question was whether
the defendant was justified in what he had done.
If the defendant had ordered the p'aintiff to quit
the room and he had positively refused to do so,
he became a trespasser, and the defendant was en-
titled to use necessary violence to remove him. The
Plaintiff
admitting however,t on the record, said that even
unnecessary viole be true, the defendant had used i
The jury found-nce; verdict for the plaintiff—
damages, 251.

MANSION-HOtSE.---John Francis Grossmith,
.icensed victualler, the Three Tuns, Jewry-street,
Aldgate, appeared in discharge of his recognisances,
for further examination on a charge of having vio-
lently assaulted the Rev. E. J. May, head master
of the Brewers' Company's School, Trinity-square,
Tower-hill.
Mr. T. Atkinson appeared for the prosecution,
and Mr. Sleigh for the defendant.
On the previous occasion Mr. May was too ill to
attend, owing to the injuries he had received, and
the evidence taken was confined to medical testi-
money regarding the nature and extent of those in-
juries.
Mr. Atkinson, in opening the case, now said that
the form into which the charge would ultimately
solve itself might be either that of a felony, or a
misdemeanour under Lord Campbell's act accord-
ing to the character of the evidence which he should
bring forward ; but the assault of which the Rev.
Mr. May complained was one of the most savage
attacks it was possible for the malice of man to
conceive or for his revenge to execute. The learned
gentleman then stated the character of the assault,
and called
The Rev. E. J. May, who said, I am head mas-
ter of the Brewer's School, Trinity-square, and live
there. I remember Monday, the 7th of June.
About twenty minutes to twelve at night some one
knocked at my door. lam a bachelor, and have
a housekeeper in my house ; that is all. At the
time of the knocking at the door she was in bed,
the house being all locked up and the key taken
up stairs, and I was on my way to bed when I heard
the knocking. I called out " Who is there ?" and
a voice said, " I want to see the Rev. Mr. May
immediately." I went to the door, and without
opening it answered, " You cannot see the Rev.
Mr. May now. He is going to bed, and you must
come in the daytime." The voice again replied,
" I want to see the Rev. Mr. May very partied-
larly." After some little further parleying I fetched
the key and opened the door, which appeared to be
pushed from the outside, as it flew open suddenly.
The defendant immediately rushed past me, and
went into a room at the end of a passage. I did
not say anything to him as he passed me, but fol-
lowed to see what he wanted. When I entered
the room he got between me and the door, and said
to me, " You caned my boy some months ago. He
is ill now, but I am a man as well as you are ;"
and so saying he showed me in a rather significant
manner a stick in his hand. The stick now pro-
duced is the stick, which he left behind him. (The
stick referred to was a knotty walking-stick,
rather heavy, and about an inch in diameter
at the butt-end, and tapering to half that
thickness at the bottom. I wished to get
rid of Mr. Grossmith, and replied to him, " It is
too late to enter into such particulars to-night,
If you wish to say anything about it come in the
day-time, and I shall be happy to hear what you
have to say. It is past 12 o'clock, and I was actu-
ally going up to bed." Mr. Grossmith replied,
raising his stick to his shoulder in a threatening
manner, " D— you ; suppose I take it out of you."
I believe I said, but I am not sure, "I would ad-
vise you not." I made to go to the street door,
with the intention of getting a policeman's aid, say-
ing, as I passed him, "Mr. Grossmith, I must re-
quest you to leave my house." As soon as I said
that Mr. Grossmith exclaimed, "D— you, you
brute, I'll murder you," at the same time stt ik-
ing me ou the head wi.h the stick. The first blow
knocked the candlestick out of my hand and extin-
guished the light, and he repeated the blow several
times on my head with the stick, exclaiming, "I'd
murder you—l'll do for you." I felt tnat my
saftest plan was to keep within range of his stick,
and I hit at his face right and left, as well as I could
in the dark, and at last wrenched the stick out of
his hand. I heard some water run down the well
from the flower-pots which had been upset, and
thought it was blood running from my head, which
was bleeding very mucb. I believed that I was
dying, and with all the strength I could muster I
struck a downseght blow at him with the stick, and
he want down on the ground. He immediately
caught hold of my feet and jerked them forward,
throwing me on my back on the staircase. He
then sprang upon me, kneeling on my chest, and
with his left hand seized my throat, continuing
to hit me with his right hand. I called for help as
loud as I could, crying, " Mason, Mason, Police,
Police" (Mason being my housekeeper). When
I raised the cry for the police defendant ex-
claimed, "D— you, I'll stop your cries. I'll mut-
der you before any help can come to you. I came on
purpose to murder you, and I'll do it." We con-
tinued to struggle together, I with my left hand
endeavouring to wrest his hand from my throat,
and in the struggle we got near the street door, the
struggle having cominued at least ten minutes
before we did so. I immediately made a plunge
forward at the lock, knowing exactly where to find
it, and opened the door. Be, at the same moment,
I relaxed his hold on my throat, and struck me a
blow on the chest with his right hand, which sent
me reeling the whole length of the passage. He
then ran off saying, " You d— rascal, I'll murder
you yet." He left his hat and stick behind him.
I went immediately to the station-house in Seeth-
ing-lane, and from thence with some officers to Mr.
Grossmith's house, but we did not see him there.
I then went back to the station-house, and from
thence to Mr. Moore's, the surgeon, to have my
wounds dressed.
Cross-examined by Mr. Sleigh—l have been head-
master of the school about six years. I was sum-
moned to this court upon a charge of assaulting Mr.
Grussmith's little boy, and upon that charge the
Lord Mayor held me to bail to take my trial, but
the bill was ignored by the grand jury. I have also,
and since that time, been summoned on another
occasion on a charge of excessively beating the son
of the Rev. Mr. Roberts, who was a pupil in the
school, and who has since been removed from the
school. That summons was withdrawn, and the
charge, the of re, was not publicly investigated.
On the night when Mr. Grossmith came to me
he did not tell me his name befcre I opened the
door. If he had, I should not have opened the door.
When I opened the door, I do not recollect his
saying,
37 n
child
"My poor child is dying," but only that
have
nwas 111. Ito cardriyd himn not
ohesatraihrs to bedimsay, ‘t‘ol_
nieht, as he is too ill to walk." P
When lie got in he
did not endeavour to
child.
By Mr. Atkinson—The son of the Rev. Mr.
Roberts has been dismissed from my school for bad-
behaviour and for cruelty to the other boys.
By Mr. Sleigh—The boy Roberta was dismissed
after the summons was taken out, but he had been
sent home once before, when he was brought back
by his mother.
Mr. F. G. Moore, surgeon, deposed that on the
night of the assault he found some wounds on the
head of Mr. May, one of which divided the scalp,
but without injuring the bone, and also some
wounds on the arms. The wounds were not of a
dangerous character ; but they rendered Mr. May
unfi; to attend his duty, as it was necessary for him
to have perfect quiet. Witness had been attending
Mr. May up to the present time.
After some corroborative evidence as to the state
of Mr. May after the assault,
Mr. Atkinson said his case was concluded.
Mr. May was then recalled at the desire of Mr.
Sleigh, and in reply to questions put by the
learned gentleman t 'trough the Lord
Mayor said
cannot tell whether Mr. Grossmith, when h.
left my house, was bleeding likewise. On the oc
casion when I was summoned here for assaulting
his son, Mr. Grosstnith offered to forego all pro-
ceedings against me if I would
pay a sum of money
to the poor-box, but I declined to do so.
Mr. Sleigh sail h
had acted in the same he only wished that Mr. May
that occasion,
now that had animated
the defendant on'atht
he (Mr. Sleigh) occasion, and he hoped that
should
not now appeal to his
Christian feeling in
vain. It would have been
better, under all the circumstances, if the case had
not been brought to that
court
there, he hoped it would be
d. at all ; but being
isposed of in a sum-
mary manner. He had been compelled to ask Mr.
May about tke matter which gave
un-
fortunate case, as it was
in consequence of the
weak and suffering state of his poor child, a deli-
cite boy, who had been
getting gradually
worse since that time, and whose days perhaps
were numbered, that Mr. Grossmith sought Mr
May for explanation. He did not mean te say that
the clidd's condition had been produced entirely by
the vio!ence of Mr. May, but ho would say that
the defendant was honestly under the impression
and belief that his child's days had been shortened
by the severity of the punishment that had been
inflict d upon him ; and, knowing this fact, it was
with the greatest surprise that he had heard his
learned friend (Mr. Atkinson) characterise the
assault as one of the most malicious and unpro-
voked attacks that the wind of man could con-
ceive. Tha- there had been assault in point of
[ADVERTISEMENT.I—rwIow - law he could not deny, but:it was plain the defen-
hazard in say log that the popuaiYa:Bit Pill4.—Thera is no dant acted from the impulse of an injured man, to
remedies in this cluntry ti wiY_ of
, Professor Hollo- whom explanation had been refused, after his ten-
way'sirtens in whist) sick persona Prufetshsiount:hPara".d. Tne
Merest feelings had been outraged. He a-ke the
to death have recovered under the „eratyiocnondemned Lord Mayor to deal with the matfer summarily,
tiracle•working pills, are so nuineroui and the,e and though he did not ask the rev. prosecutor, in
authenticated, that the most stubborn so we!l the language of that gospel whose doctrines he
silenced. Hosts of sufferers from indige,tionincredulity
is preached, to offer 0116 cheek when the other bad
liver coin
plaints, nervous debility, disorders of the bowe,,, ersi_ been smitten, or because his brother had offended
deptic fits, and other diseases, have been cured by this against him
seven times, to forgive him seventy
unapproachable medicine when every other means had times seven—he did appeal to him to show that he
ffsijed. The press teems with the testimonials of the I was a Christian minister, i
1 not only in profession but
:p art:es, and while we wonder we are compelled to be- also in practice and
.li•ve.—Sold by all medicine vendors throughout the obstacle in the way
spirit, by not throwing any
world, and at Professor Holloway's establishment, 244, matter by a ay of a summary settlement of the
pecuniary fine.
Strand, London. Mr. Atkinson in
reply, said it was a very painful