The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-24 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

ACTION AGAINST THE " MARK-L AN EXPRESS."—A
rather unusual action against a newspaper proprietor has
been tried in the Court of Common Pleas, brought by one
Hawkins, a miller and corndealer at Belper, against Mr.
G. P. Tuxford, proprietor of the Mark-lame Express, for
damages sustained through the non-insertion of an adver-
tisement in his newspaper. It appeared that in November
1864 the plaintiff was desirous of selling a steam flour
mill. He instructed the agents of Messrs. Smith and
Son at Derby to insert advertisements in certain news-
papers ; among others in the Mark-lane Express and in the
Magnet. By some mistake the advertisement was not in-
serted in the Mark-lane Express, and Messrs. Smith
omitted to send the advertisement to the Magnet. The
day of sale was fixed for the 2nd of December, hut, as the
plaintiff alleged, in consequence of the absence of proper
advertisements, the attendance was very small, and no
sale was effected. On applying for compensation the de-
fendant admitted his clerk's error, and offered to insert the
advertisement gratis if another sale was contemplated.
The offer was not accepted, and this action was brought.
The jury returned for the plaintiff ; damages, £2O.

ACTION FOR DAMAGES FOR PERSONAL INJURY. - In the
Court of Common Pleas, the case of Swanson v. the
London and St. Katherine Dock Company, was tried be.
fore:the Lord Chief Justice Bovill and a special jury. It
was an action to recover damages for personal injury. The
plaintiff was a gauger in the Customs, and on the 22nd
February last he was on duty in the London Docks, en-
gaged on some casks which were beside a gangway. At
this time two labourers were employed pushing along the
gangway a four-wheeled truck which had on it a hogs-
head of sugar. One of the wheels of the truck passed
over the plaintiff's right foot, and crushed his great toe.
Of course he suffered very great pain, and he was for three
months unable to perform his ordinary work. The
plaintiff's case was that he had no warning of the approach
of the truck. This was denied by the defendant, but the
fury found for the plaintiff ; damages £75.

DOES THE OFFERTORY COLLECTED IN A PROPRIETARY
CHAPEL BELONG TO THE INCUMBENT OF THE DISTRICT ?
This is the question to be decided by Sir Travers Twiss,
judge of the Consistory Court. He is applied to by the Hon.
and Rev. Mr. Liddell, as incumbent of St. Paul's, Knights
bridge, to issue a citation against the Rev. Mr. Marcus
Rainsford, the officiating minister of Belgrave Chapel, in
the district of St. Paul's, in regard to the offertory alms.
The question was whether the incumbent was entitled to
the offertory alms for the poor, and it was submitted that
as Belgrave Chapel was a proprietary chapel, they ought,
as had been done by Mr. Rainsford's predecessor, to have
been paid over to the incumbent of the district. An ap-
plication had been made by the proctor for Mr. Liddell,
to the Bishop of London, and he had refused to gmnt let-
ters of request to the Court of Arches.
ERECTING A PULPIT IN A CHURCll.—Another case be-
fore Sir Travers Twiss was an application by the rector
to erect a pulpit in the church of St. Mary's, Stoke New-
ington. The pulpit was paid for, but the churchwardens
objected to its erection, as they contended the present pul-
pit was sufficient. The attendance at the church had
fallen off because of the number of collections. Judgment
reserved.

THE ROYAL LIVER FRIENDLY SOCIETY.--A very singe.
mode of exercising the virtue of charity has just been
brought to light at the Southwark Police-court. A Mrs.
Parkinson appears to have been in the habit of insuring
the lives of children and other persons (who are too poor to
do it themselves) in a friendly society, in order that when
death ensues she may hand over to the families of the de-
ceased the sum assured, less the amount paid by herself.
The magistrate said ite was sure that no insurance office
of respectability would do any thing of the kind. It was
certainly illegal. The rules of the society in question
were greatly called in question by Mr. Burcham, the
magistrate, and Mr. Tidd Pratt undertook to report the
circumstances to the proper quarter, when a thorough
investigation will take place, and the society (the officers
of which contend that they are acting in a perfectly legal
manlier) can be represented by counsel.
ALLEGED MURDER.—A charge of murder was preferred
yesterday at the Thames Police-court against two men,
named Jeremiah Duggan and Timothy Donovan. Shortly
after one on Sunday morning cries of " Murder" and
" Help" were heard coming from the direction of the
bridge over the London Docks in Gravel-lane, Shadwell.
A Mr. Wagstaff ran to the spot, and found the two pri-
soners on the bridge and a man in the water. The man
was drowned, and on the police coming up Mr. Wagstaff
as well as the two prisoners were taken to the police-
station. Search was made for the body, and it was almost
immediately recovered. It proved to be that of a man
named Francis Brown. While searching for his body,
another—that of a prostitute named Elizabeth Moore—
was found. It is supposed that she had committed
suicide. The prisoners Dugan and Ainovan were
remanded.