The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-08 00:00:00

BETTING TRANSACTIONS.

Yesterday, in the Bail Court, an action for false
imprisonment was tried, before Mr. Justice Cromp-
ton, the parties concerned being two
.gentlemen
named Sinclair and Shaw,
The plaintiff, Sinclair, was a betting man, and
was in the habit of attending races. The defendant
was, until very recently, a captain in the 36th Re-
giment, was likewise a betting man, but also occa-
sionally rides steeplechases. It would seem that
the plaintiff and defendant were both present at
the Liverpool Autumn Races in 1857, and they en-
tered into a bet of LlO to £2O with regard to a
mare named Englemere, which was a starter for
one of the races. Plaintiff betted against Engle-
mere ; the defendant backed her. The race came
off, and a horse named Thistledown came in first.
On that plaintiff went up to the defendant and
told him he had lost the race, and asked
him for £lO. Defendant handed it to him.
No sooner, however, had he done so than it
transpired that the race had been run on the
wrong course. The stewards declared, therefore,
that it must be run over again.' Well, this time
Englemere came in first, but when the defendant,
Captain Shaw, went in search of the plaintiff tb
get back the £lO which he had paid over, as well
as the £2O which he stood to win, he was not
forthcoming. Sinclair, however, alleged that he
was at the racecourse all day, and that he did not
think of repaying the £lO to the defendant, for
that he had won it fairly, his bet being on the
horse "first past the post," and not upon the horse
that might eventually be declared the winner. The
parties did not meet again until the following
March, when they were attending the Brixworth
races, and it was on the plaintiff being assaulted,:that
the defendant was given in charge of the police ;
but after being detained the whole of the night,
was discharged by the magistrates in the morning.
Evidence on the part of the defendant having been
heard,

The jury, after an absence of about half an hour,
returned with a verdict for the plaintiff—damages
£lO.

SHOCKING CASE OF MALICIOUS

BURNING.

At the Manchester City Police Court, on Monday,
a young married woman, named Young, was
charged with throwing burning naphtha upon her
servant girl, Bridget M'Quaile, thereby causing her
such serious injury that her life is despaired of. A
policeman said he was on duty in Hanging Ditch
at one o'clock on Sunday morning, when he heard
a cry of " Fire," in Cateaton- street ; he went into
that street, and was told that the fire was in a
tailor's shop in Cannon-street. Witness went to the
house, opened the door, and found some rags burn-
ing in the kitchen. The prisoner was is bed in the
kitchen, and two men, the prisoner's husband and
a lodger, were sitting naked in the same room.
One of the men said the room upstairs was on fire.
Witness ran upstairs, and "found a woman lying
on the floor in a room. She was on fire, and the
room was full of smoke. Witness tore the
clothes from her, and assisted her to stand up.
The woman was doing nothing herself, because she
was nearly suffocated. She said the woman down
stairs had done it. Witness got her down into the
kitchen, and there she said to the prisoner, " You
threwithe burning naphtha on me, and set me on
fire, and neverlattempted to put it out." The pri-
soner made no reply. A cab was speedily procured,
and the woman was taken to the Royal Infirmary.
George Macbeth, the lodger in the prisoner's
house, said the prisoner's husband was sleeping
with him on account of the illness of one of the
children. They had been in the bedroom about 10
minutes on Saturday night, when the prisoner
shouted that Bridget was all burning. Witness
ran down the stairs, but was met by the girl on
fire, who tried to get through the window. He
prevented her from doing so, and threw the bed-
clothes round her in order to smother the flames.
Bridget had been in the house about four or five
weeks, looking after the children. She had fre-
quently had words with her mistress. When wit-
ness went home about midnight on Saturday, the
prisoner and Bridget were sitting beside the fire.
There was a naphtha lamp burning on the table.
Witness was a tailor, and had worked by naphtha
lamps for many years.
Mr. Superintendent Gee said that inconsequence
of the dangerous state of the injured woman, her
statement was taken on Sunday afternoon.
The magistrates sent to the Royal Infirmary to
inquire respecting her, and were informed that she
was in a sinking state, and might die any moment.
She could give no answers but "yes" and "no."
It was, therefore, deemed inadvisable to attempt
taking her deposition, and the prisoner was re-
manded.

We understand that Dr. John Ivor Murray has
been appointed to the vacant office of Colonial Surgeon,
Hong long.-- i.Feotsman,