The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-25 00:00:00

THAMES.

JEALOUSY AND REYENGE.—A very pretty young woman
named Ann Knife, the wife of a waterman, was brought
before Mr. Paget charged with violcntly assulting Mary
Jane Madison.

The complainant, a modest young woman, married, and
with one child, said her husband was a stableman, and she
lived with him at Loth's-buildings, Upper East Smithfield.
The prisoner's husband was her cousin. They were on
speaking terms, and had occasionally met each other, but
no impropriety had ever taken place between them. The
prisoner, however, had thought proper to be jealous of her,
and made her husband miserable and others very uncom-
fortable by her violent temper. A few weeks ago, after
she had gone to bed, the prisoner made a forcible entry
into her room, made use of the foulest of language,
and accused her of incontinence with all the men in the
neighbourhood. She then made an attempt to strike her,
and ker husband got before her and turned her out of the
room. Last night she was passing along Queeu-street,
Tower-hill, when she received a violent blow on the back,
which nearly forced her on her face and took her breath
way. The prisoner followed up this blow by scratching
her face, tearing her hair, and pulling her bonnet off. She
was very much injured by the violence inflicted on her.
Mrs. Perry, housekeeper at the vestry-house, Tower-
hill, saw the outrage, which astonished her. The com-
plainant was crying, and said, " Pray, help me ; don't let
me be murdered." The people cried out, " Hit her again ;
you have a key ;" but Mrs. Madison did not use it.
Police-sergeant Blackwell, 4 H, said that he was fetched
by a person to 2, Queen-street, where he saw the prose-
cutrix in a state of great distress, and surrounded by 100
persons. Her face was inflamed and her bonnet torn to
pieces. Tho prisoner ran away, and he pursued her into a
house and took her into custody.

The prisoner, in defence, said the complainant wanted
to forsake her own husband and live with her (the pri-
soner's) husband, and was constantly meeting him, and
committing adultery. She then entered into many par-
ticulars in support of her statement that improper fami-
liarities existed between her husband and complainant.
Mr. Madison said there was not a word of truth in any
of the prisoner's statements, except that she met her cousin
on Friday night last in the street, while upon an errand,
and exchanged a few words with him.
Sergeant Blackwell said the complainant was a well-
conducted and respectable young woman.
Mr. Paget said he was perfectly satisfied the jealousy of
the complainant by the defendant was unfounded. It was
a fancied jealousy, and the prisoner was making herself
miserable, her own husband miserable, and injuring the
happiness of complainant and her husband by indulging
in a rabid passion. Mrs. Madison had behaved very well,
and must be protected. He should remand the prisoner
for a week, and her husband must attend the next exami-
nation. He would then determine what punishment he
would inflict.
The prisoner—Will you take a fine?

Mr. Paget —No, certainly not.

THE BUTCHER TRADE PROTECTION SOCIETY. —A
crowded meeting of the master butchers of the metropolis,
convened by the Trade Protection Society, was held last
night in the hall of the Butchers' Company, Eastcheap,
City, the master of the company (Mr. Richard Hill) pre-
siding, to consider the recent orders of the Privy Council
relative to the movement of cattle. The proceedings
lasted upwards of two hours, and all the speakers con-
curred in condemning the proposal to prohibit the slaughter
of cattle in London except at abattoirs as being calculated
not only to injure the trade but to be seriously detrimental
to the interest of the public. Complaint was made against
Mr. Hunt, M.P., for having put forth misrepresentations
on the subject, and the chairman, speaking from 40 years'
experience, pronounced it to be his opinion that it required a
live and a dead market to supply London with meat, while
Mr. Morris, who proposed one of the resolutions, estimated
that the abolition of private slaughter-houses would have
the affect of increasing the cost of meat to the consumer
by at the very least one halfpenny a pound. Nor was this
all : the poor would be very great sufferers, because what
was called the offal would not reach them if the cattle were
permanently slaughtered at a central spot or in the coun-
try, and by the existing prohibitions tripe-dressers had
been almost completely deprived of their supplies. Great
stress was laid upon the bad state in which dead meat was
brought to market, particularly in the summer months,
and it was urged that the Paris system was wholly
inapplicable to London. A string of resolutions, based
upon these views, was proposed and seconded by
Messrs. Varly, Fry, Cobb, Woodley, Hillsley, Morris,
Gibbetts, Fagay, and Pickworth, and unanimously adopted
by the meeting. It was stated that there are upwards of
1,700 master butchers in the metropolis ; and after the com-
mittee of their Protection Society had been empowered to
take such steps from time to time as they might deem ne-
cessary for defending the privileges of the trade, the pro-
ceedings were brought to a close with a vote of thanks to
the chairman and the wardens of the company for the use
of the hall.

A PREACHER ON FIRE.—The New York corre-
spondent of the Boston Journal sends the following :
—" In one of the Presbyterian churches, the other Sun-
day morning, a minister was officiating with all due de-
corum and solemniy. All at once he began to cut up queer
antics, and shortly disappeared from public view, to the
no small astonishment of his auditors. The pulpit being
a close ono, boxed up on all sides, and the door shut, the
people could not tell what was going on ; but smoke ris-
ing from the pulpit gave assurances that there was fire
somewhere, and the excited congregation learnt, after
awhile, that the minister was on fire. It seems that ho
carried in his pockets a lot of loose Wolfer matches, and
they ignited and set him on fire. Assistance came, and the
minister (fire) was put out. The service was continued,
but the solemnity of the audience was not as marked as
on some other occasions."

A communication from Saint-Omer (Pas-de-
Calais) says :—" Rumours have been in circulation
that a camp of reserve was to be formed at Helfacit. Such
is not the case; on the contrary, the military administra-
tion is about to remove the huts constructed a few years
back, and which are now in a very dilapidated condition.
The old camp will be alone preserved."
THE OVER-DUE AMERICAN STEAMER.—Between
40 and 50 guineas insurance were paid on Saturday on the
over-due City of Washington, and 10 guineas for insuring
her against Fenian capture. She was spoken on the 2d
inst., 230 miles from Sandy Hook, and later the same night
rockets and blue lights were seen fired from a steamer 330
miles from the Hook.

A Lyndhurst correspondent writes to say that
the cuckoo was heard and the blackthorn was seen in
blossom at Loperwood, near Lyndhurst, on the 7th inst.
White, in his natural history of Sidborne, says that the
7th April is the earliest period the cuckoo's note is heard
in Hampshire.

The Commercio of Oporto announces that the
Archiepiscopal Palace at Braga was last week en-
tirely destroyed by fire. Of its contents scarcely
anything was saved, except a few important papers
amd the library, which contained above 5,000
volumes.