The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-11 00:00:00

after an absence of about a quarter of an hour re-
turned intg court, when
Mr Trani, addressing Captain Henry and Mr.
Di.vis, said—We have been considering during our
absence, as indeed you may be sure we have been
doing throughout this inquiry, as to the persons
blameable for the cause of this wreck, and I am
sorry to say that we can come only to one con-
clmion, which is, that the vessel has been lost
through a fault. The only question is as to
whose fault it is ; and it is our opinion that not
you, Captain Henry, but Mr. Davis, the chief
officer, was in charge of the ship, and that in alter-
ing the course at 12.45, if he had consulted the
chart, he would have found that the course was
not altered sufficiently, but that the vessel was
nearly, in a direct course to run on to the rocks
where she became a wreck. We aro also of opinion
that you, Captain Henry, in giving him directions
to haul up, and referring him to the charts, gave
him all the information you possessed, and-placed
him in charge of the ship, and that if he had not
been in charge of the vessel it would have been
his duty to consult you. These are only some of
the points to which we shall have to refer in
making our report to the Board of Trade, and in
doing which we shall not fail to refer to the good
character which we have received of Mr. Davis as
an officer.

Numerous testimonials as to character were here
put 111, anil Mr, Baker, the second officer, who it
will be remembered rewired the thanks of the pas-
sengers, passed at a meeting on board the Bombay
steamer,
er, for his daring services in putting off in
a boat and obtaining water for the relief of the
sufferers, and afterwards putting off and intercept-
ing her Maje,ty's ship Cyclops, was exonerated by
the Court from all blame, his certificate having
been called for at the commencement of the inquiry.

Mr, Cumberland applied for an order for the
payment of the costs of the inquiry.
Mr. Traill asked against whom the order would
be made ?
Mr. Cumberland replied it would virtually be
the company to which the ship belonged.
Mr. Trail remarked that he thought such an
order against the company would be unjust, as they
had employed a person who held a certificate of
competency from the Board of Trade.
Captain Walker observed that he did not think
the Board of Trade would desire that the costs of
the inquiry should fall upon Mr. Davis.
Mr. Traill, after some further observations, de-
clined making the order, and the proceedings ter-
minated.

GLASGOW .IUTUMN CIRCUIT.

GLASGOW, SATURDAY.

The Glasgow Autumn Circuit was opened here
on Monday last by Lords Ivory and Deas, and
brought to a close this evening. On Tuesday Lord
Ivory broke down from indisposition, when Lord
Cowan, who was sent for by telegraph, took his
place. On the following day Lord Cowan also
succumbed to illness, when the telegraph brought
Lord Ardmillan, who, with Lord Deas, completed
the work of the circuit. In all there were 61 cases,
in which 81 persons were implicated, the great ma-
jority being thieves, housebreakers, returned con-
victs, &c., who were convicted and sentenced to
from 10 years
periods of penal servitude varying
downwards. There were, however, only two cases
which excited especial interest, the one being that
in which Margaret Gallacher,
Boyle (her husband), James or
Boyle, Boyle, John
Charles
Kerr were accused of very foul act oconspiracy.
From the evidence it appeared that Francisin Pater-
son, a writer and house factor Glasgow, had
1 a shop in M'Alpine-street to Boyle and his wife,
not
l gaor
tl yo
who were brokers. The rent w
paid, however ; finally he was induced
the shop on the pretext that he would be paid £5
on account. When lie arrived the woman Boyle in-
vited Paterson into the back shop (a dimly lighted
place), saying it was requisite that he should exa-
mine the water crane, which was out of order. No
sooner was he there than the woman seized him by
to
the neck, when she fell thet
the grosuannide,
timeand
dragged him on the top of her, a
exposing her person. Paterson struggled to get
away, but meanwhile the woman raised the alarm
that he was attempting to commit a criminal as-
sault upon her. Boyle, the husband, and the other
prisoners, who were waiting
at hand, then
t
rushed in, attempted tear
severely.
down Peterson's
clothes, and assaulted himoThey then
en
called in the police, when he was given in charge,
and in a few days tried before thaespolice magistrate
for assault upon the woman, but acquitted on ac-
count of discrepancy in the evidence.
An accomplice, named Helen M'Call, or Duffy,
said,—l have
known John Boyle and his wife for
seven month:.
Mr. Paterson raised a small debt
action againstthem,
and they attended the Small
One Debt Court. night I spoke to Mrs. Boyle
about the case. She told me that if I would go to
the back shop wh en
her to trip hi Mr. Paterson came and assist
down and keep him down Mr.
Lumsden would
would not, but I give me a new dress. I said I
would be a witness. This was on
the 24th of February. A few days after Mr. Lums-
den and Boyle tried to get him down in secret, and
she told me, and Charles Kerr, and her sister. Mrs.
Boyle told me she had told him she had £5 if he
would call for it, and that she would take him
down into the store. On Wednesday morning, the
2d of March, I went up to the house, and I heard
John Boyle say to his wife that Mr. Lumsden had
said she was to prepare herself, as Mr. Paterson
would be in in an hour. It was all arranged how
they were to come in. Mrs. Boyle was to pull him
down and expose herself and also him; and the
little girl, Mrs. Boyle's daughter, was to cry "Mur-
der ! my mother is being killed," and I was to go in
with another person and be a c itness. All this
was arranged in the morning. Stewart, Charles
Kerr, and James Boyie were to rush in. I was in
.the shop, and the little girl was placed at the door,
to watch Mr. Paterson. The little girl came cry-
ing " Here are Mr. Paterson and Mr. Stewart
coming." James Boyle stopped Stewart, and Mr.
Paterson came down alone. When I went in a little
after I saw Mrs. Boyle lying on a shake-down.
James Boyle and John were together. Charles Kerr
and I were outside. She took hold of him.
There was a bed on the floor, and I saw her lying on
it, with her person exposed. Charles Kerr and John
Boyle had gone in, and I found them there. His
shirt was open from the throat down, and he was
bleeding in the left cheek. Mrs. Boyle was taken
home to her own house between 7 and 8 o'clock.
We went to a public-house. They called for half a
mutclikin of whisky, and John laughed and said
they had the old chap safe enough now. I recollect
the day after the affair happened speaking to Mrs.
Boyle. She expected the police doctor to visit her.
She asked me to get a pennyworth of blood, and
she daubed the sheets with it. I went and bought
the blood from a young 0;irl in Market-lane. (Mar-
garet Cameron called.) This is the person from
whom I got the blood. Mrs. Boyle put some blood
in a bottle, and put the bottle below her pillow, so
that she might pour it about her when the doctor
Caine in. I saw her put some upon the sheet and her
person. I never saw Paterson except when he was
coining to them for the rent. I did not tell my hus-
band till it was all past. They told me not to tell
him.
It also came out in evidence that the object of the
prisoners was to extort hush-money from Paterson
to prevent exposure, or to obtain damages from him
by means of an ac'ion at law.
After a trial which lasted two days the prisoners
were on Friday night found guilty as libelled. This
morning they were brought up for sentence.
Lord Ardmillan, addressing the prisoners, said
the jury had, after a painstaking investigation,
come• to a unanimous verdict, finding the four pri-
soners guilty of the crime of conspiracy as libelled
to extort money, or found a false claim for damages
against Mr. Francis Paterson, by means of a false
accusation of a criminal offence, isnowing it to be
p
false, and by means of perjury. A more heinous
offence could not be committed, and one more
wickedly and more cunningly devised or more
determinedly persevered in it was difficult to
imagine. Up to the trial, and during its
progress, all the prisoners at the bar persisted more
or less in maintaining that false accusation of an in-
decent assault by Mr. Paterson upon the person of
the female prisoner at the bar. The jury in the box
had been compelled yesterday and the day previous
..0 consider whether that accusation of the as-
sau't was or was not perpetrated by Francis Pater-
son. If it had been proved before the police magis-
trate, a much more serious crime would have been
committed by them. It fortunately happened that
under the circumstances the case was only tried
b -fore the police court, and Mr. Paterson was ac-
quitted by the intelligent and discerning magis-
trate, who had seen 'ls ionocence through the
meshes that the prisoners had tried to spread
around him, but he might have been tiled for that
eflsnee in this court if it had been laid under a
dill" rent. denomination, and he might have been
convicted ; if that story which they had concocted
had been believed, he would have been convicted
of this most serious offence, and transported for a
tsrm of penal servitude, and a severe sentence
would have been pronounced against an innocent
man. A more wicked scheme, 004 one more wickedly
carrircl out, lie (LorclsArdmillan) had rarely heard
of. Then came the oaths by which they had sup.
ported that false accusation—oaths taken in a pub-
lic court to what they knew to be false. They had
sworn before Almighty God, and as theywould
answer to God at the great day of judgment, to this
lying and malicious accusation, which now had been
found, by evidence that would satisfy every human
being who had heard the trial, to have been totally
untrue. A more grave offence than that of perjury