The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-19 00:00:00

TILE ZOUAVE AND THE LADE

On Saturday, at Worship-street Police-court,
Daniel Joseph Benholiel, residing in Bandon-road,
Victoria-park, Hackney, attended to answer a sum-
mons obtained against him by Mrs. Maria Jones, a
widow, of Brunswick-street, Hackney-road, to show
cause wby he should not be adjudged the father of
her child, born on the 4th of July this present year.
The defendant who has frequently figured at this
court in a splendid Zouave costume, when seeking
advice in matters of refractory tenants, was, during
the Crimean war, interpreter to the French Marshal
Pelissier ; and on his return to England, about
three or four years since, met with the complainant,
at the house of her aunt, in York-place, Vauxhall-
road—hence the formation of an acquaintance
alleged to have -resulted in closer intimacy.
Mr. Vann, for the lady, stated the ease, and her
examination elicited the following statement from
her :—The gentleman who is laughing (the defen-
dant) is the papa of my child, and he cannot deny
it ; he can't look at me. After seeing him at my
aunt's, when he came from abroad, I did not meet
him until about sixteen months since ; it was in the
sweet spring time. On the 4th of October last I
went by a card of invitation to his house in the
Mile-end-road. He has moved since that time.
He had another residence at Wandsworth, but I
did not go there. After staying the evening with
him, he and his man-servant accompanied me home
to my sister's, but it was late, and w could not get
in. He said that if I would return with him he
would protect me like a brother. I did return ;he
slept in a hammock, as is his custom, I believe, and
I rested on the sofa. I don't know whether the
hammock broke, but he disturbed me three times
during the night. •
Witness here swore to the intimacy, and added
that she subsequently told defendant her situation,
who promised to see her through it.
Charlotte Haynes deposed that she had made de-
fendant acquainted with the " accident" that had
occurred to Mrs. Jones, and that he had given her
two shillings for that person ; but this witness ad-
mitted that no conversation ensued in which de-
fendant was mentioned as the father of the child.
Mr. Beard then cross-examined the complainant
—You have sworn that you are a widow, and your
name is Jones. Is it so ?
Complainant, hesitating—Well, I never was mar-
ried. I have a son by a person named Jones, since
dead.
Mr. Beard—Did you ever have intimacy with
defendant's man cook ?
Complainant—With his cook ? No more than
with you.
Mr. Beard—Did you never ask that cook to swear
the child was not his, but his master's, giving, as a
reason, that Mr. Benholiel was a rich'man, and that
the property would probably pass to that child ?
Witness—Never. I know that the cook has left

that service. My right name is Maria Levy. When
the defendant disturbed me as described, he said,
" Maria, my hammock has broken down." Ho
begged me not to make an alarm, as it would dis-
turb his tenants. The cook was in the house at
that time, bet he did not understand English;
therefore, he would not have understood any alarm
liad I made it.
- Mr. Beard—Sir, I must denounce this proceed-
ing as an infamous conspiracy to effect the purpose
I have intimated. My client has been at the ex-
pense of sending for the servantman, the cook,
from France ; and, if it be necessary, I will show
by him that the intimacy was with him—with the
man, and not with the mrster, although manifestly
she preferred, for purposes that must be seen
through, the master to be considcree. amenable.
Defendant was then sworn, and emphatically de-
nied any intimacy with the self-styled widow.
The magistrate observed that he did not credit
the oath of the complainant, and dismissed the
summons without hearing the cook.

GREAT FIRE IN THE CITY.

The most extensive fire which has occurred
within the City boundariies for some years past
broke out on Saturday morning at a few minutes
before eight o'clock in Ivy-lane, Paternoster-row.
The fire commenced in a large double house num-
bered 3 and 4 in the first-named lane, which was
five floors high, probably fifty feet wide, and ex-
tending to the rear of the houses in Lovell s-
court and Paternoster-row. The ground floor of
this building was termed the Literary Coffee and
Reading-rooms ; the first floor was occupied by.
Mr. W. H. Hutchinson's lace and muslin ware-
houses ; the third and fourth floors were in the
tenure of Messrs. Reed and Pardon, printers. The
moment the unwelcome discovery was made an
alarm was sounded, when a scene of indescriba-
ble confusion ensued, for it being market morning
every approach to the fire and the whole of the
lane became crowded with butchers. In the course
of a few minutes Mr. Superintendent Braidwood
and Mr. Colf, the firemen of the B district, and en-
gineers Swanton, Fleming, and various other officers
attended with nearly a dozen of the powerful bri-
gade engines. The warehouses of Mr. Hutchinson,
with the costly stock in trade, were in a general
sheet of flame, and then the printing offices of
Messrs. Reed and Pardon were encircled. Engineer
Swanton at great trouble succeeded in drawing a
plug, and one or two engines were set 0 work, but
the supply of water was found too limited to have
any effect upon the violence of the destroying ele-
ment, and before a better supply could be ob-
tained the flames continued their ravages, seizing
in rapid succession upon the premises of Messrs.
Edmonds and Remnant, the well-known book-
binders, and forming four houses, from 8 to 12, in
Lovell's-court. The flames next laid hold of the
premises belonging to Mr. Kent, bookseller, No. 21,
Paternoster-row. Every one then present looked
with amazement at the fearful scene, as the whole
of the row and lane appeared doomed to be levelled
with the ground, more especially as the flames had
communicated to the premises of Mr.- Virtue, the
extensive publisher, No. 26, Ivy-lane. The firemen
at length having obtained a good supply of water,
went to work in their usual intrepid manner by en-
tering the burning premises, and by so doing several
nearly lost their lives, for whilst they were stand-
ing in the coffee-house projecting the a titer fur-
nished by the engines, the whole of the heavy
presses standing in the third and fourth floors fell
through with a noise resembling a clap of thunder.
The firemen next directed the water from the
engines upon the premises of Messrs. Virtue,
Fisher, and Co., and Edmonds and Remnant, the
latter firm having already the first and second floor
windows burnt out ; and some thousand gallons of
water falling amongst the costly printed goods, it
is hardly necessary to say that the damage
done to this property alone must be of great
extent. Fortunately, the loss will be partially
covered by an insurance in the Pho3nix Fire-
office. The firemen, by unremitting exertion, suc-
ceeded in getting the fire out, or nearly so,
by noon ; but it is impossible at present to give
a correct estimate of the damage done, as the
proprietor of the coffee-house did not sleep on the
premises, and he has not been seen since the out-
break. Mr. Hutchinson's premises are entirely
consumed as well as the stock; he was insured in
the Globe. Messrs. Reed and Pardon's premises
are burned out, but they are insured in the Gene-
ral Fire-: ffice. Messrs. Virtue's premises are
greatly damaged by water ; insurance not known.
The back warehouses of Mr. Kent are likewise
damaged very much by fire and water, as well as
the counting-house ; insured in the Sun-office.
Several of the other contiguous buildings have also
sustaini'd serious damage by
origin of the catastrophe is atfiprreesaeundt wenavteerlo.
peTdhine
mystery, but one thing
seems quite certain—that
the fire began in the kitchen ofthe coffee-house.

p r i
se
omNn ANNUITY-TAT.—On
theAN r
dayT:igEhtEmDrlN.
BBrUoRwGnH,
tax, was released from martyr of the annul ty-
meeting on Wednesday request was made that members pre-
sent of Lothian- d -Churchshould
nAg-tTtAhex :If Wtheepdunbelisc-
roa 'United Presbyterian
main behind, and the result of their conference was a sub-
scription to pay the tax and release their conscientious
brother, who was accordingly the same night restored to his
family after a week's experience of vile." Such
has been the inevitable result of all the income-tax impri-
sonments undergone by would-be sufferers for conscience'
sake—some less scrupulous friends invariably intervening
ere lon and satisfying the collector's demands. During Mr.
Brown'sg brief imprisonment, he has employed his time
in the preparation of a brochure entitled a dialogue be-
tween "Dead Brown and Living Brown." the first .named
sharer in the colloquy being the shade of a very estimable
and able voluntary clergyman lately deceased, Dr. John
Brown whose horror of the tax was such that 481 offered
his goods' to seizure on various occasions rather than pay,
and finally removed to a suburb of the town to be out of
reach
of the impost. It is said that the late prisoner's
health, which was very delicate before bis incarceration, has
become so impaired by the excitement and confinement as
to necessitate his removal to the Bridge of Allan.
TIIE WALLACE MONUMENT.—The Wallace
Monument Committee have awarded the first premium (fifty
guineas) to Mr. J. G. Rocbead, architect, Glasgow. The
design represents a mediaeval Scottish tower, the proposed
height of which will be 220 feet, with a staircase leading to
, the summit