The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 15, 1859.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

30th of June. The holders of the preference shares
of 1851 will be entitled to an extra dividend when
the next preference dividend is payable.

MELBOURNE AND HOBSON'S BAY.

The half-yearly meeting of this railway company
was held at Melbourne on the' 7th of June—the
Hon. T. A'Beckett, the president, in the chair.
The report stated that the line and rolling stock
were in the very best working order. An addi-
tional line of rails had been placed on the St.
Kilda line. The directors explain that heavier
rails were required in consequence of the in-
creased traffic, and the Commissioner of Public
Works let them have the heavier rails from the
Government stock on condition that they should
be replaced when those ordered by the company
were received from England. This arrangement
saved considerable delay, and enabled the company
to lay down the new rails in the course of six
weeks. A great advantage was likely to result
from the opening up of a coal traffic, and it was
intended to form coal depots at the Melbourne, St.
Kilda, and Emerald-lull stations. Twenty-five
new coal trucks had been ordered from England to
carry on this new branch of traffic. The subsidy
of 5,0001. was paid to the St. Kilda and Brighton
Railway Company, and it was expected that the
new line would be opened in August, and that a
very considerable addition to the revenue of the
Melbourne Company would arise from that source.
The profits of the past half-year enabled the direc-
tors to declare a dividend at the usual rate of 14
per cent. per annum, leaving 2,1121. to be added to
the reserve fund, which would then amount to
26,973/. The capital account showed that 441,415/.
had been received to the 30th of April last, and
350,3221. expended on the Melbourne and Hobson's
Bay line, and 107,371/. on the St. Kilda branch—
together 457,6931. The revenue account showed
that 45,3441. had been received for the six months
ending the 30th of April, and that 16,1951. had
been expended in working the railway, and 2,536/.
paid for interest .on loans, leaving a balance of
26,612/. The total traffic receipts for the nine past
half-years amounted in the aggregate to 272,5271.
Appended to the report is a list of the shareholders
resident in Europe and the colony, stating the
number of shares held by each, and also the number
of votes.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, stated that suggestions had been made
in the newspapers for a reduction of fares
on their line. lie believed that the reduction
proposed would, had it been granted, have greatly
diminished the receipts of the railway. The
dividend upon the shares at the present time
was not excessive, nor so great as that paid by
many colonial institutions, the profits of which
were not looked upon as exorbitant. The railway was
essentially a commercial undertaking, constructed
with colonial capital, and it was unreasonable to
pect its affairs to be carried on for the public benefit
without proper regard to the interests of its share-
holders. He believed, moreover, that if the line
had now no existence, and it became necessary to
construct it, that capital would not be found for it,
even if its whole history up to the present time
could be foreknown.- For some long time it had
paid no dividend whatever, and it was only lately
that the dividend had been at all satisfactory, and
now they were subjected to a competition by- the
aovernment which he thought was not just, inas-
much as the fares charged on the Williamstown line
in competition with the Hobson's Bay Railway,
would, he was satisfied, when the debtor and credi-
tor accounts of the line came to be brought before
Parliament show a heavy loss. But the fact was
that the Williamstown line was paid for out of the
public purse, and he inferred, therefore, that it was
considered unnecessary to make it remunerative as
an investment, but this he thouglit was a principle
which it was unfair to act upon for the purpose of
competing, through the help of the public money,
with undertakings created by private capital, and
which ought only to be competed with by the Go-
vernment on equal terms. He, however, had no
doubt the opening up of the Brighton Railway,
which was expected to take place in August, would
form a new era in the prosperity of the company,
and bring an amount of additional traffic that
would much more than compensate for any diminu-
tion of receipts by the loss of the Williamstown
traffic.

'After a short discussion in which Mr. Ebden,
Mr. Kaye, and other shareholders took part, the
report was adopted and the dividend declared.
The meeting was then made special, and Mr.
Henty was elected a director in place of Mr. Grice.
A vote of thanks to the chairman and directors
concluded the proceedings.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.--CitorpoN, Aug 13.

The business of these assizes proceeds very slowly,
and nearly as many causes are referred or disposed of
out of court as are tried. But for this, the cause list
could not have been lot through in less than three
weeks or a month.

(Before Mr. Justice Crowder and a Special Jury.)

BAKER v. GARRATT.

This was an action brought by plaintiff to recover
damages for on assault and false imprisonment.
Mr. Lush. Q.C., and Mr. Garth were counsel for
the plaintiff; Mr. Edwin James, Q.C., and Mr.
Raymond appeared for the defendant.
This cause xas commenced on Friday afternoon,
and was adjourned until to-day, and occupied the
Com t for several hours, but the facts were in a
small compass. The action arose out of the acci-
dental burning of the Eastern Monarch troop-ship
at Spithead in June last, on which occasion that
vessel was almost destroyed. The defendant, who
is the anent to Lloyd's, and also acted on behalf of
Messrs. Soarnes and Co., the owners, took measures
to.preserve what property remained on board the
wreck after the fire had been extinguished, and he
employed the plaintiff, who is a waterman, belong-
ing to Portsmouth, and several other men, to re-
move different articles from the ship and put them in
a place of safety, and they were so engaged for a day
or two, when, in consequence of infOrmation received
that stone persons were stealing copper and otjier
property from the ship, orders were given that the
vessel should be cleared of all persons who were
about her. The plaintiff and his companions refused
to leave, and the police authorities of Portsmouth
'were applied to ; they at first declined to interfere.
and a lieutenant of marines, with some of his men,
went on board the Eastern. Monarch, and, according
to the case for the plaintiff, the defendant ordered
him and his companions to be taken into custody,
and they were removed to the flag-ship, the
Victory, and Were subsequently taken be-
fore a magistrate, when they were at once dismissed,
no charge of any kind being preferred against them.
This was the false • imprisonment for which the
plaintiff claimed compensation ; but the defendant,
on being examined, swore that the only orders he
gave were that the men should be removed from
the vessel, and that he neverinter.ded to give them
into custody, and that they were taken to the Vic-
tory without his sanction. It also appeared from
the evidence of Mr. Chase, the superintendent of
police at Portsmouth, a very useful and intelligent
officer, that, upon hearing that plaintiff and his
companions were on board the Victory, he sent a
sergeant to bring them ashore, and they were
merely formally taken before a magistrate to be
discharged.
Mr. Justice Crowder having summed up the
whole of the evidence, the jury, afrer a short deli-
beration, returned a verdict for the, plaintiff—
Damages, £lO.
BURNETT V. GARRATT, MAINE V. GARRATT, AND

threaten to cut her throat. On the Friday night
he said, is she did not go out of doors, and take her
things, he would burn them. Father had been
drinking all day on Saturday.
By the Judge—l never heard him say he would
blow her brains out. [Before 'the coroner the boy
said he had heard his father use such an expres-
sion.] lam sure I did not say so. He kept no
sort of lire-arms in the house.

Thomas Wood—On Saturday night last I saw
deceased and prisoner quarrelling about some
money, and he struck and kicked her several times.
They often quarrelled.
Cross-examined—l had seen him beat her fre-
quently. Deceased used to quarrel with his first
wife, but !clever beat her.

Samuel Greenwood, engine-driver---Saw the de-
ceased at the Star Inn, Dursley, on Saturday last.
Saw the prisoner in the tap-room at nine o'clock.
She'gave a pipe-light to a strano°v man, and her
husband pushed her by the neck into a seat, and
said, " Thee bea'nt a going to be servant to every-
body. If you want beer, I've got plenty, and you
need not drink with other people." She would not
drink with her husband. I advised her to be
quiet, and gave her some of my beer.
Cross-examined—l was not asked until yester-
day to be a witness. Rutter drank cider, and the
woman said she would not drink it.

Maria Wood—l live at Dursley, and was at the
Star at half-past nine on Saturday night. Rutter
struck prisoner, and told her to drink with nobody
but himself. I advised her m_t to make a disturb-
ance, but she squeezed my hand very tightly, and
said, " You don't know how he has been kicking
of me."

John Bowyer, landlord of the Star, heard pri-
soner threaten her husband for beating her.
Cross•examined—She said, " You are always
striking me slily, but never openly. She said she
could not drink cider, because it made her bowels
ache. That was when her husband offered her some
to drink.

Sydney Wood—When they were quarrelling I
tried to soothe the woman. She said, " I will cut
his throat. It is no use for you nor 20 people to
talk to me. You do not know what I have got on
my mind." I told. her not to talk such nonsense,
but make it up like I and my wife did. Rutter
left the house about 11 o'clock. Before then pri-
soner drank with a man named Cox, and deceased
talked about it. He said " Cox, I'll give thee half
a crown to take• her altogether." He pulled a
half•crown from his pocket. Cox said, " I'll be
-- if I don't give thee half a crown for her, but
we must be
,churched first." Prisoner left the
house about half-past 11 o'clock. I walked with
her as far as my house, and told my wife to go on
home with her.

John Handcock—l am a labourer, living in Bol-
ton-lane, about 100 yards from deceased's house.
He had been married to his present wife about seven
years. On Sunday morning, about half-past one,
the prisoner came to my house. My wife and son
George was there. Prisoner said Charlotte, come
up to our house. I think Tom will bleed himself
to death." She held up her left hand and said,
" See how he has served me." She then went
away, and I noticed that there was blood on her
left arm. My wife lighted a candle and we all
went to Rutter's house. Prisoner asked us to go
up stairs where she was. My son and I went up,
and I saw a great quantity of blood on the floor.
Rutter was lying on the left side of the bed, and
the bed-clothes were smooth over him up to the
throat. Prisoner was lying on the bed, with her
feet hanging over the left side. Rutter's hands
were outside the bed-clothes, down by his sides.
There was no blood on his hands. I said to pri-
soner, " Ellen, however in the world did this come
about ?" She said, " I did it, John." A surgeon
was sent for. I saw a razor under the pillow, just
visible, seven or eight inches from the head.
George Handcock, son of last witness, gave simi-
lar evidence. The body was lying on the left side
of the bed. Rutter was not dead when we went
in, but he never moved hand nor foot. Prisoner
was sitting on the side of the bed, close against the
door, l'eaning over his face, with her face nearly
' close to his. She said, "My poor Tom is dying."
My father said, " Lord, Ellen, how did this come
about ?" She said, " I done it, John." Saw my
' father take a razor from under the pillow, on the
side farthest from the door. The razor was shut up.

Elizabeth Hanks—l live about 60 yards froin
deceased's house. Half an hour after midnight on
Saturday night, I heard Rutter kicking at his door.
He was quarrelling. In about an hour afterwards
I heard the prisoner say, "He is dying, for every
drop of blood is running from his body." I and
my husband went up to the room. Prisoner was
lying over her husband's body, holding a pillow to
his bleeding throat. I said, " Oh, Ellen, who has
been and done this ?" She answered, " Why, I did
it." She moved the pillow, and said, " Look here,"
and I saw a gash in his throat. There was no blood
on his hands.
Cross-examined—The deceased was lyinc, partly
on his left side and partly on his back. I do not
know whether there was a pillow under his head
besides the one she was holding to his neck.
George Leonard, a surgeon, practising at Dors-
ky, described the nature of the wound, and said
deceased could not have inflicted it himself.
Some additional evidence was given to show that
the prisoner had admitted having committed the
deed.

This closed the case for the prosecution.
Mr. Cooke, for the defense, pleaded that the pri-
soner was urged to the commission of the act by
a renewal of the brutal conduct of the deceased,
and that the homicide was done under circum-
stances of great provocation, and without premedi-
tation, she being at the time in fear and danger of
her life.
The Judge summed up with great minuteness,
but unfavourably to the prisoner.
The jury retired to deliberate, and after a quar-
ter of an hours absence, found a verdict of guilty
of wilful murder.
The Judge put on the black cap, and addressed
the prisoner as follows :--" Ellen Rutter, after a
patient investigation, the jury have convicted you
of the crime of wilful murder—of murder in. its
most aggravated form. I cannot doubt upon this
evidence, that you stole to your husband's bed-
side in the dead of the night, and cut his throat
with that 'razor. It was a murder which our ancient
law was not content with calling a murder, but
called it treason. I will not prolong the agony of
an unhappy woman, exposed to the gaze of this
Court, I only implore you to pay attention to those
re.igious instructions which you will receive, and
which alone will enable you to meet your impend-
ing fate with any. degree of resignation." His lord-
ship then passed sentence of death in the usual
form.
The prisoner showed no sign of emotion, but pre-
served the same calm demeanour she had main-
tained from the beginning of the trial.