The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-02 00:00:00

PARR v. ELLIS-LIBEL.

BAIL COURT, JUNE 1.

(Sittings at Nisi Prius at Westminster, before Mr.
Justice Lush and a Common Jury.)
This was an action for libel brought by Edwin
Parr, the celebrated trainer, against the Daily
Telegraph. The defendant pleaded not guilty, and
that the words were not used in the sense alleged.
Mr. Huddleston, Q.C., and Mr. E. 11., Lewis
were counsel for the plaintiff ; Mr. Hawkins, Q.C.,
and Mr. Sleigh were counsel for the defendant.
Mr. Huddleston, in opening the case, said that
plaintiff had felt bound to bring this action, in
order to vindicate his character from the serious
imputation which the defendant had cast on it, and
he could not help thinking that when they heard the
case they would agree with him in thinking that
the defendant ought, as the proprietor of a respect-
able journal, to make the only reparation that
was now in his power, by retracting' the insinua-
tions, and apologising for what had been pub-
lished. The action was only brought to vindicate
accept an
character, and he was then ready to
an apology, with such damages as would
carry costs. The plaintiff was a well-known
character, and it would appear that in 1864 Lord
St. Vincent, whose trainer the plaintiff was at
that time, purchased *an Irish horse, Redan, for
£650. The horse was trained by plaintiff, and
during 1865 he won no less than £2,530 in various
stakes. In August the plaintiff left Lord St. Vin-
cent, and on the 12th December there appeared in
the Telegraph an article headed " Sporting
Intelligence,
Turf Topics, and Derby Cracks," and
Daily
in it was the following, which was the libel com-
plained of :—" Redan is a horse whose merits have
not been properly appreciated by either the public
or the backers of horses. He is undoubtedly one of
the most compact and neatest and racing-like Derby
colts we saw out all last season, every inch a stayer
to lbok at, and sure to be there or thereabouts on
the Derby-day if he does well through the winter
months. During the summer he ran with varied
success, but there is more.than a suspicion that he
was never half trained, and that Parr's pills and
Telescombe cookery (the learned counsel explaining
that Telescombe was Lord St. Vincent's training
ground) had prevented Lord St. Vincent from land-
ing several handsome stakes. Nevertheless, Redan,
when only just coming into his proper form at Don-
caster, ran a great horse with Lord Lyon, and it
was urged that he would have snatched that race
out of the fire had a man been on his back instead
of a fashionable light weight."
The learned Judge suggested whether the matter
could not be arranged.
Mr. Hawkins said it never was intended that the
words should convey an imputation of fraud.
The learned Judge said that might be so, but still
it was for the jury to say whether the words con-
veyed some mismanagement which was liable to
injure the plaintiff in the way of his trade.
Mr. Charles Betts, a musician, and friend of the
plaintiff, was called to prove that he read the article
in question, and that he considered it reflected very
much on the plaintiff.

The witness was subjected to a long and humorous
cross-examination by Mr. Hawkins.

The plaintiff, who it was stated was unavoidably
absent, could not be called, neither was Lord St.
Vincent.

Mr. Hawkins then addressed the jury in mitiga-
ion of damages. He urged that it was worse than

idle to suppose that any fraudulent imputation was

intended. The writer had only made a fair com-
ment upon racing matters, and had only, at the
most, said that something seemed not to agree with
the horse, which after all was a mere matter of
opinion. It did not impute any improper conduct
to the plaintiff. The term " Parr's Pills" was only
a skit upon the plaintiff's name, and everyone knew
that Parr's Pills possessed wonderful powers, espe-

cially with regard to longevity. It was certainly
strange, if the publication of the article had damaged
the plaintiff's character, that no evidence had been

given in support of it.
The learned Judge, in summing up, said that
editors of newspapers and others might comment on
public matters, and also upon the supposed capabili-
ties of a race-horse, but if they imputed improper
motives they were liable to an action,-for libeEr-The
first question for their consideration was, whether
the defendant intended to impute fraud to the
plaintiff.

The Jury, after retiring for half an hour, said
they did not believe there was any intention to im-
pute fraud.

The learned Judge asked them if they thought
the article imputed incompetency or negligence on
the part of the plaintiff, in which case they would
assess the damages.

The Jury found that point in the affirmative, and
_assessed the damages at 40s.
The Judge said he should direct a verdict to be
entered for the defendant, with leave for the plain-

iff to move to amend or to enter a verdict non

obstante veredicto.

Railway Traffic Returns for the Week,
-

Miles Opened.

Receipt'

Railways.

1306 18f5
£ t
Belfast and N. Counties 9/I 991 2,012 1.093
Belfast and County Down 49 49 657 038,
Blyth and Tyne 33 28
Brecon and Merthyr
Bristol and Exeter l2ll 121 i 7,422 6,033
Caledonian, Scottish Central 4l7i 408 2,4,287 23,356
Cambrian
Cockermouth K & Penrith .. 311 3t} 584 4 ,
Cockermouth and Workin .. 9 9 435 328
Cork and Bandon 2O 20 46) 463
Cork, Black-rock, & Passage 6l q 227 2:0
Cork and Youghal
Cornwall Bs} 65/ 2,257 2.3 4
Deeside l7 17 125 527
Do Extension
Dublin & BeliastJunction.... 63 63 1,405 1.238
Dublin and Drogheda 75 75 1,709 1.799
Dublin and Meath
Dub. & Wicklow and Wextd lO6 911 3,456 3.082
Forth and Clyde Junction
Furness, &o 5O 151 4,083 3,245
Glasgow & South-Western
Gt.Eastern,Nrfk~&E.Union
Great Northern 422 401 35,438 34,449
Great North of Scotland 5B 58 2,048 2 07..) ,
Do Branches

1861 18C5.

(3 Eilorthn. & Wes tn. (Irel.) 821
'it.Southn. & Westn.(lrlnd.) 3871
Great W&ltern 1292
Hull & Horned
Highland
Irish North-Western 145
Lancashire & Yorkshire 4u3
Limerick and Ennis... 241
Limerick and Foynes 261
Lianelly_ 461
Llynvi Valley
London & North-Western
London & South-Western
Lond. Brighton, &8. Coast 293/
London, Chatham, & Dover; f MI
all Metropolitan Extension 1 121
Do. Kent Loast
Lon., Tilbury, & Southend
Ilan.,Sheflield.& Lincolnsh
Ranch. S.J un.& Altrincham 9}
Haryport and Carlisle
liletropolitan 4l
Midland (incl. N.-Western) 6771
nidland Gt. Westn. of hind 260/
Slonmouthsh. RaiL & Canal ' 44
North British, Edin., Perth '
and Dundee
N-Eastern and Stock. & Dart 12071
North London ll
North Staftordshire 258
Pembroke and Tenby lll
Rhymney l9l
Scottish North-Eastern .....
Somerset and Dorset
STSoolti;hhilillitays:te.ll.rn.: ............
......
Ulster
1051
Vale of Clwyd..
Waterford and Kilkenny 3l
Waterford and Limerick 77
W'haven,Cleator& Egrmnt lO
FOREL ON AND COLONIAL.
Austrian
Bahia and San Francisco
Belgian Eastern J unction . t 204 9,985 6, 00
Bombay, Baroda, & Cen. India 306 306
7,258 6. 76
Detroit and Milwaukie 159 189
j 6,299 5.8 1
Dutch Rhenish
Eastern of Prance ........
116:1276131
11=1:31057,(118";
23,3334752
2260928,:87083765813
Eastern Bengal
East Indian
Grand Trunk of Canada ... t
Great Central of Belgium..:
6962 592 36,159 24,439
Great Indian Peninsula
Great Luxembourg ... : .....
~,9 79
662 75,/
Great Southefn of Indian.• • : 3‘4,j• 315 12,716 32, 24
Great Western of Cana
.... . . ...
611 671 8.322 6,:329
Madr a s . .......... .- 1 .......... 777681 71374
1e13107:,:15:8017254
115465:8:1,63. 6:54
Iladrid,Saragoßsar.......... 91 91 2,787 2,429
Northern of Canada
44481 _44
481 ,
01,3
72,6:90
Northern of Franc
Norwegian Truula
Ottoman .•
%Ks editerrn 21;2061 2180180
.6 3
774 1,771 - 1,299
105 2,5, 3 3,4,4
Paris,sa e c.nrfictifB,cu°aLunnjY.di(nS),:iald.ieci:eaFrancisco.&c 475
253 45 2,320 296
South Austrian, &C .• 1798 1645 90 85 3 86,997
southern of France 9; 0 823 , = 23,244 29 91.)
Victoria
,s7B 9, Welland 25 9
West & N-Wn. of France ;48
1016 54,633 15,683

711 '731 •
534
118%* 9,374 9.455
1280 76,773 59,554
13 389 178
248 3,430 3010
145 ),561 1,637
403 63,752 39 751
24, 202 , 147
26 119 187
484 688 770
20; 471 461
12731 121,953 112,036
4906 29.984 24.846
2871 24,942 19,7,-9
124 j 12,775 9,513
114 j 8,329 1,450
27 1,760 1,750
12i 1,666 1,5(6
246 26,5152 17,695
91 -•1,452 1,454
28 1,7•.2 1.349
3 4,856 2,s 05
6631 55,016 15.717
2604 6,143 4,7E8
44 2.966 8,u45

.7075 27,711 25.532
1164 73.795 09, 05
9 5,341. 3,508
258 9,070 '7,785
111 185
191 975 910
138 5,480 6,n57
66 1,305 977
791 4.5 4 4,309
808 29,722 22.:3:9
61 6,020 4,829
1051 2,393 2.519
10 210 13„1
31 493
1770 19'62961 111'5'

---------
THE CRUSADE AGAINST DOGS.--One Tolice-con-
stable at Hull, who has been commissioned t 6 hunt up-all
the dogs in the town for which taus are not paid, has
bagged no less than 1,500.