The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-21 00:00:00

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At
Honour M. T. H. Marshall delivered judgment in
the case of a series of actions against members of the
Leeds police force, for having, in July last, unlaw-
fully arrested and impriSoned John Briggs, Rufus
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watches which had recentlytaken
ter. Mr. IV. P. Roberts, of Manchester, appeared
for the plaintiffs, and the officers were represented
by Mr. Bruce, barrister, of Leeds. His Honour, in
delivering judgment, said there were several actions
brought by Briggs and five or six other parties
against George Ripley and several other policemen
in Leeds, for arresting them on a charge of felony,
and detaining them in prison for the space of nearly
24 hours ; and as that arrest had been made by the
police without a magistrate's warrant, and upon a
charge which certainly turned out to be utterly des-
titute of foundation, it was incumbent upon them
to show that they had reasonable grounds for making
it. The plaintiffs were all respectable men, and with
the exception of two, who were licensed hawkers,
were colliers, and all were resident in Leeds and the
neighbourhood. Mr. Roberts,who appeared for them,
had made some observation in which he did not
at all agree, as to the impropriety of taking up these
people without a warrant. It seemed to him quite
impossible, as well as quite unusual, that the police
should not arrest men until they had obtained the
warrant of a magistrate. If that were so, the po-
lice, in his opinion, would be of little or no use
whatever, particularly in large towns, because if
when a policeman saw a thief and suspected him, he
had to wait until he went to the town-hall and got a
magistrate's warrant before arresting him, in all
probability the thief would have gone away before
he could come back. They all knew that it was the
duty of the police to arrest all suspicious persons
without any warrant at all ; that was the case in
perhaps 19 out of every 20 arrests that took place;
but the advantage of the warrant was that it took
away from the police the risk of the arrest turning
out to be erroneous. If they had no warrant, then
any arrest that they made was at their own risk.
As to the use of handcuffs in the case, he really did
not see that there was any objection, if the police
had a right to arrest them at all, to their being con-
veyed in the way proved in evidence, from the
bottom of Briggate to the police-office ; and the
same thing would apply to the use of a chain in se-
curing them. But, after a careful consideration of
the evidence, he had come to the conclusion that
theplaintiffs were entitled to a verdict—not because
of the want of a warrant, or because there was
unnecessary violence or other improper conduct on
the part of the police towards them after they
were taken into custody, but because he thought
they never ought to have been arrested.
There were no reasonable grounds to justify
suspicion against them ; indeed he was quite per-
suaded that they never would have been taken into
custody if it had not been that, just at that time,
there was a sort of watch mania, if he might so call
it, running in the minds of the police, in consequence
of very recent and extensive watch robberies in
Manchester, about which placards were extensively
issued offering rewards of £5OO and £l,OOO. His
Honour then proceeded to recapitulate the facts of
the case. In noticing the conduct of the police, he
said he thought they ought to have made inquiries
respecting the men and the addresses they had given
before they removed them in so disgraceful a man-
ner from the bottom of Briggate to the Town-hall.
That that was done in a hasty and an improper
manner was perfectly clear to him, more particularly
from the circumstances under which the man Scott
—who had no watch at all about him—was arrested.
He saw no grounds of suspicion whatever against
him, except that he might be suspected of being
about to buy a watch which the police suspected had
been stolen. That showed the hasty way in which
the first policeman had acted in running off to the
police-office ; and he must say that, when the plain-
tiffs were taken to the police-office, according to the
evidence even of the policemen, they were dealt with
in a very unusual, careless, and hasty manner—a
manner, in fact, that he was quite sure the magis-
trates would not sanction if they knew of it. The
police, although they had their addresses, had made
no inquiries about them. Instead of keeping them
all night, they might have gone and inquired
whether Briggs had given his true address, and
asked him whether he could not refer them to certain
persons. It was their duty to have done so, for
they had no reason whatever to suppose them dis-
honest persons. He was bound to say that a great
deal of evidence had been given on the part of the
police, utterly at variance with the statements made
by the plaintiffs, and, after due consideration, he
was bound to say that he thought, upon the whole,
the statements made by the men were much
more to be relied upon and much nearer the
truth than some of the statements made by the
police. (Applause in court, which was instantly
checked). His Honour alluded to the case of one
of the plaintiffs, who had denied that he had been
searched after being taken to the police-office,
whilst two officers had both said that he had been
searched. In this instance, by means of the books
kept at the police-office, he had been able to verify
the man's statement. In other cases he considered
that if the men had acted as the police alleged they
had done they must have been arrant fools, for no-
thing could have been more absurd than for them
to have done some of the things which, according
to the evidence of the police, they had done. He
confessed that he was staggered with some of the
evidence given on the part of the police. In the
case of the man Scott, who had never been searched
whilst in the police-office, and who had his hawker's
licence with him, he thought that the conduct of the
police had been specially improper, and that if he
had laid his damages much higher than he had done,
any jury would have awarded him a considerable
amount ; and the same might be said of one or two
others. He quite agreed with Mr. Bruce, that it
was to the interest of society that the police should
have ample protection from the law in taking per-
sons into custody upon different charges. They
must do so, however, in a cautious and in a proper
manner. But, on the other hand, the interests of
society equally required that the police officers
should be made responsible for the exercise of their
authority, when they acted without such care and
circumspection as were required. He thought that
they had done so in the present case. It appeared
to him that they had exorcised their authority in an
unwarrantable, a very hasty, and an erroneous man-
ner; therefore he thought that the plaintiffs were
entitled to the damages they had sued for, viz., fist)
guineas each, and the cost of their attorney.

PRICE 4d.
STAMPED sd.

affecting the prisoner connecting him with a person named
James Stephens. The first document to be produced was
a letter addressed by James Stephens to the working B's,
in which he stated that the year 18G5 would be the year
of action, and that when the flag of the Irish Republic
would bo raised. The second document was the letter of
James Stephens urging the establishment of drill schools
in Ireland ; the next was the document appointing the Ex-
ecutive Government in Ireland, in his absence from this
country; another was a letter from Stephens stating that
while in Cork he would be heard at Bryan Dillon's. It
would be proved that Bryan Dillon and the prisoner had
frequent communications together. The evidence of
Warner was of a nature to require corroboration, but he
(Col. Fox) might observe that in the civil courts Warner
was corroborated in most of what he swore to, and in no
instance was his evidence shown to be untrustworthy. It
should be observed that by ono of the rules of the Brother-
hood no third person should be present when the Fenian
oath should be administered, and therefore it was quite im-
possible to produce other evidence as to the enrolment into
the society than -Warner, who had sworn him in, and the
police had to use considerable influence with Warner to in-
duce him to give the information. Col. Fox concluded by
saying that his duties as public prosecutor were made com-
paratively light by the circumstance that the prisoner was
defended by an able counsel, Mr. Concannon, and by Mr.
M. J. Collins, solicitor. He believed that Mr. Concannon
had not yet arrived, and he wished to know if the prisoner
was prepared to proceed with his trial.
"The President— Does the prisoner wish the trial to be
postponed until the arrival of your counsel ?

"Prisoner—Not at present, Sir.
"President—When you do, lot me know.

" Pierce Nagle was then called and sworn by Col. Na-

gent. He deposed to the existence of the Fenian Conspi-
racy, and as to his knowledge of James Stephens, and to
Stephens being the Head Centre in Ireland.
" The President hero read Stephens's letter to the work-

ing B.'s in Clonmel.
" The witness identified tho handwriting of the letter,
which letter he and a printer named Neville took from a
man named Power in the Irish People office. The witness
identified the handwriting in the other documents as that
of Stephens. He deposed to his knowledge of Thomas
Clarke Luby as proprietor and sometimes editor of the
Irish People."

In times of public excitement, when people get a
passion for firearms, it is hard to say who is safe.
The most peaceably-disposed man, though he never
quits his house or his business, cannot be sure in
the morning that he will not come to a violent end
before night. Poor Mr. Byers, the owner of a public-
house at Glasnevin, was quietly sitting in his par-
lour talking to a policeman off duty, when a car
came rapidly to the door ; he heard the well-known
voice of a customer ask a shilling to pay the fare,
and in another minute or two a familiar friend stood
beside him, pulled a revolver from his breast-pocket,
and shot him, holding the pistol within six inches of
his neck. The facts of this extraordinary case were
stated before Mr. Stronge at the Capel-street Police-
office yesterday. The prisoner, Mr. Joseph T. Sut-
cliffe, a clerk in Balls' banking-house, seemed to be
greatly depressed. He was defended by Mr. E. A.
Ennis. The sword and revolver which the prisoner
had with him at the time of the occurrence were in
court, and also a bundle containing money, papers,
and other matters found on him when he was
searched. The following evidence was taken and
embodied in the information of Mr. Rickards, one
of the clerks of the police-court :

John Tracy, 34 D, sworn—On Saturday evening, about
7 o'clock, I was in Mr. Byers's house at Prospect-avenue,
Glasnevin. I was on duty at the time. I had been sitting
in a small room behind the bar about 20 minutes when I
heard the prisoner ask for a shilling. He afterwards came
into the room where Mr. Byers and I were sitting. He had
a sword-bayonet by his side. He said, " I have got the
licence." He laid aside the sword, put his hand into his
breast, and drew out a revolver pistol. Byers said, " Take
care ; is that loaded ?" The prisoner said, " Upon my
honour, it is not." He put it down to his side, then stretched
forward his arm till the pistol was within six inches of
Byers's neck. I did not see the prisoner cock the pistol, or
hear it cocked. The prisoner discharged the pistol and
Byers fell on his back wounded. The shot wounded him in
the neck. Byers, falling, said, " Good God ! lam shot." I
took possession of the sword-bayonet and seized the prisoner,
who threw the pistol on a desk. After a little delay, I took
the prisoner to the police barrack, which was close by.
To Mr. Ennis--The prisoner was under the influence of
drink. Ho made use of no threats or violent language. He
appeared to be on friendly terms w;th Mr. Byers. I heard
Mr. Byers himself say they were on friendly terms. There
was no one present at the time but Byers and the prisoner.
Brady, the car owner, said while driving along ho was
shouting to two dogs that he had following the car. At
the top of Eccles-street ho put his hand into his breast
pocket, took out a pistol, and showed it to mo ; he put up
the pistol again, and I drove Lim on to Byers'. He was to
give mo ls. for the drive. He told me to come back for
him about half-past 11 o'clock. When he reached Byers'
he got off the car, and went into the house. In about five
minutes I heard the report of a pistol shot from the interior
of the house. I went inside. I saw Mr. Byers lying on the
ground wounded, and the constable with a hold of Mr. Sut-
cliffe. With the assistance of another man, named Barney,
I placed Byers on the car, and brought him to the Mater
Misericordke Hospital. I saw that Byers was wounded in
the side of the neck.

Foreign Mail Packet List

MAILS DUE.

via Southampton Mar. 22.
Australia Ditto, and
yia New
mar Marseilles Mar.
...
. ..
Brazil and Cape Verde, by British packet
16.
PaOket
Ditto, by French packet .. Mar 6.
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension,********
. Feb. 22.
China, Penang, and Singapore, and St. Helena Mar. 24.
via Southampton 5.
Ditto, via Marseilles
Falkland Islands Feb. 27.
Gibraltar, via Southampton * Feb. S.
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Mar. 5
Ditto, via Marseilles
Feb. 27.
India
(Bombay), via Southampton.
Ditto, via Marseilles Feb. 22
Mauritius, via Southampton
Ditto, via Marseille 3. .Mar' to.
Newfoundland .. , ....... ar. 14.
Portugal
Ditto, by private ship to Lisbon ............
United States and British North America, by Bri-
tish packet ......... • • •Feb. 28
Ditto, by United States packet, via Southamp-
ton . ...................
Ditto, via Cork ................. .. •
......... :Feb. 23
Ditto, by Canadian packet, via Londonderry. m Z.
West Coast of Africa. Madeira, and Tencriffe ...... ar. 12
West Indies and Pacific (except Bahamas, Cuba,
...... F, b. 28
and Mexico — •• • ...........
Feb. 28.
Cuba and Mexico ..................... .....
Mar. 8
Bahamas, via New York. .................... . R.
Mar. :4
, Bermuda, ditto ............. .r:Li...____

REPORTED FENIANIS3I AT PLYMOUTH.—PLY-
MOUTH, Tuesday.—Rumours have circulated here to-day
that Fenian tendencies have been discovered among the
military and naval forces at this arsenal. On inquiry,
however, it has been discovered that such allegations were
entirely without foundation, and only arose from exagge-
rations of ordinary trivial circumstances in no way what-
ever connected with Fenianism.—Reuter's Telegram.