The Sun.
London, England, 1832-03-31 00:00:00

WISBECH ASSIZES, MARCH 29.

In consequence of the official announcement of the cho-
lera having made its aupea.rance at Ey, the Chief Justie..
of the Isle, Mr. Serjeant Stiirks, deemed it proper to hal.:
the assizes in this town instead of Ely, where they et,
usually holden in the Spring. The calandar is remarkahl
rather for the grave character than for the nurn'ier of of-
fences ; comprising three cases of manslaughter, or, as they
are there called, " feloniously being the cause of th,.
death of different persons;" two of rape, committed under
circumstances of unusual aggravation; one of arson, and
several fir housebreaking and minor offences. It appears,
from a usual memorandum affixed to the calandar, that of
the prisoners for trial Din, are unable either to read or
write; four are able to read, but not to write, and six ran
both read and write; and the capital offenc.-s are commit-
ted entirely by those who are comprised in the first class,
of those, namely, who are usable to relit or write.
A reprieve has been sent to Bury for Simon Frost, who
was sentenced to death fir highway robbery, Mr. Baron
Vaughan having caused inquiries to he made into the for-
mer life and character of the pi isonei, which turned out to
b, favourable to him,

CORK ASSIZES, ‘iAr 26.

S[DUCTION.-mACILL V. PRATT.

This was action of trespass tur the seduction of the
,faint 's daughter.

Mr. JACK ON stated the case for the plaintiff. The
plaintiff was engaged by Mrs. Woodward in 1826, as a
land steward. Ele brought down hi• family with him,
and he settled at Rockinills, the seat of Mrs. Oliver. The
d-fendant ha• property of t-e vain.- of 3001. a•year. Tiie
victim of the defend.nt's arts was then /shoot 16 years of
age, interesting looking, and sh, was engaged to rake c,+re
of a child for Mrs. Oliver. The de,endaat knew it was

the moon) of the family ,o go to church on Sunday. and
he knew the particular day on which it would be the tu. n
of the young woman to remalt at home whilst the rest of
the family were at church. He availed lonised' of this
opportunity te acme to ve liou•e where the y. ung woman
wit., and by entreaties and proiniseg, he prevailed on her
to yield to his desii and i:he was delivered of a utak
child, the i..site of the intercourse.

Jane 513Ai11, an interes ing•looking woman, was exa-
mined—She had thri!e sisters and four brothers ; si•e
tv..uld be 19 next Good Friday ; before she went back to
Mrs Oliver's she became acquainted with t!,e defend int,
and the courtship then began ; she used to Inert him on

her ground and Mrs Oliver's; there was something said
about marriage ; the defendant wanted her to come to
Cork, where, he said, he could get a second cousin of
his, of the name of Nash, to marry them. He
used to come to her father's house, without her father
and mother knowing it, when they and the rest of the
children were at church. Remembers last August twelve-
month., when she was delivered of a child. (The witness
appeared much aff-eted and shed tears.) Francis Pratt
was father of that child. The intercourse took place in
her father's house, when her father and mother, who are
of the Established Church, were at prayers. He took the
Same liberty again in a month after, worn he met her on
Mr-. Oliver's w ,Ilc. She was then going to evening
prayers, and (lid not expect to meet him. Never bad in
tercourse with him on any other but these two occasions.
Never had intercourse with any other man. About two
months before she was delivered, it was found she was
pregnant. She did not mention anything about it to her
family ; her sister found it out and she told her mother,
who suffered a great deal when she heard it; the first
week of last June the child was born, and is still alive.
John Nagle examined by Mr. WOULFE—Knows Pratt.
who is a man of decent circumstances ; his fattier was a
gentleman ; thinks his property about 300/. a year; he
went to Mr. Kirby about an ejectment process, and there
heard that this action was about to he brought against the
defendant. "Do you know Magill ?" s►ys Mr. Kirby to
me. " I do," says I, " and lie is an honest, decent man ;
and I hear his daughter is big with child by young Pratt."—
(Laughter.) I then called on Pratt, and told him that an ac-
tion would be brought against him ; and says I to him,
" If you have anything to say to the girl, go to your
clergyman, for you don't belong to us, and get married
to her, and then go to Mr. Kirby, who will give you bet-
ter advice tha❑ any other attorney, and settle the matter
with him."—(Laughter.) I told him 't..vould cost him
.300/. or 4001. if the case was carried on ; and he said it
would, and it was all his own fault. Sure I was
cently drawn into it.—(Great laughter.)
Cross examined by Mr. FREEMAN—WeII, Nagle, you
were a pretty confidant of Platt's ! You went to serve a
process of ejectment for Mr. Bond ?—I did; but for no
one else but Mr. Bond.

You always have a great antipathy to drunkenness?--
S unetimea I take a drop.
Did you aver pay anything to the Catholic rent or the
O'Connell annuity ?—I never gave in my life but one shil-
ling to the Catholic rent —(Laughter. )
Mr. BENNETT addressed the Jury for the defence. They
retired for a short time, and returned a verdict of 1501
damages, and 6d. costs.— Southern Reporter.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION HO USE.

Mr. Spink, a respectable pawnbroker in Graeechurch-
street, was summoned before Mr. Alderman HUGHES, the
witting nigistrate, for having refused to make compensa-
tion for dimage to a pair of tr.iusers, by moths, while in
pledge A shopman, who attended on behalf of Mr.
Spick, said it was impossible to give comi,ensation for a
garment being moth-eaten, as every precaution was t..ken
while in their care, such as ventilating arvi fumigating the
pllce with sulphur to prevent such damages ; besides,
pawnbrokers were not answerable by law tor an attic!,
so damaged.

Mr. Alderman HUGHES—Therein a law which obligets
.ou to make good any damage which due cue would have

avoided.

Shoptnan—The Recorder has given his opinion at the
Old Bailey that we are not liable for such damage.

Mr. Alderman HUOIIES---I cannot answer lor the Re.
eorder's opinions ; I have generally au opinion of my own
on these subjects. The enactment I consider a very at-
lutary one, and ought to be acted upon occasionally, for
the sake of example.
Shopman—lt will be a bad precedent, for we frequ,n•ly
lend as much as 51 on a muff, which, when redeemed, i.
not worth a firthing. trout being moth eaten.
Alderman HUGIIES—Vou must recollect, the person.,
who bring articles to pledge are not of an affluent class.
The loss or damage of their property is perhaps to them
irreparable. I shall make an order for you to pay half the
amount the applicant claims for d image.
Five slid logs being accordingly hand'd over to the
owner of the trouser., the parties left the office.