The Sun.
London, England, 1832-05-29 00:00:00

KING V. DOHERTY.

A rule nisi in this case was obtained, and enlarged
last term, against the defendant John Doherty, the
printer and publisher of a publication at Manchester,
called the Poor Man's Advocate, for a libel upon
Mr. Martin Gilpin, Minister of a church in Stockport,
Cheshire, inserted in that publication. The libel im-
puted to the Rev. plaintiff that he had been a party to
the exhumation of a body from his own church-yard,
intended for the purposes of dissection.
Mr. Doherty, the defendant, showed cause in
person against the rule being made absolute, and
put in several affidavits from individuals residing in
Stockport and the neighbourhood, to show that such
reports were prevalent prior to the publication of
the alleged libel, and that the Rev, plaintiff's
congregation had fallen off in consequence of the
reports being generally believed.
Mr. Doherty said that suspicions did arise in his
mind of the Rev. Gentleman's conduct in the trans-
action, for on application by the friends of the de-
ceased, Perry, to have the grave opened he refused
several times, although he had frequently appointed
hours for that purpose, and the last excuse made
by him was, that the Bishop of the diocese
had forbidden clergymen to allow graves to
be opened unless by the request of the executors.
The grave, however, was at length opened, but the
body was gone; and one of the affidavits stated that
the plaintiff had said that he knew the body was not
there before the search was made. The rev. gentle-
man also refused to allow the opening to take place
in the day time.
Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE--i should imagine that
the plaintiff's idea was to avoid the attendance of a
concourse of persons.
Mr. DOHERTY—Very probably, my Lord; but if
the reverend Gentleman wished satisfactorily to re-
pel the imputation on his character, it would have
been better for hint, if innocent, to have had the
whole of Stockport there. He also thought that
Mr. Gilpin might have taken another course less ex-
pensive to him (the defendant) than a criminal infor-
mation in that Court, and he hoped that their
Lordships would see the necessity of discharging
the rule; and if the plaintiff chose to proceed further
he could do it in a Court of his own county, where
he (the defendant) would have an opportunity of
producing witnesses, which, as a poor man, he could
not do in that Court. He had himself came from
Manchester, a distance of nearly two hundred miles,
to meet the charge, and he thought that that was
punishment enough for a man in his circumstances.
Mr. JARVIS, for the plaintiff, said that if a man
was poor he should take care not to write atrocious
libels, being unable to bear the consequences. He
did not intend to make many observations on the
case, as their Lordships had the libels before them,
and he was confident that they would make the
rule absolute. When the defendant applied last
term to have the rule enlarged, it was agreed to, on
condition that nothing more connected with the
libel should appear in the meantime ; but he held in
lais hand a recent number of the Poor Man's Ad-
vocate, wherein it was stated, that after the 26th
of this month, the Rev. Mr. Gilpin might prepare
for another attack.

Mr. Justice PARK—Is the number you allude to
filed ?

Mr. JERvis—lt is not, my Lord.
Mr. Justice PARK—Then you mubt not allude
:o it. _ . _

__ ...
Mr. JERVIS said, that he should not have done
so, but the defendant, in his defence, still went on
libelling the plaintiff, most likely with some ulterior
views.

Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE was of opinion that suf-
ficient grounds had beer► shown to send the case to
a jury. It was a question whether the very head-
ing of the paragraph, " Clerical Resurrectionism"
was not libellous, but the language of the paragraph
clearly confirmed it, as it evidently went to imply that
Mr. Gilpin had been privy to the removal of the
body from the church-yard.—Rule made absolute.

FIRE AT CREDITON.—An extensive fire took
place at Crediton on Friday. It broke out at a baker's
shop near the White Swan, about two, and 12 or 14
houses were destroyed.wEreter Nam