The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-13 00:00:00

WILLIAMS V. DE VILBRAY.

This case was disposed of late on Tuesday evening.
It was an action brought by the administratrix
and representative of the Erin of Williams and.
Sowerby, silk mercers, &c., of Oxford-street, to re-
cover 521. for silk dresses and other goods supplied
to the defendant.

The pleas put upon the record in answer to the
plaintiff's claim admitted the receipt of the rodp,
but alleg d that they were sold for an immoral pur-
pose,—narnely, to enable the defendant to carry on
the occupation of a prostitute.
Mr. Petersdorff was for the plaintiff ; and Ser-
geant Parry and Mr. Joyce for the defendant.
The issue being upon the defendant,
Alga de Vilbray, the defendant, a tall, elegantly
dres,ed Frenchwoman,, was examined, and she
stated that she had been in the habit of purchasing
articles of dress at the establishment of the plain-
tiff, and always paid ready money f)r them. Upon
one occasion, however, she saw Mr. Grant, the
manager of the establishment, and he inquired
whether she was not a gay woman, and she told
him she was ' • and he then said that he thought
she might get more friends if she dressed more ex-
pensively, and that she might have anything she
required upon credit. He showed her some ex-
pensive dresses, and said that she would look like
a queen in them, and at thesame time told her that
she should go to the Argyll-rooms and other places
of a similar kind, and she would easily find a friend
who would pay the bill. She stated that it was
solely in consequence of this that she was induced
to purchase the dresses, and she afterwards wore
them in the pursuit of her vocation.
The defendant was cross-examined at some length
by the learned counsel for the plaintiff, but nothing
was elicited from her that at all tended to shake
her testimony, and she persisted in declaring that
the plaintiff's manager was perfectly well aware of
her position at the time the goods were supplied,
and that he induced her to purchase them under
the circumstances- she stated. _

Mr. Petersdorff then addressed the jury for the
plaintitl, and he called
Mr. Grant, the person referred to by the defen-
dant, who stated that she was introduced to him
by a Frenchman named Dorbas, who represented
that she was a respectable married lady, and that
her husband was abroad, and would not return
for a fortnight, and that the arrangement was that
half of the atnonnt of goods supplied was to be paid
down, and the remainder when the husband te-
turned. He stated that after the goods had been
sent in an excuse was made for not paying what was
agreed upon, and subsequently it appeared that the
defendant never intended to pay, and therefore the
present action was brought against her. He also
positively declared that he had never made the
suggestion she represented to her.
Mr. Justice Willes explained to the jury the law

W
in reference to a case of this description, and said
that if they believed the evidence of the defendant
she was entitled to a verdict, and the only question
for them was which of the witnesses they con-
sidered entitled to credit.
The jury, after a short deliberation, returned a
verdict for the defendant.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.-GLOUCESTER, Aug. IL

CIVIL COURT.

(Before Mr. Baron Martin and Special Juries.)
Mr. Baron Martin has been occupied the whole
day iu the trial of a cause in which the question is
as to the competency of a party to make a will.

The criminal business of the assizes was brought
to a close last night after the despatch of our re-
pore.

CRIMINAL COURT.
(Before Mr. Baron Bramwell.)
Ann Bird was charged with wilful and corrupt
perjury at Cheltenham.
Mr. Fallon, appeared for the prosecution, and Mr.
Sawyer defended the prisoner.
It appeared the prisoner, who was servant to Mrs.
Col. Gordon, living in Lansdown-terrace
Chelten-
ham, had laid an information against a 1 Vlr. Chas.
Neale, a printer, for a burglary and robbery com-
mitted in the house of her mistress on the morn
ing of Friday, the 24th of April. The prosecutor
had been apprehended and taken before the ma-
gistrates, and the prisoner there swore that she
came downstairs a little before 6 o'clock on the
morning of Friday and saw a man going across
the ball to the kitchen door ; that he looked up
and said that if she told of it he would mur-
den her ; that she knew it was Neale by the black
patch on his eye, and tad known him'for years ;
and that he then went out at the back and got
over the wall. The prosecutor stated that on the
night in question he was not at or near the house
of Mrs. Gordon, but that from 9 to 12 on that
night he was with a man named Wallace, and that
from 12 o'clock till 8 the next morning he was at
home in bed. This evidence was confirmed by
Wallace and by Mrs. Neale ; and' his little girl
said she went into his room a little before 6 in the
morning to get some matches to light the fire, and
saw him in bed, where he remained till 8 o'clock.
A man named Brewer said be was at work at the
back of Mrs. Gordon's house on the morning in
question, and if anybody had got over the wall he
must have seen him. A policeman named Sheen
said he had examined the premises, but there was
no appearance of any breaking or forcible entry,
but a man might have got in at an unfastened
window at the back of the house, but this window
was 12 feet from the ground. A good many things
were scattered about the place, and the sum of 51.
had been taken from the box of a French servant.

Mr. Sawyer having addressed the jury for the
prisoner, the jury found her guilty, and
Mr. Baron Bramwell sentenced her to be im-
prisoned, with hard labour, for one year.
Mary Browning, who had been convicted of the
manslaughter of the illegitimate child of her
daughter, was brought into court, and
Mr. Baron Bramwell sentenced her to be im-
prisoned for one year.
It was stated to the Court that the prisoner had
been certified to be of unsound mind, and she
would be removed to a lunatic asylum.
John Townsend and William Holland, two ser-
vants of the Great Western Railway Company,
were charged with stealing seven bottles of wine,
the property of Messrs. Wheeler and Co.
Mr. Cripps and Mr Gilmore Evans appeared for
the prosecution; Mr Powell defended the prisoner.
It appeared the Messrs. Wheeler and Co., wine-
merchants, had caused a hamper of wine to ba
delivered at the Great Western Railway station at
Gloucester, to be forwarded to their correspon-
dents at Swansea. This hamper was safely re-
ceived in a luggage truck at the inwards goads
station to the knowledge of the prisoners, who
were porters of the company, and the hamper re-
mained safe in that truck till half-past 10 at night
at least. Between 10 and 11 o'clock, on the arri-
val of the Hereford train, goons van No. 261,
which came with that train, was
shunted near to
the luggage truck in which
Byett, the night policeman, in the hamper was.
Shor ly afterwards the prisoner Townsend engagel
conversation in a
place from which the truck and van could not be
seen, and at the same time the other prisoner was
seen close to them by a porter who chanced to
come down to the goods station. Byett observing
the prisoners t 3 hang about the place, and thinking
some,hing was wrong, went down to the van ; and
when ho got near to it he saw Townsend come out
and Hol'and go in, and then heard the clash-
ine, of bottles, and the drop of the lid of a
locker. On asking what was up, •it was an-
swered to Byett that they had a couple of
women in the van. They further refused to let
Byett have their light to see whether all was right,
and refused to let him go into the van. Byett
kept wat,:h over the van, till, after many various