The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-26 00:00:00

HAY MARKETS.

SMITHFIELD.—ArgaIow hay, £2 93 to £5 03 Od ; clover
do., £3 lOs to £5 15s ; and straw, £1 8s to £1 14s per load.
A slow demand.

CUMBERLAND.—Meadow hay, 23 to £5 03; clover
do., £3 103 to £5 153; and straw, £lB3 to £1 163 per load.
Trade dull.

WHITECHAPEL.—AIeadow hay, £2 es to £5 04; clover,
do., £3 10s to £G Os Od ; ant straw, £1 84 to £1 14s per load.
Supply good.

IBIS DAY'S SIIIPPING.

LONDON, Sept. 26.—Wind this day at noon—North-
Westerly; moderate breeze, and fine weather, but rather
cloudy.

PORTSMOUTH, Sept. 25.—Wind W.N.W.—Arrived--
Sonora, from London for Newburypost, U.S. Sailed—
tier Majesty's ship Pelican, for the Mediterranean ; her
Majesty's ship Alert, for Plymouth.
LowEsToF•r, Sept. 25.—Arrived—Walkington, from
Bahia for Steckholm, leaky.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SOUTHAMPTON, Thursday Morning.
Arrived—Atlantic, steamer, from Havre. _

CI •. - ; La •"a Yw.yLu V tLI ti Learner, TOT
New York; Firefly, steamer, for Cardiff; Mentor and Lady
Constance, for Sunderland.

(BY SUBMARINE AND MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Thursday Morning.
Arrived, Sept. 26—Argus, from Odessa • Good Intent,
from Guernsey; Puller, from \Vyborg; Earl of Auckland,
from Rotterdam,

DEAL, Tursday Morning.
Passed—Sharp, for Philadeli hia ; Alliance, for Geelong;
Courier, schooner, and Carntyne, for Cardiff—all from Lon-
don ; Elbe, packet, of London, from the northward, for the
westward,

SINGULAR ACTION AGAINST A

SCHOOLMASIER.

At the Bishop's Castle County Court, Salop, on Tuesday,
a singular case was tried before Uvedale Corbett, Esq.,
the judge. The 'plaintiff, Edward Griffiths, brought an
action to recover £5O damages from the defend ant Henry
Coward, master of the Bishop's Castle National School,
for having violently assaulted and beaten Charles Grif-
fiths, a pupil :in the school. Mr. Woosnam appeared for
the plaintiff, and Mr. Weyman, of Ludlow, for the de-
fendant.

Charles Griffiths, a little boy about 11 years of age,
said—l was a scholar at the National School in Bishop's
Castle, of which the defendant is the master. On the
24th of May last, when at prayers I spoke to a boy
named Addis, but as I saw the master looking at
me, I desisted. I did not speak to him again. After prayers
myself and two other boys were directed to stay in school.
The master then asked who spoke at prayers. I said I had ;
he then told me to hold out my hand, and I did so, ami he
cut me across with his cane. He told me to hold it out again
I complied, but drew it back when he struck me. He then
caught hold of me by the neck, and threw me backward
across his knee, and beat me across the back with his cane.
When the defendant loosed me I fell down insensible. On
recovering myself I saw the master was at his desk, and he
told me to "be off." I then cr twled along by the wall to the
door, and went into the play-ground. I nearly fell down
from exhaustion while getting up the steps, when two boys
came and helped me up, and assisted me home. My back
hurt me very much in walking. My mother took me next
day to Mr. Brooks the surgeon, and my back got worse
afterwards.

Elizabeth Griffiths stated that on the day in question he
son (the last witness) came home and told her the school-
master had been flogging him, that his thumb was out of
joint, and he thought his back was broken. She stripped
him, and found great weals all round his shoulders, down
his back to his thighs, and all over him; he could not eat,
and she put him to bed. Fie was afterwards taken to Mr.
Brooks, who examined him, and had attended him ever
since. For many weeks the boy had been quite disabled.
Mr. H. Brooks, the surgeon, proved that he saw the boy
the day after he was beaten, when he complained of his
thumb ; but witness seeing there was not much the matter,
he took very little notice of it. On the 18th of June he
found the lad suffering from entire paralysis of the lower
extremities. He complained of pain in his back and the
lumbar regions and all round his thighs. In his opinion,
a violent wrench of the back would so disturb the nervous
system, and cause the effects produced. On cross-examina-
-1 ion, Mr. Brooks said the spinal chord was injured, but he
believed mere flogging would not have caused the injury.
The defendant was then examined. He stated that the
plaintiff was talking and laughing during prayers, and caus-
ing other boys to do the same. He called him up afterwards
and taxed him with it, but he denied it. He asked the boy
to hold his hand up and he did so, but flinched every time.
He then got the plaintiff by the collar, and cut him a few
times across the back with a small cane, but did not take
the boy across his knees. Witness flogged the other boys
as well. He saw the plaintiff and his mother in the street
on the following day, when she complained to him of his
having ill used her boy ; and witness then said he was
carry, and if he had injured him he was willing to pay the
doctor's bill.

The Judge said the defendant was perfectly justified in
punishing the lad ; and no doubt the unfortunate injury
was caused by the wrench, done quite unintentionally. Ho
thought the character of the schoolmaster was not in the
least affected by the transaction, the injury having been in-
flicted by him conscientiously in the exercise of his duty.
He must, nevertheless, give judgment for the plaintiff.
Damages £2O.

ADVICE TO MATCH-MAKING MAMMAS.—The first
and only thing requisite is simply, as Mrs. Glass very
wisely says, "First catch your Heir."—Punoh.

SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF THE AMERICANS.—
It seems to be a favourite pursuit of the Americans to get
hold of a poor Editor, who has the courage to differ with
them, and to tar and feather him. If asked what kind of a
nation America was, we should feel inclined, after hearing
of the above blackguard propensity, to exclaim " Tar-
natiou I"—.Punch,