The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-14 00:00:00

EDMONDS.

This was an'action to recover £4 for four weeks' rent of a
ready-furnished cottage, taken by defendant for the month.
Mr. Buohanan—l amit, for the defendant, occupation;
but we only occupied eight or nine days. A portion of the
house was in such a disgusting state that my client and
his family were obliged to quit.
Plaintiff—l deny it.
His Honour—lt is not a legal defence. You recollect
the groat bag case overruled in a recent decision by the
Court of Exchequer. Defendant must pay.
Mr. Buchanan—Defendant will have his action for
damages.
Verdict for plaintiff.
Mr. Townley, for plaintiff, applied for his coats, but as
he had not given notice to the other side that plaintiff would
appear by attorney (the amount being under £5), the costs
were not allowed.

THE HULL THEMTRE ROYAL BURNT

DOTVN.

It is with great regret we report the destruction,
by fire, of the Theatre Royal of this town—the prin-
cipal theatre of the York circuit, and one of
the most compact and handsome theatres in the
provinces. It appears that about seven o'clock yes-
terday morning Mr. Francis was on the stage 9f the
theatre, and was alarmed by seeing a quantity of
smoke, and almost immediately the private room of
Mr. Pritchard, the lessee, situated on the east side
of the stage, was observed in flames. He imme-
diately raised an alarm, and assistance was soon at
hand. The police hose and fire-engines were quickly
on the spot. In the meantime, however, the flames
spread rapidly en all sides, and it was evident that
it would be a most difficult matter to check their
progress. Unfortunately some delay was at first
experienced in procuring a sufficient quantity of
water, and the flames continued to rage furiously,
and rapidly burnt up the scenery and ether stage
effects ; and extending to the north part of the
building, destroyed the boxes and galleries. In
the end, notwithstanding that an ample supply of
water was ultimately obtained, the roof fell, and
the building was completely gutted,
leaving little
more than the walls standing. It may be men-
tioned that special efforts had been made for the
production of a "spectacular drama," which neces-
sitated the augmentation both of the general ward-
robe and that of the performers who had to take
part in its representation, and we regret to state
that nearly the wbele of those articles have been
destroyed, which will be a serious loss both to the
lessee and the members of the company. The only
articles saved were a few which parties connected
with the theatre were enabled to remove from the
building. Considerable alarm was naturally felt 1
for the safety of the property adjoining the thea-
tre, but fortunately the exertions which were used
prevented the flames from extending beyond the
building itself. The theatre is insured, but
not the wardrobe, which, we believe, would
be worth about £4OO. This is the second fire
which has occurred at the Theatre Royal within a
few weeks, but on the previous occasion it was con-
fined to the wardrobe, and only trifling damage
was done. The Theatre Royal was erected in
Humber-street, in 1809, by the son of the late Mr.
Tate Wilkinson, was opened in May, 1810, and
was considered 'one of the finest theatres out of
London. Tho receipts for the first 60 nights
amounted to £3,150. Since its erection many
actors who have become eminent in the profession
have appeared on its boards. Latterly efforts have
been made to dispose of it, but they were unsuc-
cessful, and it remained the property of the Wil-
kinson family. The building was insured to the
extent of about £B,OOO.