The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-19 00:00:00

ness•box, but had put forward the young lady as a'
witness -to give evidence against her own father,
and placed her in the painful position of proving
such a case—and when they had heard all the facts,
hs believed they would not give Mr. Pawle credit
for such high and generous motives in reference to
these proceedings as had been attributed to him,
and that they would also be of opinion that he, and
not Major Goding was responsible for dragging
this matter before the public. He said that several
days ago terms had been agreed upon that would
have ensured to Mrs. Godling an adequate provi-
sion, and to her daughter a respectable home, but
at the last moment Mr. Pawle refused to carry out
this arrangement, and they were consequently corn.
pelled to go on with the action.
Mr. Chambers denied, on the part of Mr. Parole,
that this was so; and said that at that moment
They were prepared to accept the terms that had
been offered. _

VV
Mr. Bovill repeated his assertion, and said
that the correspondence would prove that he was
correct in his statement. He would now inform
them what the real circumstances of the case
were, and a sad tale indeed it was to tell.
He should show them that Mrs. coding, or rather

Mrs. Dickenson, for in point of fact she was the
wife of Lieutenant Dickenson, had latterly be.

come addicted to habits of intemperance, and
while in that state she would throw plates at her

husband, and committed various other acts of vio-
lence, so that it had been necessary upon some occa

• .
sions to call in the aid of the police. If she was pre-
vented from obtaining spirits in the house she would
send the servants to the public-house for them, and
she was in the habit of getting drunk upon gin.
The young lady who had been examined had denied
having seen her mother drunk, but he was afraid
that her mother had deceived her, and that she had

pretended to her daughter merely to be ill, when in
point of fact she was in a state of intoxication.
With regard to the marriage, he should show that
many years ago the lady was married in India to
Lieu-t. Dickenson, but they were separated 22 years
ago, and Major Goding became acquainted with her
while she was passing as a single woman, and re-
ceiving from her husband an allowance of £BO a
year. The jury had heard that at the commence-
ment of the cause he had asked his lordship to post-
pone it, in order to afford an opportunity for Lieut.
Dickenson to come forward and prove that the lady
who had passed as Mrs. Coding was his wife. That
gentleman was in such a state of excitement conse-
quent upon these proceedings and the discovery
that had taken place, that he was unable to attend.
and he had thought it better to go on without his
evidence, because Major Goding could himself prove
that the lady was not married to him. It was true
that, believing her to be a single woman, Major
Goding had formed a connection with her, and that
they had two children, a son and daughter, the
young lady whom they had seen on the previous
day, and that for more than 20 years he had repre-
sented her as his wife. Her conduct, however, at
length became very bad, and from bad to worse.
She opened the major's letters, she was constantly
drunk, she got into debt, and was so violent that
the major was at length compelled to keep her to
her own apartments. The daughter unhappily
sided with her mother, and he should show that the
major entertained most sincere affection for his child,
and his earnest desire was to remove her from
the contamination of being with such a parent.
The learned counsel then went on to state that
Mrs. Goding was in the habit of borrowing money
from the servants and other persons to obtain spirits
with, and Major Coding had been several times
summoned to the Barnet County Court for debts
that were so contracted, and he had paid such debts
over and over again rather than have any exposure.
With regard to what had been stated by the young
lady as to a small quantity of boiled fat which sbe
said could not be called mutton, and some potatoes
being supplied to them for the dinner, and to their
only having the use of one room for a bedroom and
sitting-room, be should show that they had the use
of several rooms, and that the best of food and
everything they required was regularly supplied
both to her and her mother. The learned counsel
then adverted to the facts of the case, and said it
was clear, from the evidence of Mr. Chapman. that
the plaintiff was distinctly told that Major Goding
would not be answerable for any money advanced
after the month of February, and that he had no
claim whatever for the sums that were afterwards
advanced by him, and that the money was advanced
in direct cpposition to the wishes and intentions of
Major Goding, and that consequently he had no
right to recover in this action.
Mr. Chambers again interfered in the course of
the address of the learned counsel for the defendant,
and expressed his willingness, on the part of the
plaintiff, to consent to reasonable terms, without
proceeding further.
Mr. Bovill said he could not consent to do this,
after the attack that had been made upon Major
Goding. A one-sided statement, reflecting seriously
upon that gentleman, had been published to the
world, and it was absolutely necessary that an an-
swer should be given to it, Mr. Pawle had thought
fit to force Major Goding into a court of justice,
and when he had done all the mischief he could, by
giving publicity to those painful matters, he ex-
pressed himself ready to come to terms. The learned
counsel then observed that a great many facts had
been introduced into the case which had nathing
whatever to do with it. The real question was this
—Mr. Pawle demanded money of Major Goding
which he said he never authorised him to expend
for him, and whether he had done so or not was
the only point that, in the result, the jury would
have to consider.
Anne Richardson, who had been housemaid in
the family in 1859, and down to the close of last
year, deposed that when she first went into their
service the major and Mrs. Goding and her daughter
used to take their meals together, but latterly Mrs.
Girding and her daughter occupied another portion
of the house by themselves. Four rooms were
allotted to them, three sitting-rooms and a bedroom.
She used to take them their meals. They generally
had tea at seven o'clock in the morning, lunch at
eleven, consisting of cutlets, and sometimes fish, and
at one o'clock they generally had some meat off the
joints provided for the servants. (Laughter.) They
had dinner at six o'clock and supper at nine. (Re-
newed laughter.) Major Coding used to supply the
dinner from his own table. Witness generally took
up two quarts of ale or porter with the lunch and
the dinner end supper. (Laughter.) Witness some-
times, by Mrs. Goding's orders, used to take up a
gallon of sixpenny ale to her in a stone jar, and she
had taken up as much as two gallons of beer in the
course of the day. (Laughter.) Witness had
fetched gin from the public-house by the direction
of her mistress. A nine-gallon cask of beer came
into the house every week, and when it was emptied
grs. Goding used to send to the public house far
spirits and beer.
Cross-examined—Mrs. Goding and the major fre-
quently quarrelled, but sometimes he was very kind
to her. He was very kind to the servants, and he
gave witness ss. at Christmas, and o.bottle of sherry
on her birthday.
Mr. Hawkins—Did the major give the other ser-
vants a bottle of sherry on their birthdays ?
The witness said she could not say. She did not
know whether the other servants had birthdays.
(A roar of laughter.)
By Mr. Bovill--The bottle of sherry was given for
all the servants to partake of.
Elizabeth Ashworth, the servant referred to by
Miss Coding in her evidence, made a similar
statement, with regard to the manner in which the
ladies' table was supplied, and she also said that
when they made application for the key of their
bedroom upon their return from London, she in-
formed them that the major would let them have
the key when they told him where they had been.
In cross-examination this witness said that six
quarts of beer was generally sent up to Mrs. Goding
every day, and besides this she used to have wine,
and she used also very frequently to take up' three
quarts of milk during the day. (Laughter,)
Hannah Bowman, the cook, gave similar evidence,
and she also stated that Mrs. Goding very often
came home drunk.
Cross-examined—She remembered upon one occa-
sion when Mrs. Goding was drunk she ordered her
to send up some tea, and she heard her say, "Go
and tell that fat beast of a woman to send my tea,
and then I am going to get jolly drunk." (Laughter.)
Mr. Hawkins—l suppose the expression " that fat
beast of a woman" she meant you ? (A laugh.)
Witness (indignantly)—l suppose she did. (Re-
newed laughter.)
Mr. Christopher Richards, a surveyor, a friend
of Major Coding, was then examined, and he proved
that he had an interview with the plain tiff in April,
arid that he then distinctly informed him that
Major Coding would not be answerable for any
money that was advanced, except with the view of
carrying out his wish that his daughter should be
separated from her mother.
Major Goding, the defendant, was then called as
a witness, and
Mr. Justice Williams, who bad made one or two
efforts in the course of the trial to induce the par-
ties to come to some amicable arrangement, before
he was sworn addressed the leading counsel on both
sides and requested them to go with him into the
private room. They accordingly left the court and
were absent for nearly half an hour, when they
again came into court, and it was stated that at
length au arrangement had been effected that would
obviate the necessitypf proceeding further with the
cause.
Mr. Bovill, addressing the jury, said he was
happy to inform them that, through the kind inter-
vention of his lordship, for which he felt much in-
debted; an arrangement had been come to that
would obviate the necessity of their being called