The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-03 00:00:00

ing of the bottle at the man would be shown to be a
premeditated act.

Mr. Saunders said that something had been stated
to that effect, but upon inquiry the company felt sa-
tisfied that there were no good grounds for believing
that the injury was intentionally caused. There had
been no compromise whatever on the part of the com-
pany with respect to their own expenses in the affair,
or as to any compensation to the guard.
Mr. BROUGHTON said that if, as he had been given
to understand would be the case, a person had been
examined and had shown that he distinctly saw the
bottle deliberately aimed, he should have felt it his
duty most certainly to have sent the defendant before
a jury for trial. In this case he must look upon Mr.
Saunders as acting for the company in the same light
as the Attorney-General, who, acting on the part of
the Queen, says, in addressing the judge, " My Lord,
I have no evidence to offer;" and should, therefore,
discharge the defendant, hoping that what he had al-
ready undergone would operate as a caution to him for
the future. He (the magistrate) suggested to him
that he ought to give the guard 51. at least.
Mr. Clarkson remarked that his client, who was a
strictly honourable man and of good family and con-
nexic,np, Auld n( I quit the court wi hout adequately,
recompensing the unfortunate victim of his indiscre-
lion.

SOUTH WARK.
James Myers, a stout-built, pale-complexioned
young man, dressed in a snuff-coloured Taglioni coat
and black trowsers. was placed at the bar before Mr.
A'Beckett, charged with stealing a leathern portman-
teau, containing divers articles, the property of Mr.
Francis Moor, from the platform of the Brighton
Railway, at London-bridge.
The defendant stated that he came up from Brigh-
ton by the train, and arrived at the London-bridge
terminus between eight and nine o'clock on the pre-
vious night. The portmanteau produced was his
property, and when at Brighton he had it delivered
into the charge of the company, and received a ticket
to claim the same at the end of the journey. On
presenting that ticket last night his portmanteau
could not be found, but in about ten minutes after-
wards he saw it and the prisoner brought up to the
platform by the next witness, and he heard the pri-
soner say that he came up from Brighton by the train,
and that the portmanteau was his own, and that he
had received it from the policeman to whom he had
delivered his ticket for it. The complainant added
that he heard the witness Cooper say to the prisoner,
" That is false, for I saw you on the platform half
an hour before the train came up." The prisoner
then said that it was by another train he came pas-
senger.

William Frost stated that he is employed as one
of the porters outside the terminus of the Brighton
Railway. On the previous night, when the train came
in, about half-past eight o'clock, he saw the prisoner
come from the gates, dragging the portmanteau pro-
duced, and he (witness) asked him if he wanted a
porter, and he replied in the affirmative, and witness
took it up on his shoulder, and was carrying it from
the terminus, when he was overtaken by the next
witness, who inquired whose it was. The prisoner
replied that it was his property ; that he had come up
from Brighton by the train, and he said that he was
surprised that he should be suspected, and he then
pulled witness along by the arm. The next witness,
Cooper, however, desired that he should return to the
station, but the prisoner declined, and said he would
take our numbers, and report our conduct to the di-
rectors. The witness added, that he then assisted in
securing the prisoner, and took him back to the ter-
minus, with the portmanteau, which was claimed by
the prosecutor.

William Cooper stated that he is a constable of the
Brighton Railway, and was on duty at the time men-
tioned, and received information that a portmanteau
was mis-ing, and that a porter had gone after the
thief. He (witness) followed, and met the porters
and the prisoner, and the latter claimed the portman-
teau as his property, and asserted that he had handed
the ticket to witness for it. Witness however added,
that there was no truth in the prisoner's assertion .
Mr. A'BECKETT remarked that there must be negli-
gence somewhere to allow the prisoner to take away
a large portmanteau from the platform, and that it
was only by some accident that the owner had it
restored to him.

Cooper said that it was a mixed train that arrived
with luggage vans attached, and that a good deal of
confusion prevailed owing to the hurry and bustle of
passengers wanting to get quickly away with their
luggage, that the prisoner no doubt availed himself
of the circumstance and got hold of the complainant's
portmanteau.

Mr. ATECKETT said there ought to be a more
rigid look-out kept, as what was the use of issuing
tickets for luggage to an owner, at Brighton, when
it could be obtained at the London terminus with-
out the production of it, by a stranger, as in the
present case.

- James Winter stated that he is a porter in the com-
pany's service, and that he saw the prisoner on the
platform last night, half an hour before the Brighton
train came in, and he saw the prisoner take the
portmanteau from the barrier where the luggage is
placed. He (witness) asked him if it belonged to
him. He said it did ; and he then asked him where
was his ticket, and he replied that he had given it to
a constable. Soon after wards a portmanteau was
missing, and he suspected it was the one the prisoner
had taken, so he gave information and went after the
prisoner, and overtook him and the prisoner just as
they turned round St. Thomas's Hospital. Witness
asked the prisoner whether he came up from Brighton,
and he replied in the affirmative, and added that the
portmanteau contained his property. Witness added
that he assisted in taking the porter back to the
station, and on the way be expressed his determina-
tion to punish them for daring to supect a man of his
respectable character of being a railway thief.
Mr. A'BECK.ETT remarked that if the policeman
whose duty it was to receive the ticket for luggage
from the owners was in attendance at the barrier
where it was deposited on the arrival of a train, this
robbery could scarcely have been effected. If the
policeman was on duty in another place, then there
ought to be more of the company's servants at this
particular spot, otherwise the property of the passen-
gers would be at the mercy of such characters as the
prisoner, who managed to intrude themselves on the
platform on the arrival of the trains. The Magistrate
then committed the prisoner fJr trial.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.
LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE.-APPOINT

MENT OF A NEW BOARD:

A special general meeting of this company was held
in the Manchester Exchange yesterday, for the pur-
pose of remodelling the board of directors. The attend-
ance was numerous. Mr. William Marshall occupied
the chair.
The CHAIRMAN stated that so long ago as March
last it was proposed to reduce the beard to twenty
members, and at subsequent meetings of the company
various proposals for effecting this reduction were
made. A number of gentlemen were appointed by
the shareholders to act with six directors appointed by
the directors in the selection of a new board. That
list was submitted at the last meeting, but it was not
agreed to. Another joint committee was then ap.
pointed ; but it now appeared, from a letter written
by Mr. Leeman, one of the members of the commit-
tee, to Mr. Houldsworth, and dated " 4th Sep-
tember," that after sitting from ten o'clock in the
morning to eight o'clock in the evening, they were
obliged to separate without coming to any conclu-
sion.—(Hear, hear.) The directors had since had their
attention constantly directed to this subject, and he
had hoped to be in a position to lay a list before the
meeting for their acceptance ; but he now regretted
that he could not do so.—(Hear.) Ha had to an
nounce that since the last half-yearly meeting Mr.
Houldsworth had sent in his resignation as a director
of the board, stating in a letter addressed to Mr.
Stuart :—" The course adopted by a majority of the
directory in reference to the late proceedings for the
reconstruction of the board appears to me, after ma-
ture consideration, to have been so opposed to the
spirit of the arrangement entered into with 'the share-
nolders on the 3d July, to the whole proceedings of
the board itself, in reference to the nomination of the
new board, and to what was due to the gentlemen
nominated, that I cannot identify myself .with it by
sharing in their responsibility of conducting the affairs
of the company under circumstances so fruitful of
discord and difficulty. I have therefore come to the
conclusion to resign my seat at the board, and re-
quest you to be kind enough to convey this intimation
to my colleagues."
The CHAIRMAN said that at the last meeting a num-
ber of the directors had signified their intention to
abide by the list of the joint committee, but since
that time the board had been charged with " repu-
diation." Such a charge he considered might more
properly have been made against what he called the
" opposition," who had taken upon themselves to
form another committee, and by so doing had rendered
nugatory all that had been done by the committee
previously.
Mr. MOWATT said they should lay the blame upon
the peeper shoulders. A committee had been ap-
poittted jointly by the board and the shareholders.
They had put forward a li,t, which had been repu-
diated, and by whom ? He denied that the opposi-
tion had done it, and he challenged any member of the
board to say that it was not in the board, or a section
of the board, that the repudiation took place.—
(Cheers.) For years he had objected to the present
management, because he believed that if it continued
he should be totally ruined, so far as the property he
had in that line was concerned.—(Hear, hear.)
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN, a resolution was
unanimously adopted to the effect that the present
board be reduced to ten members.

Mr. MOWATT, M.P., then proposed that, in order
to carry into effect such reduction, the following gen-
tlemen should cease to be members of the board,
viz. :—Messrs, Schueter, Grenfell, Gill, IlAtton,