The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-17 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

DAMAGES FOIL SHOOTING A MAN.-At the Gloucester
Assizes a labourer, named Yelland, brought an action
against Mr. Stringer, a solicitor at Orsett, for the loss of
his eye. On the 2nd September last the plaintiff met the
defendant, and the latter, who had a gun with him, asked
Yelland about some birds. The plaintiff agreed to
accompany the defenCant, and after three or four
hours' shooting they came to a field where
there was a gap. Mr. Stringer told plaintiff and
another man not to go through the gap, but he went
himself into the field. In a short time a partridge rose,
and Mr. Stringer fired in the direction where Yelland was
standing. He missed the bird, but hit the plaintiff in the
left eye, and that eye had been removed since at the Leeds
Infirmary by Mr. Wheelhouse and Mr. T. P. 'reule. After
the accident Mr. Stringer gave plaintiff a sovereign, but as
a man viho carries a dangerous weapon like a gun is respon-
sible, carelessness in the use of it is no excuse. The p'aintiff
claimed damages for the loss of his eye. The jury awarded
£l5O damages.

DAMAGES AGAINST A RAILWAY COMPANT.—In the
Nisi Prius Court an action was brought against the
Midland Railway Company by Mr. Ifa.wkes, a cattle
dealer residing at Wakefield, for injuries sustained by
him. The plaintiff had some cattle at Uttoxeter which
he wished to Have conveyed to York, and took
them to Derby by the North Staffordshire line. When
there he found that one of his cattle had got down
in the truck, and he requested that they might be
taken to the cattle docks, so that he might take them
out and raise the prostrate animal. When that was done
he was going towards the booking-office to get a ticket for
his cattle to York, when some trucks were put in motion
without a signal, and the door of one of them, which was
open, struck him on the shoulder, and for two months he
was unable to attend to his business. The jury gave £lOO

damages.
ALLEGED FRAUDULENT PREFERENCE BY A BANKRUPT
—At the Liverpool Assizes a case in which the assignees
of Couvelas, a bankrupt, brought an action against
Messrs. Papayanni Brothers for alleged fraudulent prefe-
rence by the 'aid bankrupt. It seemed that couvelas,
during the cotton famine, made a post-nuptial settlement,
and just prior to becoming insolvent paid the defendants a
large sum of money that he was indebted to them.
The case for the assignees was, that at the time
of the payment Couvelas must have been
aware that he would become a bankrupt. It was
proved that the insolvent had often been applied to for the
money by Messrs. Papayanni. The judge stated that the
mere fact of the money having been applied for did not
necessarily prevent the conclusion that it was a fraudulent
preference, if the application had no influence on the
plaintiffs' mind. The jury found for the plaintiffs.
TIIE CONVICTION OF A SHEFFIELD SOLICITQR.—At the
Leeds Assizes, William Unwin, a solicitor, at Sheffield,
who had previously been convicted of offences under the
Bankruptcy Act, was called up for ju I,gment. Mr.
Justice Lush, after lamenting that a person in the
prisoner's profession should occupy such a position, sen-
tenced him to nine months' imprisonment.
SUNDAY TRAFFIC IN LIQUORS.—At the Marylebone
Police-court, William Elliott, a coffee-house keeper, was
summoned for selling excisable liquors on Sunday morn-
ing. Ile had not a license. An inspector of
police visited the house in question, and saw
persons pay 7id. for articles that were really not worth
more than a third of that sum. After a man had partaken
of a cup of coffee, the policeman examined the cup and
found some gin at the bottom. lie also saw stout drawn,
and money put on the table, as he supposed in payment
for it. For the defence it was alleged that the persons
drinking were the defendant's employes, and the latter
was treating them. The magistrate did not believe this
to be the case, and inflicted a fine of £l5 and costs.

FIREPROOF FLOORING.—We read in the Bulletin
de la Sociae Industrielle, of Mulhouse, of a very simple
way of making a fireproof flooring applicable to ware-
houses and granaries. It consists in first spreading upon
the planks a layer of clay about an inch in thickness, and
running upon this a layer of asphalte about half an inch
thick. Numerous experiments, we are told, have proved
the efficacy of this as a protection against the
spread of fire, and it has been adopted in all the
corn stores of the General Omnibus Company of Paris.
Mechanics' Magazine.
THE NEW VOTING POWER OF GREENWICH.—
The overseers of the several parishes in the borough of
Greenwich have published the new lists of electors by
placing them on the church doors, as is usual, and an
approximate calculation of the probable increase in the
constituency may now be made. The total number
placed on the lists by the overseers is 14,054 ; the number
at the last revision of the lists was 9,789, thus sheaving
an increase of 4,26 in the number of electors as com-
pared with 1865. The largest portion of the increase
has been made by adding Plumstead to the old con-
stituency, only a very small portion of that parish being
previously within the borough bounds. The lodgers,
it is calculated, will bring up the number of electors to
about 16,000.

CARICATURING THE EUROPEAN POWERS IN
TURIN.—The French (or at least the Emperor) do not
appear to be so popular at present, writes a Turin corre-
spondent. As a proof, I may mention three caricatures
that enrich the windows. In one Louis Napoleon appears
a 3 Van Amburgh in a den, with the Powers of Europe as
the beasts. Prussia is a grinning tiger, Italy a crowned
lamb, and England a giraffe. In another France is repre-
sented as a sick beauty, who is impressed by Dr. Time that
she will never feel well till.a severe Prussophobia and in-
cipient clerical reaction are eradicated. In a third Prussia
appears as a lady shaded by a parasol, on which is
written " Sa,dowa," whilst she reminds a French poodle
that is barking as she passes, th tt the dog that barks does
not bite.

THE STIRCHLEY MURDER.—It will be remem-
bered that during the trial of Harris at Shrewsbury Assizes
upon the charge of murdering the jeweller's salesmen,
Zusman, a profound sensation was created in the court by
the relation of a conversation the prisoner had with his old
schoolmaster while awaiting his trial in the cells beneath
the court. In that conversation Harris admitted that,
while he was not the actual murderer, he was acquainted
with him, and he circumstantially described how the
murderer " dodged him about," threatening to " split his
skull" and " tear out his heart" if be betrayed him. It
has now transpired that this was not the first time since
his committal upon the capital charge that Harris had
avowed his knowledge of the real murderer, and to
Captain Fenwick, the governor of the gaol, he confided
the name of the man. It was generally expected that
immediately upon the acquittal of Harris the person
whom he bad thus pointed out would be arrested, and that
llarris, assured of the protection of the law, would come
forward and give evidence. Such, however, will not be
the case, for the police have reason to know that the man
thus strangely accused (and who is at the present time in
Shrewsbury Gaol upon a charge of poaching) had nothing
to do with the murder. Harris has by his own state-
ments laid himself open to an indictment for misprision of
felony, but it is not probable that the police authorities
will take any steps towards prosecuting him, as they do
not believe such a course would throw any fresh light
upon tie commission of this e4raordinary crime.