The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-04 00:00:00

March 2.

Mr. Baron Rolfe sat in the Crown Court this morn-
ing to try the remaining prisoners, but none of the
cases were of importance. The judges will proceed
in the course of the day to Durham.

TV ESTERA CIRCUIT, Winchevter, March 2.
CROWN COURT.—Before Mr: Justice TALFOURD.
Thomas Harkey was indicted for having, while in
the employ of the Post-office, stolen a gold signet
ring, the property of the Postmaster-General.
Mr. Rogers and Mr. Poulden appeared for the pro-
secution, and Mr. Saunders defended the prisoner.
The facts of this case were very simple. In June,
1848, a gold signet ring was taken to the shop of Mr.
Hewett, a jeweller, at Portsea, to be repaired. He
sent it up to a Mr. Bird, a working jeweller at
Clerkenwell, London, by post. Mr. Bird repaired it
and on the 14th of June, 1848, put the ring into a
box, put it in a letter and posted the letter, which
was directed to Mr. Hewett at Portsea, at a branch
post-office in Clerkenwell. This letter would in due
course have passed through the post-office at Portsea
on the 15th. In this office the prisoner was employed
as a stamper, and the letter would in due-course have
passed through his hands. The letter, however,
never reached :its destination, and nothing was heard
of the ring until June last, when, owing to some sus-
picion falling on the prisoner, 'his house was searched,
and in a secret drawer of the prisoner's desk the ring
was found. On being asked how he came by it he
said he had bought it of a je tv three years before, and
gave ten shillings for it.

The defence set up was, that the ring was not
clearly identifiel to be the same ring as sent by Mr.
Bird through the post. Bird, however, swore dis •
tinctly to his work in the repairs' of the ring.
The jury found the prisoner Guilty.
Sentence deferred.

The Ni:d Prius Court has been occupied the whole
day in trying a right of way through a passage lead-
ing out of a street in Portsmouth. The case is not of
the slightest interest, except to the parties immediately
concerned.

OXFORD CIRCUIT, Abingdon, March 1.
Both Courts sat this morning at nine. The Nisi
Prins continued sitting till seven, and the Crown
Court till eight in the evening.
CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Baron PLATT.)
Henry Gosling, aged 22, a groom, was indicted for
having, on the 6ch of February, in the parish of Fa-
ringdon, feloniously assaulted and cut and wounded
Henry Maskelyne, his master, with intent to maim,
disfigure, and kill him.

Mr. Cripps conducted the prosecution, and Mr.
Carrington the defence.
It appeared that the prosecutor was a surgeon, and
the prisoner was his groom ; that on the day in ques-
tion the prosecutor, on returning home, went to his
stables, and finding his horses grossly neglected, spoke
in very angry terms to the prisoner, who was then
under notice to leave, and that the prisoner, on the
prosecutor turning his back, struck him with his
hand on the head and knocked him down, and then
beat him, when on the ground, in a most brutal
and savage manner, till the family ran out and saved
him. The prosecutor had only just recovered from
a severe illness, and was therefore the less able to
protect himself. lle was insensible for a considerable
time, and fur some time his medical advisers feared
that he had suffered a concussion of the brain. He
bled profusely, and there was also a large extravasa-
tion of blood in the head. On the close of the case
for the prosecution,

Mr. CARRINGTON submitted, on the authority of
the case of "R. v. Stevens," 1 Moody's Crown Cases,
409, decided by seven judges against six, that the
and wounding under the statute
maintained, as the prisoner had used no
weapon. e cutting
After some discussion, his LORDSHIP said that he
could not fo
b r
was reluctantly obliged to yield to the authority of
that decision.

Mr. CARRINGTON then said that he could not
apinrostn conviction for a common assault.
pronounced the prisoner Guilty of a strTughgel jeuargy
no
bar-
barous assault ; and after a suitable addrress upon the
barbarous brutal, and cowardly character of the as-
sault which he had committed, he was sentenced to
be imprisoned for 18 calendar months.
James Clark, aged 31, a sweep. was indicted for a
felonious assault on one John Humphrey, at the
borough of Reading, on the 19th of January last, and
cutting and wounding him, with intent to maim and
disfigure him.
Mr. Carrington appeared for the prosecution, and
Mr. Williams for the defence.,

This case arose out of the protection meeting at
Reading. The pro►ecutor was a farmer who at-
tended the meeting. Oa its being broken up he went
homeward, down along Friar-street, followed by a
mob of 300 persons, and when he reached the end of
that street his hat was knocked off, and the prisoner
came behind him, and gave him a violent blow with
a heavy-handled whip on the back of the head. There
was some difficulty in afterwards tracing the prisoner,
and one of the circumstances which led to his
detection was the discovery at his house of the
whip with which the blow was inflicted, covered
with blood.

On being convicted of a common assault he was
sentenced to be imprisoned for six months.
CIVIL SIDE.— (Before Mr. Justice PATTRBON and
a Special Jury.)
SCOTT v. BARON ROTHSCHILD.
Mr. Keating, Q.C., and Mr. Gray appeared for the
plaintiff; and Mr. Whately, Q.C., and Mr. Phipson
for the defendant.
This was an action by the representative of Henry
Scott, the celebrated racehorse trainer at Ascot
11-ath, against B3ron Rothschild, for 2741., the
balance of an account alleged to be due to the deceased
for the keep, training, etc., of horses belonging to the
defendant in the sears of 1843, 1844, 1845, and
18-16. Scott died in November, 1847, and soon after
his death the plaintiff sent in an account to the de-
fendant, charging him with a balance of only 661.,
which he at once paid. Soon afterwards this was
discovered to be a mistake, and the real balance was
said to be 2741. 10s. 3d. The defendant paid 701.
into court, and denied his liability to any greater
amount; he also pleaded a set-off to the extent
of 500/.

The case had not proceeded far when it was re-
ferred to arbitration.
The Court was engaged the rest of the day and
night, up to seven o'clock, with an interpleader issue.

HOME CIRCUIT, Hertford, March 2.
CIVIL SIDE—(B fore Chief Justice WILDE and a
Common Jury.)
MEAD (AN INFANT) V. CHEEK.
Tilis was a writ of injuiry, judgment being allowed
by default, to assess the damages to be paid by the
defendant, for having beaten and struck the plaintiff.
Mr. Boviil was for the plaintiff, and Mr. M. Cham-
bers tbr the defendant.
This action appeared to be of a most trumpery cha-
racter. The defendant, who is a respectable trades-
man in the town of Hertford, it seemed, had chas-
tised the plaintiff, who was a lad in his service, for
insolence ; and, although some little severity was used
in the castigation, the injury inflicted was very tri-
fling; but a London attorney having got hold of the
case, an action-at-law was commenced in due form,
and the matter now came to be disposed of at the
assizes.
Mr. CHAMBERS, in mitigation of damages, impressed
upon the jury the real nature of the case, and called
upon them to give such a verdict as would be likely to
repress such proceedings as the present being adopted
on any future occasion.
The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff—da-
mages 205.; and the Learned Judge, after observing
that the proper tribunal for such a case was the County
Court, said he should not certify for costs.
MEAD (AN INFANT) V. DODGER.
This action was brought to recover damages from
the defendant, by reason of his having shot and
wounded the plaintiff.
Mr. M. Climbers and Mr. Lush were for the plain-
tiff, and Mr. Sergeant Shee and Mr. Pearson for the
defendant.
It appeared that in the beginning cf the last shoot-
ing season the defendant and a person named Green
were out on a shooting expedition in the neighbour-
hood of Finchley, and the former fired at a blackbird
that was in a hedge and killed it, and some of the
shots wounded the plaintiff, a lad thirteen years old,
who was at work in the field on the other side of the
hedge. Upon ascertaining what had occurred the
defendant expressed his regret, and promised to do
what was necessary; and the boy went home, when
it was found that a number of shots had entered his
neck, shoulder, and other parts of his body. A good deal
of laughter was created by the statement of one of the
witnesses, of the result of the day's shooting of the
two London gentlemen, which it appeared consisted
of the blackbird before mentioned, a sparrow, and a
partridge.
The jury gave a verdict fur the plaintiff, damages 201.
The civil business was got through by twelve
o'clock, and his Lordship then proceeded to try
prisoners.