The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-21 00:00:00

ZAW AND POLICE.

TNT ACTION !OR A WBDDINO BILLUCIPAST.—In the CAM
of Rayner v. Koehler, after a most protracted trial, the
jury found for the plaintiff for the full amount claimed.

STABBING A WITNBSEL—At the Middlesex Sessions
Joseph Simmonds, a youth, 18 years of age, was charged
with cutting and wounding Thomas Welch. It seemed
that at the previous sessions a companion of the prisoner's,
named " Fatty," was sentenced to seven years' penal son
vitude, and the prosecutor in the present instance was one
of the principal witnesses. On Good Friday Welch was in
Berwick-street, Soho, where he saw the prisoner scraping
a piece of wood with a knife, and, as the prosecutor was
passing, the accused struck him in the abdomen, though
fortunately without occasioning much harm. Having been
convicted, the prisoner was sent to prison for twelve
months.

A VIOLENT PRISONER.—At the Mansion House, Henry
Thompson, a tailor, employed in the Poultry, was sent to
prison for seven days for an indecent assault. He declared
he was innocent, and, on leaving the dock, threw his hat
at Alderman Wilson, and declared he would murder him.
He was thereupon sentenced to fourteen days' hard
labour. It took five of the officers of the court to get him
into a cell, and he so violently assaulted Sergeant Shaw,
the keeper of the lock-up, that that officer preferred a
charge against him, and he was brought out of the cell to
be searched. He then again assaulted Shaw and Partridge,
the gaoler, and his hands were obliged to be handcuffed
behind him, and his shoes pulled off, before he could be
taken before the court. He was then a little calmer, and
expressed himself sorry for what he had done. Mr.
Alderman Wilson then ordered him to find two sureties in
£2O each, and to enter into his own recognisances in £2O to
keep the peace to all her Majesty's subjects for twelve
months when he came out of Holloway Gaol. The alder-
man and Mr. Oke, the chief clerk, both instructed the
gaoler to inform the governor of the prison of his conduct
at this court. The prisoner, on leaving the dock, told
Alderman Wilson he should hear of him again.
ROBBERY FROM A RAILWAY COMYANY.—At Marylebone
Police-court, James Wilkes, a railway porter in the employ
of the London and North-Western Railway, and William
Brown and his wife, Mary Ann Brown, were charged, the
former with stealing a bale of cloth, value £3O, and the
other : prisoners with receiving the same well knowing it
to have been stolen. On the 9th January last Messrs.
Arthur, wholesale cloth and tweed merchants, Edin-
burgh, transmitted a bale of tweed to Messrs.
Branck and Sons, Brussels. Its transit was
regularly traced from Glasgow to London, where, the
route not being specified, it was detained and placed in
what is known as " the pound." The bale did not arrive
at its destination, and inquiries were set on foot which
resulted in the prisoners' house being searched, and there
a quantity of cloth very much like that stolen was found.
The prisoners were committed for trial, but remanded in
in order that a charge of stealing a hamper of boots
during its transit from Northampton might be preferred
against them.

WOUNDING WITH RED-RIOT IRON. —At the Wor.
ship-street Police-court, Thomas Mills, a joiner, was
charged with maliciously wounding Henry Walker
with a piece of red-hot iron. It seemed that the
prisoner occupied a tenement in the same house as
the prosecutor, and on Saturday made a great
noise and threatened he would murder the whole
household. The complainant asked him to desist,
when the prisoner desired him to come into his
room. Walker, not apprehending any violence, complied
with the request ; but on his entering the apartment the
accused struck him a violent blow on the head with a piece
of iron that was red hot at the end. The prisoner stated
that the prosecutor commenced the affray, and what he
did was simply in self-defence. The magistrate, after corn.
menting on the serious nature of the chargo,committed the
accused for trial.

THE CASE AGAINST HOME, THE SPIRITUALIST.—
Before Vice-Chancellor Giffard, the case of Lyons v.
Home again came on for hearing. It was alleged
that the defendant, by misrepresentation and fraud,
had obtained complete mastership over the mind
of Mrs. Lyons ; in fact, so great was his in-
fluence, that he obtained from her at different times
£24,000. The circumstances were briefly these. Mrs.
Lyon, having been introduces to Mr. Home by a friend
of hers in October 1866, was persuaded by him that
through his means she was on several occasions placed in
communication with her deceased husband, with which
she was so much pleased that she first gave Mr. Home
£3O as a subscription to his " Athenmum, " in
Sloane-street, and afterwards £5O more. On the 10th
October, seven days only after the first interview, Home
obtained from her £24,000 sterling. Shortly after-
wards she was told it was her husband's wish that
she should destroy her will, and make the defendant
her universal legatee. In December Mr. Home assumed
the name of Lyon in addition to that of Home ; and in
the same month Mrs. Lyon was induced to sell out £6,000
odd Consols, and give the proceeds of this sum also to the
defendant ; and, finally, in January, she made over a sum
of £30,000 to the defendant, reserving to herself only a
life interest. In March 1867 Mr. Home invested £20,000
in a mortgage, and shortly after the plaintiff, finding, as
she said, that she had been deluded, filed this bill. Ane
exeat regno was obtained against Mr. Home, under which
he was arrested, but the matter was arranged, and the de-
fendant had submitted to the jurisdiction by paying and
transferring the sums he had obtained from Mrs. Lyon
into court. After Mrs. Lyon's affidavit had been read,
the court adjourned.