The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-18 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

" ItEntEstanns " TO COUNSEL.—In the Admiralty
Court, on Tuesday, an application was made to allow cer-
tain " refreshers " to the Solicitor-General which had been
disallowed by the Registrar. As much as 80 guineas had
been paid to counsel in two cases heard together, and the
reason urged was that it was a mere " accident " that the
same counsel appeared in both cases. The court rejected
the application with costs.
THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE AND TIIE HIGH SHERIFF.—In
the course of a trial at the assizes at Lewes, the court
adjourned, as usual, for refreshment ; but when the Lord
Chief Justice returned to his seat on the bench he found
neither the sheriff nor his officers in court, and only three

jurymen in the box—the rest were still eating. His lord-
ship complained of the disrespect shown him, and sent
for the missing members of the court. By and bye seven
more jurymen crept in. In time the eleventh man
male his appearance, and was at once fined forty shillings
for unwarrantable delay, and his lordship ordered the
absent under•sheriff, who was still enj.ying the unalloyed
bliss of dining, to pay £2O. He had hardly done this
before the twelfth juryman came in, to be fined £2 103.
His lordship then sent to command the immediate attend-
ance, of the high sheriff, and by the time that worthy
arrived th(>fincs had gone up considerably, and he was
ordered to pay £5O. The high sheriff appeared much
ast nished, and said he was very sorry, but he had been
entertaining the grand jury. " I have nothing to do with
the grand jury," said his lordship ; and the trial went on.

DAMAGES FOR A RAILWAY ACCIDENT.-At the Bodmin
Assizes, on Monday, an action for damages was heard
against the South Devon Railway Company. The
plaintiff was Dorothy Alford, the daughter of a respect-
able farmer, and resided at Lifton. She was 26 years of
age, was a fine and handsome woman, and was, at the
time of the accident, engaged to be married to the station
master at Plympton. On the morning of the 3rd of
February, 1567, she was about to proceed from Lifton to
Launceston, and she took a third-class ticket to go by
the first train. Mr. Stephens, to whom she was engaged,
was also in the train, but being connected with the com-
pany he had been requested to go into a carriage where
was a break, to assist the guard in the management of the
train. When the train was approaching within about a
mile of the station it was driven as fast as possible ;
they then disconnected the engine from the carriages ;
still higher speed was pressed upon the engine until
it came up to some points and went off on a parallel
line ; then the points were turned back, an 1 the
train by its own velocity ran into the station. After
the engine was disconnected and had run off on the
parallel line, the carriages dashed into the station against
the buffers, and rebounded some thirteen or fourteen feet.
The result was, that the plaintiff was thrown forwards and
backwards, and was severely injured. Some persons,
amongst whom was Mr. Stephens, went to the carriage in
which she was, and they found her on the floor bleeding
and cut about the face ; two of her teeth were knocked
out, and she was suffering great pain. She was taken
immediately to the surgery of Dr. West, who lived in
Launceston, and he examined her and found her in a most
fearful state. The surgeon ordered her to be taken to
the hotel, and there she remained in bed three weeks,
being unable to move the whole of that time. She stayed
sixteen weeks in bed at the hotel, when, the Agricultural
Society being about to hold a meeting there, it was thought
that the excitement and noise might be prejudicial to her
and she was removed into kdgings,
.where she had re:
mained in bed up to the present time. Her state had
been most sad. It was discovered she had had a very
serious shock to the system, and had injured the spine.
That had produced paralysis of the bowels ; it had a ter-
rible effect on the bladder, and she now lay a perfect
wreck. There was but the slightest hope of her perma-
nent recovery. A verdict was found for the plaintiff,
with £9OO damages.

CONVICTION FOR CRUELTY TO AN APPRENTICE.—A,_
West Bromwich, on Monday, Alfred Boden, grocer, of
Pensnett, near Wolverhampton, was summoned at the
instance of the West Bromwich Board of Guardians for
cruelly beating his apprenti:.e, a boy about 14 years of age,
named Benjamin Homer. In October last the boy was
apprenticed by the guardians to the defendant to learn
the grocery business. During the time he was in his
employ his master beat him very frequently for scarcely
any cause, and on the 10th ult. he thrashed him so
severely with a horse's trace that the boy left him and re-
turned to the workhouse. He was there examined by the
medical officer, and found to be severely bruised on the
left shoulder-blade and on his left thigh. The evidence
went to shew that the beating the boy had received was
excessive. The magistrates fined the defendant £5, as
compensation to the boy, and costs, making a total of £7.
BUXTON V. THE NORTH-EASTERN RAILWAY COMPANY.—
An action has just been concluded at. the Stafford Assizes
to recover damages for injuries suffered by the plaintiff
in consequence of the alleged negligence of the defendants.
The plaintiff was a bleacher at Fazely, and was 62
years old at the time of the accident complained of.
On the 23rd of August he was coming from York Races to
Wilnecote in the defendants' train. The accident which
occurred was on the Midland Railway, between Mas-
borongh and Eckington, where, a bullock having strayed
from a field on to the line through an alleged insufficiency
of the fences, the train came into collision with it, and was
thrown off the permanent way, and the plaintiff and many
others were injured. The jury found for the plaintiff ;
damages, £BOO.