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

LAW AND POLICE.

HEAVY DAMAGES AGAINST OMNIBUS PROPIIIETOBS.,-At
the Manchester Assizes, Mr. F. Nicholson, clerk, brought
an action against the Manchester Carriage Company, to
recover compensation for injuries sustained from the negli-
gence of the defendants' servants. The plaintiff was
travelling from Stockport to Heaton Norris on the 26th
December. The driver of the omnibus negligently drove,
at a considerable speed, on to the causeway, and the
plaintiff was thrown violently to the ground. He sustained
a concussion of the brain. The jury found a verdict fox
the plaintiff ; damages, £4OO.

LIABILITY OF INNKEEPERS.-At the same assizes slr.
Slater, a bleacher, brought an action to recover £l7, and
the value of a diamond ring, against the Chester Queer
Railway Hotel Company. On the sth May the plaintiff,
with a companion named Ainsworth, attended Chester
Races. They did not arrive at the hotel till late, and
were obliged to occupy the same bed. After supper
they went to the subscription-rooms fur a short
time, and returned to the hotel about one
o'clock, when they immediately went upstairs. Before
the plaintiff went to bed he put his money, amounting to
£l7 in gold, and a diamond ring for which he had given £5O,
into the left-hand pocket of his trousers, which be placed
on a chair near the door. Mr. Ainsworth put his money
into his trousers pocket, and bolted the door before he got
into bed. In the morning they found that the door was
open, and that the trousers had been disarranged and the
money and diamond ring stolen. They examined the door,
and found that the bolt did not go into the socket, but
slipped below it. On the manageress being called,
she ridiculed the idea of there being a robbery, and
insulted the prosecutor. For the defence it was urged
that the prosecutor must have been robbed before coming
to the hotel, and it was stated that the bolt was in a work-
ing condition. The learned judge, after referring to the
flat contradictions, told the jury that as the Act of Par-
liament bad been exhibited in a public part of the hotel
the defendants were not liable for more than £3O, for
which amount the jury found a verdict.

ACTION FOR SLANDER.—At the same assizes Mr. Law.
less, formerly manager of the Anglo-Egyptian Cotton and
Oil Company, brought an action against his late
employers for defamation of character. The plaintiff
was sent over to manage the affairs of the corer
pany in Egypt, and whilst there one of the clerks left.
and on the accounts being transmitted to Manchester it
was seen that there was a deficiency in stock, and at a
meeting of the directors a report was presented, which
contained the following :—" The shareholders will observe
that there is a charge of £1,306 is. 7d. deficiency of stocl;
which the manager is responsible for ; his accounts have
been badly kept, and have been rendered to us very irre
gularly." 'Phis constituted the libel complained of. The
fury axe,rded £5)O compensation.

BRUTAL MANSLA 1.7G111 ER.- At the Leeds Assizes,
Thomas C'a- ey was ind:eted for the manslaughter of
Elizabeth Davies. It appeared that the prisoner had
lived with the deceased as her husband for two or three
years. He was in the habit of ill-treating her, and on the
day of her death be had threatened to murder her, and
had been beating and kicking her at different time;
during the day, both upon the road and in the house. At
last a blow was heard by some one in an adjoining room
and the deceased was heard to cry out. She went away
down the road, and he followed her. She was afterwards
found nearly dead, and she died before the doctor came
The jury found the prisoner guilty, and his lordship,
saying that his conduct was a series of brutal outrages
sentenced him to ten years' penal servitude.
ALLEGED ATTEMPTED WIFE MURDER.-At the Hamp
stead Petty Sessions•court, Robert Marriott, an owner
horses and donkeys, was charged on a warrant with the
following murderous assault on his wife, Emily Marriott.
Both parties are advanced in life, and it would appeal
from statements made in court that quarrels frequently
occurred between them, his wife stating that he hai
threatened to murder her about a hundred times. Or
the occasion now in question it appeared that the prosecu
trix was on Hampstead-heath, giving some food to bee
husband's horses, when he beat her in a very bruti
manner with a whip, striking her on the head and
shoulders, and causing the blood to flow profusely. The
magistrates thought the justice of the case would be inc
by the prisoner being kept in prison for a month, and a
the end of that time finding sureties.

THE WOLVERHAMPTON BEER POISONER.—An operativ
brewer named James Lewis has been committed for trial
charged with attempting to " aggrieve and annoy'
Joseph Paalton, landlord of the Star inn, Horsleyfields
Wolverhampton, and others, by giving nine ounces o
muriatic acid to the prosecutor's servant girl, and request
ing her to put it into a tub of ale in the prosecutor'.
cellar. The stipendiary said that it was only b 3
God's mercy that hundreds of people had not bees
poisoned.

THE OVERWORKED DRESSMAKERS. Miss Ha,,net
Axford, milliner and dressmaker, 8, Arabella-row, Pim
lico, was summoned for permitting needlewoinen in he'
employment to work after half-past four on Saturday
afternoon, the 25th ult., contrary to law. Defen
dant pleaded guilty, but said that she had order
in the house to execute which obliged her to kee'
her young ladies at work. They, however, left off a
seven. Mr. Arnold observed that her having work in th
house was no excuse. She was not to get a profit by
breaking the law. The defendanthad been cautioned, ant
ought to have attended to it. He fined her 205., and 8s
costs.

REAPING BY NIGHT ON ACCOUNT OF THI
HEAT.—The Dutch journals mention the scarcity o
water in the province of Trisia. That derived from rail
costs 30c. the pailful, and from wells sc. In the island co'
Voorne nothing is available except ditch water, which is
of course, pernicious to health. The heat is described a
tropicil, and many persons have died in the fields. .A)
enormous number of insects fill the air, numerous specie
of which are quite unknown to the oldest inhabitants o.
those districts. In many localities the reaping of th
harvest goes on only at night.
ANNOYANCE TO PROTESTANTS IN SANTIAGO.—
The Valparaiso and West Coast Mail of June it gives sour
lengthy details of the annoyances to which the Protestant.
of Santiago have recently been subjected by some of th.
populace. It has for some time been the practice of th
intolerant " roughs '' of that city to enter the Protestan
church, make off with the bibles, and tear them to shred
in the street. Police watchfulness put a stop t
this amusement for some time, but it was soon renewed
and then the Rev. N. P. Gilbert, the Prelbyteriat
minister, and sonic of the congregation, hit upon a phi;
for securing the thieves, viz., to close the doors of th
church when the next raid was made, and hand th
offenders over to the poliu. The plan was eminentl;
successful in execution, but not quite satisfactory ii
results. The entrapped thieves turned upon their captors
and a row ensued which led to the interference of the police
who, without much, if any, discrimination, marches
robbers and robbed off to prison, Mr. Gilbert being
amongst the number. The rev. gentleman and his friend
were, however, at once released on arriving at the lock-up
Nor was there any adequate punishment inflicted on th
assailants, for the principal ringleaders were discharged b:
the criminal judge with a reprimand, and the others wer
set at liberty.