The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-20 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE-

NO SMALL Loss.—Vice-Chancellor Malins has had
before him a curious case relating to diamonds worth
£lO,OOO. It came before him in the form of a motion for
dissolution of partnership. The partnership was consti-
tuted under a French instrument of special character, and
the plaintiffs had under its provisions consigned diamonds
of great value to the defendant. It appeared that the
defendant had parted with diamonds of the value of
£lO,OOO to a Pole on the 4th inst., and the plaintiff stated
that the only account which they could get of those
diamonds was that the Pole went to the Alhambra,
Leicester-square, on the nine evening with them in his
pocket, that he left the Alhambra in company with
a woman, and on the next morning discovered that
he had lost them. Under these circumstances the plain-
tiff desired to break up the partnership and have a receiver
appointed over the partnership property which still re-
mained in London. It subsequently appeared that " the
Pole " had only this week married defendant's daughter.
The Vice-Chancellor said the best course to adopt was to
let the partnership by mutual consent be dissolved from
Monday last ; take an account of the partnership transac-
tions, and appoint Mr. George Cape, the well known
accountant, receiver and manager of the partnership
estate.

HEAVY DAMAGES.—An extraordinary claim for damages
sent down for assessment upon a writ of inquiry from the
Court of Exchequer has been settled at Shrewsbury be-
fore the deputy under-sheriff and a special jury. The
plaintiff is a bricklayer named Edward Steedman, and the
defendant is Mr. Thomas Wells, of Eaton Mascott Hall,
Shropshire, and the Larches, Wolverhampton, one of the
most extensive ironmasters in the Midland district. On
the 23rd of August in last year the plaintiff, who is a
tenant of the defendant's, was returning home from work,
and in passing along the highway saw the defendant's game.
keeper shoot a rabbit which was running near the road. The
plaintiff observed to the gamekeeper that he was making the
dust fly in the road, and expressed a hope that he would not
shoot him. The gamekeeper replied that he would take
care of that, and the plaintiff proceeded on his way. He
had not gone many yards, however, when a shot fired from
the gun of the defendant struck him in the face. The
plaintiff went home, and after passing a night of great
agony, obtained admittance on the following day to the Eye
and Ear Hospital, Shrewsbury, where it was found neces-
sary to remove one eye from the socket, while the sight of
the other was pronounced to be permanently impaired.
After the plaintiff had been in the hospital for a fortnight,
Mrs. Wells called to inquire after his health, and on leaving
his bedside placed half a crown in his hand. On a subse-
quent occasion the defendant was driving along the road in
his carriage, when he overtook the plaintiff and pulled up
to ask how his eye was getting on. Steadman replied that
he was almost blind, and the defendant gave him a half-
crown and drove on. 'These two donations, with the occa-
sional gift of a rabbit, represented, according to the plain-
tiff's statement, all the assistance he had received from the
defendant since the date of the accident. After a long con-
sultation a verdict for the plaintiff was taken by consent ;
damages, -3
CUTTING NEWSPAPERS.—At the Liverpool Police-court
Mr. C. D. Wilson, shipbroker (Persian Consul), has been
fined £5 and costs for cutting a piece out of a newspaper in
the Exchange News-room. The defendant denied that he
had any malicious intent. The paper was one of a file
made for the use of the subscribers.
CLARIBEL'S SONGS.—The Master of the Rolls has had
before him a motion for an injunction to restrain Messrs.
Sinclair, the music publishers, from continuing the publi-
cation of a song called -Under the 'Willow," as being
" written by Claribel," the plaintiff contending that such
a description implied that not only were the words
of the song written by Claribel, but that the music
was composed by her. From an affidavit that had
been filed it appeared that " Clatibel " was the wife
of a clergyman called Barnard, and was a writer and
composer of considerable popularity. In the present
case this lady had only written the words, but not com-
posed the music. These words she bad made a present of
to a friend, and the friend had sold them to Messrs. Sin
clair after they had been set to music by some one other
than Claribel. The whole question before the court was
whether the words written by Claribel led the public to
believe that the music of the song as well as the words was
written by that lady. The court held that the words
written as used merely applied to the words of the song
and not the music, and his Honour consequently refused
the injunction.

THE EARL OF JERSEY'S LoAn.—Vice-Chancellor Stuart
has had before him the case of the Earl of Jersey v.
Dicker and Yates. It was a motion on behalf of the
Earl of Jersey for an injunction to restrain Mr. John
Campbell Dicker and Mr. Frederick Yates, from pro-
smiting an action at law for the recovery of £lO,OOO
on acceptances given by the plaintiff in respect of
advances made to him. These acceptances were
only part of acceptances exceeding £lO,OOO which
the plaintiff had given for advances of money to
enable him to carry on his horse-racing pursuits. The
plaintiff left Eton in July 1863, and entered the
University of Oxford as an undergraduate at Balliol Col-
lege in May 1.t.36-1. While at Oxford he bad an allowance
Of £5OO per annum. Tbe'ground on which the motion was
made was that exorbitant interest was charged to the
plaintiff, who was young and inexperienced. Mr.
Dickinson, during the hearing of the case, admitted on
the part of the Earl of Jersey that, in respect of the ac-
ceptances amounting to £lO,OOO, the sum of £B,lOO ought
to be paid by the earl.—The Vice-Chancellor thereupon
directed that, if the earl paid £B,lOO to the credit of the
cause on or before Saturday, the action should be stopped.

Arrangements are now in progress, with th,3
sanction of the Bishop of London, for the organisation o
a series of confirmations on the continent of Europe during
the ensuing season. The Right Rev. Bishop Smith, late
of Victoria, and other prelates, will administer the rite.
The Irish Liberal journals can scarcely find
language to express their delight with Mr. Gladstone's
policy in reference to.the Irish Church. Meetings, adver.
tised to be held in Kilkenny and Limerick before the
speech of the Opposition leader was delivered, are about to
assume a changed character. Originally the intention was
to petition in favour of the abolition of the Church ; an
event then egntemplated only as far distant. Now the
promoters flatter themselves that their triumph is nearer
and sure, and will use the opportunity to pass resolutions
pledging the Ultramontane party to support Mr. Gladstone.

AN INFERNAL MACHINE.—The day after the
arrest of the reputed heal centre Murphy, at the residence
of his father-in-law, in Garryowen, Sub-Inspector Kelly,
with a party of police.. proceeded there, and having searched
a room in the hou3e, an affair resembling a torpedo was
found concealed under the bed in which Murphy slept.
This implement of destruction was conveyed to the New-
castle racecourse in a cart,- escorted by a party of con-
stabulary, under the command of Sub-Inspector Kelly,
who was accompanied by Mr. Ambrose Hall. It was
opened with caution by Mr. Hall, but without the least
accident occurring, and on examination of the contents of
the charged tubes they were found to be highly explosive
at the percussion or capped ends. This torpedo could
be made to blow up a ship or a building, or set fire to any
edifice containing timber work ; so that the importance ci
the arrest of Murphy and the discovery of this Worn&
machine is be'onci doubt!