The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-22 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

CHARGE or LIBEL. —Albert Henry Elworthy, solicitor,
of Crow .ourt, Threadneedle-street, was indicted for un-
lawfully writing, and causing to be printed and maliciously
publishing a defamatory libel concerning Mr. Thomas
Cannon, journalist, of 139, Cheapside ; and Messrs. Charles
and Edward Wyman, printers, of Great Queen-street, Lin-
coln's-inn-fields, were charged with printing the said libel.
Mr. Metcalfe conducted the prosecution ; Mr. Poland de-
fended Messrs. Wyman ; and Elworthy defended himself. ,
The prosecutor was formerly a client of Elworthy's, but
some disputes arose between them, arising out of pecuniary
transactions ; and Cannon, at the instance of Elworthy,
was indicted for making a false declaration, and found
guilty. That conviction rested upon the testimony of
Elworthy, who was afterwards indicted for perjury alleged
to have been committed on the trial, and he was found
guilty, but on a technical point a case was reserved for
the Court of Criminal Appeal, and the conviction was
quashed. Mr. Elworthy then wrote a pamphlet, con-
taining a violent attack upon Mr. Cannnon, entitled
" Persecutions of a Solicitor," and it was printed by ,
Messrs. Wyman and Sons, the well-known printers of
Great Queen-street. In this pamphlet it was stated that \
Cannon and his wife were suborned to swear
falsely, and several libellous remarks appeared in it.
The pamphlet had a large circulation in the legal profes-
sion. It appeared that Cannon put himself in communi-
cation
with Messrs. Wyman, and that they wrote him a
letter, expressing regret that they had printed matter
which Mr. Cannon considered libellous. It was
impossible, they said, in the multifarious trans-
actions of so large an office for the principals
to read all they printed. They wrote to Elworthy to
stop the circulation of the pamphlet, and offered
to insert an apology in any paper. This was declined.
Evidence was given to show that 250 copies of the pam-
rhlet were printed and delivered to Elworthy on the 15th
of May last, and that a fortnight afterwards a second
edition of 250 copies was printed, and sent to
Elworthy's office in Crown-court. The jury returned
a verdict of guilty against Elworthy, but strongly
recommended him to mercy on account of the
extreme provocation he had received. The Recorder, in
passing sentence, said there was no doubt he had been
considerably harassed in the course of these proceedings,
and it was to be hoped that he hardly knew what he
was about when he published this pamphlet. What he
(the learned recorder) attached considerable importance
to was the fact that he libelled the jury by whom his
ease was tried by suggesting that they were tampered
with. The sentence of the court upon him was that he
be imprisoned for two months, and enter into his recog-
, nisances for £2OO to keep the peace towards all her
Majesty's subjects for a period of twelve months. In the
case of Messrs. Wyman, the jury returned a verdict of not
guilty, believing it was more a matter for civil than
criminal action.

On Sunday the Bishop of Lincoln held (for the first
time) an ordination of deacons and priests in St. Mary's
Church, Nottingham. The ordination sermon was preached
by the Rev. Prebendary Morse, vicar of St. Mary's.
SUDDEN DEATH OF A REVISING BARRISTEIL—OH
Saturday Mr. Thomas Hugh Markham, the revising
barrister for North Lincolnshire, held his court at Gains-
borough. Having returned to his hotel, he was writing a
cheque when he was suddenly attacked by apoplexy.
Medical aid was promptly in attendance, and deceased
appeared to be better, but the medical man had not left the
house before he was recalled. On returning to the chamber
he found Mr. Markham was dead.

DEFICIENCY OF POOR AND OTHER RATES IN ST.
PANCRAS.—On Monday the Vestry of St. Pancras issued
their estimate of the poor and local management rates for
the half-year ending Michaelmas next, from which it
appears that there is a balance of £3,000 due to the guardians
of the poor on their precept of 12th March last ; also
£13,806 on the police rate due 9th August last ; £1,157 on the
Metropolitan Fire Brigade precept ; £479 for registration
expenses, and £405 collectors' poundage ; total, £18,937; while
the cash in hand and rate outstanding amounts to 0n1y£9,502 ;
leaving a deficiency on the half-year now ending of £9,435.
Two cases of what are described as " cannibalism"
are reported in the Irish papers. Two men, half drunk, en-
gaged in a fight near Nenagh, bit off, the one a portion of the
ear, the other of the lip, of his adversary. In Londonderry a
man has been convicted of a savage assault upon two
women, one of the women being nearly 90 years of age. In
the struggle which ensued on his entering the room where
the women lodged ho bit a piece out of the aged woman's arm
and the face of the younger woman he also "caught in his
teeth." A criminal intent was alleged, but the magistrates,
not thinking this sufficiently proved, awarded him six
months' imprisonment with bard labour.

FOREST FIRES IN CANADA.—From the middle
of July fires were occasionally raging in the timber dis.
tricts north of Lake Simcoe, and on both sides of the
Northern Railway track. In calm weather nothing was
observable but a few flakes of smoke here and there ; the
appearance was that of a smouldering mass ; but whenever
the wind rose the smouldering embers were set in a
blaze, and trees caught fire, burnt and fell, spreading
the flames around. At these times the fires made rapid
progress. In the last week of August the fire was three
miles from the village of Silvershoe on Thursday evening,
and by two o'clock on Saturday afternoon the place was
destroyed. The inhabitants, taken by surprise, had but
few means of resistance. The branches and bark of the
felled trees and the marsh weeds were as dry as timber.
AtteMpts had been made to arrest the progress of the
fire in the woods by throwing up earth in its way, but it
kept alive and burnt on under the earth thus thrown
up. The scene when the fire ran along the railroad track
is described as very striking. The noise of the burning of
the dry trees on either side was like the escape of steam
from an engine, with occasional loud roars like the fire of
artillery. The rails, unable to expand lengthways, curved
and twisted in all conceivable shapes. People miles 04
Bet about carrying off their effects. But heavy rainB at
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