The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-19 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

THE TROUBLES OF A PATENTEE.—Mr. Bovill, a brother
of the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, invented
some time back an improvement in the working of a mill,
and he seeks to obtain the " fruit of his labours." But the
millers in London and elsewhere declare that he invented
what had long ago been found out. They allege
that they have long used the same arrangement,
and they refuse to pay him for what they
regard as common property. A large combination
was formed to defeat the project, and Mr. Bovill has been
led from court to court for some years. He had to fight
a large number of defendants at once, and Bovill v.
has become a well-known entry both at Chancery and
common law. In every case, however, he has succeeded
in establishing to the satisfaction of the court or
jury that the patent is his own, and that he had
not been forestalled. But, no wise disheartened, his
opponen's seem determined to fight him to the end. The
last case of this kind, Bovill v. Goodier, having failed to
assert the right of the millers to the patent, the de-
fendants have applied to the Master of the Rolls to have
certain issues—which were tried at common law by a jury,
by direction of Lord Romilly—retried. This application
the learned judge refused. An appeal was on Friday heard
before the Lord Chancellor, who confirmed the decision of
the learned judge.
ALLEGED ILLEGAL CONFINEMENT IN A LUNATIC
ASTLUM.—An important case has just terminated in the
Court of Common Pleas, one of a character which happily
does not often come before our courts of law. It was an
action brought by a gentleman named Gent, of Padbury,
against one Mr. Glennie and others. The plaintiff alleged
that he, being of perfectly sound mind, had been forcibly
removed from his home and detained in a lunatic asylum.
He called several witnesses, who said they had had rela-
tions with him of one kind and another, and had never
thought him mad. But the defendants proved several acts
of violence, the doctor declared he was suffering from hal-
lucinations, and the commissioners who visited the lunatic
asylum gave it as their opinion that at the time of their
visit they thought be was under a delusion. The jury

;herefore returned a verdict for the defendant.

MR. GRAVES AND HIS ENGRAVINGS.—Mr. Graves, the
well-known engraver, suffers very much from piracy. It
in fact requires great watchfulness and a separate staff
to tee that others do not copy his engravings and sell
them for less price. This they are able to do, as the
copyright costs the publisher a large sum. For the
engraving the pirates pay nothing, and so they can
sell for a nominal price. Mr. Graves, however, is con-
tinually prosecuting. On Friday, at the Mansion House,
three men were charged by Mr. Graves, the well-known
engraver of Pall Mall, with "conspiring to sell and
publish pirated copies of certain engravings" the property
of Mr. Graves. The engravings in question are "The
Railway Station," "My First Sermon," "My Second
Sermon," "Ordered on Foreign Service," and others.
After considerable evidence was taken the prisoners were
remanded.

ATTEMPTED MURDER.—With the assizes come forth
woeful tales of violence. There seems to be a large number
of attempted murders. At Maidstone a man named
Wright, aged 45, who had been ir. the army, and was
once employed as a warder at the County Gaol, was
charged with attempting to murder his wife, from whom he
was separated. It appeared that he met her in the
street, and inflicted several severe wounds on her throat
with a razor, and would have doubtless succeeded in his
fell purpose but for the aid of some passers-by. He
was found guilty and sentenced to fifteen years' penal
servitude. They had been married nineteen years, and
had had four children.
To OBTAIN WoRK.—A serious and somewhat rare

charge has been investigated by the sitting magistrate at
Bow street. A young woman was brought up on a charge
of having endeavoured to obtain a situation by means of
a false character. She had assumed the name of a
respectable girl whom she accidentally met at a servants'
registry. She was sentenced to pay a fine of £2O, with the
alternative of three months' imprisonment.
FRAUDULENT MINERS.—A case of some interest has just
been heard at Pickering. Two men, iron miners, were
charged with defrauding their employers. It appeared
that the prisoners were engaged by contract at so much a
ton, to get up the ironstone and put it into the railway
waggons, and they had to attend to the necessary propping
of the part of the mine where they were working. Shale
overlaid the ironstone, and some of it had 'fallen,
and the men were to be paid extra for getting it out.
The men, it seems, had three waggon3, which, it
appeared, they loaded with shale, and covered it
with a layer of ironstone. This, after weighing, was in
due course taken to the kilns and shot in without the

imposition being detected. The three tons of shale would

greatly deteriorate sixty tons of iron, which, raw, was
worth 7s. Gd. per ton, and calcined 9s. Gd. Great mischief
had been clone by the dishonest proceedings. The prisoners
asserted that the shale and ironstone were so mixed that
they could not separate them. This was denied, and it was
shown that at the bottom the waggons were loaded with
shale only, no shale appearing at the top. The bench
were undecided whether to deal summarily with the
prisoners or to commit them for trial, and adjourned the
case for a month.

The Queen is about to confer the honour of knight-
hood upon Mr. Digby Wyatt.
SOMETHING LIKE A SHOP.—On the 30th Novem-
ber the latest addition to Stewart's retail dry goods
store, Broadway, New York, was opened to the public.
This establishment, which claims to be the largest in the
world, now covers two acres. The building is six stories
high, and has a basement and sub-cellar below ground ;
the steam boilers to raise the elevators are under the side-
walk. The basement is used for the sale of oil-cloths.
The first story is the saleroom for nearly every kind
of dry and fancy goods, except carpets, cloaks, shawls,
and millinery. From the centre of this story rises, to the
height of 100 feet, the great dome, topped by a flat sky-
light. It leaves a space GO feet in length in the middle of
the remaining floors. Each of the higher floors is devoted
to its own class of goods, and every floor has its washing-
rooms and saloons for the use of customers. All the gas
jets arc lighted simultaneously by an electric battery,
producing a most brilliant effect. Those upon the
pillars of the dome have just been placed. The entire
interior is white, the monotony being amply relieved by
the brilliant colours of the goods : the ceilings are all
to be frescoed. The view of each entire floor will be ob.
strutted only by the numerous columns. These are of
iron, and are adorned upon each of the four faces with alto-
relievos of Cupids and with vases of flowers. Six hundred
clerks, male and female, are employed in the various sale
departments, and GOO women are occupied in the prepa-
ration of clothing. The house contains apopulation equal
to that of a small town.
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON AND MR. COBDEN.—
A deputation of the committee entrusted with the erection
of the metropolitan statue to Richard Cobden waited by
appointment on the French Ambassador, the Prince de la
Tour d'Auvergne, at his official residence, Albert-gate, for
the purpose of presenting to the Emperor of the French,
through his Excellency, an address thanking his Majesty for
a munificent donation of 1,600 francs, and at the same
time requesting his Majesty's acceptance of a photo-
graphic representation of the ceremony of unveiling the
statue, taken at the instant when the veil was withdrawn.
The deputation consisted of Mr. T. Ross, chairman of
the committee ; Messrs. J. Salter and R. Furniss,
churchwardens of St. Pancras, in which parish the statue
stands ; Mr. J. E. Lawford, treasurer ; and Mr. Wills,
the sculptor. The deputation was received with the most
marked courtesy, and after hearing the address translated
into French his Excellency said that his Majesty would
be excce:iugly t atel.ed at receiving an address of this
nature, couched in terms so expressive of kindly feeling
from a body of Englishmen. -Upon being assured that muni-
ficent as the sum was contributed by his Majesty the COM.
mittee valued it not so much for its amount, but as the
earnest of the goodwill and friendly disposition on the part of
his Majesty towards this nation, his Excellency replied that
no other significance but this should be attached to the
Emperor's act in offering his contribution, and that this
was the sole interpretation to be put upon it, although at
the same time his Majesty desired to do honour to the
memory of a great and good man departed. His Excel-
lency upon this cordially shook hands with the deputation,
B~ic~ hen • •
withdrew,