The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-10 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

VALUE OF AN AUCTIONEER'S CATALOGUE. —At the
Ormskirk County Court, Mr. James Platt, auctioneer, of
Southport, sued Mr. Thomas Bentley, broker, Wigan, for
£l3 103., at which a hogshead of claret had been knocked
down to defendant's wife at a sale at Southport. In
the catalogue of sale it was announced that " a hogshead
of wine containing 50 dozens " would be offered.
At the commencement of the sale the plaintiff,
who was auctioneer, sail that be would not
guarantee quantities, but it could not be shewn that
this was said in the presence of Mrs. Bentley, who was
declared to be the purchaser. Serjeant Wheeler, in giving
judgment, said there was no doubt that the statement in
the printed catalogue was pr:ntd facie the basis of the
contract between the parties. That contract admitted of
variation, but the variation must be clear and distinct,
and so made as to be within th 2 knowledge of the parties
at the time the lot was sold. It was quite clear an auc-
tioneer must be held responsible for his catalogue, and U
he sought to fix a purchaser upon different terms from
the catalogue, the evidence must be clear that the diffe-
rence was brought home to the mind of the purchaser
when he made his bid. As it was not proved that that had
been done in this case, the verdict must be for the defen-
dant, with costs.
PERSONATING A VOTER.—At the Bristol Assizes, Peter
Morris was indicted for having voted in the name of
Henry 'Hurley at the late Bristol election. It seemed
that on the occasion in question a man named Hurley
was on the register and entitled to a vote. The
prisoner went to the polling-booth and handed in a scrip
with Hurley's name and number. Some vestions we:e
put to him, and he took the identity oath and voted. The
vote being protested against by the agents, he ran away,
but was followed by a policeman and captured withoLt
having left the deputy-sheriff's view. The jury found a
verdict of guilty, but the accused will not be sentenced till

ome other cases of a similar nature are tried.
SENTENCE ON THE ASIITON RIOTERS.—At the South
Lancashire A ss.zes, at Salford, the whole of the prisoners
found guilty of taking pant in the riots at Ashton-under-
Lyne, on the 10th and 11th May, with the exception of
Gilbert, Barton, and Binns, who had been recommended
to mercy, were brought up for judgment. Mr. Justice
flannen, in passing sentence, said that he had directed
all the prisoners to be brought up together to show
that the law could not nicely discriminate between the
degrees of guilt of persons who were banded together in
such transactions. Saone had been guilty of serious acts
of violence, and some had only been guilty of having been
present when those acts were committed. Some belonged
to the Irish and some to the English party, but the offence
of all was the same, namely, disturting the public peace.

His lordship alluded to the fearful excesses committed by
each party, and remarked that it was a fortunate occur-
rence for the prisoners that no lives had been lost, as,
if any of the numerous pistol shots had taken effe.it, so:Le
of the prisoners must have been tried fur mur.ler. After
adding that if this crime should be repNittd it
woi Id be his du'y or that of any other judge who might
preside to pass a severe sentence, his lordsl4 ordered
each of the prisoners to be imprisoned with hard labour
for four months. Gilbert, Parton, and Binns were then
placed at the bar, and each sentenced to two months' im-
nisonment.

SENTENCE ON MURPHY'S SWORD-BEAREL-At the same
Assizes Air. Justice liannen sentenced the man Ainsworth,

the celebrated Murphy's sword-bearer, to four months'
imprisonment, with hard labour, for having, in May last,
wounded a man in the ear with a sword at Bury. The
learned judge told hint that his case was not a whit better

;han that of the Ashton rioters, and that he must
remember he was not protecting Mr. Murphy's tent when
he was following and pursuing the prosecutor.
DISHONOURING CHEQUES ILLEGALLY.—At the Norwich
Assizes, the action of Smith and another v. Birkbeck and
another, was heard. It wa ;an action by the plaintiffs, as
trustees under a composition deed of one Sayers, to re-
cover damages from the defendants, the well-known
bankers, of Norwich, f r dishon,ur.ng Sayers's cheques on
the 30th of January last. The plaintiff's contention was
that at the time of the dishonouring the cheques there were
sufficient funds in the bank to meet them, but whether
or not that was true depended upoa the cost. f a
special arrangement entered into by Messrs. Tillett,
solicitors, at Norwich, on behalf of Sayers in the autumn
of 1807. At the conclusion of the case the jury thought
that the cheques ought not to have been dishonoured, and
gave the plaintiff £l5O damages.
CASE OF ATTEMPTED MURDER.—At the Ipswich Assizes
Isaac Clarke was indicted for feloniously wounding
Maria Simpson, at Lowestoft. The prisoner had been
adjudged the putative father of the prosecutor's child, but
had never paid anything towards its support. On the
night in question the parties met, and the prisoner, after
some words, knocked the girl down, and kicked her
severely. She was subsequently found by a policeman in
an almost dying state. A large stab had been inflicted,
but owing to the complainant being for some time
insensible She could not remember how it had been caused.
The accused was found guilty, and scntenccd to twenty
years' penal servitude.

Parents neglecting their children are now liable
to six months' imprisonment, and a Imsbanl not main-
taining his wife can now be sent to prison by two justices.
The demand for a poor-rate may be made on the premises
although the parties do not reside on the premises or in
the parish.
Several communications from Scotland and from
the North of England confirm the opinion that grouse will
not be found in any great abundance except on some few
favoured spots, and that on a very large extent of ground
there will be no shooting at all. Grouse have been dying
continuously throughout the last mouth, and their numbers
are gradually diminishing.
THE CHARGE OF MURDER AGAINST A SAILOR.—
The charge against Thomas Pritchard of causing the death
of a fellow-seaman named R:chardson, on the West Coast
of Africa, was disposed of on Saturday by the Liverpool
stipendiary. The medical evidence was that death
resulted from congestion of the brain. The prisoner was
therefore discharged.
DEATH THROUGH SUNSTROKE.-0n Saturday an
i.aquest was held by Dr. Lankester at Middlesex Hospital
on the body of George Cadge, aged 43, who, having
received a sunstroke in the neighbourhood of Fulham, was
taken very ill, and on being removed in a cab to the above
hospital, on his arriving there was found to be dead.
Verdict, accidental death.

FALL OF A MOUNTAIN.—The hill of Antelao,
which hangs over several villages :of Cadore, and was
always an object of terror to the villagers, gave way
on the evening of the 27th of Ju!y, when several of
the inhabitants had retired to rest. It is supposed that
the great heat of the weather melted the Enov., on the
mountain, and that the water
,washed aw„y the small
support of the masses of overhanging rock. In a
brief space eleven persons were buried under the ruins
of their houses, and more than sixty families are ren-
dered homeless.

Tun FLORIDA AND CUBA. TELEGRAPIIIC CABLE.
—A telegram received in Tem(lon statt.s that the
cable which Sir Charles Bright, M.P., was engaged in
laying between Florida and Cuba has been I.)st, and the t
the attempt to recover the c .b'e of last year, which had
broken, was also unsuccessful. It is stated Cott the cal le
ran out when some miles short of Cuba. The end w: .s
buoyed, but in the course of the night it was carried away
by the current, and all attempts to find it have since failed.
There was, we are informed, no pilot on board.— Palto
Argos,