The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-23 00:00:00

UNION-HALL.

THE LATE FRACAS I; THE VICTORIA THEATRE.—
In the course of the day an application was made by a
solicitor, on the part of Mr. J. 11. Kirby, the actor, for
a summons against Mr. Osbaldiston, the lessee of the
Victoria Theatre, for refusing to allow him to enter
the boxes on his tendering payment for the same.
The solicitor, who was accompanied by Mr. Kirby,
stated that on Thursday evening, at the termination
of the fourth act of Othello, Mr. Osbaldiston told Miss
Vincent not to speak the speeches, but to come to
cues, and not to be humbugged by the "damned Yan-
kee." That Mr. Kirby was drunk, and had insulted
the whole company." But when Mr. Kirby sent to
him for an explanation, he returned as his answer
that he desired "no more words from Mr. Kirby."
The latter gentleman having been apprised of the un-
founded accusation that had been brought against him
by Mr. Osbaldiston, before the audience of the Vic-
toria, went there on the night in question, for the pur-
pose of contradicting the unjust aspersions on his cha-
racter. Mr. Kirby first assayed to get into the house
by the stage door, but failing in the attempt, he then
went round to the box entrance, and although he
tendered the price of admission he was refused, the
servants of the theatre, having, it appeared, received
instructions not to admit him into any part of the
house, so that he was precluded from appearing before
the audience and neutralising the injurious report
which had been propagated to his disadvantage. Had
he been admitted into the house on Thursday night,
his presence would have contradicted them, and exhi-
bited the utter groundlessness of the charge made
against him, but he had no opportunity of carrying
into effect his intentions, and the object of the present
application was to have a summons issued against the
lessee of the above theatre, to show the cause why he
refused to admit into the house a gentleman who had
tendered money for admission. The solicitor said he
was prepared to prove that Mr. Kirby was perfectly
sober at the time.

Mr. COTTINGHAM, in reply to the application, said
he had great doubts whether the lessee could be com-
pelled, to admit any person into the theatre whose pre-
sence he was averse to, but before he (the Magistrate)
gave any advice on the subject, he should wish to see
is copy of the license, which would enable him to de-
cide the question. It certainly seemed hard that the
lessee of a theatre should exclude a person who was
respectable in his appearance and sober from the
house, setting aside the matter in dispute between the
parties. Without the production of the license, how-
ever, as he said before, he would not undertake to give
a decided opinion on the subject, but he had no objez..-
tion to issue a summons requiring Mr. Osbaldiston's
attendance on Wednesday next.
The lii,rtie3 having 44aRked the—maiiitys ate, then':

Thomas Watts, a carman,. was charged, before- Mr.
Cottingharn, with causing the death of a little boy,
named Madden, on the preceding day.
It appeared that the prisoner was driving his cart
along the Borough, when he was stopped by several
persons calling out that he had run over a child. He
immediately attended to the call, and alighted from the
cart, when he saw a child carried into a house, quite
dead. He declared that he was not at all aware of any
accident having happened until he heard the people
calling out to him to stop, which he did immediately.
The prisoner was detained until further inquiries were
made.

Thomas Farren and Jeremiah Cross were charged
with causing the death of James Scott, under the fol-
lowing circumstances :

The prisoners are draymen, and were unloading their
dray at the door of a beer shop in Webber-row, when
the deceased, who was under the influence of liquor,
staggered off the pavement into the road. In the fall
he happened to touch the horses' heels, and one of the
animals kicked out and struck the deceased, and at the
same moment they proceeded forward, when the wheel of
the ponderous vehicle passed over his breast bone. He was
taken up in a state of insensibility, and conveyed into a
chemist's shop, where he expires. In the course of the
inquiry, it did not appear that any blame was attachable
to the prisoners, who were engaged in the cellar at the
time, and the horses had their nose-bags on ; but the
Magistrate was of opinion that, in unloading drays, there
ought to be some person at the horses' heads. The pri-
soners were adjudged to enter into their recognizances
of 401. each, to appear here on Saturday next.
CLERKEIV WELL,
Mr. Drake, an architect, residing at 41, Kenton-
street, Brunswick-square, was again placed at the bar
to answer the charge of obtaining money by means of
threats from Mr. Wm. Holt, a cowkeeper.
The clerk having read the evidence given on the
previous examination,
Mr. Robinson said, that from the very conflicting
statements made by the complainant, and his evident
inability to remember distinctly the different occur- '
rences which had taken place, he was afraid he should
not be able to obtain a conviction, and he therefore
should not press the charge.
The prisoner was then discharged, declaring, through
his attorney, that the money was only borrowed.
A lad named Elnore, in the employment of Mr.
Butler, wire-worker, Saffron-hill, was charged with
stealing a quantity of tools, the property of his master.
The prisoner denied the offence, but his sister pro-
duced one of the sto'en articles, and crying bitterly
begged for the liberation of her brother.—He was re-
manded.

WORSHIP-STREET.
Police-sergeant James Flynn, No. 37, attended be-
fore Mr. Broughton, by the direction of Superinten-
dent Johnson, to show cause why he had immured
his wife, Ellen Flynn, in a lunatic asylum, she bring
at the time in a state of perfect sanity.
The case was first brought under the notice of the
magistrate about a week ago, when the sister of the
alleged lunatic appeared before him. and stated that
her sister was married to the sergeant in Ireland
about eighteen years ago, and that they had contrived
by their mutual industry to accumulate a sum amount-
ing
to nearly 2001., which had been deposited in the
husband's name in a savings' bank ; that they had
lived very happily together until about twelve months
ago, when repeated ruptures took place between them,
and the sergeant taking advantage of some trivial acts
of violence on her part, which his ill-usage had pro-
voked, had by fraudulent means induced two medical ,
practitioners to certify that his wife was insane, and

had thereby procured her incarceration in Dr. War-
burton's Lunatic Asylum at Bethnal-green, where
she was then confined. The applicant added that she
felt so completely satisfied as to the entire sanity of
her sister, that she had caused her to be carefully exa-
mined by a medical man of high eminence, whose
voucher she had obtained to that effect. The appli-
cant then handed to the magistrate a certificate signed
by Dr. Riding, of Euston-square, stating " that he
had seen Mrs. Flynn, and after a careful examination
of her case, he was unable to detect any signs of in-
sanity, and considered her, therefore, nut a fit subject
for confinement."

Upon hearing the above statement, and perusing
the certificate, Mr. BROUGHTON directed Henley, the
chief usher, to proceed to make inquiries at the mad-
house, and, if the woman's statement was well
founded, to request the attendance of the medical
officer of the establishment, in order that the case
might be thoroughly investigated.
Mr. Phillips, the medical officer of the asylum,
subsequently attended before Mr. Broughton, and
stated that Mrs. Flynn had been received into the
house on the authority of a certificate, signed by two
surgeons, that she was of unsound mind, but he (Mr.
Phillips) felt bound to express, as his own decided
opinion, that she was perfectly sane, and was not a fit
object for admission into the asylum. Having the
attestation, however, of two medical men to the con-
trary effect, they were compelled to detain her, but
were ready to deliver her up to her friends on being
legally authorised to adopt that course.
Mr. BROUGHTON made some strong remarks upon
the monstrous state of the law, which enabled a
person, at his own wanton caprice, to consign another
to such a dreadful species of confinement, and gave
orders for the attendance of all the parties before him.
The wife, whose address and demeanour were per-
fectly quiet and collected, was examined at some
length by the magistrate, and stated that, in con-
sequence of a disagreement that took place between
them, her husband, about four months ago, placed her
in the same asylum, but, after remaining there a
week, he consented to her liberation, and agreed to
allow her ten shillings a week, on condition that she
went over to her friends in Ireland. She accordingly
proceeded to that country, but returned, after a short
stay, and besought the defendant to receive her into
his house, and it was in consequence of those impor-
tunities that she was again incarcerated in the mad-
house.

In answer to the complaint, the defendant said that
his wife had been guilty of the most outrageous acts
of violence, having more than once attempted to stab
him; and her whole conduct justified his conviction
that her intellects were impaired. She was examined
by two respectable medical men, one of whom had
attended her for nine months; and, as they both testi-
fied to that fact, he considered himself justified in the
course which he had pursued.
Mr. BROUGIITON, the magistrate, expressed it as his
opinion that the woman was in as sane and rational a
state as any one in court, and he considered' that the
defendant had been guilty of extreme cruelty and
injustice towards her. Fortunately, however, through
her sister's interposition, she was now restored to her
friends, and he wished to know what arrangement
the defendant was willing to make for her future
maintenance.

The defendant said that he had been paying 15s. a
week to maintain her in the asylum, and he was willing
to allow her half that sum if she would promise not to
come near or molest him again, as he had been in
danger of losing his situation through her turbulent
conduct.

Holland, the summoning officer, said that at the
expiration of her first confinement in the asylum,
Superintendent Johnson, with great kindness, re-
ceived her into his house, in the hope of being able
to effect a reconciliation with her husband, and her
conduct during the week she remained there was
uniformly good and perfectly rational.
After some further discussion, it was finally agreed
that the defendant should allow her Bs. per week, be-
sides proViding her with some clothes and other
necessaries, and the psrties then left the court.