The Sun.
London, England, 1810-01-23 00:00:00

JR QUESTS.

An Inquis7tion was taken yesterday, at the Run-
ning Horse, Duke7-street, Oxford-street, :before A.
GELL, ESq. Coroner, on 'the body of Mary Marlow,
who was burnt to death on Saturday. 'The evidence
was of a very shocking description. It appeared
that Mrs. Marrow, .a respeelable woman and Ole,
mother, had left the child, who was four years old,
in her sitting-room, alone, for a few minutes, and
thit child, in attempting to take•an image from off
the mantle-shelf, set tire to her clothes, and she was
found in a state too shocking f,r description. She
lingered six hours, wh€'u Beath put a period to her
wretched existence. ITerdi6t—accidental death.
Another Inquest as yesterday held on a :young
lady, of the name of Killer;eighteeo years of age,
svlro was burnt to death on Saturday, at the house of
her uncle in- Oxford-street, where she was on a
visit, front the •ti&ghhourbood of ,Neolcbed, .ox-
fordshi,e. She set fire to her cloaths after return-
ing from one of the Theatres ; and although , two
other pet sons were in the room, her garments were
totally consumed, whilst her friends were too
much alarmed to afford her assistance. The de-
ceased lingered six hours, and a verdiCt of accidental
death was also returned.
An Inquest was. held yesterday, at -the Old I-I,lm-
-111111113, Coventeg,lrden, by ANTHONY GELL, Esq. on
the body of Mr. Stephen Watts, who shot himself
on Saturday.
George White, the poner attic house, said, that;
on Saturday last, about seve..; o'clock in the evening,
he went up to the deceased's room to stir the • fire,
which he did, and observed the deceased sitting on
a chair by the side of the fire, with his- hat on, and,
the witness thought he was asleep ; or' turning out
of the room be saw, a .quantity of blood on the
floor; the witness called up. the head-waikr, who,
on entering the
.room, sent out. for medical-assist-
)

once.

James Jenkins, waiter at the Old Hunimums,

said, on Saturday be was called up by-the last: wit

Hess; he went into the mow and sawf the deceased,
who had a wooden leg, sitting on a chair, by -the
fire-side with his hat on, and a pistol, which had
been discharged, lying on his right thigh, another
:loaded pistol was near him—a quantity Of :cortgaled
blocd was on the floor, and the balls' of the pistdl
had passed through the skull .and the e; own of

the hat; and rebounded on the other side of the
room, where they were picked up, and a piece of flesh
close to one ; the witness, said. that the deceased had
slept there for seventeen successive nights ; witness
did tiee observe any thing extraordinary in his man-
ner and behAiour, %As it was- the rule of the house
• not to pro. ide any refreshments, any thing that
was wanted was sent for by the gentlemen from the
• coffee-house; witness •had tint seen the deceased that'
day, but lie had been: told that. he :had sent- out a
letter about six o'cloek that afternoon ; the witness
was sent to inquire whether -tl,e •th ceased had had
his breakfast sent frien the coffee-house that morn-
ing ; cn his :canton, he said that he had not had any
breakfast that day...
Dr. Jones, of- the Strand, who exlmined the body,
• was of opinion, that the deceased came to his death
by the leaden bells that were in the room. •
Mr. John Watts, a nephew to the deceased, said,
that he resided at.some distance been town, and
had not seen his uncle but once in his life, and that
was on Friday last, about hue o'clock in the fore-
noon ; he was then in bed, and being his first in-
terview, he did not observe any ,thing particular in
his manner. The principal Conversation that rather
astonished him, was about the expenses of travelling,
and family expenses. About two years ago, he had
heard persons, who were well acquainted with his
unds, say, that his spirits were forced, and he-had
not the least .doubt but the latal ceatastrophe was
occasioned by insanity. •
, Col. M. Frank said that he -had known the de-
ceassed ever sincehis childhood, and had been in ha-
bits of intimacy with him ; that he was about sixty
• years of age, and his family resided at Southampton;
in the months of July and August last, ate witness
was on a tour round the coast,' and called at the-de-
ceased's house, and observed him very much al•ered
in his manners ; he was, at that time in very-great
agony, from the of etis of -a .wound which he had
, received in America, at the titne of the- lievolntion,
Ind he had since lost his, leg from., the elle& of his
wounds, which would aotuelimes break met ; the
witness--has observed him burst out into immoderate
fits of laughter : so, much so as to frighten those
around him. Witness said that the deceased had
received se‘eral wounds in the head while in-Ame-
rica, and .4as once left in the woods for dead, and
after crawling for some considerable distance, was
carried off for upwards of two hundred miles up the
country' by the Indians. Afterwards he returned
to England, and, on account of his bravery, was
appointed in the Bth, a marching regiment, and atter
that got an independent company in' the Island of
Jersey, which, :when -broken by the new regula-
tions, he was appointed AsSistant,Barrack-master in
that Island,which entitled him to the rank of Major.
- :The Jury returned a verdid• of—Lunacy, and a
deodand of ss. on the pistol.
,
, YeStetalay ,sennight, Elizabeth Davies, a young
a.voinan of Corsham, hung herself at the house of a
friend, at Biddestone, St. Nicholas, near Corsham.
She was engaged to be married to a young man of
the neighbourhood on the following morning, but
it is supposea her affeetions were fixed oil another
man, which led her to commit the fatal alit. An
inquest was taken by Mr. Clare, when the Jury
returned a verdidt of Lunacy.

A cluster of Islands has been recently discovered
in the South Seas,, by Captain Bristow, s+.►n of the
late Mr. Bristow, Surgeon, at Begbroke, Oxon.--
These
,Islands are. situated in 50 40 South latitude,
fid 35. East longitude ; they:are seven in number,
and ihelargesi contains a fine harbour, in which 2n
abundance of fish, fowl, w00,..1, -and water can be
poctired. fins, to ships employed in the Southern
fishti ry,. in so remote a 'region, is of great benefit ;
and,perhilps other advantages may be derived froth
them by a commercial country like England. Cap-
tain Bristow has .named theta " Lord Auckland's
kiroupc."

LAW REPORT.

COURT OF KING's BENCH, lAN. 20.
WOI.FR AND WORKMAN V. TOMLINSON.

This was an aelion to recover 23,21 el. 2s. Bd.
principal and commission, due to tte plaintiffs, who
are' merchants in die city. This case was remark-
ably complicated, but the leading circumstances
were as follow

Some time in the yea 1.803, Mr. Tanner, a.ship-
build:er at Dartmouth, who had a Government con-
tract for building, small; vessels of u ar, applied to
Air. Workman, one of the plaintiffs, to find oat
for him a respedable house in London. that would
undertake the agency of his bills, and stiffer him to
draw on them at intervals, to an amount not ex--
ceedin,, 10,0001. For
.this the agents were to re-
ceive 51. cent, on the advances, and 11. per cent.
commission on all transactions. It was estimated
that at this rate, from the large sum to be hegociat-•
ed, the commission would, amount to 'at- least
3001. per annum, which sum was, however, 'to be
paid, at all 'events, to the agents for their trouble.
Those terms were.offered to several houses in suc-
cession, and dettlined. They were at:length' taken
by Workman. _

In a short time, the plaintiffs finding that Tanner's
bills occu led all their Iflottingcash, borrowed 2000
from Tomlinson, at the legal interest. This loan
gradually amounted to 60001. Tanner's affairs be-
coming desperate, it was proposed -by Workman
that Tomlinson should.. advance 40001.
and that ,for this loan of 10,0001. he should receive
51. per cent. interest, with a moiety of Tannet's. pro-
tits on the contract, amounting to 51. per cent. More,
and tool: perann. corriMss'ion to be paid by Work--
man -;for his troubte. deed of partnership to this
effect was drawn up, and witnessed by Workman...
Same time alter, Tomlinson intending, to stand
csrididate•for a seat in Parliament,. withdrew, by a
private agreement, Irornhis partnership with Tanner.
In tso7, Tannc becoming unequal to his contract
with Got•erninent, faiLd, leaving an unsettled ba.
lance of the account,: amounting- to the principal
.and commission claimed. by the action, The-plaia-
.nnw made their-demand on Ton.-la t„-on, as
Tanner's partner. It was resisted on two grounds;
first, that the deed between Tanner and Tomlinson
was usurious,- and thertore not involving-Tomlinsdn
in the consequences,of partnership; arid nertt,,that,
the plaintiffs demanding an usurious commission,
were not entitled to claim. .

. .
On.the part of, the, .plaintiffs, a number of wit-
nesses were called to prove the fairness-of the rate of
commission; owing to the great intricacy of the
bilsiness, and srnaliness of the bills.

Lhrd ELLBNI3OROUGH stated the law as it applied
to the case.—" The deed of partnership between
Tanner and Tomlinson was obviously usurious; and
therefore null. Isut its weakness could not invalidate
the right of a third party, unacquainted with its pro-
visions. WoAtrial] had, howeVer, seen the deed ;
it had been drawn up under his inspection.
The charge of usury c3uld not come by.surprise
upon the plaintiffs, for he fear or the feeling of it
appeared to have been incorporated with all their
ideas on the- subjeCt. They had even consulted a
layer to judge of their approach towards usury..
coniuni•sion might: not have been. intrinsically
too great for the trouble; yet, from all ahe evi-
dence produced,. it appeared that the risk increas-
ed t.!e commision ; but this was for the Jury to
consider."

The Jury,'. after a few minutes' consultation,
brought. in a verdict for the defendant, on the plea of
the deedi being usurious, and usurious with the
cognizance of the plaintiffs ; but threw out- the plea
of usury on the comtnissron:

consumed ; :Ind it was to recoVer this loss that
the action was brought against the moder-writet'.
At first some suspicion tell on two gentletten,
'prisopers,on board, but which suspicion turned out;
upon enquiry; to be groundless. A number of ad-,
.missions on both sides were itad, and then
Captain Liston,' the Master of .the Margaret
and Peggy, was called—He proved these rfact,,, as
they were opened by the Attorney-General ; but,
on cross-examination, he stated, that in obedience
to the commands -of the Hon. Captain Jones, of
his Majesty's ship the Taltot, before he 'returned
homeward, and the greatest part of the cargo. was
on board, he went out of the harbour where his
vessel lay after a strange :vessel at the distatsce of 15
or l(i miles ott. This vessel turned ont to be an
American ; aud, on these. facts, it was contended,
on the part of the Defendants, that thN was a de-
viation, because it was &ring the line that the
Margaret and Peggy was out pursuing
.Irer adven-
ture; and that by thus going after this vessel, the
Margaret and Peggy was neJeeling the time
which ought' to be.taken,up -wholly in preparing for .
;her
.honieward-bound voyage, and thrrelore this
was an answer to the anion, as being a deviation.
The vessel was out, on this occasion, -five. hours.,
On the other hand, and inranswer to this objection,
it was contended by the Attorney-General, that the
Captain of the Margaret and Pelrgy was bound to
obey the command. of Captain Jones; that 30 or
40 men of the Tabg had been put on board this
merchantman, the Margaret and Peggy, to send her
afer this sir:4llo'3c vessel,whieh turned out to he an
American ; and that, thetefore, Captain Liston had
no alternative in this case, as he was bound to obey
the c.rders cat Captain .Jones, who.had all the means
or Cotripul;,,ion in' his hands. But it appeared in
evidence,-that about two or three hours before they
went after this strange vessel, all the .men of the
Tattot had gone an board their own ship ; and
therefore ,

Lord, ELLENBOROUGH held, that unlessit appear.
ed to theJury,.that Capta4). Liston was either under
a physical necessity of going after this vessel, by .the
contpulsiun,of numbers (which did not appear or
'under .a -mural obligation, namely, his duty-of one-
dience to his superior officer :(and that did not ap-
pear) and it might have been made apparenf if the'
fad was. so,
.for, Captain Jones was now present,
and he was not examined.; and, his Lordship Ms-
served, that he 'expeaed to see Captain Jones in the
front of the battle for the Plaintiff in 'this cause ;
this must:be taken to. be a wilful adt. of. Captain
Liston, and as it made 'no part of his voyage, must
be construed to be a deviation, and, therefore, the
Underwriter, was not liable. Bele, was a. risque'
run, againsr which the Underwriter did not under;.
take to answer. This vessel; which turned out to
be an American, might have been an enemy, and
she might have captured the Margaret and Peggy
while she was thus out of her course. Upon tins
intimation of his Lordship's opinion, the Attqrney-
General said be should submit to be nousuittd.,•-,..
Plaintiff nonsuited.