The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-05 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
HOME ClRCUlT.—Hertford, March 2.
CIVIL SIDE.
:Before Lord Chief Justice DENMAN and a Special Jury.)
ARDEN V. WEEDON.

This cause was commenced on Friday, and did not conclude
until a very late hour-on—Saturday night. It was an action
brought by the plaintiff, nominally, to recover damages fin
an alleged trespass upon his property, but the real object in
view was to establish a right to prevent the public from pazi•
inn over his property.
Mr. Thesiger, Mr. Sergeant Channell, Mr. Ogle, and Mr.
Peacock, were for the plaintiff; and Mr. Platt, Mr. Montagu
Chambers, Mr. Willes, and Mr. R. A. Price, were for the de
fendant. •

The plaintiff, Colonel Arden, is the owner and occupier of
Rickmersworth Park and the residence attaohed to it, and
it has been in his possession for some years. It would appear
that there is a path which was near his house that has been
used for several years by the inhabitants of the neighbour-
hood, and_others, to go to some mills in the vicinity ; and it
would seem that this created some annoyance to the plaintiff;
and, acting under advice that the path in question had not
been legally dedicated to the public, he resolved upon
_los-
ing it, and-preventing persons from making use of it as here-
tofore. The inhabitants, however, feeling that they had a
right to this path as a public way, resolved, at a vestry
meeting, to assert that right;- and the' defendant. and some
others broke down the hedge and other impediments that
had been placed to prevent the use of the path, and upon that
act the present action was .brought, to try the question of

right.
On the part of the plaintiff it was contended, of course,
that there was no public footpath, and although it was ad-
mitted that persons had foi several years been in' the habit
of making use of the path, it was only upon sufferance that
they did so, and that there was no, legal right of way.
On behalf of the defendant it was urged, that the path had
been, by long usage, dedicated to the public, and that not-
withstanding whatever might have been the original cir-
cumstances under which the path was used, that by reason
of the long period it had been made use of by the public,
their right to pals over it could not now be disputed. To
support this case, a great number of aged persons were called
as witnesses, and they deposed to the fact of having made use
of the path in question for a great number of years without
any interrnption. • • •
The jury, after the Learned Judge had addressed them, re-
turned a verdict for the defendant, thus establishing the
right of the public to the use of the footpath in question.
The commission for the county of Essex was opened to-
day at Chelmsford. As there was a winter gaol delivery in
this county there are very few prisoners for trial, but the
cause list is rather heavy. •

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
(YESTERDAY.)
MANSION-HOOSE.
The following singular case was brought before the
Lord Mayor, who very closely investigated all the extra-
ordinary circumstances detailed. Sir John Pirie sat, in
conjunction with his Lordship.
A young man of respectable appearance and address
appeared in consequence of the issue of a summons,
calling upon him to answer the complaint of a widow
lady of the name of May.
Mr. Boron briefly stated the heads of the complaint.
He said he appeared as solicitor on behalf of Mrs. May,
the widow of the late Captain James May, of the Diana,
in support of a charge against the defendant, who was
chief mate of that vessel. In _ the month of March,

1843, the Diana was homeward bound, and within sight
of the island of Ascension, when suddenly, at a late
period of the evening, the report of a pistol was heard
on deck from the captain's cabin. The second mate im-
mediately proceeded thither to ascertain the cause of it,
and on the way met the defendant coming from his
cabin, which was next to that of the captain. They
went together to the captain's cabin, and found Captain
May lying dead, and a pistol by his head, the bullet
from which had evidently • passed through his head.
Next day, by order of the 'defendant, the body of Capt.
May was buried in the sea, and the defendant then pro-
posed to the crew to take the Diana to St. Helena,
although she was actually within sight and within
twelve or fourteen hours' sail of the island of Ascension.
The crew did not relish the proposition, but the defend-
ant gave a peremptory order to that effect, and the
vessel was accordingly steered towards St. Helena,
where, upon her arrival, he disposed of all Captain
May's property. For that property, which was conside-
rable, the defendant had not accounted to the widow, whose
shock, upon hearing of the awful catastrophe, was extreme,
and left traces upon her mind and appearance which
marked her as an objeet of great commisseration. About
a fortnight after the ship had reached St. Helena a
further calamity occurred. An explosion took place in
the after-part of the ship,. and the captain's cabin, and
the greater portion of the after-part of the vessel was
destroyed. That explosion also destroyed the life of
the unfortunate steward, who was at the time in the part
which was blown up. The defendant had just previously
gone ashore. Here was a case which, in the opinion of
Mr. Bozon' was one of no light or fantastic suspicion. He
considered that the defendant ought to have proceeded
on the home bound voyage instead of going back to
St. Helena ; and the intention in taking the vessel 'to
that place could not have been other than fraudulent,
particularly as she was within being so short a distance
of the island of Ascension, to which it was the duty of
the defendant to convey the remains of the captain. He
therefore charged the defendant, that by taking the ship
to St. Helena, in sight of the island, of Ascension, where
he ought to have deposited the body of his captain, he
feloniously' took possession of Captain May's property,
and by disposing of that property at St. Helena, and
afterwards producing to the widow false accounts, he
commmitted a larceny on the high seas.
John Christy said—l was a seaman on board the
Diana, ' Captain May, in March last. We were
making our passage for England, off Ascension Island,
when, 'one evening about half-past nine o'clock, the
second mate heard a noise in the cabin like the report of
a pistol. He asked the men who had the look out what
it was ? And he then went down, and he said he met the
defendant outside his own cabin, and he and the defend-
ant went into the captain's cabin, and observed smoke
there, and saw the captain lying, shot through the head.
I, went down, and saw him lying, with a wound through
his temples. I saw the pistol there; I afterwards looked
through the sky-light and saw the defendant lying by the
side of the body. The second mate begged the defen-
dant not to lie alongside of the body. Next day, about
8 or 9 o'clock in the morning, we were all called down
into the cabin by the defendant, who said he should not
take charge of the ship in the state in which she then
was, and that we had better go back to St. Helena, and
he pointed out the track he should go. I saw Ascension
Island from the mast-head the same evening the captain
was shot,. He told the crew they had better go back,
and the agents there would settle everything. Two days
afterwards, two of the boat steerers and the cooper, and
the cooper's mate, said they had better go to Ascension,
and the , defendant said he did not care about going to
St. Helena. The evening. I was at the wheel, the
defendant - asked me ,what I looked so pleasant
for? I 'said it was because I was in hopes of getting back
to my home. He held out a promise if we got a whale
he would give us a sovereign each; or, at least, on his
own responsibility, a half-sovereign, and then we went
back to St. Helena. The captain was buried the day
after. The conversation about going back to St. Helena
took place before the captain was buried. During the
voyage there were violent quarrels between the 'captain
and the defendant. On one occasion the defendant said
he would fight the captain a duel, either gentleman
fashion or blackguard fashion. I can't say what watch
the captain had when: at St. Helena. 'After we an-
chored the steward was stopping a leak, and the day
before we ought to have started an explosion took place,
and I and others were blown up and much injured. The
defendant was not on board at the time. There was a
survey op board after the accident. The defendant told
me an evening or two after the captain's death the
reason why he wanted to go to St. Helena was because
the widow's property would fetch more there than in
England.
Abijah Lott, of No. 29, Princes-street, Rotherhithe,
said, I was in St. Helena in May last. I saw the de-
fendant there. I saw the Diana before the explosion.
She might have gone home; but she was rather open at
her open ends forward. I went on board her before and
after the explosion. I purchased articles from Carroll, the
agent there. After the explosion I was on the survey of
the vessel, and found her blown up from the taffrail to
the mainmast. Not a beam was there that was not
broke, and the decks shook fore and aft. The coverings
of her hatchways were started. The cause was from
the magazine. The powder was in copper.
Caroline Matilda May said, I have applied to the
defendant respecting my husband's effects. This (pro-
ducing a paper) is one of the accounts he gave me.
When my husband went to sea he had a gold watch,
chain, and key. I spoke to the defendant about that
watch. He gave me a brass chain, and said that was the
chain my husband wore. In one letter I had received
from my husband, he said he had done very well in
trading.
The defendant said that he had acted all through the
affair to the best of his skill and judgment, and upon the
opinion of the oldest and most experienced officers at St.
Helena. An inquest had been held upon the body of
the captain at St. Helena, and verdict was at once re-
turned, after the examination of the crew, to the effect,
that the unfortunate man died by his own hand. He
repelled with indignation and scorn the insinuations
which had been made, and solemnly declared that in
every proceeding he had adopted he was influenced by
the most honourable feelings.
The LORD MAYOR and Sir JOHN Piling said, that in
the present condition of the evidence there were cer-
tainly matters which were calculated to excite much
suspicion. They, therefore, declared that the defendant
Must find bail to appear on another day, himself in the
slim of 200/, and two sureties in 100/. each.
Two highly respectable men afterwards came forward
and bailed the defendant, whom they described as a per-
ectly honourable man, against whom no imputation had
- I
Lds,
fver been cast.
.

A CHILD THROWN OVERBOARD AND DROWNED.
yesterday afternoon, as two boys were grappling for wood
and rope in the Humber Dock, near Mytongate-bridge, they
brought up a full-grown child wrapped in a napkin and some
newspapers, and having a brick tied tight round it for the
purpose of sinking it. Whether the child was alive or dead
when thus inhumanly thrown overboard is at present un-
known.. An inquest will be held' upon the body. —Hull
Advertiser.
THE TREATMENT OF TIIE JEWS IN ItussTA.--lkir.
Moxhay, the liberal proprietor of the Hall of Commerce, has
written letters to .some of the great mercantile houses in the
City, offering the use of his noble building for the purpose of
a meeting to express the public opinion on the conduct of
the Emperor of Russia towards the Jewish portions of his sub-
jects. his believed that the offer will be accepted.
SERIOUS ACCIDENT ON THE RIVER ON SUNDAY
Monmso.—At about half-past eleven o'clock on Sunday
morning; as the wind was blowing very fresh from the south-
west,youths .
with the tide running up, a couple of
Williams and Gregory, who were sailing a lig , named
ht skiff, got
athwart a tier of barges, nearly opposite to Mr. Stephen
Davies, of Somerset-wharf, the boat immediately capsized,
and both lads were precipitated into the stream. The lad
Williams,, however, succeeded in. regaining his hold of the
drifting skiff, and was saved, but the poor youth Gregory
was washed away, and his body has not yet been found.
Beth yoatlis were the sons of respectable parents in High-
street, Southwark.