The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-29 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

130 S R EE". —Yesterday William Thomas Xing,
a young man haring the appearance of a jourßeyman me-
cbame, was brought. before Sir R. BIRNIE and Mr. l‘lisi-
salt:LL, upon the charge of attempting to provoke hie
brother-in-law, J. P. Fury, to a breach of the peace, by
sending him a challenge to fight a duel. As both parties
appeared to more in a rank of life where such polite alter-
natives are seldom heard ot; Sir R. I.lnonE asked the com-
plainant who and what he was? The complainant replied,
that he was a hairdresser, residing. in thity-lane.
Defendant.—Re is a common shaver, your Worship,
that enaves men for a penny on a Saturday.
Sir R. Bnatim—Well, suppose he is, you have no right
to put him in fear of his life. Pray what trade or business
do you follow ? "lam a soldier, your worship," said the
defendant, standing erect, and looking down upon the com-
plainant.
. •, .

• .
" HN mat' v3oldier,", retaliated the hairdresser, " but he
Mtv: onty a brass-thunder, your Worship."
" Well, let us hear your complaint," said Mr. MINSHULL;
" you swear that this person has attempted to provoke, you
to fight a duel ?". "He has, your Worship;" i'eplied the
complainant, " and here the challenge he has sent me."
Mr. MlNstiimi, was here handed a piece of paper, rather
,-,uriously folded, the contents of which we transcribe ver-
batim, and the reading of which occasioned considerable
merriment in the office:—

" 26th March, 1828.
" J. P:'Fury—l have rot von this not to inflirm you that i
man to heave saterfaet ion for the disgrace you heave brought
:!pop the family. It is no wander that you wear so much
the measter in the house, for mother was bligh to humbel
to you, so therefore if you bar a man you will take my
challenge. I will fite you with a brace of wear you
please, fin my life is no hobiect to no olio, so Wright me
a hanswer directly for i•eveng. " WM. 'l'. KING."
111',.: tau ButraE---A rogular challenge, no doubt,
and conceived in good set terms, notwithstanding a few
slips of orthography.—(Laughter.)
Minstium. (to the defendant)—Do you acknow-
ledge this letter to be in your hand-writing ?
Defendant—l do, your Worship ; but I belt nut
t"weatened to do any thing,
Mr, Mt:,:si-fut.i.-No, but you certainlvimplv as much.
What do you mean to signify by this blank ? I will fite
you with a brace of —." No doubt you mean pistols ;
and although you think, perhaps, that you have evaded
the law by your caution, yet the import of this letter is
plain enough, and I am afraid I shall have to call upon
you to find bail.
Defendant—This than, your Worship, is married to my
siste-, it is true; but he has disgraced her before marriage,
and I will have satisfaction, or die for it.
The defendant was ordered to find bail, in default of
which he was locked up.
QUEEN-SQUARE.---Mr. George Trent, of No. 63,
Crawford-street, appeared before W. A. A.XurrE, E 5.1.
in behalf of his friend Mr. Goodenough, of,Southamptons
row, to answer the complaint of the driver of the hackney-
coach No. 1 13, for refusing to pay him his legal fare.
The coachman stated that he was called off his rank in
Adam-street, to take up a fare at a public-house in Sey-
mour-place. Mr. Goodenough, who was very ill, was
assisted into his coach) and Mr. Trent get in With him,
and he drove them home to Southampton-row, Marylebone.
His fare was 25., but they would only pay him Is. He
had since called at the house, but he could not get his
money, and he was forced to summon for a shilling.
Mr. WHITE said that the coachman Was evidently en-
titled to 2s. which must be paid.
Mr. Trent would inform his friend of the magistrate's
decision.

Wiitit —You were one of the party that rale in
the coach, and that is sufficient; you must pay the shil-
ling, arid 2s. tid. for the damage done to the coach, to-
gether with the costs and the coachman's time.

- Mr. Trent then retired, and had to Tay 13s. induct
[rig costs.

UNION4tALt.--Vesterday two young gentlemen of
highly respectable connexions, one the son of a clergyman
and the other of a merchant, were brought up from the
Surrey watch-house, where they had been confined all night
on a charge of stealing a watch in the pit of the Surrey
Theatre, from the person of a Mr. Burrell, who gave his
address Lant-strect, in the Borough. The fathers of the
accused baying been made acqtaintej With the nature of
the charge alleged against their sons, attended at the office
during the examination.

The complainant stated, that on the preceding night he
went to the pit of the above theatre, accompanied by his
wife, and had not been many minutes there when he
pulled out his watch, which was then all safe. After
having returned it into his fob, the crowd being very great,
his wife advised him to be careful) otherwise be would lose
it. She had scarcely spoken the words when he felt for
the watch, but found it was gone. On tnissing it he
turned round and observed both the accused persons stand-
ing close to him ; and recollecting that they had "shuf-
fled" against him frequently in the course of the evening,
he suspected that they were the thieves, and immediately
called Hamilton, the constable) who attends the theatre,
and gave them into custody on a charge of stealing his
watch. He added, that he accompanied the accused per-
sons to the watch-house, where the charge was committed
to writing by Keyse, the superintendent, into whose
custody they were given.
Hamilton and Barnett, the two constables into whose
charge time complainant gave thh accused in the theatre,
stated that they searched them both, but found no watch
in their possession except their own. The spot where all
the parties stood in the pit was also examined, but the
watch was not to he found.

Mr. lIONy, on hearing the above statement, expressed
considerable indignation at the conduct of the complainant,
obsercing ihat there was not the slightest foundation for
the charge be had alleged against them. The Magistrate
then said, "In all probability your watch was taken from
you by sonic expert thief, but then you were not jastified
in accusing the young gentleimen of such an offence, and
giving them into custody."
The clergyman, whose son eves in chstodyj described
that he had just kit coleg,te, and that he was incapable of
committing such an offence as that with which he was
charged. He represented that it was impossible to describe
the state of horror and alarm into which his family were
thrown on hearing that his son was in custody on a charge
of committing a robbery.
The father of the other prisoner was so exceedingly af-
fected on being made acquainted with the nature of the
accusation against his son, that he shed teats While describ-
ing the youno- matt's excellent moral character, and the itn-
poidbility of his having been concerned iM such an offence
as that imputed to him.

The complainant said that he was sorry now for what he
had (lone.

The MAGISTRATE having directed the young men to 1)e
discharged, their fathers insisted On haying, the address of
the complainant, in nrtici., 1g th6y expressed, of punishing
him for his conduct towards their sons.

RuTHIN AssizEs.—There are 17 prisoners
in the Calender far trial, being the greatest number known
for many years past.—North ,Wales Chronicle.

CHESTER ASSI2t S.:--Thdte are already 40
Frisnntrla toMinitted for trial at the ensuing assizes, namely,
for burglary, three; highway robbery, four; house-break-
ing, five ; manslaughter, four; cow-stealing, one; felony,
nine ; stealing from the person, two ; sheep.stealing, three;
receiving stolen goods, two; tittering base coin} two
uttering forged notes, tr. c : anil embenlement, one.—
North Watts Chronicle.

An insoument for abridging and facilitating
calculations, adapted to very general application, has lately
been invented by Mr. JosFrit Lain, of Newman-street :
he calls it the " Concentric Circular Proportioner ;" it
in fact, fot.nded upon the grinciple ofco' Vci ting the likie
of numbers (eommecaly called " Gunter's Scale") into a
circle. Two single and one double line of numbers areiset
in subdivided cards on the face of the instrument ; the mid-
dle circle, which is the moving piece, has both edges di-
vided for the convenience of acting with the inner and
outer eircks,:and a scale of estimation is arranged by
double lines of figures, for multiplication, division, and
common proportion. The principle is very simple, the
correctness of the calculations demonstrated, and the in-
strument cheap and portable. The inventor, who for-
met ly belonged to the Royal Artillery, appears not only to
he a good mechanic, but an ingenious and skilful geome-
trician.

A Meeting was held lately in Liverpool, 011
the subject of that odious tax—the receipt Stamp Tax.
We wish that every city and town in the kingdom would
meet and pour in their petitions to the House of Commons
fur the abolition of that most vexatious and impolitic tax,
which produces so little to the revenue. We would have
the country to tease the Duke of WeLLINGTON and Mr.
Goounix); into a compliance with its wishes. We are no
enemies to taxation, but, on the contrary, friendly to it,
especially considering the immense debt that Mr. PITT has
left us as a legacy, and the necessity there is for keeping
up both a very large army and natty. But this tax is so.
little productive and so vexatious, that, in the language of
Sir WILLIAM CERTIS, we would have the whole of the
kingdom have—" Along pull, a. strong pull, and a pull
altogether," and oblige the Duke and the Chancellor of
the Exchequer t 9 give way.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

ADMIRALTY COURT, MARCH 28.
Elie CAtIIERINE, OF DOVER:

This was a case of collision. The Catherine, the
owner of which was the party sued, was a lugger
pilot-boat of Dover. On the Ist of March, 1827,
whilst following the Willielmuua, a Hamburgh galliot,
to endeavour to make a bargain with the foreigner
for piloting, she ran down the Dart, a smaller pilot-
boat, of Deal, and one of the Dart's hands was
drowned. The case has created a surprising inte-
rest at the two ports, on account of the animosity
subsisting between the respective pilots, and from
its being alleged by the Dart's people, and pleaded
in the cause, that the collision arose not from negli-
gene*, merely on the part of the master and crew of
the Catherine, but from deliberate intention to do
the Dart an injury. One of the witnesses in the
cause deposed that Davison,D the master and owner
of the Calkerine, had declared, with an oath, that if
the Deal boats interfered with him (or words to that
effect), he would give them his stein.

Sir CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON said that the Court,
upon a consideration of all the facts and circum-
stances, were of opinion that the collision between
the vessels was accidental, arising chiefly from the
Dart's being unskilfully placed ; and that when she
was seen by the Catherine, they were too close for
the latter to avoid her.

The COURT accordingly dismissed the owner o;
the Ccatheri►ae from the suit, with costs.

LENT ASSIZES.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—YORK,Bcn 26

John Bowler was indicted for forging a certain
will, purporting to have been made by one Samuel
Knight, on the 4th of February„ in the 7th year of
the reign of his present Majesty, with intent to de-
fraud William Knight.
Mr. Justice BAYLEY summed up the case, and the
Jury found the prisoner—Not Guilty.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—LEICESTER, MARCH 27.
CII:flIGE OF RAPE.
Ccorge Smith, aged 23, was indicted for assault-
ing Rachel Soars, at the parish of Loughborough,
on the sth of October last, and violating her person
against her will.
The prosecutrix, a slight young woman, about 17
years of age, stated that she lived with her father
and mother at Loughborough, and worked at a yarn-
mill. On the evening of the sth of October last, as
she was returning home from work, at about eight
o•clock, she met the prisoner nearly opposite the
Boots Inn. He put his arm round her neck, and
asked her if she was going home ? She said she was,
to be sure. He insisted that she should not go
home ; and putting one arm round her 1.-aist, and
taking hold of her arm with his other hand, he forc-
ed her along the street, by the entry where her
• father lived, and then along the rest of the street
until they came to a lane. All this time she struggled
against hint with all her force. It is about 300
yards from her father's to the lane. He forced
her along the lane, which is about three quarters of a
mile in length, and across three fields. He took her
over a stile into the fields. There was a gate there,
between the bars of which he thrust her head, and
then putting his face against hers he kept her in that
position while he indecently treated her person. All
this time, she was screaming and calling upon her
mother and her leader (of the congregation to which
she belonged) to come to her protection. He then
forced her across the fields, and into a hovel, where
he consummated his purpose. She made all the re-
sistance in her power, and never ceased screaming
out, and calling upon her mother and her leader.—
After he had abused her, lie told her she must not
tell her mother; she said she would; and he replied,
she would not be such a fool. After they came out
of the house, they met a man named White, who
told her that her mother was looking for her, and she
went the rest of the way home with him. On her
return home, she acquainted her mother with the
marine': in ‘vhich she had been ill used by the
prisoner.

To corroborate the prosecutrix's testimony, White
was called, who stated, that seeing her and the pri-
soner together at the corner of her father's entry,
and knowing him to be a bad character, be caution-
ed her not to go with him. He afterwards followed
them to see what they would be at; and when he
came near the stile he heard them talking. Ile
overheard her say to George, " It is a good thing to
be religious,"—(laughter)—to which George as-
sented. Ile subsequently saw the prisoner take her
from the field into the hovel, and heard her scream-
ing, but THA using any particular words. tic wem
up to the hovel, and peeped under the door. The
prisoner was then just getting up from the ground,
and the girl continued screaming.
Both this witness, And little girl named Clarke,
whO having seen the prosecutrix with "Flash
George" (as she designated the prisouer), went and
told her mother of it, stated that there were people
about the street, and lights in the windows at the
time, and in other partienlars contradicted the pro-
secutrix's statement; upon which
The Loan CHIEF' BARON stopped the trial, ob-
saving-, that although the prisoner was evidently a
bad character, yet that it would be dangerous, in
the highest degree, to convict any man upon such
testimony as that given by the prosecutrix, who, it
was quite clear, had not shown that kind of reluc-
tance to go with this man, which she had stated.
The Jury returned a verdict of'" Not Guilty."
Elias Armstrong, Mary ilrmstron,,a, his wife, and
Jane Cooley,wePe indicted for robbing Thomas
Southernwodd of a pottet-book cdutuining notes to
the amount of 471.
The Jury revned a verdict of " Not Guilty."

NORFOLK CIRCUIT—BURY ST. EDMUNDS,
MARCII 27.
PoAstry V. WILCOX;

This was an actin brbiight by the plaintiff, a
ladies' shoemaker residing in London, against the
defendant, a Clergyman and Rector of the parish of
Little Stouham, in this county, to recover a com-
pensation in damages for an alleged libel. The case
which occupied the whole day, involved a compli-
rated detail of Pacts utterly Uninteresting to any but
the parties, arising out of a variety of pecuniary trans-
actions and matters of account which had taken place
between them for a series of years. Among other
dealings which they had, the defendant had sold the
plaintiff an 'estate in Little ..;toriliam for 8,2501.,
with an agreement of re-purchase for an unlimited
time, but which agreement was reduced to a teeth
of seven years in the deed of conveyance. The
plaintiff, having met with difficulties in his business,
found it necessary to raise money by the re-sale .of
thi.A! estate; and his attorney, who was also the at-
torney to a Mr. Roberts, a Mortgagee for the property,
wrote to Mr. Wilcox about it, and stated that the
plaintiff' would give him the first offer of the estate,
although his time forrepurchasingit had expired. The
defendant wrote two letters in answer to the attor-
ney, in one of which he stated that the clause in the
conveyance, limiting his time to repurchase to seven
years, had been surreptitiously introduced into the.
deed by a third person, {, if not with the privity of
Mr. Borsley." In another letter he stated that his
signature bad been procured by false representations;
and he also asserted that a rent of 4001. a year, which
an occupying tenant was then said to
paysestate to Mr. Borsley, was a mere "decoy. The for the
, attorney of the defendant had also served notice of a
lien of 1,250/. on the property.
Evidence was called on both sides to show the
value of the estate—the highest fixing the rent at
100/.'a year, and the lowest at 3201. The lien of
1,250/., it also appeared, had been reduced before
the notice to something above 300/. It was also a
question whether the letters and the notices were
libels or privileged communications.
The Jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff—
Damages 4001.

A stall in Winchester Cathedral is vacant by
,he death of the Rev, Alr.„BsittiAltD,