The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-07 00:00:00

CROYDON.

The presiding magistrates, Messrs. Adams, Barclay,
and Lucas, were occupied for a considerable time in
the investigation of a case arising out of the alte-
ration in the bastardy clauses of the Amended Poor-
law, which have only just come into operation, and
the professed object of which are to give greater
facilities on the affiliation of illegitimate children, and
to throw some portion of responsibility from the
mothers of such children upon the putative fathers.
It will be seen, however, that from the difficulty of
procuring what is sound corroborative testimony of
the evidence of the mother, it is almost impossible to
make out a case against the father, and the hardships
created by these clauses in the original Poor-law re-
mains unabated.

A young man named &Then Smith was sum-
moned by a girl named Emily Peake, to show cause
why he should not have an order made upon him to
support an illegitimate child, of which she had been
delivered, and of which he was alleged to be the father.

Mr. Penfold, the clerk to the bench, in answer to
a question from the chairman, explained that the
proceeding was taken under the last Poor-law Amend-
ment Act, which had just come into operation, and
under which the mother of the child, or her friends,
were empowered to take this step to compel the father
of an illegitimate child to support it, without any in-
terference on the part of the parish.
The complainant, a respectable-looking girl, appa-
rently about eighteen years old, was then sworn, and
she deposed that she was delivered of a female illegi-
timate child on the Ist September, and the defendant
was the father of it. She was unable to support the
child herself, and therefore desired that the defendant
should have an order made upon him to support it.
In answer to questions from the bench, the com-
plainant said that the defendant had been keeping
company with her for some time, and she expected to
have been married to him. The intimacy between
them which led to the birth of the child took place
on the 24th December.
The magistrate said that the complainant had so
far made out her case as to s wear that the defendant was
the father of her child, but they could not act upon
that declaration unless it was corroborated by other
testimony. They therefore wished to know what
evidence she could produce in support of her state-

meat.
The complainant said that she wished her mother
and sister to be examined.
The mother was accordingly sworn, and in
answer to questions put to her, stated that all she
knew upon the subject was that the defendant had
been keeping her daughter company for two or three
years, and that he broke off the connexion about two
years ago, and then renewed it again of his own ac-
cord last December. She never saw anything im-
proper take place between her daughter and the de-
fendant, and when she discovered her daughter was
in the family way, and she informed her the defend-
ant was the father of the child, she went to him and
asked him what he intended to do, and he then denied
that he was the father of the child, and said he could
not approve) f paying anything towards its support.

Mr. ADAMS asked the mother whether defendant
had always denied to her that he was the father of the
child ?—The mother said that he had.
Mary Anne Peake, an elder sister of the com-
plainant, was next examined, but she was unable to
prove more than that the defendant had kept company
with her sister for a considerable time, and that
having broken off the connexion with her for a year
and a half, he came to her mother's house on the 24th
of December, and in the evening her sister and the
defendant went out for a walk about seven o'clock,
and did not return until after nine, but she did not
know where they went to.
The CHAIRMAN inquired whether the witness had
ever had any communication with the defendant upon
the subject ? The witness said, that three or four
days before her sister was confined, she went to the
defendant and told him she was very ill, and at the
same time charged him with being the father of the
child. He hesitated a little while, and then said that
the child was not his, but he told her he would come
and see her sister. e did not, however, do so.
Tile complainant was then re-called, and
The CHAIRMAN having explained the law to her,
told her that the magistrates had no power to assist
her, unless she gave them some corroborative proof of
the truth of her statement. They wished, therefore,
to know whether she had any further evidence to
offer, or whether she had anything more to state to
the bench in corroboration of her testimony?
The complainant said she had no further evidence
to offer, but again asserted that the defendant was
the father of her child.

The BENCH, after a short deliberation, expressed
their opinion, that the statement of the complainant
had not been sufficiently corroborated, and they
therefore discharged the summons.

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.
DEPARTURE OF THE FOREIGN MAILS.
LONDON, MONDAY, OCT. 7.—The next mail for India,
&a., via Marseilles, will be dispatched from hence this
evening, Monday, Oct. 7.
The next mails for Malta, Greece, and the lonian Is-
lands, via Southampton, will be dispatched from hence
on the morning of the 7th inst., and for Egypt and
India on the evening of the 2d November.

ARRIVAL OF FOREIGN MAILS.
The next mail from the English and Foreign Colonies
in the West Indies is due this day.
The next mail from Mexico, Honduras, and Havanah,
is due this day.
The next mail from Bermuda, New Granada, and San
Juan di Nicaragua, is due this day.
The next mail from Lisbon, Madeira, Spain, and Gib-
raltar, is due the 9th inst.
EAST INDIA. SHIPPING.
Arrivals-Planet, Baillie, from Ceylon, off Ports-
mouth, sailed March 16, Mauritius July 6, St. Helena
August 18 ; Sir Robert Sale, Ingleby, from Bengal, in
the Downs, sailed May 28, St. Helena August 21 ;
Canopus, Stroyan, from China, in the Downs, sailed
April 6, Anjer June 2, St. Helena August 3 ; Ophelie
and Anne, Barker, from Ceylon, in the Downs, sailed
May 2, St. Helena July 29 ; Tyne, Robertson, from
Port Philip, off Torbay, sailed April 26, New Zealand
May 23 ; John Hullett, Austen, from Mauritius, in the
Downs, sailed June 26 ; Vanguard, Garwood, from
Bengal, in the Downs, sailed May 4, St. Helena
August 13 ; Mary, Grant, from Bombay, in
the Downs, sailed May 30, St. Helena August 10 ;
Cape Packet, Lamb, from Madras, off Hast-
ings, sailed May 23, Mauritius July 6, St. Helena
August 18 ; John Knox, from Batavia, off Hast-
ings; Buteshire, from Bengal, in the Downs,
sailed May 14, Mauritius, July 13, St. Helena
August 20 ; Nautlilus, Gibson, from China, in the
Downs, sailed from Hong-Kong Aprill2, Anjer June 4;
Seringapatam, Peckett, from Madras, in the Downs,
sailed April 19, Cuddalore April 29, Mauritius June 6,
St. Helena July 28; Kinnear, from Hobart Town, in the
Downs, sailed June 6 ; her Majesty's ship Clio, from
Bombay, at Portsmouth, sailed May 20, Trincomalee
June 9, Cape July 30, Ichaboe August 11, St. Helena
August 21, Ascension August 24; Platina, Wycherley,
from Port Philip, in the Downs, sailed April 9.
Arrivals in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope-Couch,
Bell, July 11, from Rio; Hope, 12th, from Liverpool;
British Settler, 14th, St. Helena 15th ; Chanticleer, 19th,
from Algoa Bay; Canning, 22d, from Ichaboe; City of
Sydney, 26th, from Mauritius; Zoe, 28th, from Bristol;
Colony, 29th, from Eh ade Mayo ; Athenian, from London.
Arrivals in Sinion's Bay-Her Majesty's ship Isis,
July 11, from Mauritius; her Majesty's ship Conway,
23d, from West Coast.
Departures from Simon's Bay-Her Majesty's ship
Helena, July 12, cruising; Candahar, 22d, to London.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
GORTON RACES.—SATURDAY.
The Claret Stakes of 5 sovs. each, and 20 added. Heats,
two miles.
Mr. Thompson's b g by Shrigley, out of Fenella,
5 yrs (Darling) 1 1
Mr. Singleton's Teresa, 3 yrs 0 2
Mr. Whitworth's Lady Sarah, 3 yrs 2 0
Coheiress, Xanthus, Staley, and Hampton, also ran.
Won easy.
A Cup of 501., added to a Handicap of 10 sovs. each, Sce.
Mile and three-quarters.
Mr. Dawson's Lord Saltoun, 3 yrs (Riley) 1
Mr. Flintoff's The Rhine, 4 yrs 2
Little Hampton and Sir R. Buikeley's Bay Middleton
mare also ran.—Won cleverly.
The Hunters' Stakes were won by Mr. Thompson's
Jack.

DREADFUL ACCIDENT AT
SLOUGH.

On Saturday afternoon an inquest was held before
Mr. John Charsley, one of the coroners for Bucks,
at the tap at the railway station, Slough, on the body
of Miss Jane Buckstone, a young lady, twenty-nine
years of age, the niece of tae late Mr. John Travers,
who met with her death by falling from one of the
windows of the Royal Hotel, as detailed in the fol-
lowing evidence :
George Boulton, a waiter at the Royal Hotel, was
the first witness examined. He stated that, on that
morning, at a quarter Past five o'clock, in conse-
quence of hearing a noise like some one breaking into
the house, lie got up and went into the area, where
he heard groans. On opening the shutters of a room
on the ground floor, he saw a woman lying on the
ground, on her stomach, with her head completely
doubled up under her body, and bleeding from the
mouth and head. Her shoes were lying about a yard
distant from the body. He immediately called up
Mr. Dotesio, to whom he handed the body through
the window, who took it in his arms to the room
where it is now lying. The deceased arrived at the
hotel last evening, with two other ladies.
Mr. Charles Dotesio examined—l am the pro-
prietor and landlord of the Royal Hotel, at this
station. At a little after five o'clock this morning,
the last witness knocked at my bed-room window,
and told me that some one had fallen out of the
window and was dying. I instantly got up and
went into the parlour, where the window was open,
and received the body from Boulton, and took it to
the apartment where it is now lying. The deceased
was in her night clothes. I placed her on a mattress
brought by Boulton, and fetched the bed-clothes from
off my own bed with the view of warming her, and
put my pillow under her head. Having just left my
bed, the bed-clothes were warm. I immediately
sent for Dr. Bryan, who arrived within twenty-five
minutes after the body was discovered. I then had
my housekeeper called up, and got her to call the
aunt and sister of the deceased. During that delay,
while I was alone in the room, I kept rubbing her
hands and feet. She got warm, and I thought began
to breathe. I asked her if she knew where she was,
and who I was ? She made an effort to speak, but
could not articulate. After the aunt and sister came
down, she moved her hands and arms two or three
times, and pulled a loose tooth out of her mouth.

About half-past six o'clock this morning, deceased's
sister gave me a letter for her brother, which I
dispatched by the guard of the luggage train to town.
The brother has since arrived. The deceased, with
her aunt and sister, slept at my house some weeks
ago, on their way to Bath, and they were now on
their road from Bath to London.
Dr. J. B. Bryan stated that the deceased lived for
about an hour and a half after his arrival at the Royal
Hotel. She was not sensible, but retained, to a cer-

tain extent, the power of motion. The injuries she
had sustained, which would have been produced by
falling from a height, consisted of a very severe con-
cussion of the brain, and the lower part of the spine
was also severely injured.
George Powlesland, a waiter at the Royal Hotel,
stated that the deceased and two other ladies upon
their arrival last night, took tea and retired to rest
about ten o'clock.

Ann Meades, housekeeper at the Royal Rotel,
stated that after she had called up the aunt and sister,
she went into deceased's bed•room, the window of
which she found wide open, and the blind drawn up.
The table had been removed from its usual position
under the window. The deceased's watch was lying
in the middle of the bed, which appeared to have been
lain in.

Dr. C. J. Fox, of 13, New Broad-street, London,
stated that he was called in by the brother (who is
also a medical man) of the deceased to see his sister,
about Christmas last, who, he was informed, had been
suddenly seized, while cleaning her teeth, with a diffi-
culty of articulation. When witness saw her he
found her tongue drawn to the left side, and she was
slightly paralysed. She was put under particular
treatment for many weeks. The tongue gradually
returned to its proper place, and paralysis subsided,
but there was no affection of the mind that witness
could discover. She was recommended to go into
the country for change of air and scene. 11Titness
had seen nothing of her since she left London.
Miss Hannah Travers, the aunt of deceased, resid-
ing at Denmark-hill, Camberwell, deposed as follows :
—My two nieces reside with me. The health of the
deceased for many months had been in a very infirm
state. During the last three months we have been
travelling in the south of England for the improve-
ment of her health, and we were now returning
home. Yesterday evening she was more than usually
cheerful. She had no apprehension of consumption
since Midsummer. I believe the unfortunate occur-