The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-01 00:00:00

RUNNING REIN CASE.

EXCHEQUER.-(THIS DAY.)
(Before Baron ALDERSON and a Special Jury.)
WOOD V. PEEL.

This trial, upon which the hopes and fears of the sporting
world have been so earnestly fixed since the recent race for
the Derby, and the dispute as to the legitimate claimant of
the stakes, having been appointed for to-day, the Court, im-
mediately on its opening, was greatly crowded. Several
sporting men of celebrity were in attendance, and intense
anxiety seemed to pervade the great majority of persons
present. The crowd, however, would have been consider-
ably greater, but for the circumstance that the Court of Ex-
chequer sitting also at Guildhall, a great number of persons
bent their unhappy steps thitherward.
The Earl of Stradbroke, the Hon. Mr. Byng, Sir Gilbert
Heathcote, the Baron de Tessier, the Hon. Charles Greville,
and other parties in high llfe, sat upon the bench. Lord G.
Bentinck sat close to the Counsel for the defendant.
Mr. Cockburn, Q.C., Mr. James, and Mr. Lush, appeared
for the plaintiff ; and the Solicitor-General, Mr. Wortley,
Q.C., and Mr. Martin for the defendant.
At a few minutes before ten o'clock Mr. Baron Alderson
took his seat upon the bench, when the following gentlemen
were sworn of the Special Jury :—Joseph Bowman, foreman ;
Isaac Haywood, Charles W. Moore, Frederick Bryant, Chas.
J. Cotteril, Robert Bentley, Richard Williams, William
Cotes, Thomas A. H. Dickson, John T. Miller, Edward An-
trobus, and Henry Watson.
Witnesses on both sides were ordered out of Court. On
application to the Bench, however, Lord George Bentinck
was permitted to stay, as were also the Baron de Tessier and
Sir Gilbert Heathcote.

Mr. LUSH having stated the pleadings,
Mr. COCKBURN said the question was, whether a horse
called Running Rein, which won the Derby at the last Epsom
Races, was a colt foaled in 1841, whose sire was The Saddler,
and whose dam was Mab. When they recollected what the
Derby was—the amount of the stakes and the number of
people, grave senators, lawyers, and others, who took an in-
terest in it—it would easily account for the importance that
was attached to the present issue. The plaintiff had to con-
tend with individuals of great weight and station, who had
very large bets depending on the result of the action, and
who therefore vage indefatigable and not over-scrupulous in
their efforts to defeat him. The question, however, was a
very simple one. It was not one of opinion, nor of science,
but of fact. Indeed, it was a plain question of
identity. The horse in question won the race—won it easily
—won it gallantly. This done, Colonel Peel, the owner of
the second horse, objected to the stakes being paid over to
the owner of Running Rein, and claimed them for himself as
the owner of Orlando. According to the ordinary rules of
the Jockey Club, Colonel Peel having objected to the age of
the horse was bound to prove the disqualification to the
satisfaction of that club. But Colonel Peel did not do this,
but took refuge under the power of the law, thus throwing
on the plaintiff the onus of proving the birth of the horse.
Baron ALDEusorT—The plaintiff himself undertook that—
he chose his own position.