The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-29 00:00:00

POLICE JUSTICE—THE ISUXURYNT
OF WEAL T H,/^77),_ 7-7--._
(From Punch.; 1 or:;
~,.' .. k_... "4.5 k
Yesterday, the Hon. Au- John •"0 iyai-charged 'AO
1
gustus Toppingham, a per- before bis: ;' .111-oB#Cord,bl=-1:'... I`.-
son of gentlemanly exte- with ha • g jo,natalttealeg: '- 1
rior, was brought before assault u oti Ills: lessaulY ~.:Ii
Mr. Honeycombe, charged Bloom, a ers9it -4; lome K /-
with a very gross and vio- what gentopf apriearan
lent assault on Grace Mit- It appeafektthakb*pti4:.'
tens, a most respectable soner and his wife were paa)-
and meek-looking young ceeding home on Thursday
woman, whose face, how- night. They had a few,
ever, retained marks of a words; in fact, the prisoner
severe blow, she having lost was a little the worse f( or
four of her front teeth by liquor, and his wife was
the violence of the accused. walking a few paces in ad-
Police-constable Lynx vance of him. The complain
deposed that he was, on ant meeting the woman, ad-
Monday night, on his beat dressed her in a very rude
in Coventry-street, when and unseemly way, at the
he heard the screams of a same timethrowinghisarms
woman. He ran, and dis- round her. Whereupon the
covered the complainant prisoner, rushing forward,
lying on the pavement, and struck the complainant, and
the accused at the bar knocked him into the road.
shouting and hallooing, and Charlotte Briggs deposed
swearing he was a gentle- to the above facts. She had
man, and no mistake. been very grossly assaulted
Whereupon, after much by the complainant, before
difficulty, the constable he was struck by her hus-
took the prisoner into cus- band. .
tody. Mr. Honeycombe said he
Grace Mittens (the com- had no doubt that an as-
plainant) deposed that she saulthad beencommitted; a
was employed in a dress- very gross assault ; never-
maker's establishment. She theless, people must not
had been kept late at work take the law in their own
on Monday night, and was hands : there would be an
returning home, when the end to all things if people
person at the bar accosted took the law in their own
her, placing his arm round hands. He wished to iszow
her waist. She told hire what the prisoner had to
to go about his business, say for himself ?
when, with his clenched The prisoner said that,
fist, he struck her so vio- seeing his wife assaulted,
lently on the mouth, that he could not help doing
he dislodged four of her what he had done; he was
front teeth. not sure that he should not

Mr. Honeycombe asked
the prisoner what he had
to say for himself ?
The prisoner said he had
been out dining.
Mr. Honeycombe ob-
served that that could be
no excuse for such unmanly
atrocity. It was a most
shameful and cowardly as-
sault upon a defenceless,
virtuous girl, and he cer-
tainly could tine the pri-
soner in the'sum of 51., or
two months' imprisonment.

do the like again, under the
like circumstances.
➢Zr. Honeycomb° ob-
served, that he had no doubt
that the complainant had
very grossly misconducted
himself ; nevertheless, the
prisoner had committed au
assault, and the sentence
was that he must pay a
fine of 21., or undergo six
weeks' imprisonment.
The prisoner had not a
farthing, and was RE-
MOVED IN THE PRISON VAN.

THE FINE WAS IMME••
DIATELY PAID, and the
gentleman drove from the
office in his cab.

DREADFUL CASE OF STABBING
A LIVERPOOL CAPTAIN ON THE HIGH
SEAS.

On Wednesday considerable sensation was created
here (Liverpool) by a rumour that Captain Launcelot
Reed, the commander of the Sir Charles Napier, of St.
Stephen's, had been maliciously and dangerously stabbed
by one of his crew on the high seas. We regret to state
that the rumour turned out to be correct. It appears
that the Sir Charles Napier, a fine ship of 714 tons, new
measurement, left St. Stephen's for Liverpool on the
25th of last month, with a cargo of deals consigned to
the firm of David Cannon, Son, and Co., of South Castle-
street, in this town. Upon the morning of the 16th
instant she was overtaken by a squall in lon. 26 W. The
captain immediately ordered the men to take in sail, but
perceiving that one of the crew, Samuel Brown, was
much more tardy in his movements than the urgency
of the case demanded, he gave the fellow a push, with
a view of making him execute his work with greater ra-
pidity. Brown instantly made a plunge at the captain
with something he held in his hand, which could not be
distinguished in the grey of the morning, but which af-
terwards turned out to be a sheath-knife, one of those
dangerous instruments in such common use among sea-
faring men. The captain save him a blow in return,
which threw him back against the long-boat, and then
seized hold of him for the purpose of taking him aft and
putting him in confinement. Whilst he was in the act
of removing him, Brown several times endeavoured to
stab him with the knife, but, fortunately, none of the
stabs took effect. When, however, the captain had suc-
ceeded in getting him as far as the mainmast, the fellow
gave him a dreadful stab in the abdomen. The captain
seems at this moment, and not before, to have been con-
scious of the deadly instrument with which he was as-
sailed, and of the imminent danger he was running by
putting himself within arm's length of such a scoundrel,
for he called out to the mate that he was murdered. The
mate and several of the hands ran to his assistance; and,
about this period, Mr. Porter, jun., the supercargo, and
son of the owner of the vessel, Mr. William Porter, of
St. Stephen's, ran on deck and saw them removing the
captain into the cabin. Mr. Porter had the captain's
clothes immediately taken off, and then discovered that
a great portion of his bowels were protruding through
the wound in the abdomen. The wound was then in-
cised, the bowels were put back, and the wound was
sewed up and dressed. It was then found that the cap-
tain had received two other stabs a little below the left
shoulder-blade, and that there were no fewer than
eleven cuts made with the knife in the pea jacket he
was wearing at the time the murderous assault was com-
mitted. Those cut; had evidently been given whilst he
was conveying Brown aft, and when so many ineffectual
attempts were made by the fellow to plunge the knife in
some part of his body. Since then, the captain lay in
such a state as to be incapable of being removed from
the cabin floor, and has been suffering the most excru-
ciating torture. Brown was placed in irons on the
tinstant, and kept closely confined in the store-room.
The ship arrived in the Mersey about half-past eleven
o'clock yesterday, and upon casting anchor in the river
off the Clarence Dock, the captain was conveyed ashore
in a steam-boat, and has been placed under medical
care. Brown was taken into custody
.by constable
Greaves, and lodged in Bridewell. He will, in all pro-
bability, be brought before Mr. Rushton to-day, and
ordered to be remanded until such time as the captain
may be able to appear against him, if that
period
shall
ever arrive, which, under the dangerous circumstances
of his case, is extremely doubtful. The captain is a
married man, only twenty-nine years of age, and be-
longs to Liverpool. His sister formerly kept. a public-
house here, known by the name of the Lighthouse.
Brown is twenty-four years of age, and shipped from
St. John's, New Brunswick. It was reported he was an
American, but we understand that this is not the case,
and that he is a British subject.—Gore's Advertiser of
yesterday.

:lAYLE RAILWAY COMPANY.—Yesterday the ad-
ourned half-yearly meeting of this Company was held
at the Office of the Company in New Broad-street,
at which A. L. Gower, Esq., presided. The secretary
read the report of the Directors, from which it appeared
that the business of the railway was proceeding in a very
satisfactory manner. The income was not only sufficient
to pay the interest of borrowed capital, but left a small
surplus. Great benefit was expected to arise to this
Company from the establishment of the West Cornwall
Railway. The Directors, under this impression, had
matured an agreement between this Company and the
West Cornwall Railway Committee, subject to the ap-
proval of the meeting. The solicitor to the llayle Rail-
way Company read the draft agreement, from which it
appeared that this Company was to guaranree a sum of
four per cent. per annum to the other Company, by way
of a lease of the \Vest Cornwall Railway, the cost of
which was estimated at 180,0001. Mr. L. Vigers entered
at some length into the great advantages which would
accrue to the Rule Railway Proprietors by this agree-
ment, by which they would have a large surplus to be
divided, after the payment of the four per cent. to the
other Company—the estimated revenue being about
60,000/. After some discussion, the report of the Di-
rectors and the draft agreement was received and adopted.
Three Directors were then elected, when a vote of
thanks was passed to the Chairman, and the meeting
adjourned.
TRIBUTE TO Mortocco.—The tribute, or protection
douceur, or whatever other name diplomacy may give to
this unreasonable exaction of Morocco from nations
with which she has little or no intercourse, has hitherto
been regularly paid by Sweden, amounting to 29,000
dollars annually ; but since the accession to the throne
of King Oscar, the Government have come to the de-
cided resolution that, excepting the amount due for last
year, which they agree to pay, not one dollar more shall
go out of the public purse for this purpose. The amount
annually paid by Denmark has been 25,000 dollars, of
which two years are at present due, and, on the same
conditions as Sweden, the Government of Denmark have
come to the determination that the present payment must
be considered in full of all claims on this score for the
future as well as for the past. From the dilatory cha-
racter of Barbary diplomacy, it must be impossible to
predict when a final adjustment may take place, but it
is anticipated that the intervention of England and
France will ultimately bring about the desired arrange-
ment. Be that as it may, whether success or failure
attends the endeavours of the mediating party, one thing
is certain, that Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, are
firmly resolved to pay no more tribute, even si:3lld the
consequences force them to establish cruisers off the
coast of Morocco for the protection of their commerce.
THE STATE APARTMENTS AT WINDSOR CASTLN.---
It was expected that these apartments, which have been
wholly closed to the public since Saturday last, would
have been opened again to-morrow, an order to that
eif,2ct having been issued on Wednesday evening. Yes-
terday morning, however, this order was countermanded;
and they have now been commanded to he closed until
after the 12th of next month, when the whole suite will
be required for the magnificent entertainments to be
eGhowthesatiatsuraeKonf
Knight
et
given by her Majesty to numerous illustrious and dis-
tinguished
reigning D u guests,
est
ofs Saxe n
honourC
rbraou mar gdoe,fna. n,
at
fourth hdnd
Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
DARING HIGHWAY ROBBERY.—Yesterday informa-
tion
f raos
mMir).eJt Downer,::eohobriryitohtalfiodFu,a
Fair,
h ofe
was Rudford,stop stopped
Sussex,about wasa
was received at Bow-street that on the night of the
whogwa
vhfeiol
him
mitbhl
arye
violent
ou menllel
n dt
hmr2e:imtltuehrffnirrncionsni
hisl) e t
gig o r titl
into
held him down in
blow on the herd with a hludigeon, which rendered him
insensible. They then robbed him of a silver hunting
watch, several memorandums and bills, one for 37/., in a f!..
yellow money bag, three or four sovereigns, and some 1.;,a
silver. Two men are in custody on suspicion of being
,;;.,a.
concerned in the outrage, and are remanded until the
29th infix.