The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-24 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT 01; QUEEN'S BENCH, Dec. 23.
(Sittings at Nisi Pries, at the Guildhall, before Lord
DENMAN and a London Common Jury.)
THOMPSON V. BLURTON AND OTHERS.
This was an action to recover the amount of a bill of
exchange, given by the defendants as far back as
the year 1840, for coals supplied to the Buckingham
Club. The defence w; s that the bill in question was
held by Joseph Parker, to whom it had been paid by
plaintiff, and that plaintiff had consequently no right to
sue on it.

The jury found for plaintiff—Damages, 241. ss.
Counsel for plaintiff, Mr. V. Lee ; for defendant, Mr,
Knowles.
This is the last day of the present sittings.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, Dec. 23.
(Sittings in London.)
PRESCOTT AND ANOTHER V. BARBER AND OTHERS.
This was an action brought by the eminent bankers
Prescott, Grote, and Co., against the defendants, as
partners in the late joint•stock bank, the Birmingham
Bor.tugh Bank, to recover the amount of the balance
due to them as London agents of the Birmingham Com-
pany. It appeared that the bank stopped payment in
February, 1840, but that the affAirs are n.)t, in fact, as
yet wound up.
Mr. Sergeant CHANNELL conducted the case of th•
plaintiffs, and put in the usual evidence of the partner..
ship, and the debt, proving that the defendants sere
shareholth•rs in 1839.

Mr. HILL, Q.C., for Mr. Warden, the only one of the
defendants who contested the question of their liability
this day, addressed the jury at very great length, and
submitted that as Mr. Warden's shares were forfeited in
the early part of 1839, when the affairs of the bank
were flourishing, he ceased to be a partly r before this
balance accrued, and therefore was not liable.

The LORD CHIEF JUSITCE having summed up,
The jury found for the plaintiff—Damages, 2,478 L

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Dec. 23.

A number of trifling country insolvencies were put
down for hearing, but none of them were of the slightest
importance to the public.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—Exeter, Doc. 20.
(Before Mr. Baron ALDERMON.)
Henry George Carpenter, the druggist who was con-
victed 3esterday of an assault upon Elizabeth llibbert,
was this morning sentenced to one year's
,imprisonment,
bat without hard labour.
The early part of this day was occupied in trying cases
of a description not proper to be reported. All the other
cases were finished before the Court rose, to do which,
however, his Lordship was obliged to sit to a late hour.
William Smith was indicted for assaulting and robbing
Mary 4lyre on the highway.
Mr. Bird conducted the prosecution. The prisoner was
defended by Mr. Rowe.
The prosecutrix, an old woman between 70 and 80
years of age, bent double with the weight of time, and
wearing upon her face the many furrows it had made, in
a feeble voce, that could be heard only a few feet from
the spot where she stood, gave evidence to the following
effect :—On the 6th of November last she was making
her way as well as she could from North to South
Molton. She had proceeded nearly two miles of her
way (which must have been a great task for the old
lady), when she was passed by two men, who asked
her for some nuts, an article which she usually
sold. They passed on and she followed. She had
not got vary far, -when a man with a handkerchief tied
over his head suddenly jumped from the hedge, and, ap-
proaching her, knocked her down, and forthwith proceeded
to take from her pocket, in which was contained a box
holding 375., and some other trifling articles ; and, hay-
ing done this and threatened her, the robber made off.
Whilst standing over her, the wind blew back the flaps
of the handkerchief which was bound round his head,
and then she immediately recognised the prisoner at the
bar, whom she had known for years.
The jury immediately found him Guilty. He was
sentenced to be transported for ten years.
Rickard Back was indicted for the manslaughter of
John Perriam.
Mr. Stone prosecuted ; the prisoner was defended by
Mr. Rowe.
It appeared that the prisoner had occupied a house
situated in Elford-lane, Woodbury, as a tenant of a Mrs.
Elizabeth Back, who was his mother. About a year
since she made over the property to a Mr. Wrench, who,
unable to obtain payment of his rent, put a distress war-
rant in the hands of the deceased, and his son, Henry
Perriam, with directions that they should distrain for the
rent due. In obedience to those instructions, they went
to the prisoner's house, whom they found from honie.
Having ascertained where he was gone they sent for him,
and after a time he made his appearance. Henry Merriam,
the son, stated that on reaching the house the prisoner
immediately went to one.corner of the room, where
a poker and a pair of tongs were standing. He
seized them in his hands, and then, flinging the tongs
away, grasped the poker in his right hand. The de-
ceased, on his entry, was sitting near the table, and
commenced reading the warrant. Nothing else was said
to him; not a word bes'aies was spoken. The prisoner
said nothing; but, grasping the poker as described, he
made a furious assault, on witness, struck him a violent
blow on his right arm, which completely disabled it, arid
the arm hung powerless by his side. He then aimed and
inflicted a similar blow on his left arm, attended with
like results, and added a third, which struck him on the
11'1as:deierlethei:,o his son's assistance.
discontinued the
perusal c
The prisoner swore if they did not leave his house he
would knossk their brains out, and the deceased, there-
fore, quitted deceased,warrant
fore, quitted the room, calling to his son nut to strike the
prisoner, but to come a ith him, which he did. As he
(the witness) reached the door prisoner struck him an-
other blow, and be tumbled in the 3 ard. He recollected
then seeing his father standing by the door, and the pri-
soner's fist in the attitude of striking hire. He did not
see the blow, but in a moment his father fell by his side,
and he (the-son) fainted away. When he recovered his
senses, his father was standing over him, the blood
dropping from his face and falling upon his own. As
soon as he could he got up, and then perceived that his
father had received a violent blow on the lower part of
his forehead, from the wound inflicted by which the
blood was running. He went home. His father was
upwards of 70, and before this had been well, but from
that moment complained of being ill. and within ten
days had done with earth, and was a corpse.
Mr. Warren, a surgeon, of Exeter, was called, who
had seen the deceased two days before his death, and had
also made a post mortem examination. He stated that
when he saw the deceased alive lie was labouring appa-
rently from some disease of the chest, which produced
great difficulty of breathing. He said to him, " Why,
Perriam, you must have been ill for some time," and the
deceased answered that he had. Two days after he died.
On making the post mortem examination he discovered a
great quantity of watery serum an the brain, which also
bore evident marks of a chronic disease, which must have
existed for a long time. On examining the chest and
surrounding viscera he found the heart very much
diseased, which also must have been a complaint of long
standing ; and ho considered the death of the deceased
resulted from one or both of these maladies, and not
from the effects of the blow. It was possible that the
blow might have ac.!elerated his death, and possible that
it had had no such effect.
Mr. Baron ALDensore stopped the case, observing that
everything was to be presumed in favour of the prisoner,
the contrary of which was not satisfactorily proved. The
jury, if satisfied with the truth of the evidence giv,en by
the son, would find him guilty of an assanit.
This verdict was immediately returned, and the Learned
Judge then sentenced him to four months' imprisonment,
with hard labour.
John Maddock and William Maddock were indicted
for assaulting and robbing Richard Coles, on the high-
way, and stealing from his person a hat and handkerchief;
his property.
The jury immediately returned a verdict of Not-G-uilty.
Chai les. Rowe Salter was indicted for malieiously shoot-
ing at James Salter and Henry Canuiford, with intent
to maim, &c.
Mr. Cox prosecuted; Mr. Rowe defended the prisoner.
From the evidence in this case, it appeared that the
prisoner had most improperly fired a gun at the two
boys named in the indictment, hut at such a great dis-
tance as to negative the supposition that he was actuated
by the intent laid in the indictment. He was, therefore,
acquitted ; but the Learned Judge expressed a regret
that it was not a case in which the jury could find a
common assault.
His Lordship rose about nine o'clock, all the business
being finished ; and this ends the business of the Winter
Western Circuit.