The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-31 00:00:00

rIIE SUN. 1,0ND0141, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 31 1844.

IRELAND.

SUBSCRIPTION FOR FATHER MATHEW.
Dumas, OCT. 29.—The Duke of Leinster has for-
warded a subscription of 501., distinct from his pre-
vious contribution to the Mathew Testimonial. His
Grace has intimated that he holds a subscription of
25/. from Earl Fortescue towards the fund for reliev-
ing Father Mkthew from his pecuniary embarrass-
ments.

The following communication has been addressed
to the Dublin Evening Post:—
" 3, Smith's- buildings, Oct. 28, 1844.
" Sir,—l have been requested by the Dowager
Countess of Clanricarde to place in your hands a 101.
note to be applied to the fund now being collected for
the relief of Father Mathew's difficulties. It is with
great pleasure that I comply with her Ladyship's re-
quest. I have the honour to be, your obedient servant,
" CHARLES GRANBY BURKE."
Dr. Shell, of Ballyshannon, has received the fol-
lowing letter : " Cork, Oct. 25, 1844.
"My dear Friend,—l want words to express my
gratitude for your untiring zeal in the sacred cause of
temperance, and your great kindness to myself.
" Teetotalism owes much to your exertions, and I
partly attribute to your example the strict fidelity
with which the pledge is observed in Ballyshannon
and the surrounding districts.
" By coming to my aid in the hour of my embar-
rassments, when many were inclined to abandon me
to my fate, you have added to the obligations already
expressed.. With fervent prayers for your happiness,
I am, dear Dr. Shell, yours mort sincerely,
" THEOBALD MATHEW.
" To John Shell, Esq., M.D., Ballyshannon,
County Donegal."
THE COMMISSION COURT.

The Lord Chief Justice and Chief Baron Brady
took their seats in Court at ten o'clock.
CHARGE or MURDER.—Elizabeth ill'Donnell was
charged with the wilful murder of her infant child,
at Palmerstown, on the 20th August. The indictment
contained twelve counts.

Mr. Brewster, the Hon. Mr. Piunket, and Mr.
M‘Kane attended for the Crown ; Mr. Curran for the
prisoner.
The first witness called was a little girl, of appa-
rently eight years of age, the daughter of the accused.
She was taken to the table weeping bitterly, and when
the mother and her child were confronted, the
scene became extremely distressing—both cried bit-
terly ; the grief of the former being exhibited in the
most agonising exclamations of sorrow and despair.
The CHIEF BARON asked Mr. Brewster if it was
the child who had lodged information in the case ?
Mr. Brewster replied in the affirmative.
The CHIEF BARON observed that the child was very
young, and, probably, instead of coming into Court
from a sense of justice, she was acting from what she
conceived to be a pressure of obligation, the weight
and influence of which she did not understand.

Mr. Brewster admitted he felt a difficulty in the
case, but the indictment was preferred from a sense
of duty.
The CHIEF BARON said the child was a passive in-
strument in the hands of the Crown.

Mr. Brewster admitted such to be the fact, and was
willing to act as their Lordships directed.
Mr. Curran said, that if the prisoner pleaded guilty
to the charge of "concealing the birth of her child,"
the Crown would, perhaps, abandon the charge for
the capital offence.
Mr. Brewster consented to the proposition—his
own feelings concurred in it, and his opinion was that
the case would end in the manner suggested.
The CHIEF BARON said that, on reading the infor-
mations he felt it would be difficult to maintain the case
against the prisoner.
The CHIEF JUSTICE observed, that there were many
circumstances in the case tending to throw much sus-
picion and doubt upon it, and to lead to the impression
that the allegation could not be fully and clearly sus-
tained.

The indictment for murder was then withdrawn,
and a verdict returned of " guilty of the concealment,"
and the prisoner was removed.
TRIAL OF HENRY MURPHY, SOLICITOR.—Henry
Murphy, one of the attorneys, was charged with burn-
ing several original documents connected with a suit
in Chancery, in which the prosecutor here was the
plaintiff. These documents were receipts for rent,
and necessary in the progress of the suit. Mr. Mur-
phy claimed from Captain Richardson the sum of 50/.
as the balance of a bill of costs, which it was alleged
he never furnished, and when the legality of his
charge was questioned, be wrote to the captain to say,
that he would burn one of the documents every day
until he received the money, and until all were con-
sumed. _ _ _

The case was stated by Mr. Brewster, and the let-
ters formed a remarkable portion of his address to the
jury. It would appear by the letters of the prisoner
that he burned four documents, as he wrote on four
occasions to Captain Richardson, enclosing the ashes
of burned paper, with a small portion of each docu-
ment to satisfy him that they had been actually
destroyed.
Thomas Morrin, one of the conducting clerks in the
Rolls Chancery-office, produced the bill in the cause
of Richardson v. Preston, for the purpose of showing
the court the nature of the suit in which Mr Murphy
was engaged.
Captain Richardson deposed that he had handed
Mr. Murphy all the documents necessary for conduct-
ing the suit in Chancery. He identified the portion
of a burned receipt, which he received enclosed in a
letter, in the handwriting of Mr. Murphy. He also
identified portions of other material documents sent to
him in letters, written by the traverser. Some of the
ashes of paper was contained in each letter.
Mr. Curran objected to the reading of the pieces of
paper which purported to be receipts, inasmuch as
they were not stamped.
Mr. Brewster held they were " exhibits" in the
cause—as such were described in the indictment—
and should be received as legal evidence in this pro.
secution.
Mr. Curran contended that the case did not come
within the meaning of the Act under which the pri-
soner was indicted, as that Act only contemplated
the protection of records in public offices.
The CHIEF BARON, in charging the jury, expressed
his opinion that the documents were public, inasmuch
as they formed part of a suit pending in a superior
court.
The jury, after an absence of seven minutes, re-
turned with a verdict of—Guilty.
The prisoner was then removed in custody of the
gaoler.
DISTURBANCES IN GALWAY.—The steam frigate
Cyclops has gone round from Tarbert to Galway Bay
to assist in quelling disturbances arising out of dis-
puted rights of fisheries.
ATTEMPT AT MURDER IN IRISHTOWN.—On Sun-
day a man named Francis Beddy, who resides at
Irishtown, whilst at dinner with his wife, attempted
to murder her by stabbing her with a knife in the
side. The alarm was given, and the culprit was at
once secured. The woman was taken to Vincent's
Hospital, Stephen's-green, where she remains under
the care of Surgeon Ferran. The wound is of a very
serious nature, but the doctors hope not of a vital
character. The prisoner was brought before the ma-
gistrates of College-street office yesterday, and re-
manded for further examination until the result of
the injury can be satisfactorily ascertained.

A SECOND CROP OF FRUlT.—About three weeks
ago, some strawberry plants in the garden of Mr. J.
Bancroft, a retired farmer, of Mayfield-cottage,
.Wilton,
near Northwich, were observed to be a second time in
flower, and though there was but little expectation that
the blossom would ripen and mature into perfect fruit,
the gardener induced Mr. Bancroft to let the plants alone,
even at the risk of losing their produce next summer, in
order to see how far they would progress in the ripen-
ing of the fruit at this late period of the year. Accord-
ingly the plants were let alone, and on Monday last we
had brought to our office some very fine strawberry
blossoms, and two large strawberries ; one, measuring
upwards of three inches in circumference, was scarcely
mature, but the other was quite ripe ; and we found it to
be much better flavoured, and containing more saccha-
rine matter than this fruit possessed on the average
during the last season. We understand that upwards of
a pint of strawberries were gathered in the garden on
Sunday last. It is right to state that these plants were
not protected or sheltered by walls, nor close to any
source of artificial heat, but were in the open garden, on
a slope near a fish-pond, having, however, the advantage
of the sun's rays during the morning and the middle of
the day. With the strawberries and blossom was also
brought from the same garden a small twig of a black-
currant bush, with fruit upon it, passing from the green
into the darker colour which betokened ripening. The
tree on which this fruit is now exhibiting a second crop
this season is not near a wall, but only has the morning
sun. There is not a forcing-glass about the premises,
and the only manure applied during the year, and that
only once, either to the strawberry-plants or the currant-
bushes, was some horse-dung. The bush was well
covered with fruit but we understand that one or two
frosts during the night last week have caused it to fall in
considerable quantities, and what remains cannot of
course be expected to become ripe.—Manchester
Guardian.

A Court Leet of the Savoy precinct was hell yes-
terday, the proceedings of which were rendered worthy
of public notice only by the very creditable conduct of
the Chairman of the Court, Sir John Dean Paul, who
refused to receive the presentation of the jury until they
had reported the nuisance of several print and book-
shops of an improper character which have recently
sprung up in the Strand—in the very face of the greatest
thoroughfare in London—and he adjourned the Court, in
,rder to give the jury an opportunity of performing what
ne considered a part of their duty to the public.
MILDNESS OF THE SOUTII WALES SEASON.—The
" duck and green peas," so dear to gourinanderie, is a
daily dish with us here at the end of October. In the
garden of Mr. Morgan, of Dark-gate, there are now
some of the finest peas we have ever seen. Several of
our gardens look like spring. In Mr. Brodribb's, of
Bellevue school, for example, there are budding straw-
berries, and more than one of the apple trees is in bloom.
—Welshman.