The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-19 00:00:00

box; which waa fastened by three small nails, and
.corded, was directed to the plaintiff, at Bedford. It
was delivered, in the usual way, to the defendants'
wangonena and by ahem placed on the outer rail of
the vac-` on. It was secured with ropes, and covered
caa
with a tarpaulin. The wagon left London shortly
after the delivery of the box, and stopped for a few
houre, in the course of tile night, at Bell-bar.
Whilst there, the contents of the box, which were
worth over 2001., were stolen, and the plaintiff' now
Sought to recover the amount from the defendants.
The defence set up to the action was, that the
plaintiff had received notice of the defendants' hav-
ing limited their responsibility to the sum of fi/.
except the articles above that value were entered,
acid insured by the-payment of an additional rate—
and further, that the vooth, were packed by the
plaintiff's servants in so negligent a manner, as to
render the theft more than usually easy, and not to
afford that reasonable security which a carrier had a
right to expect from those who sent goods to his wag-
gon, especially when those goods, as
.in the present in-
etance, were of considerable value. Witnesses were also
called with the view ofshowimanthat the waggon,whilit
it stopped at Bell-bar, had been carefully watched
by the two waggoners, and by the cztler; but it ap-
peared upon their cross-examination, that the wag-
gon was allowed to remain on the high road, and at
a distance from the Inn, and that the side of the
waggon at which the box was packed was within
two or three yards of a shrubbery. The proof of the
service of the notice on the plaintiff was that, in the
year 181;', when this businesa was carried on by
-other persons, although in exactly the same man-
ner,. the plaintiff received a -card, in which the
responsibility of the carrier was limited to five
pounds; that her brother had, to her knowledge,.
suffered a similar •loss about the same time, because
he had not insured his goods.
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE in summing up, told
the Jury that the old law-very properly made
carriers insurers, in order to prevent their collusion
with thieves. They had, however, contrived to
creep out of their responsibility, by giving notice of
their limiting it to 51. unless the goods were insured.
To make this notice- binding. on the plaintiff, two
things were absolutely necessary ; first, that she
Must be clearly proved to have received it : the
evidence on this paint should be of the most
positive nature.. And secondly, it ought to be
shown that the carriers had not either, by them-
selves or their servants, been guilty of negli-
gence. The Jury would therefore haVe to say
whether there had not been negligence, and very
g...ross.negligence' too, on the part cf the defendant,
in allowing the waggon to remain without a sufficient
watch on the high road, where it committed a nui-
sance every moment it stopped there. -
the Jury, after deliberating for more than seven
hours, found a. verdict for the plaintiff, on the ground
of negligence in the carriers. Damages 315/. t3a. 4d.
HILL V. BARTLEY.
Thia was an action for the recovery of 2C;I, the
balance due for the price of two horses, sold by. the
plaintiff to the defendant at the 'Kingston Fair, in
November, 1825. The only question between the
parties was, whether at. the time of the sale the
whole or only part of the price had been- paid to the
plaintiff? The witnesses, examined as to this point
were chiefly horse-dealers, and their evidence was
of the
.most contradictory nature.
It having been stated by Mr. Sergeant:SPA Mgr], in
his opening speech for the pLintiff, that his anent had
offered to give up his claim to the balance, if the de-
fendant should make an affidavit that he had paid
,
the entire amonnt,
Mr. Sergeant Apams, for the defence, now pro-
duced an affidavit to that effect, sworn before Mr.
Aldei:man BchOley.
The i ,ORD CHIEF innarrez—with reference to this
'part of the case, said 'that the practice- of swearing
parties, where they had a direCt interest, ought to
be discontinued. The inagiatrale lied no jub m .
o-
:ion to administer an oath of this description, and
as the- party rnal.inp: such an affidavit \vas not liable
19a prosecution for peajury, the magistrate was only
sanctioning an anpeal to tire Deity, vvhere such appeal
was unnecessary, if" not directly mischievous, It
Lad been lately declared • by Lord Eldon, that both
the magistrate administering such an oath, and the
party making it, were guilty. of a-misdemeanour.—
In this opinion his Lordship fully concurred.
The Jury found for the plaintiff.---Damages 201.

. .
SURREY SESSIONS.-(THIS DAY.)

Charles Roberts., a soldier in the Ist battalion of
the 3d Foot Guards, who was acquitted yesterday
on an informality in the indiettnent, was again put
On his trial this day, charged with extorting money
from Grace, the wife of Saimiel Singer.
Mrs, Singea• repeated the evidence she had given
on the trial ye,iterday, Which was to the eflect that
the prisoner came to her house, which if. No. /Al,
' 'Wellington-terrace, Waterloo-road, on the evening
. ' of the "25th June, and informed her that he had a
cheree i'if a very serious nature to make arinst her
husband, and that he would raise the neighbour-
hood by making public the charge, if she did riot
give ‘-him five shillings. The witness was greatly
agitated, and gave the prisoner the five shillings.
On two subsequent occasions he called again, and
on the first received Ts: Bd., and on the other Mu
He afterwards came and ,demanded 5/. Witness
desired him to stop, and that she would`go out and
fret the money for him. She then went to a house
in Starrifot-d-street, where her husban I war passing
the evening,, and he returned with a constable; -but
the prisoner had in the mean time gone away. On
the next.evening be came again, and was taken into
custody.
Samuel Singer said, I know the prisoner; he
..:
worked at my house twice, cleaning boots and
knives. •I Iraq him first 011 WeStnlihStPl*-bridge; I
was 2'oinq to St. James's-nark, to look for another
s,cldier, Who had worked 4for roe la -4 -:-.?;.1e L I asked
the prisoner\vhether hit could ~vie killves stud
7.liCe;; he said that be could; I tlk,,, to him that I
was going to a public-house to look at a newspaper,
. ;,,-iTiii that he might Conti, with me. ~I went to the
..I';pteadaglt,e, in Pe.dlar's-acre, and called for a pint
• cf ale; I then drank a little, and told the prisoner
that he r,-i'llt tale the rest; I at the crude titre
told him that Le rii:_);lt follow nie honie ;
• 'we then left the public-110112e, but he did r,ot walk
at the-same side of the way with me; when we cr-
-7ved at inv hoase t des;,•ed him to wait, and that I.
rtym.,,ci pi. on! in
.at the back door, which I accord-
ingly dNivdhic.l:llllll,CtirLlTn d6wn the knives and
shoes;
lie --asted me whether he
should come again next day, and I said, yes ; he
did come agauenext day, and went awa
saw after doing
. his busines:s. I y
never
hiM afterwards b.ut once,
v-hen he met me in the streets, and asked me for
dd., and which I refused to give him.
The CUAIkmAN the aske- witness why he was
net '; onful enough to meet the u,-;
r-soller, rather than
allolrc his wife to Le annoyed and insulted by his
repeated vi its.
an... innocent man, I thought
Witness.—Being
meet the prisoner, as I should
nothing ebout it; but I uut go fora constable, in
napes that I shouid
Ii led him in the streets than 'in
~.,4t,--,er 4;ay.,F, a,,:prErit.
, . ,
my own house.
The. ClLisa s.t.N.—The posone,- made three virile
lt
to
yow house; vt.b.: did yon not stay Within to
meet him ? '
-.
Witness—l was out on tay private bUsiness.
The CHAIRMAN —I r. i,
should ~ have thought that
Scar private Itt,itic,:;'Cs,ilP'lll: have interferer? N,vhen a
~
v: la. ,:k, , er,Owly :Ittec,eG your

Irl4 .711

charactek:

In the Prisoner/s defence a drill corporal of the 3d
regiment was called, who stated that the prisoner
Nyas a man of sober good character.
The prisoner did not oaer any defence to the charge
of extort i rigmoney, but repeated the accusation against
Mr. Singer, in terms too disgusting to be related.
The difAIRMAN said, there could be no question
as to the prisoner's having r6-eived the money from
--Mrs. Singer. Mr. Singer's conduct was veey e.-i-
-traordinary in goino• out of the was.
Thegnisonei.: was found GO/r/, and ~f,nteiicM to
Le traluported fur 20,•cn years,