The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-17 00:00:00

SUICIDE AT WARWICK.

On Saturday last an inquest was held before
Mr. Greenway, on the body of Thomas Reynolds
Platt, a land-surveyor, residing in Warwick, and
of the firm of Platt and Smythe, who was found
in a spinney in the parish of Milverton, with his
throat cut, and a pen-knife in his hand. It was
evident that he had himself committed the fatal
act, as his pockets bad not been rifled, and there
were no marks of violence on any other part of
his body. It appears that POlllO time since, this
unfortunate individual entered into partnership
with a Mr. Smythe, a Catholic ; and, curious
enough, it was stipulated in the heads of the
articles of partnership, that Mr. Platt, although
a Protestant, should attend the Catholic Chapel
once every Sunday. He had, for some time
past, exhibited much mental inquietude, ex-
pressed great horror of Popery and of priests,
and signified his determination of living and
dying a member of the Church of England ;
but he feared lest this resolution should be
known to the Catholics, and he imagined that
any itinerant Irishman would murder him, if re-
quested to do so by a priest. He had in his
pocket a memorandum book of receipts and ex-
penses, at the end of which the following was
written in pencil, evidently in contemplation of
the rash act he afterwards committed :
" Man, whoever thou art Who findest my ,body, show
this to the public, as it will be of service tc your country,
which is about being destroyed. I die the victim of the
Catholics and the saints (saints in appearance, no morco
Smythe, whom I joined, on his part nothing but pretences,
in business ; and Evans. Oh ! my poor mother and
friends, and oh ! my country ; may God, in his mercy,
preserve both."
Joseph Shipton, Esq., of Warwick, solicitor,
said he parted with the deceased about four
o'clock on Saturday afternoon last, at the stile
leading out of the public road from Warwick to
Leamington, between Emscote and Warwick,
about half a mile from Warwick ; he was going
towards Warwick by the public road, witnesa going
the footway across the fields and St. Nicholas
Meadow. The deceased had lately consulted
him about his affairs, and appeared rather odd,
but he did not suspect his intellects were, de-
ranged. Witness Saw the deceased on Saturday
in the office ; he stayed three quarters of an
hour ; produced letters, and went into a state-
ment that Mr. Smythe, with whom he was con-
nected, had not performed his promise ; he had
got into pecuniary difficulties, and there was a
contrivance to prevail on him to embrace the
Catholic religion ; he repented having been led
into that connection with Mr. Smythe and Mr.
Turrille, at Hampton-cottage. He appeared
much in fear of the Catholics ; and said he was
to be a sacrifice on the public scaffold by them.
He said there was a conspiracy between Mr.
Wild and Mr. Turville to take away his life.
The Jury found a verdict of insanity.

Mr. NORTH arrived from England this morn-
ing, after having been returned to Parliament for
the Borough of Melcomb Regis, belonging to the
Marquis of Anglesea.—Dublin Evening Post.

LIBEL.

(From the .Examiner of Sunda', July 1.5.)

TARRY V. HUNT.

case added it YerY iMportant statement to the verdict,
The fader will recollect that the Jury in thit
in the following words of the Foreman
/ am specially cles;:ed by my brother Jurors to state
of the libel ; that where it
plaintiff, they were particulart,- impressed with two parts
to your Lordship, that in g;iving the 50/. damages to the
is said—,' not to say the
worst of ltim f' and then where his ei,:rofound' ignorance is;
spoken of ; for the Jury are clearly of ,opinion, that the
plaintiff is not profoundly ignorant."
It was considered a serious omission, on tin; part of
the Judge, that he did not explain to the Jury .who
were most probably ignorant of the nature of plena
inns) that there were eleven isaves in this cause,
each etilbracing a separate allegation; and that it;
was ,-ompetent to them to give a verdict for the
defendant. upon those points, which they considered
he had justified, and a verdict for the'plaintiff, with
damages, upon those which they deemed not justi-
fied by evidence, There can be no doubt that, had
the Judge not neglected this part of his duty, the
defendant would have obtained a verdict upon some -
of the issues,--we should say, upon the great majo-
rity, the fair inference from the vp-sirde of the Fore-
man being, that the Jury considered the defendant
to have made out a justification upon 6,21 the spe-
eille allegations in the alleged libel except that of

ignorance.
The Judge having thug neglected to question alai'
Jury as to the exact meaning of their Foreman'
statement, the only course that remained for the de-
fendant was, to move to the Court that the verdict

might be recorded according to the apparent opinion
of the Jury. The Court was moved accordingly,;,
but the Chief Justice stopped the defendant's coup
sel in his statement, and desired that the matter'
might be argued before himself at chrozbers. This
was done ; and the result was, that he ordered the
verdict to be so far altered as to stand for the de-
fendant on one plea—that which charged Parry
with slander ; leaving the verdict on all the rest for
the plaintiff. This is a very curious decision.
'We may remark in the first place, that Chief=
Justice Best thus tacitly admits his own omission to
question the Jurv, when they delivered their verdict;
with regard to the separation of the different pleat. •
His Lordship has found it necessary to alter the ver.4,
diet, on account of the obvious meaning of the Fore-
man's remark :—how much better then—how much
more satisfactory—would it have been had he ascer-
tained the precise feeling of the Jury on the separate
points at issue
To give the defendant the verdict on one plea,
and one only, is absurdly inconsistent. Why does.
he have the verdict on that one ? Because the-. '
Foreman said—" We find for the plaintiff on NC—
count of the defendant having called him profoundly
ignorant, and having used the words " not to say}
the worst of him ;"—cleat lc implying, that on tail t.:;
the other points—the drunkenness, boasting, elan- fi
dering, &c.—they believed the defendant had proved
his assertions. If, therefore, the defendant was (as
Judge Best says) entitled to the verdict on the plea .t:'
concerning slander, lie was, for precisely the same
reason, entitled to the verdict upon the pleas cots.
cerning drunkenness, &c. More should have beets
granted him, or nothing. If the Foreman's reinerk
ought not to affect the verdict, then the defendant
was not entitled to any alteration; but if—as the
Chief Justice de facto admits—that remark ought.
to affect the verdict; then nine or ten pleas out of
the eleven ought to have been given to the defen-
dant. It seem to us that Chief Justice Best cannot'
escape both horns of this dilemma.
Actions for libel appear to be the rage of the day,
The Judges are determined that the Press shall reap
no advantage from the present disuse of Governmeng
prosecutions ; and accordingly they give every pos-
sible encouragement to pettifogging attorneys, amt.:
blackguards who are made sore by exposure, tcv.:
gratify their cupidity and revenge by harassing jotu-
nal iustsvitdbvte beenrlalstoo readydcosts.second
o we say
theseyitwithsham
juries hattacks'
upon that freedom' which, as part of the public, they`'
should hold most dear. We hail, however, with
great pleasure, some recent symptoms. of 'a better.'
spirit in the Jury-box. In the two cases tried thin'
week—" Wright v. The Atlas," and " Scott v.
Clement "—the degraded seekers of damages have
been signally defeated, in the former east by a direct
verdict for the defendants, in the latter by an award"
of one farthing as comperisation for the plaintiff's
character. The public will perceive how bard Chief
Justice Best struggled for the success of the latter
action; and this should be a lesson to Jurors not to.
pin their faith upon the narrow and illiberal dogmas'
of Judges, with whom no doctrine is too monstrous
,o be supported, provided they can wrap it up in a
egal fiction.