The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-24 00:00:00

This was an action for criminal conversation Ai

he plaintiff

's wife.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL stated that the ittin-
tiff, Joseph GFOotrf Deane, was a person of the...per-
suasion known by-the name of Quakers. Hokvas
married about.nine years ago to the lady whose 'Con-
duct had given rise -to the present inquiry. Ale
fruit .or that marriage liad.been five children. .The
plaintiff's age at the time of the marriage was 25
or 26, and the was of nearly the same age.
They had'eontinued to reside together down to Ja-
nuary, in. the present year, and during the whole of
that time had been on terms of the greatest 'affec-
tion, kindness, and harmony. The plaintiff was
originally a clerk in a mercantile house, and was
married in 1820, according to the ceremony adopted
by the Society of Friends. Some time after his
marriage, having quitted the merchant's counting-
house, he took a house in High-street, Shoreditch,
at a rent of 1401. per annum, where he commenced
the business of a cornchandler and coal-merchant,
and he had continued to reside there to the present
time. Within two doors of his house the de-
fendant, William Thomas, resided. He was a
medical man, possessing a good establishment, hay-
ing succeeded a person who had retired from busi-
ness with a fortune. From the contiguity of his
residence to the plaintiff's house the families
had become acqw,inted. The defendant had not

been originally the medical attendant of the
plaintiff's family. Another medical man had
attended Mrs. Deane in her accouchements,
but the defendant had sometimes been called
in to prescribe for the children. In the spring of
last year Mrs. Deane had gone to the sea side, and
at the same time the plaintiff had no reason to sup-
pose that any criminal intercourse had taken place
between the defendant and her. Her letters to the
plaintiff breathed the same sentiments of affection
towards him, and the same concern for her children,
as a virtuous wife and careful mother always enter-
tained. Some time afterwards, however, the plain-
tiff received an anonymous letter on the subject of
the defendant's conduct to his wife, and although he
at that time entertained no suspicions of the fidelity
of his wife, he thought it his duty so far to act upon
the letter as to request the defendant to discontinue
his visits at his house, telling him that there were
persons in the neighbourhood who conceived that
he was paying more attentions to Mrs. Deane than
were quite consistent with propriety, and therefore
he had thought it proper to prevent all further ground
for those suspicions. The defendant on this occa-
sion wrote a letter. to the plaintiff, in which he ex-
pressed his perfect concurrence in the step that the
plaintiff proposed taking; and at the same time
declared that he had never betrayed the confidence
reposed in him, and that Mrs. Deane had been
most gros6ly slandered, there being not:' the least
ground for the suspicions entertained:: The de-
fendant thus submitted to the exclukion which
the plaintiff had pronounced upon him, but it
was not long after that the plaintiff conceived
that he observed' a change in. the -conduct of
his wife, and that she did not treat him and her
children-with the. same kindness and attention as she
had formerly done ; but still he had no know-
ledge of any criminal intercourse having taken place.
Soon afterwards, however, a communication was
made to him by one of the servants in his house, by
which he was given to understand that letters had
passed from the defendant to Mrs. Deane, and from
her to him. The plaintiff then made further inqui-
ries ; and having discovered one or two letters,
which, although they did not import that a criminal
intercourse had taken place, yet led him to believe
that very improper conduct was going on, he desired
that a separate bed might be prepared for his wife.
This was done, and Mrs. Deane was shortly after,
wards removed by her friends from the plaintiff's
house. On making further :inquiries, the plaintiff
ascertained that his wife had been in the habit,
while he was absent from home, of meeting the de-
fendant in a house in Thames-street, where a Mrs.
Rumbold (who had been occasionally employed in
the plaintiff's family as a nurse), resided. He was
informed that, during his absence, his wife had been
seen to leave the house, and the defendant had been
observed to follow shortly afterwards, in the same
direction, to Mrs. Rumbold's, where they met on
several occasions, and passed a considerable time in
each other's company, in a room in which there was
a bed and no person present. They had remained
in this room at one time about twenty minutes, and
on two other occasions about an hour. These cir-
cumstances, when proved, would of themselves af-
ford sufficient evidence to satisfy the Jury that the
object of the parties was a criminal one, and that
their purpose had been accriplishod. But there
was another circumstance which had come to the
knowledge of the plaintiff after the discoveries
before alluded to. He had learnt from a fe-
male servant that on one occasion, whin he
had been obliged to go to the country on