Star.
London, England, 1824-01-30 00:00:00

APPLICATION AGAINST THE MARSHAL OF THE KINGS

BENCH PRISON.
Mr. CAMPBELL shewed cause on behalf of Mr. Jones,
the Marshal of the King's Bench Prison, against a rule'
calling on him to answer the matters conta►ned in the
petition of Mr. Duffield, a prisoner in his custoJy. The
Learned Counsel said he felt it due to the character of
the Marshal to read first the petition of the complainant,
and then the affidavits which gave a full answer to his
charges. The petition stated, that on the Bth of October,
in the last year, a person named John Jacobs, was com-
mitted by the Marshal for riotous and disorderly con-
duct, to Hoi semonger-lane-jail. Before he went, he
requested Mr. Duffield to take charge of his property,
consisting of wearing-apparel and furniture, for which
pm pose the petitioner went to the room occupied by
his friend. While there, he was joined by two other
persons, and afterwards two officers came to the
door, and clamorously demanded admission. Think-
ing they had no right to intrude, he declined to open
it, on which they went away, hut soon returned,
burst open the door, and desired him to quit the place.
He requested permission to take an inventory of th

*cods, but WAS refused, Ind the of cert took posseSsion.
A message was afterwards delivered to him, requiring
him to attend the Marshal; but he declined, believing
the message was a mere trick, especially as the Marshal
was scarcely ever in the prison at that hour. He was after-
wards brought forcibly before Mr. Jones,sent to the strong
room for the night, and next day comnitted for a month
to Horsemonger-lane jail. There he was placed in a soli-
tary cell, damp, dark, and without fire, and contracted
pains in his limbs from cold, till he was sent to the
infirmary by the direction of the surgeon. Such was
the charge: to which •the Marshal answered, first by
referring to the orders made for the regulation of the
prison in 1739, under the sanction of the Judges of the
Court, which empowered the Marshal to commit for
riotous and disorderly conduct, or for possessing spiri-
tuous liquors within the prison. His affidavit, the affi-
davit of the two persons who were in the room, that of
a person who was near it, and that of the two officers,
set forth that Mr. Jones directed the officers to go and
take an inventory of Jacobs' goods ; that they found
the door shot, and demanded admittance; that they re-
turned to the Marshal, who ordered them to force the
door; that Mr. Duffield and the others were playing at
cards, and that a quantity of gin was in the room;
that he refused to go to the Marshal, and was taken by
force; and that he conducted himself in so violent a
manner, and with such insolence, that the peace of the
prison required that he should be removed from its
walls. With respect to his treatment in the jail, the
Marshal stated that he knew nothing respecting it,
having simply committed him, and left the mode of his
confinement to the jailer and the visiting Magistrates.
Mr. Duffield addressed the Court in a long speech, in
which he accused the Marshal of partiality and oppres-
sion, and charged the persons who had made affidavits'
against him with being his tools. He was repeated
interrupted, on the ground that his statements were not
founded on his petition, and that therefore the Marshal
had no means of repelling them ; but he persevered in
representing the conduct of Mr. Jones as needlessly
cruel and unjust.
The COURT declared their conviction that Mr. Jones
would have been guilty of a breach of duty had he ab-
stained from committing Mr. Duffield. If he had sus-
tained any injury from the mode of his confinement in
Horsemonger-lane jail, they regretted it; but could not
visit it on the Marshal. They dismissed the charge.

SHERIFFS' COURT, JANUARY 29.
LAING V. DELAMARE.

This was an action brought for a criminal connec-
tion with the plaintiff's wife. The damages were laid
at 10,0001.
The plaintiff, who is Captain of a South Sea trader,
in 1810 married the eldest daughter of a Dr. Steel, by
whom he had seven children, and resided in Charles-
street, Northampton-square; in 1821, he commenced
' his last voyage, and took leave of her in the most affec-
tionate manner, and in the letter she wrote to him, she
professed the greatest gratitude to PROVIDENCE for as-
signing such a tender and affectionate husband to her ;
but unfortunately for her, she got acquainted with the
defendant, an Attorney, a married man with four chil- ,
dren, to whose mother she had been a pupil; and a Mr.
Manning, the intimate friend of Captain Laing, finding
the intimacy appeared to be more than that of common
friendship, admonished Mrs. Laing, and also Dela-
mare, who promised to discontinue his visits, he how-
ever took her to Epsom Races, and slept in her
house, yet nothing dishonourable was suspected; some
time after Mr. Delamare again slept there, and in the
night the servant heard what she designated a scuffle
in her mistress's bed-room, and heard Mrs. Laing say,
"0, my GOD, I will not go down !" The next morn-
ing Mr. Delamare told the girl not to enter his bed-
room, and took away the sheets, &c. this excited the
servant's curiosity, and she entered contrary to the in-
junction, when it appeared two people had slept in the
bed. A quarrel afterwards ensued between some of the
fi iends of Captain Laing and Delamare, a public exhi-
bition of which was made before the Lord Mayor,
where Delamare had so complete an influence over her
as to urge her to go as a witness in his behalf ; on her
return from the Mansion House, she heard her hus-
band had arrived from Lisbon; but not being in a
situation to meet him, she eloped with Delamare, under
fictitious names; and left her children, with an agree-
ment entered into by Delamare with the servant, that
they should be handed over to the first chance friend
that came in, as they expected her sister to call shortly
atter. To shew the Jury in what little regard the de-
fendant held all the relations of life, he would refer
them to one of his own letters. After the unhappy lady
had left her home, her mother thought it right to at-
tempt to reclaim her, and she wrote to her the letter
which he would now read :