Star.
London, England, 1823-08-13 00:00:00

ASSIZES.

GLOUCESTER, AUGUST lb
GARDINER V. PROSSIR. •
. .
This was an action for assault and brallety 000".
mitted by the defendant, an tscisernan, on the plain-.
tiff, a young man of twenty years of age, an articled
clerk to Mr. Stone, an attorney. The defendant
pleaded the general issue, but did not appear bf.'
Counsel or in person to defend the cause.
It appeared in evidence, that in August-last, Mr.
Prosser called at the premises of the plaintiffs bro-
ther, at Chalford, respecting a pointer dog which he
claimed, but which was the property of Mr. William
. Gardiner. Whilst they were talking, the plaintiff
came up, and his brother asked him to shew the de-
fendant out, as he was using violent language. The
plaintiff accordingly walked out with the defendant,
and the brother oT the plaintiff returned into his
house. He was shortly, however, called back, and
found the defendant standing over the plaintiff, who
was lying on the ground, and striking him over the
mouth and face with a sword-cane, which was broken
in the encounter. The defendant was then stopped
from further violence, and it was found that three of
the plaintiff's front teeth were broken, and that his
mouth was severely wounded. In con,equence of
this injury, he was unable to swallow solid food for
several days, he was obliged to make a journey to
Bath to obtain the advice of a dentist, and his speech
was permanently affected.
Mr. Justice PARK shortly pointed ont to the Jury
the aggravated nature of the assault, and of the in-
jury for which they were to give compensation.
The Jury after a few minutes' consultation, found
a verdict her plaintiff—Damages £2O.
1%1 r.J ustice PARK.—Really, Gentlemen, I wish you
would reconsider your verdict. I did not read over
the whole evidence to you; but I think you must see
that the plaintiff complains of a very serious injury,
which was utterly unprovoked on his part. Ile has
lost three teeth, besides being obliged to take a jour-
ney to Bath : • do you value three teeth at only £2O?
The Jury consulted again for-neatly a quarter of
in hour, and then the foreman said.r-s" We think,
under all the circumstances, that £2O is enough. We
find for the plaintiff, damages £20."
The verdict was then recorded, without any further
observation from the Jadge.
• SOWN V. KEEN AND WATTS.
This was an action by a clothier of Stroud against
two constables of that place, for imprisoning him
without cause.
It appeared on the evidence for the plaintiff, that
on the 2d of December last, he-went into a public-
house at Stroud, called the Crown and Anchor, to
inquire after his father, his mother being ill. He was
going away, finding that his father was not there,
when a man named Nicholls called to Rim, and told
him that he owed him a shilling. The plaintiff took
out a shilling and offered to pay, Nicholls proposed
to spend it in liquor, and Bown accordingly, after
adding sixpence to the sum, sat down to drink.—
Nicholls then began to banter him by asking, " if he
had not slinge and bazel at home ?" which are.slang
expressions, meaning embezzled cloth. Bown took
the question in jest, replying, " he did not know, but
they were welcome to search his house, and he would
wait till they did so ;" but the question being several
times repeated, he grew angi y, and said, though not
in a violent manner, " If you bother the I'll knock
your head off." Nicholls, however, insisted ; wards
ensued ; when Keen, being a constable, interfered,
and ordered Watts, also a constable, to take Bown
into custody, and carry him to the blindhouse. Phe
landlord, surprised at this, said to Watts, " Surely
you must be jesting, you cannot mean to take this
man to the blindhouse r on which Watts consulted
Keent but Keen told him to do his duty, or he would
-fine him five pounds. Thus directed, Watts took
Bown to the blindhouse, a dark dungeon, with a stone
floor and ditty straw, and there he was locked up till
eleven the next day, `when he was released on bail to
appear at the Sessions. At the Sessions he atterided
with his witnesses, but no charge was then prefearred
against him. •
The defence set up was, that The plaintiff was quite
intoxicated, and committed a breach of the peace
within view of the constable, who was, therefore, jus-
tified in taking him into custody. No breach of'the
peace was preyed, hut witnesses spoke to thsfstate
and demeanour of Down in direct opposition to the
landlord and the other witnesses for the plaintiff.
Mr. Justice PARK summed up the evidence, ob-
serving, that the injury was not a slight one; and the
Jury found 4 verdict for the ?Lana—Damages 20i.

METEOR.--,Ac immense Meteor passed over the
Ochitl Hills, in Scotland, from south to north, on
Wednesday morning about one o'clock. it surpassed
in brilliancy the noon-day sun, and appeared to dis-
..ipate in a long train of electric fire.

Tuesday, at Sunderland, ,two young men were
,everely hurt by the northern practice of firing guns
C a wedding. The ramrod went through the hand
of one, and the other had his arm broken.

Captain CLIFFORD has purchased, mil the different
islands of the Alediterrauean, a number Greek and Roman
statues and busts, in the highest taste of art, and of the most re-
nowned age, together with many valuahie antiques, both io
bronze and in marble, whirl are to be added to the stores aids
Grace the Duke of Devousular, and deposited at Chatsworth
or in Devonshire House.

COMMERCIAL INTRGRITY.—Six or seven years ago,
Mr. GEoIIGE WOOD, of Manchester, calico-printer,
became embarrassed in his circumstances, and ulti-
mately was made bankrupt. He received his Certi-
ficate, and recommenced business, we believe, in con-
nection with two sons. He often expressed a hope that
he should acquire the means of making a further di-
vidend amongst his creditors, but he died before he
was able to do so. A few moments before his death,
he enjoined his sons, if it ever came in their power,
to fulfil his object. To the disposition to execute the
dying injunction of their parent, Messr;. Jon); and
Grotros WOOD have fortunately added the means,
and they have recently divided a very large sum,
acquired by their own exertions, amongst his redi-
torn To commemorate this rare instance of filial
piety, and disinterested liberality, the creditors of the
late Mr. Wool) commenced a subscription, from the
proceeds of which they purchased two elegant silver
vases, of the value of one hundred and sixty guineas;
and, on Wednesday last, they invited Messrs. JOHN
and GEORGE WOOD to dine with them, at the Bridge-
' waterArmhand receive the testimonials of their respect,

IRELAND:

At the Assizes for the County of Tipperarb TAW.
.21kGrath was via for the alurder of Wrn. Dwyer,
by a blow of a stone on the 14th of May last. The
deceased, in a senile, received a blow of a stone,
"which was the cause of his death.
There-was but one witness fur the defence, named
Sally Fogarty, to prove that neither the prisoner nor
his party were the aggressors.
Mr. LANIGAN turned her to good account in her
cross-examination. The Court was convulsed with
laughter, when he asked her " if she ever bled her-
self to death?" meaning, we suppoie, that she was a
witch. She was quite indignant at the insinuation,
and answered, " Never." She was then asked how
many children she had before her marriage? when
she exclaimed in a loud sharp voice, Three."
Mr. LANIGAN." Oh ! go down, go down."
Just as she was going off the table, she turned
round, and with considerable vehemence cried out—
" that she had the childer by an honest father and
mother's son—that she had neither eat them, killed
them, nor smothered them, but had reared them ho-
nestly; not so with other people," and snapped her
fingers in token of triumph, as she mingled among
the crowd.

The prisoner was convicted of Mandaargister.
The number of inhabitants in Ireland is estimated
at 6,846,919, and the number of Irish acres at
6,809,759; so that there is moie.than one individual
to an acre. In England the number of English acres
is 82,342,400, and the inhabitants 11,486,700, or
nearly three English acres (about two and a quarter
Irish) to an individual.- Rut the difference between
the relative size of the tenancies is far greater. In
a barony of about thirty square miles, in behind,
nearly- one half of the farms are less than five acres,
and only one in thirty is above fifty acres.
An example of brute noinct occurred last week.
A butcher in St. Andrew's purchased from a farmer
in the country a calf, which he brought to town. At
night, the mother left the cow-house, and traced the
path of the calf, a distance of four miles, till she arrived
at the door of the slaughter-house. Here she bel-
lowed loudly ; but, alas I her maternal solicitude was
unavailing. Already had her offspring fallen a vic-
tim to the relentless knife.