Star.
London, England, 1822-12-13 00:00:00

LAIV INTELLIGENCE.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, DECEMBER 12.
• DAVIS V. TILE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.
Last seal Mr. HART applied to the Cuurt for an
order to direct the defendant to pay the costs which
had attended the issuing of a writ of sequestration
against him. The writ of sequestration had been
taken out under the authority of an order of the
Court, which directed the defendant to pay the plain-
tiff his taxed bill of costs for having acted as a re-
ceiver of the rents of the Blenheim estates. The
defendant opposed the application, on the ground
that the writ of sequestration had been issued against
good faith, inasmuch as there existed an understand-
ing between the parties that such a proceeding should
not take place under• the then circumstances. The
matter stood over, in order that the parties might fur-
nish the Court with full information upon this point.
Mr. HART now stated that affidavits had been filed
on both sides, upon which the Court would form its

°OM''n.
The VICE-CHANCELLOR, after reading the affi-
davits, the filing of which, he said, would cost three
or four times as much as the sum in dispute (only
about six guineas), directed the defendant to pay the
cots of the issuing and serving of the writ of seques-
tration.
COURT OF KING'S BENC El, DECEMBER lit.
SHARP V. THE REV. Al. VIALLS.
This was an action to recover a compensation in
damages for a malicious prosecution.
Mr. PHILLIPS stated the case. The defendant was
a Clergyman of the Church of England, living in
opulence at Chiswick. The plaintiff was the Reve-
rend defendant's gardener. Having paid a visit to
his aunt, she made him accept of a piece of beef.—
The next day the defendant saw the beef, and sus-
pecting it had been stolen from his pantry, made the
plaintiff walk into the kitchen, where he took down
a round of beef, and told the cook that the slice in
the plaintiff's possession had been cut off the round.
The cook said it was not possible, as she had kept
it under lock and key. Beef was to him what ale was
to Boniface—his meat, drink, solace, and study;
and, sleeping or waking, dreaming or preaching, he
could think of nothing, speak of nothing, see nothing,
but " Beef, beef, beef." lle resolved to have ven-
geance; if he relented, his mutilated round swam
before his imagination—a feast for an Alderman,
which might satisfy the appetite of the whole Com- '
mon Council after a fast-day—
" The round was a picture for painters to study,
The fat was so white, and the lean was so ruddy !"
—He resolved to prosecute this poor man without
mercy—to indict him at the Sessions—to have a City
Judge for his Counsel, and the Recorder for a Judge,
and to get the case called on five minutes before
dinner—(A laugli).—The Learned Counsel, acting
upon his instructions, attached not only malice, but
the most unchat itable motives to the defendant.
Mr. Butler, clerk to Mr. Harmer, the attorney,
produced the record of the acquittal of James Sharp,
the prosecutor. The charge was for stealing four
ounces of beef, the property of the Rev. Thomas
Vialls, of Twickenham. Witness was present at the pro-
secution, and produced a note of Mr. Vialls' evidence.
SOLICITOR-GENERAL.--Did you take a note of the
whole of the evidence?—No.
SoLictrolt-GENTatat..—Then I submit this witness'
cannot be examined.
The witness said, he could repeat the whole from
memory.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL persisted in objecting.
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE over-ruled the objection.
Witness proceeded.—He said, that on the 22d of
October, last year, he was walking in his garden. On
looking among the tulips, among some cloths used
for keeping seed in, he discovered this slice of beef;
that he was struck with its appearance, and sup-.
BURN V. FARROW.
posed his servants were at their old tricks ;he took This action was brought on a clause of the 9th of
it into the kitchen, and cut a slice off his own round,
Anne, cap. 14, sec. '2, which provides that every per-
dressed the day before, and, on comparing it, he said
son who loses more than 101. playing at cards or dice
he had no doubt it came off the same joint, from the
at one sitting, shall recover, by toeing within three
complexion ; that the man refused to admit he cut it
months -after, not only the money lost, but treble the
from his round, but stated that he had got it at Isis
amount for the use of the poor of the parish where
aunt's, at Camberwell; and that Sharp refined to
vas' the gaming occurred.
tell his aunt's name. Joseph Wilson, his butler,
The plaintiff, who keeps the Rising Sun, in Wind-
called, but could not identify the beef.
mill-street, in the parish of St. James, sought'. to re-
Mr. PHILLIPS asking the witness weat Wilson said,
I cover 191. 16s. which the defendant won at the game
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL objected.
on the 29th December, 1821. •
Mr. PHILLIPS asked, did Vialls swear it came off
l 'I '.'"),
rte defendant, who is a shoemaker, not satisfied
his round of beet ? with winning the money, made a boast of his success,
Witness.—Yes : he said the two slices tallied so '
to the injury of the plaintiffs who on that account
exactly, he had no doubt they came off the same '
brought, the action. •
round of beef. Mr. Arabin, the Deputy Recorder, i
held the brief. i the winning by the defendant at Christmas, 1824
was proved by several witnesses, and the Jury re-.
Cross-examined by the SOLICITOR-GENERAL.—He I turned a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages, first,
said that Sharp refused to give the name of his aunt,'
191. 16s.—secondly, treble the above sum ; amount-
when he (Vialls) offered to take a drive to Camber-
1 i in all to 79/- ---• "
well, and see. the aunt. Mr. Vialls' expenses were in •
£l7 2s. Bd. exclusive of the witnesses. OLD BAILEY SESSIONS.
Mr. Webster produced the original copy of the re-1 Yesterday Thomas Gibbons was indicted for fel°.
cp ,: by which it appeared the Rev. Thomas Vialls niously intermarrying with Mary Ann Parsons, in the
- e only witness. r lifetime of his-lawful wife, Elizabeth Gibbons.
,4 ,Ilaldwin examined by Mr. PHILLIPS.—Knows Mary Ann Parsons, of Peter-street, Westminster,
4d
~.,,,,esAbarp; on Sunday, the 21st October, 1821, ! deposed that she was married to the prisoner on the
besclisted with witness. 119th May last, at the Parish Church of St. Margaret,
.The Loan CHM/ JUSTICE—Are you his aunt?— '. Westminster.
'Yes, my Lord: ' .. . _. .; ~-Mary .Duncan, of Daventry, Northamptonshire,
What had you for your dinner P—Boiled beef.- - , roved thesprisoner's marriage with her first cousin,
Who else dined ?—My son; and on Sharp's going . lizalieth• Morgan then a single woman, abqut four
,

or Sve. years ago. She, knew that her, Amisin.wat gill
alive, from having seen her so last night.
W. Parsons, father to first witness; produced 2 copy
of the register of the prisoner's first marriage, which '
took place on the 28th May, 1817. He also deposed
that, before the prisoner was married to his daughter,
he had heard that the prisoner was a married man.
I Ile taxed the prisoner with it, who denied it. Wit-
Iness was not aware, at the time, of his daughter's
going to be married, nor did he ascertain, till last
month, that the prisoner had a wife living.
Robert Duke, a How-street officer, apprehended
the prisoner, and told him at the time that it was for
bigamy. The prisoner said, " What, have you got
Iboth my wives here r Witness answered, " No.
The prisoner then went to his box, and took out the
I certificate of his former marriage, which he deli-

vered to witness.
The prisoiter desired that his first wife might be
called, and examined as a witness ; but the RECORDER
informed him that, by the rules of• law, this could

•
not be permitted.
The pi isoner then said, in his defence, that his first
wife ran away from him r he had frequently mitten
to her, but receiving no answer he concluded she was
dead, and married again.
The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty; and the
RECORDER immediately sentenced him to -transpor-
tation for seven yea's. •
Sarah Barlirs, a genteel and interesting-looking
young woman, was indicted for stealing from Mr.
13eauchamp, silversmith, of Holborn, with whom she
lived servant, Bunchy articles of table linen.
The prisoner had been about three months in the
service of the prosecutor when the articles mentioned
in the indictment were missed, and they were after-
wards found in her box.
The prisoner stated in her defence, as she had done
at the time of thediscOvery, that she knew not how
the things came into her box.
Several highly respectable witnesses, with one of
whom the prisoner had lived three years as servant,
gave her an excellent character.
The Jury, after consulting neatly a quarter of an
hour, returned a vex diet of Not Guilty.

The Court was occupied nearly the whole of the
morning in the trial of cases of petty larceny, and
other matters of trifling import.
At one o'alock all the cases in the Sessions Paper
were gone through, and the RECORDER dismissed the
Common Jury. He then proceeded to pass sentence
on the various prisoners who had been convicted.—
The following sixteen were sentenced to death :

John Wait, for counterfeiting a power of attorney; Alexander
Robertson, for counterfeiting the stamps on gold and silver
plate ; Jorgen Jorgenson, fur returning from transportation ; John
Harris, Patrick Foley, George William Henry, William Fry,
Martin Bell, William Iferpin, James Gilchrist, Mark Herd,
William Watts, James Browne,. and Thomas Fuller, for bur-
glary ; and Elizabeth Fishwick and John Willis, for stealing
property above ens. in a dwelling-house.
Thomas. Benton and Charlotte Gibbons, to be transported
for life.
John Dnwe, to be transported for fourteen years.
William Angel, Joseph Knight, Manoel rla Silva, Thipmas
Smith, John Southtori, Samuel Pearce' Thomas Ings, John
I)yner, Thomas Lyons, John Barnet, Henry tlnrdatt. James
Ifillward, Henry Cocker, Benjamin Gee, John •Sedice;
both Wood, Elizabeth Smith, Catherine Baylist• and ditlnnah
Boyd—to be transported for seven years. . jri; .
James Warner and Catherine M'Cabe, to be impiistmed two
years; Richard Thomson,: John Smith, Henry Oliver,' ?brit
Evans, Catherine Smith, Elizabeth Carter,' Mary 44mb and
Charlotte Bantfield, to be imprisoned one yeari James Collins;
John Golding, John Harris, Edward Powell; Thomas James,
David Donnell, James Haynes, George Cripps, George Edlam,
and Elizabeth Ward, to be confined six months, all in the House
of Correction, and to be kept to hard labour.
Several were sentenced to shorter periods of con-
finement and hard labour, some to be publicly_ and
others privately whipped. .
The Sessions were then adjournedfo Wednesday,
the 15th January next. .
MIDDLESEX SESSIONS. •
Yesterday, Richard Burfit was indicted for illegally-
destroying game, In the parish of Hamilton; on the
Ist of November, at ten o clock at night.
Mr. A botßuus stated the case. The Statute upon
which this prosecution was founded was, he said, one
of great importance, and one which made the person
accused of having arms in his possession with-the in-
tent to destroy game subject to transportation. The
defendant was found by a gamekeeper named Pearce,
on the grounds of his master, F. Manners, Esq. at
night, with arms in his possession, and with a phea-
sant in his pocket. The Learned Counsel said he
would call his witnesses, and if they proved what he
had just stated, the Jury would no doubt find the
defendant guilty.
Francis Pearce examined.—Witness is gamekeeper
to F. Manners, Esq. in the parish of Hampton. On
the Ist November; at night, witness heard the report
of a gun in the direction of the preserve of pheasants,
arid proceeded towards the spot; soon afterwards he
heard another gun, he then went fur his master, who,
with his two sons, witness, and a man named Low,
proceeded to the place where the person was sup-
posed to be who fired the gun. They then-heardtwo
more shots, and witness plainly saw the flash of a
gun near the pheasant cover; the party then sepa-
rated and . surrounded the cover, when witness met
the prisoner ; the latter levelled his gun at witness,
but he avoided it, rushed upon him, and secured him.
His gun was loaded, and appeared to have been re-
cently discharged. Lowe then came up and assisted
witness in securing the prisoner, in whose pocket they
found a dead pheasant.
Thomas Lowe corroborated the preceding witness's
testimorry.in every particular ; after which the Jury
found the prisoner Guilty.
The Ch r AIRMAN, after animadverting very strongly
upon offences of this description, but •more particu-
*AT where the offenders level their guns at persons
whose duty it is to apprehend them, sentenced the
prisoner to seven years' transportation.
Mary Ann. Pierce, well known to the police by the
flash name of -Lady Barrymore, was brought up at
the prosecution of Mary Prendergrass, who keeps a
house of. ill fame in-Spring-gardens, for a gross as-
sault. The comely landlady appeared a perfect pat-
tern of modesty and decorum, and the abuse show-
ered•mion her by the accused in her defence, with a
volubility peculiar to that portion of the fair sex, had
no effect in ruffling the kuidlady's well regulated wind.
A smile of contempt was all that escaped her ; and
the prisoner was ultimately doomed to three months'
imprisonment, and, afterwards to enter into recogni-
eaoces for two pars to keep the peace.