Star.
London, England, 1825-07-21 00:00:00

RICH V. THE GAS LIGHT ANDCOICE COMPANY.

The Vsce-Cluorcaccea delivered his judgment in
this cause, which has been for some time before the
Court. •It was a bill filed by Sir G. Rich, to compel
the defendants to make good certain -shares which be
had directed their Secretary and Treasurer, a Mr. Ped-
der, to purchase for him, but which Pedder had ne-
glected to do, although the plaintiff had transmitted to
him the necessary sums for that purpose. The defen-
dants Weaded, that throughout the whole of the trans-
action Pedder had acted as the confidential agent of the
plaintiff, and not as their Officer, and that therefore
they ought not to be considered responsible for his acts.
In delivering his judgment, his HONOUR said, that
the only question WAS, whether Pedder in this transac-,
tion was to be considered as having acted as the confi-
dential agent of the plaintiff or as the Company's Offi-
cer ? He had carefully read over the correspondence
and documents which had been laid before him, and it
appeared to him that Pedder had acted in the former
capacity. He should therefore dismiss the bill; but
under the peculiar circumstances of the case he should
not give costs.
The bill was accordingly dismissed without costs.

SUMMER ASSIZES.

OXFORD.
LATI:t v. BATSON.

Mr. TAUNTON stated this was an action of trespass
against the late Sheriff of Oxfordshire, but substan-
tially against Mr. Neat, who thought proper to cause
an execution to be levied on property in Blenheim
House, which property the plaintiff was in possession
of, by virtue of u previous execution. The short facts
of the cue were these. There were, as was now no-
torious, a great number of claimants on the Marlbo-
rough property. It happened that amongst others,
there was a respectable creditor of the name of Rich-
ardson, an attorney in Golden-square, London., who
obtained judgment for a sum of 30701. against the per-
sonal effects of the Duke in Jandary, 1824. A writ of
fierifacias was thereupon issued, and the Sheriff pro.
ceeded to levy the above sum on the goods of the Duke
of Marlborough. However, instead of a public sale,
two bills of sale were executed. The effects included
in the sale were principally the farming. stock, the
household furniture, the stock of wines and lastly, bet
certainly not least in point of vsilue, the Duke's singu-
lar collection of exotic plants, the rarest that were to
be found in Europe, which his Grace possessed a taste
for beyond any man living, ani in the cultivation of'
which he had himself assiduously Laboured. Part of
the goods were assigned by Mr. Richardson to the pre-
sent plaintiff for 7001. ultimately the w ines (which were
sold for 3/. a dozen), the paintings and the exotic plants
valued at 700/. The effects had been kr part removed
before the transfer, to the house of a mail named Tap-
lin, at Woodstock. After the transfer, .Mr. Latimer,
the plaintiff, was understood in the neighbourhood to
be in possession, and held the keys of the moths where
the property lay. However the virtual defendant (Mr.
Neat) imagining that the possession by Mr. Latimer
was only a collusion between him and the Duke,
thought fit to enter the premises of the Duke c.f
Mail-
bor and levy an execution on the property which
had been already appropriated under a former exec utims.
Evidence of the entry and forcible seizure at the suit of Neat,
having been given.
Mr. JERVIS addressed the Jury on behalf of the de-
fendant. His object was to shew the Jury that the pro-
ceedings of Richardson and Latimer were collusive ars'
fraudulent, and had for their end to afford an imprr -
per protection to the Duke of Marlborough front the
claims of an honest bona fide creditor.
The Jury, after having been ably charged by Mr. Baron Gas-
maw, consulted for au hour, and returned a verdict for the plaintiff.
with damages, to be subsequently estimated.
CHELMSFORD, JULY 19.

Walter Nunn was indicted for stealing, at Epping,
on the 14th April, a bay mare, the property of the
Right Hon. Frederick William. Earl of Bristol. It
appeared that the prisoner had formerly been a
labourer in the employment of the Earl of Bristol.
In the night of the 14th April, the mare in question
was stolen from a yard belonging to his Lordship's
house, near Bury St. Edmund's. Next morning the
animal was found in the prisoner's possession, at Ep-
ping, completely knocked up from fatigue, having
travelled 58 miles. The prisoner's appearance, and
the jaded state of the animal, excited the suspicion of
the hostler at Epping-place Inn, and, upon being
questioned, the prisoner gave so unsatisfactory an ac-
count of himself that he was detained. - Amongst the
circumstances of suspicion against the prisoner were,
that he gave a false name, and represented that he
had purchased the mare at the Bull Inn, at Barton
Mills, which assertion turned out to be false. No
answer being given to these facts, the Jury, under the
Learned Judge's directions, Sound the prisoner Guilty.
T. Sinonands, who had been confined since last Sum-

I PRICE SEViiii PEkCE.

mer Assizes, by ill •health, was also tried on a chargé
of stealing a horse, the property of a farmer in Norfolk
named Gunton: The case arts clearly brought home
to the prisoner; and he was found Gitiks.
• • • •
WORCESTER, JULY 19.
ilasebn or PROMISIC OF MARILIAGio
HAYWARD W. PITT, ZSCI. As soon as this case was called 01,- Mr. iodize rose
and stated; that he was most ham' to Inform Mein
that the defendant bad, on this occasion, shewn himself
a man of honour, and had consented that a verdict
should pass against him for 10004 it being also agreed
di it a matriage should be had between the partici
within a month.

The Learited BA nth; hoped that be might, without
detracting from the dignity of the station that he bad
the honour of filling, express his entire approbation of
the way in which the case bad terminated. He Cone
sidered that it did credit to both patties ; and it would
give him great pleasure, on some future Circuit, to be
informed that the union had taken place, and that the
parties were living happily together.

BIORSE-STRALING BY 1/01116N.

Fanny Dalton, aged 50, and Elizabeth Dalton, he?
daughter, aged 20, were indicted for stealing a hors*,
value 10/. the property of James Smith.
The younger prisoner was a very interesting looting girl.
James Smith said—l am a shoemaker at renburyi
and keep a pony; on the II th of June I saw my pony
safe ; that was at about six o'clock ; the pony was then
on a common; it was a dark pony, with a white spot
on the left ear ; I missed it the following morning, and
sent to Bromyard in pursuit, and I met Reuel Davis,
and proceeded to Mathetn and to Malvern, where I
found my pony; I have known the elder prisoner about
25 years; the prisoners live anywhere; they travel
about, but follow no business; they beg.
Parnell Davis maid—l live at Tburnbury, and saw the two pri-
soners the day after the hone was lost, at about four o'clock in the
morning; I had seen them travelling about before; they had with
them a dark brown pony; the daughter was riding on it.
Joseph Jones, a constable, said—l received some in-
formation from the prosecutor, and found the elder pri-
soner at Severnstoke ; I asked what she had done with
the pony? She said she had sold it to a man on. the side
of Malvern-hill, for 4/. She took me to her daughter,
ho was at Upton ; I asked the daughter where the
pony was? and she said it bad been sold to Robert
Smith, and after that the elder prisoner pointed it out
to me in an orchard ; I then took the two women and
the pony to the Unicorn Inn, at Malvern, where the pro-
secutor owned the pony.
Robert Smith said—l know the prisoners; I .aw
them on the 15th of June with the pony ; I asked them
to sell it? and the elder one said her daughter sliculd
sell it, and the daughter said the price was 41. I wanted
her to take less, but she said they would not take less
thin they gave for it, and I gave them the 44.
Examined by the Learned Juusts—l had not a very good bargain.
I would not have given mare for it,though is might have been wend
£lO. did not thiplx they stole it; they have had horses before.
The elder prisoner said nothing in her defence.
The younger one said, tin her mother kft bee for some hours,
and came back with the pony.
Mr. Justice &Leona's summed up the evidence.
Verdict—Gadfly. Judgment of death was recorded against them.
The prisoners had been tried about a year ago, for stealing a colt.

MANSLAUGHTZR.
• Martha Francis was in.iicted for feloniously killing
and slaying her husband, John Francis, on the 7th of
May, in the parish of Trowbridge. The parties, it ap-
peared, lived in the neighbourhood of Trowbridge,
about which they wet, in tbrhabit of-hawking trifling
articles for sale. On the evening of Saturday, May 7th,
they went into several public-houses in Trowbridge.
The man was observed to be intoxicated, and the woman
was heard to abuse him, chiefly on account of his fa-
miliarity with other women, in the most violent and
disgusting terms. From words the transition to tdows
was almost immediate. She knocked the %idyl mate
man down repeatedly, and when he was on the ground,
kicked him violently in the temples. She at I.qgth
went away, leaving the deceased to get home as he
could. On the following morning he was found lying
speechless in the yard of a public-hothe, and died im-
mediately after. A surgeon described the injurieaphich
the deceased had received. His kall was fractured,
and there was a great quantity of extravasated blood on
the brain. These were tha causes of deceased's death.
The prisoner, in her defence, said, that when she left
her husband, nothing had happened to him which could
have occasioned his death. She btlieved, and many
persons had told her, that her husband came by his
death in consequence of his having been suff.red to roll
about the streets all night, in a state of intoxication.
The falls he got were the cause of his death. She pro.
tested that she bad merely struck her husband with her
open hand, and threw herself on the mercy of the Court.
The Jury found her Gsilis, and she was sentenced to two
months Imprisonment.

?MS RIGHTING.
Thomas Billhugham, a shoemaker, George Savage,
a weaver, and William Slimmer, a sawyer, were in.
eicted for a riot on the 4th of Jaly inst. in the parish
of Hagley.
Mr. RTAN conducted the prosecution, which was
instituted by Daniel Rogers, Esq. one of the Magis-
trates of the Count/. It appeared that the defendants,
Billinghans and Savage proposed to fight a regular
pitched battle, on the 4th of July last, on Penmote
Common. This intention came to the knowledge of
Mr. Biggs, a Magistrate of the district, who gave them
notice, that if they persisted, he should take measures
10 prevent the breach of the peace which they contem-
islated. Notwithstanding this warning, the men re-
fused to abandon their design, but changet the scene
of notion to a marsh in the parish of Hagley. To this
place Mr. Angers repaired, and finding the combatants
snipped, a ring prepared, and a large mob of idle
spectators, he forbad the proceeding, and ordered the
people to disperse. They refused, however, and at.
tempted in a tumultuous manner to accomplish their
purpose, when Mr. Rogers observing Skinner taking
an active part in the affray, seized him. Skinner me-
sisted and succeeded in escaping; on which a load
shout of triumph proceeded from the crowd, who in-
diinsp his
disputed
charge
thatall
io
these
the
fights Jury
in-
sulted the Magistrate, and continued riotously insisting
on the right to fight till dispersed by the constables.
saiMd,rthJantstiit could no
Justice
uaiwut