Star.
London, England, 1822-06-24 00:00:00

not help smiling at the accident,
abutenleibad I naomi idea
of offending you ; end ityou ,
aseedingly sorry for it." This did not sa. tisfy.the young
Gentleman, and still less did it satisfy his compsaj
• s; there was an immediate shout set.up, with thnl
'words " Mill him, Markham mill him, Markham !"
one of the classical phrases of Westminster School.,
The plaintiff was a poor, weak, sickly boy, by no
means a match for Markham, nor so strong. Mark-
ham did strike with all his might—he dashed the
boy's head against one of the barges in the River.
Deei burst found he was surrounded by numbers;
that even single-handed he had no chance in con-
tact with Markham, add thought it the hest plan ton
make a prudent retreat; he rushed to the first door,
and rapped violently to get in ; he could not get
in till these Gentlemen came up agaie, for they
pursued, shouting all the while " Mill him, Mark-
ham !" Markham then proceeded to beat him again,
finding the plaintiff was not inclined to fight him.—
The plaintiff was very naturally irritated at this con-
duct, and told them it was not the conduct of Gen-
tlemen ; it was the conduct of a very different de-
scription of persons, and he should certainly com-
plain to the Master. A little frightened at that, they
departed, as the plaintiff thought for ever from him,
and as he wished. When this boy, treated in this man-
ner, was returning to the house of the person where
he had rapped in the beginning, young Markham,
not content, with what he had already done, hid
himself in a corner, at a place called Dean's-yard,
rushed out suddenlyli.pon this boy, giving him no
possible notice, and beat him until he was covered
with his blood. Deerhurst ran towards afs uiterer s
shop, and there he was so faint.that he actually fell
feebly across the door, incapable of making the
rslightest resistance. The woman of the house,
seeing him in that condition, humanely took him
in, and kept him for one hour, until the rout
which this outrage had occasioned had dispersed.
She washed the blood from him, and at last, when
she found all quiet in the streets, she sent him home.
He returned to his home disfigured, swollen, marked
—up to this day marked—though this took place in
April. He returned to his widowed mother in this
situation ; she, frightened out of her life, sent for a
surgeon, who attended him for a month. He found
him in a dangerous situation—his mind was greatly
harassed, and his constitution injured; because in
three days after the infliction of the injury, would it
be proved, and to the Jury's satisfaction most distinctly,
that when he rose in the morning from his bed, his
pillow was drenched with blood. The consequence of
the beating, as the surgeon would prove, was the rup.
ture of a blood vessel, from which, perhaps, during
his life he might never recover ; certainly, on the
slightest possible exertion, it might become fatal
to him. Up to this day, neither on the part of Ad-
miral Markham, nor the alaster, nor on the part of the
young Gentleman himself, had the slightest apology
been offered. Admiral Markham, perhaps, cared
very little about the verdict ; the damages altogether
were laid but at one hundred pounds sterling.-
-(The Learned Counsel was told they were laid at
E.so.3—He hoped they should get more than i.:.50;
but certainly they were entitled to every farthing
claimed, and a very poor compensation it was—a
poor one to his client—nothing to Admiral Markham,
a rich man, who cared but little about it, since be
would not inculcate the slightest contrition on the
part of his son. He,(Mr. Phillips) understood the de-
fendant was about eighteen years of age—at a time
of life, at all events, to know right from wrong : he
had inflicted this injury, and neither himself nor his
father had chose to atone for it. With respect to Ad-
miral Markham, be (Mr. Phillips) wished to say no-
thing : he was a very elevated character in society—
no doubt a most respectable man ; his trade was as.
saults and batteries I and, very much to the honour
of his country and his own good character, he had
exercised his profession. But his son was in a civil
occupation ; if he was to be brought up to the pro-
fession of his gallant father, theie was no objection to
his exercising his prowess on the enemies of his coun-
try ; but it was to be hoped he would not begin by
attacking his fellow-subjects.
Rickard Banbury, the errand-boy in the shop where the plain-
tiff was studying surgery, and who accompanied him to West-
, minster and saw the transaction, was then called, and proved the
assault nearly as stated by the Learned CounseL
Mrs. Dierhurst, the plaintiff's mother, described the state I.
which he came home, and his illness afterwards; and Mr. Dem.
neld, the surgeon with whom the plaintiff was foe improvement.
stated that he attended him for several days after the transaction.
Mr. TnEsslota, for the defendant, called—
Mr. 77unitas Glue, an attorney, of Cowley-strect,Westminster,
who stated that, on the lith April, between one and two o'clock,
he was walking in the neighbourhood of the College, and was
crossing from Abingdon-street to College-nreet, when he saw
three boys before him, two of them commenced a sort of running'
fight, assaulting each other; he thought they were all young gen-
tlemen of Westminster School, but he afterwards found that one
of them was the plaintiff. He observed the plaintiff strike the
other young gentleman twice; the pbantiff ran away, but re-
turned immediately afterwards, and said to the Westmin-
ster boys—" You call yourselves Gentlemen, but you are all
cursed rascals, and I will follow you, go wherever you will
witness, in consequence of bearing that language, spoke to
the plaintiff, and said, he had much better go about his business,
for if he followed them be would get no good; he would be sure
to be thrashed, and would deserve it. The plaintiff did not ap-
pear to have any bleed or media upon his face, but he seemed
much alarmed, and he remarked that they had no business to
strike him. On his cross-examination, he said he was not at the
stairs when the boat landed its cargo; be thought, in an assault
of this kind, the person retreating was as much to blame as the
assailant who was pursuing him.—" A sound opinion for an At-
torney to give !" said Mr. Prawn. He would examine him
no further. •
Mrs. Townsend, a milk-woman, deposed that, at the period
of this transaction, she beard a weak screaming noise, end ob-
served a lad ran out of the green shop passage; she sew some
drops of blood on the ground, and heard the plaintiff say—li You
are no Gentlemen; you are a set of blackguards." She let the
plaintiff into her house; he bled eery much, and she gave him
water with which to wash himself; he was desirous of going.
oat to tell the master of the defendant what had occurred ; he re-
witted in her house an hour, and was bleeding half that period.
Mr. PHILLIPS was ready to admit that his client
might have used reproachful, perhaps abusive lan-
guage; but when was this? It was after he had been
severely beaten. There was a point beyond which hit.
man nature could not endure injury and insult ; and
his client, irritated by his sufferings, and wounded in
his person, had exclaimed to his assailants that they
were not Gentlemen. Were they Gentlemen ?. He
had denominated them Westminster Gentlemen—
He retracted the phrase; they bad not deported them-
selves like Gentlemen: the defendant's case was that,
after his client had been beaten and wounded, hehad
had the audacity to turn like the woim when trodden
on ? If they believed the attorney who had given such
mood doctrine upon the subject, what he stated was
that the plaintiff was retreating; .that he ran Awv