Star.
London, England, 1818-07-25 00:00:00

ASSIZES.

CIIELMSFORD, JULY VS.
SEIIHIGTION.--GROVE V. HARDM
Mr. Cui'rry opened the pleadings, and stated, that
this was an action 'against the defendant for seducing
the plaintiff's daughter, per quod servitium antisit.
The defendant pleaded the general issue—Not Guilty.
Mr. Goaszv stated the case with much pathos and
eloquence, the leading circumstances of which were as
follow :—The plaintiff was a respectable farmer, now
in decayed circumstances, residing at Watley, in this
county, and the defendant had been a Captain in the
10th Foot, and had served in the late glorious cam-
paigns on the Continent. The detendant was a mid-
dle-aged man of 40, and some years since had mar-
ried a Lady of considerable fortune, with whom, it
seemed, he had lived for a short time, not in the
most perfect state of connubial felicity, for after a
cohabitation of short duration, articles of separation
were agreed upon, the Lady being provided with a
handsome separate maintenance, and the Gentlema
being left in possession of an elegant establishment
of house and domestics, the result of his fortunate
alliance. The plaintiff was the father of two daugh-
ters, but his means were so limited that he declined
almost all intercourse with his more wealthy neigh-
bours, although he had given his children a liberal
education, and so much were his circumstances re-
duced, that his children had become his domestic
servants. It appeared that the plaintiff, at the time
of the unfortunate affair in question, was unknown
to the defendant, and consequently neither had seen
the other at their houses respectively. The unfortu-
nate acquaintance which led to the seduction of the
plaintiff's daughter commenced by the casual civili-
ties arising from the Lady and the defendant fre-
quenting the same Church. In the result an inti-
macy was formed which ended in the seduction of
Miss Grove, and the birth of a child, as the fruit of
connection. It was pressed as a circumstance of ag-
gravation on the part of the defendant, that the se-
duction was effected at a time when the plaintiff's
daughter was labouring under a state of mental de-
rangement. In the statement of the ca-,e, it was ad-
mitted that before the acquaintanceship of the defen-
dant with Miss Grose, the latter had the misfortune
to experience an intercourse with another person, who
had accomplished his object by violence. Criminal
proceedings had been adopted towards that person,
but the cause of injury having been compromised by
a suitable compensation, those proceedings were
dropped. This circumsta:'ce was conceded, as a mat-
ter of which the defendant might make the most in
mitigation of damages, but the feature of the case
which pressed most strongly against the latter, was
his having taken advantage of Miss Grove at a time
when she was labouring under mental derangement.
Miss Grove, who appeared to be about thirty,
stated all the circumstances of the defendant's court-
ship, and her final ruin, which produced the birth of
a child, now living.
On her cross-examination by Mr. MARRYAT, she
admitted that her first intercourse with the defendant
was effected under very peculiar circumstances, too in-
delicate to mention. She stated that on one occasion
she received a pound note from the defendant in
church, and on another, that she received two bottles
of Cape Madeira in the same place, which she after-
wards drank in her own chamber.
Mr. MARRYAT addressed the Jury, for the defen-
dant, contending, under the circumstances of the
case, that there could be no difficulty in seducing a
Lady who had gone through the ordeal of a previ-
ous violation, which had never been punished with
the severity of the law.
The Jury, under the Learned Judge's direction,
found a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages £250.
KING V. OLDAKRE.
This was an action against the defendant for falsely
imprisoning the plaintiff.
Mr. GURNEY and Mr. CHITTY conducted the
plaintiff's case, and Mr. MARRYAT and Mr. COMYN
the defendant's.
The circumstances of the case were these :—The
plaintiff resides at Barkingside, in this county, and
having been robbed of several willow trees, he traced
•his property to a chip-hat-manufactory in White-
chapel, from which he received an account exactly
eortesponding with the plaintiff as the person who
had sold them to him. He caused the prisoner to be
apprehended for the robbery, and he was detained in
custody on the charge from nine o'clock one evening
until six o'clock the next evening, when the trades-
man from Whitechapel, being produced to identify
the supposed robber, he disclaimed any knowledge
of the plaintiff, who was immediately liberated.—
Under these circumstances the action was brought.
The case went to the Jury, under the charge of
the Learned Judge, who found a verdict for the
plaintiff—Damages £lO.
CROWN SIDE.--MALICIOUSLY SHOOTING.
Henry Wilson was indicted under Lerd Ellenbo-
rough's Act, for maliciously shooting at James Gil-
de:, on the 10th of March last, at Depden, in this
county.—The prisoner in this case was a shoemaker
by taade, but suspected of poaching and making free
with poultry. The prosecutor is a labouring man,
working with a Mr. Leverton, and he gave the fol-
lowing. account of the transaction :—That he had
just finished his work about six o'clock, and was
standing near a tree in the hedge of the field where
he had been working, when he heard the report of a
gun, and heard something come whizzing past his
head like the whizzing of a ball. He turned round
and looked towards the place the report came from,
when he saw a man just at the edge of a little cop-
pice wood, and he immediately ran into it. The
man had a light frock and light breeches, and he
thought at the time it was the prisoner, but he did
not sec him sufficiently near or distinctly to be cer-
tain of it; lie then turned to look at the tree, and he
found a small groove on the side of the•tree next
him, which had the appearance of being struck by a
ball. Ile told it to several pa-sons, and a few days
afterwards the prisoner was apprehended.
John Bowtell was next examined, as to expressions
of ill-will used by the prisoner against the prosecutor.
He stated that he came from the gaol, to which he
was committed on a charge of stealing a rabbit. He
said he had had a conversation with the prisoner
about Gilder's stopping him (the witness) on passing
through a close, and examining his basket. The
prisoner said he wished Gilder would•stop_him. He
would have his head knocked off before he would

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