Star.
London, England, 1810-05-01 00:00:00

LANCASTER LINT ASSIZES.

ASSAULT IN A CHAPEL.—CAUNCE L MONK.
Mr. SCARLET, Counsel for the Plaintiff, desceihed
the nature of this assault. It was one which was
*ggravated, not by the violence with which it was
attended, but by the place in which it was commit-
ted. Many of the trials for assaults, which had oc-
curred in the course of the Assizes, had originated in
pehlie-house quarrels, and, therefore, the Jury had
justly marked their reprehension of them, by limiting
the damages to the lowest denomination of the cur-
rent coin. In the present instance, he trusted the
Jury, though the personal injury was trifling, would
mark their disapprobation of the Defendant's con-
duct, by giving exemplary damages. The place in
which the assault in question occurred, was one sa-
cred, by its being consecrated to public divine wor-
ship ; it was a Chapel, called Douglas Chapel, in
the township of Pabolt, in the county of Lancaster ;
the plaintiff, an inhabitant of the township, had been
for upwards of 30 years in the constant habit of at-
tending Douglas Chapel, and occupying a particular
pew; on the Sunday, when the assault in question
took place, he had gone there as usual; skortly after
the defendant entered the Chapel, and came towards
the same pew ; the plaintiff civilly and courteously
opened the ddor to admit him, when the defendant
insisted on dragging him out, and, in execution of
his purpose, violently assailed him, and, in the act
of pulling him out of the pew, fractured his shins ;
the officiating clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Johnson, was
just coming up the aisle, and, of course, he inquired
into the caese of the tumult ; upon being informed,
he reprimanded the defendant, who not only justified
what he had done, but, in the coarsest language, ex-
pressed his determination to repeat it.
The first Witness called gave but an indistinct ac-
count of the transaction ; and, on his cross-examina-
tion, he said, the plaintiff had acknowledged to him,'
that the action was carried on without his consent.
Mr. Johnson, the respectable clergyman of the
Chapel, stated, that on the Sunday the assault took
place,• he was advancing up the middle aisle, when he
observed the congregation all standing up, and soon
noticed Mr. Monk in the act of forcing the Plaintiff
out of the pew ; he sent for Mr. Monk into the ves-
try, and represented to him the probable consequences
of his violent and illegal conduct; the Defendant re-
plied, that he was indemnified by 'Squire Jones, that
he would turn the Plaintiff out of the pew on every
subsequent Sunday, and kick his b—ks—e. The
Witness remonstrated with him, but the Defendant
said, that Mr: Jones would keep him harmless.
Mr. PARK maintained, • that this was an action as
frivolous as any that had been tried. He pronounced
a just panegyric upon his own tolerant principles in
matters of religion, and expressed even his veneration
for those who deviated from the faith to which he was
attached, but, in the present case, he considered that
the Minister of Douglas Chapel had not acted as the
apostle of peace, but had fomented a dispute, which,
without his interference, would never have been
brought into Court. The Learned Counsel was, in the
course of his address, extremely severe in his remarks
upon Dr. Johnson, the preacher at Douglas Chapel.
Dr. Johnson interrupted him, and expressed great
indignation at the manner in which. the Learned
Counsel had observed upon his conduct. He said,
that the sacred character he held was not to be trifled