Star.
London, England, 1817-07-14 00:00:00

LAW INIELLIGLNCE.

COURT OF KING'.: LENCE, JULY 11.

SARAH PICKN'AN lt01;,ON.

This was an action for riecessaties supplied to the
Wife of the defendant : the whole demand was
st".!',3. Bs. for hoard, lodging, and clothes since May
1613. at the rate of one guinea per week for board
and lodging, and six guineas a year tor clothes.—
The facts stated by Mr. GUItNEY, and proved by the
witnesses on behalf of the plaintiff, were these
defendant was married to the sister of the plaintiff in
.1801, a•al they continued to live together for some
years; a serious disagreement, however, took place,
which was arranged by the interference of friends;
and Mts. Robson, though mated with great severity
by her husband, agreed to return to his hot,,e. In
WO, they lodged at a Mrs. Brown's, in Tooley-
street ; and at this time the defendant renewed las
cruelty, by beating and kicking his wife without
mercy. It appeared that on one oi.Lasion, late at
night, the mistress of the house, Mr-. Brown, was'
alarmed by the screams of Mrs. Robson, who, burst,
ing open the door of Mrs. Brown's room, leaped into
bed to her for protection ; she was followed 6y the
defendant, who dragged her nett, struck het s,:veral
times on the face while she lay upon the flout, and
taking her to the top of the stairs, flung her down
the whole flight. At another time he came into a
room where she was drinking tea with the Captain of
a ship and his wife, and kicked her out 01 it without
assigning any reason. A third infliction, more se-
vere than the preceding, took place a short time liter-
wards, when Mrs. Dobson was seen upon her knees
in a petitioning attitude, while the defendant threat-
ened with a broom-stick to break her back: she was
so much bruised as to be unable to dress herself, and
the marks were long visible. The defendant's cruelty
at length compelled her to swear the peace against
him; and she quitted his house for that of her bro.
ther, John Pickman, in October, ISO 9. In 1813,
John Pickman obtained, by a verdict and arbitration,
compensation for the expenses he had incurred in
maintaining Mrs. Robson, from October, 1809, until
that date. Since 1813, she had lived with her sister,
Sarah Pickman, who brought the present action for
ni.cessaries, supplied between 1813 and the pre-
sent time.
It appeared, on the crou.examination of the plain.
tiff's witnesses by Mr. TOPPING, that Mrs. Robson
was delivered of an intent in December, 1810, more
than a yea' atter the separation ; but she asserted that
it was the consequence of some visits her husband
bad paid her unknown to her family, who were much
exasper ,ted against him. The persons who proved
the personal violence of the defendant towards his
wife were females, who gave their evidence with
much of that eloquent zeal which the subject in-
spired ;—one of them. Mrs. Winifred Bryant, under-
went the following curious crosfrexamination
What is your husband ?—An independent man.
Is he not a blind fiddler ?—No, he is a Gentleman,
an independent Gentleman of £5O a year.
Do you mean to swear that he is not a fiddler, and
that you have not led hire. about the streets askipg
charity ?—No, not about streets.
What then be gives tt,..7quares the benefit of his
music?—Nu matter for teat, be is an independent
man—as independent as you are.
He seems to have two very musical instruments—
his fiddle and We wife ?--So much the better ; then he
has two strings. to his bow, which is what all you
Gentlemen have not got.
Is he not a fiddler I—He was a ouriciaser.
Is he not blind I—Suppose he is dark, many others
that I see are as dark as he a different way. He is
an independent man of ‘5O a year. and that is marl
than most can say.
Lord ELLENBONOUGN recommended that the mat-
ters in difference between the parties should be pri-
vately settled.
Mr. TOPPING was willing to consent to a reference,
'but Mr. GUNNRY preferred the Verdict of a Jury to
the award of an arbitrator. He observed, that the
defendant was worth 5 or 46,000, and was gaining
7 or /8800 a year; and thought he would not pay for
the maintenance of his wife, lie could afford to keep
another woman in her place.
Mr. TOPPING denied both these assertions, but the
latter was sworn to by the brother of the plaintiff. As
to the former, the property cf the defendant, several
witnesses were called; but all that they proved was,
that the defendant was a granary-keeper, renting
some ;warehouses for £l4O a year, and deriving a
profit of about £l5O per annum.
Mr TOPPING, for the defendant, contended, that his

client could not be liable in an action which-was insti•

fence, and just after the parting in 1809, he went to
indrce Mrs. Robson to return ; that she appeared
willing, but that the plaintiff and her brother had pre-
vented her by saying, that she should never f!ll back
to her husband, and that they would maintain her.
Other evidence was adduced to shew that the defen-
dant had rased no violence, but it was entirely of a
negative kind ; such as that no bruises were seen upon
Mrs. Robson, and that she made no complaints to
her friends of the cruelty of her husband.
Lord ELLENNOROUGH summed up to the Jury, di-
recting them in point of law to lnd for the defendant,
if they thought the adultery sufficiently established,
of if they were of opinion that the plaintiff had pie.
vcottd the wife from returning to her husband at the
time she was willing to have done so.

The Jury consulted, and g:ive a verdict for the
plaintiff—Damages £243 Bs. being die whole sum
required.

ROBINSON W. WALLIS.

The parties are both farmers in Kent ; the action
was for slander, and the words were, " Robinson is a
thief, he stole a sheep from me, and 1 found the skin
on his premises." It turned out on the evidence
that the plaintiff and defendant bad had disputes re
girding some cattle which had trespassed upon the
ground of the latter, which led to the abusive lan-
guage above stated.
M. SCAULETT for the defendant, argued that his
client did not mean to impute a felony to the plain-
tiff, but merely that he had taken possession ofa sheep
belonging to the defendant, which had strayed upon
the plaintiff's land.—The Jury gave the plaintiff a
verdict, and af,s damages.

Friday morning, the inhabitants of Islington were
alarmed by 'he report of the murder of one of the
watchmen doting the preceding night. The rumour
was occasioned by one of the watchmen being missed
from his beat at the usual hour of exchanging posts,
not being heard of at his lodgings in the morning,
and his coat and lanthorn being found by the side of
the. New River, shout a mile and a half from Ms
watch box. The river was dragged for several hours,
but no body could be found; but what is most sin-
gular, the body of a man was found in another part
of the river without any coat on ; hence arose the
report that the watchman had been murdered, his
hands tied behind him, and thrown into the river—
the whole of which is untrue. Tlie watchman (whose
name is Noble) returned home to his lodgings on the
same afternoon, and accounted for his absence by
saying, that be was attacked in the night by a gang
of thieves, and pursued as far as Newington.

FIRS AT Unntozou Hot/sc....The following parti-
culars respecting the fire on the Ist inst. at Uffing-
toii House, the seat of the Earl of LINDSAY, near
Stamford, are co pied from the Stanford Mercury :
" The Marchiooeu of DOWNSHInet with her daugh-
ters the Ladies HILL, had arrived on a visit to the
Countess of LllU,bgy, on Monday night ; being la.
tigued with travelling she retired early, and the whole
of the family at the Hall were in bed by halt past
twelve. At about two in the morning, the Earl being
indisposed, his Countess got up to administer medi-
dine to him ; and on passing into the next room was
alarmed by the smell of bre. She called up the
housekeeper, who descended into the kitchen, and dis-
covered that a large table standing in the middle of
the apartment was on fire, and several of the
drawers partly burnt. With much resolution she
procured water, and in a short time, with assistance,
extinguished the fire ; but on looking up she per-
ceived through a widow which commands the
kitchen from the housekeeper's room, that the latter
apartment was in a blaze ; and on entbring it, the
curtains were found to be on fire ; and a large closet,
in which a quantity of china and linen were deposi-
ted, was greatly damaged. This fire was soon sub-
dued, but the cause of it, and the extraordinary dr.
cumatance of its breaking out in two distinct apart-
ments, remains a mystery. The damage done, we
understand, does not exceed four or five hundred
pounds, principally in linen and china. Lavender
left I.llfington on Tuesday last ; but nothing is at
present discovered tending to convict the perpetrators
of a fire which there is every reason to believe has
been wilfully occasioned."

EXTRAunDINARYESPZRIUISNT—A most interesting
spectacle was witnessed at Plymouth, on Monday,
July 1. It had been some time in contemplation to
pull up a line-ot battle ship nn one of the building
slips: and the Ttotttc, of 80gans, was fixed on for the
experiment ; but, on inspecting her, she was found to
be not worth repairing, and the KENT was substituted.
Two frigates, the DIANA (now in the Dutch service)
mid the MILASIPCS, had been hauled up with facility
on the slips at Mr. Blackburn's yard, Catwater ; and
the RiutisTaNca, in Plymouth yard; but although
the machinery was in every respect must powerful,
and more than sufficient to effect the purpose, yet the
ground, newly made, in which the bollards (huge
posts) were bud, was shaken by the tremendous
strain, and during the operation it was much feared
that it would give way before the ship could be got
up. This was the only point in which it wait thout,ht
the experiment could tail in the case of the Kent; as,
to use the words of the most intelligent Officer who
superintended the fixing of the blocks, tackles, ice.
the machinery was not only sufficiently powerful to
pull her up on the slip, but to weigh and suspend
her in the air.

'fidrtrtwo treblefold blocks, for receiving ropes erten, eight,
and time inches, as purchases to be succesaively 4.pplied as the
ship raises.
Eight cables round and under her.
Bake bottom ways, .ilsed and supported with wooden chocks
and iron knees foie and aft.

Four lidhters at her stern to buoy her op.
Two additional captains on board, to bears on the purchases,
with able ef battle ships' cables rove through the block* ; besides
which, 14 capstans in front of the ship.
Anchor sunk In the ground, and large and small mooring
chains dazed to the same, for supporting the bollards or posts.
Platforms furs and Mt on each side of the ►hip.