The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-10-27 00:00:00

LONDON POLICE REPO!'!'.
lIATTOIC!G4R DEN —FR tnAY.

FORLIGN owynblis -CASE (J 1 BIGAMY.

Robert de Bruce, a sor4i,cint Swedish nobleman, was put to
the bar for final examination, charged with intermarrying with
,Miss Henrietta Barber, whoie father resides at Sherborne-
Cottage, New North-road, Islington, his first wife, Jane Rosalind,
daughter-of Mr. Donovan, a Wine and Spirit merchant, and
proprietor of the commercial and family hotel and poiting-
house, the_Castle, in Dartmouth, being still living. _
The 'case has Occallimid a great di talk throughout the me-
tropolis, from the singular decision of the magistrate, Mr.laing,,
when it was tirst brought before him.
About a fortnight ago the prisoner was brought to this office,
charged with threatening the lives of Mr. Barber and his-daugh-
ter. It then appeared, that a few days previously the defend-
ant had married. Miss Barber by license,-at St. Clement Danes
church, but she had been taken froin his protection hy her father,
who had learned that he had another wile living# '1 he accused,
on being asked by Mr. 'Laing wlfat he had to say to the charge
of using violent threats to Mr. Barber, said it was through being
debarred from intercourse with his wife, and in'answer to that
excuse the complainant brought forward a charge bf bigamy
against him. - The Prisoner repelled 'the latter complaint, and
having produced several documents and submitted them to the
bench,,Mr. Laing declared that lie was legally divorced from
his' first Wife by the Consistary Court of Sweden, and therefore
he should:not entertain a piosecution for bigamy. The magis-
trate, after giving that decision, told the defendant he must not
annoy Mr. Barber, and if he wished to obtain possession of his
wife, the only course he could legally pursue was by proceedings
in the Ecclesiastical Court:• He promised to take the advice of
Mr. Laing, and was discharged, Mr. Barber protesting against
the determination of the magistrate, and offering to ;how that
the divorce was ndt valid. Mr. Laing, however; would not lis-
ten to any argument; declaring that, in his opinion, the divorce
was legal, and consequently that the accused had not committed
an offence by. marrying Miss Barber. -In the evening of the
same day the prisoner proceeded to Torrington-park, Hornsey,
where his wife had been placed for safety with her sister, and
committed an assault upon Mr. Barber, who gave him into cus-
tody, and he was again brought before Mr. Laing, by whom he
was ordered to find bail. The defendant was not able to procure
the required sureties,. and during his incarceration a gentleman
from Doctors' Commons attended with Mr. Donovan-and other
gentlemen before Mr. Laing privately, cud produced cases to
show that a marriage contracted with au .English subject, in
England, could not be dissolved in a foreign country. Mr.
Laing, upon perusing these decisions, consented to commit the
prisoner to the Old Bailey on the charge of bigamy, when the
question would, be finally settled by the Judges, and yesterday
he underwent Ifirriinal examination on that suit.

Mr. Flower, orthe firm of Alderman flamer and Co., at-
tended for the pragecutiou, and the office was excessively
crowded.

....
The marriage of the prisoner to Miss Donovan was proved
by Mr. Willis, an accountant, at Dartmouth. It took place on
the 19th of March, 1820. The defendant became acquainted
with her by calling at her father's house (an hotel in Dartmouth,
as before stated) to see a Portuguese general who had just ar-
rived from Brazil... Miss Donovan, being a very accomplished
young ladyl understanding the French and several other lan-
guages, was called upon to interpret the necessaries required
by the' general and the defendant, neither of thorn being able to
speak a word of English, to a servant of the establishment.
An intimacy thus sprung up between Miss Donovan and the
prisoner, which. finally led to their marriage: After this MK.
Donovan fitted the prisoner and his wife out for Brazil, at a con-
siderable expense, and afterwards purchased an estate for them
in Sweden for £1,300 which at the end of two years and a half
he found going so raptaly into decay, that he was necessitated to
sell it again, and take the defendant and his wife.under his care.
Mr. Donovan, who attended the disposal of the property in
Sweden, afterwards on his arrival in England furnished the
prisoner with the means of obtaining a livelihood; but, not-
withstanding this. be (Mr. Donavan) in 1631 was Obliged to
open his doors to. Mrs. De Bruce and her three children, who
from that time heard no tidings of the husband, until be cited
her by process from the Swedish Ecclesiastical Court at Stock-
holm, for a restitution of conjugal rights. She did not answer
to the citation, he having neglected to provide her with the
means so to do, and a divorce as prayed by the prisoner was
granted.
The marriage of Miss Barber was proved to have been so-
lemnized with the prisoner on the 17th of lust month at St.
Clement Danes. lie formed an intimacy with her at a lady's
house in Islington, where each of them had met as teachers of
different languages-to members of the-family.
The prisoner again produced his Swedish divorce.
Mr. Laing.—Produce that at your trial. As I still have my
doubts upon your case, I am ready to take bail for your appear-
ance.

The prisoner shook his head.
Mt. Laing.—Then you ire now commited to Newgate.

AMERICAN SCRAPS.

•
LooK OUT Fon Al's !—lt is very much to be regretted (says
the, editor of the N. Y. Adrertiser) that individuals don't have
theii t;atil4-graies properly fastened. We cannotimagine what
the plague they can be thinking of. While strolling through
one of the most public streets last evening, vvic ourselves
were very unceremoniously prostrated upon all fours; and had
it not been for our bodily dimensions, for which we are greatly
indebted to nature, in all 'probability we should have fallen a
victim to the carelessness of a domestic, or some other forgelf,4l
urchin.

N.B.—This is only one grate among many which we have
lately found misplaced. We hope this notice will produce the
desired effect.
HONOUR man PEAjACKETS.—A gentleman just arrived from
Rio informs us that during the short. time the Peacock frigate has
been lying there, no less than three duels have been fought
between the midshipmen attached to her. One of the lads was
shot through the tunes and killed outright., and another had-his
leg fractured. All this among friends! One of these murder-
ous " affairs of honour" had its origin in a pea jacket. One
said, gooiluattiredly,'" Toro, that's /ay pea jacket you have un "
The: other, with equal good nature. replied. ". You lie! it is my
pea jacket;" and, then, tor the honour of gentlemen,' they must
fight. and, in consequence, one of them is now dressed in a
winding sheet instead of a pea jacket.—Journal of Commerce. •
[These AmeriCan middies are elsewhere said to be " three
parts gunpowder and one.part fuzee, with a stiff touch of sand-
paper and Weiler, and withal tarnation cute."] 7 • -
No GENTLEMAN.—" You musn't smoke here, sir," said the
captain of a worth River steamer to a chap who was savagely
smoking among the ladies on the quarter-deck. " I musn't,
eh ! why not ?" opening his capacious chops, and allowing the
thick yelloW smoke to roll lazily out of that carnivorous cavern.
"Didn't you see the sign Gentlemen are requested not ito
smoke abaft the engiue.' "_" Bless your soul, that don't mean
me ! Pm no gentleman—not a bit of it. You can't make a
gentleman:of me; no, how can you fix it, try it which way you
will!" ''So. saaing, he sucked away, and "took the responsi-
bility," at leitsf so says the Lowell Times; but what the respon-
sibility was, whethe; a bucket of water a la shower-bath, or
extinguishment perYoal-scuttle, the Lowell Times does not say.
CosihosisG.—Five of the journeymen of this office (says the
Natchez Courier) formed themselves into'a Mississippi topogra-
;phical society for the purpose of resolving that ive shehld turn
away a young man who was learning the business with us, and
on Saturday night, as we insisted on keeping him in, th
turned out. On Monday morning 'WE also, in like manner, re-
solved ourself into a Mississippi anti-dictation society; and;
summoning those five to our presence, we paid them up and
dismissed them, lest they should next take it into their heads to
dismiss u
HANDSOME LIGHTNING.—A letter, dated Pittsfield, Massa-
chusetts, 17th Sept.,. says, "Last evening a very handsome
streak of lightning came stick down the conducting rod into our
lecture-room, where there were assembled about three hundred
persons. Some were stunn'd; some were stagger'd ; some were
struck staring; some were all but struck blind; some were
scorch'd; and some were topsy-turvy'd ; one had his sleeve slit
from shoulder to hand; one had his head and face singed bald;
and one had the sole of his boot haudaoniety cut oft?
A DIFFICULTY !—A difficulty occurred in our town (says the
Columbus Euirer of the 21st ultimo) on Tuesday last between
Mr.:James Johnson and Mr. John M. Bottom, iu Which -the
former was shot through the heart, and died in a few moments
as a matter of course, whereupon Mr. Bottom surrendered him-
self to the sheriff, and was recognised in 10,000 dollars for trial.
--(Brother Jonathan delights in Out-going John Bull by im-
proving and extending the vocabulary of the old country; but
why he should give the name of " a difficulty" to a duel we can-
not imagine, especially to such a duel as this, about which there
appears to have been no difficulty whatever. Mr. John M.
Bottom seems to have bad no.difficulty in shooting Mr. J. John-
son; Mr. J. Johnson died without difficulty; the sheriff gets
hold of Mr. John M. Bottom without difficulty, and Mr. John
M. Bottom has no difficulty in finding bail; so that to us, in-
stead of a difficulty. it seems to have been as smooth-going and
Comfortable "affair of honour" as any two gentlemen could
reasonably wisli for.]
POSTOFFICE
.PUNCTUALITY.—Quite a sensation appears to
have been created, in Mobile on the 2d instant by a very extra-
ordinary circumstance. The .mail actually arrived at the
appointed time!
LUNATIC LAWIERS.—The New Orleans Bee announces that
the Attorney-General and the judge of the Criminal Court are.
simultaneously going to procure writs de lunatic() inquirendo
against each other.
PUBLIC JUSTICE.—Tbe Danville Observer says, "Brady was
_hanged in .Milton (N. C.) last Wednesday, not until he was
dead, but until lie ' grew black in the face,' and then he was
remitted to iapl,"---4.What offence this man-had committed we
-are not told; but the Danville paper tells us that be was cut.
down from the gallows before he was quite dead, because the
judges had just then discovered that " the law had made no pro-
vision for his case!" and thereupon the same paper very coolly
proceeds to invoke Judge Lynch to give the wretch a coup de
grace.
" Walsh asks," says tho Cincinnati Reporter, " arc we under
a government of laws, or are we not ? Certainly we are— com-
_men law—uncommon law—statute law, and Lynch law. What
would the man have ?"