Fair play., 1874-08-06
Goodness Of an English Court.

They get through with q breach Of
promise case in England very quick
ly. They don't hunt up soandel and
have little chickering's like We do in
similar cases in this country. The
lawyers aud judges 80 al it in cool
business way, and try 10 get through
| withou. hurting anybody's feelings.
Bat they are solemn and severe in
the performance of their whole duty,
| and apparently aim TO do justice al
waya. Miss Elizabeth Webster is u
London wool b, oker's daughter, and
q very pretty, cultivated young lady
at 81. She has no money Of her
own. 7. J. Jones Williams is q
young man Of "a, an Oxford under
2, adua;e, and has an income in his
own right Of $4,000 a year. The
Williams and Webster families be.
came acquainted through the women
and girls Of the families, and visited
each other. Once when Bessie Wei.
ster was visiting the Williams young
! Williams was home from Oxford
spending q holiday. He naturally
became acquainted with Bessie, and
as naturally fell in love with her.
lie soon visited her at her fathers
house and told bis love. She told
him it was very sudden, and asked
him if he had better not wait, say
three months, before he made up his
final feelings toward her. She also
remarked by way Of warning that
there was no money to so where her
band went. lie said that he could
not wait. She was even too good
for him, and he did not care about
money. Didn't want any. Both
families were apprized OF these pro-
ceedings-all parties were perfectly
satisfed-more, delighted; CORES
ponded and gave their consent by
letter, and Bessie Webster and I. j.
Jones Williams were formally en-
gagged to be married. With her en-
gagement ring Bessie received some
costly presents from her ati;anccd
husband. Then he wrote hcr tho
most gusbingly loving letters from
Oxford, and she kept tho letters and
enjoyed tho often reading Of them.
Alter u season Of epistolary warmth,
and high hopes and undying love, u
cold letter came from him to ker-a
cold, heartless, crushing letter, stat
ing that upon reflection he found he
had been too hasty, and that it would
DO better for them to love no more,
and mover marry. The engagement
was thus ru,hlessly broken oil, caus-
lag Bessie much heart soreness and
maiden shame. She applied to
court for relress, sent in the letters
and souvenirs OF The whole course OF
lcve and bclrOthal, and the judges
and jury calmly summed them up
The lawyers wcie moderate, and d.s-
passionate, and the girl gavo in her
evidence modestiy and prettily. All
was quiet and proper, and serene.
Even the counsel for the defendant
was meek and mild. He called no
witness, said that "his instructions
We're TO mako no impu,ation Of any
kind apon The plaintiff, CT indeed To
say a single word that couid in any
way hurt her feelings" He briefly
addressed the jury upon the incs
,ion of damages and asked them not
to make them too heavy. He did
not thiuk the case called for eXcm
pla,y damages, and suggested that
as matters and hearts bad turned out
the parties would be much happier
for the engagement having been bro
ken of. It was blessing for both
parties. That was tho case-cOol,
and calm, and deliberate and sen
siblo.
The coolest and most characteris-
tic pl oceeding Of all was the judge
and jury's disseciing of L. J. Jones
Williams fortune and his ability to
stand u shave. There was documen.
tary evidence at hand to prove up
tho fortune. The substance OF i, |
was that the defendant had lite in !
terast in El00,OU0, secured in the
public funds, bank stock, India stock !
and land, until he was twenty five,
md after that an absolute interest |
There was also found, in addition, a |
life interest Of $500 year from
land.
Lord Coler.dge. tho judge, said. .
'very solid that" The jury re-
Every solid indeed" There
was q calm, dccorous smile all round
The courtroom. That was all. The
ury found q verdict tor tho plaintiff.
fer ca, 900 damages, and the case
closed directly and comfortable. No
loubt both the plaintiff and defsn-
liant felt that great favor had been
lone to each Of them Individually.
They ought to bo at least good
friends hereafter, now that their un.
pleasant love affairs are legally dis
posed Of and forever out of their
way.