Summer Assizes.
The Times, 1824-09-17T00:00:00

(Before MNr. Bamron kluLr.o!x. --13 Ali tS aE openeo the pleadinigs. This was ani action oft res. lp"broughit against the defendanis for killing the plair.tiff's dog. ledefendants pleaded "1not guilty," and uponl that plea issue was Alr. NVILLr.A's stated the case to thiejuiry. This action of tree.. pass originated, he saidt, from a war which had been recently carried oni auainst our neighbours, the dogs. That war hiad been carried on with varioussuccess at various places, but had generally termni- hiatee mnach to the disadvantage of the unfortunate dogs. Ureat as hadl been the victories achieved over them in diffThrent places by dif.. ferent civil authorities, thev were all eclipsed by those obtained by the Mfayor of Liv-erpool ana the boroughTeeve of M.Alticester; for whcrcver thjose nmaglstrates had exercised their power, not a dog. Va." left to report to the community of dogs the loss which they had suistained. TIhe satner spirit which had 'given rise to thtis system otf extermnination in other parts of the countv of' laucaster, prevailed also int the towni of Wigan and as the exciting cause of it, thouigh different in deg-ree, was the same In all places, itcamne into the liead-s ~ ir worships at WVigani to call it by a hiard Greek name. hydro- SP6ie, when, in point of fact, he could have supplied them 'withi an. otfher namne, quite as hardl. and eqiually as Greek-.he mieant, kalnop?obia. On the 10th of' Mlay last, their worships met in conclave in IVga anld after loesg and painful deliberation resolv',ea that a notice should be psublished in the town of Wigan,' Slating th-, great mischief that was likely to accrue from the number o-f dogs then at large, inforning the inhabitants that several cases of hydtrophobia had recentlyoccurred in the neighbouxrhood (hereas, in reality, not one such case had occurred), and announcing Wthat all dogsfoun wanerig atlarg in he treets after that notice, wsouldl he imedatey dstroed y prsos apoinetiforthat pttrpose. On the uesay flloing,plaardswer posed p i all part of the townof igan an in ucha cospiuousmaner,that even those who an ightrea, O theaftrnon of the Wednesday, as if to givewidrnoiceor te eterinaionthat was to enstie. the bellman wm se nt rOUTIvt the town to amnounce to all whomu it meight concern, mrsi as well as dogs, that after that day execution would be done upoua all dog% conmmitting the delinquency of being found at large ini thc ~tublic streets, Ile mus;t now inform the jury, that at.the time the bellman cast these sountls ofruin iand dismay among the dogs of Wig-an, Mr. Lord. the plaintiff in the present action, was Car. form~ing', at the quarter sessions, those duties wvhich he ~ad beeni in the habit of performing with much credit to himself ever since he ( mr. Williams) hadl had the hionour of knowing the county, and d at he did not return to his usual place of habitation 'until thie transaction had happened whichi led him to institute these proceedings. Early on the Thursday morning, being theo day im. m-ediately subsequient to that on which the bellman had proclaimed his deadly tidings, the defendant BaTncks, who was the constable of Wiigan, and whio must have attracted mnuch of their attention for the last day or two-( for he was the man who daily paraded the street-s of Lancaster in an imTmense cocked hat, ard a coat of Saxon green, richily ornamented withi a fringe of gold),-on Thursday morning, lir seid, the dlefendant B3ancks, accompanied by his comrade Rutter' dressed also, he supposed, in Saxon green, salliedi out together into the street of'Wigan, to sport, not with, but among the dogs of the place. Bancks, thej would find c-arried the shot-belt, and Rutter the gun, and a inore doughty pair of sportsmen seldom took the field for a day's amusement. They had not been long upon their search for geame, before thcv m-et withi an unlucky dlog, .which they knocked on the headl with li tIte ceeremony. " Ah !" execlaimed Ratter, in the cexultation of the momient, " this is the vagabonid whom we have seen rambling about the town all the morning - he comes unrder tdie notice of the magistrate, and we cannot save our skins better than by flay-ing his' Ilie mentioned this circumstance to them to show what active partisans the defendants were in carryinig em this war againat the dogs, even to the knife. -lec would now call their attention to the manner it, which they behaved thiem. velves to the dog, or rather the bitch, whose m-urder fonned the subject of the present trial. She was a pointer ef very excellent qualitlez. said. as a good nose was not amongK the lease of them, was niot slow in smrelling ouit the richi viands which were to be foiind at stated intervals near the ~laughter-houae of a butcher called Wlorth. ington. Inideed, en the occasional absences of lirr miaster from NVig.an, she had been accustomedI to s9tay at his house ; and, on the snort-iog in quetstiorn, she had been there from three o'clock till tist. A bout that hour M1r. WVorthington teased for a ti~ne his labours in th slaughterhouse, lHe went to the door of his ownr house, which sodin a private entry, and this ill-fated bitch went along with hint. As he opened the door, thie hitch, actuated by the cutriosity natural to her sex, wenit to the top of tlte entry,, putt her hiead forthi inito the strect, and satidown by theivindow-admniring, and to be ad. mnired. Site had not been there twonutinutes wheniagun was discltargetl. The report broughit Worthington into the street, and the first object he behield was the bitch struggling in the agonies of death. It wit thes', discovered that Ruit?r, after pushing aside the vagabond dog or whiich he hiad tried hnis maiden valour, lhad loaded his gun a seconi! tinme, andc having observed the hitch sitting quietly, at the entry of Itef passage, htad selectedI herc as the second object of liia ttndiscrim~inatiN1 vengeance. N o soonier had he pressed forward with the avowed in. tenioti of putting hier to deathi, than an individual wvho knew tier at. tempted to arrest himi in his coiurse, by saying, "Oh, do'nt shoot tlta dong it is Lord's ; let it alone, asd I will take care that it is Con elucttdhloni-e." It wasin vain,however. tlhat tliie application was madi to the great and magnanimous Air. Rotter. " I don't care ad- said lie, with all the etnergy which distinguishes the Billingsgatt school of oratory, " I don't care a d-n whiose dog it is; I must dit mny duty, and so"-O mighty bathos !-" here goes ! And go indeed, it dlid ; for the shot' entered the breast of the bitch, ant leillcdi lier alniost instantly on the spot. Ile wouild slhow them thai -this bitc'h was not only a favourite, buat also a valuable hitch. WhIet 'ie sa.id 'valuable, he dlid not mnean valuable to the plaintiff on accouni of the partiality, he felt towards it, but valuable on account of the price it was calculated to bring in the niatrket, where it was well kno-wn that such atnimals lhad their price. If this were so, then lie thiought that ii powcr were in any cztse given to a party to go to the verge ofthe law, oi evati bevond it, that poarcrought tohbeexerciscd not liastily and impetu. ously, but -with moderation andI fo-rbearance. If killing a dog, hr obedience to the directions of the magistrates, was in Point of latv causeless killing, unless the dog ivere ascertained so be mad, consi. detable discretiorn oughit to be used before that killing were carried into effiect ; and he was of opinion thiat the present case would eniable the jury to read a wholesome lrs-on to constables as to the man11nei in lvhich they carriedI into exectition the power rintrusted to them. not by the law, but by the tniagistrates, for whiat appearedl to thenm salutixry purposes. ied (id not believe there was any statute in out voluminous statute.book- which gave to constables. the powver of shoot. inz dogs and certainly-, oti lo6king into " Dalton's Juistice," he could not find that it was any part of thieir duty to do execution uipor those useful animals. At any rare, no justification had been put upon the record, and thierefore his client would undoubtedly be entitled tp their verdict. He woutld now say a few wordgsas to the amount of the damlages. Pis; client (Mr. Lord) was the last man in tite world te fl y int the face of the constitu ted tiathtorities oftlie country. If hie had been at homne, he would have certainly obeyed themn and'kept up hit dog; but ashe was not, it was only right to expect that towards hilrt at least the notice which had b;en g-iven should be put in force wift some dliscretion. He had no hesitation in saying that iii the present ca.e the two defendants had discarded any thing like nioderation and forbearance, and had bean guilty of a most zboosinable outrage, in -hooting the dog, after a friend of the p laintiff had offered to take it zafe home. They would therefore consides not merely the loss whicht -the plaintiff had sustained in having a dog shot which was wortlt 41. or 51. at least, hut also the inconvenience which he might suffe, fromn being deprived of a dog, with whose habits he was acquainted. darinir the pre,sent sportin,g season. As manyof them would be able to estimate that inconvenience better than he could, he should leave -thg, case in their hands, andI call sulch witnesses as were necessary u <"lstantiate it. The learned counsel then to called the followinE >ifnesses- Thomas Worthington, examined by Air. STARKasx-.I am a but. cher at lilgan.I lknow the plaiatifti.He had apoiniter bitch some ti,rie ago whiich occasionally used to come to mly slrughiter-house. It -was there on Thursday mornineg the 13th of AMay. I saw her as -early as three o'clock in the morniing. I went Lo thedausghter-houee and dressed sonic cows : whUlst I was so engagedl the bitch lay at the dolor. About six o'clock in the Teorning I went to miy house ; the bitch followed me. She went to the end of the entry, and turned into the street about a yard. I had gone into the house. I heard the discharge of a gun in about two minutes afterwards. I went out, and found the bitch shot in- the breast, andi in the agonies of de-ath. I had known the bitch for a year or two ; she was a very handsome piter, but I never gaw her after game. I have aeen her runsuagingIthe field. I do not know her value. C,ross-examined by Air. SCAItLSTT....The dog hadl not been in roy house during the nighit. I do not know where it hiad been :it was quiite loose wh4en it entered my premises I found hier comin' into, the enitry a., 3.o'clock in the moring r odshouse is4 roads, or better, from mnine. I recollect the dog of Lowe, the tailor, in Ilaligtete-street, which was shot for being mad. That dog was shlot in Iilarch. Lord's doy was shot in May lest. Hallgate.street is the first street below ouirstreet. I have known no mnad dogs to be in Wiga n. I have noi lieard that any were there. I know whlere 'Wlnstanley-ball is. I do not knowv that the under-gamekeeper there was ordered by his master to shloot a m-ad dog. You are not afraid of a mad dog.-.are yots ?-I never saw one. Should you like to see onec?-.Uevmtafnly not. Mr. Baron HULLOcK-Tf a man thinks righit to go about shocot.. lagg awl dogs, he must take the consequence of shooting.elo& that are not maefJ Mlr. SCAnLETT'.-CertrLinly, my L-ord; I cdo not mneante ~'say thnat he mlist nht; hut I cannot help 8ayinjg that, under allthe circumn. stances, this is a most extraordinary action. lIly. Baron B s7Ir4OCse.-And I uannot help saying thee, under alIt he cdreumistances as they now appear, tha chooting of this dog 'was a most extraordinary act. lIly. SrARLseTT.-It wias done with the best intentions towards the publlic.. ltlr. Baron IIuLLOCSt-....Int.my be so; bi;t a notfon that so'm e dogs are mad is not to authorize a mnin to kill every valtiable dog vwhich he may find at large in the streets. Al i-SCAItLETT-1.. have only tq etdd, ~hai the magistrateruwsere. actinpg with .the gener4l r;eelin "of the public, not only in this coOhlt7cbu nil pax ofvtheie itmgdm, -in iess4ng theseo '.daxs. . have no other defence to make to- this action, than that tie defen- dants did not act wantotly in putting these dogs to death. - Zachariah Bate deposed, that on the day in question, he saw the two defendants, Bancks and Rutter, walking te4ether in the streets of WVigan. He saw Rutter shoot the plaintiff's dog: Bancks had the shot-belt, and Rutter the gun. Wiineas went about with them. Rut. ter shot a dog before he killed tbatof the plaintiff. On shobting tlat dog, witness heard Rutter say Id Baneks, " This is ilie vagabond of a dog that we have seen watidering about all the morning." Wit- ness recollected going with the defendants to Worthington's entry. He saw Lord's pointcr there: she was sitting down quietly by the wall about half a yard from the entry. Rutter went up to it, and shot it. Banieks was with him at the time, ad was cmployed in keeing off the idle boys. uross-exanined.-I have heard of a tailor of the narne of Lowe, who lives in Hallgatecstreet. I know lnothing either of him or his dog. I do not know that I ever saw it. I have heard people say that his dog went mad. At the tinc the plaintiff's dog was shot, there was no alarm in Wigan about mad dogs as I eard of. I haye heard of mad dogs in my life. I was it i'Vigan during the gUater part of Mllay laat. I did not hear much about mad dogs. I never heard there was such a thing in that neighbourhood. I heard that there was one mad dog in A-arch last; but I never heard that there was any in April or Mlay. John Hsll.-I was present when the plaintiff's dog was shot. I told Rutter that it wvas Lord's bitch, and that If lie would not shoot it, I would take it horme. HIe said, " I do not care a dl-n whose dog it is-here goes." He then fired at the dog: afterwards, he said, " I must do my duty." Cross.examined..r had not seen the bitch for a day or two, be- fore the day on wvhich she was shot: her master was at Kirk- dale Sessions. I do not know wlhere the dog had been running that nighit. There lvas a dog'shot just before theplalntiff"s dog, andone immediately afterwards. Most persons in Wigan kept their dogs confiRed in conseqlellce of the bellman's warning. He said, that if the dogs were not kept up, they would be destroyed, by order o' t.he Magistrates, because mad dogs were going about. I never see'd one, and I cannot say that I should miiuch like tosee one. Christopher hartley.-I knew the plaintiff's pointer birch that Was ahot. I have seen her hunt. I have been with her in the field, and seen people fire over her. I considered her to be very stanch5 and under excellent command. 1 saw her in the field last September. In my opinion she was a very good pointer. Alr. Lord used to shoot with oer himself. I thouclht her to be wvortli from four guineas to five pounds. I think she would have brought that price in the market. Cross.examinied.-Slbe was not at all lame, nor old, I have known her for two years, not more; I live at West Horton, five or six miles from kVigan. WVe have had no mad dogs it' that neighbotrhood to my' knowledge. Re-examined.-Nothinz ailed her in the September when I shot with her. Slic was then quite fresh in action. Mr. SCARLETTT addressed the jury for the defendant. He told theem, that if onie of their children were to be pursued by a dog which they hadl reason to suppose mad, a magistrate, who put an end to their anxious fears by shooting that dog, vrould, in point of law, be liable to an action if he could not prove it to be mad. But, though this tvas the law of the case, what would they think of a man who brought such an action ? His learned friend had told them, that at the tirne when the plaintiff's dog was shot, a great alarm prevailed about mad dogs in the neighbourhood of W1"igan; that placards had been posted in the streets, requesting the inhabitants to keep their dogs tied up; and that even the bellman hail been sent about the town to give notice that all dogs tbund at large in the street would be itistantly put to dceath, by order of the magistrates. He did not mean to say that the magistrates had any authority for issuing such an order, elther by the common or statute law of the land * but he would say this.that if magistrates, cither itl their individual or in their magisterial capacity, refused either to issue or carry into effect such an order, they weuld be unworthy of the high sittuation5s they filled, and even of the common name of men. Though such was the language he held to them, he was still bound to admit that to this action'hc had no defence in point of law. He would, however, call their attention to the circumstances uiider which this dog hadi been killed. Her masterliad been for some days at Kirkdale,and d(uring that time the dog must have bseen going at large, as the butcher found her about his prenmises when he got up at 3 o'clock in the morning. If any mad dogs were in the neighbourhood-and it was in evidence that t ere had been some there but a short time previously-was it not likely that under such circumstances she would have met witlh them ? and if it was, ought not the plaintiff, not merely for his own security, but also for that of the public, to have been glad that she was put to death ? He again repeated, that he liaed no defence to this action; but he trusted that they would not encourage sinilar ac- tions by giving the plaintiff any thing like serious damages: for let them consider, if they did, what would be the conse- quences of their vertdict ? Whv, that in future, when there was an alarm of mad dogs, nobody would venture to destroy them, or to take precautionary measures to prevent the extension of their madness. de trusted that he had a proper regard for his dogs, but he would rather have them all put to dcath than run the risk of having one man bit by them; and he thoughlt that when the magis. trates of a district concurred in recommending such measures as had beem recommended by the magistrates at WVigan, every man ought cheerfully to acquiesce in them for the benefit of the community. Hlis learned friend could not pretend to say that this dog had been wan- tonly put to death; indeed, of all the dogs on which execution had been done, as his leartied friend had termed it in his sport, this dog appeared to have deserved it most of all. Iis learned friend had treated this subject as one on which it was proper to be very face. tious, but he thought that it was quite the reverse. Wa'as it not trime that there had been mad dogs in the neighbourhlood ? NVhy, at Li- verpool no lesi than 7,000 dogs had been destroyed, and yet not one action lhad been brought for any one of them. If they should cn- courage this species of action by thicir verdict of that day, there wvouhl be a plentiful crop of them the next assizes, as there would also be wretches rnean enough to bring them into court. As far as his own private interest was concerned, he ought not perhaps to de- precate it; but as a good citizen, he could not wish to sce measures of precaution rendered impossible in a case where the danger was so great, when a man was once bitten, that so one had ever bee?n kiowon to recover_no, not even by the application of the famous Ormskirk medicine. He susab'ittefi that it was for the general interests of the public that dogs found at large under EucI circumstances as existed at lVigan in Alay last, shlould be put to deatk: and he trusted that they would show themselves of a similar opinion by giving a more nominal verdict for the value of the dog. Indeed, he would tell them what appeared to him to be the true measure of the value of the dog; and he would advise them to put this question to Idr. Lord. ifhe ventured to ask for large damages_-" Your bitch has been for three days at large, whilst mad dogs have been in our strects; what will You *sell her for 5" He (Ddr. Scarlett) mighlL perhaps be allowed to ask the jury what they.would give for her under such circumstances ? ItVould they give 1s. ? He was certain that they woould not. Indeed, lie much doubted whether any body would buy her at any price. If that were so, then the smallest dc- nomination of coin in the English language would be a sufficient compensation for the plaintiff for the loss he Ilad sustained ; ard more than that coin he trusted the jury would tinot give him. :r. Bzron HUILLOC} told the Jury that in this case the plaintiff was entitled to a verdict. Thc mmagistrates might be influencecl amdlihe had no doubt were influenced-bv very proper motives in issuing the orders which they had done mn this instance ; bitt it was hit duty to tell them that thev had no right vwhatever in law to issue them, or to give directions for their being carried into eftect. T,ey would see that a prOClamation like th:tt of the magistrates at igan ought at any rate lobe carried illto execution with' discretion; and in order toshow how far that discretion had been used, they iwould mark the points which had been proved totheni in evidence.They would recollect that the detendants,before they xhot this bitci, hadl been told bv one of the witnesses not to -hoot her, as he would take her home. The objectof the proclam.ation was to hiave dogs taken home andI tied up; alld here it was proved, that anl offcr was madeto take the bitch homet and that she was, notwithstanding, shiot. They would recollect, too, that she had been valued at a price between four and five pounds- anti they .vould give the whole of that sum, or more, or less, accord. ing as they thought good. The Jury imimediately returned a verdict for the plainLift_ODa. mave,- Dnef-thin .TA-IMER ASSIZES, LANCASTER Tiir7 v. R7o-. i.i x, '(.ORD V. BANCXS AND ANOTHEn.