Case Of Mr. O'callaghan.
The Times, 1824-07-03T00:00:00

AMr. Allen, the Magistrate,having seen in dhe newspapers of' Saturday last an account of a case under the head of" Mansion.. house," in which the Lord Mlayor was represented as having made some observations which Mr. Allen thought demanded an explana- tioni, he addressed a letter to his Lordship, requesting to know whe. ther the objectionable words had been used. He ([Ir. Allen) coni. ceived that the wor(ds attributed to his Lordship, and which related to the sentence upon MAr. O'Callaghan, directly affected his own cha- racter in common with those of the Surrey magistrates who presided at the trial at the Session .house at Newington. The Lord Mayor replied, that any words statinr that he titew the slightest im utation upon the magistrates were incorrect; that the case which he had been hearing wsq one of an aggravated assault upon a femnale, aRd drew from him a cCOmparisorx between the punishment which Air. O'Callaghan was studergoing for hav- ing shown a desire to protect ladies, and the indilgence with which the fellow before him (the Lord Alavor) was treat-d bv a female, whom the defendant had sO gross;y assaulted. His Iordship added, that there was at the time the case alluded to was going forward, a good deal of bustle and confusion in the justice-room-r circum- stance which might account for some inaccuracy. This statement fully satisfied Dlr. Allen, who afterwards waited upon the Lord Alayor, and stated to his Lordship what had been given in evidence upon the trial of Mr. O'Callaghan. accord- ing to the notes of Lord Eastnor, which notee had been submitted to the Secretary of State, and hial sletenmined that get, leman not to interfere for the remission of the sentence. The following is Mlr. Allen's own abstract of the case:- Mr. Saurin, and a young man of singulaTly good mannerc, whose name did not immediatelv occur to him, were returning to town from Deptford on the 29th of April last, from the dis- covery ships at Greenwich, on horseback. Upon the Deptford-road, a chariot wihll post-korses passed them. Mrs. Boyle, Mrs. Thel- wall, her daughter, and another lady, were in the chariot. 31r. Boyle and Mr. O'Callaghan were in the back seat. In the course of going the same road, the oentlemen on horseback passed or were p=qed by the arriage two or three times. Mfrs. Thewall, Mlrs. Boyle, and 5tr. Boyle, severally swore that AIr. Saurin and his companion looked inpertinently at them; but not one of them said that either of the young men smiled, spoke, or made any gesture whatever to. wards them. Al r. Saurin and his companion were passing or passed by the carriage a second or third time (Mlr. Allen did not exactly re- collect which), vwhen Mr. O'Callaghan called out to Mlr. Saurin, that he was a scoundrel, or words to that effect, and desired Ml r. Sauriti to come to hira. Mlr. Saurin and his friend, however, as they stated, not wishing to hold any intercourse with a per- gon of such extraordinary appearance and manner as A,r. O'Cal- laghan, did what all other men of sense would have done under simi- lar circumstances, rode away. It however unortutiately happened, that wnile they were paying the toll, the carriage eame up,and with- out tbe least delay or remonstrance, AMr. O'Callaghan leaped from behind, caught hold of the bridle of Alr. Saurin's horse, snatched a stick from, his hand, and began to beat him violently, using at the samne time the most opprobrious language towards him, and demand- ing his card. Mir. Saurin not wishing to be known as a clergyman, as he was (although accidentally) embroiled in a qaarrel, tore the word Reverend from his card, whicih he immediately handed to his assailant. IMfr. Thelwall, who was in another carriage, had by this time joined Mlr. O'Callaghan. lie innmediately remarked, that lUr. Saurin had not given the proper address, and advised 51r. O'Callaghan to insist upon haying it. Mr. SaurHn then took out his peDcil, and wrote his address accuirately. On the folowing day, Mr. O'CallUghan was brought to Union-hall office, wbere lie behaved with much violence, and was held to bail. On the cross- examination which took place, Mr. Saurin witb some reluctance ad- mi:ted that if his friends had thought it incumbent upon him to meet IMr. O'Callaghan, lie should not have thought proper to shelter himself under his black coaL This admission was stated in the de- fence to be an admission upon the part of Mir. Saurin, a clergyman, that he was ready to shed the blood of his fellow-creatures and it was also stated in the defence, that it wonld be proved that he lhad been guiltv of the grossest perjury. So far, however, from this being the case, no attempt whatever 'as made to prove the charge, and nio person could have shown more forbearance or proprietv than Mir. Saurin manifested through the whole trial. One material fact geemed to have been to. tally forgotten, andl it was a fact in direct opposition to that which imputed to him a sanguinary disposition. Wjhen the jury recom- mended Mir. O'CaUlaghan to a merciful consideration of the Court, .M'r. Saurin added his recommendation. The curiosity of men might very emsilv be attracted to the inside passengers Eof a carriage, on the outside of which sata person of so extraordinary a figure as Mr. O'Callaghan, whose face was covered With hair. Dlrs. Thelwall's appearance was also attractive, but for very different reasons, as it was aistinguished for elegance and grace, anid formed a striking contrast to that of the gentlemen. There was no evidence to prove thar Mr. O'Callaghan was in the Spanish service,and lie was mnost certainly not in the English service. The recommendation of the jury was most certainly attended to by the Bencli, who were nor to be responsible for the prison regulations, which were made under an act. undoubt- edly a severe one as far as it related to convictions, and one which required a speedy alteration in that respect. Mr. Allen expressed a wish that this statement should be made to the public, in order to remove the effect of the censure (which he considered to be most- unjust) passed upon the Surrey magistrates upon the trial and sentence of Air. O'Ca laghan. *"* We have published this extraordiaary statement in compli. ance with the wish of Mr. Allen; but we think it would have been better for MIr. Allen to have published the whole correspon- lerace between himself and the Lord Ilayor, instead of' an abstract of it; and that it would have been wise in hiim to onit altogether his second edition of the report of the trial. CASE OF MDP. O'CALTAGHAIM