The Sun. — 1868-06-11 (London, England)

THE EXTRAORDINARY IRISH WILL CASE.  The case of Browne and others v. Esmonde occupied the Probate Court at Dublin the whole of Tuesday and Wednesday. On the first-named day, after hearing the summing up for the defendants, Mr. Dowse, Q.C., replied on behalf of the plaintiffs. The learned counsel commenced with an avowal that it was not his wish to introduce any sectarianism into the matter, but asked the jury to consider the matter in a fair and reasonable light, without feeling or sympathy. Money in this case was not the question. Character and reputation were the question. They were asked to send forth ladies and gentlemen of unblemished character, stamped with the mark of Cain upon their brow, as foul conspirators who had concocted a will and wrung the signature to it from an unwilling and paralysed testatrix. They were asked to brand as a conspirator the Rev. Dr. Hughes, who had always borne the highest character. They were asked to enable a childless old man to reap that which he had never sown from a testatrix who had never intended him as the object of her bounty. The question ' was, whether this will had been obtained from the testatrix by the fraud of her own blood relations. The learned counsel then proceeded to point out that Mrs. Deane Morgan, the Rev. Dr. Hughes, and Mr. Meredith would gain but very little by the trial, and he said that there could not be a, doubt but that the will, with all its shortcomings, carried out the intentions of the testator much more than would have been the case by giving everything she possessed to Sir Thomas Esmonde. On the re-assembling of the court on Wednesday Mr. Dowse resumed his address, and, amongst other things, said it was charged against Mr. Meredith that he bundled up the will, put it into his pocket, took it away, and that it was never seen again until produced in court. That was not the fact. Mr. Meredith attended the funeral he read the will for all of them ; he gave them a copy; and so little did he think it would be disputed that he actually prepared the ordinary affidavit for proving the will in common form. After the learned counsel had con. eluded, the court again adjourned.  Another fire has broken out at the bobbin works belonging to Messrs. Wilson and Newman, Barnsley. The engines were powerless to stay the flames, and the damage done was considerable.  Part of the Sheaf Works, Sheffield, the property of Messrs. Mappin and Co., has fallen with a tremendous crash, shaking the entire neighbourhood, and causing much alma. Fortunately no one was hurt, the men having left off an hour or two previously. A poor fellow has been killed at Eyam, near Sheffield, by an explosion of gunpowder. He had put a charge of powder into a drill hole, and lighted the fuse, but was too late to make his escape. He died within a minute of being taken to the infirmary.  A young man named Cox, who was stabbed in Hurst-street, Birmingham, on Sunday evening, died on the following evening from the effects of the wounds he had received. The police are using every effort to get on the track of the perpetrator of this brutal and murderous outrage, but hitherto their efforts have not met with success.  The Bishop of Winchester has expressed a desire, ;hrough his archbishops, that those clergy of his diocese who have offered up prayers during his illness will on Sunday next return thanks for "mercies vouchsafed to him. His lordship is gradually recovering his health and strength and the use of his speech, and has now, by the advice of Dr. Gull, been removed to Eastbourne.  MOCKING Bißf§.—There are two specimens of this remarkable bird now in England. They are to be seen in the aviary at the Crystal Palace, near the Crystal Fountain. They are in full song, and warble the notes of the thrush, blackbird, nightingale, &c., mock the railway whistle, the sawing of wood, &c., and whistle some English songs.