The Daily Times. — 1860-08-08 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

REPORTER " SOLD."  We read in the _Birmingham Post :—A practical joke of a character quite amusing, and somewhat excusable, has just been perpetrated at the expense of a local paper. During the assizes at Warwick last week, the representative of the paper in question, as it is his habit so to do, annoyed the other reporters considerably by the way in which he was perpetually poking his head over their shoulders to ascertain what they were writing, and how they were treating certain cases. Hints as to the impropriety of this proving utterly useless, one of them determined to " hoist him with his own petard." Assuming a very mysterious air, and turning his back upon his inquisitive friend, as if he were engaged on something important, and which he would not for the world any one in court should see, he began to indite an absurd account of a still more absurdly improbable adventure which had happened on the previous evening to one of the judges. The bait " took:" In a minute or two our contemporary's reporter was at his old game, busily taking an over-the-shoulder short-hand note of what his imaginative friend was writing. Of course the latter affected to be utterly unconscious that his valtiable contribution to history was thought worthy of appropriation in this way, and the narrative was begun and finished with an ease most satisfactory to both. Next morning the charming little notaelette occupied a prominent position in the " posters" and the pages of our contemporary. We give it the benefit of a wider publicity. The paragraph, headed " A Judge's Ramble," was as follows  " The tedium at Warwick Assizes has been relieved by an amusing incident which happened to Mt. Justice Williams. His lordship, who delights in solitary tambles, mounted his horse at the close Of business on Wednesday, and rode in the direction of Guy's Cliff; but being minded to explore the charming lanes in that neighbourhood, he turned down a bye-path, and night coming on, he found that he had lost his way. Riding on at a venture, he came at last to a pretty little cottage, in the window of which a light was burning. A knock at the door was quickly answered by the tenant, a thin haggard old woman, who, rushlight in hand, gruffly demanded what her visitor wanted. The judge courteously explained that he bad conic from Warwick, and having lost the road, wished to be directed ho* to get back into it. The old woman, not satisfied with the explanation, insisted on knowing who he wasp and in compliance with her demand his lordship told het that he was Justice Williams, on hearing which the woman began loudly to express her gratitude to him for haring saved her son' ten years ago. The son, it appeared, bad been tried for sheep-stealing, and acquitted. The judge told the woman that her thanks were due not to him bat to the jury; but the poor old creature, seemingly incapable of understanding the difference, continued to overwhelm his lordship with thanks, and creeping towards him, seized upon one of his legs, which she hugged in a frantic manner. This was too much for the judge's gravity, and indulging in a hearty laugh, he extricated himself from the old lady's grip, and rode off in the direction she had pointed out, ultimately gritting safe back to his loagings at Warwick, where he excited much merriment by narrating the adventure." On Saturday "the tedium of the assizes was relieved," indeed, by the "amusing incident." Somehow or other the mode in which the hoax originated became known, and great was the fun in court and homeward tr a.  Why does a railway clerk cut a hole in your return ticket ? To let you pass through.  After an existence of nearly sixty years, Bent's ,Tfonthly Literary Advertiser has recently expired of inanition. For many years Bent had found itself unable to compete with a younger and more vigorous rival, the Publisher's Circular, which was issued at shorter intervals, an inestimable advantage in a railway age like this.  A man named John McNulty, charged with having been concerned in two atrocious murders in Canada, was taken from the House of Correction in Worcester on Saturday, by a Canadian officer, and taken to Montreal. McNulty and two accomplices murdered a mother and her daughter near Montreal, last April, because they would not yield themselves to the desires of the murderers, all of whom are now in custody.