The Sun. — 1861-02-01 (London, England)

MANSION-HOUSE.—Augustus Bherrings, a respectably-dressed young man, a foreigner, described as a merchant's clerk, and who had been bailed, was charged before the Lord Mayor on Wednesday with an alleged attempt to stilt) Jonathan Magnus Marshall with a pocket-knife. Mr. Beard attended to prefer the charge. The complainant said—l am a coasting pilot, and live at 8, Russell-place, Blackwall. The defendant was formerly in my employment as clerk in a shipchandler's trade, in which I was engaged with a person named Brandt. The partnership terminated in November last. Yesterd ty, between three and four o'clock, I was passing along Little Georgestreet, Minories, and met the defendant. I asked him where Mr. Brandt was, to which he made no reply. I asked him a second time ; he spat at me ; upon which 'immediately struck him. We separated, and I went to Bretz's hotel in the same street. About a quarter of an hour afterwards, when I was sitting in a room there alone, having some brandy-and-water, the door opened, and I looked round and saw this man, the defendant approaching me with the knife produced (a pocket one) in his hand, which he was trying to conceal. Afraid he would stab me I turned round and knocked him down, and then ran out for a policeman. My thumb was severely cut—l believe by the " instrument"—and it has been since dressed by a surgeon. When he entered the room I fancied he had a pistol ; and, like a man in battle, I thought I should be shot if I ran away. I called for the landlord, and as he came I was in the act of " bolting." I have been a good deal among these foreigners, and it is a common practice for them to use the knife.  By Mr. Beard—l immediately struck him on his entering the room, when I saw the " instrument" in his hand, believing I was about to be murdered. The Lord Mayor (to the complainant)—You first struck the man in the street, under an apprehen• sion, perhaps well founded, that he was about to molest you, but there is no proof of it ; and you also struck him first on his entering the room. For anything that appears to the contrary, it may be that he did not intend to use the knife, and that the wound was given by accident. Witness, in reply to Mr. Beard, said he went very much in fear of the defendant's violence, believing that the defendant meant to kill him. The complainant occasionally gave his evidence in a flippant manner. The defendant said, in broken English, he was in a wrong position. He had intended to give the complainant into custody for assaulting him in the street, but before he could find a policeman the complainant had the cunning to give him in charge. The complainant on meeting him in the street struck him in the eye without any provocation, and on remonstrating he struck him a second time. He (the defendant) had been repeatedly threatened by him, and was not safe in the open street against his violence. The Lord Mayor told the defendant he should have to bind him over to keep the peace towards the complainant, who had sworn that he went in bodily fear of him. The defendant (a gentle-looking young man) said he had not broken the peace, and that in truth he went in apprehension of violence from the complainant. The Lord Mayor said he was obliged to act upon, the evidence of the complainant on that point, given upon oath, and ordered the defendant to enter into his own recognisances in £2O to keep the peace towards the complainant for six months.