The Sun. — 1869-04-23 (London, England)

IMPORTANT DECISION.—The Chester magistrates have just decided(elgathatetedt aon another.iTnporta ntApacerer certain function may not be delegated master pipemaker in that quaint old city is blessed with an apprentice, unruly to a degree even in these times of nnivrsal license. This lad recently absented himself from work for an entire week, and his mother, on taking him back, requested the master to thrash her son, as ho was wholly beyond her management. In the innocence of hii heart the master complied with the unique r(q-e t, inv(st:ng a penny in the pur• chase of a cane to give point t 9 his admonitions. It is not alleged that the master used unnecessary violence n inTeting the punishment. lie was, however, guilty of the offence of taking the law into his own baaois, an d this was an enormity which the law, at any rate, was not likely to overlouk. 'llka magistrates agreel that the offender deserved, we will not say chastisement, but pecuniary punishment. It was shown that he was a • kind and not a cruel Toaster, that he frequently treated his apprentice better than he deserved, and that in this instance he had simply flogged the fad at his mother's express solicitation. But the mat,ter had dared to usurp magisterial functions, and he was lined 10s, and costs for his presumption, The next time this unruly apprentice is guilty of misconduct, Ills master, if he be possessed of anything like a sense of grim humour, will take him before these fauna Chester maglatrate4, and then, in lieu of a thrashing with a penny cane, the lad will probably be sent to prison fur a week. lint then, in ON extremely probable event, the Chester magistrates them. selves will have had a hand in the pie, and this mud In' admitted to make a conakierable-difforenee.  At the Glasgow Spring Circuit Court, James Guilin, or Gillan, was charged with the murder of Police Inspector WlCinnon, of the Greenock constabulary in that town, on the Ist of January last. The prisoner was also charged with stabbing a joiner, named John Thomson, who attempted to apprehend him after stabbing the inspector. The prisoner pleaded Not Guilty to both charges, and the case went to trial. From the evidence adduced it appears that on the night in question Gillan 'went into the shop of Mr. Simpson, a confectioner in Hamilton-street, to ask for drink, and on being told that no drink was sold there, but that he would get what he wanted in a neighbour. ing public-house, he attempted to go inside the counter, and then struck Mr. Simpson a blow which broke two of his teeth. 'Thomson then interfered, and seized Gillan, till a policeman could be sent for, and in the encounter was once or twice stabbed by the prisoner. On the arrival of the constable, Galan was quietly asked to go to the office, but, instead of obeying, he struck Inspector M`Kinnon a full blow with Lis knife behind the ear, and then ran off along the street. The unfortunate inspector had only time to cry, " Catch that man ; I'm done for," when he staggered, and was carried into the nearest shop, where he died in a few minutes. Gillan was captured a short distance off by Thomson, who was again stabbed in the scuffle. Evidence washed for the defence, which bore that theprisoneron the day when the murder was committed was considerably the worse for liquor. The Lord Justice Clerk Lavin g Inimm ed up the evidence, the jury retired, and, after an absence of twenty-five minutes, brought in a divided verdict, six finding the prisoner guilty of murder, eight of culpable homicide, and one of "murder without premeditation." The prisoner was sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude. At the same time Neil. Lingstone was charged with the murder of an engineer named 31‘1Vlutrie in Greenock, on the 20th of March last. The prisoner pleaded guilty to assault and robbery, and as the circumstance of the case showed that the prisoner had no thought of murder the plea was accepted, and he was sentenced to five years' penal servitude. On the previous day, before the same judge, a man named Shaw was sentenced to twenty years' penal servitude for killing a woman during a drunken brawl in the Callowgate, Glasgow.