Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1861-05-24 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

THE REV. MR HATCH AND HIS SOLICITORS. —The ease, Hatch v. Lewis and Lewis, which was opened in the Court of Exchequer has been brought to a clese. This was an action brought by the Nev. Mr Reich against Messrs Lewis and Lewis, attorneys, for negligence in the discharge of their duties in defending him on his 'trial at the Central Criminal Court, or an indictment charging him with indecent assaults on two young girls, and on which he was convicted. The charges against the defendants were that, in the first instance' they had appeared at the police court on behalf of Mr Hatch without first preparing themselves for the proper conduct of the case, and had allowed Mr Hatch to be committed for trial without intimating to the Magistrates, as they should have done, that they had had no opportunity of seeing his witnesses and learning what they were prepared to prove. After the commitment, Mr Lewis never saw him till the night before the trial, and he then took Mr Hatch a copy of the depositions, and asked him to make his memoranda in the margin. He also said that the jury would not believe two such children, and he did not intend to call any wltnessea. On the day of the trial, Mrs Hatch attended with her witnesses. Mr Lewis refused to have them called, although frequently urged to do so, and the result was Mr Hatch was convicted. A number of witnesses were called for the plaintiff. For the defence it was contended that the the case had been trumped up to improve Mr Hatch's position. Mr Lewis, the principal of the firm, deposed that he twice visited Mr Batch in prison, and that he did not consider it necessary to go there oftener. With reference to not calling witnesses for the defend% he stated that he and counsel agreed that such a course would be most conducive to the interests of their client. He then exphoned the reasons why it would be undesirable to cell witnesses.—The Lord Chief Baron said he was bound to express his own view of Mr Batch's entire innocence as arising out of the whole transaction —Several other witnesses were called for the defence, including Mr Serjeant Ballantine, who defended Mr Hatch on his trial, and who stated that from the statements made to him, and judging from the contents of the brief, he came to the conclusion that witnesses should not be called.—The Chief Baron having summed up, the jury retired at twenty minutes to four, and teturned into court, after a long deliberation, and returned a verdict for the plaintiff—This announcement was received With great cheering, which, however, subsided upon damages . being given at 40s.  The brief telegraphic announcement received from South America some few days ago that an earthquake had occurred in which 8000 persons perished, conveyed an impression so awful that we were fain to hope an error in the enumeration had exaggerated the calamity far beyond its real extent. But the details now received show that the original report fell far short indeed of the reality. Nature, great in her creative power, proves not less so sometimes in her work of destruction. Here, by a convulsion not exceeding eight .seconds in duration, not fewer than 13,000 human beings were hurried into eternity. Mendoza, San Juan, and San Luis, cities in the Argentine Republic, are laid in ruins. In the midst of this desolation and its consequent suffering, man has put forth his hand not to sympathise and relieve, but to heap misery upon misery. With as little humanity as the savage beasts of the desert, the inhabitants of the surrounding districts have swarmed in to plunder and murder the few survivors of the general destruction.