Blandford Weekly News. — 1889-07-20 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

QUIET" LODGER'S MERRY FRIENDS. At Bloomsbury County-court Judge Bacon ands jury have heard an action for damage, trespass, and assault, the plaintiffs being Mr. and Mm. Bloom of Camden Town, and the defendant Mr. John Morgan, a public-house broker. Mr. Bloom claimed £2.5 for damage to furniture and trespass, and Mrs. Bloom claimed £4O for assault —The defendant brought a counter claim for wrongful eviction. Mr. Morton Bell, in opening the ease for the plaintiffs, said that the evidence would powerfully remind the Court of Bob Sawyer's famous " Bachelors' Party."—ln March last the defendant took the first floor furnished at 255. per week. No sooner did he enter the occupancy than he commenced to complain of his food and to abuse the servants, and on the following Friday Mrs. Bloom gave him notice. Defendant, on receiving this message from the servant, said "Tell Mrs. Bloom I intend to stop here three months if I please, and I'll make it hot for her." Then commenced a series of "Bob Sawyer's parties," at which some half-a-dozen gentlemen of a convivial turn of mind, assisted to keep the landlady and her lodgers awake until 4 o'clock in the morning. When the week's notice expired, as the defendant would not leave, Mrs. Bloom refused to serve him with food, and defendant then threatened "to give them some thing that would send them into fits." Coming home one night he blew down one of the gas.pipes, extinguishing all the lights in the house,and immediately afterwards the report of a rifle-shot rang through the apartments. Believing that her lodger had committed suicide, Mrs. Bloom led the policeman who had been attracted to the spot to the room, when, in response to their knocking, defendant told them to " go to the Devil, as he was cleaning his rifle." Next evening a still larger party of gentlemen arrived, and they were so very festive that a large crowd and two policemen were attracted to the spot by the row. Mr. Bloom, on his return . from church was received with the chorus, "He's a jolly good fellow"; but instead of listening to his appeals the fun increased. Mrs. Bloom was struck in the shoulder by the defendant, and between one and two in the morning the party wound up by an attack on th• coal-cellar. On their return to the aitting-room, large lumps of coal were thrown upon all the furniture and the carpet and curtains ruined. On the Tuesday Mrs. Bloom milled in the assistance of thelandlord and four men, who assisted defendant to pack up.—Mr. and Mrs. Bloom and the lodgers having borne out this recital, Mr. John Richard Morgan, described his stay as a quiet one, with the exception of the accidental discharge of a rifle at midnight and a souffle between some of the other lodgers and defendant's friends. The alleged assault was accidentally done when defendant and his friends were capturing water in the kitchen, the water supply having been stopped by the landlady. They certainly were merry there, but not particularly so. The landlady stopped the coals, and he had to carry them up in his arms, and perhaps the carpet might thus have been spoiled.—The learned judge, having summed up, the jury found for Mr. Bloom for £9Bs. 6d. for damage and trespass, and £5 for the assault on Mrs. Bloom,with costs on the higher scale.  On 'ruesdaT morning, as • train was entering Sunningdsle station on the London and South-Western, an old man who attempted to cross the line was knocked down and killed.  The Duke of Cambridge has distributed the prizes to the students and Nursing Institute at the London Hospital. He also presented Sir Andrew Clark with his portrait, which was painted by the late Frank 8011, and which had been subscribed for by the members of the medical and surgical staff and other friends of the hospital. A replica by Mr. Sidney Hodges has been presented by the chairman of the College Board to be hung on the college walls. The Duke of Cambridge spoke very highly of the servioes Sir Andrew Clark had rendered to the hospital during his 35 years' connection with it. Lieutenant Assoff proposes to sell to an English equestrian the two horses on which he recently rode from Lubny, in Southern Russia, to Paris, 1,630 miles in 30 days.  Mr. Welch, landlord of the Royal Hunt Hotel, Ascot, has been found dead in an outbuilding on the premises. He had committed suicide by hanging himself to a beam. Michigan is the latest State to adopt • ballot reform law. It is a modification of the Australian law, and embodies the two vital features of an official ballot and secret voting'.