The Sun. — 1823-05-20 (London, England)

BULL PAPER.) A Special Petty Session, which was very numerously attended by the Magistrates of this town and county, was held at our Mansion-House on Tuesday last, to hear the complaint of John Ridgway, Esq. Whose property in the lordship of Myton had received considerable injury on Easter Monday and Tuesday last, from the mob collected at a boll-baiting. Mr. CHARLES FROST, on behalf of Mr. Ridgway, stated' that the present aPplication was made under the authority of an Act ofParliament, passed in the last Session (3 Cie°. IV. c. 83.), which 'tleprivedr.the party aggrieved of his remedy by action against the hundred,_ where the amount claimed for damages done to property by persons unlawfully, riotously, an tumultuously assembled, did not exceed 301. • and gave in lieu thereof a more summary remedy by application to the MaOstrates assembled in Petty Sessions. The circumstances under which the injury to Mr. Ridgway's property was committed, having been stated, Mr: Fauhank, clerk to-Meisrs. T. and C. Frost, was called to prove the service of the notice on the Mayor to summon a Petty Session, and the affixing, on two successive Sundays, on the door of the church of the Holy Trinity, within which parish the property is situated, of a notice of the time when the Session would be held, and of the nature of the intended application. The Tows CLERK then took an objection to the ferthe, hearing of the application, on the ground that Mr. Ridgwayr the owner of the property, was not present in person to make his complaint, and to be examined by the Magistrates, which examination, he said, was required by the Act. Mr. C. FROST contended, that the direction in the Act, that " It shall and may be lawful for the Justices to hear and examine the parties aggrieved," was introduced for the benefit of the party himself :—that the present proceedings were in the nature of an action for recovery of damages, and that this clause, in effect, enabled him to he heard in his own cause, which, without the -authority of the Act, could not, by the rules of evidence, be allowed and further, that these words in the Act were explained by the subsequent part of the same' Section, which made it lawful for the Justices to hear and examine" the churchwardens oroverseers, or inhabitants of the parish ;" which could not have been done without such special authority. Besides, he observed, that if it had been intended to make it imperative on the, .party to he examined, the Act would have stood thus, " that it shall and may be lawful for the Justices, and they are hereby required," to hear and examine the party aggrieved. The Court was then cleared, and after the Magistrates bad remained in deliberation nearly half an hour, the parties were called in anti directed to premed with the complaint. Thomas Mann, who had been employed to look after the premises, and Daniel M‘Berin, were then called. They proved the damage done, and that it was occasioned by 40 or 50 perBona at least getting upon and over the walls of the premises, andteating down the railings, pulling down stairtases, doors, windows, bricks, and tiles • and they likewise proved that the mob was riotous and tumultuous, and of such a description as to produce terror and alarm. Air. Win. Hutchinson was called to prove that the damages done by the mob had been pointed out to him by Mann, and that he had made an estimate thereof, the amount of which was 2111.  The Magistrates, after consulting together for a short time, pronounced their decision in favour of Mr. Ridgway's claim fur 291. 1 Is. and directed the same to be paid out of the country rate, with reasonable costs and charges pursuant to the directions of the Act.  On the mast-head of a small sloop at the Broomielaw, lately arrived from Sligo, there is a sparrow's nest with five eggs.  LAMENTABLE SuiciDE.--On Monday last (1 t2th inst.) a respectable youth of 19, named Simpson, of the armourer's department in the gun-wharf here, having on the previous evening had a dispute with a female to whom he was attached, resolved upon self-destruction, which he accomplished by placing a loaded musket against his breast, and discharging its contents by touching the trigger with a ramrod. The ball passed through the heart, thus producing instantaneous death. The Coroner's Jury returned their verdict—" Temporary iosanity."--(Plymouth Gazette.)