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    stick , and lie went down on the ground . He immediately caught hold of my feet , and jerked them forward , throwing me on my back on the staircase . He then sprang upon me , kneeling on my chest , and with bis left hand seized my throat , continuing to hit me . with his right hand . I called for help as loud as I could , ' Mason ! Mason ! police ! police ! ' Mason was "fey housekeeper . When I raised the cry for the police , the defendant exclaimed , ' — you , I'll stop your cries . Ill murder you before any help can . come to you . I came on purpose to murder you , and 111 do it . ' We continued to struggle together ; I with my left hand endeavoured to wrest his left hand from my throat , and in the struggle we got near the street door ; the struggle

    continued at least ten minutes before we did so . I immediately made a plunge forward at the lock , knowing exactly where to find it , and opened the door . He at the same moment relaxed his hold on my throat and struck me a blow on the chest with his right hand , which sent me reeling the whole length of the passage . He then ran off , saying , 'You - — -rascal , 111 murder you yet . ' He left Ma hat and stick behind him . I went immediately to the station-house in Seethinglane , and thence with some officers to Mr . Grossmith ' s house ; but we did not see him there . I then went back to the station-house , and thence to Mr . Moore ' s , surgeon , to have my wounds dressed . " Iu

    crossexamination , Mr . May said that , since the summons for beating Grossinith ' s boy , he had been Summoned on a charge of excessively beating the son of the Rev . Mr . Roberts , who has since been r « moved from the school . The summons was withdrawn , so that the case was not investigated . From a subsequent statement of Mr . Roberts , it appears that Mr . May made a humble apology for hia " want of discretion and judgment , " but that he had since untruly stated that Mr . Roberta ' s son bad been dismissed for cruelty . Owing to the assault by Grossmith , Mr . May has been in a serious state of health for some weeks ; hut last Saturday he gave evidence . The accused was committed for trial ; but bail was accepted .

    A robbery , exhibiting great daring , vras committed in the Strand at mid-day last Saturday . The thief , a young man who said he was a baker out of employ , Wa 3 examined the same day at Bow-street . The complainant is- the wife : of a gentleman connected with the Royal Astronomical Society , Somerset-house , and she was passing along the Strand at noon , when the prisoner rushed suddenly upon her , tore open her hand with such ¦ violence as to lacerate the akin , aftd seized her purse , ¦ with which he decamped . She called out " Stop thief !" « nd the prisoner was pursued by a passer-by , by whom lio was overtaken and given into custody . The purse and money were found upon him . He threatened to " mark" his captor for stopping him , and said to the constable to whom lie was handed— " I am guilty ; 1 had not had any breakfast . It was too hot to run away . " The man is unknown to the police , and has been sentenced to six months'hard labour .

    A lodging-house keeper , named Rico , living at ifa . 3 , Park-street , Grosvenor-squate , has obtained ( by an action in the Court of Common Pleas ) 25 L damages from Lieutenant-Colonel Graliam , a lodger in his house , for an assault . A quarrel ensued after dinner on New Yeat ' s-day . Rice says the colonel was dictatorial ; the colonel affirms that Rice was insolent . High words led to an attempt by the colonel to put Rice out of the room , and to a struggle , which soon assumed very desperate

    proportions . It appears certain that the colonel struck Rice repeatedly and' heavily on the head with the stump of his amputated arm , and that ho bit hia . fingers severely ; but he says he did so in self-defence , as Rice was trying to throttle him . Rice , on the contrary , nvera that fu acted in self-defence , thinking that the colonel was murdering him . He called for tlie police , but was so exhausted when a constable arriv « d that he could scarcely speak . On the wliole , the jury seem to have come to a right decision .

    The press prosecutions have been abandoned . The matters came on for trial in the Court of Queen ' s Bench , before Lord Campbell and Special Juries , on Tuesday , when the Attorney-General , on the part of the Crown , prayed a tales , and , when the jurymen were sworn , rose and said : — " May it please your Lordship , and gentlemen of the jury , 1 rejoice that I have to announce to you that you will not be called upon to try thia indictment . It is a prosecution instituted by the Attorney-General of the late Government , by reason of the publication of a pamphlet containing certain passages tending , as it was thought , to incite evil-minded men to the crime of assassination and murder . Gentlemen , when I succeeded to the office which I have the honour to hold , I felt it to be

    my duty to adopt the act of my predecessor , the late Attorney-General , and to carry on thta prosecution . But , gentlemen , I have learnt with great satisfaction from my learned friend , Mr . Edwin James , counsel for the defendant Truelove , that hia client , who is an English man , and , as I am informed , a respectable English tradesman , and the father of a large family , is ready to deny , in terms unqualified , and without reserve , that he . ever intended or desired , directly or indirectly , to countenance or encourage tho crime of assassination , and that he is ready to express , his regret that such a con-Btruction can have been put on any publication to which he has been a party . I understand that my learned friend , Mr . James , u ready to offer to you and to my

    Lord and to the country the assurance of what I have stated , and the assurance likewise that the publication of this pamphlet has ceased , and ¦« ill no longer be sold by him . On . that assurance , it only remains for me to perform the duty , which I perform willingly and freely , on the part of the Crown—viz ., to consent that you now pronounce a verdict of acquittal . " Mr . Edwin James having made the statements thus anticipated , Lord Campbell made a few observations directing the jury to find a verdict of Not Guilty , and so the matter terminated . The case of Tcborzewski , a Pole ,-who had published the Letter addressed to thf Parliament and the Press by Felix Pyat , Besson , and A . Talandier , exiles in this country , next came on . The pamphlet was alleged to contain a libel on the French Emperor . The same assurances were given as in the previous case , and a verdict of Not Guilty was also returned .

    An action was then tried which led to a good deal of merriment . The plaintiff was Stephen Parker , formerly chapel clerk and schoolmaster of the gaol of Newgate ; and he sued the defendants , Sir Robert Walter Cardea ( the present Lord Mayor ) , and David William Wire and Thomas Quested Finnis , Aldermen of the City of London , to recover the sum of 457 ., being half a year ' s salary , which he claimed for a dismissal from his office without notice . The- defendants , among other pleas , pleaded that the plaintiff conducted himself towards the governor of the gaol in so disrespectful and disobedient a manner as to j ustify them in dismissing him . He was appointed to his post on the 12 th . of June , 1847 , at a salary of 90 k a year ; but , in November , 1856 , he was told that he

    would have to take the duty of turnkey as well , whose work included the cleaning out of the cells in the morning . Mr . Parker made no reply to this intimat on . " Thereupon , " said he , in giving his evidence , "I was suspended . " Mr . Edwin James ( his counsel ) : " Not outside Newgate ? " ( Loud hughter . ) Lord Campbell : " Were you suspended by the governor ? " ( Loud laughter . ) The witness said he was ; but it was not a written suspension . " Mr . James : " You wene not suspended by a line ? " ( Laughter . ' ) Witness : "No , I was suspended by the governor . ( Loud laughter . ) The chaplain was there . ( Renewed laughter . ) I was dismissed on the 6 th of December , 1856 , by Mr . Alderman "Wire . " For the defence , the minute clerk for the office of the town clerk was then

    called , and produced the minutes of the Gaol Committee . It appeared that the proposed combination of the office of turnkey and schoolmaster was made by the committee , on the recommendation of the governor , and that the combined office was offered to the plaintiff . In November , it being reported to the committee that the plaintiff refused to perform the heyr duties assigned to him , they resolved that he should be suspended from his office of chapel clerk and schoolmaster . His petition was presented on the 18 th of November and considered on the 27 th of November , when the plaintiff was called in and examined , and asked whether he would withdraw certain objectionable words in the petition , or apologize to the governor . On hid refusal , the committee recommended to the Court of Aldermen to dismiss him , which

    they accordingly did on the 20 th of December , 1856 , and paid him his salary up to Christmas . He had been suspended on the lfitli of November , and never was restored . The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff , and Lord Campbell said he had great respect for the authority and dignity of the City of London , but he could not too severely condemn the attempt to impose such duties on a schoolmaster—a class of persons entitled to the highest respect in this country . The jury asked his Lordship whether they could not give the plaintiff more damages than 45 / . Lord Campbell said there might bo some doubt on the point , and intimated that it would be better , under the circumstances , to find tho damages which the plaintiff asked for . The jury then gavo damages to the extent of 451 .

    Two well-dressed women were charged at Worshipstreet on Tuesday with robbing a lady at the bookingoffice of the Eastern Counties Railway ; and , having pleaded Guilty , they were sentenced to six months' hard labour in the House of Correction . A painful case of imprisonment without just cause was brought under the notice of the Southwnrk magistrate on Tuesday . Mr . John Hughes , and Bridget Hughes , his wife , were charged with uttering a half sovereign ,

    alleged to be counterfeit , to William Birmingham , at the Bridge-house public-house , Borough-road , Southwark . It was offered at eleven o'clock on tho previous night , and the barman , believing it to be a counterfeit , gave Mr . and Mrs . Hughes into custody . On the following morning , the coin was ascertained to be good , only very light , and worth only 8 s . 8 d . The accused were accordingly discharged by the magistrate , coinplaining bitterly of being looked up all night in oloso cells .

    Two singular payments wore made on Monday into the poor-box of tho Mansion House . One was " a thankoffering of 21 / . " from J . S . " \ V ., for his merciful recovery from a long and painful affliction ; the other was half n sovereign from "A Gent , " who had picked it up in the streets . We wish thut all " gents" wcro so self-ul > negating . Moat of the order would have been off to Crcmorno with tho golden waif , The great libel cose of Gough v . Lees waa tried on Monday in tho Cou rt of Exchequer . Dr . Loos , a tcinperunco lecturer , had ( in a private letter ) accused Mr . Gou . ru , the well-known teetotal advocate , of being ;

    repeatedly intoxicated with narcotic drugs , and of being " a rank hypocrite" and " a wicked man . '" On the trial , Mr . Gough swore that the statements were false ; and Mr . Baron Martin thereupon suggested an arrangement , -which , after some opposition on the part of the counsel for Dr . L « es , was agreed to . A retractation was then made on behalf of the doctor ; and the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff , with damages sufficient to carry costs .

    The judges in the Court of Divorce have decided that Dr . Lane , one of the co-respondents in the extraordinary case of which we gave an outline last week , cannot be dismissed the suit , so as to give evidence in contradiction of the assertions in Mrs . Robinson ' s diary that he had been improperly familiar with her . Mr . Justice Wightman was the only judge dissenting from this decision . The case then went on ; further extracts from the diary were read ; and their Lordships said they would take time to consider their final judgment .

    The Court of Queen ' s Bench was occupied on Monday with a trial for perjury , in -which a Mr . Rigby Wason was the prosecutor , and a Mr . Nathaniel Mason , formerly solicitor to the Westminster Improvement Commissioners , was the defendant . Mr . Wason was the originator of the plan for making Victoria-street , and in 1853 the Westminster Improvement Commissioners were under covenant to him to purchase land on the north Bide of that street . Being unable to perform their covenant , the commissioners , after various negotiations , made an arrangement with the Rock Insurance Company , by which the latter , on obtaining a mortgage of certain property , were to advance 20 , 000 / ., in order to enable the commissioners to fulfil their engagement with Mr . Wason . That gentleman , according to the representation of his counsel , thought the arrangement -would be carried out ; but ultimately the Rock Insurance

    Company refused to complete it , having discovered in 1857 that Mr . Mason had obtained a . prior mortgage on the property for 20 , 000 ? . as security for his costs as solicitor to the Improvement Commissioners . Mr . Wason said the defendant had entirely concealed this from the Rockoffice , and had entered the mortgage from the commissioners ; and in July , 1857 , he filed a bill in Chancery , praying that tha mortgage might be set aside . In January , 1858 , Mr . Mason filed an answer which contained the alleged perjury . The passage in question waa that Mr . Rigby Wason knew that the completion of the mortgage to the Rock-office was prevented by a judgment debt due by the commissioners to Lord Lifford , and not by the execution of the mortgage to Mr . Mason and his partners for 20 , 000 / . After a great deal of evidence had been received , Lord Campbell gave certain directions to the jury which amounted to a verdict of acquittal .

    Sir Cresswell Cresawell pronounced judgment and sentence in the case of Curtis v . Curtis , which vras heard before him on the 20 th and 21 st May , as Judge Ordinary of the Divorce Court . The petition was that of the wife , Mrs . Curtis , the daughter of Mr . Flood , a barrister ( practising at Westminster ) , against her husband for a judicial separation on the ground of . ill-usage and general cruelty . The husband ia a civil engineer , at one time residing in Southampton-buildings . The Judge , in going through the facts of the case , commented strongly upon the conduct of the husband , and said that he was of opinion that the petitioner was entitled to a judicial separation . With regard to the children , he would decree that they remain in their present custody for the next three months , with leave to either party to apply to the Lord Chancellor to say ia whose custody they should remain , they being quasi wards in Chancery .

    An action has been brought in the Court of Common . Pleas , by a Mr . Helliwell , the librarian and manager of the Derby Mechanics' Institute , against the proprietors , of the Derbyshire Advertiser , for a libel . Mr . HeUiwelL had omitted to send an advertisement and tickets of Mr . and Mrs . German Reed ' s entertainment to the paper in question ; whereupon a paragraph was inserted in tho journal , imputing a bad personal feeling , and dishonest disregard of instructions , to Mr . Helliwell . The Lord Chief Justice suggested that an arrangement should be come to , but this recommendation was not adopted , andi the jury , finding ; a verdict for the plaintiff , gave damagea to tho extent of 45 / .

    In the Court of Bankruptcy , on Wednesday , the accounts of Edward Smith , woolstaplcr , of Bermondaey , were brought under notice . An adjournment of the examination was ordered , to allow time for investigation . Messrs . Calvert and Co ., tho well-known extenoivo brewers , appeared on Tuesday in the Court of Bankruptcy , jiraying Mr . Commissioner Evans to certify that six-sevenths of tho unsecured creditors , in number and value , have duly executed a proper deed of inspectorship . The Commissioner declined to do so . It is consequently open to any dissentient creditor to institute' proceedings in bankruptcy . Tha Irish Italian , calling himself Signor Itorroraeo , haa been committed for trial on a charge of bigamy ,

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    CRIMINAL RECORD . MuitDicns my Maniacs . —A man named Henry Arnold , an escaped pauper lunatic from the Iloxton Asylum , has killed a Miss Saruh Jane Butler , a young- lady aged twenty-five , residing near Chcshunt in Hertfordshire . Sho and her siater wcro walking out about half-past eight o ' clock in tho evening , when they saw Arnold » p-

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    No . 431 , Jt 7 NR 26 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 609

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 26, 1858, page 609, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2248/page/9/