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Lord Campbell, and that therefore indispensable wit-tary were called in, and a number of special constables nesses were not now in court. Lord Campbell denied that he had indefinitely postponed the trial: he had merely declined to fix a day, and had left it to take its course in the trial paper. Ultimately, verdicts of acquittal were taken in both cases, because no evidence could be offered.

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sworn, by which time a considerable mob had assenbled. The Riot Act was immediately read, and the mob speedily dispersed. The civil and military authorities and force then proceeded to Edgeley, where they found the large Catholic chapel completely sacked and gutted, and the priest's house nearly in the same conAt the Thames Police Court, on the 28th June, dition. The rioters here had brought the furniture, Mrs. Acock, wife of a timber-merchant at Stepney, was &c., out of the chapel and the residence, piled it in the fined 5s. for an Assault on Catherine Tiernay, her road, and set fire to it. The mob had dispersed before • servant. On the following day, Mr. Acock accused the their arrival, and they only found groups of persons girl of stealing four gold pins. Mr. Acock asserted standing quietly by the heaps of blazing materials. that the girl had secreted a little box containing the While the authorities were there, a messenger arrived pins in her clothes-box; the girl's solicitor endeavoured with information, that the mob had proceeded to St. to show that this was a conspiracy to ruin her, to Michael's Roman Catholic chapel in the park; had revenge the fine for assault and a threatened summons broken the windows; were destroying the furniture, from the County Court for wages. A policeman was &c.; and that some of the rioters had attempted to called in to search the prisoner's box; the contents force open a large iron safe, supposed to contain various were turned out; when they were nearly all returned, articles of silver used in the services of the chapel. Mr. Acock picked the pin-box off the floor, and accused Some portions of a patera, a pyx-cover, &c., all of Catherine Tiernay of stealing it. The policeman gave silver, were picked up inside the chapel, and Mr. Sadler very unsatisfactory evidence with regard to this box. took possession of them, as well as of various books of It was wrapped in a piece of paper, and he first said prayers which were lying strewn about. The police that Mr. Acock had declared it was a box containing arrived in time to apprehend several men, many of pins "before the paper was removed;" subsequently he whom were severely wounded, and from four o'clock retracted this, and said Mr. Acock made the remark in the morning till noon four medical men were more or "after" the paper was removed. Mrs. Mary Ann Curd less engaged in dressing their wounds and hurts. After stated that Mrs. Acock, after she was fined, exclaimed the police had dispersed the mob in Hillgate, the Irish, to the prisoner, "I'll have you before to-morrow! I in a tolerably compact body, retreated towards Rock ave not done with you yet, I'll have you up hard and Row, the lower end of which opens upon St. Peter's ast! Mrs. Curd went with the girl for her box. Square. At the corner of Rock Row and the square Mrs. Acock was abusive. When she talked of search-stands a large house, the residence of Mr. Graham, hg the box, the girl said a policeman should be sent surgeon, who has in some way incurred the hatred of r. The box was emptied of its contents, and the the Roman Catholics. They assailed this house with ings turned over four times; and while they were volleys of stones and brickbats, smashed most of the atting the things in the box, Mrs. Acock stooped down lower windows, and the servant-man received a severe d picked up, or pretended to pick up, something. wound in the forehead from a stone. In this attack the he witness had emptied the prisoner's box, and shaken next house, belonging to Mr. White's factory, also and turned it upside down, and was certain the red suffered considerable injury in the lower windows. The e did not fall out of it. The magistrate decided, mob then turned their attack upon the Sunday school h such conflicting evidence before him, to send the connected with St. James's Church, which stands oppoto a jury; but he offered to take bail-one surety site to Mr. Graham's house, on the other side of the 201. A gentleman who had heard the investigation, square, and they had broken some of the windows in ugh quite unacquainted with the prisoner, kindly the building, when they were overtaken by the English, e bail for the amount. who attacked and drove them up Rock Row, and then seem to have proceeded in retaliation to Edgeley; gutted the Roman Catholic chapel and priest's house there; and thence to St. Michael's Catholic chapel, in the park, which they also sacked, as already stated. Here the more serious outrages to property seem to have been stayed, but fights between small bodies of both factions continued for some hours afterwards. Between eleven and twelve o'clock a party of police succeeded in capturing a young Irishman, named Moran, about 24 years of age, who was said to have wounded three or four men with a pitchfork. When apprehended, however, he had received a severe fracture of the skull and other injuries; and, as he was evidently dying, he was removed from the other prisoners, and placed in a room below the Court-house, where he expired about a quarter before two o'clock on Wednesday morning. It was after midnight before the disturbance was quelled. The Stockport Court-house presented a strange scene on Wednesday morning. During the night it had been converted into a prison hospital, and at one end were placed about 108 ruffianly looking fellows, upwards of sixty of whom were suffering from wounds received in the riot, or in their encounters with the police when taken into custody. One with a dislocated shoulder was yelling under the manipulation of a surgeon, and another was shrieking under the pain of handling a dislocated ankle. Others were writhing, moaning, and bleeding, while the surgeons moved to and fro among them, dressing their wounds. Thirty-three prisoners were identified as having taken part in the riot, and a great number were discharged on their own recognizances to keep the peace, the total number apprehended being 114. The disturbances were renewed on the Wednesday night, notwithstanding the precautions taken to preserve the peace. Several houses in different parts of the town, belonging to Irish Roman Catholics, were attacked, the furniture destroyed, and the inmates beaten unmercifully. It is remarkable that during

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n investigation into an Assault on Storey, a detecpoliceman, by a number of stockbrokers' clerks concluded at the Mansion House on the 3rd inst. ey had tried to force his way into the Stock change to arrest a delinquent; the clerks made a t uproar, hustled him, and prevented him from ting his object; even an application to the Secretary ad not obtain him civil treatment. The answer on the part of the clerks was, that the hustling was only a "lark"; and that Storey had entered unceremoniously, and used gross language. Storey's solicitor offered to abandon the charges if an apology were made; and the clerks consented. Alderman Wire intimated that they were wise in taking advantage of the offer; and he expressed a hope that in future such violent practices would be discontinued at the Stock Exchange.

A Riot broke out at Stockport on the evening of Tuesday, the 29th June, between the Irish Catholic and the English Protestant working people. On the previous Sunday the usual annual procession took place of the Roman Catholic scholars connected with the three hapels in Stockport. The procession was headed by he priests, but there were no banners, the priests did t wear canonical vestments; and the school-girls y wore white frocks with little crosses hung round ir necks by ribands. Everything passed quietly for time; but in the course of Monday several fights place, apparently arising out of disputes about procession. Nothing serious took place, however, Tuesday evening, when a number of English rish assembled in Hillgate, and began fighting sticks and other weapons. On learning this, ller, the chief constable, at the head of a small f police, proceeded to the spot; and, after resistance, dispersed the rioters, some of whom ptured and conveyed to the police-station. ative peace being restored, information of the the town was sent to the magistrates, the mili

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these last disturbances, the police were unable to apprehend a single offender. They were sent for in some cases, and arrived in the neighbourhood where the attacks had been made, but too late to get more than an indication of the direction in which the rioters had gone. An investigation into this affair has been entered into at Stockport and not yet terminated.

At the Hertford Assizes, a case of Breach of Promise of Marriage was tried on the 13th. The parties were Emma Louisa Oldaker, the daughter of a publican at Harpenden, who was the plaintiff; and the defendant was a farmer, who was said to have considerable expectations, living in the same neighbourhood. It appeared that the defendant had been in the habit of going to the house of the plaintiff's father to "smoke his cigar," and he commenced paying attention to the plaintiff in 1848, and from that period a considerable intimacy sprung up between them, and at length, with the consent of the plaintiff's parents, the wedding-day was fixed for the 15th February, 1851. A few days before the 15th, the defendant sent the following letter to the plaintiff :-"My dear Emma,-I am very sorry I said to you what I did this morning, but I cannot make it convenient to marry now. Yours truly, GEORGE DAVIS." And a very short time after this he married another young woman. It appeared that on the evening of the same day the letter was sent, the defendant went to the house of the plaintiff's father, when a regular scene took place; and the defendant was represented to have fainted away in the bed-room of the plaintiff, there being a suggestion that he was a little the worse for liquor at the time. In the course of the case it was stated that after the defendant sent the letter referred to, a second letter was sent by him renewing his promise; but this letter was not produced, and there was some evidence to show, that after the original letter, the parents of the plaintiff appeared to consider the match as broken off. On behalf of the defendant, it was contended that the match had been broken off with the consent of both parties, and that the plaintiff, in point of fact, had not sustained any injury, and was not entitled to damages. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant.

Lincolnshire yeoman, and undoubtedly she was entitled
to remuneration for the lost position; for it was in
evidence that the defendant had promised to marry the
plaintiff, and settle 2007. yearly upon her. The jury
returned a verdict for the plaintiff-damages, 600Z.
Dreadful Election Riots have taken place in Ireland.
At Belfast, on the 13th, there was a desperate affray
between the Protestants and Romanists.
It appears
from the accounts that the Romanists first attacked the
house of one Ball, a Protestant, and that three persons
were shot in the fray. As it was feared that there
would be retaliation, a party of the Constabulary were
stationed in the excited quarter, and they maintaine
order and calm till about the time the people left wor
at the factories; but as soon as the people left th
factories, the two parties came into collision at so man
points that the police could not restrain them, and
last there was a desperate and general conflict. Th
principal scene of action was between College Squar
North, and Barrack Street. For nearly an hour a figh
continued almost without intermission, notwithstandin
all the efforts of the small body of Constabulary presen
to restore order. The two parties successively assaile
each other, and retired, according to the fortunes of th
fight, or as either were driven off by the police. Th
attack was not confined to the persons of their adve
saries. They began to wreck the houses on either sid
of the street, each party assailing those in which th
families of the opposite party resided. Fire arms wer
now in requisition; and many of the combatants, som
from the street and others from the houses, kept up
continual volley from muskets and large pistols, whi
gave the spectator the idea of a town being sacked.
lad of sixteen years of age, named Henderson, receiv
one ball through his breast and another through
wrist. He was taken to the hospital in a dying sta
Respectably dressed women were seen supplying
combatants with huge paving-stones and brickb
which they carried from the rear of their house
baskets, in their aprons, and in crocks, to the str
front; and while the stones were flying and
whizzing above their heads, young girls were brea
the larger brickbats into more handy missiles for
use of the rioters. One woman was seen at a wir
signalling to the Romanist party beneath whe
advance or when to retire, as she perceived
motions of the police. Meantime, information
sent to the Mayor, Mr. S. G. Fenton, who ar
shortly after nine o'clock, and read the Riot
ordering the people to disperse. Mr. W. S. Tracy, R
was also present, issuing orders. About the same
in consequence of an application forwarded t
barracks, a troop of Dragoons, and two compan
the Forty-sixth Foot made their appearance on th
ground, and rapidly cleared the streets in every direction

On the same day another Breach of Promise case was tried at Lincoln. The plaintiff, Miss Hoff, who is about 40 years of age, keeps a grocer's and draper's shop at Holbeach; and the defendant, Mr. Savage, is a landowner and opulent farmer in the neighbourhood, 55 years of age. Damages were laid at 2,0007. As the defendant and the brother of the plantiff were travelling together, the family having been intimate for years, an acquaintance was commenced; but shortly after the lady attempted to break it off, on the ground that she had mistaken her own feelings, and that she did not intend to marry. This was at the end of 1848. Several letters were exchanged, not particularly overcharged with expressions indicative of the tender passion, and eventually the defendant was accepted. The plaintiff's brother borrowed 3007. from the defendant, and the plaintiff gave a note for it, as the brother had advanced her the means of fixing in business. Afterwards the defendant wished for the marriage to be put off for twelve months (as his brother objected to it) until the objection of his brother could be overcome. As he had suggested that the business should be sold, and attempts had been made to dispose of it, the defendant offered to maintain the plaintiff until he could marry her. This she refused. After this time the defendant got cool, and as he got cool the lady got proportionably anxious that the engagement should be fulfilled. Ulti-At the nomination, on the 12th, there was a mol mately the defendant commenced his action for the 3001. and interest, and then the lady commenced her action for breach of promise by way of set off. For the defence it was contended that the defendant had been released from the obligation; that the letters plainly made out that there was no affection in the matter, but the transaction was one purely and solely of business; and that the action would not have been brought had not the defendant become plaintiff in another action to recover the lent money. Baron Alderson, in summing up, remarked that probably there was not much affection in the matter; but the lady was induced to believe that she was to be made the wife of a respectable

At Cork, during the polling, on the 12th, violen disturbances took place. At the polling-booths in th Lee Ward, so great was the rioting and interference by the mob with the voters, that the booths had to be closed early in the day, and the polling suspended; and notwithstanding the presence of a large force of Constabulary and military, voters were maltreated, stones were falling on all sides, and the greatest rioting prevailed. In the course of the day the houses and shops of many, supposed to be adverse to the popula candidates, were assaulted and the windows smashed Several respectable citizens were attacked and beaten į the most cowardly manner.

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At Limerick, the populace were still more outrageo

twenty thousand persons. The court was opened
half-past ten o'clock, when the candidates and t
friends were admitted to the galleries. To depict
scene would at this moment be impossible. Ben
bars, and seats, were torn up by the mob in the I
interest, and hurled with tremendous viole
Mr. Russell and his friends, several of whom w
and wounded. A man was flung from the galle
spiked on the rails beneath. Not one word
heard from either proposers or seconders,
candidates at either side were not allowed to
word. In the evening the windows of every
Catholic in Limerick who promised to supp

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ously quarreling with and attacking her, that a crowd collected round them, and as the constable who came up could not persuade her to go home or be quiet, he was obliged at last to lodge her in the station. There she was placed in one of the cells, and upon a sergeant going to visit her about an hour after, he found her stretched on her side on the floor, a ligature-formed by tearing off the hem of her garment-bound firmly round her neck, and exhibiting such indications of death, that it was with extreme difficulty, even with surgical aid, that she was at length restored to consciousness.-A third charge was then taken against a well-dressed young woman, named Sarah Ricliardson, in whose case it appeared that she was out sweethearting with an admirer named Lynch, a plasterer at Holloway; when, while walking together along the towing-path of the Regent's Canal, near the New North-road, between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning, some lovers' quarrel ensued between them, and without further ado she suddenly shook herself off his arm and plunged head foremost into the water. The young man instantly dashed in after her, but owing to the depth of water at that part she sank several times, and it was not till she was nearly lifeless that he succeeded in ultimately getting her to the bank, when she was found to be in such a dangerous state, both of body and mind, she repeatedly declaring, upon recovering her senses, that she would complete the attempt on the first opportunity, that ber sweetheart was compelled to give her up to the police. The women were all committed for a week, that the chaplain of the gaol might bring them to a due sense of their conduct.

A Matter of very great Importance to Emigrants was brought before Alderman Sir Robert Carden, at the Mansion House, on the 21st inst. Captain Lean, R. N., the government emigration agent, accompanied by some working men of respectable appearance, appeared to make a public complaint against a company called in the prospectus "The Australian Gold Company and Emigration Company," the offices of which were stated to be held at No. 6, Austin-friars. Some persons who had engaged and partly paid for their passage to Australia, at the offices of the company, induced by the manifold advantages it held out to the industrious, found that they were the victims of a nefarious fraud; that the owners of the Camilla, the vessel in which they were told they were to sail to the land of promise, disclaimed all knowledge of the directors; and that one of the clerks, who seemed to be a leading character in the management, and had given receipts for the cash, was an inmate of Whitecross-street prison. Captain Lean, upon hearing the statements of the poor men, went to the offices of the company and made every effort to obtain restitution, but in vain. In the list of the directors in the prospectus he had observed the name of a nobleman, and the names of several gentlemen of unquestionable respectability; but, upon making the inquiries which the nature of the proceedings described to him had rendered necessary, he was assured that one and all denied not only any participation in the profits, but any knowledge of the concern. He applied by letter to Captain Smith, R. N., whose name appeared in the prospectus under the head of secretary to the company, and that gentleman with great readiness came forward, disavowed the secretaryship, and expressed his willingness to go before the Lord Mayor for the purpose of proving that he was not connected with the scheme; and of representing that, to the best of his belief, the other gentlemen, who were named in the printed paper, were not by any means cognisant of the proceedings of those who had possessed themselves of the money of the emigrants. Captain Lean produced receipts for several sums of money, signed some of them by the person in Whitecross-street Prison, and some by another clerk to the company, who did not think proper to attend at the Mansion House, although informed of the intention of the complainants to appeal to the City authorities. The Alderman said that the prospectus had been before the public for some time, and that it had been advertised in the newspapers. If so, he held that every gentleman whose name appeared in it as a director was responsible for all the money received at the Company's

offices. Captain Smith said that he wished to make an explanation as to the use of his name in the prospectus as secretary. He had nothing to do with that office. He had distinctly declared that he would not act as secretary, and he did not know who had published the prospectus and placed him in that character. He had every reason to suppose that the gentlemen named as directors were wholly ignorant of the transactions in question, and that the blame lay with the person who was locked up in Whitecross-street prison, and the other individual who had been acting with him in a subordinate capacity. Sir R. W. Carden: Whom did you know then amongst those who formed the company? Captain Smith: I know the person just described as a prisoner in Whitecross-street, but I had a very different opinion of him from that which I now entertain. I was never at the offices but once, and when I was there I was told that one of the gentlemen mentioned in the prospectus as a director was in the chair, and that the noble lord also stated to be a directo was present. Sir R. W. Carden: How long has thi prospectus been out? Captain Smith: About three weeks. It has not to my knowledge been advertised in the public papers. I think it necessary for me to state that I cautioned the parties whom I believe to be principally instrumental to these transactions against committing themselves by taking deposits. Sir R. W Carden: Well, then, you certainly appear a secretary, and if you did not upon finding yourself, to your surprise and indignation, represented as a character which did not belong to you, write to the directors, and publicly disavow the imputation, you are, in my opin ion, in a state of undeniable responsibility as to all the pecuniary matters in which the company is involved. The alderman then asked if any of the directors of the Australian Gold Company and Emigration Company were present. There was no answer. Capt. Smith I wrote to them, requesting their attendance. R. W. Carden: How many persons were in the boardroom when you called at the offices? Captain Smith I understood from the clerks that there were four amongst whom was the noble lord and the attorney' clerk. Sir R. W. Carden: How much money had bee received altogether? Captain Smith: I have no id of the receipts. Sir R. W. Carden: Who was th cashier? Captain Smith; I do not know; but I b lieve the clerk alluded to did all the business, and tha the directors were not aware that anything of a dishonourable kind was thought of in the concern. The alderman expressed his determination to sift the matter to the bottom, and ordered summonses to be issued to the directors to appear on the 23rd. On the 24th the cas again underwent a long investigation before Alderman Carden. The justice room was crowded with gentlemen connected with the Stock Exchange, and others who were interested in the proceedings. Lord Kilworth and some of the other gentlemen whose names were mentioned in one of the printed humbug lists, and who, as it afterwards appeared, knew nothing whatever of the company, were in attendance. Among them were Mr. Ruston Reed, Major Hawkes, and Mr. Dawson. These gentlemen had been summoned to attend in consequence of the issue of the prospectus which mentioned their names. Henry Graham Montague, who appeared to be the acting manager of the concern, and C. J. Tripe, a young man who seemed to have acted under the control of Mr. Montague, were put to th bar upon the charge of having cheated and defraude the emigrants. Several witnesses described the way in which they had been imposed upon. John Jones, of Dalston, said, that seeing, as he was passing alon Austin Friars, a board relative to the Australian Minir and Emigration Company, he went in and saw Tripe, and two gentlemen, and two boys. Mr. T told him of a vessel for Australia, called the Car lying at the West India Docks. He went and l at her, and afterwards went again to the office four friends, where he saw Mr. Montague and Mr. and agreed to pay 227. each for their passage. paid Mr. Montague 117. down, the balance to b on embarkation. Mr. Tripe counted the mone put it in a box. Jones said he hoped the compan all right. "Oh yes," said they, "no fear of th

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directors are all respectable gentlemen." He afterwards name to the stamp, and said he did not understand a straightcalled several times at the office, but saw only a couple bills; but Staden replied that he was of boys, and afterwards learned that Mr. Montague, to forward fellow, and he liked business done, and he whom he had paid his money, was in prison. He had then wrote his name on the stamp. He lost 3007. altodemanded a birth in the Camilla, but was refused. gether in this manner; and each time his losses amounted James Thorne, a boy of sixteen, said he had been to 1007. Staden produced a bill for him to sign; but "" and engaged by Mr. Tripe as a clerk in the Australian upon the third stamp he merely wrote "accepted, The defendant James filled up Mining and Emigration Office. There were two other forgot to put his name. boys. No book was kept except a call book, in which two of the bills. When he got home to his lodgings he the names of people who called were put down. threw himself on the bed with his clothes on, and about Montague and Tripe sat in a private room, cailed the eleven o'clock the same morning, while he was having board-room. He was in the office six weeks, but his breakfast, Staden came in, and he heard him say received payment for no more than two, and when he something about money, and a share of a 1007.; and he asked for his salary Mr. Tripe told him to wait. told him to wait. The then told witness that he had not signed the third bill, On being crosslist of proprietors of the Australian Gold Diggings and he gave it to him, and he signed it. Company, to which was attached the name of Mr. examined, Mr. Hamp admitted that he had been at Montague, as mineralogist, &c., &c., was handed up to Broome's house since this transaction occurred; and it the Alderman, who said: "I have ascertained that the also appeared that Broome had stayed at Mr. Hamp's names of the gentlemen put forward in this list have house in the country during the last hunting season. been every one used without their knowledge of the The Lord Chief Justice asked the prosecutor how he concern, or any one connected with it, and there are could entertain a man at his house for a fortnight whom several other impositions of the kind passing before the he charged with robbing him. Mr. Hamp said that eyes of the public daily." When the examination was Broome came to his house and he allowed him to stayfinished, the Alderman expressed his satisfaction that that was all he knew about it. The Lord Chief Justice, there was not the slightest imputation against any of in summing up, said it was clear that the prosecutor the gentlemen whose names had been put down in the had acted with a great deal of indiscretion and folly in prospectus without their sanction. With respect to the transaction, but that afforded no ground of excuse the two prisoners it was his intention on a future day for the defendants, and if the jury should be of opinion to commit them for trial, and he hoped the public that the evidence was sufficient to satisfy them that the would exercise the utmost vigilance in dealing with defendants conspired together for the purpose of mining and emigration companies, particularly at such plundering him, it would be their duty to say so by a time. Montague, who was brought by habeas from their verdict. The jury returned a verdict of guilty the Queen's Bench prison, was then delivered into the against both defendants, and they were sentenced to This custody of the sheriff's officer and taken back with a imprisonment with hard labour for two years. magisterial detainer to that place of security, and Tripe case ought to have been tried at the last assizes, but was conveyed to the Compter. the prosecutor did not appear to give evidence, and his recognisance in the sum of 5007. was ordered to be estreated. It now appeared that Mr. Hamp had gone to Boulogne to avoid appearing on that occasion. Lord Chief Justice directed that he should enter into a recognisance of 500l. to appear and give evidence against Broome at the next assizes.

At the Lewes Assizes, on the 23rd, Charles Sladen and John James were tried for a conspiracy to cheat a young gentleman named Hamp, by Fraudulent play at Cards. John Broome, the pugilist, was to have been included in the same charge, but he failed to appear to take his trial. A warrant was issued for his apprehension, and the trial of the other two defendants was proceeded with. Mr. Hamp's story of the manner in which he had been plucked was corroborated by the other evidence. He said he was twenty-two, and of no profession. When he came of age he was entitled to considerable property; and he came to London in July last to see the Exhibition, and took up his quarters at the house of Broome, the pugilist, the Rising Sun, in Piccadilly. He accompanied Broome and a party of his friends to Brighton, to see the races. After the races were over, Staden and James were introduced to the party, and they all dined at the house of a person named Mutten. On the following day they again went to Mutten's, and began to toss for "the odd man." He lost 107. or 201. at the tossing, at least he had that amount when he went in, and he had nothing when he went out. They began tossing for half-crowns, and increased the stake to half-a-sovereign, and then a sovereign, and while they were tossing they drank brandy and water and American punch. He did not know who ordered or who paid for the liquor. When they left Mutten's house he believed they all four went to Staden's house, and when they went in, brandy, rum, and gin were put upon the table, and they all drank some. Broome then asked Staden if he had got any cards in the house, and he said he believed he had a pack, but he did not know whether the children had got hold of them, and he shortly afterwards brought out a pack of cards, which appeared quite clean, and not at all as though they had been in the hands of children. They then proposed playing at cards, and the witness said he did not understand any game. Broome then threw himself upon a sofa, and apparently went to sleep, and the witness, and James, and Staden proceeded to play at "Wilful Murder." He did not know how long they played, but he did not get to his lodgings until six o'clock the following morning. He did not know whether he had any money in his pocket at the time he was playing, but when his losses amounted to one hundred pounds, Staden produced a blank stamp from his pocket, and witness put his name across it. He at first objected to put his

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C. Collins, an old man of shabby-genteel appearance, was charged at the Westminster Police Court on the 13th, with Fraudulently Obtaining a Portrait of the Earl of Desart. H. Cox, butler to the Earl, said that the prisoner, after writing to his lordship, came to his house in 1848, and had an interview with him. His object in writing and coming was to obtain his lordship's portrait, to have a copy engraved from it. Prisoner subsequently sent a man for the portrait in 1848, and it was taken away by him. About five weeks ago the Earl received the following letter, enclosing a pawnbroker's ticket of the portrait.

"My Lord, I have really now no other remedy but to write to your lordship and disclose what must be to me most painful; I struggled, but failed in my efforts, to publish your lordship's portrait in my national work of eminent Conservatives, and during the Whig administration my efforts were all in vain. A distress on my property was the result, and in order to save the property of others, I was compelled to adopt a most disagrecable mode to do so. Your lordship's portrait, amongst the rest, is in perfect safety at a considerable expense to myself. How, my lord, I rejoiced when Lord Derby's Government was installed! I made myself quite certain of conquering my difficulties, by proceeding with my national work, and my resolution was formed to place your portrait in hand forthwith; but, my lord, unexpected troubles have come upon me, and you cannot possibly conceive my position. I inclose the document to show the portrait is in safety; but, my lord, not being able to conquer the troubles with which I am visited, I have been advised to have resort to your lordship without loss of time. I will not enter into details as to my present position; suffice it to say, that it is of the most excruciating nature. I have, &c.,

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