Untitled

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1916, 23 February 1875, Page 2

London, Dec.l6th, 1874.

A case is going on here at present of which we are already having ominou* forebodings that it may t drag to a length approximate to that of the "Tichborne trial." One-Captain Frederick appears as petitioner — against Vice-Admiral Frederick—to hare his father's legitimacy acknowledged (the claim, of course, involving also property rights) in virtue of .his . grandfather, Colonel Frederick's marriage with Miss Martha Eigden in 1773. It i? perhaps one of the most complicated cases ever brought. .into Court; for, in-the first place, the petitioner has ayoWedly no marriage certificate, marriage settlement, or other document; while on the other hand there are the facts that the said Martha Rigden, otherwise Frederick, was universally received in. IncUa as Mrs Frederick; and alter Colonel Frederick's death/ received a pension from the East - India Company as a Colonel's widow,- which no doubt implies that such, a-document must have been in existence ; there are also letters innumerable from members of Colonel Frederick's family, addressing her as a relative. Per contra .to this, it; is proved by documentary evidence that the lady's - own uncle, • one William Bigden, did, three years, after the date now assigned to her marriage, make a will in her favor, designating her as Martha. Kigden, spinster; and)als«,.there is evidence that many others of her own family continued always to disbelieve the fact of the marriage, and refused to acknowledge her! This is the substance of the proofs and arguments as far ,as ' they have gone. It has not as yet been suggested that, although not married at the date assigned, the couple might have been married at a subsequent period, but having been already universally received abroad, and generally at home, as husband and wife, the lady might, to avoid after .aspersions on her good fame, have de? stroyed or concealed the documentary evidence, after it had answered the purpose of securing her pension. In such a case, no doubt, the marriage, if marriage there was, may have taken place too late to secure the legitimacy of the petitioner's father. But, what a bint for Ouida's or Miss Braddon's next romance; '

By the 1 way, touching the Tichborne case, the " ancient mariner," hailing from Yankee land, who told the interesting story of having buried the real Roger Tichborne on a desolate island called Syjjmey Isle, has made no further sign. Tm& story itself does not seem to bar^fexcited any intense or wide-spread interest, ; but some few there must hare been who would feel curiosity for further particulars, but further particulars don't seem to be forthcoming ; whether he has gone •« v-irrfd;tß8 t%ddyrbKbirs^ij*a^: died without any-purposeful Like same he is riot. ! *■■■'* -- ; * *-"'r • ForeignettiiaveTW* know-been under the' impression th* t November irrtbe dullest month}-inT tbte Fn*Ush Ijjear. Our French .friends .especially, who exhibit in all their writing* #uch an intimate acquaintance witElhemanfaers and ciiitomi of-- 41 Sir Smiths" afi'd *LSAf Jobn Bulls," hare more than-"on<re been at pains in endeavouring 'to inflate tbeir%wn cotfetrywomen understand^ why wo hare an annual epidemicdf "suicide in that month. Such of us as escape this however, would seem: to get rather on the reverse side of melancholy o£ even seri«usresa. , Don't we celebrate a saturna'ia in memory of Guy Fawkes; wiiieh' sb%fetsnes threatens to burn !stfbwn a town or so, as at ihe good townLofHLewesy^ when in the ■" post", office and- other' - public buildings, officials are itept up all nicht with means at hand to extinguish the fir*, should the explosive missiles flung at, and into it take effect. Also, haven't we herein. London our Lord Mayors show, and illuminations and .other. jollifications for the birth-day of tHe Ennce/of -Wales. We,.,at., home indeed, might, consider it altogether the most unpleasantly hilarious month of the whole.year (thisallusion we beg to say in no way applies to the Prince of Wales); but, that wo.hare disclosed by reason" of a case .fried' 'ift, one of our County Courts lately, that other months are remarkable for quite as disagreeable ; manifestations and high.; serifs ai' Nownber. A fefr weeks ago one Mr Htttill Checkley, a farmer.of JBoyne Hill, rotd in the Windsor County Courfc one David Wilton for an assault committed on the 29th, SeptemberUa*t,,MichjfilmasrjUtjy; which assault consisted in having, with the help of some other individual, haniped Mr Checkley, who is a fta&xdan of obese- habit, violently: agalnn*: a post, thereby causing him' 1 serious ilfaeM,^<jsides considerable exp€tefc*?o*?ttsttical advice. In the-process of bumping, we need scarcely-«ay 4hat it is •• that part of the persoalesffltxiCfpftbler.irfjSißaking dtfence," as Goldsmith expressed it, which is brought into contact "withi-the article . bumped against.* The article% this ease was,janxiron;ppft; : but; ahhoftfh the collision of " that part even with an iron post may not be as dinierimr as the collisionluof the -parietal bone wit& a poker, it really appeals.4oj,h^%sgM a safe any more, than a pleasant process. Mr Checkley* did notappreciate it at all events, and brought hii action, jmuch to the surprise of the defendant, who called his witness'to prove that the bumping o£Mt Checkley~was only-part and parcel of a time honored amusement, iudutged in while " beating the bounds," as it is called, on Michaelmas day ;fthat in a municipality. " The Mayor of Windsor '■. had been bumped • th* tafidus clergymen had been bumped;" and they did not complaint-in fact, "they, rather liked it." _ What had Mr Checkley to complain of? was.evidently. Mr David Wilton*« internal-'-'query. 1'sHad not worshipful and reverend gentltmen enjoyed the ■' fun;" had not muniimt^pnd ecclesiastical '" parts least" * capable"; of making defence " been brought into contact with iron posts, and should t farmer complain? The worthy Magistrate, however, saw the.business in the *ame light that Mr Checkley did, rather than in that of Mr David Wilton, and the hilarious Mayor and frisky clericals; that is, he did not see the "fan," and he did understand that Mr Checkley may have felt far from funny when the process "was om ; so Mr Dapd Wilton had to pay ten pounds for the damages to Mr Checkley's pumped personality, beside the costs. Possibly, next Michaelmas, the boundary beaters may see the. prudence of not beating literal-minded agriculturalists, but confine their bumping^ to more imaginative ecclesiastics, and municmal officers. •."•'-*■' ' ' %.( >*;•" . In the Annual Eeport upon Crimtnil Lunatic Asylums in Ireland, just-issued, the. death is reported of the. oldest criminal lunatic in that country---■'most probably in the British dominions. This is Captain Stewart, who was acquitted in the, year 1829, of the murder of seven men on board the schooner Mary Bussell, trading between •. Cork .and •. the 5 W«st Indies. The facts of the case, which few at the present day remember, are. among the most curious in the records of crime. Captain Stewart, commanding the-Mary Eussell, was, perhaps, one of the most popular commanders in the: merchant service, fronrtbe kindness of his nature and the gentlemanlike cdurttsy of his manners. On his last unfortunate voyage home, he had, beside his crew, a passenger, Captain Eaynes, an Irishman, an invalided officer; and this gentleman used occasionally speak to> such of the crew as were Irishmen also, in their native language; Captain Stewart himself was an Englishman, no doubt of Scotch extraction. Stewart had shown some slight smyptoms of eccentricity befdr£sail» ing from Barbadoes, but not enough to attract much, notice; but after they had been at sea a short t me, he grew capricious in his temper, moody ;and- irritable by turns, and always appeared to be worse after having heard Captain Eaynes speak ,to any of, the. men in. Irish,_untii J»e. at last - oroke out • into . what,; anyone, ./apparently, might have known' to be open insanity ; accusing Captain Barnes—who was too ill to leave his sof«-*with inciting the crew to mutiny, and the erew^with being prepared to do so. In vain he had

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