A STRANGE TRIAL.

Dunstan Times, Issue 515, 1 March 1872, Page 3

A STRANGE TRIAL.

'At the Middlesex Session l ?, lately, a man name! William Tichuer -was convicted for an indecent assault upon one Emma Jordan, and sentenced to six months’ hard, labor. A report in the papers, now says:— “At the trial the prosecutrix gave her evidence with such a parent tru hfulncs?, that the jury, in giving their verdict, complimented her for the clearness with which she had narrated the trahsactii n, and also stated that they did not he ieve a word of what the wit ess for tin defence had Staled. The judge (Mr. Sergo mt Cox)said h‘ en irely concurrre I in the observation of the jury and remarked that he had never hear! a witness <_ive he; evidence in a more clear and truthful manner, and at the same to show his sense >f the defence that ha 1 been set up refused to allow' the witn 'ss ealle 1 by the prisoner rnv expenses. Fefore, however, the jury were discharge 1 wdio had tried the case, the judge said he had received a statement from a credit)’e source which he would order to be enquired into and if it turned Out to he true the jury would not be surprised to hear that the sentence passed upon the prisoner had been altered. At the same time the judge handed to the jury a written paper containing certa'n allegations for their pernsa' which he said could not tlx n he made public.” The prisoner was then brought np and placed in the dock, and Mr. Sergeant Cox discharged him as innocent and the cost of his witnesses allowed. The judge said he was convinced the girl had committed gross peijury. —Londomi Times.

We learn from a private source, that good mining scrip are in flemand in Dunedin, and that high prices have been, given for some. At auction, Scandinavian shares, St, Radian’s realised 172/., being 42/. advance on last sales. Latest advices from Ispahan state that the famine in Persia continues without abatement. Many districts have beto depopulated, and a’l iHerts made to afford relief have proved unavailing. It is reported that the arms taken by the Prussians from :hc Fi euch and subsequently s.ild to the Belgians, have 1 eeu secretly purchased by the International Soci dy. The Grand Duke Alexis, before leaving Chicago, banded to the Mayor a cheque for 5,009 dollars, for the lelief of the poor; as also a note, in which the Grand Duke expressed his sorrow at the calamitous tire, an I bis heart-felt symrathy wi hj the tuf. ferers therefrom, A great demonstration was made at Liverpool, on the 3rd of January, in favor of home rule for Ireland. The meeting was add’ by Mr. Sullivan, editor of one of the Dublin journals. The crowd was enthusiastic, but good order was preserved. We ake the following from a recent number of the Auckland Keening Star. —“Wo wish to draw the attention of the Melbourne police to a certain quack doctor who is now enraged in sen ling through the post disgusting and indecent pamphlets to gen 1, men of this city whose addiesses he may bo enabled to discover. Gove.nm nt officials have been picke I out by him as his especial mark and to these he ha? addressed his obnoxious tracts. As s me clue to thi? gent’emom wo may just mention that his publica'ion concludes with the following:—“Caution.—All letters containing coin or postage stamps should be registered. All letters to hj i addressed 1 1 Mr. Horace Bromley, Box, Post Office, Melbourne ”

During my stay in England in lint summer of ISC9 I made many exciusi-ns with Dicktns, both around lie <ity ;nd into the country.- Anting the most memoiahle of these London i ami-ha was a visit to the General Dot- flice, by arrangements with the authorities the: e ; a stroll among the cheap theatres and lot Ling-In-uses for the poor ; a 'isit to Furnival’s In", and the wry room in it where “Pickwick” was written; am! a walk through the thieves’ quarter. These two latter expeditions were made on two consecutive nights, under the protection of police cle’ailed for the service. Gn <nc of these nights we a’so visited the lock-up houses, watch-houses, and opium-eating establishments. It was in one of the horrid opium dens that he has telated in the opening pages of “ Edwin Drood ’. In a miserable court we found tie haggard old woman blowing at a kind of pipe made of an old penny ink bottle. The identical words which Dickens puts into the month of this wretched creature in “Edwin Drood,” we heard her croon as we leaned over the tittered led on win hj she was lying. There was si mtlhing hideous in the way th a woman kept repeating, “.Ye’ll .pay up according, deary, won’t ye?” ami the Chinamen and Lascars made never-to-be-forgotten pictures in the scene. I watched Dickon’s intently: as he went among these outcasts of En-Jaud, and saw with what deep sympathy he encountered the sad ar.d suffering in their horrid abodes. At the door of one of the penny Edging-hous s (it was growing towa d morning, and the raw morning air almost cubing one to the bone , 1 saw him snatch a little child out of its poor drnnki n mother’s arms, and bear it in filthy as it was, that it might be warmed and cared for. I noticed that whenever he < nteml one of these wretched rooms he had a word of cheer for its inmates, and that when he left the apartment he always had a pleasant “Good night”or “God bless you” to bestow upon them. Ido not think bis prison was ever recognised in any of these haunts, except in o: e instance. As we entered a low room in the worst al'ey we had yet visited, in which were huddled together some for y or fifty half starved looking vielc. es, 1 noticed a man among ihe ctowd whispering to another, anil pointing out Dickens. Both men reganli d him with much interest all the time he remained in the loom, and tiicd to get as near him, without observation, as postih'e. As he turned to go out, one < f these men pre sed forward, and sajd, .“Good night; sir,” With much feeling, in _ reply to Dickens’s parting word.—“ Our Wlnspiring Gallery,’’ m the Atlantic Monthly-