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Dunstan Times, Issue 794, 6 July 1877, Page 4

The Pall Mall Gazette reports that a tripe seller, named Evans, sued two police officers for LSO damages f for unnecessary violence to which he alleged he had been subjected at their hands. He was, it seems, sent to prison because he declined to pay a fine imposed upon him by the County Magistrate for selling tripe on a Sunday. The defendants, who took him to gaol, put handsuffs upon him and marched him through the streets. One of the defendants, in cross examination admitted that as a rule they handcuffed all prisoners, except aged and infirm ones, when taking them to gaol, without respect of their peaceableness. The judge, observed that there could be no greater mistake than to suppose that the police had a right to handcuff a peaceable citizen, in whatever position he might be, when they pi eased, unless they had reasonable cause to apprenend that he was either about to commit an assault or try to escape. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff, with L2O damages. The Police are apt to imagine that a prisoner in custody loses all his rights as a citizen. In this case their instincts might surely have told them that the offence of selling tripe on a Sunday was not one which rendered it necessary or desirable to treat the offender as though he was a desperate •ruffian, capable of any atrocity.