RESIDENT MAGISTRATES' COURT.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 224, 17 September 1873, Page 2

RESIDENT MAGISTRATES' COURT.

I Before J. Sharp] Esq.,|aad'R. Poilock,^q., J.^.T'i j T,:\ J Tffls"t)AT.!l i2J J'"\ Oakey v. James. — This ! was -an acjlSn to recover the sum of £15 15s. _Mr Mac-, ;lean appeared forl^tfe^ plaintiff, and *Mf Fell, for the defendant. -Judgment Wtfs .reserv.'d until Tuesday; next. .^ 7~ \ Elizabeth Betts<nrjMrs Denne,—Thii ;was:.an -action, arising out: of a dispiittrd l agreement, the sum^of £2 duefor wages. for plaintiff for amount claimed and costs 9s. : John M'Caw waarjijifarged by Inspeofbr^ ,Bha!lcrasß with wilnilly and obscene!^' e__posing his person within view o^-^a* certain street. Mr Maclean appeared for' the defendant, who was fined £10, or,4tt-. default two months imprisonment. AT

F__A_.bE bas now something over £40,000,000 to pay within a period of little mora .ban three months, jußt after having made a rather heavy payment of £20,000,000. According to a statement just made by the Minister Dulbruck to the Beichstag, Germany will have received altogether, by September the sth, about £222,000,000,— viz., Indemnity (5 milliards),£2oo,ooo,ooo; interest £12,000,000 Paris contribution f_c, £10,275,000 — total, £222,275,000. Deducting the value of the Alsace and Lorraine railways, reckoned in the £200,000,000, the transfer altogether will be £210,000,000 in bills and cash within barely two years and a-half, and about £125,000,000 will have heen transferred within the twelve months ending September. An earthquake in Northern Italy is thns described by the Times :— Mr W. Stark writes to as from Venice, ander date the 2nd July, a description of the earthquake which visited the north of Italy on Sunday morning. As he was sitting up in bed, and awake atthe time of its occurrence, he was able (o observe all the phenomena attending it. He noteo. the hoar of the morning, the -exact time the und nia ting movement of the earth continued, its direction, and the duration and inclination of. each wave, and his statements are exactly borne ont by the authorities at the Royal Observatory in Venice, their authority resting on the self-recording instruments nsed in that i establishment. The sensation produced hy the earthquake itself was most extraordinary. The solid earth seemed for a time to have been converted into a liquid one, and the houses on it were tossed about like ships at sea, moving up and down to rapidly succeeding waves. There were fourteen movements in all, seven forward and seven backward, and each movement occupied a second, as regular and even in their beat as the pendulum of a clock, and with the last backward movement there waa a sudden and instantaneoas stop in its centre— the earth was firm once more, and the buildings on it remained upright* If the waves in the earth, had followed each other with more rapidity, and had not heen of that slow and regular character which happily characterised them, Mr Stark thinks the whole of the Venetian States wonld have been one mass of ruins, and the loss of life prodigious. Happily, the waves were wide enough and slanted sufficiently to enable the houses to "go" with them without any extraordinary strain on their- mason and woodwork. The movement in reality was so great- and so prolonged that, not being a "good sailor," Mr Stark felt " land " sick, not fancifully hut really, and simply from the undulation in the earth. ' The story of the late President Lincoln's duel, has, says the Pall Mall Gazette, been recalled by the murder lately committed in New York by Frank Walworth, the parricide, which has attracted so much attention. Walworth's mother, it seems, is the daughter of Colonel .Hardin, who on the occasion of a meeting between Mr Lincoln and General Shields, by his interference at the last moment, prevented the serious results which would otherwise have ensued. Mr Lincoln and General Shields were intimate friends, and their quarrel arose from the following circumstances:— A young lady sent a contribution to one of the Springfield newspapers, which, in General Shields' opinion, contained passages personally offensive. to himself. He therefore called upon the editor to give up the same of his correspondent or take the choice of being horsewhipped in three days. The editor, unwilling -to breakfaith with the yonng lady consulted Mr Lincoln as to the course he Bhould adopt. Mr Lincoln could think of bnt one plan to save the editor. " When Shields comes round with his club," he said, " tell him that Abe Lincoln wrote that letter." The suggestion wasacted on, and the indignant General was requested to. call on Mr Lincoln for satisfaction. This altered the view of the case entirely. General Shields knew it was useless to come fooling about Lincoln with a cane. The late President was in those days a great long-armed muscular fellow, good natured but resolute, and could deal such blows with his fists as to make his antagonists think that rail-splitting was his past-time. It was too late, however, for Shields to draw back after' all His bluster, and he therefore sent a challenge to Mr Lincoln, which was accepted, and, to the dismay of the challenger, "long swords '* were selected by that gentleman as the weapons. Mr Lincoln had no skill with the sword, but his' tremendous length of arm and muscular power would have enabled him to chop off General Shields' head before the latter could get himself into position for a scienti^ JL—r: 7 When the fatal m***^* _ -7j 0 thrust. Lincoln . —*'„- --"___ u ing arrived, Mr _._--- , ivttn hissecond, was the first on the ground, and on the arrival of the others waa discovered clearing away with a hatchet tbe boshes that would have interfered with the fight. This incident provoked a smile, and Colonel Hardin, who then appeared on the field, took advantage of the momentary mirth to appeal to both parties not to make fools of themselves. This appeal was fortunately successful, and Mr Lincoln often said afterwards that he looked upon his own participation in the affair aa the meanest act of his life. Colonel Hardin was subsequequently killed at the battle of Buena Vista.