SCENE AT AN INQUEST.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1877, 8 January 1875, Page 3

SCENE AT AN INQUEST.

A rather amusing scene (says a Sydney exchange) occured at an inquest respecting the cause of the death of a female infant whose body.was found near a house in Bourke-street. It was quite evident, from occasional remarks made by several of the jurymen while the examination of witnesses was proceeding, that something very novel, if not amusing, must occur before the close of the proceedings. The jury were : asked whether they wished to make further- examination, and one of them thus ppened..fire:—(Addressing a r witness^— now, *whiM was the best—to send for ia doctor or lave the girl in pain.? ■■' No answer. "Well, s'pose now won of us fell on the floor ;wid ipain, which;' -wpiiidj it %e better— to lave us on the flu^e^go fo? a doctor? 7-'; Withes?, cuttingly V *' V'TSsive $(#1: on,; the;, floo^/' " Would you P Then that's all I want." Silence reigned aw.hiler ~ TKen ,one of the. " gentlemen of the jury" said: <f It's my opinion, your Worship, thit- the girl as born theichildrkiiledit." Similar e?pres r sions of •opinion were maide by one or^two others, and then corqner again directed the jury. A decidedly original consultar. tion ensued; Then the foreman advanced to the coroner, and thus solemnly delivered himself: "We find that the girl bore the darling child, and that it was alive, and now, mbn^ dead, your Worship, and that it died—:that, that the billet-wood; —we wouldn't like to say." Coroner: *• TJpbri^my^woT&^ "Go along \ that"s not it; that's all wrong "—" Of course it is." Foreman; " Well, sir, that's my own opinion, and if it's not theirs I can't help it, I suppose." " Consider your verdict, gentlemen," replied the coroner, with official wrath. Another consultation, and then the verdict was announced to the coroner to the effect that wilful murder had been committed by the girl, when one of the jurymen cried out, not my opinion at all; I never said so." "Sendfor thejKrl herself, and let us get at the trutflff said a second juryman. Another consultation, when a verdict,that half of the jury appeared not to comprehend was returned.

An Old Soldier.—Boetor Beid was conversing with an old Kpssu chief, and talced-him how many wars he had foughtIn. Ho reply*' aieidssT7iiSTfasoffeiidec] s and withdrew. Some iiciu'S after the eld man came to him, leading syOS^vSG years old or so. " Siv," he-said, "ask this boy how many wars he has fought; he will tell you. But don't ask a greyheaded man, because he doesn tknow."' English Digestions.—Bailey writes from London to an American paper— " The English eat breakfast at 8 o'clock or later, lunch at 1, and have dinner at 6or 7 o'clock. The breakfast is light, the luncheon similar, and the dinner is quite; hearty. One English dinnerin the inexperienced American stomach will produce that night eight bears with calico tails, 11 giants with illuminated heads, one awful dog with 12 legs, and 14 bowlegged ruffians chased by a host of piratical cauliflowers mounted on saddles of beef roasted. Any respectable chemist wiljfcorroborate this statement." EK.aph on an American PianoMakeb.—"Mr Chickering was, like his own pianos, grand, square, and upright." We find the following item in an Illinois paper.:—" Mr ; , who has been in retirement for a few weeks after marrying and burying three sisters, came up smilingly to the altar again yesterday, having begun on a new family." Some spooney says woman is an angel, but we don't believe an angel would sit at a second-story window on Mason-street, and yell, " Lock out, old stovepipe ! " before slinging peace-stone at the silk hat of a passer-by. —Milwaukee Sentinel. This is what an American literary gentleman says;—" A woman will cling to the chosen object of her heart, and you can't separate her without snapping strings no art can mend, and leaving a portion other soul-on the upper-leather of your affections. She will sometimes see something to love where others see nothing to admire ; and when.fondness is once fastened on a follow it sticks like glue and treacle in a bushy head of hair." Dramas with legs naturally have the best run.