ENGLISH EXTRACTS FROM THE HOME NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 276, 19 June 1868, Page 2

ENGLISH EXTRACTS FROM THE HOME NEWS.

We read in the * New York Times' of March 18 :—" One of the most delightful places in the world to live in is Blanco County, Texas. Though the registered vote of Blanco is 112 white and eight colored, yet the district clerk, in making return of the cases of crime in the county since June, 1865, puts down 'B3 persons indicted for murder,' ' five < assault with intent to kill,' ' 20 robbery,' ' 27 theft of stock,' and a fair show of other crimes. The 83 indicted for murder have been thus disposed of : —'lo acquitted, 40 indictments quashed, 31 continued for service, 2 dismissed.' The Texas paper, which contains these official returns, quietly remarks :—' The number of murders, probably accounts for the small registration of voters." The ' Nouvelliste de Rouen thus describes the Mitrailleuse, a new instrument of war, partly invented by the emperor : —" Imagine a coffee mill half a yard in heighth, with an opening at the top half a yard in diameter. Into this the cartouches are shovelled, and by means of a wheel turned by a handle, the soldier who works the instrument lets a single cartouche fall into each of the eight barrels of the * mitrailleuse.' These barrels are about a yard in length. As the trigger falls on the cap it closes the barrels, the shots are fired, and the wheel in turning reopens the barrels, recocks the trigger, and lets other cartouches assume the places of those discharged. This instrument, worked by a single soldier, discharges from 50 to 55 shots a minute, and is effective at 1700 yards." At the chambers of Vice-Chancellor Stuart on April 22 several summonses were heard before Mr Peake, the chief clerk, in reference to the two suits, "Tichborne v. Tichborne" andTich-

borne v. Mostyn." It was the first application since the transfer of the cause from the court of Vice-Chancel-lor Giffard,ia consequence of the ViceChancellor having been counsel for tbe claimant to the titles and estates. The plaintiff, seeking to make out his title, had filed a mass of affidavits—49, it was stated, in number—and there were

upwards of 40 more to be filed in support of his motion for a decree ; and jbn the part of the defendants it was asked that time should be granted to the 20th of May to answer the evidence, which application was strenuously resisted on the part of the claimant, and it was said that the evidence principally related to his identity. The chief clerk said, if he understood

the case, the claimant had been absenl some years. It was stated that he had been absent 12 years, and manj of the affidavits as well as the evidence had been known to the defendants, and therefore such a length of time as now asked was unnecessary. The chiei clerk said fiere were nearly 100 affidavits and upwards of 1000 folios of evidence. He should certainly grant to the defendants to May 20 to complete their evidence. Leave was given to the plaintiff to go before the judge, and on the part of the defendants it was said costs would be asked on such appeal. At the Aldershott steeplechase on April 22, over the usual course on the Government ground several casualties occurred. The most serious happened on the first race, in which Capt. Beeves' Warwick Lass», who was ridden by Capts Tait, fell at the second fence and threw her jockey, who was picked up insensible, and conveyed to the tent. In the third race Captain Hogarth's The Vet, ridden by Captain Tucker, led for half the course, and then fell and broke his neck. Sergeant-Major Barnes of the Eoyal Engineers, who was watching the racing in a position close to the stand, suddenlyfelldead,it is supposed from the effect of excitement acting on a diseased heart.

A special session of the Central Criminal Court was opened on Monday, April 20, for the purpose of trying the six prisoners charged with murder, arising out of the attempt to hlow up the wall of the House of Detention at Clerkenwell, and also for trying Burke, Shaw, and Casey for treason-felony, the indictments in the last-mentioned •cases having been removed to this court from Warwick. The judges were the Lord Chief Justice andßaronßramwell The indictment to which the prisoners were called upon to plead charged them with the wilful murder of Sarah Anne Hodgkinson, one of the persons killed by the explosion. The prisoners all pleaded " Net guilty." Some effort was made to get the cases postponed, •on the ground that counsel had only been instructed for the defence on Saturday, but the request was refused, and the prosecution opened by the Attorney-General, no difficulty being made by the prisoners in respect of the empanneling of ajury for which some 300 persons it is said were summoned. At the conclusion of the case for the prosecution on April 23, the jury, under the direction of the Lord Chief Justice and with the concurrence of the Attorney-General, acquitted Avn Justice. The remaining prisoners will, of course, be called on to make their defence, and the trial is expected to conclude on Saturday, April 25. Robert Smith, the wretched man who, in February last, near Annan, violated and murdered a little girl nine years of age, and afterwards attempted to murder a woman who had seen him take the child away from her dwelling, was put upon his trial at the Dumfries Circuit Court on April 21. He had fully confessed to the crime, was found guilty, and sentenced to death; the execution to take place at Dumfries on the 12th May.