grasped his prisoner. Smith, it turned out, was arrested
soon after alighting in a field. It was argued that
Smith had not attempted murder, and he was acquitted;
but sentence of death was recorded against his comrade.

At Dorchester, William Stockley was convicted of the
Manslaughter of his father. The father, being drunk,
threatened his son's wife, and "squared at" the son; for
these offensive acts he was twice knocked down by the
son, the second time his head struck the floor, and he
died. The jury recommended the prisoner to mercy, on
the ground of the provocation; but Mr. Justice Coleridge
held that the prisoner should not have struck any man,
much less his own father, when intoxicated. However,
the sentence was only six months' imprisonment.

A singular case of Swindling has come to light. The
culprit is a man named Younge, who has been deluding
clergymen in the country and in London, by passing
himself off as an ordained minister. He came to London,
it would appear, and by showing a letter from a country
clergyman imposed upon the Reverend Allen Edwards,
incumbent of St. Matthias, Bethnal Green, and there
performed divine service and cheated local tradesmen.
Exposed in London, he went to Beighton near Sheffield,
and there, by asserting that he was the curate of Mr.
Edwards, he succeeded in imposing upon three clergymen,
preaching sermons at their request, reading the
burial service, and attending an archidiaconal visitation.
He borrowed ten shillings of one of his dupes; and the
clergyman wrote to Mr. Edwards, who gave Younge's
true history. Subsequently, he played the like tricks in
Sheffield itself, and a gentleman from Sheffield had him
arrested in London. Younge is a man of some
accomplishment, and his father, it is said, once took rank as a
gentleman.

A Commission of Lunacy has sat in St. Clement's Inn
to inquire into the state of mind of Captain Jonathan
Childe, son of Mr. William Lacon Childe, of Kinlet
Hall, Staffordshire. The inquiry was obtained by the
Alleged Lunatic's Friend Society, with a view to show
that Captain Childe is improperly confined. From the
evidence of Mr. Childe, of his third son, of medical
men, and others, it was proved, that in 1838, when
Captain Childe was in the Twelfth Lancers, he was
seized with a delusion that the Queen had an affection
for him; after her marriage he persisted in asserting
that she loved him only—the marriage with Prince
Albert was a "sham," and the Captain had a perfect
understanding with Prince Albert. Not contented with
planting himself opposite the Queen at the opera and
theatre, and endeavouring to attract her attention in
the parks, he wrote anonymous letters to her Majesty.
The writer was discovered by the authorities;
remonstrances were in vain; and at last an Army Medical
Board, sitting at Dublin, pronounced him insane. Since
that time he has been an inmate of various asylums. He
has employed much of his time in writing letters in
cipher, which have been ascertained to be declarations
of his continued love for the Queen, and abuse of the
Horse Guards and the Ministry, mixed up with general
rhapsodies, clever writing, and gross improprieties.
Besides his delusion about the Queen, the patient took
a causeless aversion towards his mother. Captain
Childe was examined by the jury. At the beginning
he showed shrewdness in his answers, and said that he
had been deceived as to the Queen's partiality for him;
as to the letters in cipher, he knew they were nonsense
—merely written to exercise his imagination.
Afterwards he said, other people had thought the Queen
had shown partiality for him—he would not say who
those persons were. The Queen had really shown a
"marked manner" towards him before and since her
marriage. He had supposed the Queen's marriage was
a sham; but he had got rid of that notion "by proofs
that it was not a sham." Subsequently, Dr. Southey,
Dr. Hume, Dr. Conolly, and Dr. Sutherland, gave it as
their opinion that Captain Childe was still of unsound
mind; and the jury returned a verdict to that effect.

A singular Suicide has been committed by a young
man named Hamer, in the employment of the Board of
Guardians at Haslingden. He was addicted to drinking,
and often was not able to be at his post in consequence,
but his wife stated at the inquest—"I do not know that
he is in debt beyond a few shop debts; but he never
told me anything, he was very close." It appeared,
however, that he had recently obtained a check for £20
as money required for one of the relieving officers,
when no such sum was really required, or handed over
by him to the relieving officer. His salary was £1 a
week. He left the two following strange letters:—
"July 1, 1854. My dear wife,—As this is the last
epistle I shall ever write to you, be so kind as to take
care of my little children, especially the pet, as you will
perceive that this is written on her birthday, and the
awful deed was intended to be committed by me at the
time I write it; but I took a further thought to see you
all before I did it. The reason assigned for so serious a
step is that I cannot withstand the cloud which keeps
hanging over me. However I may have striven I have
always been thwarted by some individual or other fond
of filthy lucre, and whose money is his god. However,
be this as it may, it is all over now, and no more faces
will I see alive in this world. I have seen enough of
those who are in it, and said but little. I will after
this say less. Give my best wishes to all who may
happen to inquire after me, and those who don't inquire
you don't need; but mind you keep off those friends
who will take my last curse with them to the grave.
Bury me at Cloughfold, and invite as many as you like,
or as few as you like. Invite all the union officers but
one; or, if you choose, you can bury me like a dog. I
don't care a straw which way, as I have seen so much
of people's consciences here that it matters little to me so
that I get out of their way. I cannot maintain the
children when I am gone, but, with your assistance,
somebody will. I know, however, I must conclude
this epistle, as my time is short. Now, farewell; good
bye. If there is another world, you may, perhaps, get
to see me there.—Your affectionate husband, JAMES
HAMER." The second letter is as follows:—"To the
Board of Guardians:—Gentlemen,—I cannot leave this
world without addressing a few lines to you before I
leave it. I began my career (sic) with the guardians in
1846 or beginning of 1847, and since then I have worked
and slaved at it like a horse, without either thank, fee,
or reward of any kind over and above the paltry wages
which I received from time to time; and in scores and
scores of instances have I worked from morning to night
and from night to morning without a single extra penny
for it; but if it happened that I was away a short
time, that time was deducted from the miserable
pittance which I had to receive, and hundreds of miles
have I travelled for the union up and down the country,
without a single farthing of expenses being allowed me,
and many a time have I been miles away from home and
not tasted food from morning, and not one halfpenny in
my pocket. This is the way I have been treated. I
have not time to tell you all, and, as a last mortification,
other people have taken the credit and received the
reward, who neither knew the business nor never (sic)
will. Yet they ('claim,' or some equivalent word,
seems to be here omitted) the credit when before
gentlemen with a grace that would make a dumb animal
speak. I have been treated like a dog. I will give you
one instance. I had to go off one Saturday, and it was
seven o'clock before I could return, and I sent my wife
for my wages. I was wet through, and when she
asked for them the servant said, 'He was off three-
quarters of an hour one day this week, that will have
to be deducted.' (You will not need to be surprised at
the servant making the observation, as she is the
attorney, and his wife is the solicitor, and he is a cypher
crushed in between). That night I was wet through
and through, and not a thought. I worked scores of
hours when they have been set at fire end; and that is
not all; if I have attempted to rise a step, I have been
thwarted by some means or other. So that you see
what a poor man has been driven to—one doing all, and
the other receiving the reward and the merit. It has
at last driven me mad. If (sic) said but little, but shall
now say less, and when you receive this I shall be no
more. In haste, yours, &c., JAMES HAMER."—The
above letters were written in a clear, firm hand, and
showed great self-possession on the part of the writer.

A new trial has been granted in the case of the Will
of the late Duchess of Manchester. On the 11th inst.,
Vice-Chancellor Page Wood delivered judgment on the