Vruniurial.

At Southport, on Wednesday and Thursday, Mr. Whitworth's guns were again tried. Two parties of gunners were the practitioners ; one from the North Fort at Liverpool, commanded by Captain Carpenter of the Royal Artillery, and a second from the Excellent, under Lieutenant Ward, RS. The Government was represented by Colonel St. George, General Bingham, Sir G. Wetherell, Sir John Burgoyne, and others. Mr. Bidder, President of the Civil Engineers and Mr. Hussey Vivian, M.P., also were on the ground. The experiments were all successful and gave great satis- faction, but the official return has yet to be made.

A very short strike among the chain-makers of the Tyne and Wear, has been amicably terminated; by the masters conceding the demand of the men for an advance of wages of about 8 per cent. The men were only "out" three days.

The West Riding of Yorkshire, was visited last week by violent storms of thunder and lightning ; in several parts the cereal crops have been a good deal laid, but not much damage is done. Cottages at Mexborough near Rotherham were considerably damaged. A number of sheep were killed in a field at Sandell near Doncaster. Two houses were damaged in Sheffield on Thursday. The Wesleyan Chapel at Ecclesfield suffered in its walls, gallery, clock and windows. Two houses were also struck, and bedsteads, and other articles shivered to pieces ; one little girl was thrown down and rendered insensible for some time, but recovered. A poor man named Wil- liam Neptune employed at Airdale Foundry was killed. His clothes were cut open as with a knife, set on fire, and the body dreadfully scorched ; ano- ther man standing near was temporarily paralyzed. The rain came down in a deluge, and did considerable damage to the turnip crops.

A sagacious dog at Berwick on Monday last came to the station-master, and played such antics to and fro, as induced the master to follow along the railway bridge ; a poor man was found lying run over by a train, one leg so frightfully crushed as to require amputation to save life. Had it not been for the dog, another tram speedily due would have passed over the man's body, and cut him to pieces.

At the Lewes Assizes, on Monday, Thomas Hopley was charged with the manslaughter of Reginald Channel! Cancellor,.his pupil. The facts are too well remembered. The case for ihe prosecution established that the de- ceased was the son of the late Mr. Canceller, formerly one of the Masters of the Court of Common Pleas, who had died since this unfortunate transaction, and the godson of Mr. Baron Channel]. The prisoner was to receive a stipend of 1801. per annum for taking charge of the deceased. The lad, it appeared, was undoubtedly an obstinate and to some extent what was called a slow boy ; and it appeared that at Christmas last he was punished to some con- siderable extent by the prisoner, he having at that time been only a few months under his charge. He went home for a short time at Easter, and then returned to school, and about the middle of April the prisoner wrote a very extraordinary letter to the father of the deceased, in which he stated he had tried every means in his power to conquer the boy's obstinacy and in- duce him to perform his studies, but they were of no avail, and that the only thing that could be done was to resort to strong measures of corporal punish- ment, and he asked the consent of the father to the adoption of this course. The father of the deceased permitted the prisoner to act as he thought fit, but he never intended to sanction the infliction of any cold-blooded or heart- less violence, such as was imputed to the prisoner, upon his unfortunate child, neither had he the power to do so. Witnesses proved the corporal punishment of the deceased ; medical testimony from Mr. Prescott Hewitt, and Dr. Hewitt, proved that death took place from the shock to the nervous system, and the quantity of blood extravasated into the cellular membranes. Verdict, Guilty. Sentence, four years' penal servitude.

At Nottingham Assizes, John Fenton was tried for the wilful murder of Charles Spencer. The evidence was wholly circumstantial, and of three distinct species. Pistols found hard by the body of the deceased, which were fitted by the bullets extracted from his head, were sworn to have been the property of the prisoner's father, to whose house and property the pri- soner had succeeded ; and he was shown to have been up to a recent time possessed of pistols, and bullets found on him corresponded with them. If the prisoner had parted with his pistols, how was it that he had bullets in his pocket, and caps, one of these bullets exactly fitting the pistols found, and the caps also fitting the nipple?' There was a track of footmarks from the gate near Gamson's barn to that opposite the prisoner's house ; the clothes, showed marks of discoloration, which Mr. Herapath of Bristol had analyzed, and he had proved that, although the stains were caused by blood, he could not swear it was human and not the blood of an anima. Verdict Guilty. Sentence death.

At Lewes Assizes, George Bull was charged with the manslaughter of his mother. The deceased lady at the time of her death was sixty-six years of age, and she was very ailing and was subject to violent fits of sickness, and the prisoner, who had been brought up to the medical profession, and was possessed of considerable skill in that profession, although he was not in regular practice, attended upon his mother for those ailments, and it ap- peared that he was in the habit of prescribing for her small doses of prune acid of Scheele's strength, which was the kind generally used, and this treatment appeared to have afforded the deceased considerable relief. On

Wednesday, the 11th of July, the deceased complained of being poorly, and the prisoner procured a gram, or sixty minims, of prussic acid, from Mr. Roswell, a chemist in this town, and he administered to the deceased in the early part of the day a dose of four minims of the acid, and it seemed to do her good, as she stated she felt better, and in the evening went out for a walk. Upon her return she complained again of being unwell, and the pri- soner administered to her another dose of prussic acid, and he was afraid that upon this occasion he administered a deadly quantity, for the deceased had hardly time to go up to her bedroom when she became insensible, and died almost immediately afterwards. The question of intent a good deal turned upon a defective cork in the bottle containing the acid, by which a larger quantity might accidentally have been administered than necessary. Ver- dict, Not Guilty.

At Lewes Assizes, Peter Dewdney was found guilty of the manslaughter of Samuel Rowland, for whose murder he was indicted. The prisoner's cows were distrained for rent by his landlord, and the prisoner deliberately shot the deceased who was assisting in the legal operation of distraint. The prisoner is a weak-minded man.

At Stafford Assizes Edward Humphrey was charged with the manslaugh- ter of Elizabeth Evans. In a fit of drunken fury he had kicked the de- ceased, with whom he lived, so as to cause her death. Verdict, Guilty: Sentence, eight years penal servitude.

Photography was used in aid of the police at Huntingdon on Thurs- day week. Samuel Oliver was convicted of sacrilegiously entering a church and stealing Bibles and Prayer-Books. His photographic portrait had been sent to all the gaolers in England, which elicited the unfavourable fact, that Samuel had been summarily convicted twenty times before, so his sentence on this occasion was six years' penal servitude.

Inspector Whicher, an Inspector of the Detective Force, has been engaged in the investigation of the Frome murder, and his inquiries have resulted in the apprehension of Constance, the daughter of Mr. Kent, the father of the murdered child by his second wife. The evidence as yet discovered against her is circumstantial,: and shows that—the murder could only be committed by some one in the house ; an animus on her part against her half-brother; and that a night-dress is missing and not accounted for.

At Cambridge, Thomas Pretlove Daley was accused of making a false de- claration under the 18th and 19th Victoria, cap. 119, of the age of a young lady whom he proposed to marry ; he having become a widower five months before. He represented the lady's age as twenty-one, whereas she was only sixteen ; it was suggested with a view of getting the marriage performed without the consent of the lady's parents. Verdict—Not Guilty.

The trials of the Yorkshire briberies were resumed at York on Friday week. The trial of Mr. Charlesworth and his friends were postponed till next Assizes, a material witness being wanted. Hinchcliffe, one of Mr. Leatham's party, withdrew his plea, and pleaded guilty. Mr. Marsland, another of the Liberal party, defended in person, and with some success as to j

one count of the indictment, but the jury found him guilty of another, charging him with promising to forgive Newsome, a voter, a debt. Noble was found guilty of offering to bribe a voter ; not guilty upon two other counts. The Beverley case resulted in the conviction of Daniel Boyes for giving two sovereigns to a voter named Pougher. Robert Taylor was ac- quitted ; two of the witnesses were so intoxicated as not to be able to give evidence.

Mrs. Cowley of Sunderland was engaged at the Baths and Washhouses some time ago, and using the wringing machine, the revolving spindle caught her dress with the square edge, twisted her round, and so seriously injured her breasts that one of them had to be amputated. The question of negligence mutually imputed to each other by Mrs. Cowley and the Cor- poration of Sunderland, who appeared as plaintiff and defendant at Durham Assizes on Tuesday, was decided by the Jury in the lady's favour, with damages of 501.

At Durham Assizes Mrs. Suddes sued Mr. Balleny, a county gentleman, for so negligently carrying a gun as that he shot her husband, his game- keeper. On a night in last September some poachers were heard on the defendant's estate, and the defendant, his two sons, the deceased, and an- other man went out and succeeded in apprehending two poachers. The poachers made great resistance, and had a dog with them, which they set upon one of the defendant's sons, who said he would shoot it if they did, and who did shoot it. The defendant became alarmed about the guns, and told his sons to give him their guns, and told Suddes to do the same. The

defendant had two guns under one arm, when his gamekeeper Suddes handed him a third gun to put under his other arm, the defendant having a stick in that hand. This gun was alleged to be defective in the lock, and was the gun one barrel of which the defendant's son had fired off. From some cause the gun then exploded, and the charge striking the game- keeper subsequently caused his death. It was alleged that the defendant knew the gun was defective in the lock and had allowed it to be taken out improperly. This, however was disproved. The defence was, that it was an accident ; and the verdict of the Jury confirmed that view. But the de- fendant handsomely declared he not only would not call upon the widow to pay her costs, but he would support her for life. His only object in re- sisting the action was to remove the imputation of negligently causing the death of a fellow-creature.

At Stafford, the action Woolton versus Snape to recover damages for se- duction was tried. The plaintiff lived with her father and stepmother; the defendant was a lodger in the house and is the brother of the stepmother. The defence was, that the girl's story was wholly untrue ; but, after a mass of contradictory testimony, the Jury found a verdict for the plaintiff damages, 2501. The point of singularity is, that this was a new trial obtained by the defendant, to set aside a previous verdict for only 501.

At Cambridge, Mr. Donnex sued a policeman, Turrall, for false imprison- ment; defendant pleaded that what he did was done in the discharge of his duty. A pieman had refused a shilling from the plaintiff as a bad one, and unable to get another, accusedMr. Donnex of passing bad money. But the defendant, entertaining a doubt, had the shilling tested, and finding it was really good, though a little suspicious looking, discharged the plaintiff. The Lord Chief Justice (Erle) said the defendant had acted precisely as he himself would have done in the circumstances. Verdict for defendant.

At York Assizes, Messrs. Thornhill sued Messrs. Somerhill for libel; the par- dee are both extensive shoe-blade and awl manufacturers, and Messrs. Somer- hilIare also patentees of a particular kind of awl called the "Titus Awl." In January last they heard that some persons of the same name at Bloawich were manufacturing the Titus awl, and they published a placard warning the trade, and went on to say that the defendants "have no agency on their account, and that they have no connexion with them (plaintiffs) as cus- tomers or otherwise." The plaintiffs complained of the imputation ; and the defendants disclaimed any desire to impute fraud, but refused to publish their disclaimer ; hence the action. The Judge recommended a mutual explanation; all imputations and a juror were withdrawn, and each party pays his own costs.