CHRONICLE. 



365 



17th. Mr. W. Spencer, a re- 

 spectable farmer at Balsham, Cam- 

 bridgeshire, yrho had enjoyed an 

 uninterrupted state of health all his 

 life, was a few days since, in the 

 79th year of his age, overturned in 

 a taxed-cart, by %vhirh he was so 

 'much bruised as to e.vpire in about 

 an hour. 



ISth. Some valuable copper mines 

 lave lately been discovered on the 

 duke of Bedford's estate in Devon- 

 shire, near Marvel Downs ; a hill 

 *about 700 feet above the Iev6l of 

 'the adjacent river, under which a 

 tunnel is no-.v forming that will be 

 13 miles and a half long. T'lis 

 tunnel crosses a rich vein of copper 

 ore. 



IDfh. In the court of Kinfi;'s 

 bench an action was brought by Mr. 

 Southerwood, a custom-house offi- 

 cer, against Mr. Ramsdcn, an emi- 

 nent cow keeper, 50 years old, and 

 having a wife and large family, for 

 the seduction of his daughter. He 

 met her in Xewgate-strcet ; and, 

 pretending he would make a settle- 

 ment on her, enticed her to live 

 with him in various places, till she 

 proved pregnant : when he aban- 

 doned her. — The defendant at- 

 tempted to repel the charge, by pro- 

 ducing some female witnesses, of 

 loose character, to prove that Eliza- 

 bcth Southerwood h;td been de- 

 bauched before the defendant knew 

 her, and that she resorted to houses 

 of ill fame. Their testimony, how- 

 ever, was not believed ; and the 

 jury gave a verdict for the plantilf 

 — damages 3001. 



20th. The court of King's Bench 

 was occupied for 1/ hours on the 

 trial of an indictment, which charg- 

 ed lieutenant colonel Robert Pas- 

 singliam, of the Cheshire fencibles, 

 and John Edwurd», esq. with a c6n- 



spiracy, to procure the consent <Jf 

 the prosecutor to a separation from 

 his wife, and to compel him toallo*r 

 her a large separate maintenance, 

 ?.ud that by chargina; him with 

 crimes of the most abominable kind. 

 From the evidence it appeared, that 

 the prosecutor, George Townsend 

 I'urroete, esqr. of Ehnly, in Worces- 

 tershire, was married to a Miss 

 Jones, of that county, with whoin. 

 he lived for some years in the great- 

 est harm 01: r. 'i'he tlefendauts were 

 near relations to her, the latter 

 (Mr. Edwards) by marriage. Great 

 habits of ia'imacy and friendship 

 subsisted between these parties for 

 years, until the defendant, colonel 

 Passingham, seduced tha prosecu- 

 tor's wife. From that time a con- 

 spiracy was formed to charge the 

 prosecutor with unnatural propen- 

 sities, in order to procure the con- 

 templated separation. Reports were 

 at first circulated, letters were theii 

 dispersed, which stated varioiJs 

 practices of the proser^utor's tend- 

 ing to diabolical crimes; and, lastly, 

 persons were produced before the 

 magistrates at Bow-street, who gave 

 such positive testimony, on oath, of 

 the most shocking crimes, a:s induc- 

 ed them to issue a warrant for the 

 apprehension of the prosecutor. 

 He was arrested on the coast of 

 Kent ; but, upon a further investi- 

 gation, the principal witness retract- 

 ed his assertion, and acknowledge'd 

 it wai false. — The prosecutor him- 

 self was near four hours under ex- 

 amination : in the course of which, 

 he was frequently so agitated as to 

 be deprfved of speech, particularly 

 when the subject of his wife Sfi'if 

 children was callud in question. 

 His oivti Evidence, and that of the 

 greater pitrt of his'witnes*iC3, esta- 

 blishcd the facts cliurged In tbc in- 

 dictment- 



