CHRONICLE. - 
AUGUST. 
9d: At the Sussex assizes, which 
were held at Lewes, the following 
cause (for cruelty to a dog) came on: 
—Hicks versus’ James Collard.— 
Mr. Morris said, the declaration set 
forth, that the plaintiff had a valu- 
able dog; that the defendant beat 
him, and rubbed his sides witha 
eaustic liquid; in consequence of 
which it became necessary to destroy 
the animal. To this the defendant 
had pleaded, that the dog trespassed 
upon his premises, and that he beat 
him to keep him away.—The plaintiff 
was astable keeper at Brighton, and 
the animal destroyed was his yard 
dog. The defendant was a druggist 
and chemist, who had a bitch in his 
house, to which the dog paid oc- 
casional visits. In one of those visits 
the defendant secured the dog, most 
cruelly poured on him oil of vitriol, 
and turned him out. In the course 
of the next day, it corroded the 
flank of the poor creature until his 
bowels actually dropped out, and it 
became necessary to put the animal 
out of its misery. It was stated in 
confirmation by a witness, that the 
morning after the liquid had been 
applied,about five o'clock he firstsaw 
the dog ; it was then running about 
the yard in great agony. The hair 
on the back was hard, as if burnt, 
but on the sides, where the dog had 
licked himself, the flesh was torn 
away, and there was but athin skin 
between that and the bowels. The 
tongue of the animal, by licking 
itself, was burnt as hard as_a coal, 
and was sostiff that it appeard as if 
it had been bent. About twelve 
o’clock, the skin on the flank was’ 
eaten in holes, and the bowels drop- 
ped out on the ground. In this 
431 
state they shot the dog. ‘Two other 
witnesses proved to the same effect. 
—At the conclusion of the éxami- 
nation of witnesses, thejudge(Barea 
Macdonald) observed, that his feel- 
ings had beenso deeply lacerated by 
what he had heard, that he could 
not recapitulate the evidence. 
Such an act of wanton wickedness 
and cruelty, he said, he had never 
before heard of, and he hoped that 
he never should again. He regretted 
that the law would not permit him 
to punish such a miscreant as he de- 
served ; but advised the jury to give 
the most ample damages that the 
law would allow. —'The damages 
were only laid at five guineas, the 
value of the dog, consequently the 
jury could give no more.—Five gui- 
neas were therefore awarded. 
At eleven o’clock A. M. there 
was an awful thunder-storm in Kast 
Lothian. The morning was fine, 
but between ten and eleven the 
sky became dark and stormy, and 
soon burst into Joud peals of thun- 
der, preceded by flashes of lightning 
uncommonly vivid. ‘The lightning 
broke upon the manse of Gladsmuir, 
and struck dead a female servant. 
The manse was for some time filled 
with smoke and sulphur, but no 
other damage happened to it, than 
the falling of some slates from the 
‘roof. 
In the north of Scotland, large 
tracts of land still remain under water. 
In the parish of Urquhart, about 18 
miles from Inverness, a bridge was 
carried off by the current, and three 
men who were on it at the time 
perished. 
4th. This day was cut, in the gar- 
den belonging to Thomas Taylor, of 
Norton, near Stockton, co. Dur- 
ham, a melon, which measured, ia 
circumference over its two ends, 36 
inches, 
