CHRONICLE. 



296 



of the name of Sarah Wood, who 

 had been bar maid of the Castle 

 Inn, Kingston, but she always un- 

 derstood that they were married, 

 although stories were going about 

 that they were not married. Her 

 brother, she admitted, had threat- 

 ened to leave the house if that wo- 

 man was allowed to continue in 

 it. 



Miss Budd, who keeps a board- 

 ing school at Richmond, said, that 

 the girl had been latterly at her 

 school, and was well-behaved. Her 

 father visited her regularly, and ap- 

 peared very attentive to her in every 

 respect. 



Mary Brooks proved that lodg- 

 ings had been taken for Captain 

 Gore and Miss Strange, under the 

 names of Mr. and Mrs. Graham, 

 on a Sunday, at her house in 

 Thanet-place. She was struck with 

 the youth of the lad}', and had a 

 conversation with captain Gore on 

 Monday morning, in the course of 

 which she remarked that the young 

 lady appeared to be scarcely six- 

 teen. Captain Gore replied, that 

 she was nineteen years of age — that 

 they had been married fourteen 

 months, and he had known her 

 eighteen. 



Anthony, the oflScer, was called 

 to prove that he had received the 

 reward promised by her father for 

 the discovery. 



Mr. Webster proved the hand- 

 writing of captam Gore, but the 

 letters were not read by the clerk, 

 it being thought immaterial. 



Mr. Serjeant Best made an able 

 speech in defence, or rather in mi- 

 tigation of damages. The two 

 points upon which he chiefly insist- 

 ed were, first — That the father him- 

 self had set an example of vice to 

 his daughter, in living with a wo- 



man in a state of fornication ; and, 

 2dly, That the daughter herself had 

 exhibited a levity of conduct in 

 making a signal to captain Gore, 

 who had never spoke to her before, 

 which deprived the plaintiflF of all 

 pretence for large damages. They 

 ought to consider that not a farth- 

 ing of what they gave might ever 

 find its way into the pockets of the 

 girl. He also stated, that though 

 captain Gore was allied to some 

 distinguished families, he was in 

 very narrow circumstances, and 

 large damages would ruin him. 



The Lord Chief Baron summed 

 up the evidence, and observed, that 

 an improper levity in the girl would, 

 no doubt, extremely diminish the 

 claim of the father to damages. 

 But they would consider whether 

 the youth of the young woman was 

 not to be taken into account in ad- 

 verting to the instance of levity stat- 

 ed by the counsel. In a woman of 

 eighteen,whomusthave been aware 

 oftheconstruction which might have 

 been put on such behaviour, it would 

 be unpardonable. But with respect 

 to a young girl, who was only from 

 14? to 15 years of age, the case was 

 different. With regard to the con- 

 duct of the father, the learned judge 

 remarked that, whether he was mar- 

 ried or not to the woman mention- 

 ed, his daughter had been very lit- 

 tle in her society, as it appeared that 

 she had been kept at school for the 

 greater part of the time that Mrs. 

 Strange, or Sarah Wood, which 

 ever she was, lived in her father's 

 house. In the course of the charge, 

 the learned judge adverted to the 

 conduct of Jane Hicks, andLieuten- 

 ant Lister, or Leicester, in terms of 

 the severest censure, and said, that 

 there was evidence of a conspiracy 

 between them and the defendant to 



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