298 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



by drawing ofFhis head of water; 

 and this opinion was supported 

 by the testimony of tlie mijlers 

 who worked at tlie mill, they 

 stating, that the fact of a loss of 

 power in the mill was at. the 

 time the ditch was opened. 



On the other side, Mr. Ralph 

 Walker, Mr. James Walker, Mr. 

 Millington, and other engineers, 

 were equally certain that it could 

 not possibly injure the plaintiff's 

 mill, which opinion they support- 

 ed by many learned reasons of 

 natural philosophy, and upon the 

 powers and property of water ; 

 while all the mechanics, and those 

 who worked at the mill, were 

 equally certain that the water did 

 run away, and that the mill 

 would not work as it was used to 

 do. At length, all this mass of 

 evidence being closed, 



Mr, Sei'geant Lens detailed the 

 substance of the whole by an 

 analysis of the several parts. And 

 as the law told the Jury that if 

 the miller had been in possession 

 of the water for 20 years, he 

 thereb)r acquired a right to it, 

 and if persons had navigated 

 Potter's Ditch, yet no one had a 

 right to enlarge it in order to 

 make that navigation more com- 

 modious, if by doing so he injured 

 the mill. 



The Jury, after a short deli- 

 beration, found a verdict for the 

 plaintiff — damages 50/. 



LEICESTERSHIRE ASSIZES. 



On Friday, July 31, a case 

 came on before the Chief Baron, 

 which had been the subject of 

 conversation for some time 

 through this part of the country, 

 and the circumstances of which 

 raised against one of the parties 



the wildest resentrfiont, while the 

 other was viewed with the 

 deepest compassion. At an early 

 hour the Crown Court was filled 

 to excess. 



Michael Shipman, a dissenter, 

 a man of property, resident in 

 Hinckley, within 13 miles of 

 Leicester, was called to ansv/er 

 the complaint of a beautiful girl, 

 named Emma Dalton. He took 

 his seat at the table opposite the 

 witness's box, and had ft-equent 

 communications with his sohcitor 

 during the trial, which lasted 7 

 hours. The indictment charged 

 him with having assaulted Miss 

 Dalton, and administered lauda- 

 num, or some other 



exciting 



drug, for the purpose of pro 

 ducing unconsciousness, insensi- 

 bility, or excitement in that 

 young lady, with the view of 

 rendering her subservient to his 

 passions. There were other 

 counts in the indictment, one of 

 which cliarged him with a com- 

 mon assault. 



Mr. Clarke opened the case, 

 which he said was the most ag- 

 gravated one he had ever heard. 

 He made no other comir.ent 

 upon it than that the evidence 

 would be found incontrovertible ; 

 that it would disclose a system of 

 villainy the most depraved ; and 

 that the honour of the sex and 

 common humanity demanded an 

 attention from the jury incapable 

 of being prejudiced by an address 

 to their feelings unsupported by 

 powerful testimony. He called 

 the prosecutrix. Upon getting into 

 the box, she trembled exceedingl3% 



The following is the substance 



of Miss Dalton's evidence : — I 



am 21 years of age. My father 



was a merchant, and resided at 



Birmingham; 



