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TOLICE INCIDENTS.
Monday, June 3. — Beforo tho Mayor, nn,d
Alderman Broughton
'Fowl' Conspiracy. — Thomas Shipley was
called on to plead to an information chanrinir
him with hssnulting ono John Cassidy, with
intent to do him somo grievous bodily harm, at
Sydney, on tho 1st instant.
Mr. Nichols (on behalf of Mr, Dillon) ap
peared as counsel for tho defendant,
John Cassidy, the complainant, being sworn,
stated, that as ho was chopping -wood, in his own
yard, tho defendant came in to him, and stripping
oft' his coat, placing himself in a lighting attitude,
struok him a violent blow on the chest, which
produced a hollow sound of such extraordinary
import, that it alarmed tho surrounding neigh
bourhood. (Laughter.) Also, that ho used most
violent and threatening language, to him, pro
mising to bo 'over at him, until ho got tho bettor
of him.'
Mr. Nichols ? Now did'nt you place yourself
in a fighting attitude as well as the defendant 1
Complainant.— Certainly, I did, When he
struck mo, but not before.
Mr. Nichols! — Do you moan to say you did
not strike the defendant then ?
Complainant. — - Certainly, I did — when ho
struck me — I struck at hini j and, by tho same
token, I missed him arid hit the wall, whereby I
knocked the top off my knuckles. (Laughter.)
Mr. Nichols. — Was'nt there somo altercation
about poisoning defendant's fowls, between your
wife and him on tho day boforo ?
Complainant. — Yes, there was ; but I did not
hoar tho argument about tho fowls.
Mr. Nichols. — Did'nt you abuse the defend
ant's wifo: and call her names?'
.Complainant. — Yes'; I called her a blackguard
for throwing dirty soapsuds into my yard, and
for continually annoying mo.
Mary Walsh was tho next witnosS. called.-^!
saw Mr. Shipley strike. Mr. Cassidy in his own
yard, and 1 told him not to strike Shipley
again, as ho was not worth a blow.
Mr. Nichols ? Why did you think Mr. Shipley
was not worth a blow ?
Witness. — Because I thought ho was too do
licato, that he was not able to nourish his body
with stifliciont food to givo him strength enough
to stand it. - . ?
Mr. Nichoisi. — Then you do not entertain a
vory good opinion of Mr. Shipley?
Witness.— Not in tho loast. .,..,.,...
Mr. Nichols. — You lnive not a vory good
feeling towards him ? i ???.
Witness. — Not in tho least. (Laughtor.) ? ?
Mr. Nichols. — You werb bound over to keep
tho peaco towards Mr. Shipley — werb you not ?
Witness. — Yes, 1 was ; and 1 am ablo to keep,
it too. (Laughter.) : ?
Mr. Nichols replied, that ho was very glad to
hear that such was tho witness' determination ;
and submitted to- the Bench that thn caso was
too trumpery a ono. to be seriously entertained,
and that it ought to bo dismissed.
Tho Mayor, having expressed a contrary
opinion,
Mr. Nichols 'said, if their Worships decided
upon adjudicating ho had a dozon of witnesses
to call, mid Mr. Dillon (who was a host in him
self) to provo that a ' fowl' conspiracy had
boon entered into by tho complainant and his
wife to poison tho dofondnnt's poultry ; and to
show tlmt, on a post mortem examination of the
docoasod cocks and hens, performed by a duly
qualified person, who had subjected the stomach
to the customary scientific tests, and analysed
the intestines, it was ascertained that poison had
been administered, and hacTproduced a terrific
mortality among tho said poultry. (Roars of
laughter.) ?':«»
Mr. Dillon then entered tho'officb, and sup-,
ported tho motion of his friend with an eloquent^
address to the Bench, in which he dilated, in
powerful language, on the heinousness of the
crime of conspiracy, and the dreudful conse
quences to his client of. tho assassination of his
poultry.
The Bench, notwithstanding, fined the d.e
fendaut in the mitigated penalty of 5s. and
4s. Gd. costs.
Mr. Dillon then applied to the Bench for a
copy of tho proceedings, with a view to in
dicting the. complainant,, individually, for wilful
and corrupt perjury, and, conjointly', with his
wifo, for ' conspiring together for an unlawful
purpose,'
Tho Court was convulsed with laughter
during t)ie hearing of the case, which furnished
a pretty fair specimen of tho generality of trum
pery cases, of a similar nature which engross so
much of the time and attention of tho ma
gistrates At the. Police Office.
? r* ?
Australian Philharmonic Concerts..
— Wo are glad to find that the favorable
promise of success which has been held out
to the Director of theso Concerts has in
duced him to fix tho second ono for
to-morrow evening, when, in obedience to
tho general fooling which has been expressed
on tho subject, the. price of admission will
bo fixed at two shillings and sixponco-r— a
judicious reduction that can hardly fuil of
producing iv profitable result. As wo liavo
taken some pains to ascertain tho opinions
of tlioso whoso judgmont in musical mutters
is worth appealing to, and who arc anxious
to recognisq in tho Philharmonic Concerts
the dawn of an improved musical tasto in
tho colony, a few; ' remarks on ' tho rules
which should guide the arrangement of th.e
programme may not bo altogether out of
place at this moment, .'Music,' says
Addison, ' is to deduce its laws and rules
from tho gonor^ sense, and, tusto of man
kind, and, not from tUo principles of tho art
itself; or, in other words, the taste is-, not to
conform to tho art; but the art to. Ute taste.
Music is not designed (to. please, only chro
yiatic ears, but all- that 'are capable of
distinguishing harsh jCroin ngyoottblo notes.'
To those * ohroiutttic oars' Australian
audionccs d.o not yet protend, and wo will
counsel Mr. Nathan while ho pursues his
excellent design of cultivating :the musical
tasto of tho colonists, and leading them step
by stop to tho full appreciation of tho great
works pf tho mighty masters of the' English,
German, and Italian; schools, not to forgot
tho seiitimont sq beautifully conveyed by
tho niUBioloving Duke Qrsino :— '
'?' Now, good Cnjsario, hut that piece of song,
That old and antique song wo hcu'd last night:
Methought it did reliovo my passion much
More than light airs, and recollected terms,
Of theso most brisk and giddy-pated times.'
* * ♦ * * ? * * »
'Mark it, Crasario — it is old and plain : —
The spinsters, and the knitters in the sun,
And the free maids that weave their thread with
bones, . ? ?
Dp wo.nt lC) sing it.'
So did Shakespeare seek for the standard
of taste in music, and modern professors
may rest assured his standard is the true one,
and that the majority of an audience will,
turn confused from scientific and porploxing
combinations of sound, to somo inovo simple
strain, which they can fool, and understand,
and remombor— their tasto boing tho tnsto
of nature, and therefore tho truo one. For
oursolvos, wo are what Byron profossod
hiniBolf to. bo, v. liege and loyal admirers of
Italian music,' but wo are not insonsiblo to
tho . beauty of thoso molodios which his
Lordship himself so beautifully describes us
The, homo
Heart-ballads of Green Erin or Gray Highlands,
That bring Lochaber back to eyes that roam,
O'er far Atlantic continents or islands;
Tho calentures of music, which o'ercomo
All mountaineers, with dreams that they aro
nigh lands ' ' ~
iSro more to be beheld but in such visions .''
Wo havo already offered our own tostimony
to tho classical caliKro of tho selection which
distinguished thoschomo oflast Wednesday's
coiicort ; and in submitting tho presont re
marks, wo aro only convoying' to Mr.
Nathan what wo know are the opinions of
very many of his friends an,d subscribers,
who would bo ploased to And, a groator t\i
vorsity in tlio ..programmp, ;Tluit an Ausr
traiian audionco can approciato classical
music and goo.d singing was proved on
Wednesday ovening by the appluuso \vl\ieli
was lavished on Mozart's -' JVonpiu defioi-i,'
by Mrs. Bushelle ; on l'aor's ' Agitato 4a
smania/unesta,^ by an Amateur (wljo sings
in a more artistic stylo than wo aro wont to
oxpoct from amato'urs); and on Ilossini's
nno quartotto ' Dal tuo stall i\ to Boglio.'J
Still wo nro inclined to rocommond that »
moro liberal sprinkling of tho gems ? of
Rossini, Auber, Bishop, Horn, and othor.
popular ooinpoaors should ovinco tho roadi
noss of tho director to moot tho tustos of all
classos. :
Pick-pockets. — Picking pockets is
becoming as common a daily ocuurrenco in
tho stroots of Sydnoy, as it formorly usod to
bo in the streets of tho great Metropolis,
beforo tho organization of the' New Police.''
Scarcoly a day passes, but we have abun
dant proof of tho efficiency of the Botany
Bay pick-pockets in the transaction of their
old business. On Saturday night last, a
black man had his pocket picked of four or
fivo shillings, in an Auction Room, in
Pitt-streot, and a woman named Tibden,
rosiding in Brougham-place, had hor pocket,
containing ten shillings, cut uway, wjiilo
attending u morning sale at tho sumo Rooms,
Tito black man caught his. n\an, and gayo
him into custody, but Mrs. Tibden c]id not
disoovpr hor loss until sho had purchased an
article of furiiituro', and put her hand to the
place where the pocket was, to pay for it,
Coroner's Inquest. — Yesterday after
noon, an inquost was hold boforo J. K.
Brennan, 15sq., Coronor, at tho Sportsman's
Arms, Phillip-atreot, on view of tho body of
an old man, aged 56 years, named William
Simms, who expired in tho General Hos
pital, on Saturday ovoning. l^rom tho
ovidonco, it appeared, that tho deceased
rented a email tenoment in Essex-lane, and
had been existing on tho charity of his
neighbours for soino timo past ; in pi'o(pr
onco to boing loinoved to tho Benovolont
Asylum. On Friday last, Polico Sorjoant,
Nugent, discoverod tho decoased lying In a
deplornblo condition, and reduced to the last
stago of exhaustion Mr, Surgeon Harnett
having cortified that death was tho roault of
natural cuusob, tho jury rotureil n verdict
uccnrdingly.
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