Magistrates with Little to Do
At the Quarter Sessions held on the 31st of December, there was not a single prisoner for trial; and before that, so few had there been of cases before the Borough Bench, that on one occasion Dr. MacCabe facetiously suggested to his brother magistrates that they should forego half their emoluments.
The County Magistrates, however, were not quite so much in want of work as their brethren of the Borough Bench. They had at least one case which they wanted to be remembered. An unprovoked assault having been committed on a constable by two brothers at Bexhill, the assailants were placed before the Bench on the 4th of December, and fines of £15 and £5, respectively, were inflicted upon them.
Concealment of Birth. Earlier in the year, namely at the Lewes Summer Assizes, Emma Sutton was sentenced to six months’ hard labour. She had been a considerable time in prison, a memorial from Hastings had been received, and in the prosecutor’s address reference was made to her extreme youth, and her having been deprived of the care of a mother. The prisoner was too much overcome with tears to offer any defence; and although the judge said he would take the memorial and the recommendation of the jury into account and temper justice with mercy, his sentence seemed to take the court by surprise.
Success of Hastings Men & Boats at Other Regattas
At Dover Regatta on Sept. 10th, the “Black Bess”, manned by Wenman, Buxted, Curtis & Kent, the crew that were so successful at home, won the first prize of £16 in the chief race; and the same galley, rowed by Dover men, won £10.10s. in the Amateur race. The Unity, another Hastings galley, manned by Philcox and the three Hutchinges (as at Hastings), took a second prize at Dover. On the following evening the Black Bess and crew were brought from the railway station on wheels, headed by a band of music. At Folkestone regatta, the Hastings boat Unity, manned by a Margate crew, came in second, and the Black Bess, which had the worst position, came in third. Another of the galleys, built by George Tutt, of Hastings, named the Violet, added fresh laurels to his already well-known reputation. The boat at the Newhaven regatta was victorious in two of the races.
Marine Phenomena
On the 13th, 14th & 16th of June the sea at Hastings, as well as at St. St. Leonards, was resplendent with phosphorescence.
Rock Fair
It was hoped that this degenerated fair had died out for want of a place to hold it in. Driven from the field at the top of White Rock by Mr. Brisco, -
