PETTY SESSIONS / PENRITH / part 2 A CLERGYMAN FINED FOR ASSAULTING A LAND AGENT. - The REV. J. BEST, Vicar of Kirkoswald, appeared to answer a charge of having, on the 5th of June, unlawfully assaulted and beat MR. JOSEPH BIRKETT, land agent, Penrith. MR. LITTLE appeared for complainant; MR. BEST was not represented by any professional gentleman. MR. LITTLE having stated the circumstances, as an explanation of the reason which had led to the assault, said in July last, MR. WM. HESKETT, who was employed in making a valuation of the Croglin Hall estate, applied to MR. BIRKETT to be allowed to examine the plans and apportionment of Kirkoswald parish which were deposited at the College, the residence of T. FETHERSTONHAUGH, Esq., for whom MR. BIRKETT is land agent. The latter gentleman wrote to MR. HESKETT, informing him that if he would call at his office in Penrith on a certain day, he should be at liberty to examine them. MR. HESKETT, however, did not keep the appointment, and a few days afterwards defendant called and enquired about the documents. After some conversation, MR. BIRKETT said he would deposit them at the Fetherstonhaugh Arms Inn, Kirkoswald, and the defendant expressed himself satisfied. The plans were deposited as promised; and a week afterwards a meeting was held at the inn, and the prevailing opinion seemed to be that the plans and apportionment should be placed in the custody of MR. HARDY, overseer of the parish, and also agent of the Carlisle and Cumberland Bank, who had, therefore, a proper safe in which to place them. Pending the completion of this arrangement, the plans, &c., were allowed to remain at the Fetherstonhaugh Arms Inn. A short time afterwards MR. BEST called at the inn, and asked to see the documents, which were at once handed to him, and he put them under his arm and walked away. MR. BIRKETT, on being sworn, said: I am land agent for MR. FETHERSTONHAUGH, of the College, Kirkoswald, at which place I was on the 5th of the present month. MR. BEST called on that day, and I asked him into my business room and handed him a chair. After sitting down, he asked me if I had got the plans and apportionment of Staffield, and I replied that I had, and I added, “On your returning the plans and apportionment you have illegally taken away from the Fetherstonhaugh Arms Inn, I shall place these with them, and they shall all remain together pending their final disposal.” MR. BEST was about to produce the Act of Parliament relating to the custody of such documents, but I told him it was unnecessary for him to do so, as I was in possession of the Act, and I also told him that it was likely he would only read such part of it as suited himself. He then rose from his chair, and I asked him how he had got possession of the plans and apportionment at the Fetherstonhaugh Arms. He replied, “Legally; they were given up to me peaceably and quietly.” I was standing at the time, and he said, “Do you want to assault me?” I answered, “No; I merely want to speak to you in a quiet, respectful manner.” He then moved towards the door, and I moved along with him. He again asked me if I wanted to assault him, and I again told him that I did not; I wanted to speak to him as a gentleman. He then seized me by the neck, and pinned me against the wall, and with the other hand he opened the door of the room. For about an hour afterwards there was a mark upon my neck, the result of his violence. I followed him at a respectful distance down the passage till he got to the back door. I told him he would have to answer for what he had done. He replied that he would summon me before the magistrates,and I told him that I wished he would. DEFENDANT: Did you not, as I was going towards the door, come in front of me, strike me with both your hands in the breast, and knock the wind out of me ? I did not. Did you not beset me at the door here ? (Pointing to a plan of the room which he held in his hand). I did not. DEFENDANT: Now, sir, I appeal to your common sense, judgment, and truthfulness. Did you not ?..... I did not. I solemnly declare I did not touch even the hem of your garment. MR. BEST: If you have got a conscience at all, I am extremely sorry to hear you say that. I saw that there were two against one, MR. BIRKETT and his clerk, and I merely pushed him aside in order to get through the library door and escape. MR. BIRKETT: He grasped me by the throat with one hand, and with the other opened the door. MR. BEST: That was in self-defence. I declare to you, gentlemen, that I would rather encounter a bulldog than be in the hands of this man. (Roars of laughter). In reply to MR. LITTLE, MR. BIRKETT said at the time of the occurrence he was as calm and collected as he was at this moment: but MR. BEST was in a rage. He (MR. BIRKETT) considered that under the circumstances he exercised a forbearing and judicious spirit. J. GRAHAM FOSTER, clerk with MR. BIRKETT, confirmed in the main particulars complainant’s statement. He said MR. BIRKETT was calm, but MR. BEST was in a towering rage. He acknowledged that MR. BIRKETT elevated his open palms, not in a hostile manner, but more in a “moral suasion fashion”. MR. BEST read a long and discursive paper in his defence. He denied having assaulted complainant, but said, on the contrary, complainant had assaulted him. When he got up from his chair, MR. BIRKETT beset him when he was flying to the door as he would have done from an infuriated bulldog, and all that he (defendant) did was to push him on one side with one hand and with the other open the door, and make his escape. “Was it likely”, continued defendant “that I should remain in the room to be worried like a dog by this man ? I think not, and I made away as fast as I could.” The Bench, after a short consultation, said they were satisfied an assault had been committed, and fined the reverend gentleman £2 and costs – in default two months’ imprisonment. ____________________ barb, Ontario, Canada