16 OCTOBER 1852, Page 5

SCOTLAND.

K. The Le. rd Provost of Edinburgh presided over a meeting held on Tues- day in the Music Hall, to consider the case of the persecuted Madiai. A similar meeting took place in Glasgow on the same day. Memorials to the Queen and the Grand Duke of Tuscany were adopted. Lord Rollo died at Dunertibe, in Stratherne, on the 8th instant. He was born in 1809, aria succeeded to the title in 1846; he was shortly after chosen one of the sixteen Representative Peers of Scotland; at

the last election ill health obliged him to withdraw. He is succeeded by ,

a son born in 1835. • The Jury. Court, sitting.at Glasgow, his been ecctipied for four days with " a great will cause." The . property depending upon the result was very great, consisting of landed estates of the value of 10,000/. or 12,0001. a year, besides personal' effects to a large 'amount. To state the case in English' terms; Mr. -Allan Gilmour,a merchant of. Glasgow, *as the -plaintiff and =Other Mr. Allan Gilmour, of Polnomi, was the defend- ant.. Mr. Allan Gilmour, uncle to the litigaits, had commenced life as a carpenter or joiner at Glasgow; he was very illiterate,. but had got on by perseverance and parsimony, and had founded a great timber-dealing firm. Some years ago he retired from the business; and invested some 200,0001. in the purchase of lands. In 1833 he had made a will in favour of the plain- tiffs father, with succession to the son; the son. beimme a partner with Messm.Pollok in the timber-trade. In 1849 old Mr. Gilmour died. It was us .that lle had made a new disposition of.his property. in 1848, bequeath- ing the greater portion to his nep-hew, Gilmour of Polnoon. Mr. Gilmour of Glasgow considered that the old man had been played upon by his cousin and other parties, and had made the new will when he was in too infirm a state of mind to know what he was doing. Hence the trial. In the course of it, the witnesses for the defence clearly proved that the testator was quite capable of making a will at the time be executed the last one; that his mind was not of a cast to be subdued by relatives; and that he had taken a dislike to Gilmour of Glasgow, in consequence of his continuing in business with the Polloks contrary to his uncle's wish, the old man having taken a dislike to his former partners. On the fourth day, the trial came to a prema- ture conclusion, by the Lord Advocate, on the part of the plaintiff, with- drawing from the contest : Mr. Gilmour of Glasgow was now convinced that he had been in error in supposing that any unfair means had been used to obtain the second will. Lord Robertson, the presiding Judge, said—" Gentlemen it is highly satis- factory to me, as it must be to you, that ourrespective duties are now render- ed so easy, in a case where the pecuniary amount in dispute is greater than any that ever was brought before a jury in Scotland; and I have no doubt that you will participate with me in the feeling that the conduct of the pur- suer has been most honourable. Certain suspicions may have been raised; how they occurred I know not. I blame no one; but it is perfectly clear also that the defender's conduct has been equally honourable, and that the letter written by him, and which forms part of the process, would of itself dispel any suspicions regarding him. I trust, now that the case is at an end, that these cousins-german will hold out to each other the right hand of friend- ship; and I hope that this very action may be the means of bringing about a cordial and friendly feeling. A melancholy instance has been shown that the attainment of great wealth will not produce self-content and happiness; and that relations and friends, by fostering good-will towards each other, will derive more solid and enduring satisfaction than mere wealth, however great, can bestow.'

A verdict in favour of the defendant was then entered upon the record.

A man named Flannigan, living at Irvine, has murdered his aged father-in-law. Flannigan's wife had run away witn another man; the husband went to her father, who knew nothing of the ight, quarrelled with him, and stabbed him twice with a knife: the second wound was fatal. The homicide escaped. James Scott, a half-witted young man living at Greenock, has killed an infant step-sister, by cutting off her head with a razor. He scared away a girl in whose charge the infant had been left, by flourishing the razor and threatening to kill her; and when she returned with assistance the murder had been effected, and the young man had run away. He was subsequently apprehended. From the stories told of him ho appears to have been a lunatic for some time, and not a "harmless" one.

Mr. John Gibson, a portrait-painter, well known at Glasgow, died last week, from the effects of an accident. He had been superintending the hang- ing of the pictures in the West of Scotland Academy's Exhibition ; had re- turned home, and again visited the rooms in the evening. Between ten and eleven the same night he was found by the watchman lying at the stair-foot, insensible; and he died next day. It is supposed that in the dark he missed his footing and fell down the stairs. There has been a fatal collision on the railway at Portobello. On Friday sennight, as the mail-train for London was dashing through the station, it came into contact with an engine and tender which stood across the rails, employed in shifting trucks from one siding to another; the locomotive of the mail-train turned the pilot-tender completely over, and threw it on the engine, and then itself mounted on the ruins: the mail-tender and carriages kept on the rails. Several passengers were:cut and bruised by the collision. A porter who 'was near the pilot-engine was killed instantaneously, and one of the driver's legs was broken. The driver and stoker of the mail-train were badly scalded and bruised. The mail locomotive had a narrow escape from tilting over the parapet of a bridge fifty feet high. It is reported that the station-master foresaw the danger as the mail-train approached, and asked if signals were up to stop it ; a porter said they were; the train still came on, and the station-master sent men forward with hand-signals, but without effect. The pecuniary loss to the company will amount to sonic thousands.