The Press. — London, England, 1854-05-20 00:00:00

w -.. 40, 1854. . - England, were related on Monday before the New castle District bOurt of Bankruptcy, to which his estate had been referred for administration by the defrauded creditors : Before his flight Todd had oollectedmoney from his customers, drawn out the balance at his banker's, burned his trade books, removed a large number of heavy boxes from his dwelling-house no one knew whither, and fled in debt to the Crown for duties US the amount of 2,8001., besides owing more than 8,0001. to other Creditors. Vigorous proceedings were adopted with a view to trace his footsteps, and a clue to his destination was afforded by the discovery that a bank post bill, which he had obtained at Newcastle, was paid at Liverpool, by one of the bankrupt's sena, for passage-money of two persons to America, the balance being given in a bill on New York. Application was thereupon made to the American Minister in London, and it being understood that if the bankrupt should be found in the State of New York he would be given up to persons 'properly authorised by the Eng lish tribunals, the assignees despatched to America Henry God dard, an intelligent ofteer, formerly attached to the chief police office, pow -street, together with a person able to identify the bankrupt. Goddard was armed with a warrant from the magis trates at Newcastle to apprehend the bankrupt on the charge of feloniously destroying his books of account, in contravention of the English law in brikruptcy, and with the warrant of Mr. Com missioner Pinion to apprehend and bring him before the Court for examination . The pursuers sailed on the 18th June, and soon came upon traces of the bankrupt, but found he was po longer in the State of New York, and that he had, very appro prietely, taken refuge in Illinois (one of the defaulting butes). They at length found him mowing grass in a prairie in the ter ritory of Wisconsin, about I,oob Miles from New York, and ascer tained that a large tract of country, with a homestead upon it, had been purchased in the name ofJohn George Todd, the bank rupt's eldest son, who, with the whole family, resided there. The bankrupt denied the possession of any property, and the judge of Wisconsin informed Goddard that he could not accord ing to its laws apprehend him, Wisconsin not being one of the federal states, and its laws not allowing of imprisonment for debt; so that he could not sanction the arrest of a fugitive even for the felonies committed by the bankrupt. The creditors, on learning this. authorised Goddard and his colleague to return, afterhaving expended on the Ineffectual attempt no less than 5571. Goddard bad ascertained that money to a large amount was lodged in the Badger Bank at Maddlson, in the name of John George Todd and, on the spot., it was believed that thebankrupt was p oss e sse d of considerable property, and had the command of from 10,0001. to 15,00,11.—an estimate borne out by the sums known to have been collected by the bankrupt, and obtained by the sale of the goods of the creditors to whom he stood indebted at his flight. The creditors, however, seeing that the whole estate left behind and recovered by the assignees amounted only to 1,4291., and that nearly 1,0001. had been expended; hesitated to incur further res ponsibilities, for which reason it was stated to the Court that no Luther proceedings had been taken. It appeared that the bank rupt, on his arrival at New York, had consulted the legal adviser of the British Embassy as to whether the treaty between Great Britain and the United States would permit of his being arrested there by process from England, and had' been advised that the territory of Wisconsin only afforded the protection he desired. A dividend of Old. in the pound on debts proved, amounting to 6,9531., was declared ; and the learned Commissioner remarked that it was important to the commercial public that it should be known that a fraudulent debtor absconding to the American State alluded to might set his creditors at defiance. MR. HARRISON, sporting reporter for Bell's Life in London, was travelling by the Great Northern Rail way, on the 31st of last August, on his way to Lincoln races, which he was professionally engaged to attend, when the express train by which he tra• yelled came into collision with some luggage-waggons near Hornsey station. Very serious damage was done by this accident, several passengers being killed or wounded. Among others Mr. Harrison had his leg broken, and was much bruised besides. He was laid up for several weeks, suffering much pain, and being unable to prosecute his professional labours. For this loss and pain he brought an action for damages against the railway company, which came on for trial on Saturday last in the Court of Exchequer. None of the facts were ques t4oned by the defendants, who resisted the claim under a plea that the defendant had no legal right to have been travelling by that train. He had not paid for his ticket, but travelled with a piss granted to the editor of Bell's Life. It appeared that a sort of understanding existed by which the paper in serted gratis certain notifications and time-tables relative to the company's trains, and the directors on their side gave free passes for all the journeys which the members of the staff of the paper had occasion to perform for business purposes. As the pass used by the plaintiff on that day had been issued in the name of Langley, who was an editor of the journal, and was marked " not transferable," the defendants' counsel (Mr. Bramwell) urged that it did not legally entitle him to a place in the train:— Mr. Baron MARTIN, in summing up, said the jury had first to decide whether the plaintiff was lawfully in the carriage, and, if so, what was the fair and reasonable compensation for the injury the plaintiff had suffered—not taking into account the amount of negligence, nor the luxuries above his station which he had had to procure, for that would be to establish one measure of damages for one man, and another for another. He did not think his having to procure those made any difference. They should give damages, not with a view to punish the company, but to compensate the plaintiff. The jury found that the plaintiff was lawfully in the carriage, and gave a verdict for 4001. damages. Mr. BRAMWELL tendered a bill of exceptions, principally on the ground that the judge should not have left it to the jury to say what was the intention of the defendants in giving the pass ticket, but should have construed it himself, and should have directed the jury that the ticket could only have been used by Langley. Two WINE AND BEER AGENTS, MESSRS. GRAY AND GOSLIN, whose vaults were situated in the Crescent, Minories, were indicted in the Queen's Bench on Wednesday for fraud end conspiracy. Some com mission agents and dealers in pale ale were the alleged sufferers, but the real prosecutors were TIE PRESS. -- Messrs. Allsopp, the well-known pale-ale brewers. It appeared that the defendants had sold some 100 dozens of bottles of ale which they represented to be Allsopp's, but were in reality of spurious and in ferior quality. The charge being proved, and a ver • diet of Guilty returned, Lon} Campbell observed upon the gravity of the offence, which had a tendency to upset all confidence in commercial dealing, and sentenced the defendants to a year's imprisonment with hard labour. THE dextrous, but happily unsuccessful, attempt of a thief to purloin a large amount of notes from a banker's clerk was investigated at the Mansion house on niesdiy. Charles Roberts was then charged with having stolen in the London Joint- Stock Bank two Bank of England notes for 1,0001. each, two for 3001. each, two for 201. each, one for 501., one for 101., and two for Si. each, and a draft on the Bank of England for 31,0001., the property of Messrs. Barnett, Hoare, and Co., bankers, of Lombard street : Mr. H. Tasker, a clerk in the house of the aforesaid bankers, stated : On Saturday I was it the London Joint-Stock Bank, and had In my hand my leather note-case. A great many other per sons were present. My case was op en , and I was holding it l a my le f t hand. Something attracte d my attention for a moment, when some one called out, " This man has got your notes." I turned round and saw my parcel of notes on the ground. The prisoner was the nearest person to me. I took him into the pri vate room of the bank. Mr. H. L. Whitelock, clerk to Messrs. Sapte and Co., bankers, of Threadneedle-street, said: I was in the London Joint-Stoek Bank at the time specified, and saw Mr. Tacker there. I saw hia leather case In his hand open. The prisoner was there. He was at first standing by the counter doing nothing. He walked from the counter when the amount of Barnett'e charge *its asked for, lend stood by the side of Mr. Tasker. He put his hat over Mr. Talker's case, and with his left hand took the par cel out of the case. I directly called out, "He has got Birnett's notes," and I took hold of his wrist. Immediately afterwards I saw Mr. Tasker pick up the parcel from the ground. Other witnesses deposed to having noticed the at tempt at stealing the notes, and the consummate dexterity with which it was made. The prisoner was committed for trial. MR. E. BULLER, of 23, Belgrare-square, applied to Mr. Broderip, the magistrate of Westminster police Court, to prevent a breach of the peace, of which he was apprehensive, in his own person. He produced a letter written to him by Mr. R. Williams, a partner in the bank of Ransom and Co., in Pall-mall, chal lenging him to a hostile meeting Mr. Williams, being summoned to attend the court, admitted that he bad sent the letter in question, and begged to say that it had been caused by Mr. Buller having made an insinuation of a most improper character against a lady to whom he was nearly related. The insinuation was of a most unjustifiable descrip tion. He bad written to' r. Buller in order to give him an op portunity to retract. bitt had received a reply from him declining to enter into any explanation; and, although he communicated with bitn again, Mr. Buller still refused to enter into an expla nation. As he could obtain no satisfaction, he had tent a friend to Mr. Buller requesting him to adjust the usual preliminaries, and naming his friend. It appeared that the original complaint on which Mr. Williams's letter had been founded was at present the subject of an action at law. Mr. Broderip pointed out the unjustifiableness of the step he had taken, under any circumstances, and especially petulente lite. The worthy magistrate endeavoured to reconcile the parties, and wished them to consent to his burning the letter of challenge. His efforts, however, proved un successful, and he bound over the defendant, Mr. Williams, in recognizances of 1,0001. to keep the peace for twelve months. SPECIOUS ALLUREMENTS have been lately thrown out with increased activity by persons connected with German lotteries for the purpose of inducing the British public, or certain members thereof, to pur chase tickets, from which it seems the buyer could, under no possible contingency, derive benefit. The trick was exposed in the Mansion-house Court by Sir W. Carden, who stated that among other corre spondents on the subject a lady, with whom he was well acquainted, had enclosed to him the printed letter and prospectus of a " Grand Money Distri bution," from which fortunes were to be handed over to the British purchasers : The letter held out peculiar advantages to the purchaser of a number of shares, the price of a single sbare being 21., but a large allowance being made to extensive speculators. It stated that the equitable principles on which the distributions were based, and the management of the drawings by Govern ment authorities, gave a perfect security to the shareholders whether they resided on the spot of ;he drawing or not ; and the amount of the order might be sent in bank-notes, bankers' drafts, or post-office orders. He hoped that the public would not venture into such a speculation, and, as he believed the only mode of noticing the enterprise was by giving a public caution upon the subject, he had taken the opportunity of doing so, in the hope that the press would assist in putting the British pub lic upon their guard. Mr. Goodman (the chief clerk) said that the subject bad been often noticed In the justice-room, and upon more than one oc casion it was represented that, although the tickets held by per. sons in this country bad been drawn prizes, the holders never re ceived one farthing for them. Alderman HurrEn had frequently heard of similar complaints, and was surprised that customers could be found here for such articles. Sir R. W. CARDEN said it appeared that the distribu tion speculators contrived to get the names and ad dresses of respectable women who visited watering. places, and directed against them the full power of their artillery of prospectuses and promises. ~~...._. 10 (flatus. EXPLOSION or A BALTIC GusßoAT.—Her Majesty's gunboat the Jasper, with thirty-three hands on board, blew up on Monday morning, twelve miles off Beachy Head, but happily no life was lost. The Jasper left Portsmouth harbour on Saturday morn ing for the Baltic, under the command of Lieutenant Crawley, having about two tons of powder on hoard, and other ammunition. She bad proceeded as far as Beachy Head, when, about half-past six on Monday morning, a fire was discovered between the boiler and the powder - magazine. Fvery effort was made to extinguish the flames, but without avail. For nearly two hours the crew remained in the vessel, exerting themselves to arrest the progress of the fire, but, finding that there was no prospect of getting it under, and that the flames were rapidly approaching the magazine, they deemed it expedient to quit the ship in their three boats. They lay by the vessel, at a safe distance, for nearly half an hour, when the fire and smoke sub sided, and some of the crew volunteered to return to the vessel. Almost at the same instant the flames burst forth with renewed violence, and in a few moments more the vessel blew up. The crew were picked up by a Liverpool trader, which took them to within about three miles of Brighton, where they safely landed in their boats, and proceeded forthwith to Portsmouth, having lost nearly every thing on board. CAPTAIN W. H. TAYLOR I of her Majesty's Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms, was found dead on the morn. ing of yesterday week, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, at his lodgings in Great Ryder -street. On the same morning the landlord of the house saw him in his room apparently in his usual health. Some time afterwards, on going up with the break fast tray, he found the door locked inside, and pro cured the assistance of a police-constable, who broke open the door, and discovered Captain Taylor lying flat on the floor, with his bead in a bath, in which were about six inches of water. Medical assistance was promptly procured, but it was found that life was extinct. At the coroner's inquest, held on Monday, Mr. J. B. Taylor, a brother of the deceased, stated that Captain Taylor had served some time in India, and since his return had been subject to epilepsy, but that his general health was good. Mr. T. G. French, surgeon, gave it as his opinion that death had arisen from a sudden attack of epilepsy, and not from drowning, although the immersion might have probably prevented reco covery from the attack. The inquiry lasted a con siderable time, and a verdict of " Death from natural causes" was ultimately recorded. A NOTICE was issued on Sunday last by the minis ter and churchwardens of St. Michael's Church, Highgate, regretting that the church had been struck by lightning in the storm of the previous Tuesday, and that the architect considered it quite unsafe to assemble therein for worship. A YOUNG LADY. apparently about thirty years of age, committed suicide last Saturday evening in one of the most fashionable hotels of Glasgow, by sus pending herself with a cord from the window-shutter. The melancholy act appears to have been the result of disappointed love, and to have been deliberately premeditated. A DESTRUCTIVE FIRE occurred on Monday at the extensive establishment of Messrs. Dunbar and Sons, shipowners, Fore-street, Limehouse, which raged fiercely for nearly two hours, destroying much pro perty. A large warehouse, containing several hun dred loads of unpressed straw, was among the pro perty totally consumed. Ox Tuesday night a female was seen floating in the Serpentine, buoyed up by her clothes. She was rescued by some boatmen of the Humane Society when on the point of sinking, and, singularly enough, was quite unable to tell how she came there. She had been fast asleep, she said, and, when awoke by a sensation of cold, found herself struggling in the water. If this story be true, it forms one of the moat curious cases of somnambulism ever recorded. The woman is servant to a gentleman residing in Lowndes square. AN EIANTLI of the way in which newspaper reports grow is given by the Dundee Courier. There was a story of Highlanders hurrahing on a steamer at Constantinople, and shocking the Turkish ladies who sat in boats. Turk ish ladies seldom travel thus; but, swallowing that diffi culty, how can we get over the fact that no Highlanders had arrived at Constantinople ? There was a Scotch sur geon to a regiment; the Scotchman, we presume, has fine legs, or fancies he has, and he dons the modern antique garb of the Highlands ; he walks about Constantinople, and astonishes the natives: there is a Highlander—a Highland soldier; where there is a Highland soldier, in genious rumour infers, there must be a Highland regiment; if a Highland regiment arrives, it must be per steamer; if it arrives per steamer, it must hurrah; if it hurrahs, it will assuredly mount paddle-box; ladies i n b oa t s b e l o w will be astonished ; and ther e is the t a l e . TER EMPEROR SOULOUQUI is making great preparations for the invasion of Dominica both by sea and land. 467 I