The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

I JULY 8, 1854. Sabi an folitt. THE SISTER OF FEARGUS O'CONNOR applied for advice and assistance to Mr. Broughton at Maryle bone Police Court. Her brother, she said, was con fined in a lunatic asylum at Chiswick, in consequence of the report of a commission de lunatico inquirendo, and, although now restored to his senses, was re fused liberation. On account of his detention she was reduced to the lowest state of poverty, inasmuch as she was thereby kept out of property tp which she was entitled. She was willing, she said, to release her brother, and have him under her care, but com plained of the trickery and chicanery of certain law yers, who prevented her from attaining her object. Mr. Broughton could not interfere in the case, but afforded the applicant some present aid under her necessities. A SHOEMAKER named Wetherell sued his neigh bour Cornish, a butcher, in the Court of Common Fleas, for damages sustained through the ferocity of his dog. The injury was received as long since as December, 1851, when plaintiff, on leaving defend ant's shop, was attacked by his mastiff and bit se verely in the band. He was afterwards confined in the hospital for two months, suffered much pain, and had, in great degree, lost the use of his hand ever since. Defendant had paid 201. into court, and it was shown that, after the accident, he had given the plaintiff meat, wine, and some money. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for 101. in addition to the sum paid in. APPLICATION was made to the Insolvent Debtors' Court by Giacomo Prospero Levi ' the son of a banker at Trieste, for relief from his debts. The insolvent, who was an Italian, had been about a year in England. Between August and December be contracted debts to 2421., principally far money borrowed. He had an allowance from his father, who was a rich banker, of 121. a month, but his ex penses had been about 121. a week. Among the expenditure was one of 21. a week for operas and concerts, and another of 201. lost at cards. There were other expenses, including cigars, &c. Ile was arrested in December, and had been in prison ever since, and was now obliged to petition the court as his father would not pay the debts he had incurred. On being asked the reason the insolvent came to England, he said to "learn the language." Mr. Commissioner PHILLIPS: You have indeed learnt the language to some purpose. (A lawk) Hie Honour said the insolvent had been living at a rate which could not be justified. The young luau had, however, been a long time in prison, and might now be discharged. He was discharged accordingly. JUDGMENT was given in the Bankruptcy Court on Saturday in the case of Mr. Charles Mathews, lessee of the Lyceum Theatre. The learned commissisper (Rine) recapitulated the chief circumstances attend ing the bankrupt's present and former applications for discharge for indebtedness, and concluded by awarding him a first-class certificate. A CASE OF MUCH INTEREST TO THE STOCKBROKING COMMUNITY and public companies was tried in the Common Pleas on Tuesday. Mr. Wood, a broker, was plaintiff, and the defendant was Mr. Bell, a director in the " Lake Bathurst Australasian Gold Mining Company." The point in dispute was whether the plaintiff, or the board, of which he was an account able member, had made any misrepresentation to the committee of t,be Stock Exchange in order to procure the fixing of a " settling day " and the admission of the company into the official list of the Stock Exchange. Plaintiff had bought 100 shares in the company for 931. 155., and now sued for the recovery of that money, pleading that he had been induced to pay it by the misrepresentations in question : In their prosp ec t us th e com p an y was d e scribed as being estab lished for the purpose of working extensive deposits of alluvial gold and mines of gold quartz, already discovered, on 500 acres of freehold land purchased by the company near Sydney, and that the capital was to be 100,0001. The purchase of the 100 shares by the plaintiff took place on the 16th December, 1852, at which time the company had been in the official list at the Stock Exchange for some months, and the plaintiff stated in his evi dence that he would not have bought the shares had the company not been in the official list. By the rule of the Stock Exchange the committee could entertain no application for fixing the set tling day of any new company, unless attended with a certificate from the secretary of the company that the subscription list was full, with the exception of such shares as might have been re served for special purposes, not less than two-thirds of the scrip having been paid upon, and being ready to be issued. In April, 1852, the directors were desirous of getting the Lake Bathurst Company within the limits of the Stock Exchange, hut at that time only about 6,000 shares had been paid upon, which was not nearly enough to entitle them to ask the Stock Exchange to ap point a settling day. immediately afterwards, however, the com pany's bankers' accounts were suddenly and largely increased, for on the 10th of April there was paid to their credit to Messrs. Dmsdale and Co. about 15,0001., and to Messrs. Marten, Stone, and Co. about 18,5061., both of which firms acted as bankers to the company. There was no evidence to show where this money came from, except as to 4,0001., which Mr. Denny, one of the di rectors, stated that he advanced. A meeting of the directors was held on the same day, at which defendant was present, and the secretary was ordered to write to the committee of the Stock Exchange to appoint a settling day. On the 12th the secretary wrote to the Stock Exchange, and stated that 40,711 shares had been delivered, or were ready to be delivered, at the office, and all paid on, and that the residue (19,289) bad been kept for cir culation in the colony. Two certificates were also sent from the Sankers i which atated that the balances at Messrs. Marten, Stone, tad GM's Were 21,9681., and at Dimsdale aad Cot's 18,24111. las. 2d. THE PRESS. These documents having been sent in to the Stock Exchange committee, the company was admitted into the official list. Within a short time after this result had been obtained the ba- lances at the bankers' rapidly decreased ; and it was admitted that, between the 16th and the 30th of April, as much as 30,000/. was drawn out by cheques which contained no names of persons to whom they were payable, but only numbers. The company continued in the " Stock Exchange List" until the 20th of Ja nuary, 1854, when, by a resolution of the Stock Exchange com mittee, it was struck out of the " List." Counsel for the defendant urged that the misrepre sentation, if such there had been, was to the Stock Exchange committee, and not to the plaintiff : The CHIEF JUST[CZ, in summing up, said that the fraud im puted was this, that the defendant and some other of the direc tors, knowing that to get the company into the official list it was necessary that 40,000 shares should be paid upon, and about 6,000 shares only having been taken, they went through the form of paying into the bankers the requisite amount, and temporarily handing over as a colourable issue a certain number of shares. And it was further imputed that that money, having answered the purpose for which it had been paid in, was withdrawn, and that the shares were never substantially issued or paid for. The questions upon this were— fi rst, was this fraud? and secondly, did the defendant know of it? The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff, damages 931. 15s. AN ACTION FOR 1,4501., on account of " board and lodging," was brought in the Common Pleas by a woman, who called herself French, against Mr. Bolt. The case was tried on Wednesday. Plaintiff ex plained through her counsel and by her own evidence, in very candid terms, the nature of contract which had existed between herself and the defendant. In 1847 she was living in a house near Belgrave-square in a style of great splendour, with carriages, men servants, and unbounded luxury, under the " protec • tion" of a nobleman. 'While riding near the Serpen tine the defendant saw her, and commenced an acquaintance, which ended some time afterwards in her separating from her protector and taking a house, in which the defendant lived with her. He undertook, it was alleged, to pay the rent, and allow her 501. per month for her board and lodging. This, however, he soon failed to do. He was hunted by duns and exe cutions, and, as the establishment was conducted on a very extravagant scale, the plaintiff stated that, in the course of about two years, she had been obliged to pawn or sell all her plate, jewellery, end furniture. She had now nothing le ft ; tine defendant had goiie abroad ; and the present action was brought for the balance left unpaid on the board and lodging account. Defendant's counsel retorted the allegation of extra vagance. The plaintiff had come from Bath thirteen years ago, and had since lived under the protectionof several men, spending their money rapidly, and ruin ing more than one of them. This, also, she had done for the defendant., and had since, it was argued, en deavoured to wring a further sum from his family under the threat of exposure in that court. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant. SAMUEL CLARKSON PETERS, lately a bankrupt, was tried on Wednesday at the Old Bailey for fraudulent dealings prior to his bankruptcy. It was alleged that, shortly before the fiat was issued, he had ob tained goods under colour and pretence of carrying on his trade, with intent to defraud his creditors. Other counts in the indictment set forth the same facts, but founded thereon a charge of conspiracy, in which two other parties, Messrs. Hart and Jonas Simeon, were associated with Peters, and all three put upon their trial together. The leading features of the case were recapitulated by the counsel for the prosecution The defendant Peters commenced business as a draper, at Southampton, in September, 1653, and at that time was possessed of a capital of 7001. lie was supposed to be carrying ou a re spectable and profitable business, and therefore found no diffi culty In procuring credit among the wholesale houses of London, and between the month of September and the following month of April goods were consigned to him from different warehouses to the amount of 12,0001. In the beginning of the latter month lie became bankrupt, and, upon an examination of his affairs, it was found that be had made payments to different creditors to the amount of 4,0731., and that the remaining stock upon the premises was not worth mole than 2,900/. altogether, so that there was a deficiency of over 5,0001. totally unaccounted for. An investiga tion took place at the Bankruptcy Court, and it was ascertained that very soon after the defendant bad entered into business he had commenced a regular system of disposing of his property to Ilart, one of the other defendants, and that the sales were made, in many instances, at a reduction of 75 per cent. upon the cost price of the goods. The third defendant, Simeon, who repre sented himself to be an Australian merchant, appeared to have provided the money for the purchase of the property, and the whole of it appeared to have come into his possession. The goods had, it seemed, all been sent away to Australia by the de fendant Simeon. Evidence being given at great length to substantiate the above statement, the jury returned a verdict of Guilty against Peters, who was sentenced to fifteen months' imprisonment. The other defendants were acquitted. THE WOMAN SEAGO, who caused the death of her stepson some time since by cruel treatment and ne glect, was tried for the crime on Thursday at the Central Criminal Court : It appeared that the prisoner had been married to her present husband about twelve months, and the deceased, who was five years old, was hie son by a former wife. Prisoner and her hus band were in the habit of getting drunk, and frequently quar relled end lived very unhappily together. On Sunday, the 21st of Mav, another of the children told the prisoner that his brother Billy had got him into " a row," and that his father had struck him. Immediately upon this the prisoner seized the child and thr,'w him with great violence upon the floor, and then put him into a tub of water. The husband came in, and after setae words wont away again. The moonlit ha was guns the prisoner seta. 635 menced another most brutal attack upon the child, and continued to beat it and illuse it until it actually died under her hands. She afterwards went out for some brandy, and tried to administer it to the deceased child ; but found he was unable to swallow, and then wrapped him up in a cloth and carried him to the London Hospital, where he wasifound to be quite dead. The jury returned a verdict of " Guilty of Man slaughter," and the prisoner was sentenced to trans portation for life. ARMY PROMOTION. THE Commissioners on Promotion in the Army have just issued a voluminons report, with a list of " re commendations" appended to it. The points of chief interest at this moment in the list are those referring to the promotion of young officers without waiting for the slow advance of seniority into posts of high com mand. On this head the commissioners recom mend " That your Majesty should more freely exercise your undoubted power of appointing colonels to commands as major•generals, with temporary rank as such ; that this should be done more especially as regards commands abroad, and without regard to seniority. " That general periodical brevets be prospectively abo lished. That there shall be a fixed establishment of gene ral officers. " That, in addition to the colonels promoted by seniority to be major-generals, colonels in every branch of the ser vice shall be eligible for promotion to the ranks of major general, lieutenant-general, orgeneral, either for brilliant service in the field, or in consequence of their having held commands with temporary ranks as general officers for five years during peace, or for any shorter period during war which may appear to the Commander-in-Chief or the Mu ter-General of the Ordnance to give them a just claim to have their temporary rank made permanent. " That the rank of field-marshal shall be given without reference to seniority. That soy captain, major, or lieu- tenant colonel may be rewarded by promotion for brilliant service in the field. That the command of battalions in. the Ordnance corps be given without reference to seniority. " That your Majesty should exercise your undoubted power of selecting officers of all ranks in the Ordnance corps for service, and give such rank or promotion to such officers as their merits may appear to require, without re gard to their seniority in the corps." CAMBRIDGE ARMEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE Trix annual meeting of this institute has taken place during the week, commencing on Monday morning. The town and university were filled with a very numerous concourse of visitors, and the an nounced intention of Prince Albert, Chancellor cf the University, to attend gave much eclat to the proceedings. The first day's transactions were limited to d meeting in the senate-house, where the prize poems of the season were recited, and a second meeting in the evening, chiefly devoted to the ar rangement of business between the three "sectional" committees—for History, under Edwin Guest, Esq., LL.D. ; Early and Medieval Antiquities, under the Hon. Richard Cornwallis Neville ; and Architecture, presided over by the Rev. W. Whewell, D.D. Tues day was, however, the great day, when the Prince Chancellor was to assist at the proceedings. Before his arrival, however, the inaugural meeting that place in the Town-hall, where, notwithstanding the early hour—half-past eight o'clock—a numerous as semblage, including many ladies, had gathered. Lord Talbot de Malahide, the president of the year, attended, and was received with much applause. Prince Albert arrived at half-past one, and, being received at the station by the Vice-Chancellor, prc. ceeded to Trinity-ball lodge for the purpose of robing Then his Royal Highness went to the senate-house, where the discourses were in progress. After the formalities attendant upon his reception were over, the Prince listened while Dr. Guest illustrated, by a lecture and diagrams, the "Great Boundary Dykes of Cambridgeshire, their Purpose and Origin." Pro fessor Willis afterwards read a paper on the "Build ings of the University." The Prince Chancellor then retired, and, after lunching with the Vice- Chancellor, visited, in company with Professor Willis, the chapel of Jesus College, lately restored, and I thence went to inspect the museum of the institute. Prince Albert finally left Cambridge at four o'clock, and reached Buckingham Palace by six. FROM THE LONDON GAZETTE. Tuesday, July 4. BANK RUPT S.—RE z c cA and J AR.WILC Etc Mow, H Igh-strsit Newington-butts, upholsterers—Mauna H. Cox, High-street, Kensington, corn merchant—CD...luxe Joni; CATFALL, Rick mansworth, auctioneer—Ws. HENRY UNwIN, Forest-hill, Cam berwell, builder—Ws. PATON, Bread-street, warehouseman— ALFRED IDES HORSCROPT, Union-road, Clapham, builder CRAELsa FRED. TIBBS, late of America-square, City, ship owner—ALFßED FIELDING, Greenwich, dealer in watches— GEORG! EDWIN TOTES, Evesham, Worcestershire, innkeeper— CHARLES MEL, Bath, Berlin wool-dealer—GEORGE FORSTER Liverpool. stockbroker—lsAAc Coos, Sunderland, painter. SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.— J. PonvEus, Glasgow , writer—lirLEt.L.ts and ANO us, Glasgow, warehousemen—lL G ROSS, Glasgow, lithographer. Friday, July 7. BANKRUPTS.—Joss WEBS, Rayleigh, Essex, ifrocer-BX. SIVEL Yours, Birkenhead, joiner —Jour( ELLIS *ATKINSON. Halifax, groeer--lusts JOHN NEWMAN and JAMES LEADRIST. TER, Charlton, Kent, waterproofers—Jour( WILLIAM WILLIADIS and WILLIAM FIsHER WARBRECK, Liverpool, manufacturing chemists—JOHN OinsoN, Histlngton, Cumberland, grocer— C PURL ST Wllll E. Watford, cattle dealer. SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.—J. G. TAit.on end Co., Lon don and Glasgow, wholesalejewellerv—TßoExa Roes, Glasgow' c ottnission agent•-FATESsoIc, MAC DOA LLD, sad Co., Glaspiri merchants.