The Sun. — London, England, 1802-08-14 00:00:00

IR..BARRETT's BAL LOOY. THE-disappointment which •the Public net with 13 .,,n Thursday, at Greenwich, in not seeing Mr. 15ARRETT ascend in hi# English Balloon; seemed Thin to excite in them a greater. curio s ity to beh o ld Thin yesterday, and we really believe r that the as 3emblage of people from London and the neighbour.. Ing Villages, was greater than on the preceding day. At three o'clock the Balloon was brought to the ground; and was placed in a proper situatiori, on a platform similar to that used at Vauxhall Gardens by Mr. GAgNiRTN, V) receive the gas. At first, I. ' o great progress was made in filling it, which put the l' palace, 'fir the moment, in bad spirits; but In a short time it was observed to swell more ta- Pidly, which changed the face of affairs, thotigh it Was visible, if it ascended at all in the course of the evening, that it must beat a late hour. About tour o'clock Mr. and Mrs. GAat”arK, , a nd two friends, came into the grounds. The French Aeronaut viewed with great attention the . talloon, while filling, as well as the casks and Other utensils used on the occasion. 'At five o'clock fresh vitriol was put in the.casks., which Captain SOWDEN thought not so good as th e trst which was used, and apprehensions again began to be entertained of the ascension not taking place durin g the evening. The mob now began to b e rathe r violent, and several. of the Artillery were calldd on the ground, to enforce good order but n otwithstanding_thi‘ _precaution, tile pnpulace over_ powered the men who kept the door, and near a hundred gained admittance. It was here observed, that the gas made its escape at the valve, to prevent wh iPh, Mr. G ARNER IN, advised the superintendants to we t it ; which had' the effea of making it fit more close. At 7 o'clock the mob shewed again a disposition to riot, and were guilty of the most shameful con_ dui}, in breaking down the trees, .and taking away the fruit by force; for the grounds now contained 'li least five thousand people, very .few of whom d paid for admission, and they had entirely the liPper hand of the Constables and Artillery-men, a nd at lengthevery thing was left to ;heir mercy. fight o'clock,began to approach, and notwirh standing ever y p a i ns h a d b een ta k en to i n fl ate t h e hal t for five hours, it did not appear more than . filled ; but the clamour was getting so outrage_ sr'' that it Was -determined to try it in its present I : t e,. as a general opinion prevailed that no time liatev er would be sufficient to render- it complete, t l s the different materials which formed the gas had t ) t been_ properly proportioned. It was, howeVer, A f terwards found that two holes had b een cut i n t h e ,alloon, near to the place where the tu b es were fix `'n, which of itself was sufficient to account for its got filling. In this state did Mr. BARRETT, Capt. s • °IA/DE N , and Mr. MADOX, (a brewer of Tooley_ ttreet), got into the Car, to try whether the Bal °°^ would ascend with theta, but it was found that 4 t would not rise from the ground. Mr. MADOX CilPt• SOWDEN got out ; and left Mr. BARRETT 2 1 make a trial by himself, but even then it would not answer the purpose. No other alternative was now left but to send the Vlloon up by itself, as there was no d ou b t o f i ts a - 'eending in that way. Th e C ar was t h en ta k en awa y, i" -- e 4 ;14-"-i-Gralle put-its-its place, tog - edit - 1r with fl,tgs ; the cords were let go, and a more ma.. tc ascension was never witnessed. It took a r apid perpendicular direction, t h e atmos phere was ii 3t eeedingly clear, and it was observed at a greater v eight than any we ever remember to have seen. t om the rime of its ascension.' to that of disappear ,flig wa s a b out ten m i nutes, an d t h e peop l e were so e ased with the sight while it lasted, that they for '°t all the disappointments they had undergone. • About an hour after the Balloon had ascend e d, f allen in arrived at Mr. ANDR ADE ' S , that it h a d 'lien i n some marshes near the river, about three I t liles from Greenwich, in a field called Bugsby' s belonging to'Mr. MONKCH ESTER, and was uf.'llediately taken possession of by Mr. CHANDLER, Gt eenWich, who, after expressin the remaining i ts , conveyed it to his house. Theßalloon is not tee least injured, and Mr. CHANDLER expressed his f .(liness to deliver it to Mr. BARRETT or his rlends, toi• praaice has obtained of letting off Fire-Bal_ fro m diff erent parts o f t h e T own . Thi s i s ext remely, dangerous, and ought to be immediately rut a stop to. idle sa ne more lives have f a ll en a sacrifice to le curiosity, some attempts will perhaps be made h h Put ‘a stop to the Balloon mania, which' seems to ave revived in 411 its 'former excess, though it i s o el i i dent that nothing can be Made'of the invention, "Y use to mankind. One evening last week, a man was seen by a Gen_ 11 1 / .l an's servant going down the area stairs of a ' llll ? Us e in Sr. J ames ' s - street : t h e servant supposing ri .to be b r i ng i ng t hi ngs f rom maixet, as he was , ) r !'ed like a b utc h er ' s man, wa i te d so ri' i me time, ex ng to see him enter t h e kit c h en; b ut fi n di ng t nl longer than he liked, the servant went to his he Pantry, an d t h ere met t h e man coming out ; e Push e d t h e f e l low b ack, and locked him in, and through,,, a wire wi n d ow , saw the man take some c ops, Sec. fromn under his apron, and put them on d resser ; he was secured, and is lodged in pri tr"• lie was an old offender, had lately come from h"sportation, and had since that stolen a watch II: 7 7J 1 a house—k ee p er ' s room , i n t h e same manner. w leo interro gate d, h e preten d e d to as k f or L a d y liter, and (then forgetting) for Lady Cox. th e)day night, be tween n i ne an d ten o'clo ck, (p e re was a f ema l e c hi l d , o f about a fortnight old c e rY genteely d resse d) l e f t i n the entry of D r. ro Alt iQues house, in Lower Charlotte st r eet , Fit z . of Y c sc luare. The poor child h a d g ot suc h quantity by la to dri n k, that it slept four•hours af hY a " was discovered. It was sent, accompanied 4$ n arse; to the watc h-h ouse till morning, and e l ‘" in the wor kh ouse. ' Th e person who left it ns as yet undiscovered. st e A an I n e i Nay as a l a d was stan di ng at t h e entrance o f a ea 1 , opp os i te " rhree-Crown Court, in the Borough, u, ay r n'an drove, hi s cart carelessly down the gate_ self, vt a , n d the 1, , c1 no t h iv i ng t i me to extr i cate 14.. ;id e of - Q rtisile..:l to d eat h b etween t h e w h ee l an d : h e the 11.RREI;' AS;SIiE,I, CultDtoiiii, AUG. 11. FRAUDS IN THE COAL-TRADE. PHILLIPS 2V. NEWELL. MR. GARROW; . Counsel for the Plaintiff, ad dressing the Jury; said, it appeared to hint the' case they were aboiit to try, was as iirportant a one as could possibly excite their.,.attention.— It was an Aeti , mi, , the objed of which wag ro ..00esty introduce, if possible, a little common honesty into the Coal-Trade; by the mode of carry ing on, which,. the Public wel-e pillaged tO an extent beyond calculation; 'lt was brought to re cover the sum of tool..the penalty given Aa• of Parliament for the non-performance of a con tract. It might be imagined that, without any Ad .of Parliament, if a man bought a commodity of another, the rules of honesty would be sufficient to ensure its delivery to him ; but those rules had unfortunately been found deficient, and therefore several useful Ads of Parliament had been made on the subjea of the Coal-Trade, In order that the Jury might perfealy understand the Case, it was necessary he should explain how the Coal- Trade was carried on. There were two ways by which Coals were sold—the one was by Wharf Measure, in that case the-Coals were measured by the legal bushel, under the direaion of sworn Me -ters, and certain penahies attached upon the dis covery of a deficiency in the quantity. The other was by buying and selling by Pool Measure.' This had of late become a very favourite mode of pur chasing Coals, on account of the Dealers having held out to the Public that it was attended with greater advantages than the other—they. pretend.: ed that the purchaser had the advantage of what . was called the Ingrain,. which was half a ch a ld ron in every ten. A more dreadful source of impo sition than that of selling by Pool Measure could not be imagined—the frauds it gave rise to were astonishing. This Adion had been instituted by the Coal-Meters, in hopes of beating down those frauds. The person who was to be the witness was a Mr. Phillips, a Drug.grinder, who, in the course 'of his business, consumed a considerable quantity of Coals. He, understood that the Defendant, be sides being a Coal-Merchant, was a Glass-dealer: The Plaintiff had bought eight)' , Chaldrons of Coals, and suspthed, when be saw theZ:buik, that the de livery was not a fair one. He'had them re-mea sured ; but as he had a good opinion ssf the De fendant, and did not wish to expose him, he did not employ the regUlar Meter—he found an enor mous .and scandalouS deficiency. Mr. Phillips complained, and in consequence of his I complaine he received a letter from the Defendant, stating, that he was sorry for the . mistake, which had hap pened without his knowledge, but he had now some excellent Coals, which he was_sure would suit him, and if he would allow him to send in ten chal drons, he would make him ample amends. The Plaintiff consented. For his ten chaldrons he would be intitled to ten chaldroris and a half; that is, one hundred and twenity-iix sacks, - or three hundred and eighty-eight bushels, a quantity Which, would require four waggons to convey. The Counsel said, he would not have a Verdia unless he satisfied the Jury the deficiency which was afterwards found, was no mistake on the part of the Defend ant. He desired them to turn the. subjea in their minds, and consider what might be the deficien cy produced by a mere mistake, especially when the Dealer, referring to a former one, had pro mis'ed to make amends by giving rather more instead of less—Perhaps they Would think a chal_ dron a good deal : he would telt them what the fad was—The Plaintiff ought to have had 378 bushels ; he had but three hundred athere was ho less a deficiency than seventy-eight bushels, or two chaldrons and two sacks out of ten chaldrons' and a half. Could men be prevented from Commit- ting such lucrative frauds by the mere payment of a penalty of tool. when they happened to be found • out ? The Plaintiff communicated to the Defend ant that he had had the Coals re.measured, upon which the Defendant said that the. ship had only brought a cargo . of _eight chaldrons, and that he intended to send the remainder , upon the arrival of another vessel. Such a pretext was impossible to be - true ; by the laws of the trade, the cham bers or divisions of the lighters in which the Coals were shot from the ship's side, contained five chal drons at the least; and, by the same laws, when Coals were 'sold by Pool Measure, the Seller was bound to deliver 'to the. Buyer the contents of each chamber precisely as he had received them; be could not take a part out of one, and a part out of another ; the pretence therefore,_ that the delivery was only intended to be eight chaldrons, and that the remainder was io be made good on the arrival of another ship, was entirely an after-thought. If the Defendant had not meditated a fraud, why had he employed four waggons, when three would have been sufficient ? besides, the documents ac companying the delivery were not foe eight'chal drons, but for tin chaldrons and a half. This cir cumstance alone was a sufficiept prOof of fraud, and warranted him in the expeaation, that upon proof of so infamous: a case, the jury would take a little of the Defendant's fraudulent gains out of his pocket, and endeavour, by the essemple of their Verdi t, to inoculate the trade with a little honesty and regard to fair dealing'. Mr. Philips was then called, who said he lived in the Borough, was a Livigator, or Drug-grinder, by business. He consumed a great quantity of coals, which he bought of the Defendant, who also dealt with him in turn for articles sent to the Edin burgh Glass Company, for whom Defendant was an Agent. Mr. Philips then described his writing to Defendant in the_ month of December last, ex pressing his suspicions ; also ths:. subsequent corre spondence between and Defendant, which ended in the order for ten chaidron of Coals, Pool Measure. The Letters were put in and readin.evidence, Mr. Phillips then described the number of sacks sent in to have been 126 ; that they came in four waggons, and that four tickets were delivered to him, of the number of sacks brought by each wag. gon, three az's, and one so. He had the Coals re measured. in consequence of his former suspicions. On cross.examioation, he said, there was a run ning account betWicn him aha . Mr. Newell, and . , that when he settled With Mr: su4:epient to the above trarisadion,' he w.ts; only charged for eight chaldrOns and a hAf. Mr. Newell had said, when • - Witness stated to him the deficiency; that lie Mean to send iii the remainder': . . ; Mr. .ginr, the Deputy Coal-meter, swore to seeing' the coals te-measured by a WornMeteri.and -that there was a deficiency 01,78 bushels. He added, there was no. necessity to put the quantity' of coals sent in i 26 sacks,. or in four waggas; unlesS a deception was meant. Mr. Se-rjearit .811 : :EPtivito made an able speech in defence. The deficieney,besaidi was enormotis; and if the Defendant_ rneut .to eheat Mr. Phillips, 'he was unquestionably a fit Ole& of legal punish_ meat, The 'que§tion to try was, id 'Wilelifer Mr. Newell, knortuilig there were only eight chaldrons and a half', meant to charge tell and a half?" In consi dering that the Jury would look to the situation of the Defendant ; he was the Agent of the Edinburgh Glass Company, who . were accustomed to. ballast their vessels,. coming to the Port of Lundoni with coals, which the 'Defendant afterwards disposed Of upon his own account. Mr. Newell, knowing he was to receive a quantity of coals by the Jane, Mitchell, wrote to Mr. Philips' that he could supply him with ten chaldrons .of good coals, which would' make amends for any former deficiency, adding that mistakes would sometimes occtir„ when they were little thought of, or intended. Mr. Newell sup posed that the ship he had named contained that quantity, and desired them all to be sent, which was accordingly done ; but he ,had not sent• them in as ten chaldrons, nor had he Charged•more than eight and a half. The enormous deficiency, he said, was a strong presumption in favour of his Client, as, after what had previously. passed between the De fendant and Mr. NeW'ell, mine but a Mad Man would have repeated a fraud (if there was any), in such an increased way ; and would go a great way to prove the Defendant's intention of making up the deficiency from the next Ship that should arriVe,-- He trusted the Jury would consider the Defendant to have been aduated by no fraudulent intentions, and that the case was such a one as might have 'hap pened to any other man, situated as the Defendant was, and who was nit tosbe considered like a regu lar Coal-merchant, doing his own businesS, and who knew the contents of his barges laying at his own wharf. The Defendant, on di, contrary, conceived he had a specific: quantity ,Coming, by a specific vessel, which quantity he:dinderstood to be ten chaldrons; and in furtherance of his contra& .de sired them to be all sent to Mr. Philips. It how_ ever turned out to be only eight chaldrons and .a half, and 'he had charged no more to Mr. Philips. Before, howevq, Mr. Newell could explain to Mr.'Phi lips.the reason for sending him in short,' or befbre he could complete his order, as he intended to 'do, the coals were re-measured, and-the Defendant. taxed with the commission of a fraud: He should only add, that when a Defendant was accused Of an offence so highly penal, ,it was incumbent on the Plaintiff to make his accusation clear, without a shadow of doubt, which he would contend was not the case with the present Aetion. On the contrary, no one could think otherwise, titan that Mr. Newell meant to . make up the deficiency ; and as Mr. Newell had hitherto borne the chara&er of an ho nourable man, he trusted the Jury would consider well how they blasted a man's reputation, and fixed on him a penalty of tool. uptrn such slender proofs ascthose produced in the Aftion before tlrem: Thomas Hinton, a Sea Coal-iVleter, swore, that lie measured eight chaldrons and thre,e quarters of coals from the Jane, Mitchell ; and that, they were so . entered at the Ctistom-houSe. A Lighterman, at Flower's Wharf, conveyed the coals on shore, which were 'carted away to Mr. Phillips. Henry Philip, a Land Coal-Meter, saw the coals landed. It 'was his duty to ask, if the coals were to be measuled, or whether they were "fill-trewayt," meaning coali sold by Pool Measure. He asked the question, And was told they were " )471-aquays." On examination he said; if he had seen rz6 sacks in four waggons, he should have supposed there were ten chaldrons and a half:, Charles Chinnety Coal-merchant, said,the quan tity on board a ship could not . be ascertained till the ship was cleared out—the quantity of sacks, and in Casting 'away coals sold by PoorMeaSure, was very diverse,' and could convey no precise idekto,a buyer of the quantity sent." • On his Cross-examination .by Mr. GAltliON, he said, that the routine of business in so diverse a trade, was so promiscuous ; that he could not tell what quantity a buyer 'was to . expel when. The saw zz6 sacks at his door ; • there were first and second buyers and consumers. He admitted, the buyer of five, ten; fifteen, or twenty chaldron of coal, was entitled to the Ingrain, which would be half a dial dron in the fen ; 'but that. in all intermediate 'quan tities the consumer.was generally allowed a rebate in money. . Mr. GIERROW, in reply,' said, the, Public were miserably pillaged between the different buyers in this diverse trade, and wOndered not that it was 'wrapped up in mystery. :The. first buyer was the Ship buyer, and was an animal that kept up the price in hard seasons,' that caused monopoly, and oppressed the Public; the other buyer was the man who served the con3untier, and 'measured to .him whatever his conscience would-perMit. The Learned Counsel then took a review . of the Defendant's case, which he , contended had not re moved the Plaintiff a step from that verdk he claim ed. The Learned Serjeant had agreed, that if De, fendant was guilty,.no punishment was too severe for him ; he would not mince the matter, but say he de served to be hanged ; -and he would add, that the Judge in the Crown Court, he would be bound to say, would pass sentence of death on. less offenders.--- He did -not, therefore, ask a ,verdid, unless .the criminality of the Defendant wad ; so confirmed,. that the-Jury were convinced, they_ l Fould not lay down in their beds with a free conscience, if they did not find against' hirri. It was upon such grounds alone he -asked a verdid. Mr. GARRoW next adverted to an observation of Serjeant SHEPHERD'S, " that the fraud was so enormous, that it was a presumption in favour oldie Defendant." He said, if-such a principle was to be.recognized, the rogues in grain would benefit indeed, as they _had only occasion to sin by wholesale, to lay it on with a high hand, to chat most .eno,rmotisly; in • order:: to l e the leF3 susk)e•Aeci; and to give Air; Serjeane SHE opportunity Ofigetting them o3f at the nett AssiteS:, He slintild only ad 3; 'that if the jury eotllti the.Def • - endant of. the frand to the Coal Trade would be better than ever; and the lic ificire respeEi.tO the f)eiqltt. of tool. had he the horiont of a seat in Parliarnenz; One of the first things he did would be to mike the pe:. nalty 5001. and he hoped.th i at those Who :ward -and were begi - slators, could profit - by thehint; convinced as he was - that notifing - effeatial I.Votild be done till that w•ds the ease; - • ---, M‘DONAL6 said it hid peen trtil - stated,- thai this was a quesrion of great itr4)Ortant":e.' - arrii , ar> itripOitant that }rands in so indtspensfile an 4rticlo ofzeneral tir;e,lA be deteffed an,l ; and - on the otliet hated ; it was. iMportii.nr to ttie De_ - feridant, not so !ma on account of tY; as of his tepthatiori,, for the transadion imptite4 to hiM went ehtitely to ailed Mm as a fair in& honest Trader. It . wOUld. be the ptovince of th e Jury tb determine which of the two Staterrledts they . had heard was best entitled. to their belief. On the one hand it was stated that the 'Defendant had un..' s dertaken to deliver a Specille. quantity of Coals; namely, fed Chaldrons; and had only sent eigHe chaldrons, but with all the external appearances; as to the naMbet of sacks and waggons, and V7ith all the aecoMpatiyii - ig documents, as to the MeterS Tickets, of the quantity he had corittaded to sell: On the contrary it ‘Va.> said, that it was extremely improbable rhe Defendant should have sent the Coals; knowing there was such a deficiency, unless he had intended to send the, remainder at a future periodi; It was certainly remarkable that the Defendant, hefote he 'made the offer of selling a certain quan tity, which he described to have arrived in a par ticular vessel, did not s use the precaution of .Seeing the cargo„ The. Jury ought to be Well satisfied of an intentional Fraud before they pronounced a Ver.., diet which would compel him to , pay tool. and would besides have the effed of irrevocably ruining his character. - The Jury found for the flUintiff—Damages iooL FRAUD ON THE UNDERWRITERS, . , 4ccotmisfrom Brighton state; that on Thurs. day morning the ,Brig was bt - Ought considerably above, low-water mark, and. several Gentlemen' 'appOiritect by the Underitrtitets to ex amine her, have discovered that a locker in the larboard side of the cabin was • removed, alti the liniog^-of the vessel in that place cutaway ; and ii the run. of the'Brig, as high. as the, cabin deck; there is a hole - beat out of one of her' planks b'y maUl.• 'Lower doWn, and about two streaks- from the garboard,' are several.sMall holes, -evident!y made with an augur-- They got at :-this by:means of a small scuttle in the cabin. Ale Captain (Coy 1, I N), on finding the certainty of - the Brig'sbet ng;got on shore, made his escape. The Supercargii, and one of the Owners,who came down here, since the aecideti:, have both been - apprehended and sent to Lewes gaol. The Gentlemen who: have been sent Clown. by the UnderwriterS do not know the sum for which she was itisured,- but it is, said to be near ten thousand pounds, 'and the value of the cargo is nut supposed to amount to half that sum. It also appears thal fresh insurances were made so recen't/y as last Sa turday: The brig .is sterns to have been intended for a privateer, and appears•not to the least injured in any part except where the holes and breaches in question have been made. The Underwriters have .given her up, supposing therri- selves entirely exonerated. The rest of the business will be left to a Court of Justice._ 'The strictest search is ordered to be made after the Captain. The Vessel will begot into Shoreham Harbour. The Cargo is getting out with all ,possible dispatch ; but - is in general ~so damaged as: to be good tbr nothing. A case of watches was the only thing at. tempted to be saved- by tie Captain and C T !,:w ; but many of them were lost ; twenty-one are lodged • at the Custom house. The circumstance that first excited suspicion concerning this scene of iillany was, the very calm state of the weather at the time the Brig.went down ; and her having been observed early in the morning in sh6aler w.:ter, than when she first Made the signal of distress. Yesterday a Merchant who bore a respeetable chart er in the City, underwent a private examina. tion'before ,the Lord Mayor, charged on suspicion by several Underwrites with being privy to the loss of_the . above Ship, near Brighton, which had • lately been - insured for. Ten Thousand kotinds.---.. After a long investiga,tion of this titisine§s, .the par- _ ticularS Of which would not be proper• at present to state; he was committed to the Giiispur-street Compfer for further examination. • A feW'd'ayS ago, a hearse, drawn by two horses, stopped at an inn, in Alnwick, without any other. attendants than the driVer. A person-More cutions . than the surrounding speaators, peeped through 'a crevice of that vehicle _of mortality; and discovered, instead. of a coffin, an assemblage of casks, firmly packed with straw,' The disco Very, however, pro duced only a hearty laugh at the ingenuity .of the deception, and the Smuggler and his cargo departed without further investkatiod. Thursday .about one o'clock,, a gentleman in a one horse chaise,,facing the Admiralty, was thrown out by .the'horse taking fright. Both shafts of the chaise were broken. The Gentleman was carried into a Ppdor's in the neighbourhood. The horse ran up L, - ;.7 f ring-crosS,' and very nearly /an over a woman big with child. A set of wretches who infest the neighhonr,llcod of Bermondsey, have long been ,in the habit of strolling about in the evening ; in order to.'insult every unproteoed fe►nale who falls in their way. A few nights ago a lady,.in a state of pregnancy ; was attacked by one of those villains, who put het in such terror, /fiat she was taker, away in a fir, and her life was since despaired of, At the late Salisbury Assizes, a wretch turned King's evidence against his two brothers, and ex_ petted to hang them ; but the Jury wou:d_not be lieve a word he said, and acquitted the Prisoners.