The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-01-26 00:00:00

THE CAREER OF COLONEL WA UGH.

It is somewhat grotesque, says the Times, to
watch the tremendous energy with which society
comes down on some wretched little scamp who has
filched a pockethandkerchief, as contrasted with the
dignified method in which it negotiates with great
offenders As a bright specimen of what can be
accomplished in the existing state of things we
briefly advert to a few features in the career of
William Petrie Waugh, who has at length been out-
lawed, and who probably cares as much about such a
result as though sentence of excommunication had
been passed upon him. Colonel William Waugh,
for a certain number of years served his country in a
military capacity—mainly, we believe, in India.
When in India he must have watched with keen
attention the manner in which his brother officers
dealt with the balances they might have in hand,
the course of their remittances to England, and the
general form of investments they perferred. Having
meditated much on all these matters, he returned to
England with, as it is said, some little property of
his own. He appears next to have taken into his
confidence a ci-devant army surgeon, and between
them they devised the notable scheme of the "East-
ens Corporation." The Corporation was to be a
bank and kind of agency house for the transaction of
Indian financial business in every form. We will
not say that there might not have been room for
such an establishment if properly conducted—but
then Colonel Waugh and his fellows did not conduct
it properly. The plan succeeded to a degree which
probably exceeded the expectations even of its
devisers. The money flowed into the tills of the
soldier and the surgeon, and let us hope their brains
were turned. Now, about midway between the
Nore Light and the Lizard, in one of the fairest
portions of the southern coast of England, there is
an inlet of the sea which runs up to the town of
Poole. At the entrance of this inlet—or of Poole
Harbour, as it is called—lies Branksea Island. The
domain is a compact one; it is encircled by a ring
fence, and the fence is the pleasant sea of Dorsetshire.
Upon the island there is a stately mansion, and deer
run wild upon it. Colonel Waugh became Lord of
Branksea. There he lived with princely splendour
and exercised a stately hospitality. Nor was this
enough; he could not consent to remain throughout
the year, he and his family, in this royal place of
banishment. When the London season was at the
full no house was more noted for its banquets and for
its gay theatrical displays than the noble mansion
which Colonel Waugh occupied in London's fairest
suburb. The answer to the question of "Who paid
for all this ?" may readily be imagined. It was with
the money of the shareholders and creditors of the
Eastern Corporation that these miracles of splendid
housekeeping were accomplished. The public be-
lieved that Colonel Waugh, like Midas of old, coa-
-1 yerted all that he touched into gold. No sooner had
he become possessor of Branksea than a report was
spread that the very soil of the island had been dis-
covered to be a precious clay, out of which articles of
great value might be fabricated, such as were espe.
ciaLly prized by rich men in the Levant. All this
went on well enough for a while, but at last the day
of reckoning came. It was soon evident that Colonel
Waugh's prosperity had no other basis than the

nioney of his credulous clients—the hard-won cram
ings for whish many a brave man had exposed hai
; life to the death shot of the Indian foe, and the etig
; more deadly attacks of Indian disease—the poor
pittance of the widow and the orphan—who were
; haw left in their old age, in their destitution, ia
their helplessness to the rough mercies of a struggling
world. What has been the result to the perpetrator,
, of these things? now is it to be measu-red—whers
, is it to be placed on the black eatalogue of offences
which a man can perpetrate against ass neighbour,
The result has been that Colonel Waugh "went
' abroad ;" that is, he has been living sines the exple,
sion in comfort upon such share of the pillage of hi,
cars: practically
with itnic tballey
on a correspondents
mrinryaanindagigsetadnrtown in Spain be
hasgeneral victimsogt
e scramble.
atct 8
ir
ahbmel
ybml
enF haveroca
iihe could not return to England to give any explana.
iotthhuthhtoise af:tutmedntnigesc;
towafitbusithhehnßaietesnerkenihiuspitotchly,Cthourtwss.
sucHhe
thstwae
Cans which might be required for winding up the
affairs of the bank. For a time the paltry excuse
England to face his victims. At length, however,
even the patience of the much-endiffing professional
w mp
t admitted,
u p because s e although
eo on e 1 Waugh W
dared be
ed a
gh not return return fiction,
t,O
ke
men engaged has been exhausted. On Monday last
the case was brought again for hearing before Mr.
Commissioner Evans, and even Mr. Lawrence, who
appeared for the bankrupt, gate his client up. Vu.
der these circumstances Colonel Waugh has been
proclaimed an outlaw in the usual form. This step,
we may hope, will only be the first among those
which are needed to bring him back to this country
in order to answer for his offences: The same vigi.
lance and energy which secured the attendance of
the defaulters of the British Bank may not improba-
bly 'note successful in the case of Colonel Waugh.
LECTURE ox Pstfra,—Mr. Edmund Fry, of tie
Peace Society, gave a lectine in the Townhall, oil
Wednesday evening last, entitled "The acquisition
of India by the sword." A very nitmeroner audience
listened to his discourse throughout with appsinsntly
great interest.
fOOLE QUARTER SESSIONI3.—The Quarter Sesidofis
this town were held on Wednesday last before thd
newly appointed Recorder, W. M. Cooke, Esq. There
were also present on the bench the Mayor (W. Pearce,
Esq.), H. Harris, John Goalie, Thomas Wanhill, John
Lancaster, and George Ledgard, &qrs., magistrates.
The usual preliminaries having been gone through, and
the proclamation against vice and immorality having
been read, the Recorder proceeded to deliver Ins charge
to the Grand Jury. The learned gentleman said, since
the last Quarter Sessions in this town Her Majesty had
been pleased to appoint their late rssorder (Mr.
Hodges) to the chief-justieeship of the Cape of Good
Hope ; and while they would congratulate Mr. Hodges
upon his appointment, he (the Recorder) felt sure they
would regret his removal from their town. The vacancy
which was thus caused had been conferred upon him
(Mr. Cooke), and he should look to the magistrates of
the town, the grand jury, slid all others connected
with the administration of justice, to assist hint in the
discharge of his duties. He had to congratulate them
upon the smallness of the calendar, and the lightness
of the duties which they would have to (limbs:me. It
might be thought that in a seaport town like Poole,
there would be much more business to come before
them; but he attributed the absence of more prisoners
to the good order which was maintained by the authotio,
ties, and to the vigilance manifested by the police. The
Recorder then called their attention to a few Acts of
Parliament passed in the last session. There was one
bill which would be sent before them, and if they con-
sidered there was a prima facie case made out they
would be justified in returning a true bill.
Mr. Beetham, and Mr. Yeatman, the two counsel
who were present, before the commencement of the trial
of the prisoner, rose and congratulated Mr. Cooke on his
appointment to the office of Recorder.
Mr. Beetham, the senior counsel spoke as follows:- I
am requested by the members of the bar who usually at-
tend this court, to congratulate you on your appoint-
ment to the office of Recorder of this Borough. May
you ever be respected by your brethren of the profession,
as was your excellent predecessor, and the same cordial
feeling exist between you and the bar.
Margaret Rogers was charged with stealing a fat
turkey from the shop of Mr. Joseph Aplin, poulterer'
of High Street, on the 23rd December last. Another
count in the indictment charged her with receiving the
turkey, knowing it to have been stolen.
Mr Beetham prosecuted, and Mr. Eastman defended
the prisoner.
The jury after a short deliberation found the prisoner
Guilty, and a former conviction having been proved
against her, she was sentenced to six months' im-
prisonment at Dorchester gaol with hard labour.