The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-12-02 00:00:00

A DISPUTED LANCASHIRE ESTATE.

On Monday, Charles Chadwick, a carter, of Bury, Lan-
cashire, soon charged before the ii as] Murk'. bench f magir-
rates, on remand, with being is party to the mutilation of
the fleshier of the Parish Church more than 30 years ago.
The prosecution has arisen under the following circuit,

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In the reign of Queen Anne one of her personal
attendants was Andrew Chadwick, a Lancashire
gentleman. Ile was the means of rendering Queen
Anne sonic ptivonalservice in an accident she met with
—at least, so runs the tradition—for which he was
knighted. After his death the estates of which he was
the owner got into Chancery, and were the sub-
ject of litigation. William and Squire Gnest
were agents for one John Chadwick, of West
Leigh, near Bury, who clahned to be a legal heir
to Sir Andrew, and they obtained for him an
order from the Court of Chancery declaring him to
be heir-at-law to Sir Andiew, who died in London. A
portion of the estate, valued at £lO,OOO was realized,
but there were properties in the hands of strangers
which never came into the possession of the Chadwicks
named. Another branch of the Chadwick family, Ezra
Chadwick and others, residing near Blackburn, com-
menced an action against John Chadwick or his
descendants with the view of proving that they were not
the legal heirs. The prisoner, Charles Chadwick, in
Thal, made a statutory declaration before Mr.
Grundy, solicitor, Bury, that William and Squire
Guest wc-o. t- • Ile mini tee's house at Hadingden
to search 0, and during the minister's
absence Squire Guest took a penknife from his
pocket and abstracted a leaf containing the burial
of one James Chadwick of Ilaslingden, the real
heir to Sir Ands w, whereby the claim of his descend-
ants was frustrated. The case came before the Court

at London about a year ago. It wax attempted to be
show-n for the plaintiffs that, although the defendants
had been in possession for twenty years and more,
which debarred any claim being met up under the
Statute of Limitations, they were entitled to enter
into the case to show fraud, and their principal wit-
ness to prove this was the prisoner Charles Chadwick.
He, however, when called, swore he had not been a
witness to the mutilation. There are, however, two
leaves of the register missing about the dates in
question, and the solicitors fir the plaintiffs, under
instruction, have taken action against the prisoner,
charging him vvith being a party to the mutilation of
the register.

On the case being proceeded with on Monday 134,
Mr. Wood, barrister, prosecuted; Mr. Crossland, Bury,
defended.

Robert Chadwick said he saw the poisoner sign the
declaration in Mr. Grundy's house. -
Robert Murton, Castle Tavern, Lincoln'sinn, said
when the suit was tried at London, the prisoner lived
at his house, and be heard him say that his declara-
tion was true, and that Squire Guest cut out what
referred to the burial, from the Register, and he would
swear it before the Master p.f the Rolls. When he
swore the opposite he communicated with one of the
plaintiffs.
Other witnesses were called who deposed that the
prisoner bad often told them of the mutilation of the
Register.
Mr. Wood said the order in Chancery on behalf of
John Chadwick was obtained by false declarations to
the effect that James Chadwick died at Bury, and
that he was the same James Chadwick who had lived
at Haslingden. Giles Hoyle made declaration that he
had been told that by Benjamin Chadwick, who it ap-
peared died three years before Hoyle's death.
After sitting seven hours, the magistrates adjourned
the case.

A WEAKNESS FOR "SPECIALITIES."
Notwithstanding the almost centemptwurs manner
in which Count von Roth in a recent debate referred
to the "couple of dozen of torpedoes" as constituting
the German navy, the naval authorities of Germany
appear to have devoted special attention to that par-
ticular branch of the service, and have produced a new
kind of torpedo boat which is henceforth to rank a. a
German speciality among war vessels (remarks the
Pall Mall Ga:elte.) The Germans have ever had a
weakness for "specialities " as apt to arouse a peculiar
kind of patriotic ambition and jealousy. What the
needle-gun and Krupp's cannon have been to the army,
it appears the torpedo boat is to be to the navy. The
vessel ham the shape of a cigar, forty feet in length,
six in breadth. It is constructed of wholly iron
plates strong enough to resist ordinary shots The
boats are to move entirely under water, only the
funnel of the engine and a tube concealing the steers-
man protruding. As they are intended to move with
peculiar swiftness, and only under the cover of night,
they are judged to be thus comparatively safe from
attack. The crew will consist of no more than three or
four men, whose task is to consist in applying torpedoes
unawares to hostile vessels cruising in German waters.
The fabrication and avplication of these torpedoes is
kept strictly secret. l'hev are stored in the hold of
the vessel, the rtulikr of which seems to be fastened to
the point corresponding to the ow, the steersman
having a hole of the width of a crown in a rotary iron
tube to peer thronA. 'lle engine is fixed at the
opposite end, and to save space is heated stith petro-
leum.