The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-11-13 00:00:00

STAFFORDSHIRE ASSIZES.

FRAUDULENT BANKRTJP Icy BY A. WORDS.
LEY HOP MERCHANT.

Joseph Hand, hop merchant, at *Wordsley, was
indicted at the Stafford Assizes,. on Monday, before
Mr. Justice Mathew, that, having been adjudicated
4a bankrupt on March 6, 1830, he did unlawfully
dispose of, atberwis., than in the ordinary way of his
trach, in December, 1885, property on which he had
obtained credit within four months of the presenta—
tion of his petition. He was further indicted that
in April, 1886, at Kingswinford,. he made or was
privy to the making of a false entry of a payment
of £36 8s to one Samuel Lowe, in divers books and
documents relating to his property, with intent to
conceal the state of his affairs after the presentation
of his petition.
Mr. Mirehouse and Mr. Wigram (instructed by
Mr. C. H. Collis on behalf of the Treasury) ap-
pear. d for the prosecution. Mr. Underhill, Q,C.,
and Mr. Rupert Kettle (instructed Dy
~Messrs Horn-
fray and Holberton), defended.
The case having been opened, the file of proceed•
ings in the prisoner's bankruptcy was first put in.
Mr. Underhill elicited from the clerk who prod w.led
it the fact that during the examination in private
of t e pr:soner's wife his solicitor was not allow :1
to be pr'nent, whereas a creditor's solicito: was pre-
s,nt.

George Boden, shorthand writer, was examined
as ts) the accuracy of the ehorthted notes of the
public examinition, which lasted for five days. De-
fendant bean buaine sas a hop merchant abut
1870, and in 3382 compounde 1 with his creditors
for 5s in the pound. On M trch 1, 1886, he filed a
peti4on in binkruptcy. and on March 6be was
adjadicated bankrupt, his nests being only £l9l,
and his liabilities .22,579. A dividend of no more
than 241 in the pound was paid, and in consequence
of the unsatisfactory answers the bankrupt made
under examination these proceedings had been in-
stituted by the creditors. The case for the prosecu-
tien was that in September, 1835, the prisoner wrote
to Messrs. Biddle and Co., hop merchants, South-
wark, asking them to forward him samples. As a
reference he gave the name of S. Insult, of-Brierley
Hill. an auctioneer. The firm being satiefied with
the reference, goods antouutieg to .243 19s 8d were
delivered to the prisoner's order at Wordsley, in
Staffordshire. He paid on these by a bill at four
months, which when it became due, was renewed at
his reervst, but was afterwards not met, and Messrs.
Biddle obtained judgment on it. Toe amount of
that bill was all the money they obtained for hops
to the value of 2802 17s 2d. The prisoner next
began to borrow money from an auctioneer named
Humphrieg, and opened an account with Messrs.
Walton and Co.' hop merchantß, of London, from
whom he ordered hops to the value of £lO6. This
firm, however, heard something about the prisoner,
and refused to supply him, whereupon he wrote that
he hal sold the hops at a profit of £3O, and threat-
ened to briug an action against them, and the goods
were supplie I. Afterwards the statement that they
were sold was found to be false. Meaawhile the
prisoner had berrowed money at 30, 50, and even
100 per cent., and it was now alleged that the hops
supplied were consigned to the lender, who repaid
hitneelf from the proaeeds. In November the pri-
soner obtained hops of Vie value of .2106 from
Messrs. Walton and Co., and borrowed 1130 from
Mr. Skidmore, of Wolverhampton, on the security
of the hops, weigh were thou sold in a manner
other than the ordinary way of t-ade. Similar
sales to3k piece in December, at a great loss.
Mr. Biddle gave evidence as to the first of these
transactions. - - _

Cro3s-examined, he said there was a great deal of
tiu3tuatlon of prices in the hop trade; but even if a,
in to thou;ilt that by auction he could get a better
pdoe tilin in the market, witness xNOULL Lot think
him justified in selling by auction. He nevci. i new
best hops s)1. by auction, esee.:t at I:ne K ns,,u6
Hill last year. In January of the present year he
off:red the prisoner. Xt,003 orth of hop=, pyr
sample, and t.O oaier was not ace ptec.l: 0 h
large qaantittes were offerel, b.:t it was in ens cot
to a letter from the prison-r. 11op3 were not sold
by auction Oecause one could not a,mpla them in
bulk in al auedon ro,m, and becaus 3 brewers pre-
ferred to deal with the vowers•
Mr Walton, hop merchant, of L )nlm, it the:
th elling of hops by auction was uukno.va tit:ll,r
in :Landon or at Worcester.

liunipsries, upon being called, sail that o
three j;pockets were sold by auition, the lar;er
quantity being ssld by
,private co Ltrict ; an I the
count which re ated to the hops soil by Humphries
was alien ion.ei
Mr. Skidmore was next called, aid in cross-ex
amination admitted that he had sill sonnd hops by
auction for twisity-five years.
Mirehouss thereupon proceeed to the second
portion of the indictment, having reference to the
alleged fraudulent entry.
Sa:nuel Lowe, formerly a clerk in the employ of
prisoner, deposed to the prisoner having drawn up
a cheque for £33 83 in his name, and, when he bad
oh ained the receipt, tie burnt the cheque, After.
wards, on the sugsestioa of the witness, prisoner
burnt the recsil,t ills°. There was really due to him
a sum of i 2,5 for wages, and this the prisoner shortly
afterwards paid. Later on the pr:soner tried to per.
suede him that the fact of a cheque for -t36 83 hav-
ing been drawn up was equivalent to his having
received the money. That was during his examin-
ation by the official rec,_-iver.
Cross-examined: Prisoner did not get Sc from
his wife, nor did she stand by while the £3O 83 was
handed over to witness. Prisoner did not after-
wards say, in the presence of a
,third party (a girl)
that they had bean settling up.
Mr. Underhill, in addr.csdug the jury, said it was
ex raordivary to rely on the unsuppotted evidence
of : man who had, en his own confession, been an
a'; auspice in a fraud. He suggested that Lowe's
story of the money not having been really received
w 3 prompted by a fear of being compelled to re-
tssu it. It had not been shosvu that tie cheque had
never been found, nor had the counterfoil been pro-
duced. Surely that was not the way in which a
a Treasury prosecution should be conducted.
The prisoner's wife being debsrred from giving
evidence, Lizzie Walker, her sister, was called, and
said th it on Sat urdar, February 20, she saw the
prisonsr and Lowe go up into the office. Wbile
they w,re t.L.,re the prisoner rapped the kitchen
window, and in consequence of what Mrs. Hand
then said, she gave her 3s, making up B,s, which
Mrs. Hand took up to the office._

This bAng the Case for the defence, his lordship
summed up, observing that Mr. Uunderhill had been
quite tignt in demanding that the jury should be
satisfied of there being sufficient corroborative evi-
dence to bear out the statement of Lowe.
The kiry retired to consider their verdict, and
after thirty minutes' absence found a verdict of
guilty.
His Lordship said he could not understand why
persons in tbe bankrupt's position did not make a
clean b..east of it, and sentenced him to three
months' imprisonment, without hard labour.

FURNISH ON NORMAN & STACEY'S HIRE-
PURCH .k.Stei SYSTEM. DEPOSIT not necessary
Economical and strictly, private, without the objection,
able formalities of dealers and others. 1,2, or 3 years,
bixty genuine wholesale manufacturing firms to select
goods from, Wzite for particulars. Carriage paid and
special arrangements for country. Offices, 79, Queen
Victoria Street, London, E,C.

Holtoway's Pills. Weary of life.— Derangement of
ths liver is one of the most efficient causes of dangerous
dis Pases, and the most politic source of those melan-
choly krebodiegs which arc worse than death itself, A
few doses of these noted Pills act magically in dispelling
low pirits, and repelling the covert attacks made on tha
nerves by excessrva heat, impure atmosphere, over-in-
dulgenee, or oxhausting excitement. The most shat-
tered constitution may derive benefit from Holloway's
Pills, which will regulate dis-riered action, brace the
uerves, increase the energy of the intellectual faculties,
and revive the failing memory, By attentively studying
i.he instructions for taking these Pills and explicitly pot-
Lag them in practice the most desponding will soon fee
confident of a perfect recovery.