The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-01-28 00:00:00

(To be continued).

A VENERABLE Vew Yorker recently advertised, ask-
ing any one who wished to go to Europe under
pleasant auspices to apply to him, and giving his address.
This advertisement was seen late one night by a
young man who had been dining freely. He cogitated
awhile, and then told the club porter to call a cab,
into which porter and cabby hoisted him. He told
the man to drive to the address given in the
advertisement. Arrived there, he was assisted to the
side-walk, and with much dignity ordered the cabby
to practice on the knocker of the old-fashioned
residence. The advertiser stuck his venerable head
out' of the window, and howled: "What do you
mean.by waking me up at this hour ?" "Come t'
ansher 'vertishment." "Well, sir, what have you to
say ?" "That's orri. rve come to shay: Verry
shorry, but I can't go with you. Goo' ni."
SHE (just in from an afternoon's shopping and
running to her husband) : "I've had such a lovely
time. I've just come from Blank's, and I saw two
such lovely jackets, one at 113 dols. and another at
225 dols. !" "Well, and which one did you finally
buy r "You know, dear, how superstitious I am
about the number thirteen, so I simply had to buy the
225 dol. one."
Joss Brursos wrote :—lt iz a grate deal eazier tew
look upon thoze who are below us, with pitty, than
tew look upon thoze who abov us, without envy.
Good common sense iz az helthy az onions. We
often see thoze who are good, simply bekauze they
haint got sense enuff tew be bad, and thoze who are
bad just hecauze they haint got sense enuff tew 15e
good.
The man who don't know himself iz a poor judge ov
the other nhellow,
b .1' '•D- jJ( S.t. • . •
lei I-abatil/1 r,iuzq ila sell eieutob

THE FATAL FIRE IN THE
STRAND.

The trial of L4on Serne and John Henry Goldfinch
for feloniously and maliciously setting fire to premises
occupied by them in the Strand, with intent to injure,
Vras concluded at the Central Criminal Court on
Oaturday.
Mr. Poland and Mr. C. Matthews prosecuted; Mr.
Geoghegan and Mr. Lawless defended Serne ; and
Mr. Forrest Fulton and Mr. Bodkin appeared for
Goldfinch.

Mr. Justice Charles, in summing up, said that the
main question for the jury to consider was, whether
the prisoners were proved to have set fire wilfully to
the house. They had nothing to do with the fact
that the prisoners were tried at the last sessions for
murder and acquitted. There were many rea.-ions
why the jury at the last sessions should have ac-
quitted the prisoners. It might be that they did not
consider the offence of arson had been proved, or it
might be that under the circumstances they should
very naturally have shrunk from finding
the prisoners guilty of destroying the lives of
the two boys of their malice aforethought. At present,
however, they had nothing to do with what occurred
at the former trial, and all the jury had to say by
their verdict was, whether it was proved to their
satisfaction that the prisoners, or either of them, had
committed the crime of arson. He then referred to
the evidence relating to the pecuniary position of
Serne at the time he effected the insurance for £7OO
in August, and he observed that there was no doubt
that he had very much over-insured the property that
was in the house, and, in fact, that he was not pos-
sessed of any property whatever, as everything he
had in the world was included in the bill of sale to
secure the loan of £BO. They ought not to allow this
fact to weigh too much against the prisoner, but it
was a fact they ought to observe, and it could not be
withdrawn from them. The prisoner appeared to
have entered into a negotiation to take a shop in
New Oxford-street, the rent of which was £l9O,
and £4O more was to be paid for fixtures, but where
the prisoner was to obtain the money he was at
a loss to discover. In the course of his further obser-
vations, the learned judge referred to the evidence of
the police that they had seen the appearance of two
distinct fires burning in the shop, and he said it was
certainly an astounding fact that they had not
communicated such an important fact at once to their
superior officers, without waiting until they were ques-
tioned upon the point. They had heard the explana-
dens given by the constables Ross and Blenheim, and
the natural question for the consideration of the jury
was whether the constables were speaking the truth.
If they were, the fact they deposed to was one of ex-
treme significance and importance, because it showed
almost conclusively the fire could not have been an
accidental one, particularly when coupled with the
fact that Goldfinch was stated to have been seen in
an upstairs room where a third fire was said to have
been burning. He concluded by stating that the
case against Goldfinch was totally different to that
of the other prisoner, and there did not appear to be
any motive on his part for the commission of such a
crime.

Serne desired to explain that when he took the shop
in Oxford-street he had an offer from Mr. Partington
of £l5O for the blank wall for advertising purposes.
He only discovered afterwards that the wall belonged
to the Metropolitan Board of Works. Prisoner also
made some observations with regard to the horse oint-
ment which he had prepared, and in respect of which
he made a claim upon the Insurance Company.

The Judge: I have no observations to mike upon
that statement.

The jury retired at twenty- minutes past twelve
o'clock to consider their verdict, and at five minutes
past one o'clock they returned into court.
In reply to the usual questions, the jury acquitted
Goldfinch, but found Seme guilty.
Mr. C. Matthews thought it was right that the court
should know that down to the year 1882 Serne had
lived in Holland. He was sentenced to imprisonment
at Haarlem for larceny, and later on at Amsterdam to
three months' imprisonment for ill-treatment. He
then came to London, as his description was circulated
in Amsterdam. In 1883 he was tried at that court
and sentenced to 18 months' hard labour on a charge
of fraud in connection with the Steam Navigation Com-
pany, and in 1885 he was struck off the list of the
inhabitants of Amsterdam.

Mr. Justice Charles said the jury had acquitted
Goldfinch very properly of any participation in the
offence ; but with regard to Serne, they had come to
the only conclusion which, as reasonable men, they
would come to. Upon the previous occasion the jury
had acquitted Some of the crime of wilfully murdering
the two unfortunate boys who lost their lives on the
night of the fire, and in the sentence which he felt ithis
duty to pass on him he did not intend to consider that
charge (Serne interrupted, and said he desired to
speak, but his lordsdip would not hear him). Although
Serne had been acquitted of the crime of murder, he had
been convicted of one of the worst crimes—as bad a
crime, short of murder, as it was possible for a man
to be guilty of. With the view of defrauding the insur-
ance company, and of obtaining money from them, he
set fire to his own house at a time when he knew that
his wife and children were in it, and thus exposed them
to a terrible risk. He could not overlook this fact,
that for the sake of the money which he hoped to get
from the insurance company he took a step utterly
careless and regardless of the risks to which those
unfortunate beings were exposed—risks which were
fatal in two cases, and which might have been fatal
in others. He could not pass a less sentence than 20
years' penal servitude.
S srne said he desired to say a few words, as
prisoners had an opportunity of doing before sen-
tence.

The judge : That opportunity was given you, and
you did not avail yourself of it. I cannot hear you
now.

Serne said he wanted to complain of the perjuries
and mistakes which had been made against him.
The Judge: Let the prisoner be removed.
The prisoner was seized by the warders and re-
moved.

Serne, as he was being taken below, shouted.
"Good-bye, friends; Harry, look after my wife and
children."

- While this scene was going on inside the Court, out-
side in the corridors below Prisoner's wife and daughtas
were shouting and shrieking.
Goldfinch was discharged.
Before leaving the bench the judge thanked the jury
for their services, and added, "I perfectly agree ID
your verdict; it was a very just one."