The Express.
London, England, 1863-08-26 00:00:00

rvvi. I No, AUGUST 26. 1863.

ra* carries work that was in au old farmhouse in Essex, and
finding that the owner would not allow it to be removed.
II be actually bought the estate, in order that be might ob-
tain possession of it, and haring done so, it was taken out
and pieced among the other curiosities in Camden-bouee.
In feet be was justified in saying that Mr. Woolley was •
very extraordinary man. Although perused of consider-
able wealth, he kept no borer or carriages, and even the
servants, who were dressed up in silver and bine livery on
great occasions, were not his own servants, but waiters and
hirsons who were living in the neighbourhood, who were
red for the purpose. In fact be spent all the money be
could get in beantifyiog and decorating Camden-house in
the way he bad stated, and had borrowed • large sum of
money of hie brother and sister-M.la,, upon mortgage of
the property, the whole of which was devoted to the ptir-
poem be had alluded to. The learned counsel then proceeded to
state that it appeared that in November of 1861 Mr. Woolley
took a house at Brighton, and he believed an attempt
would be made to show that be had removed
a portion of the property from Camden-house to Brighton,
but he should be able to prove to them by the most satisfac-
tory evidence that there was not the slightest foundation
for this suggestion. With regard to the supposition that
the property had been destroyed wilfully be should be in •
position to prove that although the amount of insuruce
that was effected was certainly very considerable, still that
in point of fact if the whole sum were paid the plaintiff
would in reality obtain little or no benefit, for the 12,0004
for which the baildiog was insured would not cover the ex-
pense of its re-erection, and nearly the whole of the re-
mainder would go to the mortgagees. He might also state
that the surveyors of the fire offices had had the fullest op-
portunity for looking over the property and ascertaining its
value, and that they took pretty good care of their own in-
terest In the matter by declining to take the risk except
upon a doubly haaardoto premium, which was 4e. 6d.
per tent, and the amount of the annual premium was
1301. Mr. Bovill next proceeded to state that the plaintiff
had at one period occupied Tunbridge Castle, and during
his absence his wife was unfortunately drowsed. It was
I supposed that she was feeding the swans, and that she fell
into the water ; but it was never known bow the accident
actually happened. To show' however, the course that
had been taken with regard to the plaintiff acid the un-
founded assertions that were made respecting him. he
might state that " they " had actually circulated a report,
founded upon the fact to which he bad alluded, that Mr.
Woolley bad murdered his wife.
Mr. Lush said be did Dot know who his learned friend
meant by " they," but on the part of the defendanta be most
positively denied that they were any parties to such a sugges-
tion.

Mr. Banll said that the statement bad come round to
them, and the plaintiff was well aware of the soma from
which it emanated. He then proceeded to give a detail of
the carcuestuces under which the fire occurred. The per-
sons in the house at the time were Mr. Woolley, his butler
Cruder, and a man named Temple, and his wife and son.
Mr. Woolley Wept in one portion of the house, and his
butler occupied • room not fu from it. He was awoke by
some now, and epos his opening hie bed-room door he
toned the house was is flamed. He awoke his butler, and
he at first attempted to give an alarm to the men Temple
and his family, but the fire prevented himfrom doing so,
and be and Crosier were compelled to make their escape
by • back stairoue. They then proceeded to give
the alarm to the other inmates of the house, and
Mrs. Temple in her fright jumped out of the window,
and was seriously injured, and her husband and son
got out from the burning mansion by means of the fire-
escape. Mr. Woolley had nothing on at this time but his
shirt, and be was removed to a neighbouring house, and is
consequence of his exposure to the cold and wet—for it
was raining at Mistime the fire happened—be was rendered
seriously ill, and this to • certain extent prevented him from
giving the information that was required by the insurance
companies so quickly as they wished it.
Baron Bramwell asked the learned counsel whether he
intended to give the jury any information with regard to
the origin of the fire.
Mr. IBovill said they bad no information whatever upon
the subject ; all they knew we that no one was in the house
but the persons be had mentioned but the man Temple
had stated that on the evening previous to the fire he had
been mimed in frying sausages in what was called the
green-room of the theatre, for his supper. and this might
account for the fire, as the flue of the chimney of that
room communicated with • beam that had been
found to be on fire on • previous oocsaioo. In
these old houses, however, it was very difficult
to tell how • fire happened, and be was not in a position to
give the jury any further information as to how the fire in
question originated. He added that the whole family were
examined ; everybody about the premises was subjected to
a searching inquiry by persons connected with the insurance
companies, and he submitted, therefore, that if there bad
really been any ground for supposing that Mr. Woolley bad
been guilty of the serious crime imputed to him, the course
they should have adopted would have been to have given
him into custody, or have had the matter fully investigated
by a malistrate. They bad not ventured to do this, and
it was clear, in Us opinion, that having got hold,
by some means or other, of the knowledge of some
circumstances which in their opinion amounted to
something like suspicion, they had resolved woo
defending the present action in the hope that they
might induce the jury to give them • verdict. The
learned counsel then proceeded to narrate some of the other
circumstances he proposed to give in evidence, and coo-
chided a mom clear and able speech, by observing that the
.
on issue the jury had to decide was whether the plaintiff,
without the slightest motive, had wilfully destroyed that
property which it appeared to have been the sole object of
ilde to obtain possession of.
The following evidence was then adduced :
Ides Anne Barker said—l am the sister of the late Sir
George Barker, and I am acquainted with the plaintiff, and
became so shortly after the death of his first wife, in the
winter of 1859. Mee Cope, the sister-M. law of the plaintiff.
and her brother, Captain Cope, were living with Mr.
Woolley. I had Ward that some drawings of portions of
Camden .house had been takes and sold for cbari table purposes,
and ! myself made nomedrawiep which were sold for theseme
purposes. Some of the drawings that have been produced
were made by me, and some by Lady Belcher. Very little
furniture appears in my drawings, and my meson for leaving
out the furniture from them was, that the drawing would
less appeared confused if the furniture had been introduced.
For the same :sewn I left out chandeliers and vases in some
of the drawings. I was well acquainted with the home, sod
it was so extremely beautiful that it was a pleasure to go
over it. There was • large quantity of statues, pictures,
lied beautiful carving and gildrog all over the house. The •
were also a number of old pictures, and a great many
more in wools in the drawing-room and library. The
furniture wee very rich, and all in character with the
&moralities of the house. There was • great deal of very
rare and valuable embroidery in some of the rooms, and the
carpets were also of • most valuable descriptioo. There
was • theatre at the back of the house. I played there •
great many times; the performances were amateur, and were
got up for pis of charity. The lint I played at was
got up by Lord Benham. Upon one omission MM. was re-
ceived, which was devoted to charitable purposes, the pro-
oseds of one performance being givers to the Warehousemen
and Clerks' School. There was plenty of scenery for the
purposes of an amateur theatre. Mr. Woolley took very
great interest in his house. I never maw any one take so
much interest in an establishment. It was all the amuse-
ment be appeared to have, and he and Miss Cope were cos.
staidly engaged in makingalteratioue in the different rooms.
There was no alteration in the furniture or anything else at
the time the fire happened. lam quite mire that none of
the furniture that was in Mr. Woolley's house at Brighton
hod been brought from Camden-house. There were two
very large looking-glues in the ball-room and the drawing-
room. There was a profusion of valuable looking-claws all
over the home. I last saw Camden-house in November,
and at that time I did sot men anything.

Cross-examined—lf the large glees in the drawiog•room
bad been removed it would have been missed immediately.
I first went to Camden-hones about three or four years uo.
Everybody who went there was always shown all over the
house ;at 'alit into all the showrooms. I was introduced
to Mr. Woolley by Mn. Milner Gibson. In the year letil
I was constantly at Camdemhouse. A great many of the
pictures were portraits. They consisted of portrait, of
saints, Madonnas, and holy families. I should think there
were three hundred pictures altogether. I think that the
chandeliers in the drawing-room were intended for candles.
I have seen u many as five hundred persons present at
moms of the parties that were given at Camden-house.
The guests bad supper, wine, and the usual refreshment..
The season at Camden-hones lasted as long as the London
season, but it was of no use to give parties when there was
no one to go to them. I was aware that Mr. Woolley was
in town at the time the fire happened, but I did not see
him at Camden-house. I met him at Mrs. Mlloar
()themes three or four days before the fire happened, and
he told me he was only going to stop in town a few days.
It bad been arranged that there should be an amateur per-
formance at the time the fire took place. I knew Crozier,
the butler, as one of the servants of the family.

Re-exarnined—Mr. Woolley's sight is very had, and he is
obliged to hays some one to accompany ham when he goes
out after dunk.

Lady Belcher said—l have been aNuainted with Mr.
Woolley since 1848, and I knew his wife before she waa mar-
ried to him. I was is the habit of going to Camden-house
down to the period of the Bre, sod I concur iu what was
Mated by Mims Barker as to the character of the furniture
sad the decorations. The house was crowded with (oral-
tare. Some of the pictures were very good, particularly
the portraits, and many of them were by old Italian masters.
Lady Belcher then identified some drawings of different
portions of the musical as copies of drawings she had her-
self made, and said that they were quite correct.
Croerexamined —The pictures I oonsidered the most valu-
able were those by the old masters, and there were, per-
haps, about twenty of them. I beard Mr. Woolley say that
he brought some of these pictures from Florence.
Kr Jobs Burgoyne said—l am a general officer is the
army and Inspector of Epitomes. I have known the plain-
tiff. and have been on what I call terms of friendly intimacy
with him for a great many years. I have been frequently
to Camden-house, and I agree with the two last witnesses
that it was meet magnificently furnished. It appeared to
he quite a mania on: • the part of Mr. Woolley to have
everything in his house of the most richerchi chancier.
Everything wee meet beautiful.
. . . .

CrOss.elaminsd—l have been to the theatrical perform-
ances at Can.des-house on several amnions.

Coast Helier de Wools° said—l have brown Mr. Woolley
eleven or twelve years, sad I have stayed at Camdea•hoose
oa several oacarioas. I apes with the last witness= as to
the insprificoot obirasator of the furniture. I ranorabor