The Press.
London, England, 1856-06-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

leaving court this determination was carried into
effect, and on raising the hats the word " Guilty "
was found under every one of the twelve ! The delay
in returning into court with the verdict originated in
a feeling that, consideting the life of a fellow being
was at stake, any suggestion compatible with the
innocence of the prisoner which might occur to the
mind of any individual juryman should not be pre
chided from discussion by a hasty verdict, and the
leading points of the ease were then severally dis-
cussed, though with no alteration of sentiment on the
part of the jurors.
The Staffordshire Advertiser, alluding to the case,
states that Mr. Gardner and ➢]r. Hatton were the
two active instruments of the prosecution, and that
the evidence collected by them was first arranged by
Mr. Collier, M.P., and then laid before the Attorney-
General.

Among the many portraits of Palmer extant, there
is one which many years since, in the days of the
Corn law League, personated Mr. Cobden. "To
what base uses," &c. &c.

THE CERTIFICATE MEETING OF MR. MARK BOYD,
bankrupt—well known on the Stock Exchange from his
relationship to Mr. Benjamin Boyd, of the Royal
Bank of Australia, who was killed in 1854 by the
natives of Guadalcunar, one of the South Sea Islands,
took place en Monday, before Mr. Fane, when
a charge was preferred against the bankrupt of hav-
ing received, on behalf of the bank, certain con.ign•
meats from his brother in Australia, to the amount
of 70,0001., which be had never accounted for. The
case, well known in Australia, is this:—ln 1840, the
bankrupt and his brother, Mr. Benjamin Boyd, as
the director and broker, started the Royal Bank of
Australia, and issued debenture notes to an amount
between 300,000/. and 400,0001. Mr. Benjamin
Boyd went out to Sydney, taking 200,1)001. with him
to start the bank. Shortly after arriving in the
colony Mr. Boyd entered upon speculations in stock
to an incredible extent, bought up stations in every
part of the country, and at length, in 1819, through
waste, extravagance, and mismanagement, lost every-
thing, was " sold up," and brought the company
to ruin. In this general ruin among the share-
holders and all connected with the bank was in-
cluded that of Mr. Mark Boyd, the present bank-
rupt, who was now opposed by the assignees.
The bankrupt's statement is that his debts are
35,6341., the assets being 1,5701. The bankrupt
further takes credit for a claim of 37,4001. on the
Royal Bank of Australia, stated to be principally for
commission on issuing the deposit notes to his
brother in 1810. But the bankrupt is indebted
75,0001. on account of produce received from
Australia, to meet which there are no assets,
except those already mentioned. The Royal
Bank of Australia claims to be the creditor for
this 75,0001. On the other hand, the bankrupt,
while admitting that he is indebted in that sum to
someone on account of consignments received from
his brother while managing director of the Royal
Bank of Australia, cannot state who is his creditor
for the same—whether Benjamin Boyd (supposed
by him at the time to be deceased) in his private
capacity, or as chairman and manager of the Royal
Bank. On the other hand, the assignees submit that
the claim for 37,0001. was never mentioned from
1840 to 1845, neither was there any entry of the
same in the bankrupt's books. That the bankrupt
had further been guilty of gross misrepresentation :
he had represented that Benjamin Boyd was his
debtor to the amount of 20,0001. at a time when (as
was now alleged) he, the bankrupt, was a creditor for
75,0001. On the ground, therefore, of false entries in
books, fraudulent preferencs in six or seven cases,
misrepresentations, and excessive expenditure, they
pressed for a total refusal of certificate. The case,
after a preliminary bearing, was adjourned for a week.

A CORPORAL OF THE 56TH FooT, on board the
Runnymede convict-ship, shot his sergeant last
Sunday afternoon. The man was immediately ar-
rested, and on Tuesday, at the coroner's inquest,
Renner, a private, gave evidence as to the details of
the case, and also evidence which proved abad feeling
to exist between the prisoner, Corporal Nevin, and the
deceased, Sergeant Robinson. The sergeant while
at Dartmoor had found fault with the corporal on
some trifling occasion, and the prisoner then declared
to Renner that if it happened again, " He would put
a ball in his piece and blow it through him," alluding
to the sergeant. On Sunday the sergeant was in
specting a man's firelock on the quarter-deck, when
the prisoner on the main-deck came to the hatchway,
and fired up at the sergeant, the ball striking him
in the breast and killing him almost immediately.
Renner instantly seized the prisoner, who acknow-
ledged to having shot the sergeant, but said "he was
drove to it." In the examination the prisoner
endeavoured to prove that his piece went off acci
dentally, but the jury, on examining the locality,
expressed themselves satisfied or an arriere pewee,
and at once committed the prisoner to Bodmin Gaol
on the charge of "Wilful murder,"

539

Ms. DUNN, the barrister, has made two more ap-
pearances before the magistrates this weel .
Wednesday, at Westminster, he summoned his lam
lord for detaining some important letters and papers.
The landlord pleaded a "set-off," in the shape of
N. 9s. owing for rent, and, moreover, declarsd that
the things detained were not worth "half a clown !"
Whereupon Mr. Dunn indignantly put it to his
worship whether two gold seals, a pair of guinea
razors, some clothes, and some books and acts of
Parliament, were not worth more ? Mr. Paynter
suggested that money should be raised on the thing' ;
but Mr. Dunn objected, and the summons wee dis-
missed. On the same day he appeared befoie Mr.
Bingham, at Marlborough-street, to ask for a sum-
mons against Miss Burdett Coutts, for having per-
secuted him for a series of years, got hint turned
out of his present lodgings in Pimlico, and hi d him
pursued by a lunatic fresh from an asylum, and armed
with a bludgeon. Mr. Bingham declined to inter-
fere, as the ease lay in the Westminster distri, t. Mr.
Dunn argued the point at great length that larlbo•
rough-street was the right police court, atd con-
cluded by demanding a warrant or summons. Mr.
Bingham declined in issue either, and Mr. Dui n, de-
claring that he would have a criminal information
against Mr. Bingham, left the court.
MME. RONCONI applied to Mr. Bingham, on
Thursday, for advice. She stated that M. Ror coni,
her husband, had stopped her allowance of 24,000
francs a year, and that she was in great distress M.
Ronconi, she said, made 100,000 francs a yi ar by
his professional engagements, and sbe wished to know
what to do to compel him to make her a fair allow-
ance. Mr. Bingham recommended Mme. Bonconi
either to apply to her parish authorities, or to employ
a solicitor.