The Express.
London, England, 1867-03-04 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
(THIS DAY.)

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
(Before Mr. Commissioner Goußourn.)
I RE J.,FIN STEW A RT.•-.IOIKMENT.

The banknipt was an engineer and ironfompler, of
Mai:kw:ill. 'I he adjudication took place so long :ago as
May. ; the bankrupt has since hoen oppos. •I at every
,a.,ge, and the commissioner's order passing hi+ eranina-
tion made the subject of an appeal, but
without sueeo.s. to the Lord. Ju.tices. The ag-
gregat•• liabilities are shout 90.01111/, the assets
and pn Telly held as security are estiinnted by Mr. Smart,
the steeotinta:d, at 45,000/. to 47,ntillf. ; but as yet there
ht,lll tiodividend. owing to the protracted litigation
iii the ea4e. The order of discharge s., oppovoil, on the
ground that the bankrupt had contracted acids without
probable means of payment, and hail kept imperfect
hooks, with a view to conceal the state of his affair..

3lr. 11.tgley, Mr. Sargood, Mr. Lawrence, and iii:Link.
later a.reare.l in the caac.

Ilia honour now gave judgment. He raid he had care.
fatly perused the proceedings, but with very little advan-
tage, for the examinations had been mu-t uncle sly pro-
longed. the object of which it was dinicult to conceive.
Amidst the mass of papery,. he had looked in vain for
the order of the Lords Justices in the appeal
case ; all be found was a copy of a bill of
costs. (Laughter.) The case in itself was a remarkable
one. The bankrupt appeared to have been an acute and
skilful man in his profession, but like many other men of
that character. he had speculated rashly. At one time,
as shown by the report of Mr. Smart, he had a surplus,
but that soon disappeared ; liabilities of 40.0001.
were incurred in a very short time, and to
meet those there was not a farthing in the
pound. Of the three assignees, all men of high
p -Qum in the commercial world, only one opposed. and it
L.,•1
at bin instance that all the protracted examinations
h ,•1 taken place, one of the assignees was Mr. Alderman
l:ose, whose opinion the court was very anxious to hear,
but it wan not very favourable to the bankrupt. The
books had been very imperfectly kept, the ex-
cuse for which was, that the bankrupt being
a scientific man, could not keep books in an intelligible
form. The result was that a great expense bail been in-
curred in reducing this chaos to order, through the instru-
mentality of Mr. Smart. Eveii Mall must presumed to
intend the necessary consequence of his own act ; and
the count must bold that the bankrupt had kept
bad books with a view to conceal the state of
his affairs. To another charge, that of contract-
ing debts without probable means of payment, the bank-
rapt was clearly amenable, for he hail long been
insolvent, and it was at any time a race for him to keep
out of Whitecross-street. The court was bound to regard
the conduct of the bankrupt since the bankruptcy,
an.l it had been made quite clear that he was
still carrying on the business in the name of his son.
on the two grounds shove apecitied the court felt boon,'
to suspend the order for nine months in reopect of each
of those offences—keeping imperfect hooks sad contracting
debts without means if payment ; but looking at the
delay which had taken place, the IS months would date
from the time of the bankrupt passing his examination
(in March last). Protection would be given for a month,
its renewal being dependent on the wish of the assignees.

THE POLICE COURTS.
(THIS DAY.)

GREENWICH.

O‘LLATT CAPTI•RE AND STRIA:I6LE WITH A RCRGLAR.

Witham attsirrie, aged 25 a powerfully-built fellow, who
statea that he belongs to danchester, was brought up on
remand, before Mr. TraiU, charged with burglarionsly
breaking and entering the dwelling-house of Mr. Alfred
Mutiyard, High-rob l, Lee, and stealing several gold
brooches and articles of silver plate ; and also with vio-
lently assaulting and wounding Mr. Charles Woodward,
of Ilamilton-terrace, Lee, by striking him on the head
with an iron jemmy.
It appeared that* female in the service of the prosecutor
had been sent to Greenwich to bring home a child, there
being no one left at home at the time. On returning an
hour er two afterwards she was in the act of entering the
house when she perceived a light in an upstairs room.
This amused her suspicion that something was wrong,
and she proceeded to the house of Mr. Woodward, a
neighbour, and communicated the fact to him. Mr.
Woodward, accompanied by his non-in-law, proceeded to
the beim, and on opening the street-door a glimmering
light Was seen on the stairs, which was instantly ex-
tinguished. Mr. Woodward called twice, " Who is
then •!" but received no answer. In another moment
two men rushed down the stairs. The first man was the
prisoner, and Mr. Woodward instantly grasped him by
the collar, and held bin*, when a violent struggle
took place, the prisoner striking him with an iron
" jemmy." The second man, on running out of the
house, received • blow from a stick from the son-
in.law, who then pursued him down a able Ins-
sage, where the fellow got on a low wall, and received
another hlow from the stick on the back of his head,
knocking him over into a running scream, but he suc-
ceeded in getting up and making his escape, leasing his
hat behind. During this time Mr. Woodward awl the
prisoner had been struggling together. and the sore-in-law,
hearing the former call out that he had been stabbed, ran
and found his father-in-law on the ground, bleeding copi-
ously from a wound ou the head, and the prisoner Tinder
him. The prisoner sabl he haul not stabbed Mr. Wood-
ward, but had struck him with a piece of iron, and
the son-in-haw then trod upon the prisoner's wrist
and succeeded in getting from him the " jemmy "
he was holding. Two other men then came up, and
the prisoner was secured until the arrival of polioe-oon-
stable Stephens, 64 It division, and on being taken into
the house and searched, a bundle, containing some of
the silver articles, fell from his coat pocket, and other
articles were found to have been let fall. The prisoner
was found to be wearing an imitation gold chain
from which a watch had evidently become detached
during the struggle that had taken place, and an
imitation gold watch was picked up outside the house.
An examination of the premises was then made, and it was
found that an entrance had been made by forcing open a
door, drawers in the bedroom being also forcibly opened
an-I various articles stolen, as also a cash-box, but this
had been left behind, as it had been found to contain no-
thing but papers of no intrinsic value.
The prisoner treated the charge in a moat impudent
manner. and

Mr. Trodll ordered the depositions to be taken, and the
prisoner to be committed for trial.

A MAN CHARGED WITH KILLING His WIER.—
(THIS D.tt.)—On Satorday night, Police-constable Kilby,
G, was called to the house No. 13, Vernlam-street,
Gray's-inn-road, and there found that the wife of William
George :Melly, a printer, was dead. Her bead was frac-
tured, and it appeared that she had been dead about two
hours. The persons in the house gave different versions
of the affair, ..orne saying that the deceused had fallen
downstairs, and her husband had kicked her in the stomach,
and others that her husband bad hit the back of her bead
on the floor or on a stone, and had fractured her skull.
The husband, who was the worse for liquor, when spoken
to by the constable, said, " For God's sake fetch a doctor
as I think m wife la dead. I have sent for two
but they will not come !" The alleard., *mu% on
the wife was committed about 7 o'clock in the even-
ing but the police were not called until 9 o'clock.
Whether the deceased was the worse for liquor or not
could not be amertainol, although she and her husband
bad been drinking together in a neighbouring public.
house a few minutes before the unhappy occurrence.
Dr. Norton having examined the body and pronounced life
extinct, the husband of the deceased was taken into cue.
toly, and at the King's-cross-m:0 police-station he gave the
name of William George tinelly, aged 57, a printer, and the
charge that was entered against him was " drunk, and
causing the death of his wife, Mary finelly, by breaking
her head on stone' and fracturing her skull." Dr.
Norton said that the fracture on the skull was the cause of
death. The body is now at the dead-house of the Holborn
Union Workhouse.

THE GREAT BULLION ROBBERY.—Some clue to
the secret of this robbery has been found. The chief mate
of the Waterloo, whose name is William Richardson, not
Robinson, as stated in the earlier reports, was again interro-
gated on Friday, bythe directors of the General Steam Navi-
gation Company, at their offices in Lombard-street; he then
disclosed his reasons for suspecting a lighter:nen as having
home a hand in the robbery. It appears that only two men
belongingtothe Waterloo were detained when thevesselleft
the pool on Wednesday morning. These were the chief
mate, already mentioned, and the Dutch sailor who kept
watch, or was supposed to keep watch, during Tuesday
night on deck. The missing barge was found early on
Friday morning above bridge. Beyond the mere circum-
stance of the booty's having weighed more than two, or
even three, men could well have managed to remove,
there are appearances which induce the belief that a party
of at least six in number were engaged in the felonious
operations.
THE GRRAT EASTERN.—This wonderful vessel is
now nearly ready for her new duties—that of conveying
passengers from New York to Brest for the Paris F.xhibi-
tion. She has undergone very extensive alterations by
Messrs. Forrester and Co. (who of course made several
sub-contracts), of the Vauxhall Foundry. She has received
new boilers for the screw engines, and a new shaft for the
paddle engines ; and Messrs. Forrester have also built for
her use a st-el steam launch, 50 feet long by 20 feet wide.
A steam steering apparatus has also been introduced. The
space last occupied by the cable tanks has been fitted up
with cabins, berths, and state rooms for passengers. These
apartments, numbering over 500, are lofty and convenient.
There will be berths for 3,000 passengers. The saloon ac-
commodation has been much increased. The deck saloon
is a splendid apartment, 140 feet long and 24 feet wide,
and will admit of 500 persona dining together. There are
several smaller saloons. Altogether 2,000 persons may
dine at once. The decorations are of the best and most
elegant character. The total ontlay of this refitting will
of course be immense, one estimate falls little short of
100,0001. The " peat ship" will leave the Mersey for
New York on the 20th inst.—Lirtrpool Alb on.