The Express.
London, England, 1861-02-19 00:00:00

GREAT FRAUDS UPON THE COMMERCIAL

BANK.

It has transpired that another Metropolitan Joint
Stock Bank has been made the victim of a great
fraud, extending over a series of years. It
was intimated in the Express of yesterday that
arrangements have been made for the transfer of
the business of the Commercial Bank of Loudon to
the London and Westminster Bank, and that the
former now virtually onlyexista as a branch office of
the latter. The following is the circular issued npai
the occasion by the Commercial Bank to its cus-
tomers and depositors :
The Commercial Bank of London, G, Lothbury,
London, Le., Feb. 16, 1861.

I beg to inform you that arrangements have been made
for the transfer of the business of this bank to the London
and Westminster Bank, who will, fur the present, continue
the business at our banking-houses in Lothbury and Hen•
rietteetreet, Covent-garden.
The directors of the Commercial Bank, therefore, equally
with myself, will feel personally obliged by your trans.
(erring your account to the London and Westminster ILIAC,
or any of its branches which may suit your convenience,
and they will be ready to afford you every banking
facility.—l am, &c.,
ALFRED R. CUTBILL, Manager.

This document does not allude to the cause
which has made the transfer necessary. This is
nothing less than the discovery that a person
named Darden, one of the ledger-clerks at the only
branch possessed by the Commercial Bank, namely
that in Henrietta-street, Covent-garden, has de-
frauded it to the extent of about 60,0001. Darden
has been twelve years in the bank's service, and
during eleven years has acted as ledger.
keeper. It is believed that he has been
robbing his employers during nearly the entire
period. It is a remarkable fact that, like Pul-
linger, he was most assiduous in the performance
of his duties, and that during a period of eleven
years he had not a single holidays On Thursday
he was seized with a paralytic fit, and when his
duties were temporarily entrusted to another
officer of the bank it was at once discovered that
the sum possessed by the bank was 60,000/, less
than it purported to be by the books. As to the
manner in which the fraud has been committed and
so long concealed, full particulars will doubtless
soon transpire.

As soon as the fact reached their knowledge, it
was seen at once by the directors of the Commer-
cial Bank that its publication would probably
cause alarm, a ruu upon the establishment, and,
perhaps, a disastrous stoppage. They therefore,
with commendable promptitude, addressed them-
selves to the directors of the London and West-
minster Bank, who met them in an equally prompt
and honourable spirit. An agreement for the
transfer of the Commercial Bank's business and
liabilities was quickly arranged, and the whole of
the latter are now covered with the powerful gua-
rantee of the Westminster Bank, into which the
Commercial is entirely merged. There is, there-
fore, no occasion for any alarm or difficulty. It is,
at least, to the credit of the management of the
Commercial Bank that their first impulse was to
make their depositors and other customers per-
fectly secure, leaving the onus to fall, u
it ought, upon the shareholders. There is
reason to hope, however, that the position of the
latter will not prove disastrous, for, assuming that
the amount of the fraud does not exceed the suns
already mentioned, it will be entirely covered by
the reserve fund, which was stated in the last re-
port at 75,0001. The realisation of the assets, with
time, ought not to involve much loss. It may be
needful to explain that, although the Westminster
Bank takes the business, there is no merging of
the capital of the Commercial into its own. The
Commercial Bank is now defunct, and the share-
holders will receive back their capital, wholly or in
part, as the realisation of the assets proceeds. On
Saturday the Commercial Bank shares of 1001.,
with 201. paid, were quoted zoi to 21. Yesterday
no price could be quoted for them. The transaction
will of course redound to the advantage of the
Westminster Bank. We will merely remark further
that the Commercial Bank, like the Union, had no
auditors.

SUSPECTED MURDER NEAR RYDE.

A man named Henry Lacy, who occupied a mall
farm at Weatridge, known as Old House Farm, situated
about • mile and a half from Hyde, Isle of Wight, is in
custody on the charge of murdering his wife. He is the sea
of a labouring man in the neighbourhood, but becoming
possessed of some means by his marriage he was enabled to
take this farm, which he has ucocupied now for ten or
twelve years. Lacy is a giant both in size and strength.
The farmhouse is situated in a lonely spot, there not being
a habitation within half a mile of it, and the only inmates
I were Lacy and his wife, and a niece of the deceased. In
November last a summons was issued against lacy for en
assault upon this woman, but the matter was arranged
without magisterial interference. Lacy is said to have been
of very intemperate habits, and had been drinking freely at
Newport on Saturday, which place he had visited accom-
pinged by Susan Wilder, the niece. He returned to the
farm about ten o'clock at night. All that is at present
known may be stated in a few words. The poor woman had
bees confined to her bed for some time, and on Sunday
morning Mr. 011ard, her medical attendant, was called
upon by the farm.ceater, and requested to visit his patient,
as she had reel with an accident by falling down stairs.
When that gentleman arrived he found Lacy in a violent
state of excitement, and evidently under the influence of
drink. Lacy refused to allow Mr. 011anl to see his wife,
and the answers given by the niece respecting the condition
of the woman were by no means satisfactory. Mr. Oiler/
at once communicated v ith the police, and on his return he
was accompanied by Policeeergeant King, a constable, and
Mr. Pillager, a surgeon. As soon as Lacy saw the police.
officers he made a furious attack on the constable, but the
puliceeergeint immediately closed upon him, and
after a short struggle the handcuffs were placed
round his wrists. On proceeding upstairs a most horrible
sight presented itself. On the bed lay the body of the un-
fortunate woman, her features presenting the strongest evi-
dence of her having been brutally murdered. Her head
was one mass of bruises, and there were wounds on various
parts of the body, which was reduced by disease and want
of nourishment to that of a mere skeleton. The nightdress
in which she had been murdered bail been taken off, and
was not to be found. The corpse had been carefully wosbLd
and laid out. Sergeant King. finding Lacy likely to offer
great resistance, returned to Rile tor A carriage and waist-
ance. The officers were compelled to strap his legs, and it
was with great difficulty he was brought to the station. It
was not till the following morning that he became conscious
of his awful situation, Au itopost will be held on the
body this day.

FRENCH SPOILS FROM CHINA.—The articles taken I
from the summer palace at Pekin, and offered to the Em.
peror and Empress by the army in China, are now exhi-
bited in the gallery of the ground floor of the Pavilion
Marian, in the Tuileries. Visitors especially remark
among them several gigantic vanes in enamel of different
colours : • magnificent logo& in bronze gilt, chased, and
several idols iu gold and enamel, with singular features and
patures ; also • figure seated on an estrade with the splen-
did costume of a Chinese Emperor, consisting of several
garments placed one above the other, some decked
with gold, others with steel, and all surmounted
by a silk mantle of the imperial yellow colour, richly em-
broidered, and decked with buttons of gold and pre-
cious stones, and ou the head of the figure is • helmet
in gold and steel, having somewhat the shape of •
tiara, and terminating iu • ion; steel point. Two
sceptres of gold, ornamented with jade, are to be
men ; they are in the form of the letter C very, much
lengthened. There are likewise two figures of monsters in
gilt copper, each of which weighs at lewd 300 kliegs.,
and is ofsuch complicated workmanship that wonder
is felt how it could have been tatst in one piece, as it evi-
dently has been. Among various admirable articles in
porcelain, attention is attracted by a large vase of the
wrest imperial yellow, ornamented with representations Of
brewobes of • tree of • charming green colour. Some blinds
of extmordinary dimensions are also remarked, The wore
palely also contains the fine collection of ancient armour of
Europe, which belonged to the ca'anet of Prince Soltikoff.
A suit of steel armour, inlaid with gold, of the most
beautiful workmanship, is more particularly to he noticed.
There are in all about forty snits, which occupy all one side
of the gallery_.
ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, GRAY'S-INN-ROAM....
The nuniber of patients relieved at this hospital during the
week ending kid). 16, a:., 2.,'912; of which 73'd were new
alell.