The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-04-01 00:00:00

CHESTER SPRING ASSIZES

CHESTER, MONDAY

The spring assiies for the bounty and city of Chester
commenced this morning, before Mr. Justice Williams and
Mr. Justice Erle, the former learned judge presiding in the
crown court, and the latter in the nisi prius.

Their lordships attended divine service in the cathedral
yesterday, having been conveyed there by Richard C.
Naylor, Esq., of Hooton-hall, whose equippage is splendid.
surpassing anything of the kind which has prectded it in
the county,
There are fifty-two prisoners to? ttial, eleven of whom are
charged with burglary. Ten cases are set down in the
cause list for trial, one of which " Roberts v. W. B.
Hughes, Esq., M.P.," is a special jury issue, and involves a
claim arising out of the banquet given to Robert Stephenson,
Esq.. M.P., at Bangor, in the year 1851, on the occasion of
celebrating the completion of the Britannia tube, on the
Chester and Holyhead railway. The calendar also includes
a charge of manslaughter, preferred against William
Williams, the railway station master at Tranmere, for
having caused the death of Mr. John Blaylock, through
neglect. Likewise a charge against James Dalziel, of
L'scard, of having feloniously assaulted Jane Jones.
The grand jury having been sworn, his Lordship pro-
ceeded to deliver his charge. He said that, on looking over
the calendar for the county, he was greatly disappointed.
He had thought that the gaol delivery which took place
just before Christmas would have sensibly diminished the
criminal business at these assizes, and that he should have
the pleasant duty of congratulating them, as well as himself,
on the lightness of their labours. But, instead of this, the
calendar was not only numerically heavy, but the charges
were, many of them, very serious and revolting. After
some general remarks on the various cases, his lordship
addressed himself specially to the charge of manslaughter
against the station master at Tranmere. It was alleged that
the prisoner had caused the death of the deceased, who was
run over by one of the railway trains, in consequence of the
neglect of the prisoner. Now, the depositions before him
were not at all clear, and therefore there might be some
difficulty in the case. The question for the grand
jury's consideration was whether the death of the decease
coud be said to be attributable to neglect of duty on the
part of the accused. Now, as he had already observed, the
depositions were so scanty and so bare of particulars, that
he was really unable to form any opinion of his own as to
whether the prisoner's neglect was the proximate cause of
the death of the deceased. Perhaps the evidence !nought
before the grand jury would be more explicit than appeared
on the face of the depositions. In investigating the case
they would have to ascertain whether the death of the
deceased was owing to a want of ordinary caution on the
part of the deceased himself, or to a breach of duty on the
part of the prisoner. After a few further remarks his
lordship dismissed the grand jury to their duties.
SENTENCE ON JOHN MOAN THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL.
—lmmediately on the conclusion of the charge his lordship
ordered John Moah, convicted at the winter assizes before
Mr. Justice Cresswell, to be brought up for judg-
ment. It will be remembered that the charge
against Moah was that he had embezz'ed the
sum of £5,000 received by him on behalf of the crown,
as receiver of inland revenue for portions of the districts of
Lancashire and Cheshire. He was convicted on one
count, charging him with embezzling a specific sum of
£560, and Mr. Justice Cresswell at the time reserved a
point to be argued before the court above (which was
raised at the trial by Mr. Ballantine, the prisoner's counsel)
as to whether the indictment and conviction should not be
quashed. The prisoner appeared at the bar neatly attired
in a full snit of black. He glanced round the court, and
manifested unusual confidence and coolness. The Clerk of
the Crown, in calling upon the prisoner, said • John Moah,
you have been convicted of embezzling £560 belonging to
her Majesty, and applying it to your own use, what have
you to say why sentence should not be passed upon you
according to law ? His Lordship : John Moah, you were
tried and convicted at the gaol delivery in December last,
in this court, for embezzlement, as a public steward, whilst
in the employ of the crown. Some points of law arose
in the course of your trial which the learned judge before
whom you were tried thought fit to submit to the court
above. The case was fully argued before that court, and
the judges unanimously came to the conclusion that the
conviction was a proper one, and it is now my duty to pass
upon you the sentence of the law. The sentence which the
court thinks as proper in your case is, that you be trans-
ported beyond the seas for the term of fourteen years. The
sentence, which was listened to with much interest in a
crowded court, was received by the prisoner without showing
the slightest emotion. He quickly left the dock with a firm
step.
CUTTING AND WOUNDING AT BIRKENHEAD.—Joseph
Edwards, 21, (out on bail), surrendered on a charge of
cutting and wounding James Rogers, with intent to do him
bodily harm, at Birkenhead, on the 19th of July last. It
appeared that on the evening when the alleged offence was
committed, the prisoner and the prosecutor were drinking
at the Golden Lion, in Chester-street, Birkenhead, in com-
pany with a female. A quarrel took place between them,
and after leaving the Golden Lion, the prisoner struck the
prosecutor on the scalp with a knife. The prosecutor, in his
cross-examination, admitted that he had been ten times
imprisoned, three or four times for thieving. Mr. Morgan
Lloyd having addressed the jury on behalf of the prisoner,
the jury retired to consider their verdict, and, after an
absence of two hours, acquitted the prisoner. _

THE ALLEGED ASSAULT AT the course
of the forenoon a true bill was found against James Dalziel,
for feloniously assaulting Jane Jones, at Liscard, on the
22nd of August.
THE CHARGE or MANSLAUGHTER AGAINST THE
TRANMERE STATION-MASTER.—In the case of William
William, charged with baying caused the death of Mr.
John Blaylock, at the Tranmere Railway Station, the bill
against the accused was ignored.
The cases tried in the Nisi Prius Court during the day
were devoid of interest.

LUCKY CAPTURE OF A BANKRUPT'S

PROPERTY FROM AUSTRALIA

In July last, Aaron Marks and Nathan Salamans, mer-
chants, of Sheffield and Australia, were adjudicated
bankrupts, in the Leeds District Court of Bankruptcy.
Marks surrendered, but Salamans, being in Australia,
did not appear. By the overland mail, the assignees of
the bankrupts were apprised that Salamans had taken
his passage in the Emma for England, which arrived in
this port on Wednesday last. The Leeds District Court
immediately forwarded a warrant to Mr. L. T. Gaskill,
the messenger of this district, intimating that the bank-
rupt had considerable property on board, which the
assignees were anxious to secure for the benefit of the
creditors. Mr. Gaskill immediately placed persons on
the look-out for the Emma, then expected daily. In
the meantime, the Lightning arrived three days before
the Emma; and although the messenger had noinstruc-
tions to look after the Lightning, he considered it might
be as well to inspect the list of passengers by that vessel,
and in so doing, he found that the party, whose property
he wished to seize, was a passenger in her, the bankrupt
having changed his intentions in Australia with respect
to the ship in which he took his passage, and thus the
assignees were driven on the wrong scent. Having
ascertained this fact, the messenger immediately pro-
ceeded to the Custom-house depot at the Nelson Dock,
where he found that the bankrupt bad cleared his '
lug-
gage, and had gone—no one knew where. After search.
ing the different hotels about the docks and elsewhere,
he ultimately found that the bankrupt had stayed for a
short time at the Victoria Hotel, near the station in
Lime-street, and had afterwards proceeded by the
quarter-past five train, taking with him seven packages,
supposed to be valuable. At the station, the messenger
discovered nine packages belonging to the bankrupt,
which were to be forwarded to him at Sheffield. These
were seized by the messenger, who instantly telegraphed
to the Leeds messengers, announcing the bankrupt's
whereabouts. The consequence was, that about the same
time that the bankrupt arrived in Sheffield, be was met
face to face by the Leeds messenger, who, after the
usual polite salutation, relieved the bankrupt of the care
of the seven valuable packages. Mr. Gaskill, suspecting
that the bankrupt might have some goods on freight in
the Lightning, made an investigation, and succeeded
in stopping two hundred and ninety ounces of gold dust,
valued at about £1,200. This package, however, was
shipped in the name of Soloman Nathan, (the bankrupt's
name being Nathan Salamans.) It was, however, shown
that the dust was stated, in the manifest, to be the pro-
perty of a passenger on board, and there was no such
passenger as Soloman Nathan, or any other person of a
similar name but the bankrupt. Shortly, however, after
the seizure, two Jews made their appearance at Messrs.
Baines's, one representing himself as Soloman Nathan,
and the other as one of the passengers on board the
Lightning. Soloman Nathan claimed the dust as his
property, and produced the bill of lading for the same,
stating that it had been sent to him from Australia, and
it was his friend, the Jew passenger, then with him, to
whom the dust was supposed to belong. The messenger
expressed to Mr. Soloman Nathan his surprise, under
the circumstances, that the dust was not entered in his .
friend's name, and appeared strange that if dust of
that value was consigned to him (Nathan) that he could
not produce a letter of advice, for the bankrupt (if the
gold was the bankrupt's) could easily have handed over
the bill of lading to any person. However, under all
the circumstances, he the messenger, by virtue of his
warrant, should request Messrs. Baines to detain the
dust until an investigation was made, and if the dust
was really his (Nathan's) he could apply to the Leeds
court of bankruptcy for its release. The two Jew
gentlemen then took their departure for Sheffield, where
they are said to reside. An investigation into the cir-
cumstances took place on Saturday, before Mr. Payne,
the registrar at Sheffield, the result of which we are not
acquainted with. We consider that great praise is due
to Mr. Gaskill, for the activity and shrewdness he has
displayed in this matter, and we are glad to hear that
I he has received the thanks of the Leeds officials.