The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-29 00:00:00

UNCERTAINTY OF. LAW DECISIONS

It appears that at the end of 18r.3, a person named An-
derson, then, considered to be a man of respectability, procured
finial a Mr. Kingsford a delivery order for a certain quantity of
tartaric acid, upon which ho afterwards borrowed £2,000 of
Messrs. Merry & Son, handing them warrants as security.
Anderson having shortly afterwards become bankrupt and been
convicted of forgery, the acid was sold by Messrs. Merry, who
then repaid themselves the £2,000 advanced, and handed over
a surplus to the assignees. Meanwhile it had been discovered
that Anderson had obtained the order for the acid under
false retences, and having allowed a year to elapse,
(luring which no step 3 were taken, Mr. Kingsford brought
a claim against Messrs. Merry and Sou for the entire
proceeds. Messrs. Merry answered that they bad
advanced the £2,000 upon the warrants bona fide, and
without any knowledge of the circumstances undar which
Anderson had obtained them, which was fully admitted ; and
they also urged that if notice had been given them when the
frauds of Anderson were first discovered, both parties might
have been protected, as they would not in that case have paid
the balance to the assignees. An action was, thareupon, brought
by Kingsford against Merry, before Lord Chief Baron Pollock
and a special jury, in which the judge, isumediately on hearing
merely the plaintiff's Case, expressed his decided opinion that,
Merry was entitled to the verdict, and remarked that, " if a
bona fide transaction like this, was to be impeached, no man
would be safe, and business could not ho transacted in a great
commercial city like Lon Ion." The verdict, with the unani-
mous consent of the jury, was entered accordingly, and a
subsequent motion having been made against it, the bill
court pronounced that the Lord Chief Baron had decided
correctly. Kingsford, however, then appealed to the Court
of Exchequer Chambers, and that court reversed the decision.
This result is stated to have caused an extraordinary ferment
among all commercial persons where it has become known,
and Messrs. Merry have felt it their duty to place a record of
the facts before the public, contenting themselves with the
following remark :—" Any observations hero on the case are
deemed unnecessary. In consequence of no regular report of
the trial having been published in the daily papers, this
epitome is merely circulated in order to place the facts fairly
before the commercial community, to expose the insecurity in
which all transactions are involved by the judgment of the
Court of Error—to show that warrants and delivery or transfer
orders, which have hitherto been considered and treated as valid
instruments and securities, may be jeopardised ; and, further,
in the hope that the merchants and brokers may be induced
to take the necessary steps to obtain an act of Parliament to
remedy the present frightful defects in the law."

THE BURGLARY AT MANOR OAKS, NEAR

SHEFFIELD.

On Friday forenoon, at eleven o'clock, the two men,
Glcadhall and Nicholson, who alone have been retained in
custody (out of the seven at first apprehended) on the charge
of being concerned in the daring outrage on the 9th inst.,
at the residence of Mr. W. Bradley, were brought up at
the Town Hall, Sheffield, for examination, before a full
bench of magistrates. Mr. Bradley gave evidence of the
burglary. When the burglars stooped down, the masks
blew on one side, and ho had opportunities of seeing their
faces. He was quite positive Gleadhall was one of the men.
To the best of his belief Dickenson was one of the men,
but he was not so positive about him. Ho gave his gold
watch and chain to Gleadhall. The next witness was Martha
Broornhead. Her evidence was to the effect that after the
robbers left Mr. Bradley's room, three of them entered the bed
room where she was sleeping with another servant girl. She
started up in bed, and distinctly recognised the features of the
prisoner Dickenson as one of the robbers. He came to the
bedside, seized her and threatened her, and she hid her head
under the bedclothes while the men ransacked the room.
Inspector Linley stated that ho examined Mr. Bradley's
premises shortly after the robbery. On a flower bed in front
of the house he observed a very peculiar footmark, which lie
carefully covered over. In this footmark there was the
impression of several rows of nails, irregularly placed, and in
the centre there was an indentation in the earth, as if from
the hoot haviag been mended by a thick patch of leather
having been placed on the sole. When Gleadhall was
apprehended, his boots were taken off, and it was found, on
making an imp cation with the left boot by the side of the foot-
print in the garden, the two exactly corresponded. Ti►e boot
was patched on the sole precisely in the manner indicated by
the impression in the garden. The prisoners were remanded
till Wednesday.

A man named Haddon, who lived in Uuion street,
Belfast, was choked on Christmas-day, whilst attempting
to swallow a piece of beefsteak which he had for dinner.
A DISTINGUISHED PERSONAGE EXPEGTED.—The Liver-
pool NORTHERN TIMES states that Mr. Arrowsmtth, the
modern Munchausen, who was so successful in hoaxing
the London Times, has left England for the United States.
It is not stated to what part of the country he is coming,
but, if he should arrive in New York, it might prove a
good speculation if some association should secure him to
deliver a lecture on English credulity, and to relate the
particulars of his exploits in hoaxing the " leading
journal."—New York Daily Times.
SINGULAR TESTIMONIAL TO A CLOWN,—It may interest
some of our readers to know that amongst the most promi.
nent performers at Heugler's cirens, which has just closed
at Chester, was Frowde, the mimic. We feel much pleased
to hear that his conduct in private life has attracted as
much honour and justice as his mimicry in the ring, for
having been noticed as a constant attendant on church
services, three clergymen of that ancient city hays presented
him with a very handsome Bible.—Cheltenham Examiner.
It is remarkable that no female has ever been a good
composer of music. They have excelled in astronomy,
chemistry, ani other sciences, but no one can point out a
good original musical composer amongst them.
A SURGEON SHOT.—An account appeared in a York.
shire paper of the shooting of a burglar by a woman, who
believed her house was about to be attacked by robbers.
It turns out that no robbery was intended, but only a
" bit of a lark." A, surgeon who lives in the neighbour.
hood of the woman's residence was, it appears, in the
habit of paying his devoirs to her occasionally. He was
on some such errand on Friday morning week about two
o'clock, and was followed by two or three boon com-
panions, who hal been spending the evening with him,
and who made their appearance just as he was endeavour-
ing to obtain admittance to the woman's house. She,
being alarmed at the noise they made, opened her chamber
window, and, hearing them say something about going
round to the back door, she fired a horse pistol at one of
the intruders, who instantly fell, and was soon afterwards
removed by his comrades. The wounded man is the
surgeon alluded to, and he is rather seriously injured in
the neck, where the contents of the: pistoljprincipally
lodged.
THE GREAT NORTHERN AND CRYSTAL PALACE FRAUDS.
—The convict Robson has for several days past been suffer-
ing in the infirmary of Newgato severe illness, and for two
or three days was entirely deprived of his mental faculties.
He is under the care of Mr. Gibson, the surgeon of Newgate,
and is now improving. He has made but slow progress
with his accounts, which ho must file before passing his
examination at the Bankrupt Court, and he will not be
removed from Newgate till that is disposed of. Redpath
and Kent had not reached Newgate at three o'clock yester-
day afternoon, although they were stated to have been
committed for trial from Clerkenwell on Wednesday. Since
the appointment of Mr. Mowatt, Secretary of the Great
Northern Railway Company, as trade assignee, between
£30,000 end £40,000 has been seabed from Redpath's
property, and his trade debts being but little more than
£4,000, they will, it is stated, be paid 20s in the pound, and
upon Redpath's conviction a petition will b 3 presented to
the Lords of the Treasury to permit the surplus assets to
be appropriated towards the liquidation of his defalcations
on the company. Redpath has been visited several times
in the House of Detention by an accountant, to assist him
in preparing hie balance sheet.

With Hancock's Safety Inkstand before you there
need be no blotting or besmearing of paper, bteause its
construction is such as admits of no more than an adequate
supply of ink being taken up by the pen. You may put
as much ink in the reservoir as will serve a person for
mouths, and still always have a clear fluid, and a smart
inkstand. Its advantages to solicitors aro most apparent,
and we have pleasure in commending it to their notice, as
will as to mercantile and commercial houses, and to the
public generally."— Sheffield Daily Telegraph—Price is 8d
2s 6d, 3s, and 3s 6d each.—Advt.
IMPROVED WRITING INX.—What a delicious treat it is
to be blest with free, flowing writing ink. We have often
been disposed to quarrel with our very finger ends when
compelled to use some of those abominable quasi-fluids
called ink. Mr. E. T. Hall, of South John street, has pro-
duced an i❑k, which we have tried, and we do not hesitate
to pronounce it one of the best kind we ever used. It flows
freely from the pen, and is amongst other things distinguised
by its Affinity and intensity of colour.— Northern Daily
Times, 24th October, 1853.—501 d in ll3ottles, 6d, ls, and 2s
each.—Advt.