The Express.
London, England, 1868-11-28 00:00:00

LAW L

COURT OF QUEIRPB RZNOII.--31ev. 27.
After Term Nig Pa.. &taw at Waambrulea—(Eefor•
the Lord Chid hedge mad %mad jerk.).
111•111137 1121.1117.-ZILMOISIZAIIT 011111.13 /MUM

This was an adios for ike. The diesierathen en-
nead eight mune The defeeilent Diewila not guilt,
to two of thee and alnebriation to Se remainsaminxt.bma
Mr. Ooleridge,ftl. awe Mr. fejaust were
counsel for the _ end Mr. ffeejeant
and 11r. Metall' iskeent.
The whole el Se age was reported in the
Vend yerdimja;des.
in opening Se &fees, mil be
was airier surprised at tae wry eiriek the almost
solemn tem which his leaned friend ached in the spew
laLfhis cese, sad he was quit* sure bin lesed
ezpreseed sheerly what be said in his sening
ON to his*. anxiety and honing upon the nab-
rhuslt was dilienit to say on wham the greatest leer
truth sr SIAN* Se
rested. Nalibiag was more Medlin er fearful Sea
thatms whisk wee Se eith=aulti: =Led in
anriled as meek aSetwe of the plaiiiff. The learned
made sem* e observe on the absence of
/Fraserjeantnklin. Tim ilehment's attorney had endeavoured to
subsume Me but was unable to do eo.
The Lord Oise Jetioe—Are you
preztuto call him P
Mr. Serjeant Ballantine—Tes, most
The Lord Met histioe—Then I meal ask erten is he.
If emery I will adjourn the ease for his
I don't think the ease an be eatidaotorily==°:i
without him.
The defendant was then calle—l am a plumber and
glacier. I was 16 yon • member of the aura choir,
and I regularly attended sacrament with my wits up to
the time of these occurrence& The fret ooteurenee was
on a Sunday night. Mr. Sankey said to me after choir
piaotioi that he wanted to me me about some work.
I out out the See, and locked up the church,
and took the keys home, and told my wife
where I wee . We went to his boom
and went the study and sat den.
hest spoke al sole persona awl* and hod%
sad asked me whet llheu of the. me neer odes
thee west. Plsiilf Melded me two or three tine
but I took no nee of that [Wiese deeded the
eireemetaness tithe charges be made epitome the revered
die 'pl~fnever had any geed or linillall&1611111II with
. O'Brien, Esp=sterbalimesioristio
roe • le ofme
sign. aho al:t:Fieshould aid be a lour by my doing
so. I refused to sige it. [Oa big pressed in nomroz-
aminatice wields mid be could net recalled what was in
the paper O'Brien would net Ist him have it. I neither
kiekedfor.hit the plaintiff, but walked away only.
Be-exassiiied—l felt so eonfased at the tams, I knew
not what to do. I did not tell my wife fora week.
By a Juryman.—The plaintiff looked the study door
when we went into the room.

B the Lend Chief luffilice—l did not s him hie ram-
emloc doMgso. It did not strike me se being unusuaL
By another Juryman—l unlocked the door when I went
out.

—ilia wife was called to prove that bar husband went on
the Sunday evening in question with theplabitiff; and in
answer to the Lord Chief Justice, she contzadieted her
husband's statement by saying he told her something the
same night.
The defendant's solicitor dawned that he saw Franklin
in the course of getting up his evidence in NW He was
then in the seams of Mr. Palmer, brother of Far Bounden
Palmer, and he took down his 'video°, and read it over,
and Franklin said it was correct. He subpcenned him upon
the last occasion. He sent • man to subpcene him for
this trial, and he was informed be had been aubpomed by
the other side. He had not seen him since.

Mr. Coleridge—He is in court, and has been here the
morning.
The learned See giant then called
William Pranklia—l have been two
la
is Mr.
Palmer's service; previous to that I was ne the plaintiff's
service. I was with him nearly . seven years. I know a
boy named Morton, who was in the plaintiff's service.
Morton made a statement to me in relation to my
master. I communicated to him that bad said
something about him behaving varyy towards
him. I told him of it within two or three weeks of bear-
ing it. I saw Mr. Sankey two clays ago, sad had • little
conversation with him upon the subject. When I told
Mr. Sankey of it he said what • little wretch he must be,
and that if be said such thing. he would pat him in
prison. (Witmer, pinkie evidence very reluctantly,
_and de-
cined to speak positively on many poises.) fleet Mr.
Sankey in oommequemes of Isis baying melee harshly to my
child. My wile aid sat like it. I told Lin that my weft
was rather weak in her bead sometimes. Notion did not
tell me anything Moat • lady. I met Mr. Sankey two
days ago of Burners Hotel by isppomt. He told me
this came was easing on, sad that I was to come to
Berner. Hotel and not run him to • great expense.
Nothing was then said about the boy. The defendant
asked me if I had been subpoenaed by the other
Ode, and I told him no. He did not tell me
to keep out of the way of being subpoenaed hy the other
side, but to be in the way if he wanted me. I have been
staying. in King William-street, and was fetched from
thence in a cab, and I got hire about eleven o'clock. I
caw Mr. Sankey in Buckingham, and be asked me aboat
the charge of her taking liberties with nee and the adultery.
Cross-examined—l was in court yesterday, the defend.
ant's attorney acted me for information upon which to
question the plaintiff.
Re-examined—The boy said something about other
members of the plaintiff's family, and about a lady. Plain-
tiff had the boy back for a week after the conversation
about bins.

Thu wai the defendant'• case, and after the address of
Mr. Serjeant Ballantine,
The court adjourned.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.—Nov. 27.

Sittings at Nisi Prins after MUlaidinas Term.—(Before
Mr. Baron Martin and Special Juries.)
TEL LONDON ♦ND LANCAANIEZ LIMNIANCE 001[DAW7

V. TARRANT AND °TRIM!,

The trial of this case, which occupied the whole of yes-
terday, was concluded early to-day.g A observed by the
learned judge in his short summin up, it disclosed one of
the grossest frauds ever attempted to be practised upon an
insurance company. In form it was an issue directed by
Vice-Chancellor Wood to be tried in this court, testing the
validity of the claim of • Mrs. Tarrant, one of the defend-
ants, as assignee of two policies of insurance effected in
regard of a public-hove in the Farringdon-road, Clarkin.
well, called the Cobham's Head, and which was
burned down upon the evening of the 12th of December,
1866. The amount of the claim under the two policies
was about 4,3001., namely, 2,6004 upon the house,
and 1,70 e/. upon the stock-in-trade, fixtures, furni-
ture, &c. The pleadings, as usual in each cases,
were somewhat voluminous, but substantially the
issues before the court were—first, was the fire which
caused the destruction of the Cobham's Head accidental l'
secondly, was the claim sent in to the company, as re-
garded the quantity and quality of the stock in trade, &c.,
represented to have been on the premises at the time of
the fire, fraudulent and fictitious r thirdly, was the
alleged ent to Mrs. Tatten by one Wilbraham
(another endant), the grantee of the policies, collusive,
and for the purpose of defrauding his creditors.
Mr. Hawkins, Q.C. ; Mr. (Maid, QC. ; Mr. &quint
Sleigh, and Mr. F. M. White aw.red for the company ;
Mr. Joyce, Mr. Campbell P'or, and Mr. Macrae Moir
for the defendant, Mrs. Tattoo ; and Mr. J. 0. Griffits for
Hodges' Distillery Company (Limited), who, as having
an equitable interest in the proceeds of the policies, are
necessarily made defendants upon the record.
It appeared that in the month of October, 186.5, the
freeholder of the Cobham's Head, one Marston, was
desirous of selling his interest in the premises, and that
he agreed to sell to a man named Wilbraham. The pur-
chase money was to be 2,0001., but of that amount only
100/. was to be paid down, the remainder (1,90 W.) being
payable at Macs, 1868; Wilbraham, however, in
the meanwhile, to be tenant of the premises, at a rent of
100!. a year. But further, there was a covenant that
3,0001. was to be laid out by him in repairs. These cove-
nants wereentered batoalthough at thatmoment Wilbraham
must have been in an utterly insolvent condition, and was
actually an uneertilleated bankrupt. His career was
traced back so far as the year 1848, when he married a
respectable woman living in AJdgate, and who
was a ladies' outfitter. Subsequently to that he
styled himself a gunniaker, then • civil engi-
neer, then he was • builder, then he was some-
thing else, and next he was • hosier in Middle-row,
Holborn. In the autumn of 1862 he again became bank-
rupt, his certificate being refused. After that he remained
a year and ten months in Whitecrom-street, and on his
release he went to reside with his wife in Duke-street,
Bloomsbury, where she had removed. Soon after he was
again arrested, and then his wife went to reside at Peck-
ham, On his release, which was obtained entirely by the
aid of the wife, Wilbraham joined her at Peckham, and
here he made the acquaintance of the defendant, Mrs.
Tarrant, a married woman, and who was acting as nurse
to • Mrs. Stevens, the wife of a friend of his. In August,
1865, Wilbraham, being then but a short time oat of
orison, was li • with Mrs. Tarrant as his wife at
basaird_tearaaa, • ; and in October following—
as already detailed—he became the purchaser of the
Cobham's Head. But funds were wanting to pay the
100!., part of the purchase-money,' and also to fit up the
house, and these were obtained in this way : A lease of
nine houses at Poplar was concocted, as from Wilbraham
to one Ryder, and then upon the mortgage of this Wee, and
the collateral security of the joint promissory note of
=ear
raedieseWray (Wilbraham) the London and West-
Loin Company actually advanced between 600!.
and 000/, to Ryder, who said he wanted the money to coin.
plate the purchases of the Cobham's Head. On the 7th
November, 1865, Wilbraham paid Marston the 1001. due
on the purchase-money, _by two notes 60!. each, and
these wan Word as being part of the money advanced
theWatrairister Loan Company to "Ryder and Wray."
Wilbraham then entered into an arrangement with •
builder, nutted Foster, to execute certain repairs upon
the house; but when 100!. worth of work had been
done, and hie
b7ig was not fathoming Poster
declined to do an more. Wilbraham then Ds.
came his own der, and went cm with the axe.
cution of top repairs and improvements until alto-
gether about 6001. worth of wort bad been done. At
the period
_of the sale of the holm
butt Merstips it
WAN ;cored far the sox of 2,00 K, n April W.