The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-28 00:00:00

FRAUDS .UPON UNDESTVRITERS.

At the Maidstone assizes, yesterday, a North
Sea pilot, named George Baker, and two Deal boatmen,
named William Middleton and William Frost Spears,
surrendered before Mr. Justice Wiles to take their trial
for unlawfully conspiring together to defraud Richard
Aichison Borstal the agent for Lloyd's Salvage Amsocia-
non at Deal andl~Ramagate, of 4261., by means of false
and fraudulent pretences.
Mr. Barrow, Mr. Poland, and Sir C. Ysocim conducted
e the prosecution i Serjeant Sleigh was . i y retained
with Mr. J. D. Fowles for Baker and Middddlleton, and Mr.
Francis appeared for the other defendant, Spears.
The learned counsel for the prosecution in opening the
case to the jury said it was one of great importance, and
the prosecution had been instituted by the directors of
Lloyd's Salvage Association, in consequence of the dis-
closures that took place upon an inquiry that was made
by the direction of the Board of Trade into the circum-
stances of the case. He then proceeded to state that the
charge against the defendants, substantially was that they
had obtained a large sum of money from Captain
Bengali, the agent of Lloyd's Salvage Association, by
falsely representing that certain salvage services had been
rendered by them for which there was not the slightest
foundation, and other claims that were equally ground-
less, and that a gross conspiracy had been entered into
between the parties to effect that object. He said that it
was to be regretted theta= in the position of the defen-
dants, who were known to be ever ready to render valu-
able assistance to vessels in distress, and who, it was
notorious, were always more anxious to save human life
than property, and consequently stood deservedly high in
the estimation of the public, should be placed in such a
position, but if they had really been guilty of the gross
fraud that was imputed to them by the presort indict-
ment, it was most essential to the interest of the public
generally, and to the commerce of the country, that an
investigation should take place, and that the guilty par-
ties should be punished. The learned counsel then pro-
ceeded to give a brief narrative of the faits, and to
adduce evidence in rapport of the prosecution:
Richard Roberta deposed that in April last year he was
master of the British ship the Olivia, of 783 tons, belong-
ing to Mr. Richard Hughes and others. The crew con-
sisted of seventeen persons, and amongst them was
Richard Hughes, the mate; Griffiths, the boatswain, and
others. At the time in question, the 21st of April, the
vessethad arrived off Dover from a voyage to Pensacola,
with timber. Witness signalled for a ot, and a boat
came alongside, in which were the prisoners Middleton
and Spears. Middleton came on board the Olivia, and
witness told him that he wanted a North Sea pilot to take
bin through to Hull, to which port he was bound, and
the lorisoner agreed to provide one for Si. Witness eon-
Dented to this eat, sad Middleton remained on
board to pilot the ' and Spears went away with the
boat, and the ship was to be 'kept under weigh until
the North Sea pilot came on board. At this time
there were two anchors ready for use on board
the ship, and a spare sailor as well. Mid-
dleton then said that witness eatild go to his cabin and
write his letters, sad be would Übe charge of the ship.
and he did so. There was a fresh breeze blowing at this
time. After withem had been ia the cabin a short time,
Middleton mute down to him and said he could not see
anything of the boat, arid the ihip was going too fast
through the Downs, and he suggested that the ship
should be brought to on anchor. - Witness told him not
to nip say risk and in a few minutes he heard the port
anchor Ist go. He went upon deck, sad at the same
instant the chain parted. When the anchor was let go
the vernal was going with the tide and the wind, and
nothing was done to ewe the strain on the chain. A ,
seemed anchor was let go, and witness gave an order to
set the sails so as to ease the strain on the anchor and
chain, and the valise was brought up sate. There MY
no vessel nearer to thereat thetirne the Olivia wan brought
up them one at throe cables' length, and there was no d
of a eolliske attbe timethst seoond anchor was let go, andtre
tbstcablewas ordain iy not slipped to avoid a collision. While
the Olivia was at anchor the boat arrived again from Deal,
and the prisoner Baker cope on board and told witness
that he was a North Sea mkt. Witness informed him that
they had last an author and chain, and he replied that he
could net think of taking charge of the vessel without
another anchor sad chain being provided. He told the
prisoner they had a des on board that was strong
enough to pull th of the ship out, but Baker
refused to tale charge of the ship until another anchor and
chain was obtained, and he said at the same time that wit-
ness could have them replaced without its costing the
owners anything. Witness reminded the prisoner that the
chain had broken, and was not " slipped,' and Baker said
that could easily be altered. Witte objected to this,
sad Baker replied that it was very foolish of
withers, se it was a thing of every day occur-
rence in the Downs, and that if the cable wig
represented to have been slipped, to avoid mischief,
instead of having broken, the uuderwriteil would Im
liable to replace it. The mute was then called d in'a
the cabin, and he made an entry in it to the elf t that
the cable bad been eliprod to avoid a collision "th an-
other Ttr-Ci ere Baker and Middleton w both present
.