The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-28 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

:::I p at Nisi Puns in Middlesex.—(Before Mr. Justice
Keating and a Common Jury.)
r 0 AND ANOTHER V. BRAGINTON.

....
i.e plaintiffs were bankers at Bideford, in Devonshire,
. the defendant, a gentleman 83 years old, had been
•• years manager o.: the property of the late
.. Rolle, in that county. The defendant's son William
i ,1 carried on the business of • sMpowner, but
tAd now ceased to do so, and had left the country. He
banked with the plaintiffs, and had overdrawn his
to the extent of about 2,0001. The bank held as
.: sty for this sum a promissory note for 1,5001.
•• the Bth September, ls6o ; and which note pur.
d to be signed by the defendant, and the signa.
. to be attested by his son-in-law, Mr. Kidwell.
Action was to recover the amount of the note, and
•L. ..,fence was that the defendant's name had been forged.
>I:. Coleridge, Q.C., and Mr. Pindar appeared for the
.t.titfs ; and Mr. Cole, Q.O , and Mr. Lopes for the
_ . .

o: tae plaintiffs it was argued, from expressions in
. .orrespondence, that the defendant had signed the
: • • . —ad a gentleman who knew his handwriting expressed
cf that the signature was genuine.
defendant was too infirm to appear in court, but he
•.:.. ~de a deposition in which he stated that he had not
• bor authorised anybody to sign the note for him.
!•!•. ri !dwell said that the attesting signature was not his ;
believed that the name of the defendant had not
• • I. written by that gentleman.
i..• Inry, of ter comparing the signature with others which
.• • . :.•ifoitted to be genuine, found a verdict for the
• ft-ttli.tt.

,;OURT OF PROBATE AND DIVORCE.
(Lefore the Judge Ordinary.)
t. BLASI, AND MTORMONT.
...rt-heard case, which stood adjourned from Satur-
which has already been reported, was resumed.
to last for some time longer.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
Welore Mr. Commissioner Holroyd.)
i.EYIII ANL)
_NIORRI.4,-7.II3DOILENT.

o.a.krupts were merchants, of Love-lane. The case
~..• r. i..-forethe coast upwards of three years, much
...•: .i:y Laving been experienced by the bankrupts in
:L•ti.og their creditors as to the disposal of a large
• .• Le,:y of goods which they professed to have consigned
•.a York and elsewhere. The application for release
r..:ongly opposed, and the hearing extended over
•..• days.
1:.• Honour now gave judgment. He was of opinion
two of the charges out of four made against the bank-
. ,:i.:s were fully proved, that they had traded by
1i1,A411 of fictitious capital, and that their in.
io:vency was attributable to rash and hazardous
,pec,dation. in 1862 they had commenced business here,
with little or no capital, having previously been unsuccess-
ful in New York. In two year they had contracted
liaoila,e% of 2.41,0001. ; the assets had yielded only MO.,
..nd 1: was ,loubtful whether any more would be
realised. that there was no prospect of any
dividend. Their profits of 3,700/. were not enough to
cover the bare trade expenses, and there were in addition
Interest. discount, and other charges. The secured debts
and the property held as security was re-
:..rted at 1.'4,0001. Taking this on their own state-
an: there would be a deficiency of upwards of 120,0001.
1 h.q. dealings, at first small, had been largely increased in
Their trailing wass of a very precarious character. Their
.......

• .pital at the beginning of was a little over 1,7001.
m the following nine months their transactions had
enormous, the consignments amounting to no les•
.1... 121,971/. ; the bills drawn against those consign-
• et,. were 141,:40/., of which the amount unpaid at the

• ..t.• of the stoppage was 78,179/. and upwards of 20,000/.
•••e still unpaid. Most of the ioods consigned to Isaac
• it,no,of New York, in August andSeptember,were bought
i 1. credit; and the bank rupta had resorted to the reprehensible
• .I...tte of cross acceptances to the amount of 4,011/., thus
double liabilities of between 8,000/. and 10,0001.
gauss purchases of the bankrupts were 186,2041., and
tit... sales 11.7,1:i.V. the goods in hand were 2,6361;
i:,owitig a gross profit of only 3,:4171. Out of those
p ::66.60es no less an amount than 121,9711. was in 1804,
• sixty times more than the amount of capital they
• thsn to trade upon. taking it at their own estimate.
lc the last'} mouths of their trading the purchasers
1.411 been 29,49114., great pert of which were unpaid for
the bankruptcy, though it was to be observed that the
I...ements had considerably exceeded the purchases. Such a
coarse of trading could only be described as most rash and
I.a.ardous speculation. Aoother blot in their trading was
ti g..inbling transactions on the Stock Exchange which had
..u.w.nted to 40,0001., and had resulted in a loss of upwards
uf :.teiti/. But with those transactions Morris had nothing
to do. The charge bf "salting" invoices was not esta-
blished to such an extent as to support a charge of fraud.
here bad been a large loss to the estate through the
double liabilities crested in connection with bills
drawn on Salmons, who in his turn drew on T.
Lewine of New York. Seven weeks before their
failure they hail opened an account with the
and M.uiterinac's Bank , and had obtained from them 4,Va it.
ox the discount of bills drawn on a firm of Norris and Co.
of Bombay, which did not exist. Traders with no real
ekcital could not embark in such a course of trading, and
they could not be allowed to speculate with impunity in
the goods of others, having no means to meet the possible
loss. Discretion only could supply a limit to the
of speculation ; but in this case k had
1..« c beyond el bounds. The bankrupts had not
• L:y raised money by drawing double sets of bills, but by
, «tutu- ..dvances on goods. Another instance of their
• ;lit...mesa was in *ending goods to markets for which
I • y were not backed, and sending them too le the face .of
••pi ated iemonstracces from their consignees. Mott
••' the poisons with whom the bankrupts had deft
La'• faded, some before themselves. The fist duty of
iourt in adjudicating on such a case as this was ba
• regard to the interests of the commercial community.
,ukrapta were cleady guilty of the two charges above
1-•-•,..5: bat the court taking into consideration the
!Jai.. use had been before it, and ether circumstances
Mr. Bagley on their behalf, would direct that the
~...ge of Lewine be suspended, without protection,
tvo years, from the 13th of February last,
...e day on which they lint applied for their die-
that of Moms for one year, with protection,
u • b.une period.
• ra•ydell asked for limited iiretectioa to enable the
• : • pre to appeal, if so advised • and this was granted.
• iindater asked that the cosine( the opposing Cr..
• si ozlil be-allowed out of the estate, if ever there
• estate capable of paying them, and an order was
sccuidingly.
• M. Ahrsha ns appeared for the assignees ; Mr.Link-
ur oppo-'ng creditors, and Mr. Bagley for the bank-