Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-02 00:00:00

ourselves and the Habana Company, that such visits be made in.
the presence of our solicitors.—We remain, sir, yours, truly,
THOMAS COPE.
Cigar and Tobacco Manufactory, Lord Nelson-street,
Liverpool, 24th December, 1858.
sir,—Beferring to your letter of the 23rd instant, our solicitors
inform us that, however painful and annoying it may be to have
such outrageous and absurd charges laid against ns, still that we
have no redress, but must wait patiently until you commence pro-
ceedings, which you state the Habana Company are in a position
to take, and which proceedings we now consider you in honour
bound to institute; and we trust, sir, that no unnecessary delay
on the part of the company will be allowed to intervene. Messrs.
Evans and Sons, of Commerce-court, Liverpool, have instructions
to receive process on our account, and wait your communication.—
We remain, sir, yours truly,
Phillips, Esq. COPE BROTHERS & CO.
Mr. Monk concluded by repeating that the object of the
company was not to get large money damages. They
sought to establish the character of their goods,
Mr. Louis. Silberberg, manager of the company, examined
by Mr. Quaine, deposed that he had been the manager
since 1857. The company does not deal in British cigars ;
it deals inclusively in Manilla's, cheroots, and Habana
cigars. Remembers the company desiring to establish an
agency in Liverpool. Interviews took place between
witness and Messrs. Cope. Defendant, Mr. Thomas Cope,
spoke of a Mr. Robinson as sub-agent, telling him it would
be a good place to retail the company's cigars. Defendant
said : " The shop is my own, but I cannot appear in it
myself, and so I have my. foreman, Robinson's name over
it. I dare not appear in it, because it would do us a great
deal of harm among the retail dealers of Liverpool."
Received a letter from defendant, dated 29th July, 1848.
The letter complained of some of the cigars as "heated"
and " musty," and concluded by the words: "You have
not sent down the certificate of agency for
Ralph Robinson—please to see to it.—Yours, &c."
The certificate was finished and sent down. Mr. Robinson
is foreman at Messrs. Cope's, witness has seen him there.
After the agreement was made with Messrs. Cope, the com-
pany supplied them with quantities of their goods, and in
December last, in consequence of rumours he had heard,
witness caused some enquiries to be made in Liverpool ;
caused a person named Lever to purchase cigars at Robin-
son's shop ; received from Lever a box of cigars ; witness has
been for twenty years in the cigar trade, and is competent
to judge between British and foreign cigars ; produced the
box received -from Mr. Lever, it bears the company's brand,
the cigars it contains are British manufactured cigars, the
company has never since its commencement dealt in any
such cigars. Witness at once telegraphed to Lever to pur-
chase afew more, Lever purchased another box and for-
warded it to witness, that box witness has not opened as
yet. The box was produced in court and opened, and witness
said it contained common British cigars, worth 7s to 8s per
pound. They bore the brand of Messrs. Cope, as agents for
the Habanna Cigar Company. The lowest priced foreign
cigars are worte2ls. After receiving that second box,
witness came to Liverpool himself. In consequence of a
communication from witness, a person named Maguire pur-
chased a third box, which he gave to witness. That box
bore the company's brand. The cigars it contained were
common British cigars, made out of German tobacco. After
witness had come to Liverpool he called into Messrs. Cope's
warehouse, on December the 16th or 18th, asked to see Mr.
Cope, and they said they would send up for him. Witness
walked about the premises, or that part which belonged to
the company's department. Saw a great many empty
boxes there ; saw one of the Messrs. Cope, and told
him there had been complaints made about the
cigars. Mr. Cope said it must be a mistake,
and asked him to come up stairs and dine. Witness told
him he came to give notice to discontinue the agency, arid
that they should hear more in a few days. Witness
asked what the meaning of the empty boxes was, and Mr.
Cope said they kept them there as dummies," Witness
deposed that the boxes which he saw empty bore the Corn-
pan's brand, and that the Company had never sent any
empty boxes to Messrs. Cope.
Cross-examined by Mr. James, Q.C. : Witness had once
a cigar manufactory in Goodman's Fields, London. Never
had any manufactory of his own since the Company started.
The Company had imported from their commencement
only one case as a sample, about three months ago ; they
bought the others from the broker or the merchant; saw all
that were bought in the bonded warehouse, every
one of them ; it does not follow because they are
in the bonded warehouse they are therefore
foreign cigars. Goods returned to this country are kept in
bond. Never heard of British cigars being exported. A
"heated musty flavour" is not considered good in cigars.
Mr. Cope made many complaints of the cigars. He was in
London before December, but he did not complain of the
quality of the cigars. He said he could sell them if witness
would let him have them cheaper, but witness said he could
not, and there was no use trying it on. Mr. Cope choose
musty things himself which would not suit them in London
at all, because they were cheap. Witness came to Liver-
pool about the 16th of December; sent a person named
Macguire, to buy cigars at Robinson's; Macguire belonged
to a private enquiry office. Sent Mag:uire into Cope's also.
While Macguire was there buying the cigars, witness went in.
Will swear to having never said that the box then in Maguire's
possession contained British cigars. It contained the com-
pany's own cigars. Mr. Cope asked him to make Smith of Man-
chester, an agent. Cope said Smith's shop belonged to him.
Witness said they had already an agent in Manchester.
Witness is not the Board of Directors himself—(laughter)—
is a shareholder, bnt not the largest shareholder. To Mr.
Monk. The company never purchased any other than
Havannah cigars and Manilla cheroots. Robert Lever
deposed that on the Bth of December last he went to
Robinson's in Lime-street, and purchased some cigars.
Asked for a pound of the Habana Company's cigars. They
were put in a box which bore the company's brand. Sent
the box to London. That is the box (produced.) Made a
similar purchase subsequently, and sent the box to Mr.
Silberberg. Made a third purchase of cigars. That box
and the former contained each one of the company's in-
voices. To Mr. James : The first day the witness went was the
Bth of Dec. A man was behind the counter. The second time was
the 15th, saw a woman in the shop then. Did not say he
had had some cigars before, and liked them She showed
him some cigars, which she said were the Company's, and
were 245. a pound. Witness did not say he preferred any
other lot. She did not say she would rather he took those
first offered, because she was sure of those, and was not so
certain of those in the bundles. She positively asserted that
those she sold him were the cigars of the Company. On
the last occasion when the witness went, he asked for two
kinds : one at 245., and the other higher. She did not say
they had none of the Company's above 245. Witness bought
two kinds, which he was assured were the Company's, but
he exchanged one box the previous day, because it had not
the Company's brand, and he knew well enough that they
were not foreign cigars.
Mathew Maguire deposed that he has a private inquiry
office in Liverpool. Went to the shop of Mr. Robinson at
Mr. Silberberg's request, and bought two kinds of cigars,
which the lady in the shop assured him belonged to the
company. Got one of the company's invoices with them.
Took the boxes to Mr. Silberberg, and delivered them to
him in the state in which he got them.
To Mr. James : Was formerly a detective policeman in
Liverpool. Left Liverpool in 1843. Does not know
whether he ever was in trouble in London. Was once
brought before a board of railway directors. Was fined 40s
by a magistrate; a month's imprisonment was not added.
Was brought up to give evidence, and was fined 40s because
the magistrate considered that he was screening the fault of
a guard. The directors paid him back the 40s fine.
This closed the case for the plaintiffs.
Mr. James addressed the jury on behalf of the defence. He
said it was sought to throw a prejudice upon Mr. Cope
because of the letters which had been written, and in
various other ways Mr. Monk had sought to insinuate that
the Messrs. Cope were not gentlemen of respectability.
These gentlemen were men of high character, who would
disdain to be guilty of acting in the manner which had
been attributed to them. They would tell the jury that
they never had themselves, so far as they knew, through
any one else, violated in the slightest degree the agreement
which had been entered into. He thought the result of
the whole case would satisfy the jury that it was an actio-
got up by Mr. Silberberg himself to gratify his own vin-
dictive feeling against !Mr. Cope, who had threatened of
inform the directors time after time that he was not con-
ducting himself in a proper manner. The Messrs. Cope
were manufacturers of cigars. He trusted that there was
no discredit in that calling; if there were, Mr. Silberberg
himself was liable to an equal imputation. An arrangement
was entered into between the company. and Messrs. Cope,
by which the latter were to be employed as the company s
agents for a given district. They were to have, in addition
to their own business, what he supposed at the time they
considered would be very • profitable employment, of selling
the company's cigars, which they expected would be an
article to do them credit and to put money into their pockets.
In June, 1858, that arrangement was entered into. Now,
what would be found ? It would be found that, on the
29th of July, one little month afterwards, Mr. Cope was
complaining of the quality of the cigars which had been
sent in. He complained of their being heated and musty,
and therefore not fit to smoke. He complained, at various
times, of the quality of the cigars, and told Mr. Silberberg
that unless better cigars were sent in, he should certainly
inform the directors. Then Silberberg wanted Mr. Cope to
resign, while Mr. Cope, properly determining to hold by
the agreement, and not to be put thus out of it, refused
to do. It was upon this that Silberberg took the steps
which had been described, to try if he could entrap Mr.
Cope. He employed the various persons, Maguire and
others, to go round and see if they could find out nothing.
After all the accounts given of breaches of agreement,
what did their discoveries amount to ? The plaintiffs had
first charged Messrs. Cope with breaches of the agreement
in regard to the cigars and tobacco supplied to ita h
1p
Robinson, to White, of Grove-street, to Drake of Church-
street, to Noah Gray, of Preston, to Maurice Lacy: and to cigars
and tobacco made m their own warehouses duruig the same