Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-12-13 00:00:00

A SWINDLER. CAUGHT IN BIRMINGIIA.\I.

On Friday afternoon a stylish-looking Man, giving as
his name Arthur Walters, was brought before the
magistrates on a' charge of defrauding the tradesmen in
the town of goods. The Birmingham Journal says :7--
" The prisoner has recently been figuring at Chelten-
ham, where, taking up his quarters at the Lamb Hotel, .
he assumed 'the title of Sir William Baddingfield. He -
was accompanied by a prepossessing young woman,
whom he introduced to the proprietors of: the hotel as
Lady Beddingfield. The couple assumed and sustained
the fashionable style of hunt ton, and their bill during
their sojourn of one week at the Lamb amounted,.
to the sum of £3 10s. Sir William had reported that
his uncle, recently deceased, had bequeathed to him
large estates abroad, and that he and Lady Beddingfield
were to proceed to India on the 6th of the present
month. The scantiness or. their wardrobe and the
absence. of packages at the hotel were accounted for by
statement that Lady B. had all her clothes packed for
the voyage. During their stay at the Lamb Hotel the
prisoner favoured • many of the Cheltenham tradesmen
with orders, and obtained several packages of goods. .
When the pair were about to depart, and on the presen- • .
•tation of their bill; the host of the Lamb was coolly told •
by the prisoner that he had no money, and that
remittance on account would be sent to him. He, how-
ever, succeeded in stopping the: execution .of some
extensive, orders in Cheltenham. Of course the matter
got wind, and the fashionable pair bolted. After leaving
the Spa Sir William and. lady are understood to have •
walked kve miles, put up at a roadside public-house,- -
incurred a debt of ss. 6d., and . then departed for •
Tewkesbury.' The next information we have of the
prisoner is that he came. to this town late on Satur •
'day night, the 26th ult., and presented himself at.
-Cerbett's Hotel, New-street, where he gave the name or.,
and be represented that he had :just arrived;
,from'Worcesten.and that on alighting at the station he
had discovered that he had lost'his purse:. His luggage • .
he said would not come on until the following Monday,
and being thus without money or luggage, and having ~
been refused admission at one hotel where he had applied,
he expressed a lope that Mr. Corbett would kindly allow
him to remain until Monday, when he expected advices;
from Messrs. lloriifall and Son, of Liverpool, of which. •
firm he was a representatiVe. As though in corrobora-
tion of this
.assertion he took from his pocket-book a,„;
bill purporting to be drawn by Mr. Copestake, merchant,:
Liverpool, and on Mrs. Corbett, asking if he had nny
:-
objection to allow her to detain the bill until he heard_.
from his friends, he. at' once replied in. the negative,
and placed the document in- her hands. He remained •
at the. hotel, until Tuesday
,night,- when. he came . in
late, and expressed regret that he had not paid leis hill,.
but that he had that morning received acheque for PO,
Which he had been unable to get cashed, as he had been:.
Very closely engaged with Mx.. Horsfall in- purchasing.,
goods at various manufactories in the town. He con-J
tiraued in the house until Thursday morning, when his.
bill was presented to him, but evading its payment
'he took his departure and did not return. On the.
day 'before, however,, it appears lie went to . the ,
1-nuthouse of Messrs. Bans and sons, Edmund7streef,
and asked to look at some low .priced umbrellas,
and a' selection 'war accordingly submitted to his -
Inspection. • - lie exau:Aiwa tne.m, nun sam -lie
, call the next morning.. He did not keep his word, but
on the Friday he -again loOked in, when. he stated,that
he was the African agent of: Messrs. C. Horsfall and-
Son, of Liverpool,• and after looking: at some snore um-.
• brellas he' wrote an order,. countersigning his name as
Howell, for a quantity in the name of Messrs. Horsfall,.
requesting that a few, as patterns, should be sent.to him
at Dingley's. Ilotel, Moor-street.- Half-a-dozen were
accordingly that afternoen fors arded to thisi address,,.
and left there for him; On the :following .day„ hot
again went -to Messrs.' Barra' warehouse, and
. said
that he 'approved of the 'patterns, and that they were
to send for- them away, with.'the exception cS one,
which' he wished to retain as a. pattern, and he then
asked for and received another for his own private ,use,..
and which it was understood he should pay for. lie at
the fame time directed that two dozen more niuhrellas
at 13s. -and 14s. each should , added to, his former
order; the whole to be delivered to Messrs. Horsfall by
the 12th January. The samples were sent for to the
the hotel' the same afternoon, and :five were returned.
This formed the substance of-one charge against the
prisoner. Mr. Hawkins, 'manager for Messrs.: Bares,
:having deposed to the foregoing circumstances; Mr. G.. H.
Horsfall, of the firm of C. Horsfalland Son, merchant,s,
:Liverpool, was examined.., He stated that he knew the
prisoner by the name of Walker, and that he was in the-
employ of th2ir firm some five or six years ago, and was
'with them for nearly three years, when he was din-
chargel He went out fer tliern to Africa as assistant
to the supercargo, and_afterwards as supercargo. He
was not now in any way.engaged as their agent;
lie 'had- no authority to.givethe order then produced on.
their account. The prisoner, when called upon for his.
reply to the charge, at once admitted his guilt, dnit
pleaded that he had come to Birmingham with no money
in his pocket, and had no means of obtaining any.
was then committed for trial at the sessions.