Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-12-27 00:00:00

able seaman, Milford ; Thomas Elvin, 23, able sea-
man, London; John Jones, 19, able seaman, Cardiff ;
Wm. M'lntosh, 24, able seaman, London ; John Lewes,
23, able seaman, Bordeaux ; John Swainson, 23, able
seaman, Sweden ; Louis Leguenne, 26, able seaman,
Havre; John Charle, 24, able seaman, Caen; William
Anderson, 22, ordinary seamam, Kirkaldy ; Grigsby,
17, ordinary seaman, Dover; Herbert Rawlinson, 18,
cuddy servant, London. Midshipmen (apprentices)
William Pittman, of London ; James Shaw Davis, of
London; Albert Langdon Dramond, of London ; Wal-
ter. Pearson, of London."
There are nine other seamen on board whose names
have not yet been correctly ascertained.

The value of—the ship and cargo is estimated at
£30.000 at least.

WAKEFIELD ELECTION .COMMISSION.

WAKEFIELD, Saturday.
The Commissioners met this morning at ten
o'clock in the Sessions-house. The first witness
called was

Mr. Henry Edmund Gurney, one of the firm of
Overend and Gurney, who said—l am brother-in.-
law to Mr. W. 11. Leath.am. Just before the
last election for Wakefield I received a letter
from Mr. Leatham stating that he was about to
stand for Wakefield. I have only half the letter
by me, for I tore off the sheet which relates to
business matters and destroyed the other. It is
headed " confidential," and after mentioning
that he was going to stand a contest, it goes
on thus

" I shall want some money for ways and means, and
rather than draw it from the bank, where there are
some clerks who might talk, I have been thinking that
you would not mind me asking you—that is, 0., G., and
Co., lending me £l,OOO for a short time, so as'not to be
known at Leatham, Tew, and Co. If you see no ob-
jection to meet my wishes I would thank you to send
the money in four divisions in registered covers, waiting
the acknowledgment of each. Let it be in Bank of
England notes of small amount—fives, tens, and twen-
ties. The money is wanted for legitimate purposes, as
my agent is not a moneyed man, as well as for some —."
There the half-sheet stops ; what there was on the
other, side I can't recollect. I sent this 'half of
the letter into the office, and directed the clerks
to forward £l,OOO, as requested. It was sent
down in four packets Of £250 each; addressed to
Mr. Wainwright, solicitor, Wakefield. Shortly
afterivards my brother-in-law wrote to me for
another £5OO, which was sent, and in a little
time after for £l,OOO which also was sent to Mr.
Wainwright. I have not kept the two last letters;
the first, to the best of my recollection, merely
contained a request to send another £5OO, and in
the second I think Mr. Latham remarked that he
found the contest more expensive 'than he ex-
pected. That was all. the money we sent down,
and all the correspondence I had about the Wake-
field election with . anybody. I never wrote to
Mrs. Leatham, sen., on the subject. Mr. Wain-
wright sent us receipts for each parcel as it
reached him—for £2,500 in all. He generally
sent them in a roundabout way, enclosing them
to a friend of his in London, who posted them to.
us there. •

Mr. Serjeant Pigott.—Can't you supply the
contents of the missing half-sheet ?
Mr. Gurney.—l haven't the least idea what it
was—some indifferent personal matter or other.
Mr. Serjeant pigott.—What word followed the.
".'some" at the end of the sheet here ; was it a
cant word for bribery—"sugar," for instance, or
anything else like that P
Mr. Gurney.—Certainly not..
Mr. Willes.-7You see the language of the note,
" forlegitimate purposes, and for some"—, im-
plies that a contrast of some sort followed ?
Mr. Gurney.—l see that, of course, but I am
quite sure there was nothing suggestive of bri-
bery in the note. • •Mr. Leatham may. have said
that the other side were not likely to lose for want
of spending money, and he.should like to'be' pre-
pared for them. I think he did say something of
that sort, but that was all.
Mr. Willes.—What did you understand by that?- Mr. Gurney.—Well, from my experience in
county elections, I knew that a good deal of money-
is spent in bringing up voters from the country,
and .the like, when the contest is close, which
would not be spent under ordinary circumstances,
and -I thought it might be for something of that
sort. If I had thought the money' as for bribery,
of course I should not have sent it.

Mr. Willes—Had you no suspicions, when
all this large,sura of money was sent for, that
some of it .was to be applied to illegitimate pur-
poses ?
. Mr. Gurney—With the two first sums I had
not the slightest suspicion. 'When the third ap-
plication came I did make the remark that
" Wakefield seemed an expensive place." I had
no knowledge of Wakefield, and I had such com-
plete confidence in my brother-in-Jaw that it
never entered .my mind that. the money was for
bribery.
Benjamin Watson acted as stakeholder during
the election for a voter named Lang. He was to
have £35 for voting for Leatham, ,and: witness
kept the money for him and gave him a promis-
sory note for the amount until he had voted.
Lang, however, did not vote at all.
John Lang, landlord of the Bay Horse, said he
hadnrranged to vote for Leatham for •£35, which
was put into Watson's hands.. 'He gave me a
promissory note for the amount. After that bar-
gain was concluded, the " Man in the Moon"
offered me £5O to vote for Charlesivorth. I took
the £5O and promised my vote, but on reflection
I found I should offend a great many of my
friends if
.I voted that way, so I determined to
stand neutral. My wife was offered £lOO for a
warming-pan, if I would vote for Leatham, but I
was in bed at the time, and don't know who
made the offer.. I didn't particularly want any
money for my vote for either side, but it was
difficult to refuse it *hen it was almost crannied
down ones throat. (Laughter.)
• 'William Shaw, farmer, said—l bought Benja-
min Johnson's vote for Mr. Charlesworth ; £lO
was the price paid. I got £2O from. Joe Brear
to do the job with ; £lO I gave. to Johnson; £2
10s. to William Johnson,- who went with me ;
£7 10s. was spent in expenses; treating, and the
like.
Edwin Link was examined as to offers said to
have been made . by him to a • voter named
Arundel on behalf of the Liberal party.
Mr. Sergeant Pigott—You are described to us
as "a " mesmeriser." Do you, answer to that
description ? .
Witness—Well, if folk are susceptible to the
" influence," I can manage. it. (Laughter.)
Mr. Serjeant Pigott—Did you ." mesmerise " '
Arundel?
Witness—All, I. did was• to. promise Arundel
that he should have some.money if he would vote
for Leatham. He had pledged for us, and I was
sent to find out whether he was sticking firm or
whether the other side had tampered ;with him.
I. giVe.him a. general assurance that we would
cover whatever the Conservatives offered. I did
that with several voters.
George Smith, butcher, mid—l voted for Lea-
tham and, got £3O for it. ' William 'Osterfield
gave it me. I had £l5 in hand. £l5 was given
me on the Monday after .the poll.
William OstP.l.fiebt—l bribed the last witness
as he has said. • j got the money from Gilbert .at
Wainwright's 'office.
Mr. W• 31_,. Sellars 4Rid-I paid £4O to New,
some,
.kecps, the White House, to vote for
'Leath
ram=--at least I gave it to his daughter to
giv to her.-father.. I, got,tlig,money.,from Gilbert.
bargain_had heen,made before by Woodhead..
Sarah. ,Newsome said-4 am
.the daughter ,of •
the landlord 011ie White-IL: auk, -After the lasi
polling-day, Mr. SellarS gave me £4O to give to
my father, and Mr. Woodhead gave me £lO. I