The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-15 00:00:00

IMPORTANT TO SHIPPING AGENTS.

A case of great importance to shipping agents, &1., name
on for hearing yesterday, at the police court, before Mr.
Mansfield. It was a prosecution commenced by the Board
of Trade, against Frederick Leighton and James Thomas,
two persons alleged to be clerks to Mr. Patrick Martin,
chipping agent, for a conspiracy, for that they, with others,
did, on the 18th January, unlawfully and wickedly conspire,
combine, confederate, and agree together, by divers false
pretences, to defraud one James Christy, &e. Mr. Tyndall
appear( d for the Board of Trade, and Mr. Aspinall was
for the prisoners, who were brought up on warrant by
detective officer Scott. The case arose out of the
unfortunate and fatal affair on board the James L.
Bogart, and as all the facts of that melancholy case have
been so fully and so recently before the public, no further
allusion need be made to that part of the east. The pre-
sent charge was brought against the defendants far having
got Christy and another black man named Vanderpole on
board the ship, by falsely representing that she was the
Robin Mild, and boand for Antigua. Mr. Tyndall
shortly opened the ease', which will be found in the fol-

evidence:—
Thomaslowing
Hudson said : I am a commission agent,
and reside in No, 1 Rhyll street; I rec )11ect Sunday
night, the 18th January last ; on that night I was then
living in 114, Warwick street, and a man named Howard
came and said Mr. Martin wanted me ; I went to the old
Fort and saw James Thomas there; I understand he was
managing man for Mr. Patrick Martin ; I called at the
house of Mr. Wilson, Park lane, before that, in conse.
quence of Howard saying Mr. Martin wanted coloured men
for a ship, and I went to look for them. Howard was with
me then ; there were two coloured men there, who
were shipped beforeb, went to the Old Fort, and taw James
Thomas, and asked him what he wanted ; he replied, " Don't
say any thing here." or some words to that effect ; went to Mr
Martin is-office in Paisley street;; Howard, Thomas, and J.
Howard asked us to go into the corner public house, but I did
not go; Howard went in, and Thomas and I went up to the
office of Mr Martin ; the office ass shut, but there was a light
in it; asked Thomas what he wanted, and he said it was
" Ptinsey" business ; he explained to me that coloured men did
not like to go to Mobile; I asked him the meaning of " punsey"
and he sad I was as green as cabbage ; he said in this business
there were two sets of articles, and that there were not five
men in the James L. Bogart who were legally shipped; he said
they were shinned for another ship, but did not name any ship
or men ; I told him I had two coloured men, and he said don't
say anything about the James L. Bogart, or they will not go in
her ; Frederick Leighton was not then present,
but, previous to that, Thomas had knocked at
Leighton's door, under Martin's office, and Leighton then came
out ; Thomas told Leighton to go up to Mr Martin's, and in a
short time he retdrned with John Martin, Mr Martin's
brother ; the office was then opened, and we went in—Thomas,
Leighton, and I ; John Martin was there also; Thomas told
Leighton to get a set of articles ; I think he said "punsey" ; I
am confident' he said " punsey" articles ; he produced the
articles ; Leighton hesitated a moment, and said what ship ?
Thomas said, "oh, the Robin Hood," and he told Leighton
to write Robin Hood, for Antigua ' • they tore off the top of
!le articles; he gave the articles to James Thomas, who gave
them to Johri Martin ; I w*:.!, present all the time ; they
looked at the articles, and Martin ,mo out saying that will
do, off you go; I think Howard came in, but I am not
positive ; wA went to Wilson's, and saw two i."l"red men
there with Howard ; asked the men if they wanted a .niz;
and they said they were not particular where
they went to; Wilson asked me what was the
advance? the wages were £2 10s, and £5 advance;
I did not tell the name of the ship ; I told him the ship was
for Antigua, and told him the name of Robin Hood, an
English ship ; I engaged the men for that ship ; I went to
Carroll's public house in Mersey street after that ; I met
the men after at Carroll's; Vanderpole, Christy, Howard,
and Wilson came in after that; I proposed to read the
articles to the men, but one of them said never mind, and
turned into conversation ; I read the articles, bat the men'
did not hear me ; I asked them .to sign, and they told me
to write their names, and f did so ; they made their marks ;
this is a copy of the articles as given to me by John Martin ;
the original articles were stolen from me by John Martin,
brother of Patrick Martin ; I made this copy, and examined
it with the one I copied it from [articles handed in]. In
the articles signed by the tnen there was no room at the
bottom for other names. Mr Aspinall said he did not see
what the acts of John Martin had to do with the
prisonels. He then proceeded to cross examine the
witness, who said—l made the copy on the Tuesday
after the 18th of January, I had the original in my possession
at that time ; I was committed after that ; I had the articles
at home at that time ; when I got the summons I told Mr.
Martin ; the articles were stolen after that in a public house,
at the corner of Paisley street ; Leighton, Howard, John
Martin, and I were present when the articles were stolen from
me ; Patrick Martin told me to go for the money to pay the
fine, and if he were not there he would leave it with Fred ;
I was told to bring the papers down and the money would he
paid ,• Howard went there with me ; he was here to-day. To
Mr. Tyndall—l accompanied the coloured men to a boat at
the Landing Stage ; I think Wilson was in the cab with ns,
and Howard outside ; there was a boat there, and they told
the boatmen to go to the James L. Bogart; there were the
teen, John Martin, Howard, and myself with another man ;
I did not go with them, as Howard said he wished
to go ashore, as it was eleven o'clock ; Howard and I were
put ashore at the Prince's Pier ; was Bent for two or three
times next day to go to Mr. Martin's office, and John
Martin was with me ; I saw James Thomas, Leighton,
and John Martin ; there the latter told me he
wanted me in the private office ; I went there ; there
was no one else there ; he asked me had I brought the articles,
that he gave me, with me ? I said no ; he produced articles
that he told me belonged to the James L. Bogart ; these are

the articles, but there is an alteration in them since I saw them
before; he asked me to put Vanderpole and Christy's name to
the articles, but previous to that he told me there was a
mutiny on board the ship ; I wrote (limn their names, hut
refused at first; I did not make the marks; I refused to do
that ; the names J titles Christy and Charles Vanderpole are
written by me ; I saw Mr Patrick Martin after that ; he
c .me to me and said, "this is a bad business ;" I said it was, and
he said we must make the best of it ; that he was going over
to the trial at Birkenhead, and be asked me if Howard know
how the men were shipped, and I replied, " no," and he said,
" don't tell any one ;" I was afterwards fined £2O for shipping
Vanderpole without a license ; I have not paid the fine ;
Patrick Martin promised to pay that fine ; he paid all my law
expenses, and said he would see me through it; he
asked me repeatedly where the articles were, and I
told him at home, and he asked me why I did
not bring them ; I told him they were destroyed;
up to that time he did not pay the fine, and that was the
reason I told him the articles were burnt ; I told the
brother John afterwards that the articles were not

„..
destr,yed, and he ran up the street swearing I would get
them all transported ; Mr. Patrick Martin took me by the
arm and we went into Cole's public house ; he agreed the
next day to pay the fine; I went to bi 3 office next day; I
saw Mr. Martin, who said he had to go to Grimshaw's for
money, and I said I would not go any more, and then he
said he would leave the money with Fred. Leighton ; I
went in a eab and came in one; Howard was with me
when I went in the evening, and I gave him the articles
to keep, but there was no one else present ; saw Leighton
at the office, but not .I.)lan Martin then ; I said, ” Fred.,
is it all right ?" and he said " Yes," and we went into
the corner public house, and he said, " Let me look at the

papers," and I showed them to him, as I had got them
from Howard ; while we we e looking at the articles,

John Martin grabbed at them and ran off with them ;
Leighton offered me his watch and chain as a guarantee
for the payment; Mr. Patrick Martin afterwards
'paid nay father £ll 4s on account of the
fine. Crass examined by Mr. A : I did rot
get a farthing of it ; I did not go on the spree with the
money ; my father may have got all the money ; I don't
know what " puncey" meant ; had no idea; had heard it
frequently, ye) did not know the meaning of it; I under-
stand it means a piece of roguery to entrap nun ; I did
so ; I dil not get anything, though I was to get the
shipping money, 225. I knew ails n. The advance on
the Jamt-s L. Bogart was £5 ; I heard the advance on the
Robin Hood was £2 lOs ; I told the men I was shipping
th' m for the Robin Hood, but did not tell them the
advance was £2 10s ; I swear I told them the advance
was £5 ; I was to get the whole shipping money for
doing it; I knew Thomas before, and had spoken to him
many a time, but was not a friend of his, I only used to
speak to him ; I knew I was going about shipping
Fotne men ; my object was not to get the
£5 and only pay them £2 10s. I have a
brother, but don't know Mr Nicol., of Behington ; never
told my brother that I wanted to get the difference from
£2 lOs to £5 ; I did not write the words " his mark" OD
the articles ; I refused to do so; I did so on the copy ; I was
very foolish for putting the names on the articles ; It was
John Martin who gave me the papers, and be took them away
from me ; he used some force, but not much ;
I had not
memorialised the Board of Trade at that time,
but it did
done for me, not on the condition of telling this story ; I got
seven days to pay the £2O, but kept out of the way ; I went
a week ago to Mr. Tyndall's office, but I war not promised
remission of the fine ; Mr Campbell went with me, but I was
not make any promise ; my brother got the
money, but I
don't know what ho has done with it; he can tell
you, as he
is here ; John Martin told me the men would not go if they
raw him. and he went into the boat first ; I have not been
in any business since my conviction ;,I have not been living
in hope on the Board of Trade.
To Mr Tyndall : When I shipped the men there was no
ship called the Robin Hood, for Antigua, but there was one
for Shanghai, but I; lid not know it ; I can't txactly say if any
one sent to the Board of Trade for me.
John Howard a tailor and boarding•house keeper, of 27,

Mill street, examined : On Sunday, the ISth of January
liar, I shipped one man on board the James L. Bogart;
I remained at hom.-: all that day, and in the evening John
Martin and Junes Thomas called about seven o'clock, and
asked if I had any coloured men, and I said no ; they asked
me to go to Harry Linden's, in Welfe street, and I did so ;
lie had none; we went to two boardinghouses, but got no
men ; they told me if I could fall in with any coloured men,
they might be seen at the Old Fort up to ten o'clock ; went
to Mr. Hudson's (last witness), and found him at home,
and told him Martin wanted colt-wed men, and that he
would find Thomas at the Old Fort; went with Hudson to
Wilson's, in Park lane ; he went in and I remained out-
side ; he came out and said Wilson had only two men ;
went to the Old Fort and saw Thomas, who went on one
side with Hudson ; went all three to Mr. Martin's office ; the
witness then went on to corroborate that portion of the
evidence given by the previous witness, regarding what
happened at Mr. Martin's office on the night in question:
He also went on to state that he went to Winion's with the
last witness, where they got the men, and then "eat to the
public house where the men were shipped. f heard !lira
read the articles for the Janes L.Bogart, bound for Niebile?
not to exceed eight months; the men made their marks ;
he witness then went on to corroborate the evidence of the
last witness as to the eipping of the men ; after the last
witness was cony coed I said ( in the (lay of the convic tior)
to him that I was sorry fur him, when Le said he was
guilty ; he produced a set of articles, and asked me if
they were like those produced in court, and I said I suppose
so, when he pulled out a set and said these are the
articles, and that those produced in court on that d iy were
not; I asked why he deceived me, and he said he was
persuaded to it ; he also corroborated the statement made.
about John Martin taking the articles from Hulson.
Cross ex-mined by Mr. Aspinall : There was nothing to
prevent the men from hearing Hudson read the articles
He was cross examined at mach len;th in referen to
the articles in question, but there was nothing"very
material elicited.

The first witness, in reply to Mr. Aspinall, said the Went
nor either of them, were informed that they w.re going tt:
Arabile; one of them did not say he would go to hell to get
away. Mr. Wilson, the boarding house keeper, vv,s called
as a witness in my case before the magistrates. (Part of
the evidence was read and there was a discrepancy in it.)
I read the name of James L. Bogart from the paper for the
men, but the words were not on the paper; I was told to
do so ; it was part of my lesson ; I was not to let any one
hear what I read ; I did not call witnesses before the
magistrates. Is it true that you called witnesses to swear
before the magistrates what you knew to be fa!s2 ? I did
not call any witnesses. Did you hear Wilson give false
evidence in your behalf without interfering ? I die, so far
as I was concerned.

James Christy, an able seaman, and one of the persons
alluded to, was next examined, and his evidence was just
the same as that given in reference to him, with the excep-
tion that he said Hudson told him the advance was £2 lOs
instead of £5. Hudson asked me if we could write ? and
We said yes; bit be would not let us sign our name, but a
cross; we touched the pen ; we said there was
no occasion for him to read the articles, and he did not
read them; there was no room far any other name on the
articles. Went on board the ship as he was tuld she was
the Robin Hood.

Cross-examined by Mr. Aipinall : He said he had nothing
to complain of Mr. Martin, as it was Hadsan deceived him
—(laughter)--if he wanted an American ship he would go
to Mr, Martin's. He then went on to describe how Hudson
got 14e wicies signed. If Mr. Hudson got me on the
ArnerieLo ship no would have pocketed the .£2 10s, Mr.
Aspinall And don'l, von think that was what he wanted ?
think it Vas , ) Mr. Aspinall then addressed
the court on ballad of the der,L.'odants, and contended that
Huds )n had oil the former occasion suborned
witnesses to commit perjury, ant; that Hudson
was the only guilty party, along' with Wilson, his witness,
who had conspired to defraud the mei; out of S 2 10a eac:::. The
defendants had nothing whatever to do vZith Christy or Van,
derpol, but all was done and concocted by llud4on• He, on
behalf of his client, repudiated the story toll by Fiu,-son, and
denied that his clients knew anything of the proceedings of
Hudson. There was no jury, he said, on eareh, that could
believe the story, nor could they convict the def..ndant on such
testimony as was laid before the court. He contended that
the Board of Trade acted very wrong in ordering the evidence
of a man whom they had already prosecuted, and who had
suborned perjured witnesses to prop up his former defence. He
concluded by calling for the discharge of the prisoner, as there
was not a particle of evidence against him.
His Worship protested against the strong observations used
in reference to the Board of Trade, and said, that body had only
to perform a public duty, without reference to any party,
and therefore he totally disagreel with the learrel counsel
in his observations. The Board of Trade and the gentle-
' man who acted as the solicitor in their behalf, had nothing
to do with Hudson, they had to perform a public duty,
which they always did with propriety. However, as
Hudson was so tainted in this sffiir, no jary wcul I credit
him, and as there was such a discrepancy it. the evidence,
he must discharge the prisoners. There was Isnd cheering
and clapping of hands at the decision, but it was immedi-
ately checked.