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

period and sent out—.lla.asked_the jury, now -that they nau
heard the whole of the case for the plaintiffs, could there be
more impudent aspersions thrown put ? Not one title of evi-
dence had been, given that Messrs. Cope had, through their-
own servants, or in their own warehouses, either made up or
kept, or supplied anything which involved a breach of their'
agreement. The question was now between the proba-
bilities of two conflicting. testimonies. If the believed
Mr. Cope and probability against Mr. Silberberg, they
could scarcely help believing that Mr. Silberberg came
there animated by a vindictive feeling against Mr. Cope.
Mr. Silberberg had had the audacity to tell the jury that
Mr. Cope had told him Robinson's shop was his, and not
Robinson's. That was utterly untrue. Mr. Cope had no
more to do with the shop than any one of the Jury. He
would call before them not only Mr. Cope, but every one
who could throw any light upon the subject; and it would
appear conclusively that even if some person in the shop
had sold goods of his own for the goods of the company, it
was not by the authority of Mr. Cope, nor as his agent.
It would be shown that the cigars which Mr. Robinson
received from Mr. Cope were sold to the former out and
out, and paid for by Mr. Robinson, and that he had never
dealt with Mr. Cope in the capacity of Mr. Cope's agent.
Mr. James contended that under these circumstances, it
would appear evident to the jury that whatever had taken place
had no reference to Messrs. Cope, and that the defendants
had fully and honourably maintained throughout the whole
transaction the agreement they had entered into with the Com-
pany. Mr. Thomas Cope examined by Mr. James : I am one of
the defendants. I attended particularly to the business
under the company. I am the manager of the busines ;
my brother only attends to the manufacturing. After the
agreement with the company, I complained frequently,
when in London, to Mr. Silberberg, of the quality of the
cigars. The last time I complained to him, before this
dispute arose, was, I think, late in November. I went
with him to the brokers to select some cigars. I spoke of
complaining to the directors about him. After a time we
parted good friends. I told him the cigars were not
what had been represented, nor was the company such
as we :had been given to understand. The cigars were
exceedingly bad. There was only one decent case of
cigars in all I received from the Company. I grumbled
a great deal before threatening to attend at
the board meeting. I did at last threaten to do so ; it was
in consequence of that he went with me to the broker's
to select some for myself. The whole of what Mr. Silber-
berg swore about Robinson's shop being mine is as great an
untruth as ever was uttered in a court of justice. There is
not a word of truth in it. I have no more to do with
Robinson's shop than any gentleman in the court. I have
said Smith's shop in Manchester was mine. Smith failed,
and died, and we became trustees for the general body of
creditors. We have nothing else to do with it. We have
nothing to do with Robinson's shop, beyond that we took
the house, and let it to him, to give him
a start in the world, as he had been a
steady, deserving person. We have no interest whatever
in the shop. We sold some of the company's cigars' to him,
and some of our own, also. It was an out-and-out sale.
Mr. Robinson was appointed agent under the company.
We fitted up a department in our own premises separately
for the company's business. We kept their business in
every particular distinct from our own. We have never in
any single instance sold any cigars but the company's own
as theirs. We kept empty boxes to pack the company's
own cigars in when they came down in large cases to us.
We never put any but their own cigars in these boxes.
The boxes are manufactured in our own premises, and
we bought a brand for the purpose. Mr. Robinson
sometimes bought job or cheap lots of the company's
cigars which had been returned ; we never in any instance
sold him any cigars as those of the company except the
company's own. I wrote a letter in, December to Mr.
Phillips, tke company's solicitor. A letter was then read
from Mr. Cope to the company's solicitor, in which he
demanded that the company should, after the imputations
which had been made against him, bring the action which
they had threatened at the earliest possibleperiod, and urged
that they were bound to do so, as he had no other means
of repelling the charges which had been made against him,
but by meeting the company in a court of law.
To Mr. Monk : On the occasion when the agreement was
signed in London, I did walk through the warehouse, and
approve of the cigars. Those I selected, I remember, did
not come to hand, owing to the fact that we quarrelled with
the Company. The complaints I made of the cigars to Mr.
Silberberg were not in writing. Very possibly I complained
that he would not 'tempt the trade. Robinson is still
in my employment. We have him under an engagement
for WI years. I had no interest whatever in the shop of
Mr. Smith, in Manchester, except that of a very heavy
creditor up to December last, when we became trustees.
John Goodacre: I am general superintendant at Messrs.
Cope's factory. The goods of the Company were kept
quite distinct from any others.
His Lordship said there did not appear to be any impu-
tation whatever upon anything occurring at Messrs. Cope's
factory. The only question was, whether they were
responsible for what occurred-at Robinson's.
Examination continued: I know Robinson's shop. It is
Robinson's own.

Ralph Robinson examined by Mr. James : I have a cigar
shop in Lime-street. It is my own shop. Mr. Cope has no
interest whatever in it, and never had. I have bought
cigars from him, and paid for them. I never was employed
to sell them as agent for him. I purchased some of the
company's cigars from Mr. Cope, on six or seven different
occasions. To the best of my belief, they were the com-
pany's cigars taken out of their department by Mr. Cope.
I never sold any cigars as the company's, except the
company's own, nor authorised any one to do so. I never
sold any cigars to the witness Lever, or saw him before
this day.
To his Lordship : When I set up in business my capital
was the credit I had from Mr. Cope; that credit has long
ceased. _

Emily Robinson, wife of the last witness, examined : We
have sold very few of the company's boxes —about three or
four pounds. I remember selling some in last December,
but I cannot tell to whom. I could not identify the person.
I took no notice of him at all. I remember making out the
invoice (produced). A party came in and asked for a
pound of the Habana Company's cigars, which I showed
him. I told him the price was 245. He asked me had I
any of a higher price, and I said the highest price I had was
265, of the company's He said he wanted them for a friend,
and requested me to write down in the invoice that they
were the Habana Company's cigars. I did so. To
the best of my belief they were the company's cigars.
Mr. James then repied on behalf of the defence, and Mr.
Monk for the plaintiffs.
His Lordship summed up, pointing out that the question
really to be decided was, whether the shop that bore
Robinson's name was or was not Mr. Cope's.
The Jury, without leaving their box, found a verdict for
the defendants.
The Court then rose.