Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-27 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY FRAUDULENT BANKRUPTCY

CASE

At the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday, Joist'
-Marks, st, Samuel Me ke, 24, and Abraham Simmons, 4S,
were indicted for felony, in having, after the first-narned
prisoner, had been declared and adjudged 'a bankrupt,
unlawfully concealed and embezzled a certain portion of
his effects, above the value of £lO, with intent to defraud
his creditors. There were several other similar
indictments for felony against the prisoners„ and
they were also charged with a conspiracy to defraud the
creditors of the bankrupt by secreting and embezzling to
large quantity of his effects after his bankruptcy. Mr.
Edwin James, Q.C., was retained specially to conduct the
prosecution, with Mr. •Giffard, Mr. Poland, and Mr.
Wilki .son. Sergeant Ballantine appeared specially with
•fr. Robinson, for John Marks ; Sergeant Parry was
specially retained for S imuel Marks; and Mr. Huddlestone,
Q.C., was also specially retained, with Mr. Sleigh,
for the prisoner Sinamoes. The case that was pro-
ceeded with, charged the prisoner John Merits with
h tying unlawfully secreted and embezzled sit
pianofortes, and a quantity of slckings, after he had
been a 'judged a bankrupt, with intent to defraud his
creditors ; and the other two p isoners, Simnel Marks and
Abraham Simmons, were charged jointly as principle, in
the first and seernd degree, with aiding and assisting hint
to commit that offence. Mr. James, in opening the case,
described it as being one of an extraordira-y chnracter,
and said that the evidence would disclose a fraud of the
most enormous descrip.ion. The prisoner, John Marks,
carried on an extensive-basiaess as a coachmeker, in Long- „. ..
acre, and SamuelSamuelMarks, who was his brother, arid had 70:
married a daughter of the third prisoner, Abraham e'-e`ifol
Simmons, also carried on the business of a coachmaker, in --4*-;:e.
Long-acre, in partnership with that prisoner. John Marks 'ea'n
became bankrupt in May, 1857, and for a considerable time
before that period he obtained enormous quantities of
goods from different tradesmen; and the case for the - 409.,
prosecution was that the bankruptcy was concocted by all -11iV.
the prisoners with the object of defrauding their creditors, - 4
and that they all conspired together to conceal • the ' re*:,*
go Ids until tho bankruptcy should have blown over, -elle
when 'they were to ire disposed of and the pro- -tress
ceeds divided among the prisoners. The chief wittiest
against the prisoner§ was William Molloy : I was formerly
is the service of the prisoner, John Marks. I was so
employed ten or twelve years. I was the foreman of his
establishment in 'Belle-street, Paddington. I knew the .saw
other two prisoners. Ifi et saw Simmons after Samuel -ea
Marks come to England from Australia, about two or • Jiiefe
three year; ago. 'Samuel Marks married Simmons's eeei
daughter, and they afterwards carried on business as -stele
c oach-makers in Long acre. I remember being sent by -at
John Marks to fetch some pianos from Mr. Cealins's._ I
went twice end brought three each time. I conveyed these
pianos to a mews in Great Queen-street, and they were
plseed in a coach-house there, and Simmons and Samuel
Marks saw them after they bad been put there. I after-
ward, by direction of the prisoners Samuel Marks and
Simmons, took away four of the pianos, and I had _or o.t
directions to drive the van oisr Waterloo-bridge,' and - as4set
Simmons and Samuel Marks were to meet me, and the; r es
did so, and got into the van, and told me to drive on, eet
and they directed me to go co to Kent-street, where" levee
turned up a turning and ••the pianos were taken out, Ufa
the following Monday I toot the other two pianos, and
some canvas that bad been purchased ( f Mr. Unite, to•
the same place. I did this by the direction of,- tbe pri-
soners. The pianos and anvil.; were left at the. premises
of a person named Vandervil. I remember taking -some
goods from the premises in Belle-street to the, Lyceum „eat&
Theatre, in Mty, 184 y ar. The prisoner, -John Marks, -.sue;
gave me directions to take these goods. At this time there 'oder/
were 110 cases of different:sorts of goods at Belle_street. eeelesst
They consisted of -hernese, clothes, boats, and riding- ,Ingo:
saddles, and I should say the property was worth £6,000 ejlE
or £7,000. I. know some of the tradesmen from whom .giul
these goods had been purchased. I began to remote these esetjea
goods in Mae, and all the prisoners assisted me to load the e sae
first van load. I went to the Lyceum Taeatre about seven bie
o'clock in the evening, amid I was met by all the -prisoners. !,117
The van was driven away by Simmons. In consequence ofeeeertx
some suspicion that I entertained, I directed two mem, ',.rim
named Young and Richardson, to watch where-the van wase,A
taken to, and I was informed that, it was driven, with,the,emeel
goods, to Wool-quay, and I _afterwards saw some of -thee Jew
cases at Ipswich that had been removed from Belle-street rep
After the bankruptcy of John Marks, all the prisoners
complained to me of my having sent Young down to eke
Ipswich, and Simmons said that if it had not been for me
they should all have been gentlemen. I efterwards heard:
that Simmons and Samuel Marks had been taken iate,e;d..o
custody at Ipswich, and that th' magistrates refused tee.
take bail for them. I remember being with the prisoneg- t-
Sim Mons at Reigate, at the house of a person named For- 6411,
sedick: He was a gamekeeper, wad bad a small cottageetbrie
- and harp, near the town of, Reigate. It was after that
bankruptcy when this warred. Simmons told-me' tlg
edee,hadyeedvedn letter ,from Reigate informing him tiorierPl
lie: a tndi ,rOinove seine goods that had been
,placed
'in a barn. at Reigate. they would be turned into the road..''-'w
Simmons drove me to It iga.e,, and showed me the barn,?,,g.
and I saw a quantity of goods, consisting of saddles, rugs,'•
&c , inside the barn. These were some of the some goods
that 1, 'lied previously removed from Belle--ittee`. I
rem, ved4inety-feer. casese -altegoeher from Belle-street. --
They W,-eee large cases, and, abould say were: worth
eight, oe- pounds altogether. cattle back de
London witl-eszifirnions,. and shortly afterwards Samuel -0
Marks geit tie•direetions tocplane- all the numbers off the
cases, and re-dircees them to Mr. Coleman, at the Brick; -
layer's Arms station, to be called for. There were addresses 'l')
upon, cards on the cases at this time, in the handwriting cif re
Sitsmons 'and Samuel' Marks. I afterivards received
strnetiOni to send the cases to Reading, and they were cone
veyed by the Great Western it :ilway froth; that place to
Liverpool. After I had sent -the goOds I returned to
'London, and saw the priioner John Marks, and he began 1
to swear at me, and said that a person named Liddell '
had seen me, and that he had been examined at the-Court
of Bankruptcy, and bad sworn he add not know where I
was, and that if I was seen with hi-r, he might be indicted e
for peejury. The prisoners had told me, if I was seen by
any one at Reigate with the goals, I was to-say th It I was '
'removing then] for-the benetit'Of the creditors, and I was
to allow the goods to be taken, but to get away myself "13
Samuel Marks after this give me £lO to ply my expenses' Gtr
to Cambrilge, where I was to fled some good'. I went to 't
the house of_a shoemaker in B.rnwell, near Cambridge, '-
and I theredsaw some varnish and gold size. Several other"
witnesses were examined, and Counsel hiving addressed the
jury for the prisoners; letieJaat'ci' Coleridge summed up
the whole of the evidence with great • care awl impar-
tiality, and the jury, after deltberetini a short time in the
box, expressed ti %%WI to retire. Tdey left the court at
ten minutes past five., and at a quartti to rein o'clock they -
returned into court, and ghye a verdict Of " Guilteagainst
all the prisoners. Mr. James said that as he understood --
their lordships only reserved for further consideration the
point raised by Scrjeant Parry, whether the prisoners,
Samuel Marks and Simmons, could be convicted as
princip de, -he p-opnsedoto let the other indictments stand
over until flee point had been decided: The prisoners were '
then called up for Judgment. Mr.-3 astiee Coleridge; in
passing sentence, said that they had been fouled guilty, •
upon evidence which was per.ectly sttisfuCury, of 'the
commission of a crime which no one could doubt in a great a
commercial country, was a crime or the highest
gravity, and required to be visited by very severe, punish- 1
ment. By the bankrupt law, so soon as a man- -
became bankropt the whole of the property he
po s ssed betime the prOperty of his -creditors, and--
was
to be equal'y divided amongst them, and it was e')
quite clear that this law was a perfectly just one.
vestion of I+w- had been raised which would undergo e
further consideratitin,- but he should still proceed-4 pass
sentence, for if ehat point should be detailed din their
favour, the eentenee woul-1 not -be carried out, and they
would suffer no hardship by the course be was taking. It-
Was perfectly clear that a great and gross fraud had been
}attempted by them all, and he end his learned brother had
looked carefully at the facts; to see whether they were
justified in making any distinction in their cases, bat they
had been unable to discover any grounds for making suck
distinction. Hie lordship then concealed by ordering
each of the prisoner; to be kept in netted servitude for eight
years. The prisoners, and particularly Simmons, who
appeared quite astounded to the sentence, were thee
removed from the bar. • ,

From the Turin papers we glean the following statistics
concerning, the new chamber :—lt contains 55 nob'emen,
33 of wham belong to the right; 45 commanders and
knights ; 90 barristers, including 3 professors of the uni-
versities ; 15 magistrates ; 12 physicians ; 8 priests ; 16
officers cf the army; 2 bankers; and 5 professors not be-
longing to the faculty of the law. The priests all belong
to the ultramontane party.
A SINGULAR Stony.—The following occurrence is said
to have taken place a short time ago at Atapulgas, Ga. A
gentleman, who had received a considerable sum of money,
was compelled to go from home, leaving his w;fe alone
in the house Towards evening two negroes entered, and
demanded of the lady her money, or they would take her
life. She saw at once that it would be useless to attempt
to evade the demand, so she gave it to them. The negroes
then remarked, that as supper was nearly ready, they
would stay and eat with her, She told them to be seated
until she got it ready. The woman had a phial of strychnine
in the cupboard, and in sweetening their coffee managed to
put a dose of the poison in their cups. They drank, sad
in a few moments were dead. The neighbours were Nina
in, and the negroes discovered to be white man in diegai,
near neighbours of her hu-band, who had ktioxst cf hie
receiving the money, and of his ab-enoe. ex.,,