The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-29 00:00:00

THE STIN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, 'NOVEMBER 29, 1864.

The Unity Bank Inquiry.

Joseph Wakefield Terry and Thomas Burch appeared
yesterday before the Lord Mayor at the Mansion-house, in
answer to their recognisance, to undergo a further examina-
tion upon the charge of having unlawfully made and circu-
lated a certain statement, viz., a balance-sheet of the affairs
of the Unity Bank, they knowing the same to be false in
divers material particulars, with intent to deceive and de-
fraud the members and shareholders of that bank.
Mr Lewis again appeared to prosecute, and Mr Sleigh,
instructed by Mr Watson, of Cannon-street, appeared for
the defendant Terry ; and Mr Metcalfe, instructed by Mr
Wontner, jun., of Bucklerabury, appeared for Burch.
Mr Lewis said he proposed to call Mr Howell again, and
to go very shortly into a few transactions of the west
branch.

Mr O. Howell, 40, Broad-street, accountant, was again
called, and said the west branch was under the management
of Mr Sykes. The bank had customers named C. and C.
Humfrey. He produced 31 bills of that firm amounting, on
June 30, 1862, to £2,889, which were dishonoured in 1869,
1860, and 1861. They have the marks of dividends. The
bank held some security to about the value of £l,OOO, which
had not yet been realised. Witness believed Humfrey did
not pay a dividend under his bankruptcy. Witness pro-
duced Mr Sykes's balance-sheet, and in that the amount
of Humfrey's debt appeared in the past due bills, but
in the defendant's balance-sheet issued to the share-
holders it was carried into the account of bills dis-
counted, and formed a part of the £207,000 as good assets.
There was a customer of the western branch, named C•
Dolman, who owed the bank £1,696 upon dishonoured bills
of exchange, dishonoured in April, May, and June, 1862,
and an overdrawn account. The bank had as security
2,000 shares in the Catholic Book Selling Company, which
were perfectly worthless. The amount of Dolman's debt
went into Mr Dykes's balance as loans to customers, and
was included in the general balance in the item £207,000
as good assets. The bank had a customer named Lutomi-
ski, who owed £1,027 on the 30th Jane, 1862, upon bills
dishonoured principally in 1860 and 1861. That sum, un-
secured in Mr Sykes's balance-sheet as past due bills and In
the general balance.sheet, was included in the good assets
as loans under discount. R. G. Leighton was a customer
of the bank, and in June, 1862, he owed the bank £1,135 on
bills dishonoured in 1860 and 1861, and on an overdrawn
account. He paid 18 instalments of £1 each on account of
that debt. They appeared sometimes every week and some-
times every month. The sum he mentioned was the balance
after the payment of the 18 instalments. That was also
included in the gocd assets in the general balance-sheet.
The bank had a customer named C. Baring, who owed on
the 30th June, 1862, £982 upon bills dishonoured in 1860
and 1861. These bills appeared to have been lost. Baring
was bankrupt in 1861. The item appeared where it should
appear—in the past due bill item in Mr Sykes's balance;
but in the general balance it was carried into the good assets.
Thomas Pearson kept an account at the western branch,
and owed £2,017 upon an old overdrawn account and bills
dishonoured.

By the Lord Mayor—That was the balance after deduct•
ing the dividends, which amounted to £216.

Re-examined—That item appeared in Mr Sykes's balance
as past due bills, and was included in the general balance-
sheet as a gcod asset in the item £207,000. Witness said
in June, 1862, the branch office was not solvent, but was
insolvent to the extent of £16,000 or £20,000. As far as he
could say, the west branch never made any profit. They
appeared to have lost £5,000 the first year. lie found in the
books of the head office an entry of a cheque of Morgan's
for £5O, paid in error in April, 1862, and posted in the past
due bills on the 30th June, 1862, having been entered in the
cash article book every day until that date, and included in
the balance in the £207,000 as good assets, being money ab-
solutely lost at the time. A remittance to the west branch
of £73, which was lost in April, 1861, also appeared in June
1862, in the item as good assets. Witness produced a balance
sheet both of the branch office and the head office up to
June, 1862. The overdrawn accounts which were irrecover•
able at tho head office amounted to £9,000 odd, This balance
sheet was prepared by witness.
Cross-examined by Mr Sleigh—Witness had thoroughly
examined all the books, and they showed it was usual to
have a meeting of directors every week, and a committee
meeting likewise. The committee meeting was on Tuesday,
and the board meeting on Friday. The directors generally
all attended. At the committee meeting the correspondence,
past due bills, loans, and discounts were examined, and the
proceedings at each meeting were signed by the chairman,
and confirmed at the subsequent meeting. At the board
meeting the proceedings of the committee were examined.
There was a resolution of the directors, individually and
collectively, upon the transfer of the business to the London
and Middlesex, thanking the manager and secretary fur
their untiring zeal in the management of the bank.

Cross-examined by Mr Metcalfe—There was a summary
of the business of the bank submitted each week to the com
mittee and the board. A statement of the bills discounted
was laid before the board each week. The loans were pre-
sented to the board before they were made,but the bills were
discounted and the bills laid before the board. The general
teugel, w wet). was in Juutvu s wining, was posted up from
the day book. Those items included in Mr Sykes's balance
as past due bills ought not to have gone into the balance as
loans to customers, as the reference was that they were good
bills under discount.
Luke Richard Sykes was called and said he was a bank
manager. He was appointed bank manager of the west
branch of the Unity Bank in 1858 ; previous to that he was
acting manager. The day's transactions were sent in to the
head office daily, and a weekly statement was also sent in,
and a half-yearly statement or balance was also made,
ehowing the profit or loss of the bank. From time to time
some of the customers who owed the bank money became
bankrupt, and seine of them became swindlers, and some
were doubtful. Thera was a customer of the name of Baring
at the bank. His bills were dishonoured in 1860 and 1861.
Baring was bankrupt about Dec., 1861. The securities were
realised, and the balance was £9BO. The bills were lost.
Witness believed Mr Ayre, one of the directors, was in-
formed of it first• He wrote to Mr Terry upon the matter,
but had not a copy of that letter.

At this stage the proceedings were again adjourned, the
same bail being accepted.

Charge of Scuttling a Ship.

Yesterday, at the justice room of the Mansion-house,
before the Lord Mayor, Joseph John Mitcheson White, 26
years of age, residing at Ogle-terrace, South Shields, and
Robert Sutton, 27, of Robinson-terrace, Sunderland, were
of Sergeant Moss and James
m iju
dcity detective
fflcers, to undergo examination on
abr ge
chargeoh t uo f
felony. i n t h e
The
custody
h e
charge against them was that they
on the 2d of October last, on the high seas, and within the
jurisdiction of the Admiralty of England, unlawfully, ma-
liciously, and feloniously did destroy a certain British ship
called the Snowdrop, then being upon the high seas, with
intent thereby to prejudice divers persons who had under-
written certain policies of insurance upon the ship, contrary
to the statute 24th and 25th of Victoria, cap. 97-
Mr Lewis, jun., of Ely-place, attended to prosecute on
behalf of Lloyd's Salvage Association ; Mr Beard, of Bas-
inghall-street, appeared for the prisoners.
Mr Lewis, in opening the case, observed that the charge
made against the prisoners was most serious, and affected
the commercial interests of the country, more particularly
persons who were engaged in the business of underwriting.
The two persons were respectively captain and mate of a
bark called the Snowdrop, of Newcastle, 396 tons register,
and which sailed from London in the month of September
last, bound for Cronstadt. She was insured for a sum of
£2,030, which amount became payable upon the policy in
the event of total loss, but not otherwise, and the evidence
would show that the offence was committed with the view
to obtain the amount for which the ship was so under-
written. Mr Lewis then briefly stated the facts as they
were afterwards related in evidence.
Matthew Craig was called and examined by Mr Lewis.
He said he lived at 26, Prince's-square, St. George-in-the-
East, and was a ship carpenter. He had been so about seven
years. In September last he sailed in the bark Snowdrop, of
Newcastle, from London. She was about 400 tons burden,
and was bound to Cronstadt in ballast. The prisoner White
was captain, and the prisoner Sutton the mate. On the
morning of the 4th October, about 4 o'clock, the ship struck
on a reef called Stoneskar, to the eastward of Revel, in the
Baltic. About a quarter of:a mile from Stoneskar Island,
which is about 12 miles from the mainland, called Port
Cuada, she struck twice and became fixed between two
sunken reefs. The sails were immediately clewed up, and
the jibs hauled down by the mate's order. Witness went
immediately and sounded the pumps, as it was his duty to
do. The ship was not making any water then. About ten
minutes afterwards he sounded the pumps, and again about
20 minutes after that. The ship was not then making water
at any of those soundings, and he reported that circumstance
to the captain. The prisoner White called witness on to the
poop and asked him to have a glass of grog. Witness went
down with him into the main cabin and had one. There the
prisoner said, " Now, carpenter, the ship is making no water
—she is here, and I don't want her ever to come off. Can you
makelher make water ?" Witness said he could. He asked
by what means. Witness said he could bore a couple of holes
in her. The prisoner said if he did not get his insurance his
brother and he, who were both young men, would be ruined.
He gave witness another glass of grog, and then said, " Go
on and do it, carpenter, and I'll keep the men employed
while she is going down." Witness left the cabin and went
on the quarter deck. From there he went down to the
half deck, where he took a chisel, a hammer, and an inch
and quarter augur out of his chest, and went on the main
deck with the tools in his hand. He then threw them down
the after-hatch upon the ballast and went into the hold, He
took up his tools and put them ou the top of some dunnage
and returned to the deck, He afterwards went down again
and fetched a half inch augur. There in the hold the mate
joined him. He asked witness if he could not start the
wooden ends of the plank forward. The effect of that would
have been to let the water in, and much faster than by a
hole bored with an augur. Witness said he could not do so.
He went aft on the starboard side and took out a "graving"
piece, a little abaft the water-tank. Ho then bored a hole in
a plank, upon which the water spouted through it into the
hold. Upon that he replaced the graving piece, hammering
it in with a billet of wood. The prisoner Sutton was present
while that was done, Sutton and he then went forward to

the port side into the fore hold and took out another graving
piece and bored another hole with a half-ineh augur. The
water made its appearance, and he replaced the graving piece,
which prevented any one seeing where the water came in.
Sutton and he then returned to the deck. The men on deck
were then engaged getting the kedge anchor and long boat
ready. The mate Sutton went away in her, and four of the
seamen. The crew were 13 in number. The kedge anchor
was slung over the side of the boat to be used at the stern
of the ship. In order so to use it they should have passed
the stern of the vessel, but they did not do so. The boat
returned in about eight or ten minutes, and when she came
back they put the anchor on board.
By the Lord Mayor—Then, what they did in taking
the anchor away was of no use ?
Witness—None.
Mr Oke—lt was a mere feint.
Witness—When the boat returned the captain asked
witness if the ship was making any water. 'Witness was
then on the poop. He sounded the pumps, and ho reported
to him that she had made 20 inches of water. From the
time he first sounded the pumps the ship had never
moved, though there was a brisk wind at the time.
The captain asked him to go below and he did so into the
ship's cabin. The witness then said she was not making
much water. Witness said she was not, but he could make
her make more. He said, " Go on and do it." Witness left
the captain and went on deck, and then into the hold.
There he took out tho graving piece aft, and bored a larger
hole with an inch and a quarter augur. He then tried to
replace the graving-piece, but ho could not from the pres-
sure of water, which came in very much. Witness went for-
ward, and, taking out the graving-piece, bored another hole
there with the inch and a quarter augur. After that he ma-
naged to replace the graving-piece there. When he reported
the 20 inches of water no order was given by anybody to
pump it out. Witness then returned to the dock and found
the crew getting their things ready. Ho went into the
cabin, and the captain, the mate, and he sat down there,
and each had a glass of brandy. As they drank it they had
some conversation as to the qualities of the ship, how fast
she could sail, and as to her being the best ship in the
Baltic. At the request of the captain he went upon deck and
asked the boatswain to come down and have a glass of grog.
Witness afterwards went down into the hold with the cap-
tain at his request, to see where the ship was making water.
Witness showed him the holes through which the water
was coming in. They went aft first, and then forward. The
captain saw the holes at both places, and said he would see
witness all right. He also talked about the insurance. ,They
were then standing by the pump-well. About this time the
steward came halfway down the main hatchway into the
hold, bringing down the captain's belt—not a lifebelt, but
an ordinary brass belt. The captain told him to take it
away, saying ho did not want it. The captain packed up
his chronometer, charte, and other things, and they were
sent on to the island by the boatswain. Then the longboat
went with the seamen's clothes,and witness accompanied it.
When witness left the vessel it was about 11 or 12 in the
day. There were then about five feet of water in the hold.
From the time the vessel struck, about 4 in the morning, to
the time they left her there had been no pumping. Wit-
ness eventually applied to the British consul at PortArnda.
The vessel was 4,len left on the rocks. Witness left the
island next morning, and she was still above water.
By the Lord Mayor—There was not then water to sink
her.
Witness continued to say he saw her two days afterwards
and she was then upright. From the island he went to
Revel and thence to St Petersburg, where he shipped for
England, arriving hero about three weeks ago. Two days
after his arrival he went to Lloyds and made a statement,
which was taken down in writing by Capt, Grant.
By Mr Beard, in cross-examination—Before October 4th
the ship had encountered head winds, On that day the
wind was strong, and there was a bit of a ripple on the
water. He could not say the sea was running high. When
the vessel struck both defendants were in bed below, and
the boatswain called them up. The mate came upon deck
immediately and ordered all hands to clew up the sails. The
men set about doing that forthwith. 'While they were so
engaged witness did not say there were three inches of
water in the hold. The men wore told to take the anchor
astern in order to get the vessel off, and they did so. They
were absent about 10 minutes doing that—not more. There
were four men in the boat, and the vessel lay perfectly quiet.
Witness did not go down and tell the captain. The ship was
breaking her bottom fast.
Mr Beard—Were you sober at that time?—Not very, sir.
Tho Lord Mayor said he supposed the grog given him by
the captain had affected his head.
Cross-examination continued—Everything was done to
save as much as possible from the ship. Prior to witness
leaving the island the captain said ho went back to the ship
to see and get the sails down along with the deputy-consul.
By the Lord Mayor—She was then pretty full of water.
Witness continued to say he signed a protest in Revel
which was road to him before ho signed it. In that protest
he did not state what he had related in evidence to-day.
When he and the captain went into the hold there were
from 20in. to 2ft. of water in it. The clawing up the sails
would prevent the vessel going further on to th. rni.k._ A
-wrcao rAoarisas- Cho at the timo.
Reexamined—lf the sails had been furled, which they
were not, it would have prevented her still; further going
upon the rocks. The protest was ready prepared when he
went to the Consul's. Witness had not had any hand in
preparing it. A foreigner, who talked very good English,
read it over to him.
Mr Lewis did not propose to carry the examination further
at present.
Mr Board said he was directed by the owners to state that
they desired that every inquiry should be made into the
circumstances, and that there was no foundation for the
statement, as opened by Mr Lewis, that this was an assur-
ance for a total loss.
The Lord Mayor—l daresay we shall hear all about that
by and by,
Mr Lewis—We shall produce the policies,
Mr Beard—And I shall call some of the crow, who will
contradict this man's statement.
Adjourned for a week.

Sailor Jack and and the Rope-tyingliania.

At the Marylebone polioe-court, yesterday, Andrew
Stuart Clarke, aged 29, seaman, was charged before Mr
Yardley with being drunk and disorderly in the Edgware-
road, under the following circumstances:—
George Cooper 367, A, said—About half-past eleven
o'clock on Saturday night I was on duty in the Edgware-
road, where I saw the prisoner in a very excited state
wanting to fight. At my persuasion he went away, but
before long he was back again. Again, a second. time at
my advice, he kit. lie however returned a third time and
created a disturbance, and said if I thought proper I might
take him, as he would not be interfered with. I took him
to the station-house and locked him up.
Mr. Yardley—lf I lot you go this time will you behave
hotter for the future ?

Prisoner—Look here, sir, I should like to ask you a
question.
Mr Yardley—What about ?

Prisoner—About this 'ere rope-tying performance.
Mr Yardley—About rope tying I Ido not understand
you.

Prisoner—l went to tie a man at Turnham's, and ho did
not like it; so they turned me out and have got my clothes.
Mr Yardley—Turnham's, what does ho mean by that ?
Inspector Egerton, D division—lt is a music hall in, the
Edgware•road, cAlled the Metropolitan Music Hall, but
formerly known as Turnham's.

Prisoner—They have got my clothes, and refuse to give
them up.

Inspector Egerton—The proprietors say they will give
up his clothes.

Mr Yardley—What is it that he says about tying a
man ?

Inspector Egerton—There is I believe a man performing
there after the style of the Davenport Brothers, whe submit
themselves to be tied by ropes, and then they release them-
selves in less time than it took to bind them. It appears in
this case the performer invited anyone to go on to the stage
and tie him. The prisoner accepted the offer, went on the
stage and tied so tight, that he (the performer) would have
no more of it.

Mr Yardley—Tied him too tight, I suppose ?
Sergeant Jones, 18 D--Yes, sir. He had got a rope which
he brought with him, at the end of which was a running
noose which he put round the performer's neck, and he also
hurt him with his knee.

Prisoner I could not havo hurt him as I bad only jus
commenced. (Laughter,)

Inspector Egerton—The sergeant, who was present, can
tell you all about it.

The Sergeant (Jones) said.—First of all the prisoner placed
the noose round the performer's neck, and then put the rope
down the front of him, passed it between his legs, and then
brought it up his back and wound it reund his waist and
arms. Every time he placed it round, and when he got it
under his (the performer's) ribs, he (prisoner) pressed his
knee against him whilst he pulled the rope tight. He
pulled him so tight that he could not bear it.
Mr Yardley—l suppose he had got him into a sailors'
knot—(Loud laughter.)
Prisoner—l was only tying him so that he could not be
undone as he said.

Mr Yardley—l can quite understand that; it would not
be at all pleasant to have a noose sound the neck.
Prisoner—Will you allow me to show you how it is
done ?—(Roars of laughter.)
Mr Yardley—No, I would much rather not. I don't care
about it. It would be as well to try it on yourself.
Prisoner—l only wanted to tie him, and he would'nt
allow me to finish.

Mr Yardley—Well, I suppose there is an end of this; so
you are discharged.
Prisoner—l want to know if I cannot have my two days'
pay for Sunday and to-day, ae I belong to the naval reserve,
and through this shall lose that amount of pay.
Mr Yardley—Never mind about that. Now you had
better go back to your ship and do your rope tying there.
Prisoner—l thought I was doing an act of justice and
kindness by exposing these rope exhibitions.
Mr Yardley—You are discharged.
Prisoner—l suppose I can have my line that I tried the
experiment with ?
Mr Yardley-4 dare say they will give them up to you.
Inspector Egerton—They are quite willing to give
them up.
Prisoner then went for his tackle and pea jacket.