The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-22 00:00:00

THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 22, 1852.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, April 20.
(Before the CHIEF COMMISSIONER.)
IN RE GERMAN WHEATCROFT.
This insolvent, a lieutenant in the 6.h (Enniskillen)
Dragoons, whose case was before the Court on Saturday,
again appeared. Mr. Nichols opposed the application
for discharge on the part of Mr. Salomons. Mr. Lucas
appeared far two creditors named Harris and Lazarus.
Mr. Macrea opposed for a Mr. Evans. Mr. Cooke, Mr.
Dowse, and Mr. Sargood supported.
The case on the present occasion occupied several
hours. Two points were urged in opposition—namely,
that the arrest was friendly, and that the petition should
be dismissed; and, secondly, if the petition was sus-
tained, there should be an adverse judgment, for con-
tracting debts without reasonable or probable expecta-
tion of payment.
It appeared that the insolvent, who is now only 22,
obtained his lieutenancy in the course of last year. His
pay was 1041. a year, which was not sufficient for
his mess expenses. His debts were about 2,500/..
arising (with the exception of one) on bill
transactions, and he ascribed his insolvency to
the facilities of getting money on the discount of
bills. Whilst be was stationed with his regiment in
Dublin, he received circulars from " agents" of money
lenders, offering him accommodation. A person named
Schwabacca was one, who had introduced him to some
of the opposing creditors; and another, named O'Grady,
had raised him money from Mr. Evans. Of the nine
creditors on the schedule, six resided in Dublin; one in
Derbyshire, who had arrested him; one in Limerick
(Mr. Evans), and one in London.
The insolvent said that officers in the army received
circulars every month from money lenders or their
agents, offering them advances. He had been charged
from 60 per cent. for the advances, Mr. Salomons, a
jeweller in Dublin, who opposed, held bills for 2791 178.
O d., and the money obtained was only 170/. Tae bills
had been renewed, and on each occasion he was charged
large sums. Mr. Lazarus was a creditor for 1531. 10s.,
the discount of bills, and all he given was 911. 16s. 9d.
Mr. Harris was a creditor on bills to 8051.158., and he had
advanced 5501., the remainder being discount and charges
on renewals. Mr. Evans was a creditor for 2251., and the
advances were 1801. The insolvent's father, who resides
at Winkfield Park, Derbyshire, had made him an allow-
ance when he entered the army, but discontinued it, as
his son sent back a 101. note he had forwarded for his
expenses. Recently his father had paid 3301. to trades-
men for his son, but refused to pay what he termed
" Jew debts." An offer of ss. in the pound had, how-
ever, been made, and refused.
Qn the first point of the opposition it appeared that
the insolvent was arrested in London, at the suit of Mr.
Hodgkinaon, a friend of the family, who had advanced
6501 towards the purchase of the lieutenancy, because
the father had refused to make the advance. The insol-
vent was arrested against his wish by an arrangement
with the town solicitors of the family. On the second
ground of complaint it appeared that the insolvent had
spent the money he had raised, and that he expected to
raise 1,0001. by an exchange into a regiment going to
India, by which he could have paid, with an expected
assistance from his father, his creditors He had applied
to the Horse Guards for permission to make the ex-
change, and had been refused.
Mr. Nichols, Mr. Lucas, and Mr. Macrae addressed
the Court, contending that the petition should be dis-
missed, or a judgment pronounced, for improperly con-
tracting debts. It was a case of great extravagance,
and it was not because the creditors had charged some
40 per cent., that they were to be denied the protection
of the Court.

Mr. COOKE, in his address to the Court, complained of
the conduct of the opposing creditors. It was to them
or to their agent that the ruin of the young gentleman
was to be attributed. They had tempted him with
money, charging him most usurious terms ; they had
pandered to him, and forced money upon him, looking
to his father for payment ; and now they came to this
court asking for its protection by way of judgment.
The CHIEF COMMISSIONER gave judgment. C 3908
like the present were connected with circumstances
which were to be deplored. This was the case of a
young man just bursting into life, plunged into
debt, and an applicant for his discharge. It
was the lamentable facilities given to young men at the
Universities and in the army that had occasioned the
fall of many, but he did not remember to have heard in
other cases of an " agent" between the parties seeking
out the young men to lend them money. He (the Chief
Commissioner), after the evidence given, could not be-
lieve that the arrest was a friendly one, and as the peti-
tion was to be sustained, the question was, what case
had been proved against the insolvent? Which of the
five creditors was entitled to the protection of the Court?
There was not one among them who had not contributed
to or occasioned his downfall. It was clear the young
man had been sought out—that money had been ad-
vanced in the manner described; and, in his opinion, it
was not a case in which they had a claim on the Court
for its protection. His Honour, after saying that he
did not think he was acting contrary to the spirit of the
Act in ordering the insolvent to be discharged, declared
that he was entitled to the benefit of the Act, and or-
dered him to be discharged forthwith.
Some applause followed, which was instantly checked.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.

Three men were brought up, in the custody of Daniel
Forrester, upon an odd sort of charge.
Mr. Mullens, of the firm of Bush and Mullens, soli-
citors to the Committee of Bankers for Protection against
Felonies and Frauds, appeared before Sir R. W. Carden
upon the occasion, and said,—The three men now be-
fore the Bench are not charged with having committed
or contemplated any offence, but the circumstances
under which they appear here are calculated to excite
surprise, and it is necessary that I should state them in
order to show the danger to which men may expose
themselves by carrying a joke too far. One of these
men presented a bill of exchange, purporting to be for
250/. 17s. 3e1., for payment at the counter of Messrs.
Barclay and Co., in Lembard-street. The clerk at once
saw, from the mass of absurdities upon the face of the
bill, the original amount of 141. 17s. 3d. having been
roughly altered into 2501. 17*. 3d., and other appear-
ances not less ridiculous abounding in the bit of paper,
that the person who presented it was hoaxed. Upon
inquiry, it was ascertained that Mr. Patrick, who
had presented the bill, had, in the presence of
Fisher and Ricketts, who stood with him be-
fore the alderman, been expressing a wish that good
fortune would come in upon him in the shape of a sum
of money, to enable him to purchase a good biscuit-
business, and that one of the latter produced an old bill
of exchange of the date of 1846, for 141. 17s. 3d., which
the other altered into the larger amount, and handed
over to the grateful borrower, clapping at the same time
the name of Barclay% firm upon the back of the useless
paper. Although there is not the slightest suspicion
that any one of the persons who figured in this strange
matter had any dishonest intention, it was considered
necessary to direct Daniel Forrester, upon whose pr
donee and experience reliance could be placed, to make
the necessary inquiries, and it was by him ascertained
that the parties are respectable, and that nothing more
than a joke had been contemplated.
The two persons to whom blame was to a certain ex-
tent attributable declared that they never entertained a
thought that the matter would have occasioned more
than a momentary merriment, and that the presentation
of an old ballad would be just as likely to produce any
serious consequences.
e rd ibefore
been
e him i m
As
given,
h i
had
t
notwse,
Sir R. W. CARDEN said, that jocular experiments of
this kind were exceedingly dangerous, and if the cha-
ractersethan
personsexplanation
whoee appearedwehiey
crh
censure. had happened to be unexceptionable, and the bankers satis-
fied
with tho ermight have found it necessary to mark the case with
something;
with the explanation which had been given, he
might have found it necessary to mark the case with
something them
the case was at an end.
MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

William Hall, alias Webb, was brought up for further
examination, charged with having passed several furged
51. notes.

The prisoner was fully committed, but ordered to be
brought up again in a week, as it was suspected there
were other charges of a similar character.
Mr. Chapman, one of the committee of the Servants'
Home, in Rose-street, an institution for the purpose of
providing shelter and protection to young women when
nut of a situation, brought two young girls into court
for the purpose of applying to Mr. Hardwick, the
sitting magistrate, on a matter which had just come
to the knowledge of the committee, and which was of so
serious a character that it had been immediately resolved
to lay the circumstances before a magistrate.
A modest-looking girl came forward and said she
had been invited by another girl, an inmate of the
same institution, about three weeks ago, to take a
walk, and had been taken by that girl to a house in Port-
land-road, where she had been introduced to a person
who had attempted to commit a capital offence, but the
attempt had been frustrated owing to her cries
and resistance. She did not state what had happened,
but on discovering that the same girl had induced ano-
ther of the inmates to promise to accompany her to the
same gentleman's house in the Portland-road, she made
a communication to the matron, who at once informed
the committee of what had been stated. As there ap-
peared to be a strong presumption that a system of en-
trapping young girls for immoral purposes could be es-
tablished, the committee determined on taking magiste-
rial advice on the case.
Mr. Ilennwecte, having questioned the girl, immedi-
ately directed a warrant to be issued against a person
who had assaulted the complainant, and yesterday Mr.
Richard Amble, surgeon, of No. 1, Portland-road, was
brought in custody to this court, and placed before Mr.
Bingham.
Mary Ann Newberry was then sworn. She said,--I
am Beady 18 years of age. I am at present staying in
a charitable institution, No. 9, Rose street. One of the
girls, Harriet Berrington, a clergyman's daughter,
asked
me to take a walk about three weeks ago, I we
her, and she took me to a house, No. 1, Portland-road.
with
oad.
I stayed in the kitchen, and Harriet Berrington went up
stairs. She remained so long that I sent
he the bet vau t up
She to say I could not wait any longer. came down,
accompanied by . the defendant, whom I had never seen
before. I was asked to go up stairs. I went into
the drawing-room, and the defendantw,
did ? I said, '°ll ,
Very asked me how I
The defendant
went into a bed-room withe Harriet Berrington.
but came out in a few minutes and locked her in the
bed-room. The defendant then locked the drawing-
room door, and a short time afterwards he took me by
the shoulders, and dragged me down on the floor. and
attempted further violence, but I kept screaming loudly,
and resisting
him. I heard the girl Berrington kinking
at the door while I was screaming. In cocsequence 01
my screaming the defendant desisted, and I got up and
immediately left the house.
Mr. BINGHAM asked if the house in Portland-road
was a house of ill-fame? Mr. Chapman said it was a
private house, where the defendant eatrried on business H
kiatpon,