The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-31 00:00:00

EXTENSIVE COMMERCIAL FRAIIIi.

A stout, respectable-looking middle-aged man,
named W. Fairman, and described as a commission
agent, and who declined to give his address, was
placed at the bar of the Mansion-house yesterday,
before the Lord Mayor, to undergo a preliminary
examination upon a charge of conspiring, in March,
1861, with a person named Charles Frederick Hunt,
now in Whitecross-street Prison, to defraud the
Hon. Richard Cambden Bingham of £BOO, by means
of false pretences.
Mr. Sleigh appeared for the prosecution, and
briefly narrated the facts of the case, from which
it appeared that in the month of December,
1860, the prosecutor, the Hon. Richard Cambden
Bingham, in consequence of an advertisement
which he observed in the limes newspaper, came
in communication with a person named Charles
Frederick Hunt, and at various times advanced
him several small sums of money, to the amount
of about £BOO, and received as collateral security
for the money which he had advanced 173 tea war-
rants, which Hunt told him were worth very much
more. In March, 1861, the prosecutor wished for
his money again, and spoke to Hunt about it, and
he proposed to sell the tea, and repay the loan, and
he asked the prosecutor to let him have a few of the
warrants to test the tea. On the Ist or 2d of March
the prosecutor gave him 11 of the warrants. On the
4th March Hunt wrote to him, and stated that he
had found a purchaser for the tea, and asked the
prosecutor to meet him at the Royal Exchange, at
11 o'clock on the morning of the 6th March. The
prosecutor went to the Royal Exchange, where he
saw the man Hunt, who said he would take him
to his broker, who had purchased the tea, and took
him to the Commercial Sale-rooms, in Mincing-
lane, when the prisoner said, " Let us go and see if
he is here.' They both went into the sale-rooms,
and, seated at a bench, the prosecutor saw the pri-
soner, who made a sign of recognition to Hunt,
who said, " There's my gentleman," and went up
to him, leaving the prosecutor in a passage. In
about five minutes he came back to the prosecutor,
and they passed through the luncheon-room into
an inner room, and the prisoner went in and called
Hunt away, and after some moments' conversation
together Hunt went back to Mr. Bingham and told
him he had an offer for the teas which suited him,
that he would lose on some of the teas, but would
would gain on others. The prisoner then came up
to them and wanted to know the answer, and they
again retired together, and after a few moments'
conversation they both returned to the table where
the prosecutor was sitting, when Hunt offered him
£1,300 or £1,400 for the teas, and proposed that the
prosecutor should take a bill from him drawn upon
and accepted by the prisoner, whom he had intro-
duced as Mr. Thos. Edwards, for the whole amount,
and when the bill came to maturity to pay to him
(Hunt) the difference between the £BOO and the
£1,300. The prosecutor said that he would not do
so. Hunt said if he drew two separate bills he
would put the parties to an extra expense. The
prosecutor objected to taking a bill, stating that he
wanted the money, and Hunt said, "Money you
shall have then," and that he should have £lOO then,
and £3OO or £4OO on the day after the morrow, and
in the meantime the prisoner would accept a bill.
The prosecutor said he could not take a bill from a
perfect stranger; he wanted ready money. Hunt
said the prisoner was a man worth £lO,OOO, and he
himself had had dealings with him to the extent of
£20,000, and that he had chambers "upstairs,"
pointing above the sale room. Hunt also said that
it was customary in the tea trade to pay a small
deposit down, and to give a bill at four days for the
remainder. The prosecutor believed these state-
ments to be true, and ultimately consented to take
£lOO as a deposit, and a bill at four days for the
balance. Hunt then produced a bill stamp, and
drew out a bill (which was produced) for £BBO,
which he directed to Thomas Edwards, Commercial
Sale-rooms, Mincing-lane, and which he handed to
the prisoner, who accepted it as "Thomas Edwards."
The bill was then handed to the prosecutor, toge-
ther with a £lOO Bank of En„e,land note, and he
told Hunt that he had drawn the bill for £lOO too

much, and at his (Mint's) suggestion he wrote re-