The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-09 00:00:00

HORSE FAIR TRICK.

It is seldom that our great January horse fair passes
without the knowing ones getting the better of some
simple, honest visitor, and this year has been no exception
to .the rule.] [On Tuesday last, a well-to-do person from
East Lancashire came to Preston to transact some business,
and knowing but little of the town, and still less of our
horse fair, after the conclusion of his business he sauntered
out into the streets to pass an hour or two before train
time, just to see the town and its doings. Taking his
stand on the footpath in Church-street, near our Town-
hall, which at the time was thronged by horses, horse
dealers, &c., he was regarding, apparently with much in-
terest, the busy scene. A stranger accosted him, inquiring
if he were in the horse trade. He answered in the nega-

tive, and his interrogator being a civil sort of a person,
the conversation was continued. They talked "of
this, and that, and then of t'other," until our East
Lancashire friend was invited by his new acquaintance to
take a "New Year's glass." He accepted the offer, and
the pair went to a neighbouring public-house. Our hero
had, for a time, some misgivings as to the prudence of this
step, and watched narrowly the serving of the glasses of
rum, which his new and hospitable friend ordered and paid
for, for he had heard of people being drugged and then
robbed at fairs, and he bethought him of the cash he had
about him. These suspicions were of the most transitory
character ; there was no attempt to " doctor" the liquor
and the stranger's blandness and courtesy forbade him
doubting his honesty or propriety. Presently a third per-
son came in, a stranger to our East Lancashire friend,
and apparently to the other person. He joined them,
however, and soon began to talf of hipself, how he
had come to Preston to draw a large fortune that had
been unexpectedly left to him, and showed an open
knitted purse full of sovereigns, or what appeared to
be sovereigns, in proof of his assertion. He was a stranger
in the town, he said, and knew nothing about Preston ; he
proposed that they should all three have a walk to see the
"lions" of Preston. After a short stroll they came to an-
other inn, where, of course, glasses were ordered, when the
heir of so much wealth pulled out three purses, which he
said he had bought of an old blind woman for a shilling
each—more certainly than they were worth, but he had
bought them more as an act of charity than anything else,
for, of course, a wealthy legatee would not bargain with a
poor blind body about the price of her wares. On this
stranger No. 1 begged one of the purses, as three purses
could be of no use to even a wealthy man ; and with an air
of gnat generosity the owner handed to him a purse, put-
ting in it at the same time a sovereign to mend the gift.
The recipient thereupon suggested that their companion—
_ _

our frind from East Lancashire—should also be presented
with a purse, to which the "rich man" assented, so ho was
presented with one, the gift being accompanied by a sug-
gestion that the purse should be at once " lined." Our hero
brought out some silver, and was about to place it in the
purse, when the giver said a new purse deserved a better
lining than silver, and, taking hold of it, put in apparently
a sovereign. The gift of gold pleased our friend, who then
took out two 101. notes and placed them in the purse, re-
marking at the time how much he had put in. "Begging
your pardon," said thelegatee, "I think there is only one
note in." " Oh, but there are two," was the response, hand-
ing over the purse to the doubter for his examination ; he,
with a laughing acknowledgment of his mistake, returned a
purse—the purse, our hero thought—which he placed in
his pocket. The conversation then changed—the heir of
unexpected wealth talked of going to Blackpool, and the
three arranged to go together, the gentleman from East
Lanca.shire promising to find good lodgings for them, and
they set off for the station. The legatee suggested that they
should buy a pound of tea to take with them, as they could
get better, he thought, in Preston than at Blackpool, and
handed over 4s. to our East Lancashire friend to buy the
congou, but as he was going into a shop for it, where there
was not much business going on, the treater suggested that
a larger shop would have a better article, so the trio went
to another establishment where there were more customers,
and where, of course, the purchaser would be longer de-
tained, and two of the party stood outside while the gentle-
man went to buy the tea. He got the tea and came out,
but he could not then see his new friends anywhere ; he
thought that they had perhaps walked leisurely to the
station, and went thither, but they were not there, so
coming up-street he pulled out his purse to see if his money
was all right, for by this time misgivings about his friends
had returned. He then found inside the purse two pieces
of an old newspaper and a counterfeit sovereign. As our
readers will have seen, one of the swindlers, for such they
were, had, by feat of legerdemain, changed the purse
when it was handed to him to see if the two notes were in-
side. He gave information at the police station of the trick
that had been played on him, but the constabulary were
unable to assist him, for the men were off, and the victim
had to return to East Lancashire a sadder and a poorer,
but no doubt a wiser man.—Preston Chronicle.

The Holborn Union.

POOR-LAW BOARD INQUIRY.

An inquiry was opened on Saturday morning by Mr.
Farnall, the metropolitan inspector of the Poor-law Board,
in the board-room of the Holborn Union, relative to the
death of Timothy Daly, who died, it was alleged, from the
neglect of the medical officer of the union.
Mr. Wontner appeared for Mr. Norton, the surgeon to
the union ; and Mr. Lewis, jun., of the firm of Lewis and
Lewis, of Ely-place, appeared for Mrs. Daly, instructed by
a committee of gentlemen who are watching the case.
There was a large attendance of the members of the Board
of Guardians.

Mr. Henderson, the relieving officer, gave formal evi-
dence of Daly's admission.
Mr. Thomas Arthur Lothbury said he had been assistant
to Mr. Cuffe, the out-door medical officer of the union, and
received an order on the 28th of October to visit Daly, and
within one hour afterwards he saw him. Daly was very
weak, and in a miserable condition, and had no one to at-
tend upon him. The bed was dirty and wet, the witness
thought by his appearance that he had been suffering at
least three days from rheumatic fever. The deceased was a
man of large frame, but emaciated. He appeared to require
the common necessaries of life, in the shape of food and
nutriment. He ordered him beef-tea, milk, and gruel.
Daly seemed to have an objection to having food from the
workhouse, and said if the witness would order it he would
have it from the City. On the 29th he saw him twice, and
gave an order for his admission into the workhouse. The
landlady came to the surgery, and he gave the order, as the
landlady said she could not nurse him.
By Mr. Lewis—Daly was very liable in his condition to
bed-sores, and he should have been examined when he came
in for them, and also once in three weeks. It was impos-
sible in some instances to prevent them with every care and
every luxury. The witness then went on to state what
treatment he would give a patient afflicted with bed-sores.

Mr. William Francis, the master of the union, produced
the books, showing the admission of Daly into the house.
He could walk very little, and was helped upstairs, where
he was put to bed and had some tea. The next day he
was put on mutton diet and half a pint of beer. On the
30th the doctor saw him and ordered that diet. It con-
sisted of soz. of cooked meat, Vb. of potatoes, and half a
pint of beer. For breakfast and supper he had 7oz. of bread
with butter and a pint of tea. The day after the doctor saw
him beef tea was given to him instead of mutton, and wine
was :substituted for the beer. He had 2oz. of wine per
day, that would be nearly a wine glassful. This went on
for two days, and then he returned to the mutton dinner as
before, and 3oz. of wine, in addition to the beer. He had
also a pint of milk. On Nov. 3 the 3 oz. of wine was in-
creased to 40z., the beer still remaining. That went on for
a week, when the wine was reduced to 20z., the beer was
taken off. and milk remained. The next week it was altered
to five days' meat, two days'beef tea, and the beer increased
to a pint and a half. The next week the wine was increased
to three ounces, and continued so until he went out. The
doctor ordered the diet for patients, and there was no limit
to his authority. The guardians never disapproved of his
orders. The average cost of patients in the infirmary was
about 6s. op. per week each. The cost of necessaries woulr:i
be about ls. 9id. per week. Mrs. Daly took the deceaF,ed
out of the house, and expressed to him her thanks fm the
kindness her husband had received.
Dr. Carr, of Blackheath, in reply to Mr. Farnall, said he
had not seen the deceased, but he found by the evidence
that he had had meat, beef tea, beer, and wine, and that ho
considered wa a sufficient to sustain a man in Daly's con-
dition.
Alta seine itUihq Vfidenco the inquiry wpm adjourned,