The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-27 00:00:00

711 E ARMY•

The man Bishop, who some time
from theimeagowaßs
oayrraelste
arrested
on suspicion of being a deserter
Ar-
tillery, and who was barbarously punished at Wool-
wich, has been convicted of " receiving the shilling,"
syo
nt
mh ee
nj
tu di
ng mFeonr tt ocfl
aar
ec
no tic
er ta ms
aa r tdi
ea
sl
etrot
:r6.
sergeant-Major Ashton, the perpetrator of the although not subsequently attested, and has been
sdeanytse,nimcepdr
out-
rage, has been degraded from his post, and ordered
to serve the Coast Brigade as a bombardier.
His Serene Highness the Prince de Croy, and
attendants, seven in number, yesterday visited the
departments of Woolwich Dockyard, and were
specially received by the officials, by order of the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The dis-
tinguished visitors made a lengthened inspection
of the Caledonia, about to receive her iron sides,
and viewed with peculiar interest and attention the
hydraulic machinery in course of preparation for
bending and grooving the slabs. Having visited
Mr. Turner's (the master shipwright) new model
of coating and arming his fixed cupola ship, now
under the consideration of the Admiralty, his
Serene Highness desired to be provided with spe-
cifications and draughts of the vessel.
Lient.-Gen. Baron von Willesen, Master of the
Horse to his Majesty the King of Hanover, accom-
panied by his son Lieut. Willesen, and his nephew,
officers in the Hanoverian army, yesterday inspected
the garrison of Woolwich, by special permission of
his Royal Highness the General Commanding in
Chief of the Army.

ALLEGED WILFUL DESTRUCTION OF

SHIPS.

Our readers may remember that about a week ago
a person named Jamieson was committed for trial
for having written a letter to a merchant named
Ruxton, in which he stated that he would expose
their " joint villany" in connection with the de-
struction of some ships, unless Ruxton paid him a
certain sum of money. The case excited consider-
able interest, as it was thought important disclo-
sures would be made when the trial came off at the
assizes. Yesterday the case came on for trial be-
fore the Hon. Mr. Liddell, Q,C., in the second
Crown Court of the Liverpool Assizes. Mr.
Bliss, Q.C. (attorney-general for the county),
together with Mr. Deighton, prosecuted; and
Mr. Brett, Q.C., and Mr. Potter, defended the pri-
soner. It appeared that the prisoner and prosecu-
tor in the year 1857 were the joint owners of a ship
called the Roscoe, and that this vessel was lost dur-
ing a voyage from Liverpool to Smyrna ; after
which they purchased another vessel, the Merino,
which was soon afterwards lost in the Torres Straits.
The prisoner held a mortgage deed upon the Merino,
which, after the loss of the vessel, the prisoner
should have given up, but refused to do so, and ac-
tually took proceedings in the courts at Westminster
to recover money upon it from Ruston, but failed.
After the loss of the Merino, Ruston had no fur-
ther dealings with the prisoner ; but the prisoner
called upon him several times, and endeavoured to
obtain money by threats and otherwise. Upon
Ruston refusing to give the prisoner money on one
occasion, the prisoner said, "I will waylay you if
I lose my head for it." After this the prisoner
called several times at Ruxton's office, but, failing
to obtain any money, be did not again make his
appearance until the 12th of August in the present
year. On the 11th of this month he sent a letter
to Mr. Ruxton, in which he enclosed an advertise.
ment cut from the Liverpool papers, which stated
that £2OO would be paid and a free pardon given
to any person or persons who should give such in -
formation as would lead to the conviction of frau-
dulent shipowners and others connected with the
wilful destruction of ships, and in the letter he
said, " Now, my intentions are that I must either
have a settlement or I cannot lose the opportunity
it (the advertisement) gives me of exposing our vil-
lainy when you reaped all the reward." On the fol-
lowing day the prisoner called with another letter,
which was as follows :—" It is no use to mince mat-
ters ; I am determined to proceed ; therefore if you
do not think it necessary to reply to this I will put
it out of my hands by three o'clock today." When
Mr. Ruxton received the first letter, he consulted
his solicitors, and the prisoner was requested to
give an apology, but he refused to do so, and,
addressing Mr. Ruxton, he said, " By Rux-
ton, unless you give me £l5O I will go to Major
Greig (the chief constable of Liverpool) and swear
you burnt the Roscoe!' Mr. Ruxton then gave the
prisoner into custody. When at the police-office he
said he wished to see Mr. Kehoe, the chief superin-
tendent, and when Mr. Kehoe came he made a
statement to the effect that Ruxton had told him
that if anything happened to the Roscoe not to
bring her into port as it would be ruination to them,
and that in previous voyages he had been ordered
to bring the vessel in safe, as she was not sufficiently
insured; that Ruston had told him to "knock cut
the beams" of the Roscoe, and if he could not do
that to set her on fire ; and that for the purpose of
enabling him (Jamieson) to set the Roscoe on fire
he had a quantity of turpentine put on board. He
had also been told by Ruston to " knock the beams
out" of the Merino, and had been spoken to relative
to obtaining good insurances. Mr. Ruston under-
went a severe examination by Mr. Brett. He said
that since 1858 he had owned about eight ships, six
of wliich had been lost, but were insured. He was
a bankrupt in 1858, and had only paid his creditors
2s. in the pound. He had given a man named
Bertie, the commander of a ship called the Howe,
which was lost, £2OO, but he gave him the money
because he had promised to insure some of his effects
and had not done so, and also owed him some com-
' missions. Bertie had never told him that he (Bertie)
had a letter which he (witness) would not like any
one to see. The prisoner had always claimed money
from him in respect to the mortgage upon the
Merino, and had brought an action upon the
covenant of the mortgage deed. He had five
ships about a week ago, but since then be had
mortgaged three of them to his son. In answer
to Mr. Bliss as to the reason why he mortgaged
the ships, the witness 'said he did so to secure
his son against loss, as he was security for him
in some business transactions. He believed the
Rsco:Leylehad a chronometer belonging to the prisoner
given BevMretsri
on board waehtraeignekaisnhe went to sea, and that the pri-
soaearthheaxd2roecoetioved insurance upon it. In examina-
tionse
s instructions the
w ittoneesasstsaaidwahye
thhaednnoewveer,
waslosel. Hsneeot given as a reward for destroy-
ingahnayd
of
fevthere
shipn
s. instructions to
the captains
detectives t
Jamieson.
t o
the policepoe
He
stationo(ffit
hcee r,
officer)a
n d
laying
went
describedienngt
Mr. Ruxton coming
let ters
and there charged
thetwo
o b Jamieson
ot it with
w awas
having sent two threatening letters.
.Jamieson re-
plied, 4, Yes, I did send
thetocJohnha Duke-street,rPg
for money due to me by Mr. Ruston," and the offi-
cer then took him into custody.
The learned Judge, in summing up, said, the queo.