The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-02 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE-(THIS DAY).

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
(Before Mr. Commissioner G-oulburn.)
FAILURE OF AN EX-UNDER-SHERIFF.-IN RE SEAGRIN.
This bankrupt was described as of Winchester, scri-
vener, and had been under-sheriff for Hampshire. To-
day was appointed for his last examination.
Mr. Bagley appeared on behalf of Shelley, Esq ,
the high sheriff, and claimed to be allowed to examine
the bankrupt as to monies received by him in his ca-
pacity of under-sheriff on behalf of the Crown. No
proof was tendered, but an affidavit was made by Mr.
Simmons, the present under sheriff, that a debt was due.
His Honour held that the learned counsel had no locus
standi to examine a bankrupt in order to make out a
debt.
Mr. Bagley made a nearly similar application on be-
half of Lady Mildmay, to whom bankrupt had been
land steward and agent, and he had rendered an account
as being indebted to the amount of 1,2661., but it was
expected that he was indebted in a much larger amount.
In this case also his Honour overruled the applica-
tion, as it amounted almost to filing a bill of discovery ;
but the parties might come before the court under its
original jurisdiction by petition or motion.
Mr. Lawrance, for bankrupt, appled for an adjourn-
ment, as Messrs. Hart, Brothers, the accountants, had
not been able to make out the accounts, in consequence
of the books being taken by the solicitor to the assig-
nees to investigate, and the accounts were very compli-
cated.
The solicitor to the assignees consented, and the ad-
journment took place.
IN RE SHIELDS.
This bankrupt was described as of Lime-street, mer-
chant, and to-day was appointed for choice of assignees.
The preliminary accounts prepared by Messrs. Robin-
son and Knowles, shows, Dr., 3,6911. 10s. 4d. The as-
sets are likely to be considerable, but depend on the re-
sult of consignments to the Brazils and South Ameriea.

SECONDARIES' COURT.
(Before Mr. Secondary Potter.)
THE LAW PROPERTY ASSURANCE COMPANY V. GUNNEL.

This was a writ of inquiry to assess damages on a
bond, given to secure a sum of money advanced to de•
fendant. There were several sureties, but the company
only proceeded against defendant as the principal.
The sum claimed was 241.—0ne quarter's instalment
and interest—and the jury gave a verdict for that sum.

SMITH V. JACKSON.- COLLISION ON THE RIVER.
The plaintiff is the owner of the Alpha collier, and
defendant is a licensed Trinity pilot, and the action was
brought to recover damages sustained by a collision with
the Camden trader, which was under the pilotage of the
defendant, who, as pilot, was responsible for the da-
mage.
Defendant suffered judgment to go by default.
Mr. Ritchie, one of the members of Lloyd's, surveyed
the ship, and considered that the charge of 811. lls. 6d.
for repairs was a fair charge, and 181. 18s. for six days'
demurrage was also fair. He considered the charges
rather under, as the damage was occasioned by pure
accident.
The jury made a deduction from the demurrage, and
gave a verdict for 951.

CRIMINAL COURT.-(THIS DAY.)

(Before Mr. Justice Talfourd).
EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

A youth named Robert Prescott, aged 16, described as
a box maker, was indicted for feloniously sending to
Louisa Weston a letter demanding of her the sum of
71. 10s., with menaces, and without any reasonable or
probable cause for so doing. The prisoner, who was re-
spectably dressed, pleaded not guilty.
Mr. Robinson appeared for the prosecution, and Mr.
Giffard for the defence.

The prosecutrix was the keeper of an eating house in
Finch-lane, in the City, called "Louisa's Chop House,"
and some short time ago she received a letter written in
a large schoolboy hand, demanding the sum mentioned
in the indictment. The first part of the letter
was in these terms : " Madam, I am truly
sorry to trouble you, but I am much in want of a
little money. Now the fact is, I know your secrets,
and unless you wish to be made the laughing-stock of
your waiters, and to be made a thing to be despised by
those who do not sell their virtue, you will send me 71.
10s. I have spent more than a hundred times the amount
in your house, and if you send me the money I promise
you that it shall be faithfully returned within three
weeks. You need be under no apprehension that this
demand will be repeated, as it is my intention to sail
for America in a short time, but if you seek to find me
out you shall rue it before to-morrow's sun sets."
The letter then proceeded to specify the manner in
which the money was to be sent. It was to be made up
into a small parcel, and directed to "Mr. Jackson, at
the Criterion Coffee-house, Borough." This letter had
not the desired effect on Mrs. Weston, for instead of
complying with the request it contained she called in the
police, and consulted them as to what she should do
in the matter. They advised her to send the money,
and then the guilty party, whoever it was, would fall
into their clutches. She did so, and in the evening,
when the prisoner presented himself at the Criterion
Coffee-house to demand the parcel, it was handed over
to him by a policeman in plain clothes, and he was in-
duced to sign a receipt for it. Immediately afterwards
he was made acquainted of the situation in which he had
placed himself, and was told that he must consider him-
self in custody unless he could give some satisfactory ex-
planation of his conduct. He said he would do so at
once, as the fact was, he had been made the tool of a
man who was waiting for him at Kennington Church,
and he asked the officer to go there with him. The offi-
cer consented to do so, but when they got there no such
man was to be found ; and the prisoner now shifting his
*round, declared that he had been kept so long at the
coffee-house that the man had gone away in the belief
that he would not return, or that the parcel had not
been sent. He admitted having written the letter, but
he did so at the earnest entreaty of the man, who told
him that lie had lost hundreds of pounds and his charac-
ter in the prosecutrix's house, and he was anxious to get
to America, where he hoped to retrieve his lost reputa-
tion by pursuing an honest course of life, instead of in-
dulging in gambling propensities. The man added, that
he was afflicted with St. Vitus's dance in the right hand,
which incapacitated him from holding a pen, or he
would not have troubled him to write the letter.
The prisoner still persisted in this story, but
the jury were not more disposed to believe it
than the police, and without hesitation they at once
found him guilty of the offence imputed to him, but
recommended him to mercy on account of his youth. It
appeared that up to the present charge the prisoner had
borne an unimpeachable character, his mother being a
respectable, hard-working woman, and his friends were
at a loss to accour-t for his writing the letter.
The Court sentenced him to be imprisoned in the
House of Correction for six months, directing that the
first and last week of the term should be in solitary
confinement.