The Sun.
London, England, 1853-11-03 00:00:00

FLAGRANT CONDUCT OF A BROKER.
The court was attended by a large number of the
members, the summons having contained notice of the intention of the court to consider the petition of Henry
Earle Lovell, complaining of the conduct of William Le
Grand, a broker, who lately failed on the Stock Ex-. change, and disappeared after having appropriated to
his own uses various sums of money with which he had
been entrusted for the purchase of shares, stock, &c. It
was known, too, that several aldermen held petitions
against the accused, and much interest had been excited
by ithe reports about the Stock Exchange upon the
subject.
Mr. Henry Sewell, summoning officer of the court,
having been sworn, stated that he had left a copy of
the order of the court at the house of the brother of
Mr. Le Grand on Saturday last, having been unable to
find that Mr. W. Le Grand, whose conduct was under
consideration, had any place of residence at the present

time.

The facts of the case are contained in the following
petition of Mr. Henry Earle Lovell of 8, Clarence-
street, Old Kent-road, house decorator :
"Showeth—That your petitioner, having received
a distributive share of a legacy in right of his wife,
amounting to upwards of 400/., wished to invest
the same in the funds, and, on the Ist day of Sep.
tember last, went, accompanied by his brother,
Mr. John Lovell, to the office of Mr. William Le
Grand, a sworn broker of your honourable court, No. 9,
Tokenhouse-yard, Lothbtiry, and stated to him that
your petittoner wished to purchase 4001. Three•and-a-
Quarter per cent. Stock ; that he told your petitioner
the price of some would be 4001. 195., and your peti-
tioner handed over the desk to the said Mr. Le Grand's
clerk, in the presence of Mr. Le Grand and of your peti-
tioner's said brother, the sum of 4051. 10s. in bank-
notes and gold, and thereupon received the following
acknowledgement :

•" '[Memorandum.]

" L Sept. 1853.
"Mr. H. E. Lovell left with me ondo
405/. 1 1,
os.,for 4001. .
Three-and-a-Quarter per Cents.
LE GRAND, Sworn Broker.
" Tokenhouse-yard, Lothbury, London.'
"That Mr. Le Grand then stated to youNtklitioner
that he. Bald send on to him „the Stock receipt. -
"That he not having done so, in about a week after-
wards your petitioner called at No. 0, Tokenhouse-yard,
to require his transfer to be given to him, when the
clerk stated that Mr. Le Grand was out of town. Your
petitioner called again some days after, and the clerk
then stated that the purchase had not been made, and
the books being then closed the purchase could not
then be made, but that when the Stocks re-opened Mr.
Le Grand would purchase the same, and allow your
petitioner interest in the meantime.
That your petitioner, having called several times
at ,No. 9, Tokenhouse-yard, without seeing Mr. Le
Grand, or obtaining any satisfactory result, wrote Mr.
Le Grand a letter requesting the money to be returned,
but to which your petitioner received no reply. On
calling at the office on Tuesday morning last, your peti-
tioner saw again there the clerk, who stated that the
office was-no longer Mr. Le Grand's, that a Mr. Le
Mark had taken it, and that he (the clerk) was no
longer Mr. Le Grand's clerk, but Mr. Le Mark's clerk.
" That your petitioner then made inquiries at the
Bank of England, and found the money had not been
invested, and has been informed that the said William
Le Grand has been declared a defaulter at the Stock
Exchange, and is absent from this country.
" Your petitioner having been informed that the office
of broker is in the gift of your honourable court, and
that previously to admitting any person to such office it
is the practice of your honourable court to take sufficient
sureties for the true and faithful discharge of his duty as
broker, your petitioner humbly prays that your honour-
able court will be pleased to grant him such relief in the
matter as to your honourable court may seem meet."
The petitioner was examined, and declared all the
statements set forth in the petition to be true.
Alderman SALOIIONS said as the petition showed, be-
yond the possibility of a doubt, that a gross breach of
trust had been committed by the broker, he thought the
court would not be doing its duty if it did not instruct
the City Solicitor to take steps for the purpose of com-
pelling Mr. Le Grand to restore the 4051. 10s. to Mr.
Lovell, and, in the event of failure in this quarter, to
proceed against the two sureties for the amount. (Hear,
hear.) He moved, therefore, that the City Solicitor be
instructed to take immediate steps for the recovery of
the money. (Hear, hear.)
The motion having been seconded by Alderman
COPELAND, was carried unanimously.
Sir B. V. CARDEN presented another petition with
reference to the conduct of the same individual, stating
circumstances of another case of plunder, and moved
that it be read, and the usual steps taken.
This, after some discussion, was agreed to, and the
petition was read. It was from Mr. James Lightfoot,
retailer of beer, 18, Wellesley-street, St. Pancras, who
had been defrauded of 2751. 15s. 6d. in the Three per
Cents., which he had authorised Le Grand to sell out
with a view to invest them in other securities.
Mr. Alderman Copeland presented another petition
against the same party from Henry Humpheries, of
No. 18, St. Mary's-hill, in the city of London, who had
lost more than 5001. in a similar manner. The petition
concluded thus :
" That your petitioner has been informed that by the
Act of 7th and Bth Geo. IV., chap. 29, sec. 49, it is pro-
vided as follows :—‘ And for the punishment of embezzle-
ments committed by agents entrusted with 'property, be
it enacted, that if any money, or security for the pay-
ment of money, shall be entrusted to any broker, banker,
merchant, attorney, or other agent, with any direction
in writing to apply such money, cr any part thereof, or
the proceeds, or any part of the proceeds of such secu-
rity, for any purpose specified in such direction, and he
shall, in violation of good faith, and contrary to the pur-
poses so specified, in anywise convert to his own use or
benefit such money, security, or proceeds, or any part
thereof respectively, every such offender shall be guilty
-of a misdemeanour, and being convicted thereof shall be
liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported ,
beyond the seas for any term not exceeding fourteen
years, or to suffer such other punishment by fine or im-
prisonment, or by both, as the court shall award.
"That in consequence of the severe loss which your
petitioner will suffer in consequence of the above trans-
action, he is unable to incur the expenses which a
criminal prosecution under the above statute will entail
upon him, as, the offence being a misdemeanour, no
costs would be allowed.
"Your petitioner, therefore, prays that your honour.
able court will take the above statement into your con-
sideration, and be pleased to adopt proceedings against
the said William Le Grand under the above statute, or
grant your petitioner such relief in the matter as to
your honourable court should seem meet under the cir-
cumstances"
Alderman COPELAND believed the petitioner was cor-
rect in stating that the act of Parliament applied to the
case, and he moved accordingly that the City Solicitor
be instructed to proceed upon the clause referred to.
Sir PETER LAURIE seconded the motion, which was
carried unanimously.
Sir PETER LAURIE then informed the Court that he
had a petition to present which, although he apprehended
the offence alleged in it was not so severely punishable
as was that described in Mr. Humpheries' complaint,
represented a more serious calamity to the unfortunate
persons concerned. It was a brief but most impressive
and affecting account of the plunder committed upon a
poor woman and her husband, written by themselves.
The Town Clerk then read the following petition,
which caused a great sensation :
" Central-hill, Norwood, Oct. 31, 1853.
"The humble petition of Philip Newberry, and Ann,
his wife, of Norwood, in the county of Surrey,
"Humbly sheweth—That William Le Grand, stock-
broker, of No. 9, Tokenhouse-yard, in the city of Lon-
don, did receive of your petitioners, on or about the 17th
of May, the sum of 1,0021. 10s. to purchase an annuity.
for our joint lives, being all our hard earnings ; and, to
our great surprise and affliction, when, on goingto the
Annuity-office to receive our dividend, we discovered -
there was no money paid in.
"Your humble petitioners pray your honourable
court for your assistance, for which they will ever pray
for you."
Sir PETER LAURIE, in moving that
the necessary in-
structions be given to the City Solicitor in reference to -
the petition of the poor couple, said he had read with
much pleasure accounts of the capture of thieves in
dis-
tant lands, and their compulsory return to England for
fm
punishment, and he hoped to see a gh instance of the
activity and zeal of the Government. (Hear, hear.)
The petition was then unanimously referred to the City
Solicitor.
The amounts to which the two sureties are liable are
Grand
5001., each
to the extent of 2501. entered into bond for William Le

1 THE ARCTIC REGlONSciFiluaTrtehthwereieldl
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when two are employed instead of one. The officers
and crews of both vessels would also liave more con-
fidence when entering unexplored channels, when two
vessels are near to each other, owing to the hope that
there would be one to fall back upon, in the event of
any unforeseen accident occurring to the other. The ice
of the Arctic regions is the accumulation of ages, and it
is surprising the small thickness that is forme in some
years, and certainly not to such an extent as would
render it difficult for steam-vessels to keep a passage open
by repeatedly breaking through the newly-formed ice,
and the further the vessels proceed beyond the true mag-
netic pole the warmer the water is found to prevail, and
it requires a remarkably low state of temperature to form
ice on the surface on the deepest parts of the Polar Seas.
Sonic remarkably fine lava was brought home by the
officers of the Phcenix, from Bank's Land, far finer and
closer than the porous pumice-stone of the lava of Mount
Etna. The plumbago is also of a fine description, and a
number cf mineral stones from Melville Island, are re-
markably heavy ; whatever may be the nature of the metal
of which they are composed, and appear to be worthy
of being investigated as to their value,
of commercial
they might
be found worthy of becoming a subjectrthoe cinercial
enterprise. It is singular that none
.officers in the
in the far northern regions, had seen the comet which
Phcenix, or of the vessels of the Arctic expeditions, now
visited this sphere during the present year, and they
were unaware of its existence until their return homi4