The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-02 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

THE PALACE COURT AND LOIN SOCIETITS.—A
very decent-looking young man, named William
Jones, a gun-maker by trade, appeared before Mr.
Arnold, the magistrate, a few days since, in a very
dejected condition, having been sud(renly reduced to
a state of comparative destitution under circumstances
which he related to the following effect :—A friend
of his had obtained from a loan society in the neigh-
bourhood of Arbour-square a loan to the nominal
amount of 62, the cash actually advanced, however,
being little more than two-thirds of that sum, and the
applicant was induced to become joint surety for its
repayment, he being then very respectably situated
with a houseful of good furniture, in Hawkin's-street,
Rile end. Part of the loan, however, being unpaid,
an action was commenced in the Palace Court on
the part of the society, and a copy of a writ was
served upon the applicant, who, in a state of
dismay, waited upon the secretary of the loan
society, and the latter, as he stated, promised
that upon payment of costs, which were already in-
curred to the amount of 305., a stop should be put to
the proceedings at law. lie was unable at that time
to pay more than one pound, which he handed over
to the secretary, but some time elapsed before he paid
the remainder, but he did then pay 13s. to the secre-
tary, 10s. as the remainder of the expenses, and 33. in
part payment of the original loan and actual debt
for which the action had been commenced, and having
done so he of course thought himself safe from the
threatened action. Only a day or two after the pay-
ment of that money, however, an officer of the Palace
Court came with demand for the immediate pay-
ment of debt and costs, to the amount of 91. ls. ld ,
and left a broker's man in possession. The man
remained there four days, for which a subsequent
charge was made of 3s. 6d. a day, and the required
amount being then unpaid, they cleared his house of
501., worth of furniture, which was carried off to the
premises of a Mr. Knowles, a broker and auctioneer,
to be there sold by auction. The applicant himself
attended the sale when it took place, and obtained
a printed catalogue of the effects, which
he produced, but from this some of the ar-
ticles actually seized had been omitted; for in-
stance a good carpet, which, upon his
making the fact known, was afterwards restored to
him ; and he alleged that, instead of his own feather-
bed, worth eight or ten guineas, a very inferior article,
not belonging to him, was put up, and sold for 1/.163.
He said he pointed out the difference at the time, and
received a promise that his bed should be found and
the matter made all right, but was afterwards put off
and told that the party who had it could not be traced.
With all these drawbacks and substitutions, however,
the proceeds of the sale amounted to 141. 155., and the
seizure having been made for 91. odd, he expected of
course that the difference was to be paid over to him ;
but, upon inquiry, he said he was told that there was
nothing to be returned, the expenses having so accu-
mulated as to absorb the whole. In the course of
these transactions he had been to the secretary of the
loan society, to whom he pail the 1/. 135., in expec-
tation of thereby putting an end to the Palace Court
proceedings, but that person, he said, would have
nothing to say to him, and told him that he might
"take the law," if he liked. The affair had altogether
been quite ruinous to him, for he had not only
lost a houseful of good furniture, but had lost so
much time, and been so distracted in mind, as to be
unable to attend properly to his work, and had, in
consequence, lost his employment, and had for several
weeks been without the means of properly supporting
his wife and children. His chief anxiety now, how
ever, was to trace and recover his bed, if possible,
for the sake of his wife, who was on the eve of her
accoucheenent, and was terribly distressed by the
want of it.

Mr. A RNOLD directed Holland, a warrant• officer,
to render what assistance he could to the applicant,
and Mr. Knowles, the auctioneer, being sent for denied
all knowledge of any unfair dealing, and said the
goods entrusted to him had been regularly catalogued
and sold. He promised, however, to assist in tracing
if he could the party who had bought the bed.
The poor man said he had been to the Palace
Court, and was desired to attend there on Saturday
last, which he accordingly did, and was told that there
ought to be a trifle returnable to him out of the pro-
ceeds of the sale ; and a promise was given that in-
quiry should be made ai to the facts he had mentioned,
and the result communicated to him a week hence.