The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-26 00:00:00

THE OFFICIAL MANAGER OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND

➢ANKING COMPANY V. WINDER.

In this case Mr. Sergeant Murphy and Mr. Manisty
appeared for the plaintiff; and Mr. Knowles, Q.C., and
Mr. Grainger for the defence.
The action was brought on a guarantee given to the
North of England Joint Stock Banking Company, which
bank had stopped payment in March, 1847, and the
official manager had been appointed to recover the debts
of the company by the Court of Chancery, under the
recent statute of last session. The defendant, Mr. Win-
der, was a wine merchant, resident in Newcastle, and in
1839 was associated with other gentlemen in a project
for supplying the town with pure water, to obtain which
object it had been determined to go to Parliament to
obtain a Bill giving powers to a company to carry it
out, the company being known as the Newcastle and
Gateshead Union Water Company. The defendant
was a director of the provisional committee of this
company in 1839, and after the Act was obtained in
1842 he was also a director. On the 15th of Fe-
bruary in that year, to meet the expenses of engineers,
and of the Bill in Parliament, an application was made
to the North of England Joint Stock Banking► Company
to make the necessary advances to the water company,
which they consented to do on the guarantee of the
directors to the amount of 3,5001. The guarantee
given was in the following form:—" In consideration of
your honouring the cheques of the directors, or any three
of them, of the Newcastle and Gateshead Water Com•
pany, to the extent of 3,5001., we hereby guarantee to
you the payment of the same with interest." To this
was attached the signature of seven directors, one of
whom was the defendant. This sum had been advanced,
and not all paid off, and there still remained due on it
2901. 16s. 7d., for which sum the action was brought.
Toe guarantee was proposed to be put in evidence, but
was objected to by the counsel for the defendant, on the
ground that it was not stamped properly. At the time
when the contract was entered into it required a 1/.
stamp. and it had since under the recent statute been
stamped with a 2a. 6rl. stamp. On the authority of
" Deakin and Wile v. Penniall " (17 L. J., Ex., 217)
this objection was over-ruled, and the document was
given in evidence. The head bookkeeper of the bank
was the❑ called to prove the entries in the pass-book
ef the water company, to show that the sum of 3,500/.
had been paid. From his evidence it appeared
that two pass-books had been prepared, one a
genuine one, one a fictitious one, made for
the very purpose of imposing on the Committee
of the two llewes of Parliament to induce them to
pass the Bill. By the standing orders a certain amount of
deposit on the shares is required to be paid, and the
pass-book showed, on one side•, a debit of '3,5001. ad-
vances for expenses, and ou the other, a long list of de
posits on shares. =nitride,* to that sum. the whole o
which was fictitious, and had been prepared by the book
keeper, by direction of the manager, at the request of
the solicitor of the Wat-o- Company. On the pt., r. of the
pleintiffs it was contended, nitwit hstanding this extraor-
dinary stwemt nt of the mode of conducting its business
ee a b.taktng company—a statement w:,ich i=xcit•d nn
lit le ,urprise in the court—that th.-re had been a bon!
tide ticlvance of 3,500/. on the guarantee, irrespective of
his fiction on the bank books, made to impose on Par--
dement .

At the suggestion of his LORDSHIP, at this stage the
cause, and all matters in difference, were referred to a
gentleman at the bar, as the only feasible mode of ar-
riving satisfactorily at the truth of such an inquiry.
Verdict accordingly, for the plaintiff ; damages,
100.0001., subject to a reference.
CROWN COUR r.— (Before Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.)
His Lordship proceeded throughout the day with the
Newcastle town cases, none of which were of particular
interest.

Saturday, Feb. 24.

CROWN COURT.—(BefiTre Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.)
Thomas Richardson, a young man of prt possessing
appeur ,nce, Wai indicted for the manslaughter of Henry
Harley, a boy 13 years of age, on the 25th of October
last.

Mr. Otter appealed for the irasecution and M. Ove•
rend for the prisoner.

It appeared that both the prisoner an l the deceased
were employed at the West Cramlington Colliery in
this county; the prisoner as a " non-setter" and the de-
ceased boy as a " trapper." The duties of the deceased
were to wheel down the coal tubs or carts on the tram-
way to the prisoner, who received them, in order to
their being drawn out of the pit. The deceased ap•
peared to have run down these tubs too rapidly, for do-
ing which the prisoner reprimanded him, and told him
if he did not mind he would get his " cribs," meaning
that he would the beaten. The boy was saucy, upon
which the prisoner struck him with his doubled fist on
the side of the head, and the boy fell against the wall
of the pit. The boy took up a piece of coal in a passion
to throw at the prisoner, who run after him to take it
from him, and the boy, in endeavouring to get away,
fell against a tub and cut his face. The boy continued
at his work for several days after, but was taken ill
with inflammation of the brain, of which he died in a
fortnight. On the part of the prosecution this was said
to have been caused by the blow; for the defence it was
contended that the inflammation and fever arose from
disease, or from the fall the boy had had.
Verdict, Not Guilty.

John Kane and William While were charged with
breaking and entering the dwelling-house of John
Oliver, and stealing therefrom 201. and a quantity of
silver plate, on the 23d of December last.
Mr. Mathews and Mr. Bigge appeared for the prose-
cution. The prisoners were undefended.
It appeared that the prosecutor, Mr. John Oliver, was
a termer, and lived at his farm at Wy lam, near the
Whittle:lean Waterworks, in this county, his family con-
sisting of his wife, a nieco and a boy, who acted as ser-
vants. On the 23d of December last the prosecutor
feeling unwell, went to bed soon after 6 o'clock. About
halt-past 7, two men wearing black crape over their
faces entered the house, and locked the door after them.
The niece asked " what they wanted?" They answered
they wanted her mtster; upon which she ran up stairs
to the prosecutor's room in a state of fright, the men
following. There they were met by Mrs. Oliver, who
again demanded to know what they wanted, on which one
of them answered, that "they would rip her up if she did
not deliver up her money immediately." From the op-
portunity she had then, and subsequently, of observing
the men, she was certain that the prisoners at the bar were
the men. They then entered the prosecutor's bedroom,
pulled dowti the bid curtains and threw them ov. r
,nte of them stand ng over trim with an uplifted stick,
and threatened to dash out his brain. if he did not keep
his eyes shut, whilst the other ransacked a box in the
room, and took out of it 20/. in gold, and a quantity of