The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-26 00:00:00

!THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1871.

THE ALLEGED FR kUDS BY STEWARDS
1N THE NAVY.
The courts-martial on the stewards of the Royal Navy,
who are charged with a series of frauds on the Admiralty,
commenced on board the Duke of Wellington at Ports-
mouth on Wednesday. There are seven stewards for trial,
whose cases will be taken separately. The first case is
that of Samuel Vine, steward of the Boscawen, against
whom there are six charges—viz., of having, on the Ist,
4th, 7th, 17th. and 25th of Oct., represented to Henry Win.
Arlidge, paymaster of the Boscawen, that certain quanti-
ties of fresh meat had been received on board, well know-
ing that smaller quantities only had been received, and
also with having, on several other occasions, conspired,
with one James Curtis, to defraud the Queen of large
sums of money. Vice-Admiral Wellesley presided. The
• suggestion of the prosecution apparently is that the
prisoner entered into a conspiracy with an agent of the
contractor for. the supply of fresh beef to the ships at
Portland, by which he was to shew on the books that
quantities considerably beyond those actually brought on
board had been received, and that for this he was to have
6d. a pound on the excess. The prisoner apparently
attempts to shew that the beef charged was ac-
tually received, and that the sum due to boys on leave
was to be paid to their savings fund. It was proved by
medical evidence that Mr. Curtis was suffering from
epilepsy, and could not attend the court.
Mr. Arlidge, the paymaster of the Boscawen, was ex-
amined at great length. He proved that the custom on
entering a port at which there was a contractor was to
present a formal demand, signed by the captain, for beef
for the crew. After the first supply the contractor was
informed by the ship's steward of the quantities required
for daily use. The ship's steward on the receipt of sup-
plies furnished the paymaster with the quantities, and
the receipts were signed by the paymaster ; but they were
not supplied to the contractor again, as he did not come
on board for them. Witness did not know that the quanti-
ties which came on board were the same as what were
signed for. A list was furnished of the men and boys
going on leave to the paymaster's office by the master-at-
arms or the sergeant of marines ; the assistant-pay-
master sent a cheque note to the, steward, and the
provisions were stopped. The assistant-paymaster was
then supposed to make an entry in the books. If men
and boys were absent on leave for 48 hours, or less, the
provisions were issued to the messes, and what was
paid for as savings was paid to the messes at
the end of the quarter. Witness was not
aware that if men were absent more than 48 hours they
were not checked, but lie presumed their provisions would
be issued to the messes, as he had already explained.
An Admiralty order, dated the
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reference to this case, the prisoner handed in a book,
which he said was his explanation. The witness was ex-
amined at considerable length as to the manner in which
the statement was obtained, but as there was evidence
that it was given perfectly voluntarily, it was read.
In it the prisoner admitted that Mr. Curtis and Mr.
Brown had come on board, and had told him if he had
any surplus meat they would be glad to buy it at 6d. a lb.,
stating that this would be a good way of augmenting
the boys' fund. He added that he was to be paid for this
surplus meat at the end of the year, and it was his inten-
tion to hand the money either to the commander or to the
paymaster. He also said he had made this statement
to several officers, and had added that they would be
astonished at the amount due to the boys' fnnd at the
end of the year. The prisoner added that he had
actually received no money at all. In cross-examination,
the witness said he did not superintend the weighing
of the meat, and he depended on the steward for the
accuracy of the accounts with reference to the quanti-
ties. There had sometimes been mistakes in the de-
livesy, meat intended for other ships being received on
board the Boscawen. The ship had a tender, the Racer,
and, although the accounts were kept separate, the re-
ceipts for the meat on board the tender were given from
the Boscawen. The commander had given him £6 to be
placed to the credit of the boys' fund, which lie did.
In those cases he considered the contractor must have
had receipts for larger quantities than were received. It
had been usual before he joined the ship for
the contractor to supply rice, pearl-barley, and,
articles of a similar character, in lieu of a less quantity of
vegetables, of an inferior quality ; and that pearl-barley
had been put in the boilers as a substitute. He told the
contractor he should have nothing to do with such an
arrangement. The prisoner had told him that he had re-
ceived £193 on behalf of the boys' fund.
Joseph Woods, foreman to the contractor,was examined,
with the view of shewing that the supplies of beef on the
days mentioned in the charge were less than those alleged
by the prisoner. He also said the prisoner had asked him,
after these inquiries bad been instituted, whether he had
given up his books ; and on witness replying that he had
not, the prisoner said he thought he was not going to be
so foolish as that, for it would be a very serious thing.
Subsequently he saw the prisoner, who. said Mr. Curtis
was a brute, that all the stewards would be hung through
him, and that he would have to send the beef good, or he
would have it back again.
The Court was adjourned.

THE WAR.

THE STATE OF PARIS.

PARIS, January 20.

The official account of the sortie makes no attempt to '
conceal the gravity of the situation, and the painful im-
pression made by the repulse is deepened by the news of ,
a defeat of Gen. Chanzy who was, it was believed, drawing
near Paris. We are told that this defeat is partly atoned for
by Bourbaki's success. All night long there was great
agitation, and M.M. Favre and Ferry went to Mont
Val4rien to see General Trochu. After a long conference
with him, the departure of the balloon which was just
about to start was delayed for two hours, for the purpose,
no doubt, of adding to the Ministerial message to Bor-
deaux. The press is, generally speaking, firm and dig-
nified
in its language, and by no means despairing. It is,
however, thought imperative to replace Trochu by a more
energetic commander. No one denies his intelligence, his
patriotism, or the skill with which he has defended the
besieged capital, but he has not, according to the prevail-
ing impression, the necessary qualities for taken the offen-
sive. There would be no difficulty in superseding him, for
he, himself, has proposed retiring from office, but the ques-
tion is who is to supersede him? Ledru Rollin when
appealed to on this matter, convoked four generals, and
laid the case before them. Each was ready with his
criticisms on the manner in which the defence had been
conducted, and of course could improve greatly upon it
—in theory. In practice, however, it was a different
mater, and not one of the four would accept the responsi-
bility.
The exact amount of the French losses in the sortie is
not yet known, though they must have been heavy.
Colonel Langlois. a well-known Republican and socialist
. writer, was wounded in the arm. A young actor at the
Comedie Francaise, M. Didier Sevestre, has had to suffer
amputation of the leg.

PARIS, January 21.

The military report on the battle of the 19th appeared
this morning, corroborating the impression we gather
from all private accounts. The successes gained early in
the day were brilliant and easily won, and the retreat,
which closed the action so disastrously, was in
no way imperative. There were such powerful
numbers in reserve, and these might have been doubled in
case of need, that it would have been possible, if not easy
to continue the battle, and to win a decided victory. It
is this conviction of a lost opportunity which renders the
complaints against Trochu so loud and long, and since it
is not possible to suspect his loyalty, and neither can he be
supposed to be absolutely incompetent, an explanation
for the breakdown is found in the belief that the news
of General Chanzy's failure reached Trochu in
the middle of the day, and he was no longer bent
on continuing a struggle whose chief object was to
effect a junction with the army of succour outside. The
action of the troops was admirable. The Line and the
Mobilised National Guard seemed to outvie each other ;
and everyone is amazed that better results were not
obtained with such soldiers. General Trochu does not
deceive himself on this point, for on the very evening of
the day he tendered his resignation, which was refused.
The public mind is, however, undoubtedly in a state of
great irritation, which is not diminished by the refusal of
the enemy to grant the armistice asked for to bury the
dead. General Trochu produced a most unfor-
tunate effect by writing to General Schmitz from
Valerien, desiring him to send as many litters as possible.
His intention was excellent as he wished to restore as
many bodies of the fallen Mobilised National Guards to
their families as possible, but the impression pro-
duced was none the less' disastrous. It is probable his col-
leagues were influenced by this blunder in their decision
to accept the proffered resignation of the General, who
will retain his post as Governor of Paris, though no
longer the supreme director of military affairs. Admiral
Saisset and La Roncibre have been called for. The latter
is confident he could get out of Paris with 150 men and
generals chosen by himself. General Le Flo will have to
be also superseded at the War Office, and M. Dorian, the
Minister of Public Works, who has organised the whole
of the new artillery, is spoken of to succeed
him. This would be a very popular appoint-
ment. M. Dorian has faith in the future, and is
reported to have said that even were the Prussians on the
Place de la Concorde, he should not despair of the salva-
tion of France. However, it is not likely he will
accept office at present. The generals, though
none can be found ready to accept the responsi-
bilities of the command-in-chief, are willing enough to
face the enemy. They urge that the risks of the next
sortie should be left exclusively to them and to their men,
since the National Guard suffered heavily in the last en-
counter. One thing is certain, Paris will not give up
with 500,000 men, and a supply of provisions
which can last a couple of months more, if bread
be dispensed with. Horses are still numerous, and if
people will consent to eat meat instead of bread the sup-
plies can certainly hold out for some time, all the more so
as the sortie at least effected one desirable object—it
regained the oxen at St. Cloud.

ALIVE IN A COFFlN:—Stories of this kind are
generally very apocryphal ; but the following reaches us
from an authentic source. A child narrowly escaped
being buried alive last week in Manchester. The infant's
father had died, and was to be buried in Ardwick Ceme-
tery. The day before the burial, the infant was taken ill,
and apparently died. A certificate of death was procured
from a surgeon's assistant who had seen the child ; and,
to save expense, it was decided to place it in the same
coffin with the father. This was done ; and the next
morning the bearers set off to the cemetery with their
double burden ; but before reaching the graveyard a cry
was heard to issue from the coffin. The lid being re-
moved, the infant was discovered alive and ki3king. It
was at once removed to a neighbour's house, but died eight
hours afterwards.—British Medical Journal.
SINGULAR RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—A day or two
since a singular accident occurred to the 3.40 express
train from London to Birmingham, bet Ween Leighton and
Bletchley. The following particulars are those which were
given by a gentleman who was a passenger in the train,
and who, it will appear, had a very narrow escape.
Soon after the train had left Leighton station, the floor-
ing of the second-class compartment, in which this
passenger was riding, dropped out. There was only one
passenger in the compartment, and he got upon one of the
seats. He states that he endeavoured to pull the cord—
the means of communication with the driver or the guard
of the train—and that he heard the bell sound, but that
the train was not stopped. During this time sparks and
splinters from the broken flooring which came in contact
with the wheels were flying about, and he says that
he was himself, to use his own words, "jerked
about like a parched pea in a frying pan." He
held to the seat as long as he was able, and feeling
that he was in the most imminent peril, and that
of two dangers it was better to choose the lesser, he de-
termined to jump from the train. He did so, and rolled
down-the embankment, and fortunately escaped without
any broken bones. Soon after he had jumped from the
carriage the train stopped, returned to the spot where he
had made his leap for life, and picked him up again.
Although, happily the passenger escaped without personal
injury, he lost his hat and his luggage, and he will pro-
bably for the rest of his life have a very vivid recollection
of his ride from Leighton to Bletchley, The accident to
the carriage caused a delay of half an hour to the express.

—Birmingham Post.
DESPERATE ESCAPE OF A PRISONER.—The other
clay two men were apprehended in London charged with
having deserted their wives and families and leaving them
chargeable to the parish of Birmingham. They were
conducted safely to the Paddington Station by Mr.
Sweeney, the relieving officer for Birmingham, and were
safely ,lodged in a second-class carriage of an express
train from Paddington to Snow Hill station. When,
however, within several miles of Reading Station, one
of the prisoners, a man named John Joseph Randall,
a bookbinder, jumped through the window of the com-
partment, the train running at the time at the rate of
about 40 miles an hour. Before reaching the ground
he was seized by the coat by Mr. Sweeney, who
at once observed the man's desperate efforts to escape
from custody. Although in the perilous position of
hanging out of the window with his legs dangling against
the door of the compartment, and held only by the skirt
of his coat, he struggled violently to disengage himself
from the grasp of the officer and the other prisoner, who
rendered considerable assistance, the train travelling all
the time at the speed stated. When within about three
miles of Reading he succeeded in divesting himself of his
coat, by which he was held, and sprang into the six foot
way. On reaching Reading, the station master was com-
municated with, and on being informed of what had taken
place, he accompanied the relieving officer along, the line,
to the place where the man made his escape, having left
the other prisoner in safe keeping, but no trace of the
fugitive could be found, and the officer was obliged to
continue his journey to Birmingham without him.—
Birmingham Gazette.