The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-18 00:00:00

BARKER V. WHITWORTH.

Mr. Martin, Q C., and Mr. Wile:, were for the
plaintiff; Mr. Crowder, Q.C., and Mr. Montague
Smith, for the defendant.

This was an action brought by Mr. Barker, ad-
vertising agent, to recover a sum of 2121, balance of
a sum of 4121., for advertising the Southampton and
South - Midland Junction Railway, of which com-
pany the defendant was a provisional committee-
man, and also member of the managing committee.
The case was of the ordinary description of railway
actions for the recovery of claims. Plaintiff put in
evidence in support of his claim, and relied partly on
a letter of the defendant, in which that person had
expressed his willingness to become a provisional
committee-man, and partly on an admission made in
conversation by defendant to a third party that he
knew he was liable for the expenses of the company.
For the defence it was submitted that the defendant
was not liable, notwithstanding the alleged ad-
mission, and the circumstances of his having been a
member of the provisional and managing committees,
if he did not actually give the orders.
The Learned JunGs summed up. The Jury re-
tired, and after an absence of some time from the
court, returned a verdict for the defendant.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
OLD COURT:

Thomas Barnard 111•Carthy, 44, George M'Car-
thy, a young lad, his son, James Grady, 61, and
George Grout, 33, surrendered to take their trial
upon an indictment, charging them with unlawfully
conspiring together to defraud Henry Barry of certain
goods and chattels.
Mr. Parry prosecuted ; Mr. Ballantine defended
Grout ; Mr. Robinson, Thomas and George M'Car-
thy, and Mr. lorry defended Grady.
This was one of those cases which come before the
Court upon the finding of a bill by the grand jury
without the intervention of a magistrate. It appeared
that the prosecutor, Mr. Barr, was the secretary, and
also one of the principal shareholders in a loan society,
and in August, 1847, the defendant, Thomas
M`Carthy, who at that time held the lease of, and
occupied the Hand and Flower public-house, at
Fulham, applied to him for a loan, and a sum of
1001. was advanced to him upon a joint promissory
note of himself and the defendant Grout, who was his
brother-in-law. In the commencement of 1848 some
negotiation took place for a further loan, and
eventually another sum of 701. was advanced to the
defendant, Thomas M'Carthy, and he gave as security
a bill of sale of the whole of the furniture and effects
in his public-house for the repayment of the amount
that had been advanced. It seemed that the money
was not repaid according to the arrangement between
the parties, and the prosecutor put the bill of sale into
force, and removed a considerable portion of the fur-
niture preparatory to its bring disposed of by auction.
Some further negotiations then took place between the
prosecutor and the defendant Thomas McCarthy,
which resulted in the latter assigning his lease and
giving up all his licences to the prosecutor, who, as
an equivalent for his doing so, agreed to restore the
furniture that had been removed from the premises,
and also covenanted, by a written agreement-, not to
put the bill of sale into force until the Ist of Septem-
ber following, the understanding being that the money
was to be repaid before that day. This sir s not done,
and the foundation in the present indictment appeared
to be that about the period covenanted for by the
prosecutor, as that up to which he would not put the
bill of sale in force, the property upon the premises,

or, at all events, a considerable part of it, was taken to
ddf.rent places, and only a portion of it had come into
the possession of the prosecutor. The evidence against
Thomas M`Carthy an i Grout was to the effect that
they were present when some of the goods were re-
moved, and that the bill of sale was shown to the
latter ; but as regarded the other defendants, there
did not appear to be a tittle of evidence to show any
illegal conduct on their part, the lad being merely
proved to have been in his father's house when some
furniture was taken away, and the other defen -
dant, Grady, who was a servant in the public-house,
appearing merely to have acted under the orders of his
master. In the course of the case it transpired that,
in addition to the bill of sale, the prosecutor was still
in possession of the lease, which was represented to
be worth more than the amount that had been ad-
vanced to the defendant Thorhas M'Carthy, and also
the licences of the house, and it likewise appeared
th.st although the whole of the property was charged
in the indictment to have been removed, in point of
fact a considerable portion of it still remained upon
the premises, and that not more than 401. or 50/.
worth were out of the possession of the prosecutor ;
and it was also shown that an action for trespass had
been threatened against the prosecutor, arising out of
his proceedings in venturing upon the premises of
the defendant Thomas M'Carthy.
The COMMON SERGEANT, at the close of the case
for the prosecution, said there was not the least
evidence against the defendants George M'Caithy
and Grady that would support a charee of conspiracy,
and therefore they need not be called upon to answer
the charge.

Mr. BALLANTINE, in the course of his address to
the jury for the defendant Grout, characterised the
prosecution as one of a most abominable character,
and said that it had evidently been instituted for
vindictive purposes. He submitted that there was
not the slightest evidence against the lad George
M'Carthy or the man Grady, and yet they had been
included in the indictment evidently Ns ith no othee
purpose thsn to disgrace and degrade them, and pre-
vent them from giving evidence which might have
been material to the other parties included in the
charge.

The CommoN SERGEANT, in summing up the case
to the jury, said it always appeared to him that
charges of conspiracy ought to be watched very nar-
rowly, because they spread a very large net to catch
any one in ; and a charge of conspiracy was frequently
resorted to when parties found they could not succeed in
a civil action. It was doubly necessary to watch such
cases narrowly, when it appeared that those who
instituted the prosecution went up to the grand jury
room and obtained a bill upon eat parte evidence, and
in the absence of the parties accused. He considered
this the greatest calamity connected with the grand
jury system, and he was of opinion that it was much
more satisfactory for charges to be made publicly be-
fore a magistrate, as this gave the party accused an
opportunity of knowing what he was charged with,
and of answering the charge. In this case it appeared
to him that there was no evidence whatever against
the defendants George M'Cartly and Grady, and the
only question the jury had to decide was, whether
the evidence satisfied them, under the circumstances
as they had been detailed in the course of the case,
that the other two defendants had conspired together
with the object imputed to them by the indictment.
The jury immediately returned a verdict- of Not
guilty. _ . _

Alfred Lipscombe, 17, was charged with stealing
27 sovereigns, the moneys of Cornelius Phillips.
Mr. Clarkson prosecuted.

It appeared that the prisoner had formerly been in
the service of the prosecutor, who is an upholsterer
at Islington, but bad recently been discharged. On
the evening of the day mentioned in the indictment
Mrs. Phillips, the wife of the prosecutor, hearing a
noise in the bedroom, went there, accompanied by her
servant maid, and on the latter looking under the bed,
the prisoner was discovered concealed. An alarm
was given, and he rushed out and made his escape,
and it was soon afterwards ascertained that an escru-
toire i❑ the bed room had been broken open, and the
amount mentioned stolen therefrom. The prisoner
was taken into custody the same night, but none of
the money was recovered.
The prisoner, in his defence, asserted that the
witnesses were mistaken as to his identity, and de-
clared that he was innocent of the offence with which
he was charged.

The jury returned a verdict of Guilty, and he was
sentenced to be kept to hard labour for one year.
Samuel Marlow Phellp, 29, a young man of gentle-
manly appearance, pleaded guilty to a charge of em-
bezzling money belonging to his employers.
Mr. BODKIN, who appeared for the prosecution,
said he was instructed to recommend the prisoner to
the merciful consideration of the Court.

Mr. CLARKSON, who was instructed to defend the
prisoner, said that as he observed by the indictment
there was a charge against him of having been pre-
viously convicted of felony, he thought it his duty to
inform the Court that fifteen years ago he was so
convicted and sentenced to one month's imprisonment.
Since that period he had been abroad, and, he was
informed, had entirely retrieved his character by his
good conduct, and he had served with honour for some
time in the AmericAn army. lie had returned to
this country and obtained respectable employment,
but having recently married, a temporary pressure,
arisicg from that change in his position, had induced
him to make use of his employer's money in the hope
that he would have been enabled to replace it; in
which, however, he was disappointed. Under these
circumstances he trusted the Court would think it
was a case in which the prisoner might have another
chance afforded him of becoming a respectable mem-
ber of society.
The COMMON SERGEANT said the sentence he was
about to pass was a very lenient one, considering the
character of the offence, and he hoped it might satisfy
the justice of the case without operating as a bad
example. The ptisoner had been recommended to
mercy by the prosecutor, and he appeared to have
borne a good character for a long period, and under
these circumstances, he should only sentence him to
be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for four
months.

RUNAWAY BANKatijeTs•—mwo gross instances of
bankrupts absconding from their creditors, carryiog
with them valuable property and large sums of money,
have just been brought to light in the London Court of
Bankruptcy. In one case, that of Noah Pattenden, of
Oxford, woollen•draper, the bankrupt, after obtaining
goods of the wholesale London warehousemen to the
value of between 5,6001- and 6,000/., and disposing of
them by forced sales by public auction, absconded, taking
wish him nearly 2.000 L in money. It is believed he has
gone to Australia, and since his flight Mr. Archibald
Harvey, a warehouseman, of Bow-churchyard, states
that he has discovered that the bankrupt had committed
a number of forgeries. Mr. Cooper, the messenger in
Mr. Commissioner Shepherd's court, has succeeded in
obtaining for the creditors the bankrupt's stock in
trade, valued at cost price at 6871., and some furniture,
plate, &c.. worth about 2001. In the other case, that of
Charles Cotton Butterfield, of the Petersfield Bank, it
has been ascertained within the last few days that the li
bankrupt took with him notes and gold exceeding 3,0001.
Previously to his departure from this country he had
violated, in more than one instance, the sacred ties of
hospitality and friendship as regarded the wife and
daughter of a neighbour. He was last seen at Paris,
and is now in. Italy. Mr. James Johnstone, the mes-
senger, upon completing his information, will proceed to
the continent for the purpose of recovering the property
an 1 person of the bankrupt, who was proclaimed an
outlaw some time since. He is the son of Admiral
Butterfield, and h s deserted his wife and family.
ANCIENT BRITISH VILLAGE.—Some very interest
ing remains of an ancient British village have been dis-
covered by a Mr. 11. Harrod, the indefatigable secretary
of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaaological Society, on
the crest of a range of hills at.Weybourne, near Holt.
They consist of a collection of pits, of the uniform depth
of four and diameter of eight feet, amounting in number
to some hundreds, and extending upwards of a quart.r
of a mile. At a short distance from the village are the
remains of sepulchral tumuli, probably the burial-place
of the aboriginal tribe.—Bury Post.
A VESSEL WRECKED AND ,DESERTED.—At an
early hour on Saturday week a sheep named the Andrew
White, of Sunderland, laden with timber, was drifted on
a reef of rocks OH the Claddah strand. A great many
idles tales are in circulation respecting the fate of the
crew, some of which are most horrifying to relate; but
nothing certain can be ascertained on that point yet, as it
is not known where the vessel is from, nor whither she
is bound. There can be no doubt, however, that the
crew must have either perished, or, having lost all hope
of saving the ship, taken to the boats, and got to land on
some other part of the western coast. There was no one
on board to tell the tale of woe. At the time sho was
boarded there was nothing in her except a few biscuits,
nor anything of value except the cargo, so that there can
be but little doubt that she was plundered on sea, espe-
cially as sho was seen by the coast guards on Friday off
Mutton Island, with two fishing boats in pursuit of her.
—Mona's Herald.

A Supplement to the London Gazette of Friday
was published last night, containing the Earl Marshal's
account of the ceremonial obse:ved at the funeral of the
Queen Dowager. This document is, of course, in exact
accordance with the programme of the ceremonial before
issued by the same high officer, which we published on
Wednesday last, and with our account of the mournful
proceedings of Thursday. It may be noticed, as a matter
of pt.( cadent, that the document commences by stating
that " Her late Most Excaent Majesty the Queen
Dowager. having desired that the interment of her re-
mains might take place in a most private manner, and
without any state, the Queen was pleased to sanction a
departure from the usual ceremony observed in the fune-
rals of the Kings and Queens of the realm."
THE PLEA or NOT GUILTY.—A memorial, signed
by several chairmen of quarter sessions, high sheriffs,
justices of the peace, and a considerable number of
chaplains of gaols, mayors, clerks of the peace, lawyers,
and others, praying that the present mode of arraigning
prisoners by asking them, ".How say you, guilty or n,t,
guilty," may he discontinued, so that the serious evils
attendant on this form in our judicial proceedings may
be avoided, was on the 11th lust. forwarded by Lord
Ashley to the Secretary of State, the signatures having
been collected by the Rev. W. C. Oslom, chaplain of the
Bath Gaol, author of a pamphlet on the subject.

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Colchester
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Leigh
Maldon

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