The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-06 00:00:00

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Feb. 5.

(Sittings at Nisi Prius, in Westminster, after Term, before
the Loran CIIIEF BARON and a Common Jury.)
JOYCE v. ROBSON.

This was action of debt, brought to recover 160/. for goods
sold and delivered, and board and lodging provided on the
defendant's account, for one John Hopkinson, to which the
defendant had pleaded that he never was indebted.
Mr. Atkinson appeared for tl,c plaintiff and Mr. Knowles
for the defendant.

The plaintiff was a tailor, carrying on business in
the City, and the defendant was the well-known sporting
character who was connected with the Running Rein affair,
in which he came off a loser of considerable sums of money.
It would appear from the evidence that some time ago the
defendant was staying at the White Horse Inn, Fetter-lane,
with a friend named Hopkinson, from whom he borrowed
2001., aud, as a return for the loan, it was agreed that Hop-
kinson should board and lodge with, as weR as obtain clothes
from, the plaintiff for a specified period, at the defendant's
expense. Hopkinson accordingly lived with the plaintiff for
two years, and was amply provided with food and clothing,
and supplied with pocket-money at the rate of Bs. per week,
and the present action was brought to compel the defendant
to reimburse the plaintiff, in accordance with the terms of
the agreement made two years ago.
Mr. KNOWLES, for the defence, contended that the case
involved a very improbable story, which it was impossible for
any twelve men of common sense to credit for a single mo-
ment. One would imagine that Hopkinson was a helpless
lad, unable to take care of either himself or his money, and
that commiseration for his helpless state moved the defendant
to superintend the disbursement of his money, and see that
he was properly lodged, fed, and clothed. But' the fact was
not so ; Hopkinson was a full-grown man of thirty years of
age, and just as capable of taking care of himself and his
money as the, defendant. At all events, he denied that de-
fendant was liable for the money and clothes supplied to
Hopkinson, although he was ready to admit that he ought
to pay for the board and lodging. And this he had done to
the fullest extent, for he had paid the plaintiff 43/., which
was more than the bill made the board and lodging come to.
The LORD CHIEF 14,4at0x, in summing up, remarked that
there was an exceedingly wholesome statute in existence,
namely, the Statute of Frauds, which required that when a
party undertook to pay money for another, the agreement
should be in writing, and even at the risk
of sacrificing a desire to do justice to a man who was money
out of pocket, he thought it would be better for them to be
guided by the strict letter of this law.
The jury then retired, and after a rather long consulta-
tion, returned into Court with a verdict for the plaintiff—
Damages, 68/.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT;
OLD COURT.

(Before Mr. Justice WILLIAMS and Mr. Justice CRESSWELL.

ALLEGED MURDERS ON BOARD THE TORY.

George Johnstone, formerly captain of the 811 Tory,
7.--- ship whose
Case has excited such extraordinary interest, was this day
placed at the bar on an indictment charging him with the
wilful murder of Thomas Reason. There were other indict-
ments, but the charge, in the first instance, was confined to
the murder of Reason.
The Attorney-General, Mr. Bodkin, and Mr. Clerk, were
for the prosecution ; Mr. Jervis, Q.C., and Mr. Huddlestone,
appeared for the defence.
the prisoner, who seemed in a better state of health than
when he appeared before the magistrate at the Thames
Police-court, was accommodated with a chair, and seemed
during the proceedings to pay particular attention to the,.
evidence, more especially where it seemed to go against
himself. lie is not by any means a man of unprepossessing
appearance.
The ArronicEr-GENERAL rose to state the case. He said
—My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury, in an important
and serious case of this description, involving as it does the
death of a fellow-creature, and on the issue of which the life of
another person depends, I am sure it will be unnecessary for me
to intreat your careful consideration slid mast patient atten-
tion. It is possible that many of the circumstances, which
have already been communicated to the pub!ic, have reached
your ears ; but you will not be required to be told by me to
distrust these statements, and to act on the present occasion
entirely on the facts which will be sworn to by the witnesses.
In disposing of the anxious and painful duty which is cast
upon me, I have found it extremely difficult, in considering the
proper way to introduce the case to you, to extricate from a
variety of facts and circumstances that portion of the witnesses'
statement which applies to the case immediately before the
Court, without wandering into other and lessimportant particu-
lars. I have reflected over and over again as to the proper course
that I ought to take, and with the deepest feelings of the
responsibility which attaches to me, I trust that in giving
you a sort of connected narration of the whole of the proceed-
ings, so as to enable you to form a correct
judgment on the subject, I shall not omit to
mention anything which in justice ought to form
part of the case; at the same time I trust that I shall intro-
duce nothing irrelevant to prejudice the prisoner in your
estimation. We have selected as the first case to be ex-
amined into the serious charge against the prisoner of the
wilful murder of Thomas Reason. The circumstance took
place on board of a vessel named the Tory, in which the pri
saner was captain, on her homeward voyage. She had, it
appeared, sailed from Liverpool in 1844, for Bombay and
China. Reason joined at Singapore, on her homeward voyage.
She was a vessel of some 608 tons and had a crew of 26 men.
She had sailed from Hong-Kong in the beginning of May,
1845, with a valuable cargo. The vessel was worth ( bah
ship and cargo) somewhere about 80,0001.—such a charge
would naturally make any man anxious to whose care it was
entrusted, and this circumstance must be taken into consi-
deration in weighing the case. When the vessel left Hong-
Kong she passed the Cape of Good Hope without touching
there, but after doubling it the provisions and water began to
fail. The men were put on an allowance of a quart a day of
water, instead of a gallon, which was the usual quantity
served out. They naturally, under these circumstances,
expressed some discontent and dissatisfaction. The captain
had intended to touch at St. Helena, but, in consequence of
some accident to his chronometers, he was out in his longi-
tude, and therefore missed the island. He afterwards ex-
pressed his intention to touch at the Island of Ascension,
which might be five to six days' run from St. Helene, and
the provisions and water began to fail more and more.
On the 18th of September it was supposed by the captain
that they were near the Island of Ascension, and he hove to
and remained there during the whole of the night. In the
course of that evening Reason, the deceased, in talking to
Some of the men, said that if they did not make the island
in the morning the captain should no longer be Captain
Johnstone. I believe that from someting that will appear in
the course of the trial it will be seen that these expressions
conveyed no intimation either against the life of the captain
or against his command in the ship.. The Learned Attorney-
General then proceeded to detail the facts of the case (facts
which have already frequently appeared in our columns, and
which will be better understood by the evidence), from the
time that the Tory passed the Island of Ascension, the in •
creasing dissatisfaction of the men,
the falling in with a
French barque and the reception from her of some provisions
and water and a cask of wine, the prisoner's increasing par-
tiality for intoxicating spirits, the chasing Rambert, the chief
mate, and two other men with a cutlass across the deck, and the
chief mate's going overboard, to the death of Reason, from
wounds inflicted by the captain in the cabin, on the night of
the 24th October. The Learned Gentleman then concluded,
" I have endeavoured,
as dispassionately as I could, to lay
all the circumstances of the case before you. Of the death
of Reason no doubt can be entertained, nor of the causes
which led to it. It is impossible for me to anticipate what
the defence of the prisoner may be, nor will I attempt to
create a prejudice or prepossession in your minds by suggesting
what course may possibly be taken on the present occasion.
I wish that all the facts should go before you in the plainest
and simplest way, in order that you may be enabled to form
a dispassionate judgment upon them. I therefore wish no
portion of the grounds on which the prisoner may rest his
defence to be occupied by any remarks on my part. I have
endeavoured to discharge my duty faithfully, and at the same
time
_fairly. I will cell witnesses to prove the circumstances
I have detailed, and without further observation or reason on
the facts, I shall leave the case to your consideration and
judgment."
The Learned Attorney-General then sat down.
ArtlituGgruto Spance was the Grit Tritral 011101