The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-22 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF EXCHEQUER, Jan. 20.
(Middlesex Sittings at Nisi Prins, before Mr. Baron ALDER.

sox and a Common Jury.)
LIABILITY OF PROVISIONAL COMMITTEEMEN.-BARNETT

BURDETT.

Mr. Jervis (with whom was Mr. Atherton) conducted the
case for the !plaintiff, and Mr. Martin appeared for the de-
fendant.

The action was brought to recover the suns of 1;2/. 10s. 6d.
for stationery, printing, and other articles supplied to the
Irish West Coast Railway Company, and of which the de-
fendant was one of the provisional committee, and after-
wards one of the committee of management.
The defendant pleaded that he did not promise.
Mr. JERVIS said the plaintiff was a stationer and printer,
carrying on business in the City. The defendant was William
Jones Burdett, a gentleman of considerable property and
standing in the world. The action was brought to recover
payment for stationery and printing which the plaintiff
had supplied to a very distinguished, as he supposed he
must call it, Company, on the committee' of which
were many distinguished characters. The COmpany was
called "The Irish West Coast Railway." Among the
articles supplied was all the scrip. The defendant
was one! of that: class of men who ' were I popularly
known as provisional committeemen of the company, and
it would be found that he had given a consent to act on the
committee, and had signed a paper to that effect, and which
would be put in evidence. It would also be proved that he
had been a constant attendant at the office, and had been
actively engaged in the management of the affairs of the
company. It happened that the company fell into arrear
of rent to the extent of 151., and the result was
that the landlord was compelled to distrain ; the entire
property of the company was seized—books, pens,
ink, paper, and the other articles which had been furnished
by the plaintiff. No doubt there were other claims upon the
jury
had as one of the committee, but with that the
had nothing to do. He should prove his case against
the committeeman, and he felt sure that the verdict
of the jury would tefch the defendant he had been
guilty of an act of folly in embarking in so troublesome a
concern as a provisional committeeship. The Learned
Counsel then called William Campbell, Esq., one of the pro-
jectors of the undertaking, who proved that the defendant
had been put on the committee at his own request, and had
taken a considerable share in the proceedings of the com-
pany. After which a copy of the company's registry was
put is and read, from which it appeared that the defendant's
name was attached to that decument. It was dated 16th
October, 1845.
Cross-examined by Mr. JERVIS—The defendant was aware
of these liabilities when he joined the company. The de-
fendant, in common with the other committeemen, was to
be paid two or three guineas for every attendance.
Mr. A. Thompson, the solicitor to the plaintiff, then proved
that he had applied to the defendant on the 6th of December,
1845, for the payment of this account, and that he had re-
ceived the subjoined reply from that gentleman

" Monday.
" Mr. Burdett begs to inform Mr. Thompson that he has
no connexion whatever with the Iriali West Coast Railway.
He has forwarded Mr. Thompson's iliiplication to the soli-
citor of the Company, as he
-knows nothing at all about it."
. _

Mr. MARTIN, on behalf of the defendant, said that what
he had stated in the note just read was perfectly true ; he
knew nothing either of this claim or of the plaintiff, but
whether that gentleman was responsible in the character of
a member of a provisional committee was altogether another
question. There could be no doubt but that the late panic
had put an end to the hopes of this Company, which other-
wise, as the plaintiff had been led to believe, would have
been a most prosperous concern. This one fact was manifest
—the defendant had not become connected with the Com-
pany till the 10th of October, or the 16th, and under any
circumstances he could 'not be held as liable for any debts
prior to that date. But the truth was, that Campbell, who
had ordered all the articles, ought to have been sued. In the
present case, however, that individual presented himself,
not as the defendant, but as the witness against one of his
fellow directors, for the purpose of releasing himself from the
sole liability. This nevertheless was the common course in
matters of projected speculation—a person set up a concern
for his own emolument, and then, if he (lid not succeed, he
came forward as a witness against a member of the com-
mittee, with the hope of throwing all the responsibility
upon hat party. He was not, however, before the jury to
demand a verdict in favour of the defendant, for in accord-
ance with the ordinary principle of law, his client was un-
doubtedly liable to this claim. Nor was he there to argue
that, because the Company had failed, therefore that the
plaintiff had not a right of action against the provisional
committee. He was, on the- contrary, bound to say, that
upon the evidence it did not appear to him that Mr. Burdett
could set up any defence to this claim.
Mr. Baron ALDERSON observed, that no possible doubt
could exist as to the liability of the defendant. He became
responsible from the day he consented to act on the provi-
sional committee, and that was on the 16th of October. The
defendant was liable to all the contracts from that day, which
had been entered into for the purposes of the Company, while
the party who made those contracts for the Company was in
the position of the agent of the committee. For any debts
incurred before the 16th of October the defendant could not
be held liable.

The jury thereupon at once gave a verdict for the plaintiff
-Damages 1191. 10s.

Mr. Baron Ar,DEßsort said it was of no use to, read a lesson
to some parties, for they would, notwithstanding, place their
heads through a halter. The present action, however, might
do some good, for it would show them of what folly they had
been guilty.

THE LATE FATAL ACCIDENT ON
THE SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.
TUNBRIDGE, WEDNESDAY NIGHT.—This afternoon,
at three o'clock, Mr. Dudlow, one of the Coroners for
the County of Kent, opened an investigation at the
Angel Inn, in this town, before a highly respectable jury,
relative to the death of Charles Dolby, aged 27, the un-
fortunate engine-driver who lost his life by this deplor-
able accident.
After the jury had been duly empannelled a discussion
arose as to the propriety of viewing the bridge, the jury
observing that rumours were in circulation of its not
being in a proper state of solidity.
The Coroner considered such a course Tillie unneces-
sary, inasmuch as the Company's officer would lay before
them such evidence as related to its construction, and the
circumstances of the accident would be explained by par-
ties competent to give an opinion.
The jury, however, stated that it would be more satis-
factory to their minds to inspect it, and accordingly the
Coroner assented.
The jury then proceeded to the station, where an en-
gine and carriage were in waiting, which conveyed them
to the spot. After the lapse of near an hour they re-
turned, when the following evidence was adduced :
Mr. P.W. Barlow, the engineer, Mr. Iberly, the su-
perintendent of the locomotive department, and other
officials, attended to watch the interests of the Company.
Charles Linnard, a guard in the service of the South-
Eastern Railway Company, was then called. He said
the deceased was an engine-driver in the employ of the
Company. On Monday night, at eight o'clock, he left
Dover with the luggage-train, the deceased driving the
engine, which was a new one, numbered 120. There
were seven waggons in the train, laden with goods. It
arrived safe at Tunbridge at about half-past twelve
o'clock, and after waiting there a short time, and having
the usual signals, the train proceeded. They had scarcely,
however, gone more than a mile from Tunbridge before
the accident took place. He was sitting on the last car-
riage and felt a severe shock, the train being brought to
a sudden stop. He immediately got down, and found
that the bridge had given way. Saw the engine, tender,
and carriages in the water. The train was not going
fast, not more than eight miles an hour. He instantly
put down a fog signal, and took a red signal-lamp
down the line towards Tunbridge, in order to stop all
trains from that station. He also sent a man to that
station for the same purpose. On returning to the spot
where the accident happened noticed the deceased lying
on the bank alive. All he heard him say was, "Lay me
on my belly; oh my thigh." The deceased's brother,
who was the stoker, was near him, holding him out of
the water. Witness asked the fireman how it occurred,
who replied that he did not know, but felt the engine
sink like into a hole and then turn over. Did not say if
the engine had gone over the bridge.
By the CORONER—Believed the engine to be heavier
than the tender. After removing the deceased from the
bank and having got him upon the line, witness placed
him in the last carriage of the train, and having pro-
cured a pilot engine, conveyed him on to Tunbridge,
where he expired in the course of twenty minutes.
Could form no opinion as to the cause of the accident.
It took place about one o'clock on Tuesday morning.
Did not know what additional evidence the brother of
the deceased could give. Understood him to have
dragged the deceased out of the engine and swam ashore
with him.
The CORONER here asked the condition of the stoker,
the deceased's brother, who was lying at the house, with
a view of learning whether he was in a fit state to be
examined.
Mr. Goram, a surgeon, who had charge of him, re-
plied that he did not think him sufficiently recovered to
undergo the excitement which an examination might
produce. There was a deep wound across his scalp, and
from the state he was in, any conversation might pos-
sibly be dangerous to his recovery.
The CORONER then wished to know if the jury deemed
it necessary to have the stoker's evidence. Was any one
present who heard him mention anything relating to the
occident ?
A juryman remarked that the stoker, being a member
of a benefit society to which he belonged, he waited upon
him on the subject of the accident, when he observed
that he could not tell how it took place. They were
going at a slow and steady rate, when they felt the en-
gine falling, and were pitched into the river.
The CORONER inquired. of the juryman if he heard
the stoker describe the engine to have gone over the
bridge ? The juryman answered that he did not.
Another juror observed that be had been told by the
stoker that it was very likely that the engine would have
safely gone over the bridge, had it not been for the car.
riages behind. He was informed by him that the tender
sunk with the bridge, pulling back the engine, and
dragging the carriages after it.
In consequence, therefore, of the dangerous state of
the brother of the deceased, it was determined, for the
present, not to examine him.
The CORONER then put it to the jury if they were de-
sirous of adjourning the investigation, in order to gain
the opinion of the Company's engineer. The jury wished
the Court to be cleared, so as to consult together on the
stegject, and eventually agreed to an adjournment.

STBAM- BOAT ACCIDENT.-011 Tuesday night a
barge deeply laden with a cargo of salt, oils, and paints, be-
longing to Messrs. Lucas and Pope, lightermen, was going
down the Thames in charge of two watermen, when they
were met by the Corkscrew steamer, coming up the river at
full speed off Cuckold's Point, Rotherhithe, and although
the men navigating the barge hailed her, the speed of the
steamer was not eased till it came in collision with the barge,
the sides of which were stowed in, and it began to till. The
engines of the Corkscrew were then immediately eased and
turned astern, and assistance was reruh-red to the men in the
barge, which was brought up off the West India Dock en-
trance, and the cargo was transferred to other craft. The
barge has sustained considerable damage.
SAVINGS' BANKS.—We uuderstand that there is
now in course of signature by all depositors in savings'
banks petitions to the House of Commons, under the au-
thority of the managers, for a modification of such parts of
the Amended Savings' lank Act, 7th and Bth Victoria, as
refer to the amount of interest paid to depositors, with a
view to an increas% in the rate of such interest.