The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-03 00:00:00

JANUARY 3,

he would take the responsibility upon himself of
giving him into custody.
Mr. Gompertz, who was sitting at the attorney'
table, then rose and accompanied Mr. Haddon to the

staticn-houss., and in about ten minutes Mr. Gom-

pertz, who is a tall well-dressed man, middle-aged,
and of very gentlemanly appearance was placed at
the bar, charged with obtaining six bills of exchange
for 3531. 6s. Bd. from Mr. Haddon by means of false

pretences.
Mr. Ballantine stated the circumstances at great
length. They were very complicated, but will be
better understood from the evidence. The first wit-
ness was then called. _ _ .

Mr. John Cooke Haddon, civil- engineer, 14, Lin-
coln's Inn-fields, said, the prisoner was introduced
to him about July last, it being stated at the time
that he was the Mr. Gompertz who had been negotiat-
ing for the purchase of some gems belonging to a Mr.
Tyrrell. Prisoner said, "Mr. Haddon, lam in some
difficulty, as a loan of 30,0001., which I was to have
received from-the United Kingdom Life-office, has
gone off." He added, the reason was that although the
sureties had been approved of, the office had in a most
extraordinary manner placed warrants of attorney
before the sureties for their signature, which took
them so by surprise that ,they declined to execute
them, and so the matter went off, and consequently
he was unable to continue the negotiation about the
gems he wished to purchase. He then said he had
contracts for iron, and inquired whether witness could
borrow money on them. He observed the contracts
were for 100,000 tons of iron rails ; that they were
not in his own name, as his schedule was still on the
file of the Insolvent Court and he could not hold
property ; and that they were in the name of a Mr.
Lane Fox, who had married the sister of the Duke
of Leeds, Mr. Fox being his (prisoner's) trustee in
the matter. That upon the contracts 21. per ton had
been paid off the purchase money of 81. 7s. 6d. per
ton, and that, therefore, if iron was at that time
81. 7s. 6d. per ton those contracts were worth
200,000/. He assured witness on several occasions
that the contracts were his own. From his plausible
manner witness believed his representations, and took
means to obtain him money on the security of the con-
tracts. On the 28th of July a bill for 1101. was given
by witness to Mr. Gompertz. Previous to this being
delivered, however, the prisoner had added to his for-
mer statements that he had made 370,0001. by pur-
chasing up the Birmingham, Boston, and Stamford
Railway shares, and selling the railway to the Great
Northern Railway Company. He said that, owing
to his unfortunate position with the Insolvent Court,,
that sum was in the hands of trustees for his benefit;
and that when he had arranged with his creffitors the
balance would be paid to him. During their conver-
sation as to obtaining the money, prisoner told wit-
ness he had been negotiating with a Mr. Brett to
purchase some pictures, but that was also at a stand-
still through the failure of the 30,0001. from the
assurance company ; he could, however, get time
from him if he had something on account, and•
that he had no doubt Brett would take witness's
bill for 500/. This was before any bills had
been given, and this led to all of them being.
given. They had an interview with Brett, after which
Gompertz told him he was still in some difficulty, as
he could not get the contract for iron from,his brother,
Mr. Mote, without paying some money which had
been advanced upon it, viz., 10s. per share, and re-
quested witness to give him a bill for 500/. He de-
clined, but agreed to accept for such amount as a
friend, a Mr. Ranyard, would go halves in. Finally
he agreed to accept for 3001., provided a contract was'
placed in his hands for 500 tons as security. Upon
this a verbal agreement was come to. Witness gave
the bill produced for 1101. to Mr. Gompertz, or to Mr.
Tyrrell in his presence.
Mr. HENRY here interrupted the proceedings, and
said, he thought it would be very difficult to make
out a case of false pretence upon this evidence, as the
contract was the cause of the money being advanced,
and not any of the representations made by Mr. Gom-
pertz.
Mr. Ballantine said, that if he proved that the con-
tract was not a boil t fide, but an entirely false con-
tract, this would be a false pretence.
Mr. HENRY said, the fact would enable the prose-
cutor to bring an action for deceit, but it would not
establish a criminal charge. A prosecutor must part
with his money upon a false pretence alone, and not
upon any contract whether good or bad. Mr. Haddon
had, after hearing all the representations of the pri-
soner, distinctly refused to advance the bills upon
those representations alone, and he himself proposed to
take the contract as a security.
Mr. Ballantine argued at some length against this
opinion of Mr. Henry, and stated several cases which
Le thought bore upon the case.
Mr. HENRY, however, said his opinion was quite
against him in this case. He did not, he repeated,
think that he had established the fact that the money
had been obtained under a false pretence. Of course
it was at the option of the parties to prefer a bill of
indictment at the sessions. He, however, ordered Mr.
Gompertz to be discharged.
Tne accused then left the bar, declaring that he was
quite able to pay all legal demands against him, and
that Mr. Haddon had preferred this charge in oraer
to extort money.
Mr. HENRY received a donation of 51. for the poor-
box from " Sir Richard Sutton," who requested its
acknowledgment in the daily papers.