The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-26 00:00:00

ALLEGED EXTRAORDINARY FRAUD.

At the Mansion House, yesterday, John Bennett, a
coal merchant, was brought up in custody of Detective
Sergeant Packman, and charged before Mr. Alderman
Carter, on a warrant, with having obtained the sum of
£5OO from Frederick Hamilton Phillips by false pretences
with intent to defraud. Mr. George Lewis appeared for
the prosecution, and Mr. Ribton, barrister, for the de-
fence.—ln opening the case, Mr. Lewis said the
prisoner commenced business as a coal merchant at Eagle
Wharf, Wandsworth, and sold one half of it to a person
named Tucker. The remaining half he sold to another
person named Davis. In November last he bought back
the premises, and shortly afterwards he sold a share to a
gentleman named Crosley for £7OO. Within six weeks
Mr. Crosley wished to get out of the business, and agreed
to accept bills from the prisoner for £4OO, waiving £3OO.
The prisoner then sold the same share to a Mr. Fry for
£3OO, but Mr. Fry also wanted to get out of it immediately.
The prosecutor about this time saw an advertisement
which had been inserted by the prisoner, and on commu-
nicating with him was told that half of the profits would
be equal to £350 and £5OO a year. Prosecutor agreed to
purchase the half of the business for £5OO, and paid that
amount, the prisoner representing that the assets
amounted to £1,360, of which £4OO was put down
as the value of the wharf and land adjoining,
which the prisoner said was unclaimed land, on
which he had entered into possession' four years ago.
The fact, however, was that the prisoner paid a rent of
£l2los. for the wharf, and although he had represented
that he had no debts he had since filed a petition in
which he put his liabilities down at £2,000. The prose-
cutor was called, and said that since the 24th June only
120 tons of coal had been sold, and the profits had only
been sufficient to pay the expenses. The case was then
adjourned till this day week, and the alderman declined
to accept bail

FALSE SUSPICIONS ABOUT THE NATHAN
MURDER.

The tendency of mankind to believe the worst they can
of their fellow-creatures has been vary strongly brought
out this week. There is no accusation which can be made
against a man too base for the majority of his fellow-
creatures to accept. They either go about boldly repeating
it, or shake their heads and say there "must be something
in it." A few days ago a newspaper of this city pub-
lished a wicked and cruel slander on one of the sons
of the murdered Mr. Nathan. We denounced it at the
time as a dastardly act, worthy only of the footpads and
cut-throats who infest our streets- The World joined
with us in this protest ; but the original calumny was re-
peated day after day in more than one of the prominent
journals, and every attempt was made to poison the
public mind against the members of a family already
suffering under a crushing affliction. The effect of these
attacks and insinuations was naturally great, consider-
ing, as we have already said that nine people out
of ten are always more ready to believe harm of a man
than good. The whisper spread abroad that Mr. Wash-
ington Nathan had certainly murdered his father. The
story was telegraphed in a more or less positive manner
from one end of the country to the other. There is no
possible reparation for such an outrage as this. One of
our most influential contemporaries aimed article after
article indirectly at young Mr. Nathan—condescending
for once to take its cue from a Sunday paper. Yet all this
time there was not a shadow of reason for fastening so
horrible a charge upon this young man, and when the evi-
dence came to be taken at the inquest it was proved that
the blood-stains of which so much had been said were
not upon Mr. Washington Nathan at all, but upon the
clothes of his brother. So little had the Sunday
paper known of the real facts—so little did
it care for them—that it confused one brother
with another, and utterly misrepresented every
incident which it pretended to describe. The same
journal will doubtless present another vile mass of slan-
ders to the public this morning, and men will be found
fools or knaves enough to go about mouthing it over to
each other, just as if the originator of it had not already
been proved to be an impostor. This sort of cut-and-thrust
work in the press may amuse some people, so long
as they are not themselves the victims of it. But
their turn may come some day. When once outrageous
licentiousness in journalism is tolerated, no man and no
woinan can ever be deemed safe. Besides the injury
done to private character by this readiness to
believe every malicious story set afloat by
unprincipled writers, the course of justice is
greatly impeded. For a whole week the public, at
least, have been put on a false scent. The real criminal
has been laughing in his sleeve at the readiness with
which a just community will credit any infamous story
affecting the reputation of private persons. A little
reflection would have shewn every candid person that
the presumptions were all in favour of the innocence of
the late Mr. Nathan's sons. The charge against
them was accepted on the authority of—we
are ashamed to mention the paper—the Sunday
Mercury. Few men would like to have their characters
dependent on the verdict of that sheet—fewer still would
like to think that everthing which was published in it
against them would be immediately believed by their
friends. But apart from all this, there were many reasons
which ought to have convinced every sober-minded
person that the charge against Mr. Washington
Nathan was a groundless one. Let us
specify but two or three of these reasons :-
1. He could have had access to the safe at
any time. His father was absent from the house for weeks
together, and he could easily have made an opportunity
of forcing open the lock without fearing detection. It was
not necessary to commit a murder in order to get at it.
The lock was not a " combination" one, and there need
have been no great difficulty in forcing it. 2. It is mere
baseless conjecture to suppose that there was any docu-
ment in the safe which would have been useful to Mr.
Washington Nathan. The theory about the second will
would do very well for one of Beadle's romances, but it
will not bear sifting. If there had been a second will, a
lawyer, or some witness to it, would, in all probability,
know of its existence. At present no member of the
family has reason to suppose that such a will was ever
made. 3. Mr. Washington Nathan (and the same
remark, of course, holds good of his brothers)
was a business man, and, as such, knew per-
fectly well that no securities which happened
to be in the safe would be negotiable. He probably was
aware that not much money was there, since it is not
the habit of business men to keep large sums about them
or in their houses. They send their balances to their
bankers, and understand the use of checks. 4. Mr.
Washington Nathan is said to be a partner in a respect.
able firm, from which he draws an ample income. He
was under no temptation to murder a father for the
sake of money. 5. The wildest supposition yet made is
that Mr. Nathan, senior, did not struggle for his life. His
attitude when found, and the number of blows he received
shew that a desperate fight must have taken place. Is it
to be supposed that the murderer escaped without a
scratch ? No one who has not been run away with by his
private hobby horse on this subject, (and every-
body seems to own a hobby horse with regard to it),
will believe such a thing possible. The assassin
must have carried away the traces of the struggle upon
him—but not the faintest mark could be found on either
of the sons. These reflections and theories ought, we say,
to have been quite sufficient. to exculpate the late
'Mr. Nathan's sons from the outset. But a newspaper,
which nobody professes to put any faith in, starts a
cock-and-bull story, and half the town sets out
eagerly in chase of it. It is a great satisfacion to many
people to hear that that their neighbour has been accused
of some barbarous crime. If you want to draw an admir-
ing audience round you, do not speak good of a man, but
swear he murdered his grandmother, that he drinks blood
for his breakfast, and is in the habit of dining off boiled
children. That makes a "sensation," and please
the listeners at once. But we advise decent citizens
to take notice of a not unimportant fact—namely, that it
is quite possible to strike down character and life at one
blow in this city. It is never a difficult matter to bring
an accusation against an innocent person. When the
press is allowed to make the foulest attacks on private
reputation unreproved—nay, even encouraged by the
public—the prospect for the " improvement of society "
is rather a bad one.—. New York Times.