The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-18 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

A SAD CA SE. —A poor widow, named Charlotte Ross,
of No. 9, Dalglish-street, Limehouse, came before Mr.
Lushington, at the Thames Police-court, and stated that
her late husband was in the employ of the owners of the
Black Ball line of packets, and he was killed in one of
their vessels in October last. She managed to obtain a
very scanty living for herself and two children, by work-
ing a mangle purchased for her by the Black Ball line
owners, and by washing. She fell into arrears of rent,
and an execution was put into her house by her land-
lord for £2 165., and everything was seized by
a brcker, named Redpath, of Sutton-street, St. George's-
in-the-East. All her goods were sold, and her mangle, the
chief source of her existence, was also disposed of. The
brokers' charges and rent amounted to £4, and he had
offered her a balance of the sale amounting to is. 6d. Her
landlord had since brought an action against her in the
County Court because she had since occupied the empty
house, but the judge refused to interfere. Mr. Lushing-
ton : When was the seizure made. Applicant : On the
20th of June last, and all my things were taken away
next day and sold by auction. Had they waited a day or
two I could have paid the amount due. Mr. Lushington,
after looking over the broker's account, said there were
charges which required explanation. He granted a
summons to the applicant free.

SENDING BAD MEAT TO LONDON.-At the Guildhall
Police-court Thomas Fisher, a knacker, carrying on busi-
ness at a place called Mattishall, in Norfolk, was sum-
moned before Sir Sydney H. Waterlow for sending
three quarters and a-half of beef to the London mar-
ket for sale as human food, the same being diseased,
unsound, unwholesome, and unfit for the food of man.
Mr. Baylis prosecuted on behalf of the Commissioners of
Sewers, and said that the animial belonged to a grazier in
the defendant's neighbourhood, and having the lung dis-
ease he sent it to the defendant to kill it for the dogs.
He went to drive it home, but it fell in the road, and he
was obliged to kill it there and take it to a slaughter.
house to have it dressed. The ribs had been stripped to
hide the mark where the lungs had adhered to them—a
thing that was never done in the case of healthy
beasts. The meat was dressed and sent to London,
but when it arrived here it was entirely unfit for
human food, and was brought to court and condemned.
Evidence having been given in support of Mr. Baylis's
statement, the defendant contended that the meat was fit
for human food when he sent it, but that the hot weather
had made it become putrid. Sir Sydney H. Waterlow
said he had a reluctance to send a man like the defendant
to prison, but he must fine him in the full penalty of
£2O; and £5 ss. costs, or in default one month's imprison-
ment. The defendant said he must serve his month, for
he could not pay the fine.

Baron Brunnow was to have left London yester-
day for Paris, to enter upon his diplomatic duties as
Russian Ambassador at the Court of the Tuilleries.
The Church Herald repeats its statement
that Dr. Cotterill has been offered the Bishopric of
Edinburgh.
THE CUTLER'S FEAST.—It had been hoped that
Mr. Gladstone might honour the Master Cutler with his
presence this year. We regret to learn, however, that
the right hon. gentleman has felt compelled to decline.
Among the other refusals is one from Mr. Roebuck. Mr.
Disraeli has not yet replied to the invitation. The Duke
of Norfolk, Lord Howard of Glossop, Lord Milton,M.P.,
Mr. Mundella, M.P., and others are expected to be pre-
, sent---SheffieW Tekgraph.

PRICE 16
STAMPED 2d

AN EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE OF
CONSPIRACY.

At Central Criminal Court yesterday, before Mr. Baron
Martin, Henry Banks, 34, accountant : John Harris, 30,
clerk ; and Julius Lawrence, 39, solicitor, were indicted
for conspiring together to obtain certain sums of money
from the Earl of Romney and others, for counselling cer-
tain persons to obtain such moneys by false pretences;
and for suborning such persons to conimit perjury.
Mr. Metcalfe, in detailing the operations of the
prisoners, reminded the jury that poor persons going
through the Bankruptcy Court might sue in formd
pauperis, by being arrested and lodged in prison. After
passing through the Court, such persons might be relieved
by the Society for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, of
which the Earl of Romney was president, and to which many
noblemen and gentlemen contributed. The debtors received
£5O, £6O, or £lOO, to enable them to start in business
again. At the close of last year there was a great rush
of people to become bankrupt before the new act should
come into operation. A scheme was thereupon adopted
by the prisoners and others to get a number oLpeople to sue

iia fornia pauperis, go through the court, and iheil petition
the society for relief, the prisoners taking a portion of such
relief for themselves. Lawrence was an attorney on the
rolls, but not having taken out his certificate. Harris
acted as clerk to Banks, who was an accountant, but pro-
fessed to have lent money to the parties. A number of
persons were arrested at the instance of theprisoners,Banks
or Harris severally acting as detaining creditor, and in all
Lawrence acted as the attorney. In the case of a Guild-
ford confectioner, named Hill, Banks commencedan action
against him for money lent, although he had not really
lent him any money, Hill consented to a judgment
against him in the Lord Mayor's Court, an execution was
issued by the Sheriff, and he was put into Whitecross-
street Prison. Three persons were mentioned in the
judgment, and although they had never seen each other,
they signed consent to the joint judgment. They then went
to a public-house in Whitecross-street, where they met
the sheriff, and were escorted across the street to
the prison. Next morning Lawrence appeared with the
petitions and other documents all cut and dried. These
averred pressure by creditors and poverty as the cause of
their arrest, and pleaded inability to pay the costs. Next,
an affidavit was made, on oath, stating the name and
address of the detaining creditor, and the consideration
for the debt. This was in the handwriting of Banks. In
some of the depositions Banks was said to be the detaining
creditor; but as there were about eighty cases in which
the prisoners were concerned, it might have aroused sus-
picion if he had appeared in all, although he had commenced
the actions, and issued judgments in all. Therefore, in
some of the depositions which the bankrupts were to
sign and swear to, the detaining creditor was said to be
one Brooks, residing at Holloway, Croydon, or some
other place. Other names were also inserted. Although
all the processes issued from the Lord Mayor's Court,
sometimes that court was described as the Queen's
Bench, Common Pleas, or some other court
The same statements were made before the Registrar.
The debters were men of no education, and when asked
by the gaoler previous to discharge they could not tell the
name of their detaining creditor, or the amount of their
debt. Those proceeding laid the foundation for an appli-
cation to the Society for the Relief of Insolvent Debtors.
Banks or Harris drew out the petitions, which were pre-
sented to the society, and, on the money being obtained,
an agreement was made with the bankrupts to share the
proceeds. The prisoners had thus cheated the creditors
of the bankrupts, cheated the Bankruptcy Court, and ob.:
tained money fraudulently from the society.
John Hill was then called, and gave evidence bearing
out the opening of counsel. He owed nothing to Banks,
and the alleged debts were false. He knew nothing of
the society until Banks mentioned it to him. Banks
said if they got him £5O he was to give
him £5 ' • and if £6O, to give him £lO fur his
trouble. Harris told him he would be sure to get the
charity, as he had got it himself. Both Banks and
Harris said they had got it. Witness said that if he got
£6O he would give Harris a sovereign for drawing out the
petition. He got £5O, and gave Banks £5 in the street.
Harris asked for his £l, but witness said as he had
not got £6O he should not give it to him.
Harris afterwards wrote to him to say that if
he did not pay, his creditors would be informed of the
circumstances of the bankruptcy, which would be an-
nulled. He was not in the habit of being humbugged,
and would not be by witness.
Cross-examined : He was really in poverty, and could
not have paid the fees, He owed about £l3O. The
petition to the society was true.
Formal evidence was then given of the proceedings in
-the Lord Mayor's and Bankruptcy Courts ; and other
bankrupts who had gone through in a similar style to
Hill were examined. One of them said that Banks told
him to go to prison on a certain day, as there were
a lot going in at the same time. (Laughter.)
Another lived at Chester; but came up to town
to go into prison and be " whitewashed." In
his case, his address was falsified, in addition to fictitious
debts being placed on his petition. This witness got
nothing from the society. Another got £55, but refused
to give Banks any of it. After being " dunned" re-
peatedly, he paid £3los. Banks asked one of the wit-
nesses if his debts amounted to £3OO ; and on being
answered in the negative said, " Very well, you'll stand
for the charity "—the society not giving anything where
the debts are over £3OO.

The jury found the prisoners guilty. The prisoners
were then arraigned for conspiracy to obtain money and
property from other persons, by issuing legal processes for
fictitious debts. His lordship held there was no evidence,
and directed the jury to acquit the prisioners of this charge.
Banks, in mitigation of the sentence on the first charge,
said the system had been pursued by others for years, and
he never contemplated any fraud. Baron Martin said no
doubt such scandalous robbery of creditors had been going
on for a long time in connection with the Bankruptcy
Court. The prisoners were sentenced to eighteen months'
hard labour each.

ALARMING COLLISION ON THE FURNESS

RAILWAY, BARROW.
On Tuesday afternoon an alarming accident took place
at the Furness Abbey Station, on the Furness system of
railways. On Tuesday the twelve o'clock noon boat
train from Peel, with passengers from the Isle of Man,
had arrived at Furness Abbey, and that portion
of it going south was being shunted, the carriages
for Barrow standing at the same time on the main
down line. The quarter-past eleven a.m. train from
Carnforth Junction came up, but was compelled to remain
outside the station, owing to the down line being thus
filled. At this juncture a heavy goods train from
Carnforth followed, and in consequence of the driver
being unable, from the weight of his train and the
speed at which he was running down the steep incline,
to pull up in time, an alarming collision took place.
Many of the passengers,on becoming aware of their danger,
leaped from the doors, and were thus bruised and shaken,
whilst others, who were in the train when the shock took
place, were found, on removal, to be more or less injured.
It is not apprehended, however, that serious results will
follow in any of the cases we have as yet been able to dis-
cover.—Manchester Courricr.

FATAL BATHING ACCIDENT IN S C OTLAND .—A
sad accident happened near Dumfries, on Tuesday.
Whilst two women and a girl were bathing in the river
Nith, about a mile below the town, they were all drowned.

At a meeting of 900 unionists of Thorncliffe
Colliery on Tuesday it was resolved to accept the terms
offered by the masters. The dispute has lasted 73 weeks,
and it is stated that £20,000 has been spent in supporting
the men.

A number of persons, chiefly ladies, who, in the
agitation of the first few days of last week, sought refuge
in England, have now returned to Paris, private letters
from that capital leading them to believe in the mainte-
nance of order, and in the sufficiency of the French arma-
ments for the defence of France.

A. fear exists in some quarters that France may
induce Turkey to occupy the Danubian principalities on
some pretext, and that this might lead Russia to inter-
fere, thus rendering the present war inevitably more
general. On the other hand, it is thought that the
Sultan will be cautious not to ally himself with the
French Emperor during his present alarming reverses.
It has been widely rumoured within the last few
days—with what truth we cannot pretend to say—that
the prospects of a speedy peace have become so apparent
to the present Government that they have resolved not to
carry out the contemplated increase to our army beyond
three-fourths of the extent at first considered necessary.
They are apparently unmindful of the old proverb as to
the chickens in the egg.—Globe.
TENANTS AND AGENT IN IRELAND. The
tenants on the Lansdowne estates at Kenmare have re-
solved to testify their satisfaction with the management
of the property and their friendly feeling towards Mr.
Trench, the agent, by presenting him with a testimonial
on the occasion of his marriage. A subscription list has
been opened, and a handsome sum already subscribed for
the purpose. The presentation will be made on his return
home with his bride. This may be regarded as an auspi-
cious omen for the future relations of landlord and tenant
in the South.

---
OUTBREAK OF A FEARFUL EPIDEMIC IN CHILI.
—lntelligence has been received in Liverpool of the
breaking out of a fearful epidemic in Colchagua, on the
coast of Chili, the effects of which are stated to be as
sweeping as, those of cholera or yellow fever. The
Libertad, which publishes the information. says :—" We
do not desire to cause a groundless alarm, but, on the
contrary, to point out the evil, in order that a remedy
may be sought with the necessary promptitude. The
disease presents itself first in the form of a violent fever,
and then, on the second or third day appear on the face
spots of a gangrenous character, which develope them-
selves in two days, and produce death in the midst of
the most cruel sufferings. The ulcers especially attack
the mouth and nose, which fall off in pieces." The journal
concludes by strongly recommending that experienced
medical men should be at once sent to study the disease.
It would be also desirable that all vessels arriving
from Chili should be strictly inspected by the Customs
officials.

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