The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-26 00:00:00

- FENTON'B INSOLVENCY.

This insolvent came before the Court on his final
order. He was opposed by Mr. Sturgeon, Mr. Dowse,
and Mr. Parry fur various creditor:, and supported by
Mr. Cooke.

It appeared, in the course of a longexamination, that
he was originally a solicitor at Leeds. Lie had married
three times, and with each wife he received considerable
property. Having lived in a style of great extravagance
in Brussels and Calais, as well as in England, he had
spent all the money acquired by his marriages, and was
now in debt to the extent of 19,0001. without assets to
pay them. He had been engaged in some bill transac-
tions with Peter Harris Abbott, but tliot.gh he admitted
visiting races, he denied betting to any extent, or loss of
money by gambling. He was once victimised to the
extent of 3001. by a set of swindlers at a private house,
but he never frequented public gaming tables. It ap-
peared his only prospect of liquidating this heavy
amount of liabilities was a contingent interest in some
lawsuits.

Mr. Commissioner HOLROYD said, it was very evident
the insolvent bad contracted a large amount of debt
without the reasonable means of discharging it, and had
lived far beyond his means both at home and abroad.
Under these circumstances he should order an adjourn-
ment of two years, with liberty to the insolvent to come
up again when that period had expired.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
NORTHERN ClRCUlT.—Liverpool, Aug. 24.

CROWN COURT.—(Before Mr. Justice WIGHTMAN.)
Joseph Dean, aged 12, and James Seddon, aged 17,
were indicted for the wilful murder of George Wray, at
Manchester, on the 19th of June last.
Mr. J. Pollock stated the ease for the prosecution.
Thomas Wray examined—lie was the father of the
deceased, who would have been thirteen years old in

September next. He last saw him at eleven o'clock, on
the 19th of June, when he was going out with a donkey
and boxes of black lead and blacking for sale. A boy
was with him, called Charles Holehouse, witness's step-
son, between eleven and twelve years old. He had a
little round tin box to put his silver in. He was accus-
tomed to go out selling those articles, and to return at
from eight to ten o'clock at night.
C. A. Holehouse examined—He was brother of the
deceased, and went out with him that day. They went
to several places to sell the things, and about eight
o'clock his brother counted the money. He had got
fourteen shillings, and witness gave him three which he
had get. It was in Greenhays-fields, and both the pri-
soners were present and saw him count it. They were
playing at cricket, and they continued to play after the
money was counted. Dean said he would pay for a
glass of rum if they would drink it. After a while his
witness away with the ass, and told him to
brotherwait
for sat
him
e
Jenkinson-street. The prisoners heard
that. It was getting dark when witness went away and
left the prisoners with his brother. When he had
counted it, he put the silver money in the little tin box,
and that and the copper in a large tin box, which he car-
ried strapped on his back. He met him again in the
street, and after that he went to Seddon's shop. No one
was with him then. He did not see the prisoners after
he left the fields.

Cross-examined--His brother was as tall, he thought.
as the prisoner Seddon, and was fatter. He went to
sleep on a shop steps while he was waiting for his brother
in Jenkinson•street.

A number of witnesses deposed to seeing deceased and
the prisoners in company, about tea o'clock.
Thomas Jackson, examined—He lived in Jenkinson-
street. Seddon had a coal-yard about twenty-six yards
from witness's house. He saw the prisoners and the
deceased unlocking the gate and go into the yard near
eleven o'clock. No one was with them. Wray had a
blacking-can on his arm and a stick in his hand. He
had to go to his own yard at the back of Seddon's, and
as he returned he stopped before the stable in Seddon's
yard. He thought he heard a struggle, and spoke to a
policeman, who went and kicked at the stable door, but
receiving no answer he went on his beat, arid witness
went into bed. He had a cow which he expected calv-
ing, and at one o'clock he went out again. He heard
nothing then, but his wife told him something. He went
to the brook, and saw the body, and found a stick (pro-
duced) in the brook near the bridge. Seddon kept a
bantam conk and hen in the stable.

Mrs. Jackson, wife of the former witness, waked her
husband about one o'clock. He went out to look after a
cow. She got to the window, and looked in the direc-
tion of the coal-yard, and saw two persons standing noar,
and afterwards go into the aide door, and directly after
come out, and then go in again. Then they came out
and brought something out with them. They laid it
down on the flags, and then went in again, and then
dragged in what they had laid on the flags. She men-
tioned that circumstance to her husband.
James Hughes was at work in the stable of the Spread
Eagle, and from the window he saw the body in the
stream of the brook on 'his back. The water was only
three inches deep. He went with the police to the place.
His head was on a stone, not in the water. The part of
his person not in the water was dry. His arms were
spread, his legs close. He appeared to have been placed
there. He had two marks on his throat.
Cross-examined—They then thought he had been in a
fit and fallen from of the bridge.
Joseph Bailey, policem. He went to the brook w;

the lasi witness, and took the body out, Ile searched
and found nothing on him. A tin can was lying about
a yard from the body. He had a cap on.
iiJohn
ee
dn him.
Is cap had .11 cut in it (produced). His
coat was much torn (produced). He directed the
prisoners to be apprehended at ten o'clock on the
aa
mnT i ye all oi
His
for Dr. Golland to the deceased to ex-
amine r; sent inspector of police at Manchester, ex-
morning of the 20th. He told them he was informed
they bad been in company with the deceased the night
before, and he should detain them. They both said
they left the deceased at eleven o'clock, in Burn's-
street, and had not seen him since. He afterwards
went to the cabin, and found 2s. Cid. in copper, in a
sahnoned
unlocked box,
tothe prisoners, and Seddon
and a blue half-handlter-
said they were his—that it was coal money. There was
no coal in the yard.
John Lee, policeman—He and another policeman ap-
esthoicekfl Stocking
ne in
prehended the prisoners at half-past nine at Seddon's
father's. lie searched them, and found four keys, 2d.
in copper, and two accordion keys on Seddon. He went
to the coal-yard, and in the cabin he found a key which
unlocked the stable door, and behind a step-ladder, be-
tween the board and the wall, he found a small tin box
in a situation to which it could not be thought to have
fallen. He showed them to the prisoners. Seddon said
the two accordion keys were his, and they
both said they
knew nothing about the box.
John Hole souse, half-brother of deceased, examined—
The deceased wore a neckerchief like the one found
in the box in the stable. The accordion keys were
those he had. So was the little tin box. The hand-
kerchief found in the mackintosh was discoloured from
blacking.

Cross-examined—Ile first mentioned that one of the
accordion keys was imperfect and the other perfect,when
he had been before the magistrate, to the attorney for
the prisoners.

Mrs. Wray said the neckerchief was like the one her
son had on. Another handkerchief found in Dean's
macintosh she was sure was one she gave her son when
he left home that morning to wipe his bands on.
Mr. W. Golland, surgeon, examined—He had exa-
mined the body on the morning of the 20th. It bad a
cap on, slightly torn over the right temple. There was
a slight cut on the ear, two marks, as if nail marks, on
the neck, and a slight mark on the thigh. On removing
the scalp he found a great deal of clotted blood, on the
same side as the tear of the cap. On removing the skull
he found the brain had been much injured on the oppo-
site side. It was caused by the blow on the right tem-
ple, which had torn the cap. In his opinion death was
caused by a violent blow on the temple. The body was
in other respects quite healthy.. A blow given by either
the poker or the bar of the chair produced would effect
such an injury.
The statements of the prisoners made before the ma-
gistrates %vac proved and read.
Seddon admitted that he had had some of the silver
found from the deceased, which he had given him, at his
request, for copper. He also said the deceased had
asked him if he had any hens to sell, and that on his
telling him that he had a dandy (bantam) hen and cock,
for which he would take ls. 9d., he said he would come
and look at them. He did come; they borrowed a candle,
and he tuck him into the yard to see them, after which
they parted, and he had not seen the deceased since.
Dean said he had the handkerchl f a month, which
he picked up by a river side, and had been left by some
boys who had been bathing; that the marble was given
to him by Mr. Sykes's boy three weeks before; that he
had dirtied the handkerchief in the way it was dirtied
by having tied it and worn it on his foot one morning
when he was going after the cows, and when his feet
were 20 sore that he could not put his shoes on.
Mr. Sergeant WILKINS (Mr. Fry with him) addressed
the jury for the prisoners.
Mr. Justice WIGHTMAN then went through the evi-
dence of the several witnesses, and concluded at a quarter
to nine o'clock, telling the jury that if they came to the
conclusion that the deceased was murdered by those two
boys, he presumed they would be satisfied that the
younger boy bad capacity to enable him to distinguish
right from wrong.
The jury retired, and, after being out half an hour,
returned a verdict of Not Guilty.

THE CITY CHARITY SCHOOLS.

The Lord Mayor having transmitted a letter to the
trustees of Lady Hollis's Girls' School, in consequence
of the statement made by the father of a girl named
Fanny Wettenhall, who gave evidence on the examine•
Lion of Smith, upon the charge of the murder at the
Guildhall coffee-house, his Lordship received the an-
swer copied below. The father of the girl, it will be
remembered, stated that the education of the poor chil-
dren who were sent to that school, was most scandalously
neglected, and that_ for one who appeared to have re-
ceived any benefit at all, crowds were in a state of the
greatest ignorance, in testimony of which he instanced
the fact of his daughter's inability to write her own
name.

" Red Cross street, Cripplegate,
22d August, 1846.
" My Lord Mayor,—ln answer to yourletter addressed
to the trustees of Lady Hollis's Girls' School, with refer-
ence to a statement made by the father of a child named
Fanny Wettenhall, I am directed by the trustees to in-
form your Lordship, that the school contains 120
children, 110 of whom are clothed, 10 admitted upon
probation, and the whole are educated upon the National
system, and are divided into three distinct classes.
"In obedience to a decree of the Court of Chancery,
a mistress is appointed by the trustees, who is assisted in
the education of the children by five teachers, exclusive
of five assistant teachers, selected from the first-class
scholars. A competent master is also engaged to instruct
the children in writing and arithmetic, and who are in-
variably selected from the first and second class scholars,
consisting of upwards of 60 children. The child Fanny
Wettenhall, although having been some time in the school,
from want of capacity and attention did not make that pro-
gress . in her education which the school is calculated to
impart, consequently was unable to arrive above the
third-class scholars. She has recently been withdrawn
from the school by her parents on the plea of illness of
her mother, being two years before the appointed time
of her leaving.
" I am also directed by the trustees to state that the
institution has always been under the management of
one mistress, the pre..;ent mistress having conducted the
school for the last twenty-two years, to the entire satisfac-
tion of the trustees, who meet monthly tos uperintend and
transact the general affairs connected with the institu-
tion.—l have the honour to subscribe myself your Lord-
ship's most obedient humble servant,
"JOHN ELLIS, Secretary.

" To the Right Hon. John Johnson, Lord Mayor."
The Loup MAYOR said, in speaking of the above
communication, that he did not consider the trustees,
having such ample funds, were doing their duty in
throwing so much labour on an old and faithful servant,
and that they ought at once to provide a competent as-
,istant to her, and a separate writing-master for the
girls. The father of Fanny Wettenhall had stated, that
she had been four years at the school, and it was quite
evident that she must have been most grossly neglected,
for she was obliged to substitute a. mark for her name;
and even that mark was miserably scrawled, at the same
time that the girl, who was twelve years of age, showed
by her answers that she was far from being destitute of
capacity, the principal ground upon which they defended
the institution. He trusted that, at a time when such
powerful arguments were used to show the necessity
of general education, that there existed a strong
competition amongst all educational establishments, the
school in question would give some proof of the posses-
sion of a kindred spirit. He recollected that a few
years ago a similar complaint was made against the
system and practice of the Bishopsgate school by a
policeman, whose child afforded a deplorable specimen
of the laxity which prevailed in that institution. The
complaint met the public eye through the press, and a
few days ago he had the satisfaction to observe that the
Bishopsgate school was a model to which the charitable
establishments of the City might look with great ad-
vantage to themselves.
The following circular has been sent to the sub-
scribers and other friends of the " Cripplegate Within
Ward Schools," in consequence of the publication of the
statement made by the father of the girl alluded to in
the letter; and the Lord Mayor expressed a hope that
the impression, no doubt created against these schools,
would be removed by a general notice of the fact.
(coPY.)
‘. To the Subscribers and other Friends of the Cripple•
gate Within Ward Schools.
_ _

"Gentlemen,—My attention has been directed to
some observations made before the Lord Mayor in the
Justice-room of the Mansion-house, on Tuesday last,
the 18th instant, which reflect severely on what was
designated the " Cripplegate School," but upon inquiry
it is found to be the one in the WARD WITHOUT, and
not for those schools you so kindly patronise in the
WARD WITHIN.
" It is unfortunately the second time that our schools
have been exposed to an unjust impression in the minds
of the subscribers through the general name of Crip-
plegate, omitting to add the word " WITHOUT," which
would have exempted them from the present charge.
" I trust you will not think this explanation unneces •
sary on the present occasion, being anxious that you
should appreciate the unwearied exertions of the com-
mittee, for the advancement of the objects of your bounty,
in useful knowledge and good moral and religious in-
struction, and that I may not appear wanting in due
respect for the confidence placed in me as your treasurer.
I am, with much respect, your obedient servant,
"JOHN BRADBURY, Treasurer.

" 6, Aldermanbury, August 22, 1846."
Alderman WiLsort, who was present when the Lord
Mayor commented upon the letter, said he had much
pleasure in bearing testimony to the exertions made in
his ward (Castlebaynard Ward) to promote the advance
of education amongst the poor. The greatest interest
had been taken by the inhabitants in the grand object of
the charity, and an infant school had sprung out of their
recent labours. lie rejoiced to be able to state that the
energies of the teachers seemed to increase in proportion
to the necessity arising from the numerical increase of
the children, and he attributed a vast deal to the several
meetings which had taken place at the time the subject
of serving the ward schools was so warmly discussed at
Guildhall. lie had just received notice to attend a
meeting of the friends of the Castlebaynard Ward
School, on the 28th inst., upon the subject of the funds,
the investment thereof, and the state of the schools.

REVIEW OF THE BRITISH CORN

TRADE.

The accounts which have this week reached us from
different parts of the country on the subject of the
potato crop are even more alarming than any of the
previous reports. The disease is evidently spreading in
all directions, and there is no saying where it -will stop.
So general has the conviction become that the produce
of sound potatoes will be exceedingly small, as to cause
a material rise in prices of all kinds of grain. Nor is
this at all surprising, when we consider the im-
mense extra consumption of flour and meal so great
a calamity as a serious failure in the potato crop
would inevitaby occasion. Other circumstances have,
however, assisted to give an upward tendency to prices
of corn ; among the foremost of which has been the
state of the weather. Since the beginning of the month
we have rarely had two dry days consecutively ; and the
harvest in the north has, consequently, progressed very
slowly. The repeated showers, accompanied as they
have been by a high range of temperature, must have
done injury to the grain in the fields ; and it is, there-
fore, to be feared that the quality of much of the corn
grown in the later districts will be greatly inferior to
that of the south. This alone would have been sufß-
eient to have caused some excitement in the trade ; and
when coupled with such statements as thine which pour
in from all quc..rter; relative to the spread of the .
potato rot, there little wonder that an impetus
should have been given to business, even if the
complaints of the deficiency in the yield of wheat from
the straw be wholly overlooked. The primary cause of
the altered position of affairs is, however, to be found is

the fears generally entertained regarding the extent of
the mischief likely to result from the potato murrain ;
and in proportion as these fears prove to be ill or well
founded, must be the extent of the advance in the value
of other sorts of agricultural produce. Wheat has
already risen from ss. to 7s. per quarter from the lowest
point of depresion. This advance has occurred in the
short period of two or three weeks, but as yet there ap-
pear no symptoms of a check to the upw :rd movement.
Our advices from Scotland speak even more despond-
ingly of the potato crop this than the p: & ceding week,
end great fears also appear to be entertained there re •
specting the harvest, comparatively little grain having
hitherto been secured even in the most forward districts.
At Edinburgh, on Wednesday, new wheat advanced
2s. to and old fully 2s. per quarter, whilst at Glas-
gow the rise was equally great.
From Ireland we receive similar reports as from other
parts of the kingdom; indeed the potato murrain seems,
if anything, to be more virulent in the sister isle than
on this side of the channel. And as the population there
is more dependent on this crop than is the case either in
England or Scotland, the consternation is proportionably
great. The rise in the prices of wheat, oats, and in-
dian corn had consequently been considerable at the
principal markets, and shipments to England had dimi-
nished materially.
The arrivals of wheat coastwise into London have
been extremely small during the week, only 4,656
quarters having been reported up to this (Saturday)
evening. The quantity exhibited at Mark-lane by land-
carriage samples from the neighbouring counties has
been still more trifling ; indeed there was scarcely any-
thing offering either on Wednesday or Friday, on the
Essex, Kent, or Suffilk stands. Meanwhile an in-
creased disposition has been manifested by the millers
to get into stock, and the insignificance of the supply,
having induced sellers to raise their pretensions, pur-
chasers have been under the necessity of paying en-
hanced terms. The little business done on Wednesday
was at prices quite is. per quarter above those current
in the beginning of the week, whilst on Friday a fur-
ther advance to the same extent was established, mak-
ing the total rise from the lowest point 2s. to 3s. per
quarter. Foreign free Wheat has likewise ex
cited attention, but its value has not got up quite
so much as that of English. The finer kinds of Dant-
zic, Rostock, and other favourite sorts, have been held
Is. to 2s. per quarter above previous prices, which has
had the effect of checking the demand ; and the actual
transactions were not particularly extensive either onWed-
nesiay or Friday, though the inclination to buy had under-
gone a decided increase towards the end of the week. The
duty rose, as was expected, to 9s. per qr. on Thursday, and
will attain the maximum point, next week; it is not
likely, however, to remain long at 10s. per quarter, if
the lately established advance in prices should be sup-
ported. Under these circumstances it may be pretty
safely concluded that no more wheat will for some
time to come be entered for home consumption, par-
ticularly as there is a prospect of relatively higher
rates being made for the article in bond than could
be obtained for it free. The demand for lock wheat
for export to France has been rather active since our
last, and several parcels have been taken for that desti-
nation; for the best Lower Baltic red 445. to 455. per
qr. have been paid, and good Dantzic has commanded
465. to 48s. per qr. The stock at present in bond here
is trifling; and as comparatively little is now on passage
from the north and east of Europe, there is not much
chance of an accumulation.

The market has been scantily supplied with English
and Scotch oats, whilst from Ireland only 2,654 qrs.
have been reported. Of the 29,631 qrs. of foreign re-
ceived, a large proportion is from Archangel. The
belief that the potato rot in Ireland will prevent us
obtaining anything like the accustomed quantity of this
grain from thence has given an impetus to the demand,
and the trade has been quite excited during the week,
Considering the useful properties of Indian corn, and
the probability that it will hereafter be extensively used
as a substitute for potatoes, the article has excited less
attention in the London market than might have been
expected. Good parcels of yellow have been freely
offered at 30s. to 325., and fine white at 31s. to 335. per
qr., without meeting with many buyers.—Mark-lane
Express.