The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-13 00:00:00

THE ALLEGED FRAUD AND CONSPIRACY AT

BRIGHTON.

An application was made on the part of the prose-
cution in the alleged fraud and conspiracy case at
Brighton for the costs incurred in relation to the writ
of habeas corpus issued to bring the defendants to
London. The Learned Judge was attended by the
solicitors in the case, and the matter was discussed,
as also an application on the part of the defendants.
On the part of the prosecution the application was for
costs, and on the part of the defendants his Lordship
was asked to quash the writ of habeas corpus.
Mr. Baron MARTIN, after hearing the parties,
granted a summons, returnable on Tuesday next, for
the defendants to show cause why they should not pay
to the prosecutor the costs incurred attendant on the
writ of habeas corpus.
According to the present arrangement, Mr. Baron
Martin will attend chambers on Tuesday and Friday
until further notice.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Sept. 12.
(1340 re Mr. Commissioner PANE.)
IN RE SPARROW.
This was a certificate meeting.
The bankrupt was described as Owen Sparrow, of
Aldgate High-street, grocer and tea dealer. The
statement of accounts, extending from the Ist of Ja-
nuary, 1849, to the 27th of June, 1851, show the
following:—Creditors, 1,1881; ditto, holding security,
7151.; liabilities, 2041.; profits, 1,1151. ; estimated
value of furniture, 801.; profits on sale of lease, 65/.;
debtors, good, 161.; property, 1121.; ditto in hands
of creditors, 714/. ; trade, expenses, 1,049/. ; personal,
3451.; interest and law costs, 112/. ; losses, 4371. ;
liabilities per contra, 2041.
Mr. LINKLATER, for an opposing creditor, said that
Mr. Lawrence, who supported the bankrupt, was ab-
sent, wished for an adjournment, and with his Ho-
nour's sanction he bad no objection on the part of his
client.

Some parties opposed the adjournment, but even-
tually his Honour decided that the meeting should be
adjourned until the Bth of November, and that all
the creditors admitted by the bankrupt on his ba-
lance-sheet, who had given or should give notice of
opposition should be heard on the adjourned day.
IN RE MATTHEWS.
This was the last examination of the bankrupt, de-
scribed as a bookseller, of Paternoster-row. His
debts were 1,677/., extending over a period of three
years and a half, and
.his assets, in good debts and
property, amounted to 3141. His profits had been
3,3861.; losses, 6841.; and expenses of various kinds,
4,0871.
The bankrupt passed unopposed.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.
A great number of seamen were brought before the
Lord Mayor, in consequence of their applications for
registered tickets at the office of the General Shipping
Registrar.
Mr. Coleman, from the Shipping Registration-
oEce, attended in the cases of two of the defendants,
against whom serious charges of desertion were made.
William Thomas Dawson, seaman, was put to the
bar.

Mr. Coleman—The defendant applied to me on the
6th of the present month for a registered ticket. He
stated that he had signed articles on the Bth of May
with the Bride, and that he had deserted her at St.
John's, in July, 1851.
Mr. John Temperly, shipowner, of Leadenhall-
street, said—l am the owner of the Bride, I did not
sanction the defendant's leaving the ship, and I have
been put to great loss and inconvenience by the
desertion of this man and others of the crew. The
vessel was detained 15 days before a crew could be
got to work her home, and the expense was most
serious.
The LORD MAvoa—Defendant, what have you to
say to this accusation ? Defendant—The fact is, my
Lord, we all got drunk and run away at St. John's.
Mr. Coleman—No doubt they were all largely paid
for their services elsewhere. In Quebec alone, during
the last season, there was as many as 7,362 desertions
from our vessels, and the owners were put to enor-
mous expense in procuring substitutes. The Bride is
expected daily, but if this impediment had not occur-
red she would certainly have been here 15 or 16 days
ago,

Two decent-looking countrymen, named William
Plaskett and Joseph Callum, the former of whom de-
scribed himself as a private constable, and the latter
as a tenant upon the estates of the Duke of Buccleuch,
at Beaulieu, near Southampton, and Alfred 7'yrell, a
gold-beater at Stepney, were placed at the bar before
Mr. Hammill, charged with having burglariously
entered the premises of Mr. Richard Hughes, land-
lord of the King's Arms public•house, in the White-
chapel-road, with intent to commit a felony.
Sergeant Hope, H 3, stated that while on duty in
Whitechapel, shortly after four o'clock that morning,
he observed the three prisoners emerge, in the com-
pany of two prostitutes, from a narrow court at the
side of the prosecutor's house, and, having been ap-
prised that an attempt had been made to break into
the place on the previous night, he detained the whole
of them while a policeman who was with him pro-
ceeded up the court to examine the state of the pre-
mises. After a short interval the constable returned
and reported that the side-door of the public-house
was wide open, and that an evident attempt had been
made to force the shutters of the bar-window, from
which one of the screws had been removed. In the
meantime the prisoner Plaskett contrived to give them
the slip, and was running at full speed down the
street, when he was stopped and secured by another
officer, to whom he exclaimed, " For God's sake
don't lock me up, as I am a private constable myself,
and I will give you 51. to square it." The prisoners
were then conveyed to the station-house, and on
searching Plaskett a large screw, which was subse-
quently found to correspond exactly with the one re-
maining in the window-shutters of the prosecutor's
bar, was found in his coat-pocket, and for which the
prisoner accounted by stating that it belonged to one
of the windows of his house in the country.
Isaac Radford, a potman at the public-house, iden-
tified the screw produced as the same with which the
bar-shutter was fastened down when he went to bed
at half-past one o'clock that morning, at which time
the side-door and the rest of the premises were pro-
perly secured.

On being called upon for their defence the prisoners
earnestly protested their innocence, and Plaskett said
that he had come to town accompanied by a party of
the Duke of Buccleuch's tenants to see the Exhibition,
and that he was utterly at a loss to account for the
missing screw having been found in his possession.
Mr. HAMMILL observed that it was a must sus-
picious case, and ordered the prisoners to be remanded
until Tuesday next, but consented in the meantime
to take bail for their appearance.

THAMES.
Mr. YARDLEY gave his decisison in a matter of
importance to members of benefit societies, and which
was discussed at length on a former day, when Mr.
David Brown, president of the Friendly Brothers
Society, appeared to answer the complaint of an old
man named George Haydon, whose superannuation
allowance had been reduced from 25. 6d. to ls. ad.
per week. He had been a member for upwards of
tbrty-five years. There was another aged man, who
had been a member fifty years, whose pension had
been reduced in a similar proportion, and he and some
others were as much interested in the decision as the
person who took out the summons. The answer to
the case set up was that the articles had been revised
and certified by Mr. Tidd Pratt, the barrister appointed
for that purpose, and that in consequence of the di-
minution in the capital stock or funds of the society
it had become necessary to reduce the superannuation
allowances from 2s. 6d. to is. 3d. per week.
Mr. YARDLEY said that since the case was last be-
fore him he had given it his best consideration and
consulted the law-books, but could not find any case
like it or any decision bearing upon the question. He
must, therefore, rely on his own ability and decide
to the best of his judgment.
The defendant said that Mr. Tidd Pratt had been
referred to, and his opinion was that the rules were
binding on every member.
Mr. YARDLEY said that Mr. Tidd Pratt could not
decide the question. He wished that gentleman had
power to decide all disputes of this description be-
tween members of benefit societies ; but, as it was
thrown on bim (Mr. Yardley), he should not shrink
from giving a decision. If he could agree with Mr.
Tidd Pratt, who was a gentleman of great talent and
experience, he should have much pleasure in doing
so. He had, however, come to a different conclusion.
When the superannuation allowance was granted the
old rules were in existence, not the revised ones, and
he believed the complainant had a vested interest in
the funds, and could not be deprived of his allowance
of 2s. 6d. per week originally granted. Ile therefore
gave judgment in favour of the complainant. At the
same time, he must say, he had come to that conclu-
sion with some difficulty ; but it would be destructive
to the interests of such institutions as these if he had
come to any other.