The Sun.
London, England, 1856-10-10 00:00:00

ROYAL BRITISH BANK.

Yesterday, immediately on the adjudication of the fiat
in bankruptcy by Mr. Commissioner Evans against the
bank, Johnstone, the messenger of the court, with seve-
ral of his assistants, proceeded, under instructions from
Mr. Lee, the official assignee, and Messrs. Linklater, his
solicitors, to the head office, in Threadneedle-street, and,
after serving the adjudication of the court, entered on the
premises, and took fortioal possession of the bank. They
arrived there at 12 o'clock, and forthwith posted up the
adjudication in the bank ; but it was immediately re-
moved by the officers of the interim manager. Mr.
Wintle, one of the assistant messengers, proceeded to
seize the cash bags in the hands of the clErks, but was
immediately made to surrender them. The messengers
were then generally confronted by the interim manager
and his solicitor..;, Messrs. Chilton and Burton, and
Messrs. Amory, Travers, and Smith, who peremptorily
ordered them, in the name of the Court of Chancery, to
refrain from touching any of the books or effects of the
bank. The messengers of the Court of Bankruptcy deemed
it expedient to comply with these expostulations, but
refused to retire from the premises. Mr. Harding then
explicitly told them that he refused to recognise the
order of the Court of Bankruptcy, and said he would
only allow them to remain so long as they continued
passive. An armistice having been agreed upon, the
interim manager immediately proceeded to serve copies
of the order of the Court of Chancery on the Court of
Bankruptcy and on the official assignee, and also pro-
ceeded to the various branches of the bank in different
parts of the metropolis, in each of which, to the surprise
of the previous occupants, he found a messenger of the
• Court of Bankruptcy in possession, with whom he dealt
as he had done with those in Threadneedle-street. Yes-
terday at the Strand branch, about 400 depositors came
in and lodged their claims.

LIABILITY OP RAILWAY COMPANIEB.—At the Don.
caster County Court, on Monday, an action was brought
by a horse dealer named Thompson, residing at Man.
chester, against the Midland Railway Company, to re
cover the sum of 501., reduced damages, as compensa-
tion for the loss sustained by him in consequence of the
alleged neglect of the plaintiffs in not having forwarded,
according to contract, three valuable horses from Don-
caster to Manchester. The facts of the case are as fol-
lows :—The plaintiff attended the horse fair at Doncaster
in August last, and purchased there three valuable nags,
which he desired to forward to Manchester. A train
was advertised to leave Doncaster at 3.30 p.m., for
Manchester, by the Midland line, and the plaintiff's man
booked the three horses to go by that train. The plain-
tiff himself and his assistant also took tickets for the
same train, but they were informed, just before the time
of starting, that the horses could not go, as the train
was a fast one. The plaintiff, however, insisted on his
right to have them sent, as they were booked, stating that
he had made inquiries at the honking-office in the morn-
ing, and could have sent his horses by another route, if
he had not been told that they could go by the Midland
line. Ultimately tke horses were allowed to go by the
train, but at Swinton, about nine miles from Dorchester,
the boxes in which they were conveyed were detached
from the train. The plaintiff proceeded on his journey,
but did not miss the animals until he reached Sheffield.
He got to Manchester at 7 p.m., and at 10 p.m. made
inquiries at the station for the horses, but they bad not
arrived. On the following day he found that they had
come in early in the morning, but be found them in such
bad condition from exposure and neglect that he
scarcely knew them again ; they
had got cold, their legs
were swollen, and they had " staring coats." A vete-
' rinary surgeon was called in, but the horses were so
much deteriorated in value that the plaintiff bad been
unable to sell them, and bad them still upon his hands,
although, before leaving Doncaster, he had been
offered a profit of 151. upon one of them. For the de-
fence it was contended that the horses bad been booked
by the 3.30 p.m. train by mistake, and that the plaintiff
having a dealer's ticket ought to have looked after his
horses himself. The judge (Mr. W. Walker) told the
jury that they had to consider whether a breach of con-
tract had been committed by the defendants--of which
there could be little doubt—and to assess the damages.
The jury billed a teidict for the plaintiff, with 33, da*
tua.;es and 6/. 10 I. cats.