The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-27 00:00:00

IRELAND.

THE TIPPER, illY BANK—TIE DIVIDEND.
DUBLIN, May 26,—Tile Freeman's Journal con-
tains au important announcement on the affairs of
the Tipperary Bank ; namely, that the assets have
already been made available for striking a dividend
of 2s. in the pound, payable on and after the 17th
of June ; and that simultaneously with the divi-
dend, the official assignee proposes to make a call
on all the contributories of 401. per share, or four
times the amount of the nominally paid up capital
The number of shares subject to this call is 5,439,
from which, however, must be deducted a great
many for insolveucies, and not a little besides for
debts due to shareholders, which they will be en-
titled to set off against the call; 'so that the amount
which the call will produce cannot possibly be esti-
mated ; and the Freeman adds, with much proba-
bility, that heavy as this demand upon the share-
holders is, it is quite clear that it is only a first
instalment. To this comfortahle intelligence the
Freeman adds the subjoined particulars :
The following is the amount of claims as near as can
be estimated :—Deposit receipts admitted, 195,0001. ;
current accounts. 49,0001.; Bank of Ireland. Bank of Scot-
land, and unpaid letters of credit, 23,0001 ; English
drafts overdue, 105,000/. ; acceptance due 29th May,
17,0001. ; deposit, receipts, 41,5001. ; total,, 430,5001.
On the other side of the account there are—Cash in bank,
Government stock, and bills remaining due, 25,0001. ;
bills overdue at date of official manager's appointment
(a large proportion bad), 56,000/. ; bills since overdue,
12,0001. ; overdrawn accounts, incuding John Sadleir's,
350,0001. The official manager states in his affidavit
that he does not believe that 5,0001. in addition to the
sum already realised can be got within three months,
and it is of the greatest importance that an immediate
call should be made to prevent shareholder.; from being
exposed to the ruinous consequences of hostile proceed-
ing%

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—Iay 26.

THAMES.- -CHARGE OF PlRACY.—William Lewis, a
seaman, and described as a native of Chatham, aged 26
years, was brought before Mr. Yardley, charged with
feloniously conspiring to murder the captain and officers
of the ship Stebonheath, and to piratically run away
with the said ship on the high seas within the jurisdic-
tion of the Admiralty of England.
The prisoner, a tall, dark, and resolute-looking fellow,
was brought up from Gravesend on Saturday evening by
Inspector R. White and Inspector Spain, of the Thames
Police, and they produced and laid on the table of the
court the following articles :—A bottle of laudanum, a
keg containing very strong brandy, two bowie knives in
sheaths, two six-barrel Colt's revolvers, loaded with
powder and balls ; two single-barrelled pistols, loaded in
a similar manner ; a flask of gunpowder, a bag of bul-
lets, five small boxes containing percussion-caps, a heavy
and dangerous weapon called a life-preserver, three shot
moulds, one large bonnie knife, a watch in a case, a
purse containing a sovereign, two half-sovereigns, two
half crowns, a shilling, and two sixpences, a leathtr belt,
a canvas bag, a piece of wood cut from a ramrod, and a
small bottle of scents. The watch in the case is a very
handsome Geneva silver watch, and not such a one as a
common sailor would be likely to purchase.
Capt. J. Sergeant said he was the commander of the
ship Stebonheatb, of London, which arrived in the Lon-
don Decks on Sunday morning. The prisoner was a sea-
man, and he shipped him in Melbourne. His crow con-
sisted of 36 in all, and the passengers were 22 in num-
ber. The Stebonheath had on board as part of her cargo
61,000 ounces of gold, value 244,000/. The prisoner
conducted himself badly the day after he came on board,
and claimed as his own a chest belonging to an-
other man, and in his (the captain's) presence. The
man came on board the next day, and the prisoner
was compelled to give up the chest. Ile left the port of
Melbourne on the 17th of Feb., and five days afterwards
was informed by a man named Whittington that the pri-
soner had proposed to murder the officers, put the pas-
sengers in confinement, and run away with the ship. He
caused the prisoner to be immediately arrested and put
into irons, and went forward' and took the firearms,
powder, and shot, the kegof brandy, the bottle of lauda-
num, and other things out of the forecastle.
Mi. Yartiley—eYou mean the arms and other things
on the table of the Court ?
Capt. Sergeant —Yes, sir. The prisoner was kept in
irons all the voyage, and occasionally unwed to walk
the quarter-deck.
Mr. Yardley—Are the statements made to you by
Whittington and Balitho inserted in the official log-
book ?
Capt. Sergeant—They are, sir.
The witness then read a small Portion, of the entry,
when Mr. Yardley stopped him and said he had best
have an account of the transaction from the seamen to
whom the alleged proposal to murder the officers and
then run away with the ship was made.
Thomas Wnittington, a seaman, deposed as follows—

I joined the ship Stebonheath at Melbourne, The pri
soner came on board the ship the same day. The day
after we left Melbourne I was on the topgallant fore-
casCe on the look-out. The prisoner came up to me and
said, " What a fine prize this ship would be fur the
Russians to fall in with." I knew there was plenty of
gold on board, for I helped to bring it into the ship. I
laughed when the prisoner made the remark. The pri•
Boner then made soma remark about the crew being
cooked if the Russians took the ship, unless they fell in
with a British man-of- war, and then they should be pre ced
into the service. rho prisoner said he had a keg of
brandy, and asked me to drink. I did drink, and the
brandy was so strong that it nearly took my breath
away, and I said, " This. is brandy." The prisoner
said, " Yes, that is the right sort," and then began
to talk about killing the officers and seizing the
ship, an& said it might be done easily. The prisoner
also said, "I'll sign a contract with my heart's blood if
you will stick by me." The prisoner then said, " Row
would you like to fall in with a share of the gold ?", I
said we should not be strong enough to take her. The
prisoner said he would be the master of the cabin in five
minutes, that he would do it alone, but that it was too
much for one, and three would be better. He then asked
me who had pistols in the forecastle. I told him I did
not know, and he said we must bring them up and find
out who had them, and get them all up. He then said,
"You were at the Ballarat riots, and you ought not to be
afraid of a pistol." I said I was no more afraid of a pistol
than he was. I then leant against the side of the vessel,
and the prisoner said "Don't be studying about
it." When I told him I was no more afraid of a
pistol than he was, he said he knew that, and that was the
reason he put it to me. The prisoner told me to turn into
my bunk and consider of it, as the affair must come off in
the middle watch. When eight bells struck I turned into
my hammock. Nothing more was said that watch. After
that in the dog-watch, from six to eight, at the beginning
of it, I was leaning against a water cask on deck, and the
prisoner said, " What do you think of it ?" I told the
prisoner he wouknot be able to manage the affair, and he
had better leave it alone. - He asked me if there was any
one else would join in the plot to murder the facers and
seize the ship, and I told him I did not know. Ha said"he
would try Jonathan, meaning Hugh Kent; and that I had
no pluck, and that he bad plenty of it. He had shots
flying about him while in the Peruvian service, like music."
Flom eight to twelve on the Tuesday forenoon I noticed
Walter Bolitho leaning over the prisoner's bunk and in
earnest conversation with him, and he was showing
him something. The prisoner came again to me on the
Thursday, while it was his watch on deck, and talked
about the proposed mutiny to seize the ship again, and
said, "Have you made up your mind ?" I said, "No,
you had better leave it alone. I shall give it up." He
said again I ha] no pluck. I told him it would not go
any further. Oa the Friday users lug I revealed all the
prisoner bad said to the chief mate. I had previously
spoken to Walter B
In answer to questions by Mr. Yardley, the witness
said he never had any intention to join the prisoner, but
he humoured him to get all he could out of him, with
the determination to reveal the hlirible plot on the first
opportunity. The prisoner, when he first touched upon
the matter, said, " Here is a keg of brandy, and here is
a bottle of stuff (laudanum), and I will give all the craw
a dose, and quiet them if they won't join us." The pri-
soner also proposed that witness should stand at one
gangway with his six-barrel revolver, and shoot every
one that came from below on deck, while he (prisoner)
stood at another gangway and shot all that came up.
Mr. Yardley—Did the prisoner know you had a re-
, volver?
Whittington—Yes, sir. He said he could soon settle
the captain and chief mate, and he had two revolvers
and a single-barn Led pint 1, and he would then have 11
shots to spare ; and as to the passengers, after he ha
settled the captain and mate quietly, he would soon do
for them, as he was a dead shot. Tue prisoner also said
he would shoot any passenger who interfered.
The prisaner; on being asked if he had any questions
to put to the witness, said—He has sworn all falsehoods.
He and William Bolitho were the first to speak to me
about it, to murder the officers and scuttle the ship.
Mr. Yardley—l will hear your defence another time.
The Prisoner bad just come from the diggings
when I joined the Stehonneath.
Walter Bolitho, a seaman, who also joined the Stebon-
heath in Melbourne, said on Feb. 18th he was looking
out on the forecastle ends, and the prisoner came up and
asked him if he was ever on the coast of Callao, and said
he (the prisoner) was in the Peruvian erviee while
the Peruvians were at war with the Chi ians. The wit-
ness then in a low tone related a variety of adventures
which the prisoner mentioned to him, the firing upon
a town, running away with a schooner, shooting senti-
nels, imprisonments, escapes, fights, and stealing gold.
Mr.'Yardley desired the witness to state what he
knew of the plot to seize the ship and kill the officers.
The witness said the prisoner came to me and said,
"This ship will be a fine prize for the Russians.
be -- if we go home to be pressed into men of-war.
There are three tons and a half of gold in this ship."
The prisoner then said, "How would you like your
share of the gold ?" I said " I should like it very well,
but that will never come to pass." The prisoner said,
"You only stick by rue. I have everything ready fur
it, and I will tell you how it is to be done."

At this stage of the investigation Mr. Yardley fmicl it
was mearly five o'clock, and there was a good deal of
business to be disposed of. The case could not be com-
pleted that day, but ultimately must be sent before a
jury. He asked if the mats of the ship were in at-
tendance ?

Inspector White—No, sir ; they aro busy getting the
gold out of the ship, and cannot attend this day.
Mr. Yardley—Very well. I cannot go further into
the ea•e to•day. The prisoner is reinarido.
Tire prisoner endeavoured to win over a man named
Hugh Kelt t) his' horrible designs, as well as Whitting-
ton and ILlitho. The prisoner, who came on board,
prepared to carry out his nefarious plot, told the men