The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-10 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.-Aug. 9.

(Before the Assistant-Judge.)
George Newman, 49, described as a horse•dealer,
was indicted for fraudulently obtaining by false
pretences from Hugh Ward Saunders, a cheque for
the payment of £5O, with intent to cheat and de-
fraud him thereof.

Mr. Sleigh and Mr. Orridge were for the prose-
cution, instructed by Mr. E. Lewis ; and Mr. Met-
calfe, by Mr. Vaughan, defended the prisoner.
The case, which was a rather protracted one,
may he very shortly stated. The prisoner, it ap-
peared from the evidence, was mixed up with a
regular gang of persons, who lived by cheating and
swindling the public by .means of advertising
horses for sale, as warranted in every respect, but
which were utterly worthless, except for Atcheler's
yard. The prosecutor in this case was a gentleman
residing at Charlton, in Kent, and on the 16th of
June he went to some stables, IA, Baker's-mews,
Portman-square, in consequence of an advertise-
ment, of which the following is a copy :—" A first-
class riding or driving gelding, 15 hands two inches,
very handsome, a bay with block points, possessing
breeding, action, and substance, carries a lady, capi-
tal temper, and easy of management, property of a
gentleman. A warranty and a reasonable time
given for approval. Stables, IA, Baker's-mews,
Portman-square." He found the prisoner there in
livery undress, and on inquiry about the horse he
was informed that it was " Mr. Cook's, a gentleman
of fortune, whose son had had it, but he had joined
a regiment of carabiniers that had gone out to
India." The price for the horse was 50 guineas ;
the prosecutor agreed to give as many pounds, and
the prisoner gave him a warranty (produced). The
prosecutor then gave him a cheque for £5O, payable
to " William Cook, Esq.," and took the horse
away. He had it examined. It turned out per-
fectly unsound, worthless for the purpose he required
it for, and unable to work, and it was returned.
The prisoner had given the address of William
Cook, Esq.," at 5, Hanover-cottages, Regent's-park,
where it seemed a Mr. Cook was known, but he had
not been seen there since the Derby day, or about
that time, and the prisoner could not be found. The
prosecutor gave the cheque fully believing the pri-
soner's statements were true. While the bargain-
ing was going on, the prisoner said Mr. Cook had
a farm of 200 acres a short way from London, pro-
duced a written authority to sell the horse, and said
he was Mr. Cook's bailiff. A person calling him-
self Cook did in May apply, in answer to an ad-
vertisement, about taking a house, No. 5, Hanover-
cottajes, and he promised to take it in three weeks,
and received permission to have letters sent
there as his future residence. The case was
placed in the hands of Police-sergeant White, 16
D, who knew both the prisoner and " Wm. Cook,
Esq.," as companions in horse-chaunting transac-
tions, and on the sth of July he succeeded in finding
the prisoner somewhere near Montague-square.
They were also in the habit of using one public-
house.

The prisoner's answer to the charge was that he
had merely sold the horse on the authority of Mr.
Cook, between whom and himself there existed the
relationship of master and servant only. The cheque
was cashed directly after it was given.
The jury found the prisoner guilty.
The Assistant-Judge said it was important for the
prisoner that there was no former conviction laid
against him, but it was quite clear that he was one
of a class of persons who carried on a systematic
course of plunder upon the public by means of mock
advertisements for the sale of horses, which they
would warrant sound though utterly worthless.
The prosecutor was entitled to the thanks of the
community for the way in which he had acted
when he discovered the fraud that had been prac-
tised upon him, the result of which was that one of
the principal agents of a dangerous confederacy had
been brought to justice. He doubted whether he
ought not to pass a sentence of penal servitude, but
as a warning to the others, he must pass a severe
sentence or imprisonment and hard labour-18
calendar months.

SECOND COURT.
(Before Mr. Payne.)
A young woman named Smith, who was convicted
in February last, of larceny, as a servant, and sen-
tenced to six months' hard labour, applied to the
learned judge under these circumstances :—She
stated that, when she was taken into custody, she
left at her master's a box, containing all she pos-
sessed except the clothes she was wearing, and
some wages were due to her. On being discharged
she applied to her master, Mr. Adams, a publican,
in Air- street, Piccadilly, for the restitution of her

... ___
box and the payment of wages, but she was told
that the wages would not be paid unless she sued for
them, and the law compelled the payment ; and, as
to her box, she found that her master had, on her

conviction, given it up to the police, who delivered
it to the high bailiff, in the usual way, as prisoner's
forfeited property, and sold it in a fortnight after
she was in prison under her sentence. She had,

therefore, now, nothing in the world except what
she stood up in, and what could she do ? She had
no means of getting another situation.
The learned Judge said he was afraid he could
not help her in the matter, but he thought her
master had no right to give up her box, under the
circumstances, to the police, in order that it might
be sold by the high bailiff. It was a very hard
proceeding.
In a case of larceny in a dwelling.house which
was committed by the prisoner while she sent a
little girl out to buy a pennyworth of crinol,ine
cane, the learned Judge remarked, on the crino.ine
being produced, that he certainly had never seen
any crinoline before, but he, like everybody else,
had often experienced the inconvenience it occa-
sioned. _ _ _

John Border, 68, and Charles Border, 28, drovers,
father and son, were indicted for a fraud, com-
mitted under circumstances exhibiting a great deal
of cunning and ingenuity.
Mr. Cooper and Mr. Best were counsel for the
prosecution ; the prisoners were defended by Mr.
M'Donnell.

The younger prisoner went into a public-house,
kept by the prosecutor, Mrs. W. V. Townsend, at
Hounslow, and called for some beer. He was
joined soon afterwards by his father, who pre-
tended not to know him, and they got into conver-
sation about a horse, which one wanted to purchase
of the other. It was outside the house, in a cart,
which had the name of " Benjamin Yelding, God-
aiming, Surrey," upon it. The old man pretended
that he had been in great distress, and begged
that the other would buy the horse, as he had the
bailiffs in the house. It was agreed that it should
be sold for £l6, and a warranty was made
out, and Charles asked the other his
name, and asked the landlady to write it, as
he could not. Charles then put down fourteen
somethings, which were supposed to be sovereigns,
but John said he could not trust a stranger, and
must have the other two. Charles then asked the
landlady to trust him with two pounds until the
next day, and he would leave the horse in her
stable the while. Believing it to be a genuine
transaction, she lent the £2, and the horse was
taken out of the cart. It then occurred to the old
man, that he had to take the cart somewhere, a
mile or so off, where he had sold it, and he was too
weak and feeble to drag it himself, so they borrowed
the horse to take the cart home, saying, it would
be all right, and would be returned in half an hour.
It is needless to say it was not. The prisoners
throughout pretended never to have seen each other•
before, and the son addressed his father as " Sir,"
while dealing for the horse. By this artfully-con-
trived trick they cheated the landlady of £2.
The jury found both guilty, and it seemed that
they had been before engaged in horse-dealing
matters of a very questionable character.
Mr. Payne sentenced each of them to 18 months'
hard labour.