The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-09 00:00:00

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.-.This Day.

(Before Mr. Justice Blackburn).
CHARGE OF ARSON.

with the atmospheric air, but it appeared that the
night on which the fire occurred was one of the very
coldest of the late inclement winter, and it seemed that
the effect of this exeess of cold was to drive the vapourback
into the house, and by this means the flooring and the walls
had been covered with it, and thus presented the appear-
ance of black paint that was observed by the witness. It
appeared that almost immediately after the alarm of fire
had been given the prisoner and his wife made their ap-
pearance from the back of the premises fully dressed, and
the bed which they were supposed to have occupied was
found ready for use, but no one seemed to have been in it.
The prisoner at the time he was first seen was carrying a
tin box, but the only thing that box appeared to have
contained was the policy of insurance that had been effected
with the company,and upon one of the officers of the company
observing it was a bad job, and inquiring if he could give
any explanation as to the cause of the fire, he said he was
quite unable to do so. The fire seemed to have been ex-

tinguished without much trouble, and upon the premises
being examined afterwards a coil of rope was found at the
top of the house which might have been used to enable any
one to escape from the roof by means of it if he had foun d
it necessary. A watch was also found in the cellar burned
to such an extent as could not have been occasioned by such
a fire as the one that occurred on the prisoner's promises,
and two surveyors who examined the house after the fire
expressed their opinion that the value of the salvage was
not more than about £lOO, and that there could not have
been more than £2OO worth of property upon the premises
at the time the fire took place. The prisoner seemed to
have subsequently represented that the smell of tar to which
some of the witnesses had called his attention was occasioned
by a quantity of oilcloth having been consumed, but there
did not appear to have been any cinders or other refuse such
as must have been discovered if an article of this descrip-
tion to any extent had been burned. There were a va-
riety of other minute facts brought forward in support
of the prosecution, and among them was proof that
shortly before the fire a board had been placed over the
glass fanlight of the front door, which would have had.
the effect of preventing any appearance of flame or fire
being observed from the outside of the house.
A number of witnesses were examined yesterday, but
the case was adjourned until to-day.
The evidence adduced this morning went to show that
previous to the fire the prisoner purchased a quantity of
jewellery, to the amount of £1.50, as an addition to his
stock.

Mr. baton, professor of chemistry at Charing-cross
Hospital, Mr. Moore, and Mr. Crook, were examined to
show that the deposit found on the walls, flioring, and
other portions of the house, agreed with the appear-
ances that would 1.1) produced by the burning of a large
quantity of oil cloth.

Dr. (Mug was recalled. He said he had made ce
fain experiments with oil cloth; and he could not nue
iu the opinfOn-that the appearances were such as wont
be produced by burning oil cloth.

(The jury had not ruturnod a verdict whoa we went to
press).

THIRD COURT.

It will be recollected that last session three persons
(father, mother, and daughter) were found guilty of un-
lawfully inducing a lady to dispose of certain funded
property. They were brought up this morning fcr
judgment, when the Common Sergeant sentenced Emily
Hastead to 1 year, and Susan Hastead, the mother, and
John Hastead, the tether, the former to 6 mouths, and
the latter 4 months' imprisonment.

LONDON, CHATHAM, AND DOVER,
RAILWAY COMPANY.

MEETING THIS DAY.

A general meeting of the debenture holders of
this company was held at the Lundon Tavern to-
day, for the purpose of adopting steps to prevent
the further depreliation of the property of the com-
pany, already reduced 50 per cent. in value, and
to consider the heads of the bills now before Par-
liament, and to provide the necessary expenses for
carrying the most eligible of the bills.
Mr. Scott was moved to the chair, but Mr.
Hodgson said that as he represented the debenture
holders and convened the meeting, :heinsisted that
he was entitled to preside, and took the chair amidst
some dissent.

The CHAIRMAN, after some preliminary observa-
tions, said that the conduct pursued towards the
debenture holders by the directors of the company
was quite unjustifiable. The question raised
by the circumstances of. the company were
applicable in principle, if not in degree, to all the
other railways m the kingdom, for in the cases of
these undertakings loans and debentures were re-
sorted to, after the committee had been ap-
pointed to protect the interests of the
debenture holders. In October last a
meeting was held, at which steps were
taken to prevent the directors being relieved
from their liability. He was sorry to say that on
that occasion two gentlemen held up their hands
against the views adopted by the majority of the
meeting. Ultimately Lord Harris, the chairman,
consented to allow the committee of the debenture
holders to inspect the accounts, but, what with
erasures, interpolations, and other alterations of
the original record, it became a mass of
inextricable confusion, and utterly unintelligible
It appeared that over £7,000,000 had been ex-
pended. Only £300,000 had been spent in land,
and the remainder of the money amounted with that
sum to only about £200,000 ; and what he would
ask was what had become of the remaining
£5,000,000 ? He • condemned the bill pro-
moted by the directors, which proposed
the suspension of the claims of the deben-
ture holders for five years, which he contended
was confiscation, and would enable the directors to
complete expensive works that would not be pro-
ductive at present. The bill of the debenture
holders would vest the management of the affairs
of the company for five years in a board, the
majority of which were to be composed of de' en-
ture holders. He concluded a lung speech by
moving a resolution to the effect that the bill pre-
sented by the debenture holders was entitled to the
approval of the meeting."
Mr. VANSITrART seconded the motion, and, after
some discussion, it was agreed to.
The proceeedings terminated with a vote of
thanks to the chairman.

THE CIVIL SERVICE APPOINTMENTS. Mr.
Frank Nutley, having been one of the first ten in a compe-
tition of thirty candidates, to be a clerk in the Post Office
Savings Bank. Mr. John Henry Oliver, to be temporary
clerk in the Board of Trade. Mr. William Windham
Cutler, having been first iu a competition of three candi-
dates, to be temporary clerk in the Adjutant-General's
Office. Mr. George Stephen Tovey, to be temporary clerk
in the Board of Trade. Mr. Cornelius Hannan, to be
assistant of excise. Mr. Edward Ballinger, having been
one of the first two in a competition of five candidates,
to be assistant surveyor of taxes. Messrs. Bertram
William Seton and Stamford Raffles Thompson, having
been the first two iu a competition of six candidates, to be
• I
temporary clerks kat, Post CAM

The trial of Stephen Samuel Wales, who surrendered to
an indictment charging him with wilfully setting fire to
certain premises in his occupation in the Prince of Wales-
road, with a view of defrauding the Western Fire In-
surance Office, was resumed this morning.
This case was postponed from the last session, and
although the evidence extended to very considerable
length the facts lay in a small compass. The prisoner
occupied a
.house situated 27, Prince of Wales'-crescent,
llaverstock-hill, and he carried on there the business
of a dealer in unredeemed pledges, jewellery, and
articles of that description. At the close of last year
he applied to the Western Insurance Company to effect
an insurance for the awn of £),30 against fire upon
his stock and furniture, and the surveyor of the company
having examined the premises an I the stock appeared to
have considered the amount wa , reasonable, and iu Novem-
ber a policy WAS effected for the amount munitioned. The
tire thet was the stiLject of inquiry took place soon after j
12 o'clock at night ova the 21st January, and it appeared
that very some after the :Jana had been given by the police,
three of the Western fire brigade men, If tyney, Coots, and
iCerrard, went to the place with a small hand-pump, and
upon looking through the shutter of the back window they
saw the fire was blazing under the counter, but it did not
appear to be at all of the character of a serious conflagration,
and the firemen broke open the door with the intention of
endeavouring to extinguish the fire by means of the hand-
pump. As they were approaching the spot, however,
there was a somewhat violent burst of fl tine and smoke,
and at the same time the firemen noticed a strong smell
of tar. It was afterward observed that the walls and
flooring all over the house were covered with some sub-
stance that exhibited the appearance of black paint,
and this was relied upon by the prosecution as being
an important fact •in connection with the charge
against the prisoner. It appeared that Dr. Odling and one
or two other scientific gentlemen were consulted in refer-
ence to the matter, and the opinion they arrived at was that
the burst of flame spoken to by the firemen was the result
Of an explosion of an ingredient called tar oil, which is a
very inflammable substance, and which when ignited
would give forth a large quantity of vapour. • This vapour
would under ordinary circumstances have moved readily