The Sun.
London, England, 1832-11-10 00:00:00

BANKRUPTCY COURT, Nov. 9.

EX-PARTS GREGORY CLARKE, IN RE JOHN CLARKE.
This was a case of some interest and importance,
as being the first in which the Court had been called
upon to exercise the power given it under the 13th
section of the Bankrupt Act, to assign the bond as
security'for the 2001. damages, recoverable by a
party against whom a fiat has been maliciously is-
sued, or to assess the damages short of that which
the Court might think the justice of the case required.l
Mr. MONTAGU and Mr. KEENE were for the ap-
pellant, Mr. SWANSTON and Mr. BACON for the re-
spondent. It appeared, from the very voluminous
affidavits filed by both parties, that the respondent,
Mr. W. Wildes, jun., of St. Neot's, had in
the year 1831 dealings with two brothers, named
John Clarke and Gregory Clarke, one of Newport
Pagnell, and the other of Fenny Stratford,
both corn dealers. In the month of March, that
year, Mr. Wildes sold to Mr. John Clarke a
quantity of corn to the value of 1351., and made
out the invoice in John Clarke's name alone, and
John Clarke gave him a bill for the amount, which
was afterwards dishonoured. He had also separate
dealings with Gregory Clarke, making out separate
invoices for him. John Clarke having sold a part
of the corn he had bought of Mr. Wildes to his
brother Gregory, Mr. Wildes, upon the dishonour
of John's bill, went to Gregory Clarke to endea-
vour to persuade him to pay so much of the bill as
the corn Gregory had bought of John amounted to,
but Gregory, being accountable to John only, re-
fused to do so. Whereupon, on the 14th of
March last, Mr. Wildes struck a docket against
both the brothers as his joint debtors. The com-
missioners, however, adjudicated John only to
be a bankrupt, and subsequently Mr. Wildes
procured the fiat against Gregory Clarke to be su-
perseded. Mr. Gregory Clarke having, however,
been publicly talked of as a bankrupt in con-
junction with his brother,having been put to the ex-
pense of 281., having had his feelings much harassed
and his credit perhaps endangered, now publicly
sought redress for the improper conduct of Mr.
Wildes, the respondent; but the vindication of his
character being his principal object, he wished to re-
cover no more than the expenses he had been put
to and the costs of this petition. The respondent,
in his affidavits, proved, NI, ith a view to show that
he had probable cause for thinking the brothers
partners, that John had been for many years in the
service of his brother Gregory as his agent; that the
waggons of Gregory Clarke were marked " Clarke
and Co.;" that many people believed the brothers
to be partners, and instances were given of Gregory's
interference in the affairs of John. The affidavits
in reply to this proved various facts, which tended
to show that Mr. Wildes was perfectly aware that
bGarnekgrourpytey,
was not in partnership with John.
Tile COURT, in giving its judgment, observed,
that the facts of there being no debt and no act of
that
were not of
Ar
. themselvesvii sufficientdes had, to on
thein.
duce the conclusion
legal sense of the word, acted maliciously, but other
circumstances in this case made it clear that he had
hoped to extort from Gregory Clarke the amount of
the debt due by his brother, knowing the two to
have no connection in business together. Mr. Gre-
gory Claike had it at his option to bring bis action
for the 200/., he might have recovered under the
statute, or to take the course he had done. The
respondent was greatly indebted to his forbearance
in taking that course, and the Court had great
pleasure in ordering Mr. Wildes to pay to Mr. Gre-
gory Clarke the expenses he had been put to by the
docket struck against him by the respondent, and
the costs of this petition as between attorney arid
client. Their Honours trusted that this would be
a warning, not only to Mr. Wildes, but to all 'peti-
tioning creditors, to take care how, they
,endangered
the credit of a trader without sufficient caution and
inquiry,

EXTENSIVE ROBBERY.—Yesterday WILLIAM
HOSKINS, Esq., the sitting Magistrate, was engaged
the whole of the morning in investipting the follow-
ing extensive robbery, and the most intense interest
seemed to prevail in the office, which was crowded
to excess, owing to the male prisoner having for-
merly been a merchant of opulence and respecta-
bility in the city.

The prisoner, William James Jones, a middle-
ag,d man, respectably attired in black, together with
Elizabeth Hicks and Lois Boon (who, he stated,
were his servants), were placed at the bar a little
after twelve o'clock, when the following evidence
was gone into :—•

Mrs. Sarah Birch de Windt stated, that about
three months ago she let a furnished house, No. I,
Winchester-row, to the prisoner Jones, for twelve
months. Last week she received information that
the property was being carried off, and on passing
the house on Wednesday morning, she discovered
that the garden-gate and street-door were wide
open; she entered, accompanied by two policemen,
and to her astonishment she found that the house
had been stripped of property, the amount of which
she could not then estimate, consisting of plate,
china, bed-furniture, a valuable library of books,
and other articles, and the house was left entirely
unprotected.

Stephen Marchant, Inspector of the D division,
deposed, that having been informed of the robbery,
he proceeded to Mr. Gideon's, a pawnbroker, in
the neighbourhood of Lisson-grove, where he found
that a quantity of bed-furniture had been pledged,
cud on comparing it with some hangings that re-
mained at the house in Winchester-row, found that
it exactly corresponded ; after making diligent i►►-
quiries, he ascertained that the prisoner .Tones had
been seen going in and out of No. 2, Bryanston-street,
Bryanston-square, where he was informed. that the
two female prisoners lodged, who had likewise been
seen repeatedly visiting Jones, at No. 1, Winchester-
row, and whose names he had ascertained. On
Wednesday evening he proceeded to Bryanston-
street, and asked to speak to Mrs. Hicks, when he
was told that she did not live there ; witness ac-
cordingly went away, but was told by a newsvender
in the neighbourhood that she had been denied;
early on Thursday morning he returned, accompanied
by a police constable, and a woman who knew the
prisoners; and while witness was talking to a
female who opened the door, Hicks came out
on the landing-place, on which he immediately
ran up stairs, and apprehended her ; witness asked
her where Mr. Jones was, and she denied
all knowledge of him ; he then searched her,
and found a duplicate of some bed-furniture in her
pocket, pledged for H. Is. On which she said that
Mrs. Boon was a party in it, and took him into her
bedroom; witness found the prisoner Boon lying in
bed, which had the appearance of two persons
having slept in it, and on perceiving a coat and pair
of trousers lying in the room, he desired the con-
stable instantly to search the house. The police-
man did so, and shortly afterwards returned with
Jones, half undressed, whom he said he found on
the top of the house, endeavouring to effect his
escape ; witness then handed over the woman to
the constable, and he conveyed them to the station-
house. Meanwhile Jones dressed himself, and re-
quested witness to convey him to a house in Port-
man—treet, and he would give them the duplicates
of all the articles which he had removed from No 1,
him' to a public-Votise ►n iiirtilnari-s?rei, I aim
desired the servant to give him the bundle which
he had left there a few days ago ; she accord-
ingly brought him a bundle, which he handed over
to witness, and which contained upwards of 100 du-
plicates ; he declared the two female prisoners were
innocent, and had acted only by his orders ; on
seatching Hick•,'s room, he found the set of
china produced, in a drawer, covered over with
clothes ; she refused to say who had given it to her,
till atter Jones was discovered, when she said she
had received it from him.—The china was identi-
fied by the prosecute ix as her property.
Jones here put several questions to Mrs. de
Windt, to show that a correspondence existed be-
tween them, and that they were on the point of
marriage, but Mr. HosiciNs interfered, as he consi-
dered them to be irrelevant to the question.

Mr. Benton, pawnbroker, of No. 244, High Hol-
born, produced a writing-desk and Hume's History
of England in sixteen volumes, handsomely bound,
pledged at his shop by the male prisoner for 51;
Burns's Works and others for 3/. 10s.; a silver jug
and silver castors for 21.; and Goldsmith's Works
for 125.; all of which the prosecutrix identified as
her property, and stated that the plate was not let
with the other furniture of the house to the prisoner,
but was locked up in a private closet, which had
been broken open.
Mr. Benton remarked, that he trusted the lady
had a good reference before letting a house, contain-
ing such valuables, to the prisoner, as it would be a
serious loss for the pawnbrokers to be obliged to
give up the property.
Mr. Hosiarrs replied, that he understood the
house had not been let to the prisoner by Mrs. de
Windt herself, but by her house agent.
Mr. Tomlinson, pawnbroker, of Upper Charles-
street, Bryanston-square, produced the following
articles, pledged at his shop by the male prisoner
and Hicks :—A pair of decanters for 10s.; a pair
of candlesticks Bs.;"three books IL; Shakspeare,
two vols., 11.45.; Tales of the Genii 10s.; five
books 11.55.; and a quantity of other works, to
the amount of between 10/. and 12/. The prisoner
Hicks pledged for the male prisoner.
Mr. HOSKINS-1-low do you know that ?—Mr.
Tomlinson here produced several letters, which the
prisoner Jones had written to him, requesting him
to lend the full value on the articles sent by his ser-
vant (Hicks), as they were only pawned for a
short time.

Mr. HOSKINS observed, that he never knew a
robbery more systematically planned, and desired
that the letters might be made a part of the
evidence.

About 25 other pawnbrokers produced property
pledged by the three prisoners, consisting of plate,
chimney-glasses, mirrors, bed-furniture, china, &c.
&c.; but to enter into the particulars more mi-
nutely would take too much space; suffice it there-
fore to say, that the office presentd more the ap-
pearance of a market or exchange than anything else.
The prisoner Jones, in his defence, entered into a
long account of his courtship with the prosecutrix,
and handed over two of her letters to him for the
Magistrate's perusal. lie said the marriage settle-
ment had been drawn up, and every thing so satis-
factorily arranged, that Mrs. de Windt had desired
him to make what repairs, and do as he liked in her
house in Winchester-row to make it comfortable for
neverm aft e tt
oho
ue
Imi
dr
omnhaearyvr i
have
forgc eo .n
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eiHrtoee
dvv w
use,pe
edn on
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oeurmit
hn
saidl
oy thatf h
he
er
propertyht them
n
had done so to enable him to repair the house,
which had cost considerably more than the articles
were pledged for. The two females had acted com-
pletely under his direction, and if any person was
to blame, it was himself, and he therefore hoped
the Magistrate would not make them suffer for his
faults.

A Gentleman, who was present with Mrs. de
Windt,• said that an offer of marriage had been made

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
ASSAULT.—The sitting Magistrates were calie.l
upon to adjust the differences which had led to a
hreach:of the peace between the lodgers in the fir 4,
and the lodgers in the third-floor of a dwelling--
house in Dean-street. The quarrel had commenced
betwixt the wives, and, Rs is generally the case, the
husbands had espoused their respective causes, and
a regular affray was the result. Accordingly the
first warrant was taken out by Mr. Palmer against
Mr. Gorden; and, in order to balance matters, Mrs.
Gorden took out a second warrant against Mrs.
Palmer, for alleged assaults during the fracas.
The rise and progress of the quarrel appeared to
he as follows :—The visitors to Mrs. Palmer were

indicated by a particular riag of the street-door bell,
and during the last few days their rings became in-
cessant, which, when duly answered, no person
could be discovered at the door. Mrs. Palmer by
no means approved of the exercise afforded by three
pairs of stairs, as her nimbleness was certainly not.
improved by the fact of sixteen stone iAeing packed
into somewhere about four feet perpendicular, there-
fore she vented aloud her suspicions that she was
indebted for these journeys to a little " tiff" which
had lately occurred between herself and Mrs. Gor-
den. This coming to Mrs. Gorden's eats, she was
proceeding up stairs, when she encountered Mr.
P. who taxed her with ringing the bell; aud, after
a short argument, conducted on both sides with
more warmth than politeness, Mr. P. concluded by
applying to Mrs. G. that particular epithet which is,
of all others, the most offensive to married ears.
Mrs. G. instantly ran to her husband and imparted
to him the cause of her indignation, declaring that
he was no man if he did not demand instant s
faction. Mr. G. swore he would, and went up
stairs for the purpose of calling Mr. P. out of his
room. When Mr. P. made his appearance, instead of
expressing regret at having urged the little word in
question, he burst into a roar of laughter, which so
provoked Mr. G. that he gave Mr. P. a gentle tap on
his cheek. Mr. P., assisted by Mrs. P., seized MI.
G., and in a twinkling capsized him under the ta-
ble, and commenced pummelling him with hand
and foot with the utmost celerity and vigour. Mrs.
G., hearing the noise, and guessing its meaning, to
use the figurative expression of one of the witnesses,
.1 flew up stairs like a roaring lion," and, laying
boll of Mrs. P., with one hearty tug tore the body
from the skirt of her new blue gown. Mrs. P.,
thus attacked, faced about, and putting her hand on
a curious structure of gauze and catgut, which Mrs,
G. had on her head, brought it away in a twinkling,
together with a considerable portion of her coil-
screw ringlets. Both ladies now set to work in
good earnest—fighting, scratching, and screaming,
with all the fury of a couple of cats, when tied by
their tails and thrown over a line. The husbands
at length stopped their combat, and parted their
wives, and the upshot was, that cross-warrants were
obtained again-t each other. Both ladies exhibited
their tattered apparel, Mrs. G. being particularly
loud in her lamentations of the irreparable damage
done to her best cap.
After a long and patient hearing of both sides,
the Magistrates became of opinion that the nature of
•,.•

WOR SHIP-S TREE T.
CHARGE OF• POlSONlNG.—Yesterday a middle-
aged woman, was charged by her husband, John
Wiltshire, a mechanic in Hoxton, under the follow-

ing circumstances :—The prosecutor said that about
a month ago he found, on returning home at night,
that his wife was absent. He partook of a pudding
which she had left, and soon after he became ex-
tremely ill, and was confined to his bed for a week.
Two of his children, about ten years of age, were
also atacked, but they soon recovered. They told him
that their mother made the pudding when intoxi-
cated, and that they observed her throw something
white into it.

Mrs. Dorking, neighbour, said that she' heard the
prisoner say, on leaving the house, thaUshe would
have the fifteen pounds his society woullgive at his
death.

It appeared that the prisoner came home on the
preceding day, and her husband then gave her into
custody.—The prisoner was remanded.

Q UE EN- S QUARE.
THE ROBBERY IN STAMFORD-STREET.— Yes t er•
day Charles Player and John Anderson were re-
examined on a charge of stealing about 501. worth
of plate from the house of Mr. Wood, in Stamford-
street, which was afterwards found in a blue bag in
the area. The following evidence was adduced :
A young woman, named Pack, residing in St.
James's-buildings, Clerkenwell, identified the bag
in which the plate was found as the same which
Anderson used to carry in his business. The mother
of the last witness stated that Anderson and Smirke,
who was at liberty on his recognizances to appear
this day, but who had not come forward, were ac-
quainted and formerly lodged together.
The prisoners, who denied all knowledge of the
robbery, were fully committed for trial.
WHOLESALE PIG-STEALING.—John Dibbing and
Jeremiah Pratt were charged with stealing ten pigs,
the property of Mr. Hammond, of Clapham. The
pigs were stolen from a field at Clapham, and nine
were, after a long search, found at the house of Mr.
Manning, at Lambeth-walk, who said he had bought
them of Dibbins. The prisoner Dibbins said he
knew nothing of the robbery, the pigs having been
sold to him by Pratt, who stated that he purchased
them from a countryman.—The prisoners were re-
I mantled.