The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 12, 1861.

They took place in June and July last, and entries
of them were made in the books. _ _

Cross-examined—Witness had spoken to Mr.
Dawson that morning upon the subject of the case.
He asked him his opinion upon the points of law
that had been raised on the previous day. (A
laugh.) He did not have any conversation with him
upon the subject of the evidence he was to give.
He would swear that the entries were made in the
month of July, and appeared in the books at that
date. The entries were made by the defendant.
Mr. James Cooke said—l am a currier and leather
dealer, residing at Walsall. Mr. Chapman was my
agent at Northampton in July last. On the 9th or
10th of that month I was at Northampton, and I
bought the goods in question of the defendant, and
received the invoice now produced. I paid for the
good on the second day after. I paid in gold' and
notes. The transaction was entered in my books,
and the goods were delivered to Chapman by my
orders. In consequence of my receiving informa-
tion of the seizure of the goods, I went to North-
ampton on the 3d of September and consulted Mr.
Dawson, and instructed him to recover them. I
do not remember seeing the witness, William Ball,
at Mr. Dawson's office, but no one in my presence
was ordered to go to London to fetch my books. I
have been examined and charged with perjury in
this case. I remember Beard coming to Walsall
to be employed by me as an ostler, but I refused
to do so.
Cross-examined—I do not know a person named
Simpson at Northampton.
A witness named Woodward, a clerk in the tele-
graph-office, Telegraph-street, London, was here
called upon to produce the original telegraphic mes-
sage despatched from the office at Walsall on the
Ist of October, but he said he declined to do so, as
it was contrary to the regulations of the Telegraph
Company, unless his lordship ordered him.
Mr. Justice Blackburn said it was a very proper
regulation not to allow the messages that were
given to them in confidence to be made public ; but,
' although an attorney might claim his privilege, a
• telegraph company could not do so, and he must
I produce the message if he was subpoenaed to do so.
Mr. Woodward then handed in the message. It
was as follows : _ _

" October 1, 1860.—From James Cooke, of Wal-
sall, to John Simpson, 17, St. George's-street,
Northampton. The party has arrived all safe."
Cross-examination continued—The signature
" James Cooke," to this message, is in my hand-
writing, but I do not know what it means. The
witness Beard had come to him at Walsall, on the
day this telegram was dated. I cannot say whether
the telegram referred to him. Ido not know that
the defendant resided at No. 17, St. George's-
street, Northampton. I cannot say whether such
a person as John Simpson is in existence. I think,
upon consideration, that the telegram must have
referred to the arrival of Beard at Walsall, but I
do not know why it was sent, and I can give no
explanation upon the subject. My clerk wrote the
message, and I signed it without knowing anything
about it. The present is the first time that I
became acquainted with the contents of the message.
The witness then said that he went to Mr. Dawson
because Mr. Chapman had already consulted him,
and he believed that he handed him the original
order he had sent to Chapman for the delivery of
the goods at the time he purchased them, but he was
unable to give any explanation how this order,
which in ordinary course would have been in the
possession of Poole, from whom the goods were
alleged to have been purchased, came into his
hands.
Thomas Cubley, clerk to the last witness, pro-
duced his books, which contained an entry of the
purchase of certain goods from the defendant on
the 12th of July.
Mr. Justice Blackburn looked at the books, and
asked the witness how he accounted for the fact
that the entry of a transaction referring to the 30th
of July appeared before the one in question, which
was represented to have taken place on the 12th.
He appeared a good deal confused at the questions
that were put to him by the learned judge, and the
only explanation he seemed able to give was that
such entries were not made with regularity, and
that the apparent confusion in the dates was merely
the result of accident.
Thomas Billingham, a furniture broker at
Northampton, was then examined, and he deposed
that he purchased certain goods of the defendant in
June last, and that these were the goods found at
his house by the messenger from the Court of
Bankruptcy. The property consisted of skins of
leather, and they were found under the bed of his
mother-in-law, who was bedridden, and he accounted
for placing them there by stating that they were
damaged, and that constant warmth would have
the effect of restoring their colour.
Serjeant Ballantine, at the close of the evidence
for the defendant, made a powerful reply upon the
whole case. He characterised the defence that had
been attempted as merely a portion of the original
evidence of fraud, and said that he felt no difficulty
in asking the jury to contrast the evidence that
had been given by the witnesses Beard, Woodford,
and Ball, with that of Mr. Dawson, the attorney,
and the other witnesses who had been examined
for the defendant, and was satisfied that the jury
would come to the conclusion that the story told
by the former was reasonable and probable, and
that no reasonable man could believe the evidence
of the latter. He then proceeded to remark upon
the evidence given by Mr. Dawson, and asked them
whether they could believe that if he really consi-
dered that he was enforcing an honest claim to the
property, he would not have inquired into the cir-
cumstances and have looked- at the books to see
whether they bore traces of the transaction being
a genuine one. It appeared to him that there was
very little doubt that the scheme to defraud the
creditors by means of the proceedings that had
been now brought to light, was concocted in the
office of Mr. Dawson, and with his consent and
knowledge. The remarkable letter that had been
produced in the course of the trial, seemed to him
quite conclusive on this point, and that no reason-
able man could come to any other conclusion than
that the expression, " handling of the witness
Woodford," if he could be got to his office, had no
other meaning than that Mr. Dawson should hanale
him as he had before handled the other witnesses
Beard and Ball, and endeavour to induce him to
commit the crime of perjury, in order that the
projected scheme of fraud might be successful.
The learned counsel next referred to the evidence
given by the witness Cooke, and he asked the jury
how it was possible to ex-plain the extraordinary
circumstances connected with the telegram that
was sent by the witness to the defendant in the
assumed name of Simpson, announcing the
arrival of the witness Beard at Walsall, and
the absurd explanation he had attempted to
give, in any other manner than by the suppo-
sition that both the parties were engaged in some
scheme of fraud or ether. He then remarked at
considerable length upon the evidence of the other
witnesses who had been examined for the defen-
dant, and in conclusion expressed his opinion that
upon a consideration of all the facts, the jury could
come to no other conclusion than that the charge of
wilful and corrupt perjury had been abundantly
established against the defendant, and that they
would feel that their duty to the public and the
protection of all honest traders required that they
should find him guilty of that offence.
Mr. Justice Blackburn, in summing up, said that
the facts had been so fully laid before the jury
during the two trials that -had taken place that
he did not consider it necessary to go through
the whole of the evidence, but he would read
any portion that the jury might desire. The
real question they had to decide was, whe-ther
upon the examination of the defendltnt in the
Court of Bankruptcy he had wilfully stated
what he knew to be false, and if this was made
out by the evidence that had been laid before
them, they ought to find him guilty. If on the
other hand they thought the evidence was not
conclusive, or any doubt remained on their minds
upon the subject, the defendant was entitled to
be acquitted.
The jury retired, taking with them the day-
book that contained the entries of the alleged
sales to Cooke and Captain Poole, and in about
ten minutes they returned into court and gave a
verdict of Guilty.
There are three other indictments, arising out
of the same transactions, still remaining to be
disposed of.