The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-27 00:00:00

" The Sikhs had no sooner been dispersed than
the lines of the 37th were charged, and every Se-
poy driven out. The soldiers were then fully occu-
pied in going the rounds of the cantonment., and
escorting the terrified ladies and civilians to the
Mint. During the whole progress of the affray on
the parade ground—a full hour—the cantonments
had been at the mercy of bands of armed Sepoys.
These were assembled from two sour,tes—first, from
the various guards which had been posted (as
usual) throughout the cantonments ; the treasury
gain), for instance ; the hospital guard, bazaar
guard, mess-house guard, and so forth. On the
outbreak of the row these respectable and conscien-
tious fellows set to work (with one or two honour-
able exceptions) to plunder their several trusts, and,
that accomplished, dispersed themselves among the
vafous bungalows, as bent on bloodshed as on
booty. Many a hairbreadth escape was made that
night, and I could fill whole sheets with a detail of
the wonderful Providence to which defence'ess
women and children owed their lives. The bunga-
lows were of course abandoned for such lurking
places as the outhouses could afford, and in several
instances these were ransacked by murderous Se-
poys. Of course it would have been, quite miracu-
-I,,us had none of us been hurt. But it is truly re-
markable that Colonel Gordon, his adjutant, Lieut.
Glasse, and Captain Doigson, mounted as they
were on huge-chargers, were not riddled with the
perfect shower of bullets with which they were pur-
sued. The casualties ware :—Killed on the spot,
Capt. Guise • died of his wounds, Ensign Hayter,
of the 25th Native Infantry, but doing duty with
the 37th until the arrival of his regiment, via the
river, from Calcutta. Poor fellow, he has be -n in
the country a still shorter time than you or I. It
was in c-msequence of a fever which attacked him
shortly after his landing in Calcutta that be was
sent by Gharry dill. to Benares, there to await
the arrival of hit regiment, which, had it not been
for that fever, he would at this moment have
been accompanying up the Gauges. To save
the pain of a wounded ankle joint, though without
the slightest hope of saving his life, one of his legs
was amputated above the lines. He was wounded
besides in the abdomen, and this in itself was in all
probability a mortal injury. For nearly aweek he
ling,ered, sinking gradually and not very painfully
int his his grove.
" Three were wounded—viz., Ensign Chapman,
of the 38th, very dangerously,' my3t if severely,'
and Dodgson ' very slightly.' Poor Chapman was.
shot throuji the face, the bullet entering at one
cheek and going out at the other. Ma speech, along
w th the sight of one eye and the use of on-i ear, is
hopelessly gene. It is with the utmost difficulty
and pun that he can swallow even the fluids which
constitute his sole sustenance, and hence his limbs
are little else than skin and bone. His life, how-
ever, is not suppose] to be in any immediate dan-
ger, and as soon as he can travel he will be sent
home to his pa•ents r, uod by the Cape. Both he
and Hayter were shot by the Sikhs.
" But all this is a digression, for I was speaking
of the civilians. The bolder of them emerged at
list from their lurking plat s, and made their way
to the Mint, a 1 irge building. previously agreed
upon as the 'general asylum. On their way whole
volleys were poured in upon them by parties of
Sepoys, but nut even one of their horses or syces
was touched.

" I told you that the Sepoys were let loose from
two sources upon the cantonments. I have men-
tioned only oue of thsse sources—viz., the various
guards ; secondly, a still greater number came
straggling into the cantonments from the lines of
the 37th ; the temptation to plunder the 'Sahibs"
bungalows bring still stronger in their instances
than the love of potting' the Sahibs themselves
upon the parade ground. Thus the number of
Sepoya who continued to fire upon us to the end
ay.'s not very great, and included only the staunchest
and most detsraiined spirits of the corps. At last,
as I have said, the Europeans drove them headlong
from their lines, and in the course of a few minutes
not a Sepoy remained in the cantonments, the Sikhs
having been driven in one direc ion, and the 37th
in the other. .

"A party of soldiers now made the round of
the cantonments, and escorted to the Mint such of
the ladies as were still lurking in ti eir compounds.
They who had seen me fired upon felt, sure that I
must b 3 dead ; and accordingly when I was suffer-
ing the extremity of pain in my bungalow, parties
were roaming the parade ground in se srch of my
remains. At last it occurrtd to them that I might,
after all, have reached my bungalow, and about
two o'clock in the morning (as I have already, I
think, mentioned) I was conveyed, bed and all, to
a camp which had been fortified on the parade
ground in expectation of a return of the mutineers.
But the mode in which these had been dism'ssed
was n)t such as t. invite a &peedy return, and we
saw no more of them, excepting such as have
fallen into our hands and been bung. I lay in this
camp for a couple of days in a very sorry plight,
having no manner of shelter either ft ona the burn-
ing sun and hot Benares winds, or from the tem-
pests of dust which were drifting about • and yet
the surgeons thought this exposure preferable to
the risk of fever, dtc. which I sh suld have run by
going into the crowded hospital. At last the.
surgeon in charge of the Mint took pity upon me
and housed me in his bungalow, visiting me several
times a day. I would, of course, hive gone to my
own bungalow, but our surgeons s :if that unless
I remained beside them they could not attend me.
We have had an anxious time of it in Benares ever
since. People now spend the day in their bunga-
lows, but w,th few exceptions (of which I am one)
retire at night to the Mint. This is a very large
building, wish a flat ro'f and no end of battle-
mented terrace, well calculated to stand a siege.
Our Europeans, consisting of the 78th High-
landev, the 84th, and 64th, are stationed partly
•in the church, partly in the camp, and small bar-
racks on the parade-ground, but mainly in the Mint
compound. We have a full battery of artillery, and
will doubtless hold our own. Seine few of the
Sikhs remained faithful, or seemed to do so. These
are employed as outposts and eentri s, but are ve-y
few of them trusted with, fire-arms. Some of the
37th also stuck to their oath, and these have be-n
sent with Major Barrett to Chunar, a place distant
about 15 miles ; the rest of the 37th officers are
quartered not very luxuriously in the camp. On
recovering from my wound I mean to volunteer to
go up country with any of the Queen's regiments
that may then be passing through Benares, which
has become quite a depot. I have made a most
wonderfully rapid recovery, partly owing to the
closeness of the person who shot me, so that the
bullet went slick through, carrying out with it every
fibre of cloth, and bruising the tissues less than if
it had come from a greater distance—just as a sharp
weapon makes a more favourable wound than a
blunt one.

g, All rig t. 0 " WEDNESDAY, June 24.
paninc„ll/9nday night tle mint was
crowded.witla
ci.rtinie!cen ladies and civilians. I
saw no reason for
of loadignigngt MY
quart-rs, but took
the precaution
ohp.stol barre!s and a
musket in the presence of sly',
mutgars, lest they might tankosPwavipsumereus kit-
ien9e. These
my bearer saw me array, along
by my bedside.; and I need hardly aad Xlist,,azz.;:,
by an unconscious musk rat, my slumbe.
un-
disturbed till the morning. T4c., claypAsiecteciZentj-
along, and, the inconveniences ache erowdedMinYt
beginning to t4l, three ladies and an infant resolved
to spend the night in this bunplow, rendered owl.

Mr. Aspinall, instructed by Mr. Martin, ap-
peared for the plaintiff ; and Mr. Brett, instructed
by Messrs. Gregory, for the defendant.
Mr. Aspinall, in resuming, said the charge he
had to prefer was that the defendant, John Do-
herty, obtained from Messrs. John Bingham and
Co., corn merchants, two acceptances, one for
1.2501. and the other for 1,7001., under false pre-
tences; that he bad represented that a certain bill
of lading which he deposited with them as security
was a negotiable instrument, whereas. he knew it
was not, as he himself had deposited a duplicate of
the same bill of lading with Messrs. Hubback and
Co. for another advance.' It appeared, said the
learned counsel, that Mr. Doherty, a lit•le while
ago, previous to his failure, was carrying on a very
large business in the corn trade, his liabilities at
the time of his suspeneion being something enor-
mous, and no doubt when this occurrence took place
his ifficulties were very considerable. He had
been doing an extensive business with the Borough
Bank. On the 23d of May the defendant forwarded
to the bank the bills of lading, representing that
the produce had been sold to Messrs. Bingham and
Co. That was untrue, the produce not having been
fold, which fact was ascertained when the draughts
were sent by the bank to Messrs. Biugharn and
Co. for acceptance. The bank sent for Mr.
Doherty, who made some explanation, saying there
had been some mistake, and he took away the
draughts, undertak'ng to get the accep ance of
Messre. Bingham and Co., to whom he took the
draughts, and offered as security a bill of lading for
certain goods by the Centurion-1,500 barrels of
flour. At the time that he obtained from Messrs.
Bingham and Co. their acceptance they had
already pledged one of the bills :of lading to
Mr. Hubback (one of the largest corn merchants
in the town), who was entitled to the benefit,
so that the bill of lading in the hands of Messrs.
Bingham and Co. was worthless. The.defence,
he was told, was that the sending the du-
plicate bill to Mr. Hubback, was a mistake •,
and there was also the technical objection that
this was not a fraud with'n the meaning of the Act,
the defendant having only obtained an acceptance,
which was not a valuable security. The CAS3 of
"Regina v. Danger," reported in the 29th v, lume
of the Law Times. would, no doubt, be cite ; but,
as his worship would see, the cases were not iden-
tical, as in the case now before the Court the ac-
ceptance had been endorsed, and was valuable
security to the Barough Bank.
Mr. Brett, counsel f)r the defendant, appre-
hended that the technical objection mutt be fatal to
the case, and he would therefore make it now and
save the Court time, and the parties engaged in ttie
case some pain. So the defendant was cha-ged with
obtaining what ? An acceptance, a mere promise to
pay certain moneys on certain conditions, which
could not be called a valuable security.
Mr. Mansfield—Was the money paid to the bank ?
Mr. Aspinall—Yee, by Messrs. Bingham and Co.
Mr. Mansfield—lt is evident, thee, that the ac-
ceptance was a valuable security to 'somebody. The
case miret proceed.
Mr. John Bingham, being sworn, said he car-
ried on business under the firm of John Bingham
and Co; corn merchants. Remembered seeine the
two bills of ;ading (produced) at the office, and un-
deret )od they were from the Borough Bank. Be-
lieved they were endorsed. Sent them back to the
Borough Bank unaccepted. Shortly afterwards (on
the 13th of May last) Mr. D 'hefty came to wit-
ness, bringing the bills with him. Defendant
made a memorandum on a piece of paper and
showed it to witness. Had searched fur that
paper, but had not been able to find it. Defend-
ant said the Borough Bank had kicked up a devil
of a row about the bills going back, and that he
had brought up this security, which they (witness's
firm) must accept. The securities were b lle of
lading by the Centurion. He also produced a bill
of exchange for 7901., which witness rejected. De-
fendant, in making the memorandum' assumed the
balance of the account would be about 2,200/. as the
value of the flour, and the balance of witness's
account about 1,0001. The bill for 7931. was
put down as a collateral secut ity. Defendant asked
witness to accept the bill, and witness's brother did
accept it on the security in question. The bill of-
fered had been endorsed. Upon the faith of those
securities his firm consented to accept those bills.
Witne, s'e brother accepted them in his presence.
Witness's firm had since paid the bills of each trip.
On the arrival of the Centurion they were unable to
obtein 1,500 barrels stated in the bill of lading, but
they did get 14 barrels.

IV Mr:Brent—The—Centurion arrived on the 221
of My. On the same night the defendant came to
witnes:. hous,,. Had been previously at defendant's
office, and lal asked his oterk whether he hall two
lots of the same krand, as Mr. Hubback had a b:11
of lading for the same amount. Doherty said it was
a mistake—that his clerk had put the wrong bi 1 of
lading in Hubback's letter, as he intended the
corn for Hubback and the flour for witness. Wit-
ness told him to get it speedily arranged, as he
was liable to a criminal prosdoution for obtain-
ing money under false pretences. The- same
evening defendant came to witness's private house.
He gave no explanation as to how the mistake oc-
curred. He said he found himself in a fix, and he
wi-hed to give them security, in order that they
might withdraw their claim against the flour, as he
was afraid of Hubback. Defendant offered several
securities for covering their loss, but witness ob-
jected to them, chiefly on the ground that thry
were not sufficient security. Witness veri likely
suggested that the defendant should obtain his bro-
ther-in-law's (Mr. Richardson's) security for 2,0001.
Went to the defendant's house next day to tell
him that he would not be allowed to go by the
syamer to America, and while there it was ar-
ringed that Richardson should enter into security.
Defendant went to America, whence he promised
to remit 1,0001. He returned about six weeks ago,
and as ho had not sent the money this summons
was taken out.

Mr. W. Bingham gave corroborative evidence.
Mr. Jos.llub',aqc said ho had a transaction with
the defendant which was completed oa the 6th,
when be rec -ived two bills of lading, alcompanied
by a letter from the defealint; [Bills of lading
produced ; one was for the flour, par Centurion.]
The bills were given to witness as security. Wit-
ness did obtain the flour iu pursuance of the bill
of la ling. [The letter was read ; it stated that
the inclosed bill of lading was for "flour," which
Mr. Aspinall urged was conclusive against the plea
of mistake that the defendant's clerk had inclosed
the bill of lading for the flour in mistake for some
Indian corn.]
Cross-ex mined by Mr. Brett—Mr. Richardson
called upon witness on behalf of the defendant and
Mr. Bingham, fur tne pur>ose of getting something
from witness for Mr. J3itigham, and witness subse-
quently saw Mr. John Bingham in the . matter.
They wished witness to give Mr. Bingham 5001. out
of the proJeels of this flour, but he declined to do
so.

Mr. Edward Bell, secur;ty clerk at the Borough
Bank, produced lettvra written by Mr. Doberty to
the Borough Bank, inclosing the bills of exchange.
Mr. Brett, in replying, said this transaction had
hitherto been known in all its circumstances', to alt
part e,, who had treated it as a civil 'matter, and
therefore, now that there might be some difficulty
in obtaining a verdict in a civil action, the Court
wou'd assist them in transforming it into a case for
criminal prosecution. He proceeded to argue that
the duplicate bill of Luling for the flour had been