The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-23 00:00:00

MARYLEBOIVE.

COURT OF SEWERS.

A special meeting of the Court of Sewers for the City
and Liberty of Westminster and part of the County of
Middlesex, was held on Tuesday, at the Sewers'-office,
Greek-street, Soho.

T. 1. Donaldson, Esq., took the Chair at twelve o'clock.
The Court was made special for the purpose of receiv-
ing and considering the report of the surveyors as to
whether the line of arch adopted for the main line of the
Ranelagh sewer, in Gloucester-road, Paddington, be the
best for the purpose, and detailing the causes which have
led to the necessity of rebuilding, with any other cir-
cumstances attending the failure of the sewer.
Captain Gaunt, the Chairman of the Commissioners
of Sewers for the Tower Hamlets, was sworn in a Com-
missioner.

Upon the suggestion of the Chairman a Special Court
was ordered to be summoned for Tuesday next, for the
purpose of considering the report of the surveyors as to
the covering in the King's Scholars' Pond sewer.
The surveyors of the Court presented their additional
report with respect to the Ranelagh sewer, in Gloucester-
road, Paddington, from which it appeared that, after
opening thirty feet and sixty feet of the line, they were
clearly of opinion that the accident that had taken place
was attributable to the wall not being properly backed
up, and to the bad materials used.
Mr. DOWLEY, the principal surveyor of the Court,
suggested, at the conclusion of the report, that the work
should be inspected by some persons of the highest pro-
fessional reputation, in order that they might give their
opinion as to the present state of the works, and the best
means of remedying the accident that had taken place.
Mr. IlswiuNs, the last appointed assistant•surveyor
to the Court, stated that he had put his name to the
report because he understood that he was called upon to do
so by the regulations of the Court. He wished, how-
ever, to make some short explanation to the Court, in
order that they might understand the precise situation
in which he stood. Not having been an officer of the
Court at the time at which the sower was built, he could
not speak with such certainty as to the cause of the acci-
dent as Mr. Dowley and Mr. Doull, who had superin-
tended the erection of the works.

Yesterday John Walker, a man about 45 years of age, was
charged with having attempted to obtain money from Mr.
Charles Dickens (Boz), Devonshire-terrace, New-road, by
means of false and fraudulent representations. The prisoner
seemed in great distress of mind, and, in the course of the in-
quiry, he frequently shed tears.
Mr. Dickens, on being sworn, deposed that he had received
a number of letters signed " John Walker," the first of
which set forth that the writer was suffering from want, and
that he should be thankful for any assistance ; the said com-
munication bore the address, 9, Upper Crown-street, West-
minster, and in order to satisfy himself of the truth of the ap-
plicant's statement, he sent his brother to make inquiries, the
result of which was, that he (Mr. Dickens) forwarded by his
servant to the prisoner a sovereign and a suit of clothes.
After this lie received another letterin the same handwriting,
stating that the applicant was in arrear thirteen weeks' rent,
at 4s. per week, and that unless the demand was immediately
satisfied, he and his family would be turned into the street.
Upon this appeal he (Mr. Dickens), who had never seen the
writer, sent him cash to enable him to pay the landlord, and
soon afterwards lie received an acknowledgment.
Mr. RAwuNsox--Are either of the letters you have
alluded to here ? Mr. Dickens—They are not, Sir, I cannot
find them, but there are a number of others in the same hand-
writing, which have been addressed to me, and they are
here, in the possession of Mr. Knyvett, of the Mendicity
Society.
Mr. Knyvett, who is Secretary of the Institution referred
to, produced, them, and they were read in regular order, with
regard to tit* dates, by the Magistrate.
" No. 9, Upper Crown-street, Westminster,
March 30, 1844.
" Sir,—HoOr can I return you thanks to your silent yet '
truly emphatic reply to my request? Words are but a poor
conveyance of my feelings and the extent of my gratitude.
Allow me to acknowledge the receipt of the sum of 2/. 125.,
by the hands of your servant, yesterday evening, with which
limmediately discharged my rent, and by so doing, through
your kindness, removed a rock that must have crushed me
to pieces. Can I possibly do anything in return, such as
copying? I shall be most happy, if but to show you in a
trifling way how truly thankful lam to you. Pray do not
hesitate trying me. With my wife's most grateful thanks as
well, I remain, Sir, your ever obliged and obedient servant,
" To Chas. Dickens, Esq. " JOHN WALKER."
The second letter was dated from 5, Mitre-street, Webber-
street, Lambeth, May 3, 1644. It was a lengthy epistle,
commencing with an expression of gratitude for the kind as-
sistance afforded him, and through which he was enabled to
remove to his present abode, a small house, at the rental of
two guineas per month. He had let off a portion of the
dwelling, and he had no doubt of being able ultimately to
get on, if he could obtain Si., as many things were required
to be purchased, viz., a water-butt, &c. He concluded by
assuring Mr. Dickens that if he would be security to a loan
society for the sum alluded to, he should be truly grateful ;
or if le (Mr. Dickens) would be kind enough to advance the
amount, he should be punctually repaid at tke rate of 1/. per
month. If he could not in this instance be befriended, he
must sink again.
Mr. Dickens said that upon the receipt of the letter just
road, he sent a reply, to the effect that he could not assist the
writer any further.
A third letter ran thus :

After some discussion, it was determined that Mr.
Hawkins should be at liberty to withdraw his name from
the report that had just been read, and should make a
separate report of his own.
Mr. Hawkins then retired, and in the course of an
hour he returned to the Court with a report of his own
drawing up, which stated that he attributed the accident
principally to the gradual subsiding of the ground upon
which the sewer was built, together with the extremely
bad backing that had taken place of the walls. He
considered that the execution of the building was not of
that sound character which a work of such importance
and such magnitude required.
On the motion of Mr. LESLIE, both reports, together
with the 35 sections that had been made of the defalca-
tion in the sewers, were ordered to be printed.
Several of the officers of the Court were then exa-
mined, among whom were Mr. Dowley, Mr. 'Bell, Mr.
Doull, Mr. Hawkins, and Mr. Philips, as to the state of
the works, and from their evidence it appeared most dis-
tinctly that the ieFalcations that had taken place in the
sewer were attributable, not to any malformation of the
sewer, but to the inferior workmanship and materials.
that had been used in it.

The last witness, Mr. Philips, stited that a more
slovenly or disgraceful piece of workmanship he had
never seen turned oir, by any person in hit life. If the
walls had been properly backed up they would never
have given way. There were only 50 bricks in the arch,
whereas there ought to have been 54.

Mr. BIRD, the— contractor for the Company, said it
would be impossible to put so many bricks into the arch.
After some discussion,

Mr. CUMBERLEDGE moved that notice should be given
to Mr. Bird, the contractor, of the failure of the sewer
in Gloucester-road, and that .the Court held him re-
sponsible, and expected to receive from him an imme-
diate proposal for its restoration. He was afraid if they
did not hold Mr. Bird responsible on the present occa-
sion, they would have their works very inefficiently per•
formed in future. He thought Mr. Bird ought to come
forward, and say he was sorry for the failure, and was
willing to take his part in rectifying the matter.
Mr. LESLIE seconded the motion.
M. LE BItETTON moved, as an amendment, that two
eminent civil engineers should be called in, and examine
and report on the state of the sewer.
Mr. MAtimorr seconded the amendment.

" do not be angry with me for again writing to
you, but have patience to listen to me for another moment.
Last night I thought my wife would have died—overcome
with fatigue and anxiety, she miscarried, her pains were
dreadful, and I thought every moment would have been her
last. If you are a married man you can sympathise with me
—if you are not, your imagination must picture to you a
night of sorrow. Judge, then, in addition to this, with what
acuteness I read your note, and its effect on my poor wife,
from whom I could not conceal it, it being delivered in her
presence in the bed-room, by one of my boys. Although I
know you must be overwhelmed with applications from the
needy and miserable like myself, and you have given me a
denial; my peculiar situation compels me to break through
all common bounds, and ask you, or rattier implore you,
once again to be my friend. Will you send me a couple of
sovereigns for a short time, and I promise most faithfully,
sacredly, I will return them to you. I shall be eternally
gratgful to you, and so will my poor wife. Could you see

Mr. WILLOtTGIIBY suppc;ited—theWoTion of Mr.
Cumberledge. Ile thought the circumstances that had
been brought forward were overwhelming to call upon
the Court to give notice to the contractor.
After some observations from Mr. Harrison, Mr. F.
Byng, and Mr. Hawkes, the Court divided, when there
appeared—

For the amendment
Against it ll
Majority against the amendment
The Court again divided upon the original motion,
when there appeared—
For the original motion
Against it
Majority for the original motion —7
The original motion of Mr. Cumberledge was, con-
sequently, carried.
The Court then adjourned till Tuesday, the 28th inst

The model ship, intended for the practice of the
boys in front of the RoTal Hospital Schools, at Greenwich, is
now completed, and painted eoae to become a real ornament.

---'"-----iND'
her, lam sure you would do it. Pray forgive me, and do
of tbe Onv!S
oblige me this once.--Yours, in great grief, ' NATIONAL BANK OF IREL ,
_.„
"To Chas. Dickens, Esq. " JOHN WALKER." The ninth annual general meetingireianct 05,,be1e
Fourth letter:— " May 9, 1844. ! holders in the National Bank of ,„___k, 13,
" Sir,—Pray forgive my persecuting you this way, my wife J.
is dangerously ill, and I have not money to buy medicine or yesterday, in the Board-room of the DA"
Old Broad-street.
f AT Egli
anything for her; pray forgive me this annoyance. I am ;
single-handed—not a soul to help me—like but one man on On the motion of T. LAMIE I.lllt. R 1 .
Ruding Esq , was called to the chair.
__A ?re
board a ship dismasted, water-logged, and every way so r - .
crippled, that sink or starve I must, unless a friendly vessel IA e observed that the followingcn uDdiirnegc,toEsreqe.":colbsir:
heaves in sight and saves me. I implore you to hold tit a prietors were present :—J. C. O'Connell' ottef friendly, a benevolent hand to ma once more, and help me man ;T. L. Murray, Esq., Maurice ,ei
to administer to a wife who is ill indeed. lam most grate- for what you have done, beyond words to express.—Pray . Robert Sutton, jun., Esq., Hon. Colonel„/„'ii,, 4
Stanhope, James Reade, Esq., J. .1".....,•"e 'joie
pardon this; it shall be the last annoyance from Sir, your
very grateful servant, "JOHN WALKER." John Rawson, Esq., F. B. Henshaw‘,,,. Isq..'Whee_leres:
Es A. F. Johnson, Esq., " -.:',.; /Or
fifth letter : "Sunday, May 12. ! Newsom) -- 9
" Sir,—Did I not deem that I should be an accessory to my , Esq., J. Wheeler, Esq., John Green,.ane___i, pis
wife's death, if I did not use every means in my power to
save her, I wonld not again write to you. I have no rela- ford), Charles Rule, Esq., Charles lii ,
_Ter, pot
(Clonmei), 11. M. ones, Esq., J. L. Wile' 010
tion to apply to ; who then can I, but the stranger who has •
been my friend ? You class him among the common cases' (Hitchin),lllc"
that make appeal to you. Supposing so, and ham one of :
! William King, Esq., E. J. Daniell, s(l., . Laits
Baxter, E-.q., John Ranson, Esq.
til
500 poor wretches who are wrecked, and are floating down ' Maher, Esq., M.P., and J. B. Bacon, tscl•
to nieet
.n-d er
the stream of adversity, would you not hold out your hand The CHAIRMAN said he was happy
to save me? My brother James was wrecked in
the Baltic, Shareholders on this their ninth meeting, ;Al II
and his life, with others, was saved entirely through the liii. o his' a" ' le
Inanity of strangers, who perilled even their own lives in so pressed his regret that it should beeem- .dable:eit
_
doing. 'Tis true, a wreck is a more exciting scene than a take the chair in consequence of •.1 the unavo l 0
, Con
family suffering every privation at home ; but is it a worse sense of the Governor of the Bank, Daniel
cellti
scene ? Look at me now, in poverty, with four helpless Esq., M.P. • been :„
children, with a wife near dying, worn to death through want
I r.N.S. KlNG,theSecretary,
II
and anxieties.
atlas tll no untruth. Come and look at her
yourself—look all—inquire minutely into everything, to
on by the Chairman, read the advertisement
c (Tetra!
1 and you will find I have done all I could do to avert this. When in.; the meeting.
my wife ties a corpse, and lam left with my children, it shall The CHAIRMAN then called upon the
',e_.--reedli
never be said they wore left motherless through the supineness
of their father. Sir, you have depicted the horrors of misery read the report, which was accordingly
1 d, i° follows .
and want strongly—come and witness an illustration. The The Directors
father who, not long since, was goaded by misfortune and the Sh3re •og 0
of the National Bank 01.1-reiin (Jet:
failures in his appeal to the rich, and in desperation hurried senting the ninth annual report to
_, do
_;h.
his children untimely into eternity, following their shades to have to revert to the events which occu.lravutienee in
0;7,
make retribution in another world, was not, in his circum- year 1842, and exerted so powerful an !u" boldo,di
stances, so badly off as I am—his wife was well—he had tating against the usual prosperity of the
)hied one
solicited alms of the rich in the City, and they were deaf to rest generally, by interposing a diffietta_Yv.vr
his appeal, though a pound or so would have saved him, and, profits equal to those which have been ° " t
perhaps, his soul ; when the deed was done they heaped gold more favourable circumstances. cons
in the lap of the poor, lone, bereft widow. Oh l what pangs
must each piece have conveyed to her heart, to think, to The continued depression in trade, and tiricre . i
know, that one of earth's baubles would have saved her his- reduction in prices, have co-operated to linat,,,,,
band and her poor children. It is the curse of the world to nD
for the resources of the Bank, and therebtr....7,,a te, .
diverted nwl„ op
large amount of its means to be „,. IniT'
like morbid cases—[the Magistrate here said, " Very true, it
is so"l—this you know, Sir. I ask you again, Sir, as a man channels whence the profits of the CoMPauLtr. . 0
pros 'MO
—a fellow-creature—nothing more—in God's name to help ally been derived in periods of greater i the ~.,itste
me. At the year's end you will be as rich a man, and one The Directors have carefully watched
baketi is,thd
thing certain, a better man, good as you may be. Grief transacted during the past year, and have,7;,,hero,',o
drives me to this, not rudeness. "J. WALKER." tage of every opportunity of extending Ileropwf ois
Sixth and last letter : considered such extension to be safe and 'Lae 1 th.
"5, Mitre-street, 'Webber-street, Lambeth, they feel confident, by a steady perseferr;oo.o::arse
Friday, May 17.
" Sir,—My poor wife is dedd, God rest her soul I She is now _.course, together with a constant superfi;ote sw
in Heaven, I trust, for she was a good mother and a good anairs oftlae„.Bank. , that the result vrill . 'Ol
tory to the prietors. fooll!litoo
wife. In few words, can you spare a few crumbs that fall
from your table for my children. I shall be grateful. The difficulty of finding employment_fewr, ve-"1. 10
the low rate of interest obtained, indue.•
_2,,„ 00 „dill
" Yours, in the lowest depth of misery,
"To Chas. Dickens, Esq." "JOHN WALKER. to reduce the annual dividend from 6t°sFr to 110°
' Mr. Dickens said that upon the receipt of the letter last adopting this measure their object has be;
read, he caused inquiry to be instituted at the writer's re- the best interests of the Proprietors ; at
.., the rs; iti
sidence, with the view of ascertaining if the statement made the Directors have to assure them that fro "lioeello
to him was correct, and if it were so it was his intention to prospects of the Bank, they Have a firms.noto
afford assistance ; but it was discovered that the wife who, as increasing prosperity, proportionate to th Ivo
alleged, was dead, was still living. Under these circumstances
he had communicated to the Mendicity Society; in whose that may take place in the trade and o°2 • V
bop"
country. .
hands he placed all the letters now produced. It was painful on wig I
The Directors hope that no alteration
,_ bi
_dr
to him to appear in such a matter as the present, but as a vast
number of applications for relief were continually forwarded •the Government in the laws relating..f,t tasnil'
to his residence, and having been fully satisfied that the Ireland that can have a tendency to n.'",0107050,
statement with regard to the woman's death was a fabrics- of accommodations which the joint-stopaLic to;
tion, he considered that he had no other alternative than that present the power of affording to the resr:yste tee
of coming forward.
Mr. Sturgen, the chief clerk to the Mendicity Society, in that country, where the absence of Pryie °blow tlo
proved that the letters were in the handwriting of the pri- has been one of the chief causes which hnekere,,,,st'
the development of its resources, and it le Lid of )d til
soner, and the latter admitted that such was the case. Wit- liberal srv-100700
ness had upon many occasions paid money to the prisoner, more necessary that a sound and a a
which had been sent for his use by Noblemen and other gentle- ing should exist, and that no mess_.°l7. -Aglow. boo!
men ; but latterly, in consequence of repeated applications adopted that would deprive the- joint-5W'; the pee ge
made by him (prisoner) to various parties, he had not been capability of meeting the requirements °l_, of the
th°
encouraged. - the effect would be to oppress the indueg;
Witness, in reply to questions from the worthy Magistrate, cultural and commercial classes. MY bef°l6.
Mr. Rawlinson, said that on the previous evening, between It now remains for the Directors to ,
seven and eight o'clock, he went to 5, Mitre-street, and the Proprietors the usual statements of account
door was opened by a child. The prisoner, who. came down, The undivided profits at Dec. 1842,
led him into a back kitchen, and in answer to questions, he were
said he was in very great distress, so much so as to be totally Net profits for the year ending
unable to procure even a scanty meal. Witness told him he Dec. 1843
thought it was a pity that his wife didn't take in needle
work to help to support her family, when he said that she
had been ill, but was now much better, and that she would
soon get into employ. Upon the prisoner's admission that
his wife was living, he (prisoner) was given into custody,
and after he was locked up, witness went back to the house,
where he saw the wife and her four children, who were evi-
dentlyin verygreat distress. He gave the poor woman a trifle
from his own pocket, and afterwards went to the station-
house, and afforded relief to the prisoner. He had previously
ascertained that the wife had really been very ill.
Mr. RAWLINSON (to Mr. Knyvett)—The prisoner has, no
doubt, done wrong ; but here is a case of great distress, and
that distress is proved out of the mouth of your own officer.
After that, do you really wish me to commit this man ?
Mr. Knyvett—No, Sir, I do not.
Mr. RAWLINSON (to the prisoner)—What have you to say ?
Priettner (after some hesitation, and in a faint tone of
voice)—l wrote that last letter at the eleventh hour, when
we were so badly off that I knew not what to do. I am
sorry that I overstepped the truth in saying that my wife
was dead, but my motive was good, as we had not a bit of
bread to eat. I have been a clerk and accountant, and from
the period of my losing my last situation I have not been
able to support myself or my family. '
Mr. RAWLDISON—YOU are evidently a man of good educe
tion, but it cannot be denied, and even you admit it your-
self, that you have put forth a falsehood in your last letter
to Mr. Dickens. Under all the circumstances you are dis-
charged, and I am very sorry you have been brought here.
The poor man burst into tears. and before he quitted the
Court several persona therein relieved him, for which he was
truly grateful.

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London : Printed and Published by 0•,, offee,,,oß
N.. 112, Strand, Printer, at TM 01‘-iii
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoll
Middlesex, Thursday, May 23, 1844

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