The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-07 00:00:00

GERY AGAINST A SOLICITOR.

This ease being fixed for this morning, the Court was
crowded to excess, the case exciting a very great degree
of interest, in consequence of the accused having occu-
pied a most respectable station in the county, having
twice served the office of Mayor of Stockport, and held
the situation of clerk to the magistrates of that borough.
The prisoner was defended by Mr. Jervis, M.P., and
Mr. Welsby, who were brought down from London on
special retainers for the purpose, as was also Mr. Bond
Hughes, the celebrated short-hand writer, to take ver-
batim notes of the proceedings.
The Learned Judge, who is labouring under indispo-
sition, did not take his seat until ten o'clock. Shortly
afterwards the grand jury came into Court with upwards
of twenty bills, including four against John Kenyon
Winterbottom for forgery. This concluding their busi-
ness, the Court discharged them.
The prisoner, John Kenyon Winterbottom, was then
placed at the bar, charged with having had in his pos-
session a certain bill of exchange for 5,0001., and that he
had forged to that bill the names of Elizabeth Isherwood,
Anna Maria bhereood, Miriam Isherwood, and Anna
Madalene Isherwood, the executrixes of the late Mr.
John Isherwood, of Marple Hall, with intent to defraud
them. He was also charged with uttering the said bill,
with intent to defraud the trustees of the Pelican Life-
office, with intent to defraud John Jackson, and also with
intent to defraud Messrs. Roberts, Curtis, and Co.,
bankers, of London. Each indictment charged him se-
parately- with forging the names of the respective en-
dorsers, and also with uttering. The prisoner pleaded
not guilty.
Tne A tterney-General. Mr. Davidson, and Mr. Yardley
appeared for the prosecution.
The ATTORNEY-()ENERAL, in stating the case to the
jury, entreated them to dismiss from their minds all
prejudices arising from the discussion of the case out of
doors, and to decide the case solely in accordance with
the evidence which would be laid before them. He was
placed in a most painful position, having known the
prisoner all his life, and could not have believed he would
be guilty of the offence with which he was charged, as
he had always thought him as honourable a man as any
in the country. The prisoner had been for many years,
previous to 1839, an attorney and banker in Stockport,
and the confidential adviser of the late Mr. John Isher
wood, of Marple Hall. In the year 1814 Mr. Isher-
wood effected a policy of insurance on his life for
5,0001., the prisoner transacting the business for him.
When the policy was effected, it was placed by Mr.
Isherwood in a box at Marple Hall, where it was sup-
posed to be kept until his death, which took place in
May, 1839. After his death the prisoner went to the
agent of the Pelican Life-office in Manchester, produced
the policy of assurance, having, it was supposed, taken it
from the deed-box of Mr. Isherwood, to which he had ac-
cess when attending the funeral. He informed the agent
of the death of Mr. Isherwood, and asked for the requisite
certificates to be filled up. There he subsequently pro-
duced the certificates, and on Dec. 20, 1839, called with
them and the probate of the will of the late Mr. Isherwood,
The agent proposed to pay the amount of the policy by
a bill at seven days' sight, and the prisoner obtained
a stamp for that purpose. The bill was then drawn by
the agent and handed to the prisoner, he at the same
time being told that it must not be endorsed by the par-
ties by procuration, or it would not be paid by the
office. On the 3d of January, 1840, the bill was paid
by the prisoner into the Stockport Bank, and shortly
after that period he received considerable sums from the
bank, When paid into the bank it had the names of the
ladies mentioned in the indictments on it ; but as he
should only proceed on the one charging the prisoner with
forging the name of Anna Magdelene Isherwood, now
Mrs. Lloyd, he (the Attorney-General) would confine
himself to that case. The bill was subsequently trans-
mitted to Messrs. Jones Loyd and Co., in London, and
the acceptance of two of the trustees of the Pelican-office.
It was paid by Messrs. Roberts and Co. In May, 1840,
application was made by Mrs. Loyd to the prisoner, for
the amount of the policy, when he said it. was necessary,
before the money would be paid by the office, that there
should be a Canterbury probate obtained to her father's
will as well as a Chester one. To other applications, ho
said the money was safe in London, and the office would
pay interest for it. However, in August, 1840, it was
discovered that the prisoner had received the money,
and Mr. Bush was sent down to investigate the matter,
and he, finding that the prisoner had absconded, took
means to secure his apprehension, and got advertise-
ments issued, offering a reward of 2001. for him. He
could not be found, however, until the month of Septem-
ber last, when he was accidentally met with by a man of
the name of Paine, on the north shore at Liverpool, when
he was apprehended.
A numb,r of witnesses were then called to prove these
facts, after which,
Mr. Jigevis took several objections to the indictment,
on the ground that the prisoner was indicted for forging
the names of each endorsee separately, whereas the
whole endorsement was only one transaction, arid the
bill was not complete until all the names were signed ;
that there was a variance in the different counts, the
title of the Pelican-office not being correctly described,
and that the bill itself was not a negotiable instrument,
until accepted ; and, therefore, there could be no fraud
in uttering it.
Mr. WELSBY followed on the same side.

The JUDGE said the point was one of too great nicety
for him to decide, and he would, therefore, reserve it
for the consideration of the Judges.
Mr. JEavis then addressed the jury on behalf of the
prisoner, in a most eloquent speech, contending that
there was so much doubt in the case that they could not
safely convict. It was manifest that the prisoner, being
the confidential adviser of the family, considered that he
had authority to receive the money, and to endorse the
bill, and therefore the utmost extent of his guilt was a
broach of trust. He implored them, therefore, under
these circumstances, not to consign the prisoner, by their
verdict, to slavery, and his wife and children to infamy.
The Learned JUDGE briefly summed up the case, and
The jury, after a few moments' consideration, pro-
nounced a verdict of Guilty.
His Lordship ordered judgment to be respited.
There were three other indictments, charging the
prisoner with forging the names of Anna Maria Isher-
wood, Miriam, Isherwood, and Elizabeth Isherwood; and
Mr. JERVIS said he apprenended the prisoner was en-
titled, in some way or other, to be discharged from those
indictments.

The JUDGE—Oh, no, certainly not.
Mr. JERVIS—WiII your Lordship
Stake a note ;that I
made the application ?

The Jong—Yes.

Mr. JERVIS then applied to the Judge to allow the
officer of the court to furnish a copy of the indictment.
The JUDGE—I have no objection.

MIDLAND ClRCUlT.—Leicester, Dec. 6.

Catherine Burrell, was arraigned upon a charge of
manslaughter, in causing the death of one Sophia Stanley.
The prisoner was arraigned upon the coroner's inqui-
sition, and also upon the common indictment proceeding
from the Court. The prisoner, who is about forty years
of age, has long practised the art and mystery of mid -
wifery, and the deceased having heard her highly spoken
of by those whom she had previously attended in cases
of labour, engaged her to attend upon her in her coming
confinement, and it was out of the alleged neglect she
was said to have been guilty of on that occasion, by
which her death was occasioned, the present charge
arose.

The evidence necessarily adduced is not fit for publi-
cation, and we only notice the case in justice to the pri-
soner, as the Learned Judge (Mr. Justice Patteson) told
the jury in his opinion there was no evidence to support
either indictment, and that the coroner's jury had dealt
hardly with the prisoner in returning the verdict it had.
The jury instantly acquitted her. The deceased was
said to have been the mother of thirteen children.

Thomas Newman, aged 25, was charged with having
intermarried with one Eliza Swingler, his former wife,
Sarah Newman, being then alive.
Mr. Burnaby conducted the case on the part of the
prosecution.
The prosecutrix, a very interesting woman of the age
of 2S, deposed that in March of this year she was
working in Leicester at the straw bonnet business, wh,.>n
she became acquainted with Newman, whom she under-
stood was a journeyman clock-maker. Newman paid
his addresses to her, representing himself to be a single
man, and the prosecutrix, entertaining an affection for
him, received those addresses favourably, and they were
married at Lubenham Church in September. The pro-
secutrix had heard as early as the month of June that
Newman was a married man, when she wrote to his
mother living at Kettering. Before she received
an answer the prisoner called upon her, and asked
whether she had not written to her mother ? The
prosecutrix asked him what she should have to
write about ? To which he replied, that he knew
she had ; but his mother was unwell, and denied
himself to be a married man. A few days afterwards she
received a letter purporting to come from the mother
(which no doubt it did not), saying Newman was a single
man. This being satisfactory to her the acquaintance
continued, and on the 26th of September they were mar-
ried by banns at the church previously named. The poor
girl bad not been married more than three weeks when
a woman called at the house where they were living, and
asked for Newman, The prosecutrix replied that he
was not then at home. The woman then said that she
(the prosecutrix) was not his lawful wife, wheNup„
inquiries were set on foot, and it wqs found he had been
pveviensiy plarrjefi cia the lath of September, 1841, at
Langley, near Slough, in Buckinghamshire. The proc)X
of both marriages wasiverfectly'clear. The ps,;4,,iiti, du,
clined saying,
uu
JUDGhimETheimpri-
Learned then

soned in the House of Correction and kept to bard labour
for six calendar months.

STATE OF TRADE.
(From the Liverpool Mercury.)
Our trade bears the appearance we hay, so fre-
quently described during the last few riontbs ;
large and rapidly extending business is going on, but
unfortunately profits are too frequently in the inverse
ratio of the amount of money turned over—thus,
speaking generally, and our remark will apply to
most of the great articles of import, we may say the
greater the business the larger the loss.
Such a state of things, it is argued by many, cannot
last long, but it would be difficult to assign reasons
for the remark ; we have always seen that when money
is readily obtainable at a small cost, merchants are
anxious to extend their business, and they have an ad-
ditional inducement when manufactured goods can
be purchased at the low rates that have long prevailed
in England.
Thus we may trace to the low price of cotton (a
very losing business of itself) much of the present
losses on commercial operations. Our large foreign
export has been induced by gradually declining
prices in Manchester; a shipper of goods or-
dered in March has found the quotation so low in
July, that he has ventured to ship without orders,
believing that, if the first operation answered,
the second would yield a handsome result; and
again, when in September lower prices still were
taken, the sanguine merchant has thought to mend
his average by a further export. This, in too many
instances, has been the system acted upon, and the
result is, that low and rapidly-declining prices in
our colonial possessions, and other foreign markets,
have naturally followed a sudden accumulation of
stocks.

The present Indian Mail confirms our last advises
too fully in this respect, and especially is the glut
felt •in the Chinese ports. Liverpool has its full
share in this system of over-trading, and must, of
course, reap its full portion of the reward. The
import trade is not in a much more flourishing con-
dition; the supplies we receive are more than ade-
quate to the consumption that is going on, and with
such a tariff as ours, which precludes the import of
many valuable productions from abroad, we are con3'
pelled to receive in payment for exports a greater
quantity of some descriptions of produce than We
require, whilst much that would be acceptable
at reasonable duties is refused admission—thust
from America, we have cotton to such an extent
that we are compelled to maintain a stock of nearly A
million of bales in the very face of the largest cr. r
that has ever been obtained; but, if grain, tobacci •
and other American productions, were admissible (13
equally favourable terms with cotton, would not $
portion of this superfluous stock of one article Ole
place to reasonable supply of other equally necessary
commodities ?

The West India interest have been taken by stl"
prise, by an order admitting the slay...labour sugot
of the United States, Venezuela, Mexico, and see'
ral other countries, at the same rate of duty as the
produce of Java, Manilla, &c., where slavery is said
to be unknown. We shall now very shortly bore
supplies from the United States, and the close con.
nexion of Cuba will enable the Americans to con'
sume at low rates the produce of that island, while
England will receive much of the United Stat'as' pro'
duction (of slavery, too), and this whilst politiciani
are sacrificing the best markets in the world for Ens-
lish manufactures, because they cannot support 0
trade with a country where slavery is tolerated. It
i 3 thought by many that this opening, Varough 511
indirect channel, for slave-grown sugar, of any niv
tion, was fully intended by the framers of the recent
Bill, and it may probably be urged as a strong rens°
for a total remodelling of the sugar duties during
the next session of Parliament.
The trade in Cotton has become more animated:
and some disposition to speculate has appeared; but
this step is yet injudicious. America can well face,
to supply us at low rates, and with a crop that Ease
do not dare to estimate, and of which this country
will receive its full share, we can only expect a 'felt
low range of quotations, and although the present
f
prices may be raised for a time with the assistance
heavy speculation, yet the consequences wil/ be sue
as we have before experienced ; America will be 6';
riched at the cost of the manufacturer and working
population of this country without any ultilnow
benefit to the speculators generally.

In consequence of the increase of sickness, the col'
tinued ravages of fever, and the increased mortslitli
which has of late bees prevalent in the badly-dr ain,.o
and ill-conditioned districts chiefly inhabited by
labouring classes in the metropolis, in Live rpoi
York, Bristol, Nottingham, and other erowdid
wretched town districts, Lord Ashley, the Atarci°l
of Normanby, and some of the leading clergy'llo
a
and gentlemen of all political parties, have determ i°l4
upon calling an early public meeting at Exeter- ball'
with a view of forming a general association for °V
taining better protection for those classes, and p'
moting such measures of improvement as drairog„e;
better and cheaper supplies of pure water, and nvorrh
of cleansing those neglected districts—measures whi'd
appear obtainable only by legislative interference, i/fd
to be beyond the scope of the voluntary exertions :I`l,,
being made for the promotion of public walks lot sP"
and laundries, in large towns.
THE AUTHOR OF " HILLINGDON HALL."-1111.00
curiosity has been manifested relative to the author 4D;4
of the clever novel, "Hillingdon Hall." The ;300
Messenger, in noticing it, observes, " This is an 10,,
work by the author of the humorous novel of 'Ha s'
Cross,' which was published about two years ,413!,.:j
There was so much true humour, and so much g o:,
writing in that novel, as to render it a matter of OP
surprise to us that the name of the author is, not sr;
pended to the work now before us. Perhaps there 131.:10
be some want of courtesy in making public a nne
which the writer himself desires to conceal; but there
can be no objection that we should ment'on that kid
work befbre us is the production of a very accompli 'of
and able gentleman, in whose family the possessic %is
talents seems to follow a kind of lineal descent. tj•
near relative, the late Lady Eldon, with some li 10
peculiar qualities, was one of the cleverest women of ,
age, and had a clear common sense, and a strong act 1.0,
ness which, in the early days f their married 'tilv•
afforded Lord Eldon eepal pride and happiness.
i os,
have merely to add that the good-humour, natural
fe
and striking common sense of the family, seem to ai%,
fallen in great share upon the able author of this %
No one exceeds this writer in drawing humorous cl ittti•
ters and picturesque incidents. The chief merit afgol
work consists in its scenes of country life, and in f uc,P •
and comic pictures of rural manners and habits. P.,',11
word, the author of 'Hillingdon Hall' writes so v'si
that we wish he would oblige as with a novel our,' °
year.

- SIGHT AND HEARING TESTIMONIAL 5' rot
39, ALBEMARLE-STREET, PICCADILLY. nevi
Browne Clayton feels desirous to express the col at. 70
and advantage he has derived at his advanced age I°ol.
years, and after two years trial, from the use of 3-1;,
befit
S. and B. Solomons newly invented Spectacles. )10,
valuable inventions fully merit the patronage the'," ."
received. Address, Adlington-hall, Laacasb
Major-General Sir Howard Elphinstone begs to s:
the Spectacles he has now had some time in use ,
fully redeemed the assurance of the Messrs. S. sll,i
eo
Solomons as to their excellence, and having f' tun fer
much comfort and advantage from their use, far.Pl:eretiff
able to every other kind of glasses. 13, Norfol'X'S,'
Park-lane.—The Hon. George Cavendish, to M essi-.
or
and B. Solomons, 39, Albemarle-street, Picca dillPlich
posite the York Hotel. Gentlemen, I approve very itfoae
of the Spectacles I purchased from you ; I 'awl% a
use of glasses for many years, and never met; with
to enable me to see equal to yours, and with. less
jsh
venience to my eyes. Yours obediently, Cr'. Calltles,
Leixlip Castle, Ireland.—lmproved Achromr.tic kifa
copes, Opera Glasses, Microseopes, &c., of theta°,
of lenses, to surpass any ever yet invunteo•-voic°
Messrs. S. and B. Solomons' Invincible Opfarator
Conductor, Sound Magnifiers for deaf persons, grjest'
medi ite relief to old standing extreme cases 0' .cisoo
nos • --Caution. Messrs. S. and B. Solomons, OOlosofl
I,a Aurists, are not in any way connected with * Pbooil•
of t. 1,3 same name in their immediate
o neigbbotirte
`+ or in any part of the country. To prevent loisAlbe
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marle-street, Piccadilly opposite the York Hots'. „,e0

.Tr:r.--
BIRTHS. oflg.
On the 3d inst., at Albury, near Guildford the wife
11. Place, Esq., of a daughter. , late
he sr
On the 4th inst., at Rottingdeane, the widow of t
sosie
Joseph John Wakehurst Peyton, Esq., of Wakelmritt
of a posthumous son.
On the 4th inst., at Lavender-terrace, Wandsty°rtirreA '
Mrs. William
inEsdaile Winter, of a son. Kustre'
On the h st., in Manchester-street, Mancha°. ~..
the lady of Charles Jones, Esq., surgeon, ot a son- lace, V).-
On the 6th inst., at Charlotte-street, Portland-P0690r
F. E. Walther, of a son.
On the 6th inst., the wife of J. Henry Dart, Esti',
the
at-law' of a daughter. re'
On the 3d inst., in Welbeck-street, Cavendish-s'(lust O
1f
lady of the Rev. S. Paynter, of a daughter.
Of 13° nOn the 4th inst., at Snaresbrook, the lady
cAelr'
Dobree, jun., Esq., of a son.
On the 4th inst.,
at Hampstead, the lady of Ricks
13:1010,
croft, Esq., of a daughter.
----
.of a son.
__--

On the 3d inst ,at Liver lCa t. it"
MARRIED
42d Royal Highla. nd ers, to Carolineo' aof .1':, Ar
daughter
1 ne°
Esq., of Abereromby- square Liverpool. fain ••• ,i 46
On the 3d inst., at St. Jam' ' Cl kenwell, CaP" Fred' '"
Knox to Mary A •es
8,
er
, nn, widow of the late Janie,
.---•
Stew Esq.,uare-
art, of River-street, Myddelton-wL___------'
in M. W.
of
1.04

he
22d nit.
DIED. Watlingi,v 1 st
00
lit 1
thet y, Suffolk, • oof •
~atatSoutititeerklewsoi,lviiliamM,r
son
sr ...
Howe • id, of the Thames Plate Glass Works. u,_row . 1
On the 2ii inst., Edward Soli}, Esq., •f Peters, la"tifor_,...,lo,
On *t "o 2d
inst., the Rev. Charles pay
Lendal Chapel, York, C.
On the 3d inst., et Illisting,s Miss Letterman;,ce2c, gp
On the 4th lest,, at the Green, Stratford, r.''''
Rice% hie Cr Mount-street, Berkeley-square.
....nee. _

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