The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-13 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.--Liverpool. April 10.
(Before Mr. Baron ROLFE and a Special Jury.)
DORAN V. RITCHER.

This was an action on a policy of insurance from fire,
in which the plaintiff sought to recover from the Phcenix
Insurance Company a sum of 4831., the amount of
damage sustained by him from a fire in the month of
September, 1842.

Mr. Knowles and Mr. James were for the plaintiff ; Mr.
Martin and Mr. Watson for the defendant.

As it was admitted on the part of the defendant, that
if the plaintiff was entitled at all he was entitled to the
full amount claimed, the defendant was held entitled, the
affirmation of the pleas being upon him, to begin.
Mr. MARTIN etated the defendant's case, from which
it appeared that the plaintiff was a marine store dealer,
in Crempton-street. in this town, and had eff -cted the
policy in question in the Phoenix Insurance C ,mpany
for the sum of 5001. By one of the con Won: or the
policy it was provided, that on any loss by fire taking
place, the insured should send in a true aceouet of the
damage sustained, and that in case of any s ch return
being fraudulent, the polity should be forfeited. The
fire at the defendant's premises toek place on the 26th
3r September, 1842, immediately after the gre it fire by
which so large an amount of property was destroyed.
The premises consisted of a dwelling-house built of
wood, with an iron roof, and a store adjoining. also
built of wood. Behind the house was a stable, c• ,ntain-
ing a number of horses, belonging to a person of the
name of Bushell, and over that was a hayloft fined with
hay. At the side of the stables were a number of pig.tyes
under an inclin-id plane, that led up to the hayloft door.
The top of this inclined plane came up to the rear of the
plaintiff's dwelling-house, and any person could from
that point look into the loft over the dwelling-house, as
well as into the loft eve r the warehouse. Crompton-
street was in the immediate neighbourhood of the great
fire, and for some days a very great alarm existed in the
minds of the inhabitants from the apprehension of the
fire extending in that direction. Under that impression
many of them removed their goods, and, among others,
a quantity of furniture was removed from tie house of
the plaintiff. The fire, however, was got under; the
alarm had subsided; and the greater number of the
neighbours had returned to their dwellings. No portion,
however, of the goods so removed from the plaintiff's
house was, it was alleged, brought back. On the 26th
of September the plaintiff and his wife were, as was
alleged, at the Amphitheatre, where an amateur p •r-
-formance was being given, for the benefit of some of the
schools connected with the Boman Catholic places of
worship. One of the neighbours had occasion to go into
the yard adjoining Bushell's stable, and was surprised to
see a light in the hayloft, which at first thought pro-
ceeded from a candle. Almost immediately after flames
burst out. and, communicatin with the adjoining pre-
mises, occupied by the plaintiff the whole, in little more
than half an hour, was level with the ground. Shortly
after, the plaintiff sent in his claim to the insurance-
office, alleging that, among other things, he had lost tour
tons of oakum, three •and-a-half tons of rags, eight or
nine tons of old rope, thirty-three flock beds, and other
bulky articles. Circumstances came to light which
induced a suspicion that the plaintiff had himself set
I the house on fire, and he was finally com-
mitted for trial. At the following assizes he was
tried for the arson, and acquitted. It was now sought. to
show that the property for which the plaintiff
sought compensation could not possibly have been or the
premises at the time the fire occurred. It was calculated
that the goods alleged to have been consumed would fill,
at the lowest estimate, about 3,952 cubic feet, and would
nearly fill the whole of the premises. It appeared from
the evidence of Mary Beckett, who was in the service of
Mrs. Bushell, that she had occasion to go into the plain-
tiff's house with a message to Mrs.. Doran the day the
fire occurred ; that she found no one within, and that on
looking into the parlour and the kitchen she found them
empty. She was afterwards in the lower store, and at
that time 'there was hardly anything in it. Alice
Bushell and Samuel Jones stated that they had occa-
sion to go up the inclined plane already mentioned to
get some hazy out of the hay-loft ; that the window of
the prisoner s house was open, that they looked in, and
there was at that time nothing visible but same remains
of burnt cotton which the women in the emp!oy of the
plaintiff had been picking. The strongest widen -e,
however, was that of two little boys, who stated that in
the course of the sfernoon they got through the window
in question lute, tie, loft, and remained more than an
hour playing at " tick." They said both the lofts were
all hut empty, and nothing to hinder their rum,ing about
in any part of them. It was further seeght to show,
from the manner in w hich the premises burned, that
they could net have centaineti such geode as those de-
scribed. 'File engines were promptly in attendanee, and
a great quantity of water was thrown on the burning
mass ; but the whole was consumed, so as hardly to
leave a vestige, within half an hour of the fire breaking
out. It was alleeed by a number of witnesses having
great experience in such matters, that there would be,
under the circum-tanees, a great mass of materials
among the ruins, had the stock on the premises been in
any degree of the kind and quantity enticed.
'or the plaintiff, evidence was adduced to show that
the property in question was on the premises at the time
of the fire taking place. For this purpose a person Of
the name of M.Gee, and some other parties, were called.
M'Gee was in the service of the plaintiff, and is a rela-
tion of his. His statements went to show the existence
of property to the full extent alleged. He said he had
kept watch on the premises for several nights before this
occurred, but on that night, being very much fatigued,
Mrs. Doran, befere going to the theatre, permitted him
to go to bed. He lay down in his clothes, with the ex-
ception of his coat, and on the alarm of fire being given,
he ran for the engine, and returning, got out a chest of
drawers, which were carried up the street, he knew tea by
whom. The testimony of this witness was corroborated
by several others, as to the contents of the stores. It was
also alleged that when the house was burnt down, the
iron roof remained at least four feet from the ground
and gradually sunk lower in'the course of the few fol-
lowing days. It was alleged, too, that the ground floor
of the house was considerably lower than the street,
and that the fire broke out several times in the course of
the few succeeding days, so that, as was contended on
the part of the plaintiff, there might have been vary con-
siderable remains of the goods claimed, which were slowly
burnt away, and disappeared.
Mr. MARTIN hating replied.
His LORDSHIP summed up, leaving it to the jury to
decide on the credibility of the several witnesses whose
testimony it was impossible to reconcile.
The verdict was finally returned for the defendant.

By the death of Mr. Speer, one of the retired chief
clerks of the Treasury, a pension of 1,7001. per annum is
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