Star.
London, England, 1827-01-29 00:00:00

agailst him, for having illegally, msliciously, and
coaruptly c..mm'ttel to prison two children, the one a
hop', not exceeding ten, and the other a gin l of not more
th.n seen years of age. The circumstances of this case
vrere briefl, these t—The'father of these children was an
industrious lahnuring man, residing with his family in
the county of Sc ;fiord. On the morning of the 12th
rf O:roher last, having some business to transact at a
neighbouring town, he sit of, accompanied by his wife,
leaving the children in que,tion under the care of their
a.int, an aged woman. Sh rtly after their dep ature,thel
children were allowed to go out and play,ani in the course
of thier rambles they arrived at a common, si uate about
100 yards.from their parents' cottage. OA this clmmon
there wax a pool of water, in which a number of ducks
sere swimming. The ducks belonged partly to their
father and pittly to their neighbours. The children. on I
seeing the ducks, were struck with the fancy of catch-1
ing two of them and making them fight, and accord•
ingly, having taken eff their shoes and stockings, they'
waded into the pool, and succeeded in making the
desired capture. They then returned to the bank with
tiseir prize, and in the wanton gambols of childhood
attempted to make the two ducks fight. Whilst
they were thus engaged, a neighbour chanced to pass
by, and seeing ti em, he went to a person to whom
some of the ducks belonged. who prevailed on the'
man to run after the children and bring them to'
him, promising, in case he succeeded, to give him a
good dinner and a pint of beer. The man went after the'
children, who, seeing him approach, ran away. leaving
their sl,oes and stockings behind them. He, however,
caught the gill and took her to the prosecutor's house; he
then went after the boy to the cottage of his father, and
brought him also to the prosecutor's house. During the
night tl,e prosecutor went into the room where the chil-
dren were sleeping, with a light and a rope in his
hands. and asked them what they were doing with the
ducks? The children anus ered, " that they were only
trying to make them fight!" The man then said, that if
they would not confess at once. he would hang them
with the rope. The children, howiver, still persisted in
declaring their innocence, and the next morning, they
were both taken before the Magistrate. The mother of
the poor children was present during the examination.
Ste remonstrated at the injustice of the proceedings,
but to no effect, and the children were fully committed
on a charge of stealing the ducks, and the owner bound
over to prosecute. This examination took place on tht
19th of October, they were sent to prison to await their
trial, and remained there until the 29th the same month.'
At the Sessions they were vied on this charge, and not
a tittle of evidence appeasing against them, they were,
acquitted. The Learned Counsel adduced several other
circumstances, to prove that the Magistrate was actu-
ated, by malice.
The Court Immediately granted a rule to 'beer eagle.
INSOLVRNT DEBTORS COURT.

Eduard knight and Josep4 Willi:ma, late of Leeds,
stuff manufacturers and yarn ihrowsters, were brought
u‘s for reheari-g; their case having been investigsted
on the Sib of December List.

At the original examination the iniolvents, who were
copattners, were opposed by Mr. ilaatta for several
credithrs, and it appeared that they bad (prel/ions to
their bankruptcy in Ind) been in the habit, for three
years previous, of consigning vast q,uitstities of goods to
a Mr. Woolf, who acted as their agent, and who ad-
vanced money on the various consignments from time
to time. The insolvents transactions with Mr. Woolf
having been multifarious and extensive, the insolventsl
were unable to give a particular detail of them, in a
manner satisfactory to the Court; the ease was then
adjourned, for the purpose of procuring the parole testi.'
tunny of their agent.
This morning Mr. Ernest Woolf, a riterchant it Leeds,
was examined by Mr. Cooke on behalf of the insolvents.
The witness stated, that his trahsyctions with the insol-
vents commenced early in /823; and their usual prac-
tice was to consign large quantifies of stuff And yarn to,
hitt for sale, they abiding the fluctuation of the market.
Witness was in the habit of advancing three-fourtbs of
the value to the consigners when the state of their funds
required it. From the accounts in his books, he thought
that since 1823 he had advanced them from 30,0001.
to 40,0001. It is very possible that on one occasion they
might have deposited 12,000 pieces of stuff and 8,600
gross of yarn, but the exact value of them he could not
tune ; having almost unlimited confidence in the insol-
vents, he made them over advance:, and he was now a
Creditor for 6,0001.

In his examination by Mr. limn, the witness said,
that at the solicitation of 'he assignees under the bank-
ruptcy, he had laid his books before the Accountant,
and he had trinsmipts of the account!, for the guidance
and information of this Court, which the u itness pro.
duced ; the balance was always in his favour.
Mr. Come addressed the Court for the insolvents.
He said that there was nothing singular in the transac-
tion between the insolvents and Mr. Woolf; as it was
Aunt the uniform practice of the most respectable,
merchants to employ brokers to make purchases, pan.'
ticulerly for the West India trade. The Learned Gen-
tleman adverted to the great depression which had been
experienced in manufacturing districts generally; and
submitted, that the insolvents were brought to this Cotirt
under circumstances which they could not controul,
and not by any act of individual fraud; and he hoped
that the Court would extend to them the benefit which
tl.ey sought.
Mr. HZATO, on behalf of the opposing creditors, con-
tending that the insohrentshad been acting upon a system
of fraud, which had been long exploded—a system,
which was to obtain goods at a market price, and horde-
d atel y consign theta to agents, at three-fohrlhs of their
value. This was the cue with Mr. Helensky (Mr.
Heath's client), who sold them goods to the amount of
'early 3001. which v ere immediately handed over to Mr.
Woolf, and he (Mr. Helmsley) was called on within a
week to take a dividend upon those very goods. The
Learned Gentleman (who was repeatedly interrupted by
the explanations of Mr. Woolf) concluded, by submittiag
that the insolvents having been guilty of fraudulent con-
tr4cts and conveyances of pi operty, they had made them-
se:ves amenable to this Court.

Before the Court adjudicated on7t)settsges.
Mr. Commissioner .H.tanta'inqisired. of Mr. Woolf,
whether he ha.l pi °Veil' his debt of AZ thousand pounds
under the commission issued agalnit the insol Vents, or
whether he had made any atEdavit of the fact?
Mr. Woolf replied, that be bid not bone so; but there remained
time for that portent., as the toinenisslem was still open.
Mr. Commissio nee Weans said, that it appeared
,that there was a distinction between these parties in their
personal transactions but, frith respect to Knight, a
h9d been made out against him, et obtaining
reds unfler false pretences.
The Cerowr wetrnetd rniglipto eigbt n,enths iniptisonmett,l
and otderod Wilkiusuti td/be cllSshatgtd.
• r