The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-08-23 00:00:00

had been seized by defendant, belonging

to one John
„neld, who hnd become

Johnson, a cabinetmaker, in

bankrupt, of

Ot to be

iven up to the creditors,

The plaintiffs-were assignees for the creditors of John-

son. The defendant had carried on business as a
cabinet-maker and auctioneer in Wakefield, and in January,
1850, he relinquished the cabinet-making business in
favour of Johnson, who was to take the stock, as far as
that should amount to £5OO. On a valuation the stock
was found to be worth £550, and according to agreement
a power of attorney was drawn up as security for the
_ _

money, and given to the defendant. Johnson continued
to carry on the business, and the defendant confined his
attention to the business of au auctioneer and valuator.
The wife of Johnson assisted him in keeping his books
and accounts, but as the business increased, Parkinson, a
clerk of the defendant's, was engaged to keep the books at
his leisure time. In doing this, Parkinson ingratiated him-
self into the favour of Mrs. Johnson, and early in March last
she and Parkinson eloped, the former carrying off what
money was in the house, and also some property. Beckett
having become acquainted with this fact, and being, as it
would seem, desirous of securing his own interest, advised
Johnson to keep out of the way, lest his creditors should
take steps for recovery of their debts, as that, he said,
would be a serious thing. In the meantime, Beckett took
immediate steps to secure payment of his own claim. For
the purpose of doing so, he obtained a judgment, and ex-
ecution on his power of attorney,. and under it seized
goods to the amount, as it was alleged, of about £9OO, but
which, under the execution, were said to the sheriff's officer
who levied in execution, for the sum of £6l

It was

contended, that Johnson having gone out of the way, con-
stituted of itself an act of bankruptcy ; and that the defen-
dant,having possessed himself of the goods in questiou,was
to the detriment of the creditors, and the plaintiffs, as their
assignees, sought to have the goods, or the value delivered
up to the general estate, for behoof of the creditors, in-
cluding, of course, the defendant himself. Johnson, it
should be stated, has passed through the bankruptcy court,
and has obtained a certificate of the first class. Evi-
dence was heard for the plaintiff, at great length, from
which it appeared that Johnson. went out of the way at
the instigation of the defendant ; and that on his recom-
mendation, Johnson had stated that he had obtained some
clue to where his wife was, and was•gone in search of her.
This, however, was not true, but was done in consequence
of the advice given to Johnson, by the defendant, whom
Johnson understood to be his friend. The case for the
plaintiffs having been concluded,:the:defendant agreed to a
verdict for the plaintiffs of £430, subject to certain con-
ditions, to be subsequently agreed on.
VAN BAaxN V. BAINES.—This was an action brought
on. a case of chartering. In this instance the defendant
entered into a contract for chartering from the plaintiffs,
who are extensive shipowners in Amsterdam, the ship
Wassenaar. In terms of the charter the ship was to be
despatched from Amsterdam some time in March. The
evidence, which was nearly all in writing, was very vo-
luminous, and from it, it appeared that the ship was of
600 tons burden, of five-sixths confidence, and she was to
carry a cargo from Liverpool to. Australia, at the rate of
1:6 per ton. The defendant is, an emigration agent, in
Liverpool, and in terms of the charter the ship was to be
in Liverpool by a certain time. On the part of the
plaintiffs it was stated that the vessel having returned
from a voyage to Batavia, was as, speedily as possible
put into proper sailing condition for passing through the
Canal, and on the 30th of March she was ready for sea,
with the exception of a small.quantity of ballast, which
was not put on board that she might pass through the
. canal with greater ease and safety.; she also had to receive
two additional seamen. This, it was stated, was a cus-
tomary proceeding. A day or two thus elapsed in getting
in her remaining ballast, after which she was detained by
severe weather till the 9th of April. Ultimately she
arrived in Liverpool on the 17th of April, by which time
the defendant had made up his mind to have nothing to
do with the Wassenaar. After her arrival in Liverpool,
the Captain reported himself to. the defendant as having
arrived. In a day or two the defendant made application for
the log-book ; and subsequently, in answer to a notice from
the captain, stating that he was on a quay berth in the
Victoria Dock, and was ready to take in cargo, he sent a
note intimating that he must decline to have anything to
do with the Wassenaar. He subsequently alleged as a
reason for declining the charter, that the ship had not
been despatched "in all March." In the log it had been
entered by the mate, on the instruction of the captain,
that the ballast and the crew were all on board when the
vessel left Amsterdam. This was not true, but it was ex-
plained that the entry was made because the captain la-
boured under the impression that ballast could not legally,
have been put on board after leaving the port. It was
likewise made a ground of declining the charter on the
part of the defendant, that the vessel had not been truth-
fully described as a five-sixths confidence ship. A. great
deal of evidence was adduced to prove that due diligence
had been used to. get the ballast on board, and, that if
sufficient ballast had been ou board to qualify her for
going to sea when she left Amsterdam, she could, not have
passed through the canal ; the pilot alone stating. that he
could have taken her through the canal, although all her
ballast had been on board. Surveyors belonging to the
bureau veritas of Paris proved that her classification as a
five-sixths confidence ship wawa true classification. For
the defence it was contended that an essential element
in the contract was, that every ressonable expedition
should be used, in order to have the vessel despatched to
Liverpool, in order that she might be loaded and sent on
her voyage. It was indisputable that freights were at the
time falling, and continued to fall, both before and after
her arrival in Liverpool ; and the detention, which it was
contended was unnecessary, was thus. the means of sub-
jecting the defendant to increasing loss. On investigation,
it was farther found that a false representation on an im-
portant point had been made in the ship's log, and also
that minor misrepresentations had been entered on the
same register. This was sufficient to shake the faith of
any one in the honesty and fair dealing of the parties
, having the management of the ship. She was to have
gone on a long voyage, and it was of the first consequence
that good faith, in every respect,, should be maintained
by those to whom she was to be entrusted.—His Lord-
ship summed up with much care, remarking, minutely,
on the various points of evidence, as these bore on the
facts in dispute. The question of law would, he said, be
left for decision by the court above.—The jury having
consulted, " found that the ship was at the. time spoken
of five-sixths confidence. The jury again consulted, and
found for the plaintiff £1,440, which was amended to
£1,500, to cover expense of brokerage under the second
chartering.

ONIONi v. CROWLEX.—In this case the plaintiff sought
to recover, compensation for an infringement of a patent
invention by which the plaintiff was enabled to manu-
facture what is called the "flyer,"an instrument used in the
spinning of cotton and other fibres, of annealed cast-iron in-
stead of maleable iron as was the previous practice. In de-
fence it was maintained that the process in question was no
invention of the, plaintiff's, but was, in fact, an infringe-
ment of a previous patent process, known as Fletcher's
patent, which, it was contended, was essentially tbe same
process as that laid claim to by the plaintiff. It was ad-
mitted that defendant had made and sold " flyers" made of
cast-iron, rendered maleable by annealing. The case for
the plaintiff having been concluded at half-past six o'clock,
the court adjourned till nine o'clock this (Tuesday) morn-
ing.

OREGON.---Gold has been found on the Santiara river,
and there was considerable excitement in Portland with
regard to it.
Tires YELLOW FEVER IN NEW ORLEANS. A letter
from Dr. Hawks, a clergyman of New Orleans, gives a
lamentable account of the ravages of the yellow fever in
that city :—" Others may endeavour to make people abroad
believe there is no danger, while there is really at this
moment raging one of the most fearful epidemics that was
ever known. The fever is of a frightful type, nearly every
case black vomit in eight or ten hours after the attack, and
the mortality is unprecedented. Dr. L., who, you know,
is one of the most eminent of our physicians, told me this
day that there were more deaths than he ever knew at any
other period, and the suffering exceeds anything I have
ever witnessed. I have this day visited forty-four persons
sick with the fever, and by to-morrow do not expect to find
ten of them alive. lam going from house to house, from
one scene of the most appalling wretchedness only to see
another worse, if that be possible, than the last. Death
is
all around me in his most frightful form, yet my duty is a
plain one, not only to preach the Gospel, but to help
bodily the poor sufferer who has no friend. My dear
friend, .for God's sake, help us. Get what you can, and
remit it to me for the Howard Association (you know all
about it, for you are a member), and the poor will bless
you. This morning I went into a lonely little hut, and
there found the father dead, the mother hugging h.er babe,
only four days old, to her breast, striving to nurse it, while
the black vomit was actually streaming from her mouth.
Such are the objects for which I plead: The mother is
since dead, the babe is alive. I took it and got a black
woman to be its mother. Not one cent had these people.
My friend, I could give you a great many similar cases of
suffering, but I forbear; you will, I knowhelp us to help
Ulm poutcroturco..