The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-06-14 00:00:00

MANCHESTER SAVINGS' BANK.

Mr. Gibson, the late agent to this establishment, whose sin-
gular apprehension by the London Police our readers are ac-
quainted with, was examined before a bench of magistrates at
Manchester on Tuesday last.
Mr. MILNE en the part of the Trustees and Managers of the
Bank stated the case to the bench, and after detailing the facts
of the case, contended that, if the bench should be of opinion
that the offence did not amount to a felony, there could be no
doubt that it came within the provisions ot• the act 7 and 8 Geo.
I V. cap 29, and would amount to a misdemeanour under the 49th
section of that act, which he Would take the liberty of reading :
" if any money or security for the payment of money shall be
entrusted to any banker, merchant, broker, attorney, or other
agent, with any directions in writing to apply such money or any
part thereof, or the proceeds or any part of the proceeds of sueh
security for any purpose specified in such direction, and he shall
in violation of good faith, and contrary to the purpose so speci-
fied in any wise convert to his own use or benefit, such money,
security, or proceeds, or any part thereof respectively, every
such ()tender shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and being
thereof convicted, shall be liable to transportation for fourteen
years, or to fine or imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of
the court."

Mr. BRANDT addressed the magistrates on the behalf of the
prisoner, and insisted that the evidence fell short of proving.
that he had converted the money feloniously. The letter ad-
dressed by Mr. Gibson to his son containing an admission of
embezzlement, would bear a very different construction to what
had been put upon it. The sum of £lOO was placed in his
hands in 1819, was supposed to have continued in his hands, and
it was supposed that he had converted it to his own use; but in
the face of these suppositious, there was the fact that he had
made frequent advances to the Bank, and was it not natural
that, when he found himself short of cash for other purposes, ho
should iu return borrow a portion of this sum. This was im-
proper, it was true, but it was not felonious; and this was all
that he had done, but standing in the unfortunate situation he
did, he could not call any witness to prove the fact. As far as
the accounts went, they were a mode of book-keeping which
was required of him; as an honest man, he had entered the
£lOO as being in his hands, although the money might not be
there, but by entering it to his debit, he made himseif responsi-
ble for it as a debt which he owed to the bank. With respect
to the expression in the letter to his son, that he had taken no
money belonging to the bank except tile £lOO which were
placed in his hands for current expences, that was no proof of
felony, for he did not say that he had taken the specific money
entrusted to him. Mr. Gibson had been led into this act by ex-
cess of delicacy :—on looking over au • old bankruptcy account
he found that there was a denciency of £3O or £4O. he could
not meet the commissioners in consequence, becanse he was
afraid of the penalties he had incurred being enforced against
him, and, therefore, to use his own expression, in an evil hour,
considering that he had only the alternative of living in dis-
grace in Manchester, or of leaving the town, he chose the latter.
At the close of the proceeding the magistrates were of opinion,
that although a case of felony bad not been made out they
should not be doing their duty without eommittiug Mr. Gibson
for trial under the 7th and Bth Geo. IV%, but would admit him
to bail on entering into his own recognizance iu £2OO and two
sureties of 1:,10) each, to answer the charge the sessions.
Mr. Gibson will remain in custody until his bail is perfected,

ANECDOTE OF TILE LAIRD op LOGAN.—An under grieve on
the estate of Logan happened to have been the means of plac-
ing a young woman in the neighbourhood in a situation not
very advantageous to her character. As the proofs of their ac-
quaintance was every day becoming inure apparent, a lawyer,
at the request of her friends, called upon the " gay deceiver,"
and laid down the alternative of marriage, or an action for
" breach of promise." Being a ease of no little difficulty, the
poor fellow began scratching his head; but remained silent till
the patience of the lawyer became exhausted, and he demanded
an answer to his proposal in a very angry and decisive tone of
voice. "Toots, Mr. M—," says the Laird, who was present
at the interview, " diuna be sae tlighty,--it's a puzzliu, case;
and when you see the lad's thrang consulting the crown L sellers
On the matter "en J _ • • 111111111 I I I I I I I I I 111

THE HURRICANE.

On Tuesday this neighbouthood was visited by one of the se-
verest storms, accompanied by a heavy fall of rain, that we ever
remember to have witnessed at this season of the year. Coming
as it did, unexpectedly, the craft on the river Mersey-were not
prepared for so tempestuous a visitation, ebd, iu consequence,
the damage done to them will, we fear, be very considerable.
So great was the swell in the river that it was with great diffi-
culty that the steam-boats employed at the ferries could land
their passengers, and at one period all communication between
this and the Cheshire side was suspended. A brigantine was
driven ou shore early on Wednesday morning, on the rocks near
Bootle, and suffered some damage. The zinc covering of some
the sheds in the Clarence Dock was stripped off, and we have
heard that considerable damage was done to the gardens and
plantations in the neighbourhood of Everton. It is rumoured
that a woman and two children were drowned in one of the fiats
coming down the river. Several ships were obliged to put.
back;' but for the names and particulars of the damage sus-
tained by them we refer to our shipping intelligence.
The' Dublin Evening Mail of Wednesday contains an account
of a similar visitation, which we subjoin.
"Tut: WHaniuit.—A gale of wind, amidst amounting to a
hurricane, commenced on Monday night, continued the. whole
of yesterday, and has not yet taken off. It was accompanied
throughout by heavy rain ; but we greatly fear that the advan-
tage resulting from the latter vvid be more than counterbalanced
by the injury to the fruit trees and heavy crops likely to be su:-
tained from the former. Owing to the gale, which is still blow-
ing fiercely from the North-west, the Packet, with the London
mail of Monday, had nut reached when our Journal was going
to press,"
The London papers received last night likewise contain ac
counts equally distressing. The following account is extracted
from the Guardian of Wednesday morning :—" Yesterday
morning at an early hour it commenced blowing a severe gale
from the south-west, which increased towards the middle of the
day to a perfect hurricane. Such a violent storm in the month
of June was never before remembered. On land its effects
were very severe, and in some places it was with difficulty the
passengers could keep their footing. Chimney pots were blown
off in all directions. In Lambeth, the streets were strewn with
' broken tiles and pots, dislodged from the house tops by the
wind. A great number of trees in the parks and fields in the
vicinity of the metropolis were blown down. In Cotton-gar-
dens, near the Speaker's house, a large elm tree was torn up
by the roots, and fell over the wall into the Thames. The
storm was more severely felt on the river, where, we are sorry
to state, two accidents occurred during the day, attended with
loss of lives. About three o'clock iu the afternoon, a peter-
boat, containing two persons, a fisherman and a boy, was
blown over, in Half-way Reach, between Gravesend. and -
London, and so great was the agitation of the water, that
both perished before any other boat could approach them.
About six o'clock in the evening four young gentlemen belong-
ing to Westminster School were sailing up the river near
Lambeth stairs, in a small boat, when a sudden gust of wind
capsized the boat, and they were ail immersed in the stream.
Three of them swam towards the shore, and were picked up by
the waterman, who instantly put off to their assistance. Nearly
a quarter of an hour elapsed before the fourth, a promising
youth named Webber, the son of the Dean of Ripon, was
taken out of the water by means of the drags. He was in-
stantivtaken ashore to a publichouse opposite Lambeth Church
but all attempts to restore animation proved fruitless. Severa
boats lying under the arch on the city side of Southwark
Bridge were blown over, and much damaged. The wind blew
so tremendously in the afternoon that tie coal barges weio
unable to conic up with the tide. The river presented a scene
of confusion during the whole day; a great number of hats and
bonnets, which had been blown off the heads of persons on the
bridges, were picked up by the Thames police. A great num-
ber of ships were driven from their moorings in the pool, and
injured."
Since writing the above, we have been favoured with an
extract from a letter dated
" BANGOR BRIDGE, 12th June, 1833.—A more terrific night
than the last I never was out in ; from three o'clock yesterday
afternoon until our arrival this morning, it blew a perfect hur-
ricane, the sea running mountains high, and at times making
a complete breach over us. The Prince behaved admirably ;
indeed, had it not been for her excellent qualities as a sea boat,
added to the great attention of the captain and crew, not a man
of whom was below for a moment, I do not know what would
have become of us."