The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-04-09 00:00:00

AN ATTORNEY'S BILL.

BRAY V. EASTWOOD.—This was an action brought by
Mr. Bray, attorney, of Preston, against the defendant,
Mr. Thomas Eastwood, of Brindle Lodge, in this county
to recover the sum of £547, for professional services.
The costs were incurred in defending Mr. Eastwood
against an indictment, at Lancaster, for a libel upon the
Rev. Mr. Sherborne, Roman Catholic priest, and two
actions for libel subsequently brought against the defend-
ant, by the same reverend gentleman, at the assizes at
Liverpool. The libels appeared in the Lancaster Gazette,
in the shape of letters from the defendant ;' and Mr.
Quarme, the editor of that journal, was the nominal de-
fendant in the two last actions. The libels imputed to
Mr. Sherborne, and to the Roman Catholic priesthood
generally, that they induced persons on their death-beds
to make wills in their favour, or for superstitious purposes.
The defendant was found guilty upon the bill of indict-
ment preferred against him at Lancaster. The two ac-
tions brdught against Mr. Quarme, after being made
remanets at one assizes, at Livei pool, were ready for trial
at the succeeding assizes, in March, 1843, when the plain•
tiff, Mr. Bray, wrote to Mr. Eastwood to furnish him
with money to carry them on. The defendant refused to
send any money ; and Mr. Bray thereupon agreed to a
verdict for the plaintiff, for nominal damages, and those
actions were settled. He delivered in his bill to the de-
fendant in July last, but the defendant refused to pay,
and in consequence, this action was brought. Two or
three witnesses were called, who proved that during the
progress of the actions in question Mr. Eastwood was fre-
quently at the plaintiff's office, and letters were also put
in evidence, showing that he was the person who gave
directions during the entire suit.
Mr. WATSON addressed the jury for the defence, con-
tending that for the costs, incurred in the two actions
against Mr. Quarme, the defendant could not be held
liable. In the bill which had been handed in were some
matters which related to the indictment brought against
Mr. Eastwood, at Lancaster ; and for all that he had done
for Mr. Eastwood, the plaintiff had been paid. It was
the opinion of the great and learned Lord Tenterden, that
every attorney ought to take a written retainer from his
clients; but in the present case there was no written re-
tainer, and that the defendant was not the real defendant
in the two actions brought against Mr. Quarme might
be inferred from the fact that he was to be examined as a
witness.

His LORDSHIP observed, in summing up, that there
could be no doubt that the bill of £547 had been properly
incurred, and he left the jury to say whether it was due
from the defendant.

The jury found for the plaintiff; damages, £520.

CROWN COURT-SATURDAY.
STEAD V. ROBERTS.

This was an action brought by the plaintiff, Thomas
Stead, to recover the sum of £4O lent to the defendant,
Abraham Roberts. The defendant pleaded that he was
noti
olni awb laes,
barno
ud
ght ht
.a t
Bh eo t
hh ad
these
eps
ea ipd he l
etaswmoney before e
nied ; atnhde
on this issue was joined.
Mr. Knowles and Mr. Addison appeared for the plain-
tiff; and Mr. Watson for the defendant.
It appeared, from the statement and evidence, that the
plaintiff was a maltster, at a place called Clackbeaton,
near Leeds, and that the defendant was a stonemason,
near the same place ; and the object of the action was to
recover a sum of £4O, which, so long ago as October, 1810,
was lent by the plaintiff to the defendant. The latter had
a brother, Samuel, who married a daughter of the plain-
tiff; and when an intimacy had been thus
.formed, the
there eureelfos r ew, be who
e chtal dy
81
ionacne pda
isesde
.d t
The
u gl
oh a tnh ecouldhands
nooft
proved ; but admissions had, from time to time, been
made by the defendant, which left no doubt that the money
had been lent.
The Jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for the
amount sought. . . .

—His LORD-SHIP intimated that he would not take any
more cases, and the Court accordingly adjourned at ten
o'clock.

NISI PRIUS COURT.-SATURDAY.

CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD THE CUSTOMS AT LIVERPOOL :

REGINA V. WILLIAMS AND OTHERS.

Thomas Williams, Henry Beeslon, and Jonas Brockle-
hurst, were indicted for a conspiracy to defraud the cus-
toms.

There were two counts in the indictment. The first
charged the defendant with a conspiracy to defraud the
Queen of her Customs' duties. The second count charg-
ed that certain merchandise had been placed in a bonding
warehouse in the port of Liverpool; and ten bags of coffee
had been removed therefrom, in order to be re-warehoused ;
and that the defendants conspired to obtain these ten bags
from the Queen's officers without paying the duty, : and,
pursuance rbs ur
iabnec et
hoef souffle
ecrosn
by
piracy,trho
seef e
nn
fd axnst
s
also'
endeavouredthat,
in
and the actual payment of £3 to procure the removal of
the ten bags. The defendants pleaded not guilty to both
charges.
. The following are the circumstances of the case, as de-
tailed in the evidence of the witnesses for the prosecution:
—The defendant, Beeston, was a landing-waiter in the
Customs at the time of the occurrences which were the
subject of the indictment. Williams was described as a
general dealer, and Brocklehurst was said to be a store-
keeper and general dealer in Manchester. The most im-
portant witnesses were two lockers, William Booth and
George Henry Richards; and it appeared, that on the
17th of July last, these persons had been appointed to
receive goods and keep them till the duty was paid in
Green's, 340, Dundee-street, which is a bonding ware-
house. The same day Booth was standing under the
dome in the Custom-house passage, when Beeston and
Williams came to him, and the former asked him what
duty he was upon. Booth replied, " Not upon any par.
ticular duty at this time, adding that he was going out
of town on leave of absence for two days. Beeston next
asked him what duty he would be on at his return. Booth
replied he did not know. Beeston then invited him into
Nuttall's public-house, which adjoins the Custom-house,
and on his going tooshop,
Detornhasen,evidddi then
asnhd
dined
landing-waiter
a fnentanedonrtign,ehagat otnwueda rray
iaft,tnh e
aereanr
dtwnrbonarwmoredmheese,
d nuhrippehe
stairs.
tosvatuwi
Davies,
gWs
tenotinhni Williams,
arp:
wsgßiotetnieli
eslnitgaolnte,soe
Beeston insisted on paying for the dinner. After dinner they
went down stairs into the room they had left before, when
Davies came in with a person named Jones. Booth went
out, and was going in the direction of South John-street
when Williams overtook him and said Beeston wanted him
at the Globe public-house, in Copperas-hill, and that he
(Williams) was not to part with him on any account.
Booth went to the Globe about four o'clock. but Beeston
was not there, and whilst he was waiting Williams in-
quired if he was a single man, adding, that he knew what
Mr. Beeston wanted to speak with him about : it was to
know what station he would be upon, and then he (Wu_
which, (Booth)
lsoianaimtd
f,so)trhtway
tooiufrl paydhe was on a station where there were
duty upon five bags of coffee and get
fifty,
as he (Booth) pleased. Williams also
tghoeoydsmpiagyhit tongahkeeavxyl,douotio a month, he said, would
es
, such as coffee, tea, and sugar,
be divided between four of them—himself, Booth, Bees_
ton, and another person whose name he did not mention.
Beeston, be said, bad directed him to speak to Booth
about it. Booth, in answer, said he could not do " the
thing" ; whereupon he desired that he would meet him
the next day,telBth and
]9th,
at th the Black Bull public-house, however,
h w
ot
was
Kirk-
dale. On hsn
absent
on leave : he returned on the 20th, and was forthwith or-
deredßieha
Richards
wGreen's
duty
in warehouse.th e warehouse,O n the I
s t,
Beeston, a 8 he and
with
another person, afterwards discovered to be the defen-
dant Brocklehurst, came to the warehouse door, and
called " Booth, I want to see you." Booth replied, that
it was then past four o'clock, the usual hour of locking
up, but he would be with him directly ; and the two de-
fendants waited in the middle of the street till the
locking up. Beeston and Booth then walked toge-
ther, Brocklehurst walking behind, when Beeston in-