The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-11-08 00:00:00

THE "JERRY BUILDER"

question

I The county of Merioneth,
and

PETER HUGHES.—On Friday, at the Lambeth police
office, this person was again brought up on a charge of ob-
taining a large sum of money (according to his own acknow-
ledgment 100 guineas), by falsely representing himself as the
Rev. Mr.
-Kavanagh, parish-priest of Ballykenney, in the

county of Wexford, Ireland

The facts elicited on the first

.
examination we published in the Standard of Tuesday last.
Since the last examination Inspector Donnigan. who has had

the case in hand, has received-several letters from the heads

of Catholic families in Birmingham and its vicinity, whom
the prisoner has victimized by the same misrepresentations.
Thc prisoner, who is a fellow of the most plausible manners,

in defence said the whole of the money' collected by hini

should be appropriated to the object for which it had been
collected, namely, the building of the chapel. He was re-

manded for three—weeks and a few days before the sessions

when the Rev. Mr. Kavanagh will be in town, to disprove
his representation of his being a clergyman of that name, or

having authority to collect for the
INSOLVENT DEBTORS.—The following are the arrange-
ments for the spring courts for the relief of insolvent

debtors on the NOrthtirn Circuit, 1843:

YORKSHIRE.-At Sheffield, Friday, February 10.—Wake-
field, Monday, FebrUary 13.—At the Town and County of
the Town of Kingston-upon-Hull, Monday, February 20.

—At York, Wednesday, February 22.—At the City- and
County of. the City of York, the same day.—At Rich-

mond, Friday, February 24

DURHAM.—At Durham, Saturday February 25

NORTHUMBERLAND.—At Newcastle-upon:Tyne, Tuesday,
February 28.—At the Town and County of the Town of
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the same day.

CUMBERLAND.-.

•At-Carlisle, Friday:March 3

WEsTmont-ND.:7At.Applehy,lVloxiciay, March 6.—At Ken-

dal, Tuesday, March

LANCASHIRE.-At Lancaster, Wednesday, March B.—At
Preston,_ Thursday, March 16.—At Liverpool, Friday,

March 17,

CHESHIRE.-At Chester, Monday, March 20.—At the City
and County of the City of Chester, the same day.

The Commissoner who is to come this circuit is not named,
but as Mr. Reynolds takes the Midland, Mr. Harris the
Southern, and Mr. Law the Home, the successor of the late
Mr. Bowen, who is not yet appointed, will, we suppose, take
the Northern.

GAMBLING ON A " SMALL" SCALE.—A man named John

Sharp was.brought up, at the Police-court, yesterday, on a

charge of cheating another, John Joyce, of the sum of £2 19s.
at cards. Both appeared to be working men. The com-
plainant said, that on Saturday he was playing with the pri-
soner, and just when he had lost the sum stated, he discovered

that the prisoner had kept four cards out of the pack in one
of his hands, by which he made successful cuts. By this

means be was "cut" out of his money. On cross-examination
by Mr. Owens, the case assumed a mitigated complexion.
The parties had been playing on a former occasion at pitch-
and-toss, in the Old Haymarket, when the complainant won
is

9d. from the prisoner, but lo'st to him anumber of pawn-

tickets, which the latter, however, returned to him. On the
last occasion referred to in the co•nplaint,thecomplainant

. .
had gone in search of the prisoner, and had induced him to
come and have a game with him, showing him 10s. which he
had to sport. They went into a cellar in Lace-street,
where whiskey and ale were sold, and afterwards to another

cellar where drink was also sold, and played till five in the
morning.—The sum of £1 18s. was found upon the prisoner.

—Mr. Rushton said that the prisoner must, under the cir-
cumstances, be discharged.—The complainant applied for
the money, saying be was a poor man with a wife and three
children.—Mr. Rushton said, it was a great shame for him
in that case to go to such places and gamble ; and as there
was no witness to speak to the use of the four cards to de-
fraud him, he must take the consequences, as he (Mr. R.)

could make no order about the money in his behalf.
HIGHWAY ROBBERIES IN EDGE-LANE.—The vicinity of
Edge-lane has recently been infested by a gang of footpads,

whn have carried on their operations with- much brutal
daring. About a fortnight ago, Miss Turner, who lives at
the top of Edge-lane, was, while on her way home after
dark, violently assaulted by two men and robbed. On Mon-
day night last, about seven o'clock, as a gentleman was on
his way from Liverpool to the Old Swan, by the way of Edge-
lane, when near Jackson's rope-walk, a man rushed out of
the hedge and passed him, saying, " How far away 1" Im-
mediately two other men dashed out of the hedge and made
towards the gentleman, who, however, turned and ran to
wards the town. The fellows pursued him till he met a
shandry, when they stopped and made off. The next night,
(Tuesday,) Mr. John Kilshaw, who resides at Broad Green,
was returning home about seven o'clock. He was in Edge-
lane, not far from the ropery above-mentioned, when he
was stopped by two men. One of them stood in front and
presented a pistol at his face, while the other quickly rifled
his pockets, robbing him of what money he had about him.

Ree.overing' his presence of mind, Mr.' Kilshaw called out,
when the villain who held the pistol immediately fired. The

muzzle of the pistol was at this moment resting against the
side of his jaw, past which the contents glanced, fortunately
without inflicting further injury to the face than what re-
sulted from the explosion of the powder, by which, however,
the skin and eyes suffered severely. The charge carried
away the collar of Mr. Kilshaw's coat, and tore away other
portions of his apparel. The moment the shot was fired the
villains made a precipitate retreat: Shortly before this oc-
currence, a gentleman passed the spot where it took place.
He heard footsteps behind him, and was presently accosted
by a tall man dressed in fustian clothes, who overtook him,
gave him a sort of*" good night," and passed on. Shortly
afterwards the same man turned and met him, and again
passed him. In a few moments he met a gentleman whom
he supposes was Mr. Kilshaw, and but a very short time
elapsed after they passed each other when he heard a cry of
" murder!" and words, which he believes to have been
" don't—oh don't," followed by the report of a pistol. The
police-officer on Jackson's rope-walk heard the shot fired,
and in a short time arrived to the assistance of the wounded
man, whom he accompanied borne, but he saw nothing of
the robbers. The servant of Mr. Haywood, who resides in
the neighbourhood, also heard the shot. It is stated that
another gentleman was stopped in Edge-vale, the same
night, by two ruffians, who presented a pistol at his head.
He made an outcry, upon which the villains darted off with-
out attempting to rob him.
NUISANCES.—No fewer than six informations were yes-
terday laid against a person named Alexander Smith, for a
series of nuisances committed by him, on the 12th, 18th,
25th, 26th, and 31st ult., and the Ist instant. Mr. Shuttle-
worth, deputy town-clerk, said that the defendant occupied
a small yard in Banastre-street, in which he boiled the
entrails of animals—often when they were in a state of
putridity—in order to extract the oil. A most offensive and
noxious smell arose from the process ; and complaints having
been made to the common council, the matter was investi•
gated, and the nuisance being found to exist as stated, these
informations were laid. As he saw Mr. Davenport in at-
tendance for the defendant, he would state that if his client
consented to plead guilty, and withdraw from the trade, he
(Mr. S.) would not press for the penalties.—Mr. Davenport
advised with the defendant, who, however, would not consent
to this proposition, saying, the complaints made all originated
in spite and malice.—Mr. Shuttleworth then called Inspector
Morley, who said, that in consequence of the complaints made
to the council (by petition from several of the neighbours),
he had visited the yard of the defendant, in Banastre-street,
on the 18th October, at nine in the morning, being specially
appointed to do so. He found in the yard a quantity of the
entrails of animals (pigs and sheep, he believed), and also
some in one of two copper boilers. The smell reached him
in Marybone and Garden-street, and was so bad that it made
him sick. There were houses all round the yard.—Mr.
Davenport cross-examined the witness, but did not elicit
anything particular.—Mr. Rushton read the clause in the
bye-law affecting nuisances, by which it appeared that the
making of any nuisance, noxious, or offensive gases or
vapours, militating against the health and comfort of the in-
habitants, constituted a nuisance which subjected the party
to fine, not exceeding, £5 each separate offence or time.—Mr.
Shuttleworth said that even if it affected the " comfort"
alone it was a nuisance.—A number of witnesses who lived
in the immediate neighbourhood, or a short distance from it,
were then successively called, and gave testimony of the
nuisance of so strong a nature, that we must be excused
nauseating our readers by giving the details. Suffice it to
say that the stench of the steam and the stuff used was
stated to be intolerable; that it frequently made them and
their families sick and ill, deprived them of appetite for food,
and prevented them from sleeping at night. The materials
used were garbage, most offensive in odour, and the steam
from the boiling of them was still worse. One shopkeeper
who lived 200 yards off, said the smell was even there very
noxious, affected his own and his family's health, and that
' his customers complained of it. Mr. Davenport called two
or three witnesses, whose noses, it appeared, were imper-
vious to the effluvia, but as they lived in cellars where it
could not so easily descend to them, their evidence did not
affect that in chief.—Mr. Rushton said the defendant wee
clearly out of court. Mr. Shuttleworth said he would re.
' new his offer not to push for the penalties if the defendant
would plead guilty to the other five informations, and give
up the trade. This was finally agreed to on the part of the
latter, and a fine of £5 on each was levied, (£3O in all,) on
5 the understanding that if the nuisance was instantly abated
' they would not be levied, and a week was allowed to the de-
' fendant to remove his materials, &c. On the defendant and
his wife leaving the court, they came into contact with some
of the witnesses, and the wife struck one of the females, and
the defendant one of the police-officers. A regular fracas
s ensued at the door, and the aggressors were brought back in
r custody, and immediately placed in the dock. The case
5 being proved, the woman, who was the principal and original
- offender, was fined 40s. and costs, or one month ; and Smith
ss. arid costs, or seven days.

The world at large, and many, even, of the community to
whom the following remarks are addressed, may require to
know what is the description of a tradesman whom we desig-

nate as " the Jerry builder." We will endeavour, as briefly
as we can, to illustrate the meaning attached to the term in

You cannot pass through any of the modern portions of
the town of Liverpool without your attention being called to
piles of buildings, prematurely old—decayed before age can
have had any legitimate right to injure brickwork or wood-
work—" situate and being," as the lawyers would say, in

ill-paved and ill•sewered streets—with puddles, broken win-
dows, windows glazed with paper, leaky spouts, and other
insignia of want of finish and poverty, in front, and narrow
courts, dirty passages, and unsightly objects of every imagin-
able kind and degree behind. These, you may rest assured,
are " jerry built " houses. Again, go into streets of still
more modern erection, in the outskirts of the borough. You
will see, perhaps, a lot of houses exhibiting externally an
infinite amount of pretension ;—verandas in front—perhaps
Elizabethan in style, or vi

Ila-form—stuccoed or rough-cast—
with superb door-way and fan-light, and a magnificent ex-
panse of door-step. So much for outside. Knock at or

open any door, and when you imagine that you are entering
a palace you will be amazed to find yourself in something
more nearly approaching to a piggery. There is a lobby,
paltry in dimensions, and a staircase little less steep and
narrow than the ascent to a hayloft. The front parlour is
three yards by four, or thereabouts, and is papered; but, the
substratum of plaster being bad, it is blotched in parts, and
manifests symptoms of peeling off by a yard at a time.
There are window-shutters ; but they either do not fasten

when up, or are not so ambitious as to go up at all. There
is a cupboard, with a sideboard top, by the fireplace, with a
lock which will not lock, because it never had a key. There
s a bell-pull, but it does not ring, because it never was
attached to a bell; a chimney-piece, upon which you must
not lay your watch, lest it come down with the weight; a
grate with the coves falling down, and a hearth which saves
you the trouble of carrying out the ashes, because they can

be more expeditiously disposed of by sweeping them quietly
through an interstice at the back into the cellar below !
There is a back parlour of similar crazy construction, cellar
kitchens, drawing-room, and bed-rooms "to match." The
whole are painted, but you mustn't wash the paint lest you
have only the wood left. This is a modern—a new—
The county of Montgomery." built " house.

." jerry

But still you. will say—what is the Jerry builder ? Why.
he is the builder of just such tenements as we have described
--of temporary erections—shells of houses—patches of brick-
work and woodwork, put together just sufficiently to be called
houses, and, like Jew watches, to be taken for spew. As a
matter of course, the " Jerry builder" is seldom more

the temporary owner of the houses which he builds. lie buys
a piece of land and he covers it with houses, as a Brummagem
dealer covers his dolls with flaring calico. His object is to
sell, or to let, apiece of land covered with a house. Neither
land nor house is the absolute property of the man who lets
it you as his own, but belongs to some lawyer or other party
as mortgagee. If you want a repair, your ostensible landlord
can do nothing, and the real landlord will do nothing. The
former is reaping all he can before his mortgage is foreclosed,
and his property lapses into other hands; the latter is quietly
waiting for the consummation which the other anticipates.
Let us, briefly as we can, describe a jerry-building specu-

lation. Tom Styles, a joiner or a bricklayer, with twenty
pounds in his pocket,, or a share or two in a building society,
and an understanding with Timothy Nokes, plumber. and
painter, and sundry other people of equal reputation in the
world, purchases from some speculative land agent or lawyer
a plot of land. We shall not enter into the question whether,
at all, or how it is paid for. The first step towards covering
it with houses is the sinking of the foundations and cellars
and that operation is performed by contract, by Patrick some-
body or other with a euphonious name, and his gang of
" soughers." The said Patrick realises a pound or two on
paper, and his Helots potatoes and herring, and mayhap a
drop of " illicit" by the transaction. The cellar floors are
then laid, the cellar walls rise, and the beams are laid for the
first or ground floor ; and then comes that most mysterious
of operations—" a draw."

But we are going too fast. The question has first to be de-
ded between Tom Styles and Timothy Nokes, which of
,em is trustworthy enough to receive the said " draw."
his is a highly interesting contrqversy, watched with great

anxiety by Patrick the " sougher" and his men, two or three
hod-carriers, and the workmen of the controversialists.
The question is at length decided. Tom Stiles, as having the
greatest stake (?) in the speculation, receives " the draw,"

and forthwith draws out of the affair, leaving his colleague
to battle out the claim of Patrick and others as well as he
can. This affair settled or temporarily smoothed down, the
next story rises under the superintendence of Timothy
Nokes; is in due time completed, and then comes another
" draw." Now Timothy happens to have been recently en-
gaged in building half a dozen cottages for John Snooks,
who keeps a provision shop, and who has not been able to
pay him off, un!ess be will take sluip goods—soap, bread,
candles, pepper, mustard, cheese, and other similar com-

modities—instead of cash. Timothy, moreover, has himself
a bill for lead to meet, for which the " draw" in question
presents itself very opportunely

The proposition is made

that the workmen employed should receive 'part of their
claims in money, and the remainder in goods from the shop
of the beforementioned John Snooks ; and after a council of
war or two, held at the neighbouring public-house,
sity" it is found " has no law," and the proposition is

" neces-

acceded to.
We have said nothing, thus far, of the grievances and hard-
ships to which th 6 poor workmen and labourers are sub-
jected—of the penniless Saturday nights, the dinnerless
Sundays, and the weekdays of almost famine. We have said
nothing of the various minor " contractors," whose inge-
nuity, and too frequent rascality, are put in requisition during
the progress of the erection. The window-sashes and door-
frames, perhaps, are contracted for by one, and the doors by
another; and, as they are to be put together at a trifle more
than the cost of the timber, the timber merchant or the
working joiner employed is victimized or gets but half paid.
Then plastering and slapdashing and painting are to be done ;
and are managed in a similar fashion. They are got through,
as a seamstress would say, " with long stitches"—are slurred
over just sufficiently to pass muster until pay-day—until there
is a " draw," with very often a " bolt" at the end of it !
But proceed we, more seriatim, to the last story—to the
roofing, slating and internal finishing. Suppose the building
up—walls, roof, chimneys and all. Then should come the
final draw. But first the work must be surveyed—aye,
there's the rub ! The land-agent, or the lawyer for some
mortgagee, has all along furnished the money for the various

" draws" which have preceded. He wishes now to examine
his security ; and we will, if the reader permit us, accompany
him in his survey and his calculation. Imprimis then, it will be
remembered, we have never said that the land has been paid
for. In fact it has not. It has never even been conveyed!
Tom Styles and Timothy Nukes had originally a contract of
sale, it is true ; and they secured the owner for the cost, by
the bricks and timber and work which they have put upon
the land ; but they have received money since to enable them
to pay—so- far as they can be said to have paid—for those
bricks, that timber and labour; and the transaction must
now be placed en reyle, by a deed of mortgage, previous to
rcceiving the " final draw." Our reader, however, if he be
a man of the world, will readily guess that mortgagees
do not ordinarily advance the full cost of the land and build-
ings erected upon it; and the surmise will naturally present
itself, that the poor expectants of their cash, for the erection
of the last story, and the inside finishing, have a tolerable
chance of being made to whistle awhile for their demands.
And such, in too many instances, is the case. The mort-
gagee will not advance another shilling—how, as a prudent
man, can he ?—and the builder must either place the pro-
perty in the hands of a collector, who can put it into mode-
rately tenantable condition and deduct his outlay from the
rents, or he must sell. Ix case the first alternative is
adopted, we pity the unlucky tenant. In case the second,
we pity the unlucky buyer.buyer. The former takes a house, re-
puted tenantable, which smokes, which has leaky spouts and
a leaky roof, is but half finished, and, though a new house,
threatens daily to tumble about his ears, unless he is fool
sufficient to prop it up at his own cost. The latter buys a
house—or what he fancies is a house, but which is in reality
only the framework of one—and must, unless he wishes it to ,
be removed the first high wind into the adjoining street or
township, lay out upon it some three or four years' rent, in
order to make it such a house as a decent family can reside
in. In either alternative, we pity the poor workmen and
tradesmen who have put together this wretched abortion of
bricks, wood, and mortar. Their Christmas-day will be a
sorry one ; and the chances are, that not a few of them are
seen petitioning for their discharge from durance vile at the
first hearing of the Insolvent Court.
In conclusion, and before taking leave of this distinguished
character, whom we have thought it our duty to place at the
head of these sketches, we cannot but record our conviction
that to the doings of no class of tradesmen in our town is to
be attributed a greater amount of the misery and deteriorated
condition of our labouring classes, than to the doings of
" THE JERRY BUILDER."

PORT 'CO.—The amusing theatre now established at this
place of public resort is nightly attracting the curious. A.
change of performances will take place to-night, when many
novelties will be brought forward.

The metropolitan police have just received information of
another robbery from the person resembling in its circum-
stances the case of Mr. Marquis, who, as our readers will
recollect, was robbed of £2,000 at the Preston Guild by a
female, who has since been transported for seven years. It
appears that a Mr. George Jordan, a horse-dealer, residing,
at Thames, Oxon, attended Marlow fair, and whilst there a
dashingly dressed woman, about 40 years of age, got into
conversation with him, and succeeded, during the time the
pleasant conversation lasted, in easing him of a purse con-
taining two bills of exchange for £5O each, one accepted by
Mr. James Hill, Little Lisson-street, Lisson-grove, London,
and the other by Israel Tarle, Newbury, Berks ; also £2OO
in notes, some of which were of the Bank of England, and
others of the Reading, Newbury, and Andover banks.

Mr. STUBBS S

members of the b
which, it was too
the share list he fi

h,
)oard,
evido

e had a few question

relative to the large
lt, had been lost. C
hat in Manchester al

to put to the
sum of money
In looking over
one there were

no less than 41,896 shares held by different classes of peopl

the loss to whOm would be_ upwards of £410,000, ex-clu;iv

of their payment of the calls. There were no fewer than 58
lady proprietors among the shareholders—(hear) ; and it was
absolutely necessary that they should know where all this
money had gone.—(Hear, hear.) It was most disgraceful
that such a sum of money should have been lost by parties
who called themselves gentlemen (hear) : they ought to
make themselves liable for it, and if they did not their charac-
ters would be gone.—(Hear, hear.) His own opinion was,
that every director was bound to sell every stock and stone
to pay the liabilities of the bank. It was a shame that the
shareholders should be swindled out of their property in the
way they had. (Cheers.) He wanted to ask, first, what had the
bank lost by Messrs. J. H. Heron and Sons.—(Hear, hear.)
The CHAIRMAN replied that the property which had come
into the possession of the bank from that estate was in such
a state as to make it impossible to answer the question.
Mr. STUBBS said, that was just the answer he expected.
His next question was, how much the bank had lost by
Raleigh and Co.? (Hear, hear.)
The CHAIRMAN, in reply, said, that considering the
security which the bank held, and the affairs of that estate,
it was quite impossible to answer that question with any
degree of accuracy. (Hear.)
Mr. STUBBS had another question which he wanted
answering. It was this :—What, would the bank lose by
Burdekin? (Hear, hear.) He saw by the list, that Burdekin
was the holder of 1,400 shares. Were those shares his own
property, or did they belong to the bank ?
The CHAIRMAN.—He is the holder of the shares, and be
is indebted to the bank besides. -The defalcation which- has
accrued through his absconding will be met, and more than
met, as far as we can gather, by the gentlemen who are bound
with him as security. •
Mr. Smins.—ls be gone away with the cognizance of
the directors ?

The CIIAIRMAN.—He is not gime away with my cogni-
iance, and I cannot for a moment imagine be is gone away
with the cognizance of any other director.
Mr. STUBIIS.—HC, is a scape-goat for somebody.
The CHAIRMAN.—The whole idea is so entirely, absurd
that I cannot,conceive how it can be entertained. 'l.
my answer, and I have no doubt my colleagues will answer
in the same way.

Mr. STUBBS..--Will you tell me whether arrangements hate
been made between the bank and the celebrated Mr. Richard
Roberts ? (Cheers.).
The CHAIRMAN.—There have not.
Mr. STUBBS.—Why is he not in the Gazette? (Cheers.)
A SHAREHOLDER.—How much does he owe to the bank?
The CHAIRMAN.—Perhaps Mr. Smith will answer you
that question at the proper time. . . .

Anther SHAREHOLDER suggested that as Mr. Roberts
was present he should be heard in the first instance. (Hear.)
Mr. LowE thought the meeting ought to know first what
he was indebted to the bank.
Mr. STUBBS said, it was very evident he should not get an
answer to his question. He should, therefore, before the
meeting separated, submit a motion concerning the conduct
of the directors. (Cheers.)
Mr. GREIG said, there was no motion at present before the
meeting, but he thought the step he was about to take would
probably be the means of bringing one forward. He had
endeavoured at the last meeting to bring the steel of investi-
gation into sudden collision with the flint of fraudulent de-
linquency, and thereby to elicit such a spark as would
lighten the tortuous windings of the deep abyss into which
the baseness of a certain individual had plunged the bank.
The individual to whom lie alluded was now present; and he
(Mr. Greig) trusted the chairman would see the necessity of
allowing the suggestion for dissolving the company to remain
in abeyance till that person came forward to give an explana-
tion, which the shareholders were entitled to receive, and
which they must receive before entertaining such a question.
(Hear, hear, and cheers.) He (Mr. Greig) bad, however,
brought some distinct charges against that person, which he

would repeat in his presenCT, arid to which:he expccted true

and faithful answers would be returned. He was aware that
an attempt might be made to throw all the blame upon the
unfortunate man who had absconded; but bad and worthless
as he believed that man to have been, still he must himself
have been unable to carry on so successfully such a compli-
cated scheme of villany as that which this bank exhibited.
He (Mr. Greig) now charged Richard Roberts of peculiar
notoriety (hear) with having abused the trust and the con-
fidence reposed in him as a director of this bank by the share-
holders. (Cheers.) Secondly, he charged him with having
abused the trust and confidence reposed in him by the di-
rectors as one of the Committee of Management. (Cheers.)
Thirdly, he charged him with having given entirely false re-
ports to deceive the shareholders and the public. (Cheers.)
And fourthly, he charged him with fraudulently obtaining