The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-01-10 00:00:00

LA IV INT ELLIG Cli.

frame T COMITITITION.)
( Mitt OF KINWS BENCH, GUILDHALL, J►x. S.

DIXON r. emit' •ND la tI.TIN,

The trial of this cruse, which has eat itcd a great deal
14 interest, rani, WI this morning, tefore the Lotto
I nit? .11 ATICE and a Special Jury.
AIL !it.nriEr, for the plointiff, stated, that this was an
in !ion brunght for the recovery of 1,7110/., being the
ateiinut of the value of three hills of exchange, drawn
open soil accepted hr the defendants. 'l'he bills had
been received by the plaintiff from a person of the name
so' Castro', oho had parted with them in payment for a
qinlotite of goods which he had purchased from the
p'aintiff, 31r. Dixon. In support of his case, Mr. line-
t:ty called several witnesses, snit, amongst others, Mr.
tt Ash, the foreman, end Mr. Long, the nephew of the
phintiff, who proved the sale and delivery of the goods.
'I he defence set up was, Ist, that the hills had been fa-
bricated and negociated on an usurious contract, anti,
v could not be recovered ; and. 'ldly, that
Dir. Dixon had not acted with doe rare all prudence'
it.asninch as, at the time of receiving the !dila, hr not
ortie hash neglected to make inquiries respecting the
pa:ties to them, but hail also reason to believe that the
-eptance had hers. given by lialpin, without the know-
ledge and consent of his partner, Mr. Colea.
Iti support of this defence, Mr. Serjrant Cneasty ad-
• dressed the Jury. Ile observed, that upon the issue of
this trial depended not only the value of the hills upon
which the action was brought, but also the value of
other bills, amounting to no less than 50,nlittt., which
client would be obliged to pay if the bills in question
were held to he good. The Learned Counsel then pee-
r *deft to detail the following cireuinatance.:—He
stated, that Mr. Cole was a merchant of considerable
property amassed in trade, and who had some years
ago raised a man of the name of tialpin from a siiordi-
nate situation to he a partner in his liou,e. Bitterly,
1 owever, had be reason to regret this kiinliteas, for it
was not long before Mr. Ualptn conceived a project—
the most base and dishonourable. Ile
less a scheme than to procure bills to be drawn upon
the finis, which hr intendeil to accept in the name of
himself and partner, and then, after getting them diet
counted, to withdraw front England. By sonic mesas
or other he had acquired sufficient ititinener over a sow
cifMr. Coles to induce-him to concur in this conspiracy
against his father. Accoolingly, in answer to a notice
which appeared ins daily paper, proposing to discount
tills in a confidential manner, Mr. Cole (under the as-
sonieil name of 31r. Throphilus ('lose) requeated an ins
teryiew with the advertiser. A meeting hetween these
took place, in consequence, at the Perry Hotel. and the
advertiser proved to be Mr. Kinnear, a person since con-
victed of fraud and conspiracy. When they first met
Mr. (.tole intended only to draw bills to the amount of
6,0110/.; hut, at the sugcestion of Mr. Kinnear, the sans
was subsequently enlarged to 75,000/. After several
meetings had taken place, hills to the anemia of
one hundred thousand pounds were actually drawn
by a Mr. Taylor at the house of lialpin, and aes
cepted by the fatter in, the name of the firm. Fur part
of these bills, ing in value to 416.1100/., Kits
near was to fiirnieb I. is cash, and go tits to the
amount of 20,0091 more ; the remainder of the %AK 1
being a tunes fives to Kinnear for his share of the bush.
netts. These bills were drawn in sets, for liiimear, who
was well acquainted with this kind of business, urged,
that if. the whole of the bills were to come lion the
• market at once, it might excite inquiry ; but that if they
. wiredrawn in sets, each with the same date and for tbe
same sus% it would appear as if but one bill had Woo
issued. The three bills upon whirls this action was
brought werepart of the bills thus issued, awl the Learned
Serjeant contended, that if he proved the facts as he had
above stated-them, the Jury must pronounce this to lie as
usurious transaction, and consequently return a verdict
for his clients. To support this defence, he intimated his
intention ofealling Mr. Kinnear, 31r. Jackson, who drat/'
the bills, and Mr. ('ole himself, who, upon the discovery
of this affair, had gone to America, with the goods far.
nished bins by Kinnear, said to be worth MIMI. The
sat? of these goods, however, scarcely produced enough
to pay their freight, and he, being reduced to extreme
distress, had consequently returned to England. This,
however, the Learned Counsel observed, was not his
That
point of defence ; for even admitting for a moment 1
That the evidence of Boil transaction was disproved, still
he had another ground of reliance, not less certain that
the first. If Mr. Dixon hail exercised the smallest dr-
. ere of prudence and caution, he must have discovered
that the bills in question had been accepted without the
knowledge or concurrence of the senior partner, Mr.
Cote. To explain this. it would be necessary to show
. the manner in which the hills got into circulation. Kin-
near had been for some time connected with a man 3f the
name of Levy, who also shared in his resent conviction.
'to this man part of the bills were given, and as, before
they could get into the market, it was necessary to pro-
cure a holder, lie pitched upon one Plsilia Joseph, an
old clothes-man, who was then in a state of extreme
poverty, and dwelling in a garret, for which he unglit
(but was unable) to pay 3s. a week. The old clothes
vender was immediately decorated with the sirname of
LI. Brune. and represented as a Dutch merchant, who
was to sail fur Amsterdam in the first ship. It was now
necessary to furnish him with goods, and accordingly a
person of the name of Easton called upon Mr. atixon
to purchase them. Mr. Easton was so broker, had no
counting-house, and was known to no one; yet had
Mr. Dixon contented himself with the most cursory in-
quiry, and received in exchange for the goods the bills,
the valne of which be now sought to recover. But the
Learned Counsel would go further. Ile would prove
that Mr. Dixon hail been actually warned at the time
when he did make inquiry, that this acceptanee could
tot be upon a partnership concern. Under these air..
cumstancts' then, would any one contend that the di.
fenrhint onglit to be considered liable ?
The first witness called was
Charles Barker Coles, the son of the defendant. —His
evidence did not enlarge upos-or vary from the outline
afforded in his Counsel's speech. it appeared, however,
that he hail, in the course of this transaction, in ad-
dition to the names of Coles and Close also assumed the
name of Jones; and that the idea of drawing hills upon
the firm first originated with himself, and not, as his
Counsel incorrectly stated, with Mr. lialpin. It also
appeared that many of the bills thins drawn hail been
negotiated to a Mr. Dunne, and by him delivered up to
Mr. Addington, the defendant's seliritor.—Nothing
material was elicited on his crops-exansination.
James Taylor examined—Recollected receiving a
note from Gilpin, in consequence of which he dined
with him at his house in Fleet-street. In the evening
be drew bills to the amount of t 3,110111., which were
accepted by (Lapin. Had no claim whatever upon the
house. Afterwards saw Halpin, when he was told that
the bills already drawn were destroyed. In conseimence,
he threw (reek bills to the amount (459,11001. The same
evening accompanied Halpin to call upon a Mr. Thomp-
son. 'I his Mr. Thompson was in reality Mr. Coles, jun.
Believed the three bills shewn him to be parcel of the
hills be drew.
In cross-examination, he stated himself to be an at.
tomer.
William Poutt was employed by Coles and lialpin in
recollected a gentleman tailing OM said Isis
name was Mr. Dixon, and that he wished to know if the