, 1866-01-11

How The Revenue Of she Provinces was
Defraudetl-S.S 5. Halliday on Trial ut
Toronto for SISD,QOQ.

Toronto for s1sD,0O0.
From the Toronto Globe, 9th
At the Asslzcs. Yesterday, Mr. Sherman
Smith Halliday, whose namc has Of late be-
come rather notorious, was put upon bis
trial. The public hare looked forward With
considerable interest for this trial, and we'll
they might, for In many respects It Is very
1arge dstil1ery ut Muitland, an ont.oft1e-
way village, between Prescott md Brock
villef was suspected q year ago Of dcffaud-
fng the revenue to large extent- Mr. Al.
fred Brunei, Inspector Of Customs and Ex-
else, reported the case to the Government,
and they gaye Instructions with . view TO
legal proceedings. Before active step5 were
taken, however, evidence came to light i'm
pNcating Mr.. Halliday, in more direct man
ner, in other and vastly larger swindlin@
operations. On this latter discovery, the
present proceedings were taken. Halliday Is
charged with having purchased and used up
immense quantities Of grain u d5tniing,
for the purpose Of dstzaudipg tho Govern
ment. He il charged with selling hundreds Of
t1oueauds Of gallons OF liquor without payin
the duty thereon. OF in any way giving, 40 ac-
count Of them. In carrying out these opera.
tfons. It Is alleged that be bribed the Grand
false entries IN false books, Of pretended ship
mcnts Of grain to 0gdensburg Or elsewhere,
which grain was never shipped, but used at
dtstilIery. These aud other doings of the
like nature the Crown undertakes to prove
against Holiday. We understand that about
one hundred witnesses are snbpGnaed.
Thomas Gait, Esq.,, Q. G., opened: the case
to the jury. lie said j: The case Is one Of the
most Important that has been tried in the
Province Tor many years. It ID Important
with rega1d to the amount involved, tor that
was no less than sls0, 600 and he would have
to claim the attention Of the jury to dry
statistical subject. The facts Of the case were
Boyst, weEe carrying on business rs distillers
at Maitland. They had large dist1llcry
there, within half q mile OF the Grand
Trunk Station, and from It's situation the
place was well calculated to carry on busi-
ness honestly or dishonesty. The charge In
| lution Of the Government were not complied
with--that they were systematically broker
and that some 200, 900 gallons were DISTILLED
BY Borst, Halliday & Co., and disposed Of b
! them between September 1864, and July 1855
which we're neveF entered in their stock boof
at all and in consequence OF this breach Q
| the rcvenue laws, Halliday became liable Il
| the Government il the suIn OF $780, 600.
Every two months Halliday was required
| to swear to the quantity Of spirits that hat
| been made and be (Mr. Galt} would put j,
twenty a1Ildayits made in this way By Hali
| day, every one Of which be would prove Il
hare been fraud. He would also prove tha
the shipping notes were stolen from the G rant
| Trunk Office at Maitland; that the agen
Of the Grand Trunk at that station had KEEP
| talse books and left the country; aud last o
all, he was prepared to prove that Halliday
| had committed an assault with intent to mur
| der, in trying to suppress evidence in the pres
cnt case. 1t was difficult to realize the cr
tent Of this fraud, but some Idea Of it couli
| tc formed from the fact that it was nearly
equal to quart Of spirits to every man, wo
nun and child in Upper Canada, from the ex
treme shores Of Lake Huron to the Ottawa.