Weekly News. — 1892-07-07 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

EXTRAORDINARY CAREER OF FRAUD. In the Central Criminal Court, on Friday, before Mr. Commissioner Kerr, Henry Frederick Benson Godwin, aged 60, builder, and Henry William Brownjohn, aged 43, clerk, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to obtain money and goods from divers persons by false pretences and with an intent to derraod.—alr. Muir, who prosecuted, said that Godwin, in conjunction with Brownjohn, had been engaged in systematic frauds since the year 1887. Brownjohn for some years traded as a coal merdiant at Windsor, but he fell into pecuniary difficult leq. and then he appeared to have entered into a mutual arrangement with Godwin, by acting as his reference, to swindle persons in all parts of the metropolis and the provinces.—The first instance of fraud was in respect of Godwin obtaining a house at Oaklands-terrace. on a reference of Brownjohn, who described himself as a lime merchant and building contractor, of Wincicor,—together with a large ! quantity of leather cloth, which was obtained by fraud from Messrs. Helm and Co., value £lOO. After a stay of six months in the house without paying any rent, a distraint was levied. The furniture realised 20s. In the same year, 1887, he obtained a quantity of rope from a City firm, which was never paid for; in 1884, Godwin became security for the rent of a house taken by Brownjohn at Windsor. and for £lB worth of fish, which was supplied by a fish salesman at Great Grimsby. When Brownjohn had obtained meat from a local butcher, value £1 7s. 11d., Godwin was applied to. The letter. however, was returned through the dead letter post marked "gone away." The communication sent by the Grimsby fishmonger was attended with a similar result. Amongst the other operations of the two conspirators was one in which Godwin obtained possession of a holm at Acton, where he entered into a building agreement with a gentleman, which he never fulfilled, but, having cut down a quantity of valuable timber which he sold, he disappeared, without having paid any of his rent. Subsequently he obtained from the Building Society Brick Field Company a quantity of building materials; from Messrs. Gentry and Gray, Nottingham, 2,000 bricks; whilst an ingenious attempt was made to defraud another firm at Ashby de la Zouch. In addition, he obtained £ll on two worthless bills of exchange, and gave an order to a country firm for a quantity of bricks. On their arrival at the railway station, he persuaded a dupe to purchase then, and pay the whole of the railway charges. He then secured permission to have the bricks removed to some adjoining land, where he resold them to another dupe. Having obtained furniture worth over £lOO from a lady on the security of a worthless bill of exchange. Godwin induced a tradesman at Windsor to supply him with eleven pounds of disinfectant, on the ground that it was urgently required by the authorities for the borough. He pawned it, however, the same day with a pawnbroker, whom he persuad(d that it was varnish. At Godwin's house a number of small tradesmen's bills were found, to the amount of £loo.—Mr. Purcell urged, on behalf of Brownjohn, that he was the tool to a certain extent of his more cunning and astute companion. Mr. Commissioner Kerr sentenced Godwin to five years' penal servitude, and Brownjohn to 18 months' hard labour.  At the Central Criminal Court, on Friday, Albert Biggs wAs indicted for throwing Henry David Ruskin into the Regent's Canal, with an intent to murder. —On the night of May 26th the prosecutor, who had been drinking with the prisoner and another man, was standing in conversation with an acquaintance on the bridge spanning the Regent's Canal, looking over the parapet, when Biggs seized him by the waist and, as he alleged, lifted him over the parapet. Ruskin thought that it was a joke, and he held on to the parapet, but his hands were knocked from their hold, and he fell into 6ft. of water.—Prisoner was found guilty of occasioning the prosecutor actual bodily harm, and was sentenced to six months' hard labour.  Doctor: ^ rou win have to take two tablespoon. fuls of medicine three times a day." les.O'Flynn: "Then, sor, Oi'll have to get the loan of a tablespoon, bekase Oi only hey one, sor."  Mrs. Peckham- "This paper says that Harry Sharpe is worth £50,000. Just th think! I refused to marry hirn once.' Henry Peckham: "Alt, yes! Some peoele have all the good luck." 013 lady (on beholclimz a Fib:Wander in his native eostunie for the first tim•): "Well, well! that man must le io his second childhood, and have geue I'm-1:c! van I"  AN