Swansea Journal and South Wales Liberal. — 1895-05-11 (Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales)

OOO.  • Before Sir John Bridge. Balfour was not brought before Sir Bridge in the Extradition Court at Bow-street,. until past noon,. The couri; was crowded with barristers, witnesses, and journalists. On being placed in the dock, prisoner seemed disconcerted at the interest his appearance created. Mr. John O'Connor represented the prisoner. Inspector Froest gave evidence of the arrest.  Cross-examined: He said he had no extradition order in Argentina or any order of surrender.  The Magistrate said this did not concern the case before him. Defendant was charged upon a warrant granted at that court.  Mr. O'CO'nnor submitted that unless he were apprised of the charges on which the surrender was granted, he must protest against the case being proceeded with. The Magistrate said everything required by the English law had been done.  Prisoner was remanded until Thursday, and then after the counsel's opening statement, a. further remand will be granted until the Monday following.  Jabez Balfour was placed in the dock at Bow. street on Thursday morning at 11 o'clock. He came in briskly, and immediately sat down, a lapse of court decorum which was gently brought to his notice by the gaoler. His counsel then asked that he might be allowed to sit, and the magistrate having given his permission, the prisoner thereupon smilingly resumed his seat. Mr. Chas. Matthews opened the case for the prosecutien. Before Mr. Matthews commenced  kis address, Mr. O'Connor proceeded to state the circumstances under which prisoner was here by extradition order.  Sir John Bridge replied that prisoner was here by his warrant, and he should try him upon that.  Counsel then applied for a stay of proceedings until he had obtained a certified copy of proceedings that had extradited prisoner. This the mgistrate refused, whereupon counsel made his formal protest. . Mr. Charles Mathews dealt first with the charge of obtaining .C 20,000 from the House and Lands luvesttnent Trust, the prisoner listening with the deepest attention, and taking many notes. Counsel said the Whitehall Court Estate was purchased for £32,500, while Mr. Balfour represented that it cost £57,000. Mr. Balfour's counsel admitted he was absent from England when the first instalments were made. Counsel said it would be for Balfour to explain how large sums of money by means of forged bills were paid to fictitious vendors in connection with the Building Securities Company, Limited. It was alleged that the prisoner had fraudulently appropriated to his own use £1.0,500, and in order to conceal the purpose for which the money was applied false entries were made in the books of the company. It would be shown that Balfour received £26,581 for the purpose of investment in the Kansas Improvement Investment Company, and this sum was never invested, all that was done being the purchase of £1,500 worth of shares. - -  Formal evidence was given of the registration of certain compapies, and the case was postponed until Monday next,  LONDON LOVE TRAGEDY, ,uicide of a Servant Girl.—Poisoned by arbolic Acid.—Scene at the Inquest.  Florence Godfrey, aged 28, a domestic servant, lately residing at 48, Dartmoor-road, Notting Hill Gate, Kensington, has poisoned herself with a quantity of carbolic acid. Scene at the Inquest. —A Sad Story Un folded,  At the inquest Rebecca Papper, the wife of a milkman, said the deceased had been lodging in her house for six weeks as a married woman giving the name of Mrs. Holmes. Her.reputed husband used to come and see her every day for a short time. Witness had noticed she had been very depressed of late, looking worried and having no appetite. That morning she .seemed agitated. A letter came for her at night. Witness knocked at the door, but got no answer, and. slipped the letter under the door. The next day, not having heard her about, she knocked at the door, and receiving no reply, entered the room, and saw her lying on the bed dead. Mrs, Harriet Cason, a widow, of 26, Burrage-road, Plumstead, identified the deceased as her daughter by her first husband. Witness had not seen her for eighteen months, when she was in service. Police"-Constable Gyles (59, F.) stated that he was called to the house. On the washstand he found a bottle of carbolic acid. On the table he found a letter, which read: "Darling, you must forgive and, forget me now. I know it is your place with them, and after I had your letter I think I went mad, but it is all over now. There is one thing I want you to do, that is to let mother have my ....ogs. You know where to send them. . . . I cannot blame you for anything, but after losing you I lost my all." The envelope was simply addressed "Fred," but at the bottom was scribbled: 'Ask mother or Henry to fetch my things. 'lon% send them." Frederick William Cole, a paperhanger' of 1, Adpar-street, Edgware-road, said. he had been living with the deceased as her husband. She was not married, and he last saw her on April 2nd. They had had no quarrel, and he could not account for the depression. He had not told her he was going to leave her. The mother (excitedly): You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you beim-, a married man. Dr. Robert Alexander Jason said death was due to • carbolic acid. Mrs. Cason (excitedly) : I can account for the depression. She has taken her life through him. He promised to marry her, and got her to forsake me; but he is a married . man. The jury returned a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind. .7  Miss Marie Corelli, the novelist, is not, as we inadvertently stated the other day in our columns, a daughter of the late Charles Mackay. She was his adopted daughter merely and is no relation to his family, her only legal name being that which he has made known to the public. Her own father, who died two months before she was born, was an Italian, and her mother was Scotch. Intelligence has been received at L'Orient that a serious collision occurred in the Bay of Biscay, the three-masted sailing ship Salis, of Bordeaux, being run down and sunk by the English steamer Woodlands. Five men were drowned, but the remainder of the crew were rescued. The Woodlands sustained serious damage to her bows and could not proceed. The captain of the Salis asserts that the English steamer was to blame for the collision. Frank Taylor, or Tarbeaux, who absconded from bail over what is known as the London cutlass affray, has been committed for trial at Westminster Police-court, charged 'with being concerned with a person nameeMenslion, .alias . the Hon. Williard Murgrave, with obtaining goods by fraud from numerous tradesmen. Prisoner reserved his dam%