Year: 1868

"WoULD you like to look at the Times,
sir? Singular trial that of Risk Allah Bey
against the Daily 1aegr0ph"


The speaker was a curious little old man,
cleanly dressed, cleanly shaved, with short,
crisp, white hair, and a face like red pip
pin such face as is hardly ever seen out
of this country, and even here rarely, save
among farmers, gamekeepers, and others
who are much in the open air, and at all
seasons This little-for he was very
small indeed as to siZe-this little old gen.
tleman was encountered in first-class
smoking carriage, on the Southwestern
Railway


Curious trial that before the Lord Chief
Justice" continued the old gentleman, as
if he wished to promote further converse
tion. 81 was once tried for murder my
SELF" with pleasant smile. eyes," said
the little old gentleman, "and" Cooking
pleasanter than ever), every nearly hung,
too. I did not get off free. | was SEN
fenced to transportation for life; went
through seven years of il; and then they
pardoned me for what had never DONE


"You see," said the little old gentleman,
smiling more than ever, as the five other
smokers in the carriage stared at him :
You see, was for many years cattle
merchantin London. My business consist
edin receiving from mabroad-from Holland,
Germany, Normandy, or wherever could
form a connectiOn-oXen, COWS, sheep,
pigs, some on my own account, others to
be sold on commission for correspondents
who sent their animals to me for sale.
The trade was profitable one. Every
beast sent over on my account was fully
insured, so that if it died on it's passage
came upon the insurance company. had
very few bad debts; and, taking one thing
with another, may fully have calculated
upon realizing at least twenty-f per
cent. on my capital every three months.
In other words, got profit of hundred
per cent. per annum on the money [ had
commenced business with.


But with money comes the desire for
more. There was time before began to
deal in cattle, when / thought myself rich
if at the end of year had a couple of
hundred pounds in bank over and above
my expenses for the past twelve months
Now it was otherwise. | lamented that
had not always an idle balance of fifteen
hundred or two thousand pounds. | was
fond of money for moneys sake. could
not make money fast enough for my
wishes, in the cattle trade, and therefore
determined to do little in the loan and
discounting way.


"It is nearly twenty years ago, and l
have gone through deal of trouble since.
My system was never to put too many
eggs in one pot-never to lend very much
to any single person-but to lend many
small amounts to various people. used
to answer the advertisements of trades
men in difficulties, and if 1 found that q
borrower had good security to offer, l
would lend him perhaps thirty or forty
pounds, taking ten pounds for the accom-
mediation for month, and much more in
proportion for longer periods. One ofmv
clients was printer with small business,
near what was then called the New-road,
now Marylebone- He had often bor-
.rowed twenty, thirty, and once as much
as sixty pounds from me, and had always
repaid me to the day. The security he
gave me was always the same, the joint
note of hand of himself and his brother, a
grocer up Hackney way. The name of
this borrower was Strange = Edward
Strange. He was in delicate state of
health, always suffering from his chest,
, and in severe winters he used to be laid
up for weeks together with bad cough.
He was a widower, without children.


"One day Strange came to me and said
that he had a very excellent offer to enter
into partnership with printer, who had
been established in business several years.
The sum required to be paid for the part
nership was three hundred pounds, and
he asked me to advance him that amount
upon the security of policy of insurance
for one thousand pounds upon his own
life. On inquiry, / found that years be-
fore, Strange had, when young and
healthy man, effected an insurance upon
his life for five hundred pounds, and after
wards increased it to one thousand
pounds. This policy he had always man.
aged to keep up, and still wished that it
should not relapse. AS it had been rum
ming on for nearly twenty years, and as he
paid very small premium, and was now
in bad health, the insurance company
would have been glad to purchase it back.
Therefore, after looking at the affair in
every possible way, came to the conclu-
sion that the security was good, and that
l might safely advance the sum of three
hundred pounds upon the security of the
policy being endorsed over to me. This
was done, and / advanced the money
Gentlemen, the worst days business ever
did in my life


ain general a creditor sees but little OF
his debtors, whether they are few or many.
The man who owes money generally
avoids the individual to whom he owes it.
But it happened otherwise with Strange
and myself. With the new business that he
had bought, he was not expected, nor
even wished, by his partner to interfere
and his own Indifferent health made it
very desirable that he should be as free as
possible from the confined air of the close
printing rooms The partnership he had
purchased secured him a certain amount
of income, which, together with what he
had besides, allowed him to go about in
divers parts Of the country, travelling