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Leader (1850-1860), 29th March 1856, Edition 2 of 2, Page 6, 294 THE LEADEI [No. 314, Saturday,

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      Tina Wholesale Tram In Seduction.—A Lett...

      fectly well " aware of the fact . — The Judge accordingly directed a verdict in favour of t he defendant ; and this was given . A Will Case . —Considerable interest has been excited at the Swansea Assizes by the trial of a disputed will case . The action was in the form of an issue direoted by -the Master of the Rolls , for the purpose of ascertaining the opinion of the jury as to the validity of two -wills hearing date respectively the 8 th of February 1854 and the 12 th of July of the

      , , same year , made by Mr . Thomas Thomas , of Werngaiach , Glamorganshire . The plaintiff was the widow of this gentleman , and the defendant was his brother . The late Mr . Thomas had inherited his property from "his father , who died intestate . The other members of the family were therefore excluded from participation ; and Mr . Thomas seems , when making his will In February , to have desired to remedy this state of things , and to consider the claims of each member of the family . The widow asserted that he afterwards 1

      expressed his dissatisfaction with the will ; but o ! this there was no proofs and on the other side it was stated that Mr . Thomas expressed a hope that , after hi 3 death , his brother would take care of the document , to prevent his wife and her brother getting hold of it .- In July , 1854 , he was taken seriously ill . It then appeai'ed that he was desirous to . make another will : at least , Mr . Price ( a friend and medical adviser of the family , and a vei-y eccentric man , who has previously figured , in trials in this part of tne country ) wrote to a lawyer , Mr . Overton , to come and draw out a .- will . Mi \ Overton went , and found the testator in a state of great physical depression . The lawyer objected ¦ to make the will : on

      Which Mr . Price said , " If you won ' t do it , / will undertake it . " Mr . ¦ ¦ ' Overton then made the draft of a Will ; but , not understanding Welsh , he made it partly through the interpretation of Mr . Price . The will was read over to the testator ; he assented to it , and affixed ' ' -Ms mark , being too weak to sign his name . Inorder further to authenticate his mark , he placed his- pen on the seal , and repeated the words , " I deliver this as my aet and deed . " This transaction took place in the dead of the night ; and a . girl , living in"the house , who Usually went to bed after ten , had been sent at seven , and had gone reluctantly . A few hours afterwards ; Mr . Thomas died . It was con tended that his brain Was paralysed at the time he sighed the will , and that he was not competent to

      permi * nl 8 ucb : an act . The latter will bequeathed all the testator ' s property to his three brothers and his three nephews , leaving his Wife a life interest in it . The jury declared that if ; was not valid ; and a verdict was-therefore given for the defendant . In the course of the trial , Mr . Price , who dresses after the ancient Welsh fashion , and who wore a pistol stuck in his girdle , said , in answer to the cross examination of Sir Frederick Thesiger , counsel for the defendant , that he had conducted a post-mortem examination of his ' ¦ ¦ father ; He added : — " In our profession , the same as in yours , when we are called upon to discharge our duty , we look 1 upon people not as fathers , or mothers , or sisters , or brothers , but aa" sticks and stones . When I determine to do anything , I do . do it : I am not half-and-half /'

      Ingenious Rasoaxity . — James Metcalfe was charged at " Worship-street with fraud . For a long time past , tb , e prisoner and _ a mxmber of other persons ; , who are manifestly acting in concert , have been in the habit of going round to the shops of tradesmen , andi after selecting some trifling article , worth a penny or twopence , tender in payment for * it a coin so closely resembling a sixpence that in nine cases out of ten the fraud is undiscovered , and the spurious coin taken . Upon closer inspection , however , the coin will '!)© found to be slightly defective on the reverse , and this 1 is intentionally cast , as the effect , upon a

      prosecution , is to take the coin altogether out of the clasafof . spurious imitations of the current coin , aud reduce it to a mere medal ; and the utterer , of course , gets discharged without punishment . In the present case , the man went jauntily to tho station , anticipating n favourable result ; but tho inspector on duty , knowing tho fruitlessnesa of detaining him for uttering , entered the charge ou the sheet' as for fraudulently obtaining goods by offering a medal whioh , he vvell knew to be perfeofcly valueless ; This suoceeded ; and tho ingenious rogue has been committed for trial .

      Bxoamy . ¦—A man named David Williams , alias Daniel Wilson , a stockbroker , has beon committed for trial on a ohargo of bigamy . Some time ago , ho was brought up at Worship-street on a warrant "by the office ? of Bt , Luke ' s pariah , ohargod with refusing to support his wife and two children , who were thrown on ?; tihe-workhouse . Ho defended himself by saying thiat-thewoman was not hie wife , and had no olaim , on him ); and ' ho / was diaoharged . He was then arrested forbigamy , of whioh ho appears to bo guilty . When before ' Kiv D'Eyncourt , he cross-examined the witnesses , ; , in a rude and insulting manner , oven * ! 2 TO ( 2 . f c thobw to « pushing some of thoiu aside toryWh «) hlie WaS severely reproved by the magistrate . rqNmHMBNT vA . jfTriR ' Si * . Yffi / tfU ? ESCAPE . — A ruflhu * ha « just * been triod w < u foun < j puUty of

      ferocious assault upon a police superintendent at "Wenloct races in July , 1849 , after committing which he escaped , and was not seen again until last October , when he was arrested , after a desperate struggle , by the successor of the injured man , who was so disabled as to be obliged to retire from the police force . The desperado was sentenced to six years' penal servitude . Three Rebellious Stomachs . —Three men , named Buckingham , Fleming , and Burtonshaw , were charged at Bow-street with stealing a railway rug . A policeman related Fleming ' s previous acts of theft , which had included on one occasion fourteen pounds of bacon , and expressed his opinion that he was determined not to ^ starve . On this , Fleming said : " That's right ; I don't intend to do so when I come out of prison next time . I can get no clothes , or else I could get work . I have not tasted anything , with the exception of a little bit of bread and cheese , since Thursday . " ( It was then Saturday . ) Mr . Henry : " What are you ?" Fleming : "A groom . I came from Jersey last November to try to get a job , as I was told I could get good work in London . What am I to do ? I can't get work ; I can't get any relief ; I won't starve . I ' ve got a character that would get me work ; bivt look at the state I'm in . Who'd employ me ? " Mr . Henry ( to Buckingham ) : " What have you been doing for the last few months ? " Bucking ham ( pointing to the rug ) : " That's what I ' ve been doing for the last two

      years . " Mr . Henry : " And never got apprehended ?" Buckingham : " Never . I ' m . willing to work , but I can't get any . " Mr . Henry : " What are you ? " Buckingham : " My father was an actor ; so I suppose , as I have followed that profession , I must say it ' s mine ; hut I have been working at tie Pimlico wheel-works , where I lost two of my fingers , " Mr . Henry : " Well , can't you get yoair living honestly ? " Buckingham "" No ; honesty and myself appear to have fallen out of late . There ' s but two ways of living in Londoneither honestly or dishonestly ; and if you can't live one way you must the other . I ' m determined not to starve while I ' m in the land of the living . " Bur

      tonshaw stated that he had been starving about for some time , and in a prison he should get something to eat , ¦ which he couldn't out . Mr . Henry : " Have you been to the relieving officer ? " Burtonshaw : " Yes ; but he wouldn't give its anything . He told us to go to our parish . I shmild like to know where that ia . " Mr . Henry : " Well , you all s « em determined to steal , so I shall remand all three of you till Tuesday next ; to gain some information about you , on which day I shall commit you to the sessions . " Fleming : " Thank ye . I hope you'll order us a , bit of something to eat ; we re all starving . " Mr . Henry gave directions accordingly to the gaoler .

      Execution of ThomAs Jones , the Murderer op Dr . Hope . —This man , who-was a convict at Portsmouth , and who murdered the medical attendant while be was examining his chest , was executed on Saturday morning . He was very repentant for some time before his death ; took the Sacrament on the Friday , and , on the previous Tuesday , addressed the annexed letter to the friends and relatives of the murdered man : — " It is impossible for me to express the feelings of deep sorrow and shame with which I reflect on the wicked deed of mine whioh has deprived you of one so near and dear to you . I feel I cannot depart this life without this expression of my sorrow , even though it may Tbe suspected or spurned , aa I deserve it should be ; but as it will be too late when this reaches you to ask you to forgive me , I can only entertain the hope that your Christian charity would have afforded me that comfort if there had . been an opportunity . May you be found on the Day of Judgment amongst thoso who shall be saved . —¦ Thomas Jones . " The Hazard oi ? the Diia , —A burglary was committed at tho latter end of last June at the house of a Mr . Samuel Howard at Hauxton ia Cambridgeshire . Tho old man was severely ill-treated , and hia wife waa bo frightened that her nervous system has not yet reoovered the shook . Between eight and nine hundred sovereigns were stolen from tho house ; but theso sovereigns were for the inosb part stamped with tho figuros of St ., George and tho Dragon , whioh wero commonly used in tho reign of George IV . Here , therefore ,, the police had n oluo . About tho middle of October , a policeman wns told by a friend of a birdcivtohor named Bowman that tho latter had been robbed of £ 190 . Inquiries having been made , Bowxnan was taken into custody . Ifc appeared that ho had beon oonoerncd in the robbery at Mr . Howard ' s , together with a man named Barker , and one Uobson , an , ex-policeman . A few days after tho robbery , Hobsou had called on hiB friend Bownmii , and oxprossed a hope that ho had found a safe plaoo to hido his gold ; to whioh Bowman replied , " Thank you , yea j I have placed it behind n , birdcage in my borlrpom . " The ox-policeman avuiled himself of this knowledge , gained aoooss to Bowman's bodroom , and s-tbolo the sovereigns ; then called upon Howard , ox pressed commiseration for hie loss , hoped tho ranoalH would be found out , took an nffoottonafco loavoof him , left the country , and bus not ninoo boon hoard of . Barker , in the moanwhilo , lived with great

      extravagance , and spent a great deal of money on a woman with whom he contracted an intimacy , though he was a married man . On the police going to B owman ' s house to arrest him , Barker was observed to listen at the outer door , and he also ' was ta & en into cuatod v Previously to this , he gave forty sovereigns to his wife , that , she might take care of them . Twentv of these were put by the wife into a bag , and thrust into her little girl ' s bosom ; the other twenty &\ q asked a female friend to keep , as " she did not know whatthe police were hovering about for . " The friend acceptedthis charge , and thus became particeps crimir nis . . Subsequently , the sovereigns were found on the little girl ; and they were all of the George and

      the Dragon die . Several other sovereigns with tie same device had been spent by Barker , ' as it was after , wards ascertained , in purchasing a pony and gig . The woman charged as an accomplice was acquitted ; bat Bowman and Barker were found Guilty , and sente nce of death Avas recorded . The reporters give a picture of Bowman , from which it would seem that he rivals the Bravo of Venice in hideousneas . He has an immense protuberance on one side of his face , which is partly black and nearly obscures one of his eyes ; Ms mouth is drawn completely on one side ; and , aware of the horridness of his aspect , his chief delight has been to thrust his face against ladies and children , to frighten them .

      A Desirable Villa . —An action has been brought at the Kingston Assizes by a Mr . Catteriuole against a man named Hodgson . The former had saved about £ 500 . One day , Hodgson asked him if be had aot some money lying idle ; to which Cattermole anwered that he had some at the London and Westminster Bank . Hodgson then said that he was a fool to keep his money there for one and a half per cent . ^ when he might get five per cent , by advancing money to a person named Dumford on the mortgage of a villa residence in Loughborongh Park . Cattermole subsequently handed over £ 400 —nearly his all—on . the ¦ mortgage , in question , and for eighteen months received the interest regularly ; but Durnford then told him he should pay no more , and shortly afterwards absconded . The plaintiff

      who represented that he had acted entirely upon the representations of Hodgson , and had never even seen the property that was the subject ' , of'the ¦ mortgage , instituted inquiries , and found that the" splendid villa " was a very badly constructed office ; that the " lawn , " which had also been . spoken of , was merely a piece of grass plot before the bouse , a few feet square ; and that the " coach house and stabling , " whioh the defendant had likewise put fo-ward as an additional enhancement of the property , were merely a miserable shed , and a stall only fit for a pony , made out of old tea chests . The premises were finally put up to auction under the mortgage and realised £ 250 , and , after the costs and expenses had been deducted , all that remained was the sum of £ 160 . The present action was brought to recover tho difference between * that sum and tbe amount that had been

      advanced by Mr . Cattermole . It further appeared that Durnford was heavily indebted to Hodgson , and it seemed that some of the notes paid by Mr . Cattermole to Durnford were afterwards seen in possession of Hodgson . A verdict was given for tbe plaintiff : damages , £ 150 . Sweepings from HoLYWELt-sTBiaET . —Five of the low booksellers who infest Holywell-stroet— -including the notorious John Dugdalo , and a woman , Mary Elliott—have beon apprehended and committed for trial , at the instance of the Society for the Suppression of Vice , for vending prints of a corrupt nature .

      294 The Leadei [No. 314, Saturday,

      294 THE LEADEI [ No . 314 , Saturday ,

      Ireland. Mil. Edmond O'Flahercpy.—A Curi...

      IRELAND . Mil . Edmond O'Flahercpy . —A curious circumstanoe relative to tho forgeries of Mr . Edinoud O'Flakorty was mentioned incicToiitally at the half-yearly meeting of the Midland Great Western Railway ( Ireland ) on Thursday week , that being the fiivvt oeoaaion on which it obtainod publicity . Lord Castlomaiuo , one of the shareholders , asked tho cljuinnuii to oxp > luin an item whioh appeared in tho accounts under the head of " forged transfers . " Tho Chairtniui , in reply , said that fifteen sliarea ware disposed oi' under a forged powor of attorney , by a gentleman who had loffc the country . That transfer hud all tho appearance of

      being genuine , so much so that ho understood that tho gentleman whoso imrao appeared us that of tho witness waa Jiot at all satisfied that ho hhnsolf had not written it . Tho party to whom tho aharea bolougod naturally applied to tho board to have thorn reinstated . Tho mattor waa carried to a tribunal at Qalway , the oase was triod , aud tho oompany wore defeated , and they woro obligod to restore tho enures that had boon fraudulently transferred in Iuh name . Lord Qamtlernftino : " I wiwh to knoiv who thivt poraun wnu . " Chairman : " I have no difficulty in auyiug it was Mr . Edmond O'Flaherty . " A voioo : " 1 was thinking it was . " The amount of tho forgory waa £ -105 .

      AnouBiBHor Cullisn and tiih Fkkhb . —Tho Nation , tho Tablet , and the Weekly Tdoi / rapli ., have boon oxpollod , by oidor of Arohbiahop Cullon , from the rooding rooms of tho Catholic Young Mdu'h Society , ou

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 29, 1856, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29031856/page/6/