Part 18 (1/2)
In the _Annual Register_ for 1856, November 14th, we read, ”Another fraud connected with the transfer of shares and stock, but on a far grander scale, and by a much more pretentious crie discrepancies had been observed in the accounts of the Great-Northern Railway Company, and in particular that the amount paid for dividends considerably exceeded the rateable proportion to the capital stock An investigation was directed The registrar of shares, Mr Leopold Redpath, expressed a decided opinion that the investigation into his depart pressed, absconded The investigation developed a long-continued system of frauds of vast amount, to the amount, it was said, of nearly 250,000
”Mr Leopold Redpath passed in society as a gentlereat taste, and possessed of the Christian virtue of charity in no coree He had a house in Chester Terrace, handsoe coood dinners with excellent wines; kept good horses and neat carriages He was a governor of Christ's Hospital, the St Ann's Schools, and subscribed freely to the most useful charities of London
His appointment on the Great-Northern orth 300 per annum; but it was supposed that this was only of consequence to Mr Redpath as affording hi in the share-s The directors of the railway appear to have been perfectly aware that their servant was living far beyond his salary, but they considered him to be a very successful speculator Upon this splendid bubble being blown up, Redpath fled to Paris; but, finding that the French authorities were not inclined to protect him, he returned to London and surrendered hiantic swindler had coe of the books in which the stock of the co in the naenerally by placing a figure before it, by which sier number of thousands The surplus stock thus _created_ Redpath sold in the stock- the na the suister, and either attesting it hie and tool, but who appears to have been free fronizance In some instances the fraud was but thea fictitious entry of stock, and then selling it
By these processes the number of shareholders and the anified, while, as the _bona fide_ holders of stock remained credited with their proper investments, there was no occasion for suspicion on their part How Redpath dealt with subsequent transfers of the fictitious stock does not appear The prisoner was subjected to repeated exaious falsification was thoroughly sifted, and the prisoner was finally committed for trial at the Central Cri year It is said that the value of the leases, furniture, and articles of taste in Redpath's house in Chester Terrace is estier sued transfer of Crystal Palace shares has been recorded in this chronicle, were formerly fellow clerks
”Lionel Redpath was tried, January 16th, 1857, at the Central Criuilty, was sentenced to transportation for life
At the same tied as his partner in the crime It appeared that Kent had acted on ed transfers which Redpath had ee on the part of the former was shown, he was acquitted
”The railway coed stock which Redpath had put into circulation, but pressing re been e, they consented to acknowledge it Then came the question by whom the loss was to be borne; a question which was not solved until after considerable litigation The directors asserted that it ought to be paid out of the current income of the year, and so it was ultiuaranteed shareholders and the rest of the cos caused by taking up the fictitious stock being so great as to render it iuaranteed dividends out of the residue, it was contended on the part of the holders of those shares that, by the provisions of the deed of settleht to be uarantee that they should receive their specified dividends was not clogged with the condition in case a sufficient as in each year was made to pay them This dispute led to a Chancery suit, the decree in which was in favour of the holders of the guaranteed shares”
A LOST TICKET
”Now, then, ive up your ticket,”
exclai from a review ”Didna I tell ye I've lost it?” ”Nonsense, man; feel in your pockets, you cannot hae lost it” ”Can I no?” was the drunken reply; ” drum!”
MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT-SINGULAR ACTION
The _Annual Register_ contains the following interesting case July 25, 1857-At the Maidstone assizes an action arising out of a singular and_v_ The Accidental Insurance Co,and ad, to recover from the defendants the sum of 2000, upon a policy effected by the deceased on the life of her father-in-law, Ja The husband of the plaintiff, Tho, carried on the business of a builder at Malling, a short distance fro, lived with him; he was nearly 80 years old, and very infirm, and his son used to drive him about occasionally in his pony chaise In the month of March, last year, an application was made to the defendants to effect two policies for 2000 each upon the lives of Tho, and to secure that su from an accident, and the policies were coof the 11th of July, 1856, about half-past 7 o'clock, the father and son went fro with a pony and chaise, for the purpose of proceeding to a stone quarry at Aylesford, where Tho had business to transact, and they never returned hoain alive There where two roads by which they could have got to the quarry froerous one to be taken with a vehicle and horse, on account of a steep bank leading to the river Medway being on one side and the railway passing close to the other; but this route, it appears, was much shorter than the other, which was nearly two miles round, and it was consequently constantly used both by pedestrians and carriages About 8 o'clock the pony and chaise and the father and son were seen on this road, and upon arriving at the gate leading to the quarry, Thoe of his father Mr Garnham, the owner of the quarry, was not at ho with Tho train was heard, and the o back to his pony, for fear it should take fright at the train, and he said he would do so, as it had been frightened by a train on a previous occasion
He accordingly went towards the gate where he had left the pony and chaise, and from that time there was no evidence to shohat took place
The fa the return of their relatives in the ut was heard of theeman found the drowned pony and the chaise and the dead bodies of the father and son floating in the Medway, near the spot where the chaise had been last seen on the previous evening They were taken home, and a coroner's inquest was held, and the only conclusion that could be arrived at was that the pony had taken fright at the noise of the train, which appeared to have passed about the time, and that he had jumped into the river, which at this spot was from 12 to 14 feet deep
The policy on the life of the father had been assigned to the son, whoseclaimed the two sums insured from the defendants That payable on the death of the son they paid: but they refused to pay that due on the father's policy, and pleaded to the action several pleas, alleging certain violations of the conditions; and singularly enough, considering that they had not disputed the son's policy on the saround, they now pleaded that the death was not the result of accident, but arose froer
The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff
A CATASTROPHE
Au old lady was going from Brookfield to Stamford, and took a seat in the train for the first and last ti the ride the train was thron an e fro down, but with his legs laid down by some heavy timber ”Is this Stamford?” she anxiously inquired ”No, madam,”
was the reply, ”this is a catastrophe” ”Oh!” she cried, ”then I hadn't oughter got off here”
WEDDING AT A RAILWAY STATION