MISCELLANEOUS.

Grey River Argus, Issue 92, 14 August 1866, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Reward op Carelessitfss. — Mr James Cochraue, J P. , of Yanko, ; happened to leave his cheque book about with two cheques signcd-but not filled in. Some rascal got hold of the book, stole the two leaves, and, filling them in for LGOO, got them cashed.— " Pastoral Times." , , v It is proposed in Melbourne to have the surplus of tkeTaranaki Fund applied to the commencement of a permanent Wreck .Relief Eund: ..-- ' 'An Incident of the Panic— One incident of the late panic in London deserves record, to the honor of all Concerned. It is said that , when one of .those great employers of labor, the suspension' of whose large operations is one of the most univer-sally-regretted events of the crisis, was first known to be in- jeopardy," a brother contractor — whose name may be readily surmised, for it has become throughout Europe a houshold word for probity and straightforward conduct, as well as for enterprise and energy— ca^ed on Mm, accompanied by three other members of tlie" same calling. The first had in* his pocket L 200,000, the other three LIOO,OOO each. The half-million Avas freely placed at the disposal of the tottering firm, on the condition that its use -would be sufficient to ensure its stability ; and with a .frankness and courage as honorable as. was the generosity of the offer, was at once declined. If this account be true, and it is stated on no slight authority, it is hard to say to which party it does the most credit — to. those who, on so noble a scale, did as they Avould be done by,. or those who could decline assistance to such a gigantic amount, lest it should not be fully adequate to supply the w"ants of credit arrangements suddenly and . violently overthrown. — "Builder." -■../■.'■ A Strange Story. — A most extraordinary case lias just been_ brought before tKe Court of Assizes of- the Seine. In November last, a shopman named Debuc cited one Domenc, .a concierge, before a juge-de-paix at Paris to recover 2000 f., the amount of an acknowledgment of debt signed by the latter at Marseilles, on Ist January, 1863. As the magistrate ~\v_&s not able to settle the matter amicably between the two parties, Debuc commenced proceedings before the Civil Tribunal, and obtained a judgment in Ms favor. On" the day after- the trial,~hOwever, Domenc lodged a complaint with the Procureur"lmperial, declaring that tlie paper establisMng the debt wliich lie. luwTbeen condemned to pay was forged, as lie had never the plaintiff any money, and had signed no acknowledgment of the kind. Debuc was called before the ProcureurImperial, and .the investigation which followed showed that the paper in question had not been written ,by Domenc, who further proved that he was not at Marseilles at the date given. A close scrutiny of tlie document also led to the discovery that the paper bore the'watermarkof.lßos. That a /forgery had been committed appeared evident, -and Debuc was accordingly committed for trial. When the case was called three clays back, the prisoner stated that he and Dbmenc were both natives of Orgiliet (Ariege), and had- been intimate from their boyhood. He admitted that he Mmself liad written the paper in quesfcioh with Doinenc's consent, for reasons he would proceed to explain. His (prisoner's) father and three other persons were condemned in "1850, through false evidence, to hard labor, for the murder of & relative of Domenc, but they were subsequently released on the discovery of tlie perjury. His father died .soon after being liberated, and lie (the prisoner) had ever since been anxious to clear Ms parent's memory," and thought that no means so~eSective could be devised as declaring all the circumstances publicly in a court of justice ; he added that the forgery" of which lie was accused was only a stratagem to attain hss end. After proceeding so far, the prisoner, to the astonisliment of court, jury, and even of Ms own counsel, prodiiced a Avritten agreement between himself and Domenc, in wMch it was stipulated -that he should write an acknowledgment of the debt in 'the name of the latter, sue Mm on it, and then get Mmself arrested, that he might have an opportunity . of solemnly proclaiming Ms dead father's innocence. He added that Domac had the same reason as Mmself for Ms share in the plot, as one of Ms near relatives had been condemned as an accomplice in the same crime. Domenc having/ fully corroborated tMs statement, the -Ayocat-General proposed that the.further hearing of the affair should be postponed to the following session, and that in the interval the prisoner should be examined by medical menas to Ms sanity. The Court at once consented to the course • proposed.—" Galignani."