TRIAL OF THE OVEREND AND GURNEY DIRECTORS.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 644, 5 March 1870, Page 3

TRIAL OF THE OVEREND AND GURNEY DIRECTORS.

The trial of Messrs H. E. Giiriiey, J. H. Gurney, R. Birkbeck, H. F. Barclay, and H. G. Gordon, for misdemeanour, ' under the Fraudulent Trustees' Act, commenced on the 13th December, in the i Court of Queen's Bench, Guildhall, where it jviU be recollected that the

indictment was removed from the Central Criminal Court. A waggon-load of books mid papers, belongiug to the defunct company, was deposited on the floor of the Court. The heaving of the case occupied several days; and resulted in a verdict of acquittal against all the defendants. It is difficult to describe the scene which ensued when the verdict was pronounced. Immediately the most enthusiastic cheers burst from the crowded audience, which it was in vain endeavored to prevent. In vain the Lord Chief Justice held up his hand, and the officers of the court shouted for silence, 'lhe | cheers drowned all other sounds, and I became each moment louder and louder, until they became almost deafening in effect. Peal after peal of cheers succeeded, and the whole scene was one of wildest excitement. The cheers wei'e caught up by the vast crowd without, waiting for the verdict, and the echoes of their cheers aeemed to arouse fresli enthusiasm in the audience, and they '< broke out into cheers louder than before. Meanwhile the scene in court was most impressive. The effect of the verdict upon the defendants and'their friends was almost electrical. Some started to their < feet and shook each other's hands warmly, and uttered exclamations of joy and delight, which, however, were inaudible amid the thunder of those frantic cheers which drowned all other sounds. Some .seemed overwhelmed with emotion, and more than one bursl into <ears. The leading counsel present, the SolicitorGeneral and Sir J. Karsiake, had their hands seized and warmly pressed by their grateful clients, and all this being observed by the vast crowd— all upstanding and cheering— only added to the excitement, and elicited still louder bursts of cheering. At last the violent excitement of cheering so far calmed down that the cheers ceased, only to be renewed outside, however, when the defendants appeared; and they then received an ovation strangely contrasting with the howls of execration which were heard at the Guildhall when, amid much popular excitement, they were committed. The Times, commenting upon the conduct of the defendants, says: — "The verdict has been given, and it is the right verdict. But while the public is bound to be just to these unhappy gentlemen, it cannot afford to bo generous. They sinned grievously in not putting the public into as good a position as themselves for judging as to the expediency of joining or ' refusing to join their company., If their reticence has ruined their fortunes and peace of mind, it must not be forgotten that it has broken up and wrecked many households besides. When all is said, it can hardly be disputed that they, in their character of directors — that is, trustees for their shareholders— engaged tho public to buy an insolvent business under the delusion that, apart frqm any question of guarantees in shape of private estates, it was still solvent. We consider conduct like this highly censurable, and any indulgence towards it to be opposed to public policy. To hail with enthusiasm an acquittal which is no acquittal from this charge, is as repulsive to our feelings of what is becoming as to have triumphed in the defendant's committal last winter. Of the bursts of applause which are reported to have welcomed each event, we think the one as senseless and immoral as the other was savage and heartless."