A Sensational Slander Case.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3212, 23 May 1889, Page 2

A Sensational Slander Case.

An notion for damages for, slander and false imprisonment, of an interest- •, ing and most unusual was : :.r----tried-at Stafford on March 20, before the Loi d Chief Jnation of England and a special jury. Thecase turned, on a fw ■ question of mistaken identity/ Strong ' likenesses between individual;, but 1 more especially between - women,' are. ' clearly,far commoner than we imagine, ann to swear to a person's identity unleas. wo know him or hnr thoroughly well is hy no meanß altogether'safe or " advisable. The story of a Wolver- ■ hampton Blander case' runs , thus: —Some time ago 'Mr "Mills,; a. provision., dealer of " Wolver- "" hampton, pioaecuted a lady named Alice Scoffhiini on a charge of fraud; This lady,' with her elder sister,; Miss " f ■ Eliza Scoffbamj kepV a-well-known' High School for girls at Wolverhampton, and almost as a matter of <- i 1 oonrse, both sistera too highly re* ' Bpected. Mr Mills had undoubtedlybeer delranded by Bomo one.- A young lonian tm-known had called at his house with a note purporting to come from hia married daughter, and askiug for a temporary loan of £43. He unhesitatingly sent a cheque by the bearer of the note, and it was cashed, but the daughter declared that the proceeds had not,*P* reached her, and, that sho had not written the letter. The letter, in fact, was a forgery. : Mr Mills then '■ < naturally tried to find out who had robbed him, and his suspicions foil on - the Scoffhams, for no' better reason ' than that his 5 servant, said that slje thought the ■ young,'- woman • who brought the letter resembled one' of" those ladies. He at once bad their house. : watched, ; and ' himself ' : called there oil some oluinsy pretext of making an enquiry about ' 1 terms for the admission of'boarders, He saw. Mies Eliza Scoff ham, the ' other Bister was ill, and the unsuspecting lady agreed to call at his house ' . on the following day. for further par- ' ticulars. At the house she found the. clerk who had oaslied the cheque, with several other persons, - ■ The ■ clerk shook his head, as soon as' Miss Scoflham appeared, in token that he could not identify her, yet Mr "Mills rtas still firmly persuaded that one of the two sisters was the guilty party. Ho had no hotter reason- (or it than w the vague evidence of his' servant aw to the identity of the young who had brought the litter; or, if he wanted ii botter one, ha thought k had found it in a report that the sisters had failed to complete their payments of it loan, of£s, Their ' poverty in fact was the presumptive evidence of their crime, When Miss : ScolTham heard the charge slie showed great agitation, and she foolishly said that rather tliati have such an accusation made public, she would herself pay; the £43. Mr Mills, who always jumped to conclusions, chow'to construe this into a confession of her sister's guilt, and after locking ap the lady for some two hours in bis office, lie at once proceeded to obtain a warrant for the sister's arrest, Tha v charge was hoard before the Magis-. trates, and was, of course, dismissed; ' but Mr Mills made no apology, and from first to last fought his case with 1 all the obstinacy of a dull man, By this time the Bisters had grown tired W' of acting on. the defensive, and thegjK/ commenced' a spirited; attack bj* suing tlioir proseoutor for damages -the one for malicious prosecution,' the other for slander and falso imprisonment, each claiming £I,OOO. Lord Coleridge, after a patient heariftg, extending over several days, gave 1 ihein LIOOO between them, with costs —L7SO to Miss Alice Scoffliam, wlm bad been arrested and Bent to prison, and tho remainder' to her elder sister, who had been detained in * ■ Mi' Mills' house. AH that Mr Mills bad to say in excuse was that his impression as to Miss Eliza'aguiltwas confirmed by several persons who were present on the occasion; But these persons were not in the room, during his interview with the distracted lady, and, , as the Judge remarked, ail the circumstances under whioh the meeting took place made their evidence not of tlie slightest possible vilue, In the end Mr Mills made an apology of a kind, and the complete breakdown of his defence in the action brought by one of the sisters was taken as decisive of the other case, to the great saving of tho public time. Lord. Coleridge was particularly Beveru on the defendant's headedtiess and his want of reasonable precaution against infirmity of judgment which he ought i to h'lve long sinoo learned to Bn6peot. Mr Mills took care to have it known that he was a subscriber to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty o . Animals, hut Lord C'ole•idge remarked, this could not be akenasan offset against hisorueky o two defenceless women, The vhole CHG6 tends to show that tho ' nan who is hia own detective officer nay have a'fool for a client, no less han the man who is his own lawyer.

The Sisal Trust.

The 11 comer" in sisahvhioh has caused an enormous demand for New Zealand flax in America is referred to as follows by tbe cit. Louis Re-, public :-" A gigantic trust, which will probably cost tbo people of America about 20,000,000 dollars this year, has been formed in raw materials from which binders' twino, roping, and_ cordage are manufacui tured. It is a combination of Eastern • manufacturers of binders' twine for the purpose of cornering and controlling tbo raw materials out of 1 which twino, roping, and cordage are mado. They have* bought up all tho;sisal fibre in th(f world, and all the mahilla fibre olk - tainable, the two being the raw material from which those articles are made. Manilla fibre is grown only in the. Phillipme Islands, and sisal fibre only in Yucatan and in one or two other portions of Mexico. Ths Trust lias a oapital of from 15,000,000 to £20,000,000 dollars, and so far has successfully carried out its aim. Rope and cordage have advanced during:' the past three months about 4 Cents per pound, and are steadily advancing. . No man knows to wliat price the Trust will 7 raise them. During the year 1889 it has the power in its own hands, and the country will be squeezed for several millions on rope and All that .the country can do .ijjf present, is to dance,to the musio* the National Cordage Co., or go \ without rope, cordage, and .

The New Meat Preservative.

Sir Charles Clifford's .Opinion-

The London coireapondcnt of thettnter//i 'v bury I'reis writes as followa upon th« * 1 - f - ; - above interesting subject : . :' . "■'slr Charles CliSord, who, as you know, is a director of !ho Shipping Company, and is>> : '' ; consequently deeply interested in the frozen meat trader oamo in law to tho lnncb, tasted several of the dishes, and was ! \ middl» of one, when ho was called upon £#

■ express his viows. Tho best test of tho >' exoellenoo of the food is the fact that lie -■ - . retased to speak until he had finished his iißh, Tlien he said that ho considered tho - \ process a marvellous one, and that he could Cnly say that it seemed destined to revolutionise tho whole ol tho meat trade, _ He *i (or sorno time, and on two occasions, ppearcd greatly eseited by tho foveaSubsequently, I spoko to him about ■ ! Hi and asked it ho wero not despondent over an invention which was going to • destroy the frozen meat trade. "Well, ' ho replied, " I should 'be so, if it wero not that my interests in stook were far greater than my interest in the shipping trade, I have 100,000 sheep in New Zealand, and it I can get higher prices for them, as tho patentees of this process assorts I can under' this system, I shall be highly de- ' lighted, despite tho blow to tho shipping companies." I remarked to him that, of ' course, wo only had the word of the patnnteD3 1 ■ that the dishes were as old as was said, and ho answered," Yes, that is so; but I happen to know somo ol the people named, and t can fully trust them. I have no reason to doubt all thoy say is true, I oonsider lam , f ljow sitting at what will one day be looked i up to as an historio board," At tho invitation ofMrCordner I went :v- down yesterday to Queen Victoria-street, where tho works ore. It iB ridiculous to ' call them "works," for tho whole apparatus is ■ extremely simple, consisting merely o! a box and a pinto of powder. Mr . Wheaton, Mr Bowden, and Mr Hodge went over everything with me, and I will give ■ you a brief summary of the whole process. In tho room was a box about 6ft by Bft, whioh, when I saw it, was empty. In t he top compartment, which is only partially separated from tho lower one, aro two . JHll zino tanks for ice or cold wator, On Tlvel therewith iB a small shelf, upon whicii tho plate of powder stands, The whole of the lower portion ot the boi m filled with the meat to bo treated. The kox is air-iight, or nearly so. The plato of powder is ignited, and the door is closed. Tho fumes of the wpor ariso quickly over the tanks, where they are cooled down, and then descend to the meat and attack it. In thru or four hours the iiualisrendtrd iiwaMe o filmy. If tho process ot piitnfaction has already set in the vapor will arrest it. Tbe meat may then bo taken out and thrown aside anywhere, in any temperature, and for any length of time, and it remains good. I viowed at tho office hams and carcases of sheep, oxen, rabbits, as well as birds and fish, which were from three weeks to three months old. Eggs I saw which had been broken into a glasj threo weeks ajo alter being " processed," and they wero perfectly fresh to the smell, ;i All the carcases were fresh and juicy in '■ appearance. Furthermore, the process is. applied not only to meat, but to vegetables (as wo had evidonco at tho lunch), to fruit, and to flowers. Maidenhair sprays have been preserved after subjection to the vapor for weeks, while, as every one knows, ordinarily, thoy will wither in a day. I saw oranges three months old wero still 83 juicy and sweet as when thoy were first pioked, There seems no end to the applications and uses of this exlraorinary jArw'iM. Hides I saw whioh were eight ' "fifes old, and as soft and clean-smelling fithe day they loft tho buliook'a back. In acoupljof days a hide will usually kill at twenty yards.