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This newspaper page contains 16 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Weekly Chronicle
Location
London, Middlesex, United Kingdom
Date
Feb 10, 1844
Page
5
A distressed creditor scheme unfolds as Mrs. Birch and King are implicated in disguising debts. Destruction of letters, official seizures, and a fiat of bankruptcy lead to court findings of guilt for King and Mrs. Birch with nine and eighteen month sentences respectively. The case ties to earlier wrecked claims and multiple trials.
A speaker derides the Lords rush to pass a controversial Ex post facto bill shielding aristocrats from gambling penalties, likening it to a man trading £100 and riding home on foot. The critique lampoons Prime Minister Palmerston and the Morning Herald, argues for free trade, and warns against sacrificing industry to aristocratic interests.
A London court hears a high profile conspiracy case involving attorney William Henry King, Mrs Emily Ann Birch and Augusta Ann Birch. They allegedly ordered valuable goods from many tradesmen to be paid by future dates, then used executions in King and Dorcas Phillips suits to seize the goods. Birch and King planned to hide assets, with King present at Birch’s lodging house while goods were assembled, as fraud extended across plate, jewellery, wine, and pianofortes totaling thousands of pounds.
The docket details the Re Czesan Apam Marcus Count de Huits insolvency with £3,901 debts and £1,835 credits, plus a postponed hearing. It also covers the Jonny Hacout case and a suspicious Benevolent Insolvent Aid Society scheme involving £14 10s advanced and a writ. A Nantow Escare case notes a sentence postponement in the Consistory Court.
The fourth session of the present mayoralty opened with 250 prisoners listed for offenses from arson and murder to larceny and rape. The grand jury, sworn, heard that numbers will rise. noted personal-violence cases, including assaults and a fatal carriage collision. Notable indictments include arson, child stealing, and receiving stolen goods. Elizabeth Brown and Maria Maller faced theft and receiving charges for a large consignment from Robert C. Savage.
A journeyman batter Joseph Davies faced Alderman Farncombe on suspicion of murdering his wife Rebecca at their Redcross Street Cripplegate lodging. Inquest returned a verdict that Rebecca killed herself while insane. Testimony described jealousy, alleged affairs, and Davies’s flight with their child. The case featured multiple witnesses and a heated cross examination as remand was set for Friday.
A public meeting at Freemasons tavern gathered Lord Campus Lord Stourton and other peers to ponder addressing the crown over excluding Roman Catholics from juries in Ireland state trials. Speakers backed abolition of religious civil distinctions and passed resolutions denouncing government actions before adjourning.
The report notes a recent surge in whale fishing activity with nine or ten Hull ships preparing for Greenland and the Straits, while coopers rush to ready tonnage for the venture. It highlights Tyne trade data, including a rise in Newcastle customs duties to £494,071 in 1843 from £432,787 in 1842, and details on London market shipments and imports for early 1844.
A dialogue in Cambridgeshire markets pits Lord Hardwicke against Morning Post owners over subscription funds. Mr Grain and others defend the paper’s independence while the lord asserts he will deny any portion of the funds to the Post. The exchange ends with mutual reproach and a note that the Post has not accepted county subscriptions.
The Standard notes subscriptions at Huntingdon opposing the League and reports plans by Duke of Richmond Viscount Ingestre M P W Miles M P Philip Pusey M P and others to form a metropolitan society for British agriculture protection. The Gloucestershire High Sheriff refused to convene a county meeting on commerce restrictions, with Earls Radnor and Ducie among requisitionists. a meeting is set for the 24th with six magistrates including the Earl of Ducie.
At Middlesex Sessions the case of Ann Haggerty and Mary Ann Fitzgerald versus Louisa Buckworth centers on an assault connected to allegations of poisoning. The defendants, sisters of the deceased, were committed in bail after a heated in court exchange. Sir Peter Laurie offered to bet five to fifty against settlement over gin, a remark the recorder dismissed as betting on the bench.
The Observer reports the Attorney General of Ireland has been offered the freedom of the Gunmakers Company and is retained for the defence of Lieutenant Munro who plans to surrender once the State trials end.
A satirical note questions moral guilt of libel purchasers and readers. It cites Bayle on libel harms and reports a Cobden pamphlet proposing MPs gain voting weight by voter count, with a playful jab at weighing house members and ad hominem arguments.
The green room reveals tokens of pantomime chaos with harlequin and clown exhausted between scenes. Child performers and fairies, paid meagerly, endure parched lips and wasted limbs while audiences see only smiles. A noted account from Bentley’s Miscellany traces stage life and a curious local arrest for sheep stealing and tree damage.
Extract from the Birlh Report notes the chaplain's observation that most convicts are uneducated in religion. A transport prisoner asks to be christened but cannot name Our Saviour, misrecites the Lord's Prayer, and shows limited religious instruction. Prisoners misdefine political parties as mere rights seekers or gentlemen.
An American paper prints a sign-board copy about a traveling showman. It narrates the creature snakelike but venomous, once mounted on a poor man with a large family, now in a boat, claiming no harm but offering admission at penny prices and a liberal reduction for families. Old Dick advertised as contact for more details.
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