OUR LONDON LETTER.

Evening Star, Issue 8154, 1 March 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

OUR LONDON LETTER.

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

London, January 10. JUBILEE JUGGINS’S CREDITORS IRATE.

The long-suffering creditors of Mr Ernest Benzon met together on Friday last with a view to discussing whether there was any use attempting the hitherto unsuccessful experiment of trying to wring blood from a stone. The debtor did not put in an appearance, He was at Monte Carlo, and had refused the Court’s pressing invitation to return from thither. “ I may say, indeed,” said the chairman gravely, “ Mr Benzon has treated our proceedings with the utmost contempt.” There was then some talk of issuing a warrant for the delinquent’s apprehension. As, however, it could only be put into force here the idea was abandoned. A Mr Hammond, who said he represented Mr Benzon but had no instructions from that mercurial individual, promised to try and induce him to return and discuss matters; “but,” he added, “ there must be no talk of warrants, or the young man will naturally remain on the safe side of the Channel.” The creditors then discussed “the Jubilee’s,” as they mostly called him, means." I’ear as’e’s a thousand a year,” remarked an individual. “I beg your pardon, sir,” replied Hammond, sharply, “ Mr Benzon has LBOO a year under his father’s will, which is alienable under bankruptcy, and goes back to the trustees.” “ Ahem ! I don’t quite think that will do,” said a ferret-faced solicitor. ‘‘ We may have to go into that by-and-bye. That thousand a year is worth fighting for.” The company then broke up quite amicably.

THE CLEVELANI STREET AFFAIR. The first act of what is now known far and wide as “Lord Euston’s case” came on at Bow street on Monday last, when Mr Arthur Newton, a well-known Police Court solicitor practising at Marlborough street, was charged, in conjunction with two other men (Taylersen and De Galla) with conspiring to obstruct and defeat the ends of justice in regard to proceedings pending against certain persons for offences committed at Cleveland street. So far as can at present be gathered, there seem to have been some dozen or more young ruffians connected with this abominable establishment. One of these—a lad named Algernon Alleys, with the face of a cherub and the soul of a hog—appears to have learnt that the house was going to be raided, and to have resolved to save his own liberty by turning Queen’s evidence. The police likewise persuaded several of the other boys to take this course, and they testified at Marlborough street and the Central Criminal Court against the two men Week and Newlove. In the course of these proceedings the names of two noblemen transpired verbally as habitvds of the house, and others were written down on paper and handed up to the magistrate. Subsequently Messrs Newton, Taylersen, and De Galla, acting in the interests of persons unknown, seem to have tried hard to persuade these boys that they would best consult their own interests by leaving England at once. The terms offered were good, viz., L2O down, a fair outfit, passages paid to Australia, and 20s a week for the three years. No wonder several of them closed, and, to the chagrin of the police, slipped through their fingers. Alleys and two or three others were, fortunately, too well watched to bolt, and the firstnamed assisted In-pector Abberline to bait a trap for Newton am} Co. In the course of Monday’s proceedings Lord Arthur Somerset’s criminality was sworn to both by Alleys and a telegraph boy named Thickbroomo, who also let out someone else’s name before the horrified magistrate could stop him. Alleys was originally a page at the Marlborough Club (the Prince of Wales’s special circle, and the most exclusive coterie in London) He was dismissed from there for stealing, and would have been imprisoned but for the efforts of Lord Arthur Somerset, who instructed a solicitor on his behalf, and somehow got the lad off. Later he went to Cleveland street, and remained there several months. The way in which this innocent looking lad with blonde, wavy hair and blue eyes, described the most abominable practices without a blush fairly staggered the Court. The sole symptom of feeling he displayed throughout was when questioned about a sweetheart in the country. “ I should not,” he said, with a faint break in his voice, “ like her to think I’d had anything to do with Cleveland street.” Alleys’s parents have been trying their utmost to get hold of the boy and close, his mouth. The Treasury and the police decline, however, to part with their witness, though Sir Augustus Stephenson offered to let Alleys see his father, if he liked, in the presence of a third person. Since Monday a long series of boy and young men witnesses, whom Newton is accused of having tried to get out of the country, have been examined at Bow street. Why these attempts failed is not at all clear. On one occasion De Galla had collected together no fewer than fourof the lads, and they were quite ready to sail then and there. He went to see his principal, however, and there was some hitch, for the boys, instead of being despatched abroad, were quietly sent back to their own homes. The name of Newton’s employer has not transpired, but it is generally understood to be the Duke of Beaufort. Yesterday Mr Ernest Parke was called, and ordered to produce a number of photos, cards, and letters of the man Hammond, which were known to be in his possession. He did so, and the Court impounded them without their nature transpiring.