The Reminiscences of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton) Part 19

"'I hope,' said I, 'your marriage was a happy one.'

"'Yes,' said he with a sigh, '_but we don't get on well with the old folks_!'"

No writer was ever more solicitous of fame than Sam Warren. It was a proud moment whenever there was the remotest allusion to his authorship, and I always loved to compliment him on his books.

In the famous case of Lord St. Leonards's will, which had been lost, I supported the lost will, and proved its contents from the evidence of Miss Sugden and others.

Sam Warren had been in the habit of visiting Lord St. Leonards at Boyle Farm, Ditton. He gave evidence as to what Lord St. Leonards had told him respecting his intentions as to the disposal of his property.

After examining him, I said with a polite bow: "Mr. Warren, I owe you an apology for bringing you into the Probate Court. I am sure no one will ever dream of disputing _your_ will, because you have left everybody '_Ten Thousand a Year_!'"

Whereupon Warren bowed most politely to me in acknowledgment of the compliment; then bowed to the _Judge_, and received his lordship's bow in return; then bowed to the _jury_, then to the _Bar_, and, lastly, to the _gallery_.

Writing of the Probate and Divorce Court reminds me of a curious application for the postponement of a trial made by George Brown, who was as good a humorist as he was a lawyer.

I have said that Judges in those days were more strict in refusing these applications than in ours, and Cresswell was no exception to the rule. He disliked them, and rarely yielded. But Brown was a man of a very persuasive manner, and it was always difficult to refuse him anything. I was sitting in Cresswell's court when George rose as soon as the Judge had taken his seat, and asked if a case might be postponed which would be in the next day's list.

"Have you an affidavit, Mr. Brown, as to the reason?"

"Yes, my lord; but I can hardly put the real ground of my application into the affidavit. I have communicated with the other side, and they are perfectly agreeable under the circ.u.mstances."

"I cannot agree to postpone without some adequate cause being stated,"

said Cresswell.

"I am very sorry, my lord, but it will be very inconvenient to me to be here to-morrow."

There was a laugh round the Bar, which Cresswell observing, asked what the real reason was.

Brown smiled and blushed; nothing would bring him to state plainly what the reason of his application was. At last, however, he stammered,--

"My lord, the fact is I am going to take the first step towards a divorce."

The appeal touched the Judge; the reason was sufficient. Every step in a divorce was to be encouraged, especially the first. The application was granted, and Brown was married the next day.

CHAPTER XX.

THE BRIGHTON CARD-SHARPING CASE.

From the courts of justice to the prize-ring is an easy and sometimes pleasant transition, especially in books. I visited from time to time such well-known persons as "Deaf Burke," Nat Langham, "Dutch Sam," and Owen Swift, all remarkable men, with const.i.tutions of iron, and made like perfect models of humanity. Their names are unknown in these days, although in those of the long past gentlemen of the first position were proud of their acquaintance; and these men, although their profession was battering one another, were as little inclined to brutality as any. And when it is remembered that they played their game in accordance with strict rules and on the most scientific principles, it will be seen that cruelty formed no part of their character.

The true sportsmen of the period, amongst whom were the highest in the social and political world, took the same interest in contests in the ring as they did on the turf or in the cricket-field, and for the same reason. Whether Jem Mace would beat Tom Sayers had as much interest at fashionable dinner-tables as whether Lord Derby would dispose of Aberdeen or Palmerston. Lords and dukes backed their opinion in thousands, and the bargee and the ostler gave or took the odds according to the tips, in shillings. The gentleman of the long robe, therefore, was not to be supposed as altogether out of his element in sporting circles any more than the gentleman who had not a rag to cover him.

Nor was it uncommon to meet what was called the cream of society at the celebrated rendezvous of Ben Caunt, which was the Coach and Horses, St. Martin's Lane, or at the less pretentious resort of the Tipton Slasher; and what will our modern ladies think of their fair predecessors, who in those days witnessed the drawing of a badger or a dog-fight on a Sunday afternoon?

All mankind will attend exhibitions of skill and prowess, and although prize-fights are illegal, you never can suppress the spirit which engendered that form of compet.i.tion.

I spent sometimes, with many eminent spectators, a quiet hour or two at Tom Spring's in Holborn, and met many of the best men there in all ranks and professions, always excepting the Church. After one of these entertainments I was travelling with John Gully, once a formidable champion of the ring, and at that time a great bookmaker, as well as owner of racehorses--afterwards presented at Court to her most gracious Majesty the late Queen--and Member of Parliament. We were travelling on our way to Bath, and as we approached a tunnel not far from our destination, Gully pointed out a particular spot "where,"

said he, "I won my first fight;" and so proud was he of the recollection that he might have been in a picture like that of Wellington pointing out the Field of Waterloo to a young lady.

This knowledge of the world, seen as I saw it, was of the greatest use in my profession. If you would know the world, you must not confine yourself to its virtues. There _is_ another side, and it is well to look at it. I thought on one particular occasion how useful a little of this knowledge would have been during a certain cross-examination of Arthur Orton in Chancery by a member of the Chancery Bar. He put this question and many others of a similar kind,--

"Do you swear, sir, that you were on board the _Bella_?" in a very severe tone.

"Yes, sir," says the Claimant, "I do."

"Stop," says the advocate; "I'll take that down;" and he did, with a great deal besides, his cross-examination materially a.s.sisting the man in prolonging his fraudulent claim.

I was engaged in the Brighton card-sharping case, upon which so much stress was laid by the Claimant as proving his ident.i.ty with Roger Tichborne, Roger not having been in the matter at all. I was counsel for one of the persons, the notorious Johnny Broom, who was indicted for fraud, and whose trial ought to have come on before Lord Chief Justice Jervis. He was not a good Judge, so far as the _defendant_ was concerned, to try such a case, and that being Johnny's opinion, he absconded from his bail. The Lord Chief Justice had a great knowledge of card-sharping and of all other rogueries, so that he was an apt man to deal with delinquents who practised them. Conviction before him would have been certain in this case. He was, in fact, waiting for Johnny, as it was a case of great roguery, and intended to deal severely with him.

You may imagine, then, how angry he was when he heard that his man had flown. But there was one consolation: the Broom gang consisted of a number of men who acted on all occasions as confederates when the frauds were practised. Two of these rogues were also indicted, and placed on their trial at this a.s.size.

A Mr. Johnson appeared for the prosecution, and in opening the case for the Crown, in order to show his uncommon fairness, was so impartial as to state that he could find no ground of complaint in respect of the _cards_, which, he said, had been most carefully examined by the Brighton magistrates.

Who these Brighton magistrates were I never heard, but probably they were gentlemen who knew nothing of sharpers and their ways, and whose only experience of cards was a quiet rubber with the ladies of their household. However, such was their unanimous opinion, and upon it the counsel for the Crown informed the Lord Chief Justice that he had no case so far as the fairness of the cards was concerned.

The Lord Chief Justice saw in a moment the importance of that admission on the part of the prosecution. If that were accepted the case was gone, since the fraud for which these men were indicted could not have been perpetrated by honest cards.

"The Brighton magistrates!" said the Chief Justice, with becoming emphasis. "Give me the cards; I should like to have a look at them."

They were handed up, and then a little scene took place which was picturesque and instructive. The Judge took up the cards one by one after carefully wiping and adjusting his gla.s.ses to his nose, while his confidential clerk leant over his shoulder with clerk-like familiarity. Having scrutinized them with the minutest observation, Jervis packed them up, and, turning to Mr. Johnson, said,--

"Mr. Johnson, I will show you how the trick was done. If you will take that card"--handing him one from the pack "--you will see that to the ordinary eye there is nothing to attract your attention. That is precisely as it should be in all games of cheating, for if every fool could see the private marks the rogues could not carry on their calling."

Johnson took the card, and, instructed by the Lord Chief Justice, carefully looked it over, but saw nothing. His face was a perfect blank, and his mind could not have been much more picturesque.

"Turn it over," said his lordship. Johnson obeyed. Still the cryptic hierograph did not appear. The Judge stared at his pupil. "Do you see," asked his lordship, "a tiny mark on the corner of the card at the back?"

"Oh, I see it!" says Johnson, with a face beaming with delight and simplicity.

"That means _the ace of diamonds_" said the Chief--"ace of diamonds, Mr. Johnson!" And thus, after a while, the cards and their secret signs were explained to the counsel for the Crown, who, on the intelligence of the Brighton magistrates, declared that, so far as the _cards_ were concerned, he must acquit these card-sharping rogues of all intention to deceive.

In all cases the back of the card showed what was on the face; that was the simple secret of the whole contrivance, although the Brighton magistrates could not discover it, as the whole of them combined had not a hundredth part of the intelligent cuteness of Lord Chief Justice Jervis.

Two of this gang were standing near me, and I heard one of them say to the other,--

"Joey, how would you like to play blind hookey with that ---- old devil?"

"O my G----!" exclaimed Joey.

The prisoners were convicted princ.i.p.ally upon the evidence of the Lord Chief Justice, and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. My client Johnny got away. He read about Jervis and this trial in the papers, and declared he would sooner abandon his profession than be tried by such an old thief. "Why," said he, "that old bloke knows every trick on the board."

His escape was rather interesting. He came into Lewes fully intending to take his trial, and went out of Lewes with the determination not to be tried at those a.s.sizes, for the simple reason, as he said, that Jervis was too heavy weight for his counsel.