“Gentlemen,—I hereby request you will not part with any moneys in your hands, or which may come into your hands, on account of John Parsons Cook, to any person until payment by you to me or my order of the cheque or draft in my favour, given by the said John Parsons Cook for the sum of £350, sent to you by me, and acknowledged in your letter received by me at Rugeley on Wednesday morning, the 20th of this month of November.
“Yours, &c.
“Wm. Palmer.”
“Messrs. Weatherby, 6, Old Burlington-street.”
On the 23rd I sent a letter to Cook at Rugeley, which was subsequently returned to me through the dead-letter office.
Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee: The cheque for £350 was, as far as I recollect, signed by Cook.
The Attorney-General: Was it signed J. P. Cook, or J. Parsons Cook?—I did not observe.
By Lord Campbell: I observed that the body of the cheque was not in Cook’s handwriting, but that the signature was.
Mr. Serjeant Shee: When that cheque of Cook’s was presented, you had not funds in hands to meet it?—No.
Were funds afterwards sent up by Mr. Frail, the clerk of the course at Shrewsbury?—They were to have been, but were not eventually.
In the ordinary course of things, ought they to have been in your hands on the day you received the cheque?—I can’t positively say. Clerks of the course pay at different times. But Cook might reasonably have supposed that they would be in hand, as it was then a week after he had won the race. I informed Palmer, when I did not pay his cheque, of my reasons for not doing so.
Mr. F. Butler examined by the Attorney-General: I attend races, and bet. I was at Shrewsbury races, and had an account to settle with Palmer. I had to receive £700 odd from him in respect of bets made at the Liverpool races. I had no money to receive in respect of the Shrewsbury races. I endeavoured to get my money at Shrewsbury, and I got £40. I asked him for money several times, and he said he had none, but had some to receive. He did not say how much. He gave me a cheque for £250 upon the Rugeley bank, which was not paid. I know Cook’s horse Polestar. After she had won the race at Shrewsbury she was worth about £700. She was worth more after than before she won.