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THE BOTTÛMLEY CASE.
TRIAL OF THE ACCUSED,
THE DEFENCE.
LONDON, May-24.
The trial of Mr. Horatio Bottomlcy,
Sf.P. for East Hackney, and formerly I
editor of the newspaper "John Bull," I
who is charged with converting to his
own use moneys of the Victory Bond
Club, was continued at the Old Bailey
to-day. .
The evidence for the prosecution
closed earlier than was expected.
Mr. Bottomlcy came into court wear-
ing a white hat, and said humorously
that he was going to tho Derby after
all.
In opening his defence he said:-If
the charges are true, they stamp me as
a rogue and hypocrite of the deepest
die. The question is, had I any inten-
tion to pteal from the poor devils who
subscribed to the bonds-ex-soldiers and
thoir dependents? God forbid!
Mr. Bottomlcy then asked whether he
could call 100,000 witnesses to rebut the
evidence of- the prosecution that the
sifbscribcrs had not had their money
back, and the presiding judge said tha't
ho would listen to any evidence, and
also anv dbj'ection by the prosecution.
Mr. Bottomlcy said, he might have
been a little reckless and unconventional,
'but ho had done nothing criminal. He
concluded with a dramatic oration,
bursting into tears, and promised to go
into the box.
I In the witness-toox, Mr. Bottomlev
said he had refunded £348,000 of the
Aridtory Bond Club money, and also
£86,000 in Paris, and this, with the de-
preciation, exceeded the amount paid in-
to the Victory Bond Club. He contin-
ued:-I am now £50,000 out of pocket,
The stock dropped, and most disas-
trously, and I decided to sell out. The
expenses in realising Çhe A'ictory Club
bonds were enormous, as I had to deal
with 200,000 illiterate persons, who
wrote lotters of four, six, and eight
pages about £1 certificates. The card
index was soon nor worth a rap, ant!
under the circumstances I told my stan
to pay everybody in exchange for hil
certificates. I had a lot of liquid cast
at the time, which was kept in my bed
room.
'Mr. Travers Humphrey, K.C., who ii
prosecuting for the Treasury, su'bjeetet
the prisoner to a searching cross-exam
¡nation, during which Mr. Bottomlej
continually flared up, pro-testing that hi
only spent his own money. -
Counsel pointed out that Mr. Bottom
Icy was an undischarged bankrupt, an«
once, during the examination, requestet
the prisoner not to be insolent.
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