Ralph S. Boyd was acquitted by his Honour Judge Lobingier in the U.S. Court on Monday on the charge of false pretences in connexion with the supply of copper ingots to the Honan Provincial Mint. The charge against the accused was that, on or about February 14, he unlawfully, knowingly and designedly, falsely and feloniously represented to ithe Director of the Mint (Chang Yi-pong), that R. 8, Boyd & Ca., of which accused was president, had 20,000 copper ingots stored in a godown in Shanghai, ready for immediate shipment and delivery; and by reason of this false pretence and representation, Chang Yi-pong was deceived and induced to pay to the accused the sum of Tls. 30,000, the property of the Mint.
in giving judgement, his Honour said:
It appears from the evidence that, two days after February 16, 1922, the complaining witness, on behalf of the Hunan Provincial Mint, and the defendant, on behalf of R. 8S. Boyd & Ca., entered into a contract by which it was agreed that the latter will sell to the Hunan Provincial Mint and the Hunan Provincial Mint agree to buy from R. 8. Boyd & Ca., Lid., 20,000 piculs of copper ingots, ete. The price fixed was -Tls. 29.10, or a total of Tls. 582,000. This sum of Tls. 30,000 (about 5 per cent. of the total contract price) wag paid on the day following the signing of the contract, and was in the form of a native bank order pay-' able to defendant's company and was deposited, he says, to its order and drawn out from time to time on its cheques, It is this sum which defendant is accused of having obtained under false pretences, _1t will be seen that the informa, tion contains two distinct charges—(1) that defendant made false representations and, (2) that the complaining witness acted thereon in paying over the money. As re. gards the first, the specific charge is that defendant represented that he and his company "had 20,000 Piculs of copper ingots belonging to him and said K. S. Boyd Ca., Ld., and which were then and there stored in. a godown or warehouse in the city of Shanghai and ready for immediate shipment and delivery." 4 The only support for this charge is the testimony of Mr. T. C. Vu, who says that on the night of February 18, when the contract was signed, be acted as interpreter for the complaining witness and A—I asked Mr. Boyd, Do you have this copper?"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.