The National Register. — London, England, 1821-07-15 00:00:00

IVORIFICII CITY sEssIOSS. On Tuesday last the Quarter Sessions for this city was held at the Guildhall, before Wm. Bukhara, Esq. Mayor, Steward Alderson. and a bench of magistrates. The learned Steward, in his charge to the Grand Jury, very ably directed their attention to the several bills before them, and pointed out die law to their consideration. — The Court was occupied some dine with Removal causes, but none that created particular interest. John Berry, printer, of St. Petei 's Mancroft, appealed against the conviction of the magistrates, for printing and publishing a handbill at the last election for 'ayor of this city, signed " A Freeman," without having a copy of the paper lie printed the said handbill from preserved by him, or giving up the name and place of abode of the person who employed him to print the said handbill, by which he became subject to the penalty of the sum of 201. Counsellor Robertson, in a very animated speech, con tended for the conviction. He said, the Court were most particularly called upon to mark this offence in the strong est possible manner. The appellant bad not only broke a statute, but the circumstances attending it was a most outrageous offence in enormity, lie had almost said profli gacy; this handbill was a gross libel on a respectable magistrate ; it not only vilified him as a magistrate, but as a man, a gentleman, and husband. He gro iiiii led his ap peal on b( 6eu. 1 11. an Act to secure the subject I libellous attack—' that every printer shall retain 4 copy of every paper printed by hint, and not refuse to declare, when called upon, who is to he considered before the law &minute ble."— floe learned Counsellor then called the Sword Bearer, who proved that Berry was summoned be fore the Mayor, and refused to plod:tee a copy of the pa per, or the name and place of flirt employer, and was con victed accordingly; that at his first examination lie denied printing or publishing, but at the second lie acknowledged himself to be the printer. Counsellor Cooper, for the appellant, rose and addressed the Court as follows :—" Gentlemen, my learned friend is first bound to prove that the bill was printed for gain, profit, or reward, before lie can possibly confirm this con viction. I contend he has but sery indifferently proved that Berry was the pointer of the handbill; and supposing he was the printer, it might nut have been fur reward, but originate in party zeal, and apply no more to Alderman Minsk than to any other Alderman on the bench. The Sword Bearer swears that Berry admitted the printing, but first lie said No, and afterwards Yes. Why, gentle men. the poor man was so frightened that he did nut know what he said. Only think of my poor client's sitnatioe— shut up in a Council Chamber, the Mayor on one side, Aldermen on the other, Mr. Sword Heiner, and other ci vic authorities, trying to obtain his confession—first be did point it, then lie did not ; the Court would be divided, and pause haute they decided on such a yes or no aunt a 111411 so cioemuslanced. The bid appears to Hie only an appeal to his fellow-citizens to elect a !weer, holiest, and uptight magistrate to fill the office of Mayor, and 1 believe there is not the evidence there ought to be before the Court to confirm the conviction." were so near, and the probability was that he would be convicted of a capital offence, the charge was dropped, and the prisoner hilly committed for uttering the forged 51. notes. EXTRAORDINARY SPEED.—Oti Wednesday D. Crisp, the celebrated pedestrian, returned to town front Sid mouth where he WAS engaged for a wager of 25 guineas to run from that place to the Castle-yard in Exeter, and back again in five hours, a distance of 32 miles, over a hilly country. He started precisely at six o'clock in the morning, accompanied by two gentlemen on horseback, and arrived at time Castle.gate in Exeter, ten minutes be fore eight, performing the first 16 miles in one hour and fifty minutes; he rested iwauty minutes and took some refreshment; the gentlemen did the same, and procured fresh horses, he then returned to Sidman!), where he arrived with ea•e twenty minutes within the time al lowed. On the liSth of this month he is to commence his Herculean task of walking WOO miles in as many successive half-hours at Nottingham, being 11311 the lime the same number of miles were performed by Captain Barlelay. Great wagers depend on ibis match. Dreadful viccitlent.—Tsturs.l.l, as Mr. BM, a master bricklayer, and two labourers were erecting a scatfitl,l to the back flout of a house, No. 20, in Por . land-street, the ledger which supported it, front being rotten, snap ped in two, and the three unfottunate men were preci• pirated w the ground, a depth of about 40 feet. Mr. 8211 had One Of his legs broken, the bones protruding through his stocking, and otherwise bruised all over; lie was taken up inaensible and carried home on a shutter. —The two unfoittmate labourers, one of whom has a wifi. and four children, 113 d each several bones broken. They were taken up covered with blood and bruises, apparently in a lifeless state, and carried to the NI iddle sex-holtital, where they remain without the smallest hope of recovery. About a month ago, two whales of large dimensions were fi.und, forsaken by the tide, at a point called lit nerwell, in the bay of Wigtown, 111 Galloway. These peaceful Arctic wanderers were first observed by a party of seafaring youths, who had been out on a fishing ex pedition, and who immediately thought of securing the prize. To work, therefore, they set, and as a substitute fur an anchor, hit upon the somewhat dangerous expe dient of making fast the boat to the back fin of the largest fish. But the animal, whose leviathan carcase was half buried in the sand, and which had hitherto made no resistance, was very far from relishing this un civil interference, and, shallow as the water was, he scion began to beat it so lustily, and with such good effect, that had not the party prudently changed their moorings, they might have perished in a storm of their own cre ating. Accommodating themselves to circumstances, they commenced an attack upon the hinder parts of the whales, and, rude as their implements weir, succeeded in filling . die bo,,t with about a ton and a half of blub ber! 11 i th this cargo they immediately stood for the town of Wigtown ; and after providing themselves with a cable, anchor, hatchet, saws, &e. they returned to I it nerwell ; but by this time the tide had thawed, accom panied by a smart breeze front the N. W., and wafted the carcases of both the fishes far beyond the reach of these inexpi r.eneed a-sada:its. On Friday se'intiftht an accident happened near the Fleece, at Brook -street, Essex, where tile road is rather narrow, and at a point tit which three vehicles were its the act of passing each other; one of them was a higler's cart goit.g front Chelmsford market to London, loaded with fowls, the proprietor of which was treating a rela tion, said to be from Clare, in Suffolk, with a ride to see his friends in town, when the wheel of the cart came in contact with another so violently, as to jerk the pour man iron his seat, and his head fell between the tore and alter wheel of a stage waggon ; and was crushed to atoms; it is needless to state that lie instantly expired.— A nearly similar accident occurred to another person in the road near Ilford, and attended testa circumstances aIIIIULt as dreidlul ; but the unfortimate sufferer, we hear, still lingers in the utmost agony. FlRlt.—About half past eight o clock ott Thursday evening, a most alarming fire broke out in the house of Mr. Clarke, broker, in Clerkenwell Green, which for some time burnt with almost incredible fury. The la. roily (with the exception of the servants) were at Sad lees Wells at the nine, but by the exertions of the sur rounding populace the greater part oh the extensive stock in trade was saved. A considerable time elapsed before the arrival of any engme. The Sun was the first whicn came to the scene of conflagration, but ottfortunately no water could he procured for some time, consequently the flames raged with unabated velocity, and soon became master of the enure premises, which were by ten o'clock completely consumed. The utmost confusion was wit nessed at the two it,'jitittitig houses. occitpied by Messrs. Goode and Miller, persons in the same business, mid articles of furniture were to be seen pitching front the windows into the street. In short the whole Green was one complete mass of articles, the glcitur part of winch is materially damaged. The fire caught the rear of the house of Mr. Goode, which was consiarrably damaged. Finns the contusion that pre‘ailed we could not learn whether the parties are insured or nut. Suicide.—ln the night of the sth inst. G Hassell, If:sq. drowned himself in a deep pond on his own premises, ;th.,111 a half a utile front his house at Chn'shurv, in the Chiltern hills. Bucks. He served the office of Siteritt for the county in ISIS, and di e d uniii3tried. THEATRICAL MODESTY. —In It letter published hi an America' paper last month, Ly Mr. KEAN, ill excuse of his conduct at Boston, where, because the audience was not so brilliant as he thought it ought to Lave been in compliment to him, he lcti the house abruptly, a'id refused to play the part he had undertaken, he says " the present existence of the first theatre in Europe is thunded on the abilities which they (i. C. OUT transatlantic brethren) allect to despise' The Court retired, and on returning Mr. Steward Al. derson said he was sorry to say that the Court considered the handbill a scandalous libel, and deserving their just reprobation; but desirous to extend every lenity to the appellant, under all circumstances, and finding by the Act that they lead the power of mitig.ition, they would mitigate the penalty to 101. and however they might be inclined, they could not go below that sum, as et might encourage a recurrence of this evil, and not sufficiently mark their sense of the offence. 'lke Court called on Berry to apologize to Alderman Marsh ; he said, he did not intend in ally way to apply Cie paper to him, but if the worthy Alderman thought otherwise, ha was ready to say lie was very sorry for har ing done it. Police. G UILIMIALL. FORGED FIVE Poulin NOTES.—George Lee and Elizabeth Brown, whose cases have already been before the public, were brought up on Fruity for final exami nation, before Mr. Alderman Thomas Smith, the sitting magistrate. A new case, in addition to the five alrearly preferred against them, was brought forward by Mr. Maynard, the Bank solicitor, in which, however, the female prisoner did not appear to have been at all impli cated. Thomas Clone)+, brother in law to Mr. B iwie, who keeps the Red Lion public-house, in Great Wind mill -street, St. James's, stated that the prisoner Lee came there on Friday, the 4th of May, its the name of Mr. C. hickmaii, of Upper Nlarylebone-street, for one gallon of Hodges's best gin, in payment for which he tendered a forged 51. note, and received 41. 4s. in change. Mr. Rickman being a customer, no suspicion was excited, and aso inquiry therefore made until the note was returned tram Messrs. Men% as a forgery. Mr. Maynard observed, that he had now given evi dence upon all the charges which he meant to prefer against the prisoners. A clear and very wow; case was made out against the male prisoner, Lee; and trusted the magistrate must feel that he was a fit object for pro secution. With regard to the female prisoner, inquiry had been m a d e , frosts which it appeared she was an un fortunate girl, and that her connexion with Lee had been but abort. There were, certainly, good reasons to believe that she must have been acquainted with the nefarious practices of her companion; but as it was possible that she might have been drawn in by him, and as there was no proof that she had taken an active part in the uttering of the forged notes, the Bank were ss to consider her as innocent,and would not press further mueeedings against her. — The prisoner Brown being questioned, said she had known the prisoner Lee only about a month, and de, • dared she was wholly unacquainted with the practices he was carrying on. She had, it seemed, been taken from the public streets by Lee, and selected, probably, from the circumstance of her being in a state of preg nancy, a situation well Calculated to aid him in the deceptions he was practising. After a suitable admonition from the alderman she was discharged. In the course of these examinations a charge was pre ferred against Lee by a person front whom lie had hire(' a horse and gig, %% Inch Mid never been returned. Tilt: =nue be gate at that cute was Le% y. the ses..ialis . _ THE NATIONAL REGISTER as Daring case of Roblery.—The followA r isos atrocious robbery was committed on Sat at Greenwich, and information was given of ft on Monday afternoon at the Public-office, Bow-street. Mrs. Welding, the wife of a gentleman's coach man, occupies the house No. 12, Alfred's-buildings, Greenwich, the next dwelling to which is uninha bited. On Saturday she was in the house alone, and at eleven o'clock in the morning a man, dressed rather " shabby genteel," knocked at the door, and asked her if the next house was to let, as he wished to look at it. She said it was, but she had not the key, and was about to shut her door, when he rushed in, and seising her by the throat, said, " he was come for money, and money he must have." She escaped from his grasp, and ran up stairs, intending to give an alarm at the window, but he followed her closely, and just as she reached the landing. place, he knocked her down with some heavy in strument, and swore if she made any noise he would murder her. He then tore out her ear-rings, cutting both her ears through in doing it, and be a t her about the head until she was quite senseless. She continued in that state, as she believes, for more than an hour, and when she recovered her senses she with difficulty procured assistance from a neigh bour, and it was found that the ruffian had broken every lock in the house, and had stolen 401. in bank-notes, a watch, and a considerable quantity of wearing apparel. The husband of the woman gave information of the robbery, and added, that his wife was not expected to recover the effect of her wounds. A very accurate description was given of the rob ber, who it is hoped will not long escape the pu• nishment he so richly merits. On Friday night, about nine o'clock, the city of York was thrown into a state of great alarm, by the ringing of several of the church bells, and the cry of " Fire !" Crowds repaired from all parts of the city to the place where the fire had broken out, which was in the Castle Mills, behind the county gaol. The cause, &c. of the fire was as follow : The mills are in the occupation of Mr. T. Hoppe; but Messrs. Simpson, whose large mill, near North street, was lately destroyed by fire, have also made use of them since that event, and had a large quan tity of flour, &c. there that evening, when the fire commenced. It appears that the millers left the place apparently safe, between seven and eight o'clock, and that about nine is person passing by dis covered it to be on fire, and gave the alarm. A large beam had very improperly been connected with the flue of the boiler of the steam engine ; and had most probably been burning very long before it was discovered. An engine from the barracks, and two from the city, were immediately procured; and by eleven o'clock the devouring element was entirely subdued. A large quantity of the flour, &c. rescued from the mills, was guarded by several of the bar rack soldiers. The property was all of it insured, and we hear that the total damage is not estimated at more than 2 or 300 h With great pleasure we also add, that no lives were lost on the occasion, nor did any serious accident whatever occur. Extraordinary Bullock.—There is at present to be seen on the farm of Nunfield, in the immediate vicinity of Ditintries, an ox of the Teeswater or short-horned breed, and of the following extraordi nary dimensions:— Ft. be. Length from the no'e to the top of the ramp Girth round the middle lO 0 Girth round the heart Height of the shoulder 6 tt Height from the hind foot to lop of the rimy 6 6 These measurements may be relied on us perfectly correct. Independently of his great size, this ani mal is extremely handsome, and by the time he has had experience of the oil-cake and other luxuries of an English farm-yard, he will probably form a °Tenter curiosity than the celebrated "Caps-All," the largest ox ever exhibited in Scotland. At pre sent he is supposed by competent judges to weigh nearly 280 stone English; and he is both higher and stronger in the bone than " Caps-. 111;" there is no saving to what size he may ultimately attain. Till within these few months, Mr. Gibb, the pro prietor, had paid little attention to the keeping of this extraordinary animal; as a proof of which we may mention, that be was one season wint,tred, in addition to Ins manure, for the low rate of 10s. and fed only on wheaten straw. He is exactly five years old, and was purchased in Carlisle market when only one year old, fin. 91. sterling—a price sufficiently liberal, considering his age anti condition, and which Mr. Gibb was induced chiefly to give, on account of the largeness of his bone. But the speculation is likely to turn out a very wail one, as Mr. GM has disj'osed of this ox fur the handsome price of YOG guineas. A SPlN—Mitellol, the spy, whom Mr. Baines exposed at a tucetin t ; of the count• of York, and whom our rea.ters will recollect Mr. Lambtou ob- served upon at the Durham county meeting on the Manchester transactions, as a man deserving of ex ecration to the latest posterity, is at presott iu Newcastle II .. , ■ I