The National Register. — London, England, 1823-03-31 00:00:00

10 IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. A very awkward explanation has taken place at a SUBSCRIPTION llousc at the west end of the town. A young gentleman, who was plundered by the Greeks, in Paris, la:1 autumn, of at least 40,0001. was, the other evening., the loser, in one hone. of 5,0001. " I will send you a check to-morrow morn ing," said he ; but in the interim, you must allow me to put these dice in my pocket." The tone and manner intimidated his adversary. The unsuccessful gamester went immediately to the re sidence of u noble lord The dice were broken, but found not loaded ; but, on a nicer inspection, they wave discovered to be not square, that is, lon;,ver one .way than another, and so contrived as altiays to throw sixes—" Don't pay," exchlitti4d the noble lord. " Don't pay" re-echoed another noblehtan. —This advice has been followed. But the Collhe.. quences resulting are fatal to all other money trans actions in this house. A emintry baaker, and a young merchant of great eminence, also refuse to pay the sums they have lately at this Stiascittr- TioN It ass. The above transaction ha► thrown the %vest end of the town into a state of confusion, of which our more sober readers can have no idea. The determined conduct of the loser, in taking away and examining the dice, has led to the discovery of a system by which many individuals of respectabilit e y have been ruined. The dice, we understand, arc exposed to the public ut a Y.hop in Bond-street. The house where this occurrence took place is not far removed (ruin Pietalilly, and may be recognise] from its commanding v;ew of the Green-park. It was formerly known as subscription-house, and it came into the hands of its present possessor in 11NO. It was taken by a trio of dvktoas cloarac ters, who agreed to retain the original subscribers, and received the privilege of introducing their own friends. Rouge ct Noir was excluded, but a French hasurd-table was set up, around which was nightly collected the greater part of the young men of fa shion about town. anti immense sums of money lost to the table. The regular advantage to the bank at this game, is equal to a small per centage, but the winnings of the house regularly amounted to a considerable dividend of the stakes. Astonishment was frequently expressed tit the runs of luck, as they were called, of the bank ; but such is the in fatuation of play, that the frequenters still continued •to lose night after night, deluded by the elegance of the accommodation—the apparent respectubrilty of the concern, and the iusinuating ,nante of " Sub scription House." A few nobles of the land, some . characters of the turf, who are suppoqed tube sharp on all points, us well as the host of idle young men, have in turn been entferers. To an instance— one night lust season a certain noble lord lost 8,0001. a gentleman well known at Tattersalls, 15,0001. and a commoner, who has lately created a sensation by an excursion with a lovely brunette, I 1,0001. — This was one nights ;wilt. The concern went on • with equal praperity fur two seasons, realizing it is Fait!, over 250,0001. which the three partners divided. One of the partners retired at the com mencement of tae season ; and we understand, that 'law proceedings are commenced against the others for the recovery of large rums since the discovery of the dice with unequal sides. The principal it is said, has left town fur the Continent, to avoid the consequence of un investigation. One of them Mr. A. was a few years since a waiter and marker of a billiard table at tin , Smyrna Coffee-house, in St. James -street; another, Mr. C. was formerly a fish monger in a small way, and acquired money by successful betting on the turf. The principal and master hund of the concern, Mr. Josiah T. was ut one time u partner in a mer cantile' house in the c ity which became bank rupt. Ile was arrested, and lived in the, rules of the King's Bench for some time in great distress.— He contrived to open, five years since, with the assistance of a tiientl, a Rouge el Noir house, on a Small scale, in Pull-mall, whruce he removed to st larger concern, in the same street, nearer to St. James's. Here his success we.; beyond precedent, and in very u short time his profits amounted to 70,0001. With that sum he undertook the manage ment of the subscription house in Piccadilly, where profits were realised to a very large extent, and which might have gone on but itl)r the discovery of the unequal dice, which has broken up his trade. The long disputed question relative to the packet service, ou whidi the livid interests of Falmouth and Plymouth hove b.cn so actively employed, is new finally settled in fiivour of the Winer. Thirty sail of lt•.gun brigs, to be commanded by Lieute nants of the royal navy, are to be placed under the orders of Capt. King, late inspector of the preventive service for the coasts of Kent, who hoists his pen dant on board the Asher? frigate.—Sir I'. B. Martin, Sir George Clerk, and this officer, arc at nresent at Falmouth, making the necessary arrangements for this new service, which promises to be a most valu able one fur the country at large. THE NATIONAL REGISTER POLICE. GUILDHALL. A FRENCHMAN'S JOURNEY TO CHELTENHAM.— A gentleman applied to the Lord Mayor to inflict punishment tqxnt the proprietor of the Swan-with•two neck, coach 'Mice, for causing him to be conveyed to Chatham instead of Cheltenham, and refusing to cor rect the Ittist3ke.hy sending I • coach free to his place •f destination. It appeared from the statement of the Frenchtnin, who spoke the -English language very imperfectly, that he bad gone to the Swag-with -two-necks, Lad-lane, for the purpose of engaging a seat on the outside of the coach to " Choltynham, and paid five shillings; although he believed was erroneously charged, and to the proprietor's disadvantage, he said nothing about, on the ground of retaliation, having been (Men taken in lay the =mule of England himself. lie entered two con versation tarots the coach with some letnale passengers, mad was lt amused for some time. lie con a! not, however, help observing, that there was a great dissimi larity between the road to Chat/yawns viid the road from Chuitynhant-4 eitcuttistalice wincit lie aCeounted or uy ingeMOUSly ascribing it 10 the change to his own past , ti 1111 l having his face towards L mdnn on the tow oCC:1- Sion, and his back tan the other. Tun. 'city produced by this way of travelliog added to his satislactioli.; tint on arriving at Rochester-bridge, his astimislimein ex ceeded all bounds—liar in Li - aye:hag to London, he hail seen nothing at all of the kind ; and upon shifting his position, the bridge, and the great sheet of water, still remained, and, whatever way lie looked at them, were not convertible into any other description of scenery.— He then requested that his fellow.passeitgeis would ca -1 explain the cause.of so extratirilitiary au event as the sudden appearance of a bridge and a river of such di• 1 mensions. They replied that Rochester-bridge stood there as long as they could remember. " iimtherikere• bridge! " cried the Frenchman " God bless my $O.ll, what bring use to lioshestAcre bridge? Smp, coachman, and drive the to Callyldans!" " IVhy su I an:," said the coachman,—" stun be there." To describe the rage i:f the complainant upon being set (lowa at the inn at Chatham, amid told that lie was at his journey's end, would be iniimssible. lie neither ate 1101' drank, our left the company of the coachman. 'l the coach returned to Lad-lair, and dropped him, fatigued in laxly and annul, on the Spit from whence lie had taken his departure. The clerk who booked hint first came under his rebuke ; but the language iii which it was conveyed was of sus heterogeneous a description as to fail .even in correcting the mistake. At length the French man said that he had paid the sum of 11. 121. for travelling from the place he wished to reach to London; and then the clerk found that it was to Clithesiliain, and nid to C11411:1111 the unlucky traveller wished to gm 'fliere was, however, mantled, as retribution for the inconvenience he had 1 1 suffered, that he should he inutleiliately supplied wnh an inside place, and driven to Cheltenham gratuitously; but Mr. W.iterhouse, the proprietor, although disposed to abate Ss. in the demand, in consideration of the error of his servant, refused to mend the matter upon such unreasonable terms. The kreitchtitati, therefore, reburied to the Chief Nlagistrate, in the hope that his lordship would order that a seat should lie finthwitli fur nished liar Idol to Cliataykata, which he declared that he pronounced as perfectly at the time as at the present moment, and that the coachman should be punished fig not stopping at liorhesdatre-bridge, when called upon to do so. The Lord Mayor regretted that the clerk, coachman, and passengers should he so stupid as not to know that the complainant wished to go to Cheltenham; but re fused to punish the proprietor of the ton for the want of a ci.rrestear in his servants. The proposal to deduct the Chatham fare appeared to him a very consciemicaus way of settling the dispute, and there c,rtaiisly apl.thired to, be not the most sertipulons re: and to what was right in the wish of the gentleman to take advantage of what he considered an errui in the office. Indeed, to the endea vour to overreach the owners of the coach might he at tributed all the misfortunes of the journey ; for had the complainant mentioned what he had paid before, lie never would hale trembled at the sight oh ;,tueluester Drudge. /file Frenchman then consented to accept the offer, and withdrew. C ORO Ar MN'S INQUEST. An inqnest was held on Thiirsilay evening, before G. 11. Gell, coroner for Westminster, at the house of Mr. Hill, ironmonger, No. 5, Br ra kit-street, Soho, on view of the body of his son, Mr. John Hill, a fine young man. 19 years of age, who destroyed himself. Jane Heywood, 'rigout to Mr. Hill, stated, deceased was in his father's trade. She had observed him for the last 13 months labouring under a melancholy, lint more pal tieulaily for the last week, when lie had hero id a very low state. On Wednesday - lie drank tea at home, and on that day he appeared more desponding than formes ly.— Deceased haul het it in the habit of visiting a young wu. main with whom lie kept company almost every evening this the deceased had iolorined a fitness, Mill she bits also known the circ lance limn the young woman. The Coroner inquired her name. Witness answered, her name was Mary Catlin, end she resided with luer patents in Cross street. . . A Juror wished to know her age. Witness ►eplied, she• mulct stood the young lady was 16 last °mites. A letter was here handed in to the Coroner, by the re. quest of the unfortunate young 1111111'11 father, who stated he found it in his sou's pecket - book. It was as follows " beloved Mary ,—My happiness is now adequate to the misery I have t mimed fur these last few days ; am son y, raft emely sot ry, at having been so rush—nay, I may s.ty 50 tidiculun , , to attempt my UN'll destruction —but I now see the tolly of it. I now see that instead of ending my miseries, it would have prolonged them to eternity—mid what would have been still worse, would have ni Me you. my dearest, wretched as long as ynu existed. It was, not% ithstatuitog, a toy providential thing ; it was trot sufficient to take effect, this proceede I from my ignorance in using it, beat I trust I shall never be tempted to such an act a second time. " I hope, my dearest Mary, we shall not be altogether parted Irons each other. " It seems fate has determined on our meetingh go where we will, we are sure tee meet, Mary. Idu Wep remember those words, which were yours, orat any rate words to the same effect. Oh ! any love, let them be re alised. We way, if you will, be rely happy, nothing else can possibly obits uct it. Yours haitlefuley and sin. cerely, " J. HILL." There was no date eon any direction to the alcove epistle, which was written in a most beautiful hand Witness continued—She had heard that deceased lead at tempted to poison hine-elf, aced had bought laudanum fur flee purpose. She heard the deceased coals home at half past. JJ ii e me Wednesday eve ii iii g, and go beta thee Chop, tint did not see him atone', and therefore emacludeel Ire was gone wet. Nut finding I • come h , she fastened the dour at half past one o'clock, and went to heel. She got up next moreeing at five, mid went into the sleep about seven o'clock tie gee Milne COWS, when se was startled on misgiving deceased suspended by a cord, one end of which was al t his neck, emit the other fastened to a beam. Au allreu was instantly raised, and Airs. Hill's nephew cut hem down ; hut he was quite deal and cold, and supposed let tease been dead many heelers. Juror.—Lto you kauw whether ells re was any disagree ment between deceased aud the female with whom lee kept ermipaely Wituess.—l believe there was a disagreement between theme,. teed which I believe, occasioned a deaatagement of mind. The Jury, therefore retarued a verdict of " Temporary =toad deraAyeaanal." DETECTION OF PONE PRIVATE 01STILLERIEL-- 011 Thursday morning last, about eight o'clock, two officers of excise, Fitchew, son. and Drewett, repaired to a house in Cumberland -street, Curtain-road, and on rapping at the dolt., a man looked out of the first floor window, and observing who the visiters were, refused to open the door, and instantly jumped out of the back window of the sante Hour, and made his escape through the adjoining house ; two youths escaped at the top of the I e, and scrambling over the roots of nine others. gained the street by sliding down a water-spout. In the mean time the smuggler's wife, who had been out, re turned home, and knowing nothing of what had oc curred, opened the street door with a key, and the offi cers followed her in, and found below stairs a well fitted up distillery. 'Tuts still was then running off strong spirits, Irmo what is technically called low wines, or spirits which have only been once through the still.— They also found a small gusinity of spittle, and upwards of one hundred gallons of molass-wash iu fermentation. They made a capture of the still and all its aportienances. and then proceeded to New Union -street, Alornfields„ where they had been told another existed ; but them tot house was nut k •n. As they were passing through the street, they observed a ruled smuggler s muting on the step of the house No. 22, who, on seeing the officers, immediately ran away. They did not pursue him hut went up to the house ; they door being opeu they walked in, but 'Mind it completely empty, except the trout kit. chew. which contained the oljett of which they were in search—a still, fitted up, on a very large scale, in brick-work, but had evidently recently been fixed, as the mortar was wet. The worm and worm-tub were also complete, and there was a quantity of coripwash ready for the still. The whole would have been in operation for the first time in ftalf•an hour, if the officers had not intruded, and carried all the apparatus to the Excise Office. EXECUTION OF JOHN Newrosr, FOR THIS MEIN.* DIM OF HIS WlFE.—After this unfortunate man had been conveyed front the place of trial to the coon.), g aol, at Shrewsbury, On Sfitinlay evening, he continued ' for 111:111 hours in a state of great agitation and mental dis tress. On Sunday he attended divine service tit the chapel of the prisms, where he conducted himself whit propriety. Oil the more near approach of tine hour of dissolution his feelings again became much agitated.— At about a quarter after twelve, on Alu.sday, lie was brought towards the scaffold, excLitning as lie passed along, " I h ve lust my life tor three shillings. ascended the lodge of the gaol, where lie passed few minutes in prayer whiff the chaplain and soma fellow pri• niers, he was conducted to the scaffold ; skim! towards the immense multitude assembled, he exclaimed, in P. cry loud tone several tittles, " John Holum . 1 ." " Joint Milton, of -the Hem." A voice ap peared to answer from the crowd ; and the primmer then exelainstd, "Joint Edwards, are you come from Sevens hall?" 'While on the scaf fold lie said to tile crowd, "Tits is a sad death to die, my lads, for a young man like sne ; God bless you all; I would give all the world it had nut happened." Ile exclaimed two or three times "Don't hang 1111 C.-1 hope, gentlemen, you'll not hang me yet."—Occasionally lie ejaculated " Lord hare mercy rm me I"—Prevititis to being tortied off, he put his shoes (tvlitch he wore slipperways) trout his lett ; and when tile drop fell he died instantly, and apparently without a struggle. The unhappy Wall occiired a farm of 17(1 acres, had been matried about ten years, and has 1. t four children. Ile told a gentleman who visited hint, he had been a very bad husband at all times; that whim lie committed the fatal act, he rtruck and kicked Isis %vile several Hosea ; and that, but fur the interposuion of kinavidetice, he should, under the Influence of hit oil goverited leelings, at the same time, have sactificed the life of the child who interposed its cries on the behalf Ilf its mother. This addition to his criu.es was happily prevented by tile pour child outrunning and escaping front him. The unhappy criminal was large and %try muscular man. A distressing accident took place this morning in Blackfriars.roJd. A cow driven with it► calf trot con fused between some carts, and the driver was obliged to goad the animal to extricate it, and in consequence this cow became furious, and ran ‘ifilently towards the foot path and knocked a pour woman ag.inst the iron rail ing, and very seriously injured her. The animal Wtit lit tared without doing further mischief.