The National Register. — London, England, 1822-12-29 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER 4 Merchant he was "very much elevated." Riding on horseback being somewhat of, rarity to him, he mounted, intending only to indulge himself by going a few paces and back again, but he believed the rattling of his band box frightened the animal, for lie hail no sooner bestrode hint and fixed his feet in the stirrups, than off lie went with lie rapidity uflighining, in spite of his endeavours to stop him. lie could not tell whither he weld, or at what rate lie travelled, but he knew lie had rather a lung, and lie believed a roundabout ride, and foiled himself at last iu Sloane-sqoare, Chelsea, the horse in a profuse perspira tion and paining for breath, his umbrella gone, and his hand box almost entirely demolished by, its lie 811111113Sed, knocking against the animal's side. 'the only damage, however, done to the contents of the box was the breaking Of one of the feathers, and having found a shop, he vv..' cured another box, and rode home to Clapham. The ad• •enture, lie ass,, red the magistrate, Was quite accidental, and lie was willing to make any apology or re ttttt neratiou. Mr. ll:Ms.—Why did you not ride down the road again, in search of the owner, when you found yourself in Sloane square? Prisoner.—Why, sir, I thought it was then too late, and AO I rode home, and hail die horse ',novelly taken care of in a stable, and started early this morning to inquire for the owner. 1 was on my way to Kensingion when that gentleman stopped inc.—He banded in a written lion of the horse, with his own address, which he said he intended fur insertion in a newspaper, had lie been un successful in his personal inquiries. Mr. Merchant said, the pi isoner had lull !din the same story, and font his matinee, and all the circiimstanct 5, he believed it was at the am st a Christmas fralie ; but he hoped it would operate as a warning to hint in future. The prisoner was ilisrlial led With an ittlinollititon. Mr. Halls said, he if ought the adventure might be ad vantageous to Mr. Marcliant, for it nni.t considerably rob:nice the valise of gis horse. Stich a steeple racer tonal be invaluable. LX EC LT N. On Monday last the sentence of the kw was carried into effect at Pennenden Heath, near Maidstone, upon John Smith, con victed in the last sessions for mender. We have now to record one of the most remarkable instances of mental abstraction that, perhaps, has ever been manifested under the awful circumstances of deliberate murder. About a fortnight ago, the prisoner sent for a gentleman of ftlaidstone, who, attending the summons, rea7ived from the prisoner a vehe ment injunction to make public what he called a history of his life. The surprise of the gentleman may be cnceived, when, on examining the paper, he discovered it to be . a concise narrative of the place of the prisoner's birth, his propensities, and, finally, his motives for committing the muri'er, described in doggrel verse. Although the production of an illiterate man, it is truly astonish ing that the maid of a man nearly fourscore years could, by any possibility, um:er circumstances so pecutiarly awful, fie a moment be so abstracted from his situation as to admit of so extraordinary a production. The levity of the concluding lines is not the least tatikin part of this extraordinary effusion. The original, which is in the hands of Mr. Agar, has been followed verbatim el Merriam:— LINES BOXING• - Dictated by John Swish, rigjil ;3 years, who was executed on Pennentlen Ileath, on Monday, ilec. Y 3, tti22, for the wilful Murder of Catherine Smith, at Greenwich, on the 4th of October In the County of Wicklow I was born'd But nliv in Maidstone die in scorn I once was counted a roving blade but to my milortune had no trade women was always my downfall but still l liked and loved them all a hundred I have had in my time when I was young anti in my prime women was always my deiight but when I got old they did me slight a woman from London to me came she said with you I would rain remain if you will be com taut I'll be true I never want no Alan but You— and on her own Bible a Oath did take that she never would Me forsake and during the time that 1 had Life she would always prove a loving Wife and by that means we did agree to live together she and Me— but soon her vows and Oath raid break and to another Alan did take NV hich she fettled home with her to lay and that proved her own destiny So as Jack Smith lay on his bed this notion strongly run in his Head thou he got up with that intent to hind her out was fully bent swearing if he found out her Oath she'd broke he suck u knife into her throat then to the Cricketers he did go to see if he could find it out or no not long been there beiine she came in with this same fellow to fetch some Gin then with A Knife himself brou i ,ht immediately stali'd ha under the Chin and in live minutes site was no more but there laid in het purple gore Now to conclude and end my song they are both dead dead and gone they are both gone I do declare gone they are but Gud knows where-- The body was taken away to Greenwich to lie for public view for one day, and afterwants to be dissected and anotom , zed in Greenwien Hospital. lie received the sacrament just before he 1,11 the poi, and appeared very lanitent and resigned at the place of execution. lie spoke fur a short time to the people, •• that women ° were the cause of his downritll." lee prayed aloud and very fervent until the drop fell, 4aying, `' Lord have mercy upon me ! Christ have mercy upon me !" The drop fell about twelve o'clock. Ile slept but very little on Sanday night. • According to Irish logic, because he cuts a woman's threat, a %WWI is the cause of Ms ruin. 30311. HUDSON AND WELLS TIIE BATH MAN. It had been whispered about in the sporting cit.. • cles that a plant from Bath had arrived in London to take the shine out of some of the fistic heroes of the London ring.—Josh. and the new Candidate for fighting fume fell in with each other on Tuesday night at a jovial party, when, after plenty of chaf flag, Josh. became jealous of a rival, and off he dogged his toggery, and gave the Bath man a punoh in the head, which he was too good to take quietly. The parties retired to a chosen spot, peeled and turned to. Harry Holt seconded Josh and Mason the Bath man. A merry battle of 35 minutes followed, although neither of the men were in right condition. Josh, in his usual hull.doic form, went up to his adversary's held, and dealt out punish ment but lie found in Wells a man not easy to be shook eft.— Josh was parried and returned upon, and both want down. 2. Josh. led in this sound, but be was thrown a heavy cross buttock. The next four rounds produced something like equal light, both proviag high cooraged ones. The claret bustled about freely, and t• e men got tired. Josh was thrown heavily a g ain' at the end of the 6th round, and lamed in the knee. 7. Josh, want limping to the scratch, and hit away under . grea disadvantages, lint he was too good to funk. Ile placed • rattling facer un his adversary, who threw him, and that seemed at this stage of the light to be his aim. In the 10th round tha gallant Josh. managed to reduce vic tory to a tolerable certainty. He rattled sway, and did smart execu'ion. It was Newgate to a scout ken. 11 and 12. Josh. had his work to do, and rte was thrown heavily in the last of these rounds. The 12th eettled the business. Josh hit his adversary on the mark, where the remains of two pounds of solid bad been de posited, and he gave in. The light was for pure love and glory ; and Hudson won it - under great disadvantages. DEEP PLAT.—The late General Ogle had sn unconverable attachment to play. A few weeks bethre he was to sail for India, he constantly at. tended Pain's, in Charles-street, St Jamss's-square, where he alternately won and lost large sums. Otte evening there were before him two wooden bowls of gold, which held fifteen hundred guineas each ; and also four thousand guineas in rouleaus which he had won. taken the box came to him, he shuck the dice, and with great coolness and play santry said—" Come, I'll either win or lose seven thousand upon this hand ; will any gentleman set n'e tha whole ? Seven thousand is the maim"— Then rattling the dice once more, cast the box front him, and quited it. the dice remaining covered.— Though the General did not consider this too large a sum for one man to risk at a single throat the rest of the gentlemen did, and for some time he remained • unset. He then said—" Well, gentlemen, will you make it up amongst you ?" One set him 5001. another 5001.—" Come," says he, " whilst you are making up this money-7,0001.-I'll tell you a story." Here he began to relate a story that was pertinent to the moment ; but perceiving that he was completely set, stopped short—laid his hand upon the box aaying, " I believe I am set, gentls- - men ?"—" Yes, Sir : seveu is the main." He threw out ! Then with a aonishing coolness took up his snuff-box, and smiling, exclaimed, " Now, gentlemen, I'll finish my story, if you please." About 1750, a merchant of Cleves, named Jo- • rissen, who had become almost totally deaf, sitting one day near a harpsicord while some one was play ing, and having a tobacco-pipe in his mouth, the bowl of which rested accidentally against the body of the instrument, he was agreeably and unexpect. edly surprised to hear all the notes in the most dis tinct manner. By a little reflection and practice he again obtained the use of this valuable sense, which as Bonnet says, connects us with the moral world ; fin- he soon learned, by means of a piece of hard wood, one end of whick he placed against his teeth, • to keep up a conversation, and to be able to under stand the least whisper. His son afterwards made this beneficial discovery the subject of an inaugural dissertation, published ut Ilalle, in 1751. Perulle has ,riven some excellent (disci vations on the capa bility of hard bushes to conduct sound, in the Me. moles of the Academy of Turin, for 1790 and 1791. The effect is the same it' the person who speaks rests the stick against his throat or his breast ; or when one rests the stick which he holds in his teeth against some vessel into which the other speaks. There is at present living ut The,slosia, in the Crimea, an Armenian, whose age is 120 years. Ile was born in Persia, and preserves a perfect recol lection of the celebrated Thomas Kali Khan, whont he frequently saw. His health is gond, and he is surroanded by his descendants. His youngest daughter is now 35 years old. Toltec:co.—The American Farmer tells us, that some tobacco made by Judge Dorsey, of Maryland, last year, sold in k urtye for fitly-two dollars per hundred, and some which grew in Montgomery County, and sold in Baltimore tier thirty •seven brought in Holland the enormous sum of up wards of sixty dollars per hundred. SINGULAK hare, %%itiell was opened a fI:W dais n a no at the hotsae of a 31r. !WIWI Wotilicii. a bask, r, near Saetlicid &wrack 4, was found to have Iwo /owls.— they as:rejoined to g ether by a thin int.nibi.inc. u HOER AND RODOSNY,--A---tirrairul minder was perpetuted in the v Wage of Llatibeder, in Noah Wales. on Monday night. Jane Williams. an aged widow, mill )ears a respectable shopkeeper in the sit late, and who was generally thought to have amassed a little wealth, was found unordered oeinnil her counter on Monday mornitig. A little granthia tight( r, said she heard her grandmother, iu the night, cry " Murder "400 or three times, but was too much Irighttned to stir. Three persons are supposcd to have het it concerned—they had dragged their unfortunate victim from her bed ; the shop d awes, &c. wet.o broken op: n, and sect rah articles stolen, as well as what nsonry she might base bad in them. We have not heard 01 any clue being )et arturd de by which to trace the wretches. answer was, that the prisoner could not have known any thing about the fact. Ti le Lord Mayor asked whether it was not the prac tice of the house 10 cut the parcels I , oin the guard's coat privately—whether it was not their object to keep out pi the p u blic sight tile mode of coma puce they used Mr. Cock said, Mit of course they did not wish it to Ire kttowil. The guard, whenever he came with the parcels to the house, was relieved of theut in a roam distinct front the place in which public business was done. Mr. Andrews then stated to the Lord Mayor that the case was ready for a Jury, and would submit to his Lord ship, that the evidence already detailed was strong enough to justify the prisoner's commitment. Mr. Alley submitted, %ha , as the robbery was charged as having been committed in Piccadilly, the question tit jurisdiction upon the part of the Lord Mayor was against the co ttttt fitment. Mr. Andrews said, he had not charged the robbery as laving heen committed in Piccadilly. Il e had not said that the parcel taken nut of the coach there was that, of the loss of which Messrs. !lan key compl.tined. Mr. Alley.—lf you take away mat tact, what have you to prose against the prisoner Mr. Andrews said, that lie grounded his case upon the facts that the parcel hail been rielivered to the lid stoner in Exeter, aiiil Iltat he hail tint deli% cred it London, where it should hate hero delivered. Mr. Alley was still of opinion, that if offence had been committed ally where, it certainly had not been committed in the City of isanduit ; but lie should not press his objection. The Lord Alayor.—l am of opinion that this case comes within my jurisdiction. At the same time I must say it is a ere ttttt stance favourable to the prisoner, that oil the night the robbery was committed, lie com municated the loss to Messrs. Harikey. If he shall be acquitted, he may thank his carelessness and breach of confidence, for being expos.al to a trial at the Old Balky. The prisoner was then committed for trial. HOW.STItEET. ATROCIOUS OUTRAGE.-01) Sunday information was received at thisollice 01 the following most atrocious attempt at rubbery and murder:—About three o'clock that morning an attack was made Moat the house of James Smith, Esq. near l)artittouth-row, Illackli .atli, by a gang of burglars, one 01 whom had already bole roma. three-foorths of one of the square panels of the door in order to enable him to loosen the l'asienings in sale, when Mr. Smith, who is upwards of 70 years of sac, was awoke by the noise. He gut out of bed, and throwitig up his chamber window, called out " IVhit's there I' IVhat are you shout r' He had scarcely uttered these words, when a ruffian, standing at some distance barn the door, fired a pis of at him, the shot f which passed through the fl, shy part of his arm, 'tatted his breast, and lodge:1 between the ribs on the ',pito/site skit. The villains tirade off immediately. Tile report of the pistol, and the fall of Mr. Smith upon the floor of his room, alarmed the family, anti he was found weltering ill blood, and to all appearance dead. Ile was, however, restored to life, and medical assistance was procu-eil ; but lie now lies in a state of extreme danger, and as the surgeons think, will no hopes of recosery. ittitimen, not of the praicipal ollicerr, was sent off immediately, and was engaged the whole td the day and eli de:homing to truce the authors of this sitlanons attack, but witimat success. finre is It Ile doula, from the manner in which the attempt was made to break into the lonise, but that the persons engaged in it were expe rienced London thieves. AIVIENTVREII or A MAN MILLINER.-011 Filltay last a simple, harmless looking youth, wroth 19 years of age, calling hintselfJohn Sa t lers, was ho ought rip in the ens tody of Darlington, °ire of the patrol, tor a rharge of having stolen a horse, the property of Mr. S. Marchant, gentleman residing at Tor Mem Green. NIL Nlarrhaut stated, that lie seas returning home to 'cm piliant Glom sham ergi.t o'clock tau Thor tiny slight, mounted on a r.:ry spir ited horse, and when near to kr ii sington the animal fell lame, a stole having gut into his hoof. He dismounted, and was liesitanag as to what he should do to 'dieve die poor animal, when the prisoner, with an umbtella in one band, alai a hand-box in the 01111 r, %eev poliitly etlered his assistan“, tthicli vies ne coded. 'll.e primmer, indeed, rat tied his p• hiestess so tar as it) he ak the Luck of his umbrella iii codetivoto tug. to puke our the sl utee, aed, Lulling in this, suggested lltai Loge stone, by way liantinei, «wild accomplish the object. The IA lilles% Ictl the hoist: ill rate (slide lie suitshed about tae toad fur one, mid had got a few yards oil', when he was Um ode 1 shriek at heat tug tee horse gallop off at full speed, and, looking Imhof, lie perceived by ISal 1.r,1il 0l 111 e moon his kind Ireeild,lmeid - box,ritebrella,aird all, sr tttttt ited on his back. his pursued histantly, and alas sited the neighbourhood, and wise int . ,' ulauwu to the horse panel, several of whom went la pursuit of him, and traced him to beyond Hammersmith, where it berms lie took to the Jidda, clearing gate, hedge and ditch, iii,d going over newly 'ploughed fields, and places m here the hose pat role would nut venture to follow Lint, at least iu his direct course. They, however, bemired the ilialliroatl). for neatly twenty miles round, and heard of the gallant equestrian, fur lirs equipments, arid the speed of his 11,1 se, 14 ere too remarkable to escape notice iu all dilectiulia,lml failed in overtaking him', and at length lust all irate, and gave tip the pursuit in despair. On - Friday rimming witness taint , to town fur the pm pose of gisiag informs'. thou of what he then conceived to be a vile rotwery,whest, tau 11 . 16 way through Piccadilly, he met the prisoner tau the same horse, trotting very quietly on towaida Hyde I'.ei k !Antler. He, of course, gave hint in charge to au Whiter, ill order to Intrr the matter inquired into. 'Hie prisoner stood treniuling at the bar while Mr. M. was waking his vial ge, and when called upon to answer to it, be said hu could give but a catifmnal account of the matter, fur iu !Mill lie had hut a slender lecullection ul nay thing that passed. This much, however, lie wound duty, that he resisted al Clapl.ana with his mother, who carried on the millinery business, and on Thursday after noon he was dispatched to Kensington our a bonnet and feathers which arra I.) lie ClVAtied. It being time he indalged Noised's% with sundry glasses of ate, and °lit er rahuaiiratiug putattons ; and at the time he suet 51r. -_ -- ~ a.. .. , ii , . ~ * „ , _ , .•,„.. ,„ ! <i i • I f' -- . ‘ . ..",, L • %.1 i 4 ' F . t_ ‘. 1 - 0 ...... c . k I - • 11:-.64111j a I