The Sun. — London, England, 1817-08-29 00:00:00

HISTORICAL ANECDOTE. The Lite disputes at the Bar, respecting the right ofprecerfence in umakiog motions to the Court, have oeeasioneil the re%ival of the following story of the Dumb-day, as it w.as called, in AVestminster. hall, %Odd) occurred in the reign of Charles 11. exit - acted from the Lift; of Lord Keiper Guilford, Written by the Hon. Roger North„:— " There was an incident that happenei! not long niter triS Lqrdship (Lord North) Caine into the pilee of Chief in that Court (the Common Pleas), thOugh in itself, and in the end of it, ridi vuHls, yet being an affront to the Court. and in ienlar to the Lord Chief Justice, and by the 'virole bar of Serjeants, all in a lump together, ought to he related; as I shall do, really as it was acted by Arent. It bath been, the usage of the Eing, - 's'.Bench, at the side bar below in the hall, aittl of :he Common - Pleas, in the diatribe!. within the Treasury, to hear Attornies and young Counsel tr, rt carne to. move them about matters of form and practice. His Lordship had a younger bro ther (Hon. Roger North) who was of the profes sion of the lane. He was newly called to the bar, and bad little tO do in the King's Bench; but the Attornies of the Common Pleas often retained him to . move for them, in the Treasury, such niatters as were proper there, and what they might have moved themselves. But however ag iecahle this kind of prac..ice was to a noviciate, i t not worthy the observation it had . ; for once or twice a week was the utmost calculate of these motions : but the Setjeants thought that method was, or .might become, prejudicial to them, who had a monopoly of the, bar, and would have no water go by their mill, and supposed it was high time to put a stop to such beginnings, for fear it might grow worse : but the doubt was, how they should signify their resentment so as to he effectually 'remedial. At length they agreed, for one day, to ,make no motions at all ; and op, portimity would fall for showing the reason how the Court came to have no business. When the Conn (on this dumb-day, as it was called) was sat, the Chief Justice gave the usual signal to the eldest Serjeant to move ; he bowed, and had no thing to move : so the next, and the next, from end to end of the b sr. The Chief, seeing this,' said, " Brothers,.l think 'we must rise; here is no business." Then an Attorney steps forward, and called to a Serjeant to make his motion ; and after that, (tinted to the Court, and said that be had given the Serjeant his fee and instructions over night to move for !din, and desired be might do it : but profound silence still„ The Chief looked about, and asked " What was the matter ?" An Attorney that. stood by,very modestly,said, 'flat Ise feared the Serjeanti took it that motions were Made in the Treasury," Then the Chief scented the, whole Matter, and, " Brothers,", said he, " I think a very great affront is Offered to us, which we ought, for the dignity of time Court, to resent : but that we may do nothiug too suddenly.' but take consideration at (sill leisure and maturely, let us now rise, and to-morrow morning give order as becomes us. And do yoti Attornies come all here to-morrow, and care shall be. taken for your dispatch ; and, rather than fail, we will bear you, or your clients, orahe_liarristers-at-law, or any person that thinks fit to appear in the. I.A:si t-mess, that the law may have its course :" and so the Court rose. This was like . thunder to the Semjt ants,. and they fell to quarrelling one with another, about being the cause of this great evil they had brought upon themselves ; for none of them imagined it wouh! have such a tui n as this was, that siraked what was the palladium of the coif, thy sole practice there. In the afternoon they attended the. Chief, and the other Jsidges of the Court, and in great humility owned their fault, and begged pardon, and that no further notice might . be taken of it, and they would be careful not-to give the like offence fur the future.. The Chief told them that the affront was in public, and hr the face of the Court, and, they must make their recognitions there . next morning;, and in such a manner as the greatness of their offence demander} ; and then they, should hear what the Court would say to them. Accordingly they did, and the Chief first, and then the rest in order, gave diem a formal chiding, with acrimony enough ; all which, with dejected countenances, they were bound to hear. When. this'eliseijiline seas over, the Chief pointed to one to move, 'which he did (as they said) , more like one crying than speaking : and so ended the comedy, as it was acted in Westminster-hall, called the Dumb day." An Attorney, who left London in great dis grace upon pecuniary matters some years since, •es detected in swindling at Berlin, and ,was there seen sweeping the streets in a chain, is now 'Harker at a billiard-table at Brussels. This man once lived liamf,,ornely in one of our western streets, a nd was empfoyed.by some people of con -sequence, as well as by half the thoughtless and profligate of both sexes in gay life. - 11 always affords us pleasure to record humane actions, and we therefore gladly give a place to the following :—During the night of the 4th in stant, as W. Hunter, of Hartlepool, and his boottrian, G. Pounder, were fishing for herrings, a little to the northward of Staiths, on the York thire coast, they were alarmed by the cries of ". Help ! help ! to save our lives." The night was extremely (Wk . , and the persons in distress Irere at some distance : Hunter, however, deter nined to use his exertions to save them, and cut ting front his lines, rowed in the direction which .their cries pointed out to him, and he happily 11,iccQeded in rescuing two men and a boy from a watery grave. A large draught of herrings had .sunk their boat, and her crew were floating in the sea in an exhausted state when Hunter reach ed them. ' They were taken into the coble of their tieliverer, and restored to their friends at Staiths, from nlioni Hunter received the most „grateful ac -I;flowlidgments, as wLII as from the pour men themselves. The nets which Hunter cut from, -.wh en the sacred impulse directed him .to the relict of his fellow-creatures, were worth upwards . of 301. and chances were much against his ever -finding them again ; but we rejoice to add,, they Lave beta recovered. LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT-OF CHANCERY, AUGUST 28. OPERA-1-10V5E.-WATERS 'V. TAYLOR; Mr.,llitrr submitted to the Court a statement in this case, nvort which be trusted the opinion of his ,Lordship would he, tha.t Mr. Waters had al ready paid into Court the whole ansount of th e , sum - .required by the late order. • Upon the for mer disposition of the property, by which Taylor held nine-sikteenths, and Waters seeen-sixteenths of it,. the lat' t ey had,..a mortgage. upon Taylor's share to the irtnOttnt of 3600/. which was paid into Court in the year ISOS, and had since ac enmnlated' to the sum of 57921. in the hant.ls. Of the accountant. This money, it was contended, belonged 'to Waters, and .Ought therefore, to • be considered as forming a part of the 34,00 P/. or re mainder of the purchase-,money , which he had been ordecid to pay itito..Cout. The whole dif ficulty of the question arose from the circum stance of this money having been carried to the "general fund in the Accountant's Office under the' former settitment. . The LORD CHANCELLOR observed, that this was a question that must depend entirely upon the validity of the mortgage. Mr. Taylor's Solicitor, ill the absence of Coun sel, observed, that he was not employed when the original settlement was made, but that a strong presumption that this mortgage money did not belong to Mr. \Yarters was afforded-by its having been - suffered to •.remain so long in. the hawk of the accountant .Fle had a statement on paper which be would submit to the court, if it should be deemed necessary, and which he apprehended Would effectually cuativvert the argument of Mr. Liam His Lordship observed, that if Mr. Duthie would produce this stalentent. to-marrow morn. ing, he would attend to it. The Accountant's Office would continue open • for the receipt of money till Monday next. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. ---~~- MANSION-HOUSE. The DIAMOND PI N.—Samuel Richardson', the constable of the night of St. Sepulchre's watch house, appeared before the Lord Mayor, upon the subject of the diamond pin. He, came in con sequence of a summons, the Lord Mayor hawing . . _ . thought it necessary to confront him with 'the City Solicitor, who-was present during the exii ruination. Richardson having entered the Office full of the advice of one of those persons who dabble in the low business of public offices, teemed, less terri.- fied titan he did on the day of Iris giand introduc . lion to the Public, when his conscience smote him so keenly upon the appearance of the Bible. The deposition of those witnesses whose evi dence is unimpeachable "having been read, in the presence of the constable Richardson, and the prisoner. Elizabeth Hall, ti►e substance of that statement which caused such a sensation in the Justice-room a few days ago. was represented to the City ,Solicitor. The .LOED Mayon.—Now, Richardson, I call upon you again to give up the diamond pin, or to account for the detention of it satisfactorily. Constable.--My Lord, I keep the pin in the name of my Sovereign Lord .the King, and I wi,il not give it up until the prosecutor comes forwaril : this is according to law. The LORD MAYOR.—Oh, then we" come a step nearer to the truth than we were on the last exa mination. It is not lost, as it was then, accord• ing to your understanding. Produce the pin for the purposes of justice. - Constable.—My Lord, I cannot. I keep it in the name of my Lord the King. The pin was lost, but now it is found. The prosecutor does 'not conic forward, and therefore it is justice that I should keep The LORD MAYOR.—I was forming too hasty an opinion in supposing that you were infliienced by a sudden turn of honest feeling, and attributing to the last day's disgrace an intention upon your part of contradicting the estimate formed by the public of_ your conduct. Pray, how does it hap pen that you now have the pin ? When and where did you find it,? Constable.---Vind it ! why, I found it this morning, that is, last night. It was lying amongst a bundle of old papers that I had in my drawer. I am a constable under the authority of our So vereign Lord the King, and I hold the pin in his name. Tile LORD MAYOR.--I request in the name of publfc justice, that the owner of the diamond pin will come forward ; that he will prosecute the prisoner Ilan, not so much for the purpose of punishing the unfortunate woman, as of making -this Richardson, this constable under the King's • authority, suffer. The City Solicitor, after some conversation with the Lord Mayor and the owner's solicitor, stated, that if the owner consented to prosecute, the constable should he committed for a misde meanour in detaining property sworn to have been stolen. The condition was not accepted, the gentleman whose property the diamond pin was having ex pressed to his solicitor his objections in the strongest possible manner to Ippear before the public. The LORD MAYOR.—I trltit the gentleman will consider the consequences of his refusal ; that he will reflect upon the danger of the example held out, if this pass with impunity, to men in whom great confidence is unavoidably plared. Th e pub lic are in perpetual danger of being robbed by those whose sitrtations are more elevated, and I should be just as much authorized to detain all the stolen property brought into this office, as the constable is in holding the diamond pin upon so base a speculation. The City Solicitor stated, that if the course first suggested was tint pursued,_ the Lord Mayor could not interfere in the business, - which, .by the con duct of the owner of the pin, must'necessarily be changed into a mere civil law transaction, in which the prisoner should become plaintiff, and the con stable defendant. This would be a most strange perversion of the thing; but there being no other claimant to the diamond pin, she must be lerea right owner, and of course have her ac dolt at trovery The LORD MAYOR...--.IS the gentleman a married wan 1. Solicitor.—No, my Lord, but he is a man of high respectabilily in his connections and charac ter, and of peculiar delicacy. He would not have his name in conjunction with that of such a trail upon such an occasion before (he public for ten times the value. The'LORD Mayor,.—l can very well estimate the timidity - under which he labours, and can give him credit for a repugnance with ‘which he con templates the exposure of a•scene of weakness into which he has been probably led by occidental intemperance ; but the public will eiCcus s him in consideration of the services a prosecutiO9 will render, and very likely his name will not be'pub licly stated in consideration of his delicacy. The Solicitor for the Gentleman took the ad dress of the Constable, and signified his intention to -proceed against him for the diamond pin, in the name ref flan, the prisoner,. who was now discharged, The Constable was d6ired to, leave the office. QUEEN-SQUARE. SWtss Cour:TEßl*Err .MONEY.—Some foreigners have lately been apprehended by the vigilance of the Alien Office, for dealing very extensively be tween Birmingham and the Continent, and after several private examinations' before B. P. CAPPER, Esq. pf that office, a Monsieur Noel was yester day brought before the Magistrates at Queen square, on the charge olhaving in his possession, contrary to the Act of 43 aeo, 111. c. 139.. more than five pieces of foreign counterfeit coin, which were found on him when apprehended, on which charge the following examination took place:— THE KING V. JEAN BAPTISTE NOEL. One of the officers of Whitechapel office stated, that having lately discovered a considerable Ouan tity of foreign money at a house in the city, he had been referred to prisoner as being the person who placed it there. He accordingly apprised Mr. .Cappet of the circumstance, and that Gentleman• sent him, in company with a messenger belonging to the Alien Office, to take the prisoner into custody. They then proceeded to No. 26,Frith street, Soho (prisoner's lodgings), where they found him at home, and informing him of their business, he gave them the key of his drawers, in one of which were 41 pieces of. counterfeit Swiss money, of the Canton of Argovia. Witness asked him if he had not been at Birmingham lately ; prisoner acknowledged he had. A Messenger of the Alien-Office stated, that as soon as prisoner delivered his key to him, witness opened and-examined all his drawers, and in one of them found the moneyproduced in Court, which were in number 41 pieces. The coin, it was proved by a gentleman who has lately beets in Argovia, represents' a piece called a batson, of the value of 1 2 -td. The seve , ral pieces produced he believed to be counterfeit. By sect. 6 of the above Act, it is - provided, that .any person haVing in his custody without luicful excuse any greater, number of counterfeit pieces titan five of any kind of coin, made with intent 'to resemble any real copper or oilier coin, shall, on conviction, be fined. for such offence, at the dis cretion oflhe Magistrate, any sum not wore than 40s. nor less than 10s. for every piece above five . so found his possession ; and any person so convicted, not paying such fine, is liable to be committed to prison for three calendar months, or till such fine be paid. The Magistrate asked the'prisoner, through the medium of an interpreter, hoW he came by this coin ? • He answered, that a Mr. David had given him a small parcel to deliver to a third person, and he did not know that shat it contained was counterfeit. The Magistrate's second question to prisoner was, what excuse he had for having such money in his possession ? --The same answer. It will be observed the words of the Act are, " without lawful excuse." _ . The :Magistrate being of opinion that no law ful excuse had been offered, and as the offence charged was clearly proved, prisoner was fined in the lowest penalty of 103. a piece for every piece above five, which amonted to 181. In consi d erat i on of his being a foreigner, the Magistate, with the consent of Air. Capper, per mitted two officers to attend him to his friends in town, to try if he could among them raise the mo ney, but with directicius to bring bins back in either case, that he might be detained or liberated only by the Magistrate. MARL3OROUGH-STREET. DESPERATE GANG or THIEVES.—John Carroll, notorious character, and James bmgmore, were brought to the office, charged with as,,aulting and robbing a person named \Vise. It appeared that the prosecutor with his wife and family, were re turning home on Wednesday night, and stopped to take a pot • of porter "at the Roe Ruck, cont.' monly called the Waterloo-house, in James-street, Oxford-street. When the porter was brought in, it was seized and iminediately drank off by the prisoners and their companions. They then took a silk handkerchief from the neck of Mr. Wise; the prosecutor's wife having remonstrated against their conduct, the villains knocked her down awl treated her in ft shocking manner. About four o'clock on the same morning, a yoting man came out of this public-house with his pockets turned inside out, and robbed of all they contained.— He applied to the officers of the night, and a few _of. them attended for the purpose of securing the prisoners ; but the gang mustered in such strength, .that for some time they effectually re sisted all attempts to secure them ; they were at length overpowered by numbers, and time two prisoners were taken into custody. They were fully committed ; and the Magistrate ordered a warrant to .he taken out for the apprehension of the landlord of the Waterloo-house. BURGLARY.—At an early hour on Wednesday morning.tl►e dwelling-house of Mr. George Shelly, parish .-clerk of St. Mary, Whitechapel, No, 3, Union -street, was broke open, and robbed of property to the amount of 401. It appeared, from tt►e state of the kitchen in the morning, that the robbers, before they decamped with their booty, had regaled themselves with, some cold roast beef, mutton, dread, cheese, ruin and beer, which they found in a closet. CORONERS' INQUESTS: An Inquisition was taken yesterday before lona' H. GALL, Esq. Coroner,' at the Barley Mow, Mount-street, Grosvenor-square, on the body of John Ring, aged 22 years, who was found drown. ed on Wednesday morning: . • Thomas Bates, Esq. of the Cottage, Hyde Park, said be was fishing in the Serpentine River, nearthe Cottage, onWednesday morning, between five and six o'clock ; he found the clothes of some person near the water-side: He called to a sol dier, who was crossing the Park, and they searched .the clothes. In the waistcoat pocket was'a 3s. piece, a pen-knife, and silver snuff-box; in the coat pocket was a silk handkerchief, and inside the hat was written the name of Ring. The soldier, while he was carrying the clothes into the Cottage, found a pocket-book on a ail,- :which was near where he found the clothes. On the brass ferrule of an unibrella, which lay near the clothes, he observed the following address, apparently scratched on .with the point of a pen knife: John Ring,4B, Conduit-street. The soldier ran off to the place and found that the deceased's father and mother lived there, who supposed that the deceased had been at his emplOyers, Messrs. Duberly ;and Hazelwood, solicitors, Conduit street, but upon inquiring he had not been there all night. His father came to the Serpentine River, and said that the deceased could nct swim; they got drags, and about eight o'clock they found the body. The legs were drawn up very much, and the opinion was, that he was attacked with► cramp while bathing. Coroner—There is no evidence to prove how the deceased cape into the water ; it is very likely he was accidentally drowned while bathing. Juryman—lt is very singular that a person should take his pocket-book 'out of his pocket and put it on a rail while bathing ; and his, being out. from his lodgings all night seems very singular. Coroner-1f you arc not satisfied that - the de ceased met his death by accident, you irad better return a verdict of " Found Drownech" You must judge according to the evidence, and that does not go far enough to prove whether his death Was caused by his own trillol act or - accidentally. Verdict—" Found drowned." Yesterday an Inquest was held at the ?Winches.. ter Arms, corner of Adam-street and Manchester• square, 'on the bOdy of John Fathers, a young man, only 22 years of age, who put an end to his existence by cutting his throat. The deceasett was a carpenter, and worked as such since he had been out of , bis time in the employ of Mr. Bid. lock, of the Mona Marble Works, in Oxford-. street.--4t appeared he had been for a consider. able time in a melancholy and desponding state, and frequently exhibited marks of a disordered mind. Verdict— , " Insanity." • Yesterday an Inquisition was taken at the sign of the Lord Nelson, on the Kent Road, Camber— well, before C. JEMMETT, Esq. Coroner for Oat: county of Surrey, on view of the body of a war,. name unknown, found drowned in the Surrey Canal. The Jury having viewed•the body, amt finding no marks of violence thereupon, and hay.„ ing no evidence how or by what means he came. into the water, they returned their verdict— . Found drowned." Another Inquest was held before Mr. JEmmETT; at the Pied Bull, at Streatham, touching the deatli of Mr. Thomas Skinner. The deceased was a. gentleman well known at Croydon ; he,was re turning home therefrom, accompanied , by his daughter, in a one-horse chaise, through Streat ham, when he was suddenly taken ill and expired. A. Surgeon almost instantly attended, who, on. examination,- gave his opinion that he tiled by. apollexy. Verdict—" Died by the visitation of God." WOMAN SUFFOCATED.—Yesterday morning, about eight o'clock, the body of a young woman, apparently about 25 years of age, was found suffo- cated in the common sewer, near the White Horse, Lambeth Marsh ; she was a short person, but was so covered - with mud and filth, that her features could not be seen, nor was it discovered ►whether there were any marks of violence on the body.— She was taken to Lambeth Workhouse,. for an Inquest to be taken on the body. The deceased had been seen walking about the streets of Lam beth for several days preceding her death. HIGHWAY ROBBERY.—B - etween twelve and one o'clock on Tuesday night, as Mr. James GQddiug was Passing along Oxford-street towards his house in the Edgware-road, lie was stopped by two Irishmen with bludgeons, who with dreadful oaths. demanded his money. Mr. Goddinr, knocked one. of the villains down, but before he could make. the second attempt, the other ruffian felled him with his stick ; they then kicked him unme:tifullv; and, after taking I►is ►watch, left him senseless ' the ground. lixEctrrrou.—On Saturday last Edward Camp.. bell, aged 52, convicted at the late Stafford As• sizes of passing a forged bank note, ►vas executed[, at the front of the county gaol, upon a new drop. erected on the same plan as that used at the Old. Bailey in London. By pleading guilty to the offence of having forged notes in his possession, lie might have saved his life, and would have been sentenced to transportatio n for 14 years ; but ota t h e day previous to his execution, he declared that he preferred death to that punishment. His conduct, atter condemnation, was penitent and re signed ; and lit the night which was destined to be his last he slept houndly for several hours. BIRTH. On Wednesday last, at Christ's Hospital, Mrs. Pitman, of a sun. MARRIED. On the 12th inst. by license, Mr.J. M. Philpott, to Caroline, Manners, daughter of the late Air. T. M. itussell, of. Rich mond-place, Surrey, and Smarden, Kent. DIED. On the 15th instant, at Richmond,' Mrs. Morden, aged 80, widow of James Morden, Esq. formerly of Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the 23d inst. at Kentish -town, Anne, wife of Lieut.- General Hattcup. LONDON: Printed by J. IL CARSTAIRS, of No. 29, Great Ormond-street, Queen•squ:are; ziThl published by W. A. 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