The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-12-06 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY ROBBERY OF
JEWELLERY,

On Tuesday at the Middlesex Sessions, Horace Ed-
ward Smith, 27, a young man of respectable appear- ;
ance, was indicted for stealing a diamond ring and
other artbles, value £lBO, the goods of Lilian Lester
Wronghton, from a dwelling house. Mr. S. Poynter
prosecuted; Mr. Montagu Williams defended. The
prisoner pleaded guilty. The facts of this case have
been recently reported. The prisoner fell in with the
prosecutrix, who is a married woman, and after
taking her about to several places went to her rooms
with her, where he partook of champagne and soda
water. In the morning, when the prosecutrix got up,
she missed the prisoner, who had absconded with her
jewellery and other articles, which he disposed of.
The prisoner was apprehended by Inspector Borner,
of the Criminal Investigation Department, who from
inquiries found that the prisoner, the son of a
farmer, had been in London for about two months,
having come up from Norfolk, then with plenty of
money in his pocket. When arrested and told the
charge he said, "You have made a mistake? I 'am
often mistaken for a man named Gibson, a jockey."
During the two months he had been in London he
had, according to entries in his own pocket-book,
defrauded and swindled about fourteen or fifteen girls
against whose name and addresses he had put the
letter "B," which in explanation was said to mean
"bilked "—a slang word for swindled. All the jewel-
lery, except a bracelet of the value of £lO, had been
recovered from various pawnbrokers. A police-con-
stable from Ryde, Isle of Wight, proved that the
prisoner had been previously convicted of fraud, when
he set up a plea of insanity, which was disproved.
Mr., Montagu 'Williams, in mitigation of punishment,
Urged that the prisoner had cammitted these offences
whilst suffering from mental abberration caused by
drink, to which he had lately giveaway. To support
this he called a witness named Roach. The assistant-
judge sentenced the prisoner to 18 months' hard
labour, and ordered the property recovered to be
given up to the prosecutrix.

The revenue received from Aprll 1 last to the 29th
ult., amounts to £51,803,220, or £1,784,134 less
than the £51,833,220 received in the corresponding
period ending December 1, 1883. The expenditure up
to the 29th. ult. was £53,587,354, being £1,927,055 less
than the expenditure for the similar period of
1883. The balance on the 29th ult. amounted to
£4,996,030 and on December 1,1833, were £6,066,142.
The half-yearly communication of the Grand Lodge
of Mark Masons was held on Tuesday night at
Freemason's Tavern, London, under the presidency of
the Grand Master, Lord Kintore. His lordship
stated that at the last meeting of Supreme Grand
Chapter of Scotland, in which he was a principal, he
brought forward a motion that the Grand Chapter
should approach Grand Mark Lodge of England with a
view to an exchange of representatives, and so cement-
ing the bonds of friendship between the two bodies.
He was happy to say that his motion was carried unani-
mously, and he had the satisfaction of adding that the
necessary steps had been taken with a view of carrying
it into effect. He then obligated and invested Lord
Egerton of Tatton as Deputy Grand Master. After the
transaction of some other masonic business, Lord Kin-
tore was nominated for re-election as Grand Master.
His lordship subsequently consecrated a new Mark
Lodge, called the Grand Stewards' Lodge, aml Installed
Mr. C. E. Soppet as its Master,