The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-21 00:00:00

ONFOR

THE CARE OF WHOLES.tLE SWINDLING AT OXFORD.
—William Wilmehurst, some account of whose exploits has
already appeared in this paper, was yesurday captured,
and brought up to Oxford Castle on several charges of
swindling and forgery. A gunmoker at Theme, named
Tomlinson, caused him to be apprehended for giving him a
forged cheque for 101,, in payment of 4/. 17s. for a single-
barrelled gun. The prisoner represented himself to be •
brother to Mr. Field, of Little Milton, in consequence of
which representation he gave him the difference on the
cheque of 51. 3s. The cheque was upon Messrs. Robinson,
Parsons, and Thompson, of the Old Bank, Oaf Id, and pur-
ported to be drawn by John Ellison, and payable to
Field, Esq. On being sent to Oxford, on Monday, the 1 lth
inst., the cheque was pronounced to be a forgery, and Mr.
Tomlinson was apprised of it; in consequence of which
he lost no time in tracing the prisoner.—Mr. Tom-
linson and Mr. Phillips, clerk at the Old Bank,
were examined, and proved the above facts. The
next charge. against the prisoner was for uttering a
forged cheque at Meters. Robinson, Parsons, and Co.'s, Old
Bank, Oxford, which he deposited there in order to open an
account, but, on the cheque being sent to London, it proved
to be a forgery. The next charge was for uttering a forged
chrque for 3,7241. 10s., purporting to be drawn by Sir E.
Filmer, But., on Meson. Overend, Gurney, and Co., Lon-
don, in favour of J. H. Brown, Esq , or bearer ; also another
cheque for 3101. on the London and County Bank, drown
by W. Taylor in favour of 11. Brown, Esq. ; also another
cheque for 2.511., drawn by A. R. Plaisted on the same bank,
and payable to J. M. Brown, Eq. These cheques be depo-
sited at the London and County Branch Bank at Ox-
ford, and obtained a cheque-book, 301. in cash, and
a letter of credit for 2001. payable on the 13th inst. The
cheques deposited by the prisoner have proved to be
forgeries, and the cashier identified the prisoner as the
person who deposited them. Another charge of a similar
nature was mode by Herbert Williams, Esq., of the firm of
Roberts and Williams, bankers at Dorchester. From his
evidence it appeared that, in January last, he received by
post a letter of credit for 3001., payable to W. J. Mason,
Esq., and that three days after the prisoner, representing
himself to be that person, called and received the amount.
The letter of credit, purporting to be signed by Meson.
Cocks, Biddulph, and Co., afterwards proved to be • forgery.
The prisoner was identified by Mr. Williams u the person
who received the 3001. The magistrates, considering that other
eases of a similar nature might arise, remanded the prisoner
till Oct. 2.

SUSSEX.
A NOVEL MODE OF SWINDLING (says the Brighton
Herald) has been recently practised to some extent is this
town, by which the humbler classes have been severe
sufferers. The property aimed at are the damer, which, in
numerous bouseholds, stand ready, about 11 or 12 o'clock, to
be transferred from the kitchen to the baker's shop The
thief runs hastily into a hmee, and inquires if the meat is
ready? The unsuspici'ms wife, supposing that he comes
from the bakehouse, runs to get her dinner, and commits it
to his charge—never, as may be supposed, to be seen again.
The dinner-hour comes, but brings no dainty dub from the
biker's and, on inquiry there, it is found that no dinner has
ever beet' received or sent for. The cheat is discovered, but
the dinner is gone.

A STRIKE OF TILE STONEMASONS in the employ of
Me'srs. Baker, the emtractors for the new steam-yard at
Morice Town, has taken place within the last few days, in
coosequence of two men being engaged on the works who
did not belong to, and refused to join, the trades' union. A
communication upon the subject has been made to the Ad-
miralty, who have consented to such suspension of the works
as the circumstances may require, and the men will thus be
frustrated in their object. In the meantime their places will
be supplied by workmen front other parts of the kingdom—
which increase of supply will tend materially to the injury
of the parties strik;ng, and all not in the employ of the go-
vernment or public works, as a corresponding reduction in
wages cannot fail to take place.

LADY TIIIEVES.—On Thursday last two persons,
of the genteel or lady thief class, visited the shop of a trades-
man in Plymouth, where they kept an account, to make
some purchases. Circumstances had before occurred, which,
as is said, •, were very strange,- but the Misses -- were
beyond suspicion. On the day in question, however, the
militant observed one of them coolly filling a pocket hand-
kerchief with tea from a scoop hard by. They were allowed
to depart with a severe lecture, and an order never more to
enter the shop. The Deronport Independent, from which
we quote the above, adds Charity and mercy are highly
c =mendable qualities; that they are possessed by the party
attempted to be robbed in this instance, should be a subjsct
for grateful remembrance on the part of those who have
thus escaped the punishment which is not unfrequently dealt
for far less offences committed under the promptings of po-
verty and distress.

PHOSPHORESCENTEO; THE RIVER WYE.—A
correspondent of the Monmouthshire Beacon says: " Having
had occasion last month to return to Tinterne from the New
Pataage after nightfall in a boat, I was much surprised and
pleased at the luminosity of the river Wye, in certain parts
of the tideway, where the water is permanently oozy and
thick. The phenomenon, it is well known, is common at
sea, and in all salt water estuaries. The curiosity is, that it
should be discovered in the Wye. The lowness of the
fresh water currents, and the proportionate influence of the
tides (carrying the blackish and muddy contributions of the
adjacent channel further than customary during neaps) will
account for the fact, that the luminosity extended on several
occasions this present summer, to that part of the river con- '
tiguous to the abbey. An old inhabitant of a cottage near the
celebrated ruins went with her mop, one dark night, through
the Watergate, to perform a very homely task, and not with
the remotest idea of making a pyrotechnic display, hot to
her extreme surprise, what would have been a whirl of dirty
drippings at any other time, was converted into a very
respectable " wheel." These coruscations are not universal
in the Wye, nor, indeed, even at sea; on the contrary,
they occur in sheets or 'heal. ; a 'hip may sail many
a knot without eliciting a spark of phosphorescence, and
then suddenly immerge upon a tract rendered wonderfully
grand and interesting in the possession of this beautiful phe-
nomenon. I counted two such fields or shoals in my pas-
sage from Chepstow to the Livox Weir, above which the
admixture of fresh water was too great to admit of the pro.
peed being displayed. It is generally believed that the
luminosity is attributable to the multitudes of minute
meduciete, hydras, and incipient .forms of marine molluscs
that undergo transformations, some of them, from being free
rangers of the deep, becoming ultimately fixtures for life to
the rocks and fuel.