The Express.
London, England, 1851-07-07 00:00:00

THE POLICE COURTS.

WORSIIIP-STREET.
The Rev. Latimer Neville, one of the curates of the parish
church of St. Matthew, Bethnal•green, appeared to prefer
a complaint against a police constable of the R division,
fur remissness of duty.
The rev. gentleman stated that he was called upon, in the
ordinary discharge of his duties, to officiate in the burial-
ground attached to the old church at the funeral of an Irish
labourer, who was followed to the grave by a large con-
, course of his country people, but he had scarcely commenced
reading the burial service, when a disgraceful uproar broke
out amongst the a,zerublage, some of whom loudly called
upon him to desist, with an intimation that the deceased
was a catlailie, and that they would not permit him to mo-
oted unless the service were performed according to the
rites of his own religion. Ile endeavoured, notwithstand-
ing the interruption, to proceed with the ceremony, but his
voice was completely drowned in the clamour of the mob,
urged on by a person named Egan, who suddenly advanced
towards him in a menacing attitude, and, after a violent
blow at him, which he fortunately avoided, made a grasp at
his collar with such force, and handled him so
roughly that the back part of his surplice was
' rent asunder. A scene of indescribable riot and confu•
don ensued, in the course of which one of the gravediggers
who came to his assistance was also maltreated by the infu-
riated crowd, whose gross misconduct at length attracted
the notice of a policeman in the street, to whom Egan was
pointed out as the principal instigator of tke disturbance ;
but, instead of at once taking him into custody, the consta-
ble contented himself with simply obtaining his name and
address, and suffered him to depart, atter suggesting to the
applicant that he had better take out a warrant for Egan's
apprehension. Ile accordingly subsequently attended for
that purpose at this court, and was directed to appear again
this day to give evidence in the case ; but, in the interim,
it hail been ascertained by Fitzgerald, the officer who held
the warrant, that the man Egan had given a fictitious ad-
dress. and was nowhere to be found. Under these circum-
stances, he felt it his duty to direct the magistrate's atten-
tim to the conduct of the constable.
Mr. Ilammill informed the applicant that it was certainly
out of his province to interfere in matters of police disci-
pline, but if he submitted his complaint to the inspector on
duty at the sta;ion-house it would no doubt be properly
investigated.
The reverend gentleman thanked the magistrate for his
attention, and lett the court with an intimation that he
would lose no time in carrying his suggestion into effect.

MANSION-1101:SE.
A young Scotchtuan, of respectable appearance and ad-
dress,
was brought before the Lord Mayor under the follow-
ing circumstances
Russell, the City officer, said—l was on duty at the Bank '
this morning, and, in consequence of information which I
had rtecived, I went to the prisoner, who was there, and
asked him where he had got a rol/. note which he had pre-
sented for change. lle said he had taken it of a gentleman
at his house, a grocery amp spirit store in Edinburgh, and
that the owner of it 'hail been drinking there all the day,
had run up a score of 71., and had given him the note an
payment. Ile further said that the party upon being asked
to write his name on the back of the note refused to do so,
but said his name was Thompson. I took the prisoner to
the station-house, having received information that the
note had been stden, together with another Bank of Eng-
land note to the same amount. The other note had not
been paid into the Bank.
The prisoner said —I took the note of the person whom
I described to the officer at my hou-e in Edinburgh, and
gave him 431. in Scotch one-pound hank notes in change.
1 carry on business as a grocer and owner of a spirit-store,
and have been doing so these two years, having succeeded
my_father who had been there twelve years.
The Lord Mayer—Had you bad any previous dealings
with the person?
The prisoner—None at all. I never saw him before he
came on that day. There were two or thrm persons with
him, and if 1 had not changed the note I should not hare
gut my 71.' for he said he had no other money about him.
Burrell said the robbery had been committed on the 17th
of June, and the note produced was numbered 90,032, and
was one of those which had been stolen.
In answer to questions from the Lord Mayor, the prisoner
said I came to town yesterday. few the purpose of seeing the
Great Exhibition; and I inquired for the Bank this morn-
, ing for the purpose of going to change the note, and was
taken into custody when I weld to present it. I was going
to the bank in Edinburgh with all the notes I got in change II
r the very next day.
Russell said he had every reason to believe that all the
prisoner had stated was correct. lie had seen a very re-
; spectable man who had accompanied the prisoner to the
/Junk, and the account given Ly that gentleman of the
, situation and conduct of the young man was quite math-
' factory.
The prisoner gave the addresses of several houses of great
respectability in testimony of his character, and the Lord
; Mayor expressed his belief tint the only Using censurable
iu the course pursued by the prisoner was the want of
, caution in not having made inquiry about the offer of so
large a Bank of England note at such a place as a spirit
; store in Scotland. His lordship then consented to take
bail, which was immediately procured, and the prisoner was
released.
CLERKENWELL. _ _ _

Eotnia Penntnytos was finally examined before Mr.
Combe, oa the charge of having wilfully set fire to the
dwelling-house of her master, Mr. Charles Wood, of 19,
Golden-terrace, Islington.
On the night of Sunday, the 29th ult., between six and
seven o't lock, the prosecutor left his home, with his wife
in..l children, to attend divine service, and shortly after-
wards a gentleman, named Lloyd, who was on the opposite
side of the way, saw a fire raging in the upper part of Mr.
Wood's house, and immediet' ly made en alarm at the door.
Mot being answend there be jumped through the parlour
window, and found tho fire had commenced in a back attic,
where the aecus,,d was a passive 0/mercer of it, and refused
to help him to extingui,h it. By great exertions he put
that fire out, and had no sooner done so than he discovered
another one in the drawing-room on the first floor. At this
time several other persons, with firemen, fame to his moist.
once, and with their united aid the premises were saved
from destruction. It was s:ated that the prisoner had been
reprimanded by her master for feasting some of her rela-
tives at his expense without his permission.
She was committed to Nes:gate for trial.
MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

M. Gralean, of the Coburg Hotel, Charles-street, was
charged with haring ne4l, eted to provide proper accom-
modation for a soldier billeted upon him.
George North, sergeant 7th Dragoon•, stated that he re-
, mired his billet on the defendant, and proceeded to the
house and present"' it. The &fondant was not at home at
the time, but shortly afterwards be camo in, and positively
refused to take the billet, tayinuit was a forgery, and he
would not receive the soldier. The defendant pushed him,
upon which he advised th, defendant not to attempt any-
thing of that sort, but to provide him with suitable accom-
modation. The defenaant told hint ho might sit down in
the hall. Ile required accommodation for cooking his
supper, but was denied it. .1t last the defendant, after
using very opprobious language, telling him he eases
there to rob him, took him down into the cellar,
and pointing to o bed about four feet long in a recess
told him that was his bedroom. Re told the defendant he
could not sleep in such a place, the bed was two feet shorter
than his body, and the walls were dripping with water, and
there was no proper accommodation for him there. The
defendant put his finger to his nose in an offensive manner,
abused him farther, and declared he would not provide any
'further accommodation. Witne=s went to the station-house
and brought 11 constable to see that the place was unfit for
any man's accommodation.
The police-constable proved that they inspected the cellar

pointed out by the defendant, and certainly it was impossi-
We anybody could sleep in it.
The defendant said the soldier came to his house and in
an authoritative manner demanded accommodation, but
evidently with the view of being paid out. Ile offered the
soldier the usual sum, as. Gd. per week, but the soldier re-
quired ::.es. and this being toe much he refused to pay the
money. He took the soldier to a room on the basement, and
showed him where he was to sleep. The bed was quite
large eneogh, and had for fifteen years been occupied by his
waiter. He considered that what was good enough for a
waiter was good enough for a soldier.
The complainant said it was utterly untrue the statement
that he asked for money instead of accommodation. Not
a word was said about payiug him out when he presented
his billet. The defendant positively refused to receive the
billet, or to provide any accommodation at all in the first
instance.
Mr. Hardwick asked the defendant how long be had been
in this country.
The defendant replied 49 years.
Mr. Hardwick said this was surely long enough to enable
the defendant to make himself acquainted with the law of
the country. The soldier had only acted in conformity
with the law in presenting his billet, and requiring proper
accommodation. It was the duty of the defendant to have
complied with the law, and to have abstain( d from abusive
and insulting language. Considering the charge fully
, proved, he should inflict a fine of olis. and costs.
THAMES.
Birk; Collins, cook, and Alesander Kelly, mate of the
American ship York Town, were charged with violently
assaulting Nathaniel Sykes, bailiff of the Whitechapel
County Court, and Henry Itowden, his assistant, Mille exe-
cution of their duty.
Sykes and his assistant boarded the vessel to execute a
warrant for U. on the s,cond cook, John Miller, whom he
found in the cook's cabin, and, producing the warrant, told
him he must either pay the debt or be imprisoned for four-
teen days. Miller said he had paid it, and was not going
to pay twice, upon which Sykes was about to put the war-
rant into force, when Collins threatened to scald him, and
at the same time struck him a heavy blow, the other
prisoner immediately following it up with another,
which nearly rendered him senseless. Collins then
attacked Itowden, and the whole of the crew joining,
beat them most unmercifully, the mate swearing that
no officer should take any man out of his vessel,
and that if they (lid not decamp at once he would fling
them overboard. They had to fly for their livi s, not daring
to look back, the crew pursuing like a pack of bloodhounds.
Having procured the assistance of the police, they went
back to the vessel, where they captured Collins and Stiller,
and the mute, who had alimnided, was subsequently ar-
rested on a warrant. Miller, having paid the debt, was
released from custody, not having taken any active part in
the assault.
For the defence, the prisoners said they did not know
that the people who came on board were officers. They
had lost several things front the ship, and had strict in-
junctions to let no one on board.
Sykes, however, distinctly swore that he not only showed
his warrant, but also his stall.
Mr. Yardley therefore tined Kelly 51., or be imprisoned
fur a month, and Collins fik, or 14 days. The tines in
instances were paid.