The Express.
London, England, 1853-10-17 00:00:00

TILE POLICE COURTS.

11 ANSION7HOUSE.

Wiilium Mason, the ee4.o:e. .1.t3 was charged with
having uttered sever. I forged WI. and 51. Witt', was brought
op In final es an.
John Rai ahem, aboornan !o Mr. Castro, of Stockwell-
street, Greenwich, said—On Wednesday, the 14th of Sep-
leather, the priminr came to our shop, and asked for some
calico, the same as his wife had purchased previously, at
6id. a yard. I bad seen him before. I sold him 14
yards, at 6d. per yard. He then chose other articles, the
amount of the whole being 10s. 6d. He put his hand in his
pocket, and pulled out silver and pence to the amount, as it
appeared to me of 9s. 6d., and said he had not enough of
change, and he asked me whether I could change a 51. note
for him. I took the 51. note produced from him, and handed
it to the cashier, who changed it. I wanted to send the
articles for him, seeing that be was lame, and he agreed to
that proposition, but he afterwards said tbst he woula take
them himself, as he would get into a cab, sad be driven
home to Deptford, with them.
The prisoner said he had good authority to prove that the
note he had given on the occasion had got into other hands,
and he expressed surprise that the case had not beim bought
Toward on the first day of examination. There was a
mystery about the business which he did not at all compre-
hend, but, added he, "it is not for me to open my mouth
too wide yet." (Laughter.)
Mr. WybearJ, inspector of bank notes at the Dank of
England, said the 5!. note produced was a forgery, and had
been struck off from the plate which had been used in
striking off the other 51. no es which bad been identified on
the first examination.

D. Evans, 4.59, said that on the 7th of October he appre.
hended the prisoner at the White Hart, White Hart-street,
Drury lane, while sitting at earls with seven or eight
' other'. He said to the prisoner, " Mason, lam an officer,
and I take you into custody for uttering forged Bank of
England notes." He said, "All right, I am coining.
Don't take me for the Windsor job. Do it for Townend, in
Bread-street, as I do not want to go out of town." (Here
the prisoner laughed.) Witness then put the prisoner into
a cab, and cautioned him not to say anything particular, as
it might be used against him. The prisoner said he was
aware of all that, and he then said that he had done a job
at Greenwich, and one in Oxford-street, and one at Wool-
wich, but he had not heard anything about that."
The Lord Mayor—Prisoner, do you wish to say any-
thing t
The Prisoner—Not at all, my lord.
The Lord Mayor—You are committed to take your trial
upon this charge as well as upon all the former charges.
Hoary Earthy, a shabby-locking, dark, curly.headed
young man, was brought before the Lord Mayer, in the
custody of Daniel Forrester, the officer, charged with
having attempted to utter a forged cheque, with intent to
defraud the Royal British Bank.
Mr. Mullins, assistant-cashier at the Royal British Bank,
sold—At 12 o'clock this day a boy, named Fletcher, pre-
sented the cheque I produce for payment at the counter.
The cheque is signed " John Dickinson," and is fee tel. 4s.
We have a customer John G. Dickinson and Co., but no
John Dickinson. I immediately found that the signature
was not genuine, detained the boy, and informed the senior
cashier.

George John Fletcher, who is 13 years old, said—As I
was going to Lemaner's to•clav for a loaf, I saw the jri-
.
sown. in Lothhury, who stopped me, and asked me I
would go to Tokenhouselard, No. 16, and get cash for thel
cheque. He told me he would gave me 3d. for my trouble,
and I consented, and took the cheque and presented it at II
the counter. I was to bring him the money to the place in
which he bad given sae the cheque. I was detained for some
time in the banking-house, and I aft,,rwards went to meet
the prisoner, under the direction of Mr. Forrester, and he
met me on the spot, and said, " Well !" when he was taken
hold of. I swear that he is the man who employed, me. I
never, tom) knowledge, a aw him before.
Daniel Forrester—l was sent for to the Royal British
Bank and informed of the forgery, and I saw Fletcher,
heard his statement, and took the prisoner into custody at
the corner of Princes-street. The prisoner told me that he
. .

thought something was wrong ohmic the cheque, with which
he had been seat by another party to the bank, who pro-
mised him sixpence to go and get It cashed, and that he had
employed the boy to do the business. I found in his posses-
sion a cheque-book of the Royal British Bank, and a cheque
book of the Union Bank, and several papers.
The prisoner—I was employed by another penn to pre-
sent the cheque, and hit gave me the cheque-books and
papers that were found upon so by the o6toen. I know
the pony well who gave them to me.
The prisoner was then remanded.
IgARYLEBONE.

Roland Williden,alla-;-Cl6;lyaiford, an excavator,
was brought before Mr. Broughton, charged wit► having
oommitted a most brutal and savage assault upon William
Smith, living at No. 7, Elms lane, Bayswater, and who,
in consequence of the serious injury inflicted upon him,
is still a patient in St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington.
Sarah Smith (the wife) deposed that the prisoner lodged
at her house, and that she was in the habit of cooking for
him and other lodgers; on the previous night, between 8
and 9 o'clock, the prisoner came home, and had some
words with her (witness) about some potatoes which she
h►d dressed for him, and of the quality of which he did not
approve. He told her that he would make her husband
acquainted with all that he knew of her; and on her hus-
band miming in she mentioned to him what the prisoner had
stated ; he immediately gave notice to prisoner to quit, and
he (prisoner) then assaulted her husband in a most shame-
ful sad violent manner.

Elisabeth Smith, the daughter, said, that she saw the pri-
soner, who had been quarrelling with ber father, take a
kettle from the hob of the ere-place, and try to pour the
water over him (the father), who was knocked down by the
prisoner, and kicked by him severely upon the bead and
body while he was lying upon the floor; he bled very con-
siderably.
Tomas, 393 A, stated, that upon hearing that murder
was likely to take place, he repaired to the house, and found
the injured man Smith sitting in an armchair, bleeding
profusely from the head, upon which there was a very
large wound. There was a great deal of hood also upon the
flour of the room.

A certificete, which bad been sent from the hospital, set
forth that Smith was suffering from fractured ribs, a wound
on the head and many bruises.
The prisoner, who said that Smith first abused him and
kicked him, and that, in his defence, he merely gave
him a push which caused him to fall, was remanded fur a
week.

Rickard Hicks (alias Captain Hicks) was re-examined
upon a charge of uttering cheques suspected to be forgeries.
Mr. Cheek, of Oxford-street, stated that about three
weeks back the prisoner purchased an umbrella at his slop
for 165., and tendered him • cheque for payment, which
was on the Bank of Ireland, and which he said bad been
drawn by his cousin, and he foolishly, be confessed, gave
him the change.
Mr. Stapleton produced two cheques, one for 151. and the
other for 91. 10s., for which he had given goods and cash,
and he had written to the prisoner's cousin, who denied all
knowledge of the cheques.
Mr. Louis Samuels said the prisoner purchased of him a
Malacca cane for 30s , and paid him by a cheque, and he
afterwards found there was no effects.

The prisoner was remanded for the attendance of the gen-
tleman from Ineland, by whom the prisoner alleged the
cheques were drawn, and bail was refused.
WORSHIP-STREET.

Mr. Alfred Heard, the landlord of the Old Greyhound
public-bouse, in Milton-street, City, was brought up to
custody before Mr. liammill, charged with an unprovoked
►nd •iolent assault upon a young woman Lamed Mary Ann
Baker.

The complainant, who described herself as an unfortu-
nate woman, stated that shortly before two o'clock that
morning she was standing at the door of a pie-shop in the
City-road, into which • gentleman, who had been in her
company, had just entered to procure some refreshment,
when her attention was attracted by a violent altercation
inside the shop, from which her friend hastily emer,.ted in •
few minutes, followed by the defendant and some other
gentlemen, one of whom struck him a violent blow, which
knocked him down in the road. Witness instantly ran tor-
ward and entreated them to desist from further violence,
when the defendant suddenly rushed towards her and struck
her a heavy blow in the face, which felled her •o the ground
and blackene, her eye as it then appeared. On recovering
her feet, witness caught hold of the skirt of his coat, which
was nearly torn off in the course of his struggles to disen-
gage himself; bat she held him fast until the arrival of a
psliceman, when she gave him into custody.
A woman named Emily Wyatt, who was in the com-
plainant's company at the time, was examined, and corro-
borated her testimony.
On being celled upon for his defence, Mr. Heard positively
denied haying committed any assault whatever on the
occasion, and said that he had several respectable witnesses
in attendance, whose evidence, he felt unified, would con-
vince the magistrate that the charge against him wes utterly
without foundation.
Mr. Robert Ward, a bookbinder, in Basinghall-street, and
' Mr. George Mathews, a tradesman in Barbican, were then
called, and severally deposed that at the time in question
they were subjected to such • gross insult from the
man whom the defendant described as her friend that
they followed him into the street to demand an expla-
nation, and during the altercation that ensued the woman
Baker conducted herself in a most violent and outrageous
manner, but they did not see the defendant striae her,
although she attacked him furiously and tore his coat,
without any apparent provocation.
In answer to a question from the magistrate, it was stated
by police constable N 215 that the man whom the com-
plaisant claimed as her friend was not in attendance, but
on the previous night witness observed him among the
crowd, and recognised him as • notorious coiner.
Mr. Hammitt said that the only question he had to con-
sider was as to whether the charge of Assault had been cite-
, blished, and, feeling satisfied that the defendant had at-
tacked and maltreated the complainant without the slightest
I provocation, he should order him at once to be committed
and kept to bard labour for two months in the House of
C 'erection.

The defendant, who appeared confounded by the severity
of the sentence, was then removed by the gaoler.
In the course of the afternoon an earnest appeal for a
commutation if the punishment was made by Mr. Vann,
the solicitor, on behalf of the defendant, but the magistrate
peremptorily refused to alter his decision.

'Unita COOL—FOR A WARM CLIMATE.—A \Vest
Indian paper of the 31st of August contains this unusual
announcement " The inclemency of the weather yesterday
was S'lth as to prevent our cumpoaitors from attending at
the office, consequently no paper was issued by us. Our
readers will of course excuse the omission under the dr-
nartaacas."