The Express.
London, England, 1866-05-15 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.

The May general sessions of the peace for the county of
Middlesex were formally opened yesterday at the Sessions-
house, Clorkenwell-green, and afterwards by adjournment
at the Guildhall, Westminster, before Mr. Bodldn, as-
sistant judge, and the following magistrates :—Mr. H. H.
Harwood, Mr. Woolsey, Mr. Loveland, Mr. Rankine, Mr.
Hallowell, Mr. A. Croll, Mr. Repp, Dr. M'Cann, be.
The calendar contains the names of 128 prisoners com-
mitted for trial 116 being indicted for felony and 12 for
misdemeanor. The state of education of the prisoners was
again reported to be very low—viz. 46 can neither read nor
write, 69 can only read and write imperfectly, 12 can read
only, and read and write well, L
On fourteen gentlemen answering to their names for the
grand jury,
The Assistant-Judge charged them as to the nature of
their duties, stating that be regretted to find that the
calendar was very heavy, but he did not think that the
cases would present any difficulty. If they were satisfied
by the examination of one or two witnesses that a prima
facie case of suspicion was made out they could return a
true bill, but he advised them not to throw out a bill
until they had exhausted all the witnesses whose names
were upon the back of it.
The grand jury then retired.
John Sullivan 59, was indicted for obtaining by false pre-
tences from Mr. Arthur Walsh, M.P., Lord Pelham,
M.P., and Mr. Charles Waring, M.P., the several sums
of 21., 21., and Si., with intent to defraud.
Mr. Bland (instructed by Messrs. Tooke, Hallowes, and
Price) prosecuted ; the prisoner, who pleaded guilty, was
undefended. _ _ _ _

The prisoner was an old and notorious offender,
and was one of the skilled writers of certifi-
cates, petitions, and memorials of the begging-letter
class, and had himself preyed upon the public for
the last twenty-six years. He was charged with
obtaining money by false pretences from Lord Pelham,
Mr. Waring, M.P., and Mr. Walsh, M.P. In the case
of Lord Pelham, it appeared that about the beginning
of February a card was left at his lordship's house, and
a few days afterwards the prisoner called, and stated
that his family were old supporters of the liberal interest
in Lewes, which Lord Peiham represented, and that he
was nephew to Mr. Carol, a builder, that a ship belong-
ing to his father had been sunk in the river, laden with
coals, and that be wanted to obtain money to raise it.
The prisoner handed his lordship a letter purporting to be
from the prisoner's father, and with it was a subscription
list, to which were attached the names of the two county
members, Mr. Dodson and Lord Edward Cavendish, each
for 21. 2s. On the faith of these statements Lord Pel-
ham gave the prisoner 21., but a subsequent investigation
proved that the names of Lord Edward Cavendish and
Mr. Dodson, so used, were forgeries. In the case of Mr.
Waring, M.P. for Poole, it seemed that, on December 4,
the prisoner went to him, and said that he was a
voter of Poole, and, being the owner of a ship which had
been lost, he was in great distress. Mr. Waring, upon
this, kindly gave him St, but the prisoner accidentally
left behind him a portfolio containing a large number of
begging letters, distress warrants, appeals about the cattle
plague, and other documents, all tending to show the
system of fraud he had extensively carried on for a long
period. In the third case, the prisoner, on the Ist of
January, went to the house of Mr. Walsh, M.P. for Leo-
minster, and produced a letter, purporting to come from
the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, of Christ Church Parsonage, Ramp
stead ; and enclosed was a distress warrant on the
or a Mrs. Evans, a widow. Mr. Walsh said he would in-
quire of Dr. Vaughan, and the prisoner said he hoped he
would do so at once. Mr. Walsh asked the pri-
soner who he was, and he replied that he was
churchwarden of the pariah of Hampstead ; and that
his vicar had asked him to come round with the petition,
and in consequence of that Mr. Walsh gave him 21. It
was proved that Dr. Vaughan did not reside at Hamp-
stead, and that the whole of the narrated events were
fabrications. The prisoner was subsequentlyapprehended by
Horaford, the mendicity officer, who to-day proved sixteen
convictions against him, varying from three to twelve
months.

The Assistant-Judge said the upper classes were gene-
rally very liberal, but such fellows as the prisoner pre-
vented them from doing good to the really deserving. He
had preyed for some time on their kindness, and all kinds
of punishment had been without effect, for he hod been
convicted sixteen times. He would now be put into such
a position that he would be prevented for some time from
carrying on his system of plunder, and the sentence of the
court upon him was five years' penal servitude.

THE CLERKENWELL-GREEN MEETINOB.—Last
night, shortly after 8 o'clock, another meeting of working
men was held onClerkenwell-green,awaggon being again used
as a platform. Mr. Lucraft, who presided, explained that
as there was now good reason to believe the government
measure was safe to pass, it was proposed at this, and
future gatherings, to take up the special grievances of the
people. Several members of the House of Commons had,
in fact, challenged them to do so, or to point out any parti-
cular ground of complaint that could be fairly urged
against the existing legislature. The first subject selected
fur this purpose was the " inhumanity of the poor-law
and, after the recent disclosures, it could hardly be said
that in this matter parliament bad been sufficiently
alive to the interests of the great mass of the people.
It therefore offered a striking illustration of the
urgent necessity of a reform in their representation.
Mr. Headman, a painter, moved the first resolution, viz. :
—" That in the opinion of this meeting the horrible dis-
closures that have lately been made public concerning the
condition of the poor, the shameful state of the infirmaries,
and the awful disclosures at Bethnal-green, St. Pancras,
and other parishes, is a proof that the parties appointed to
administer the lawi have shown their incapacity to carry
out that trust placed in their hands, and are sufficient
proofs that an alteration is required." Mr. G. Brook, of
the City, who seconded the resolution, said as a guardian
he had witnessed some of the horrors of the new poor-law,
and for twenty years he had been trying to bring about a
change of the system. The pauperism of the country was
approaching gigantic proportions, and he was more appre-
hensive of the degeneracy of the people than the exhaustion of
our coal-fields. Mr. J. Hillocks,of St. Pancras, in supporting
the resolution, remarked that it was not so much the law
as its administration that needed alteration. The work-
house officials were too often callous to the sufferings of
the poor. The resolution having been carried, on the
, motion of Mr. Osborn, seconded by Mr. Smithet, and sup-
. ported by Messrs. Horner and Brighty, a second resolution
was passed as follows " That in the opinion of this
meeting a metropolitan rate should be substituted for the
present unjust and overhearing rating system we are now
subjected to, but we have little hope of such a beneficial
measure until we have a reformed parliament."
DROWNII47O OF EIGHT MINERS.—Seven men
and a boy were harried into eternity on Saturday near
Horrabridge by one of those terrible accidents with
which the history of mine adventure abounds. The poor
fellows were working 300 feet below ground at Furze Hill
Mine, when they tapped a branch of an old mine, of the
contiguity of which they were unaware, and the water
accumulated during a long series of years rushed in upon
them, sweeping into an awful abyss all who were in the
leveL Of those who were in the mine two boys alone
escaped : one man, it is believed, might have saved him.
self had he not made efforts to rescue his comrades. This
disaster again points out the necessity for some legislation
to compel mine managers to deposit at given intervals at
some public office for permanent reference accurate maps
of the various levels and workings of their mines. The
mine now broken in upon so disastrously had not been
worked within living memory, and the extent and direc-
tion of its ramifications were entirely unknown.—Wesfers
Morning News.
FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE SOUTH-EASTERN RAlL-
waT.—Yesterday a fatal accident occurred near Maidstone,
on the South-Eastern line of railway. It appears that an
old man named Chambers, living in that town, was pro-
oeeding home from work at the Allington Stone Quarry,
on the up four foot, when he saw an up goods train ap-
proaching. He stepped on to the down road. His cap
fell off, which be stooped to pick up, and the 4.40 down
train, which he did not perceive approached, and ran
over him, literally cutting him to pieces. The poor fellow
leaves a large family to lament his loss.

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