Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-22 00:00:00

THE CHARGE OF
CONSPIRACY BY A BARBER,
TO DEFRAUD IRISH MERCHANTS.

Patrick Lambert, the Liverpool barber, who had been re-
manded on a charge of conspiracy to defraud several tobacco
manufacturers in Belfast, Dundalk, and Dublin, was brought
up for further examination before Mr. Preston, yesterday,
at the Police. Court. Mr. Cobb appeared for the prisoner.
Mr. Clough said there was another charge against
him of uttering forged notes, with a gnilty know-
ledge. He also stated that, since the last day the pri-
soner was before the court, he had discovered some
other cases against him, both from Belfast and Dublin. He
had not been able' at present, to get the people here from
Dublin and Belfast. Since the last day, they had got
another person, who is at present in custody, and whose case
was exactly like that of Davidson, the approver, except
that Davidson had written the letters for the prisoner on
the 4th, and told of them on the sth. The person, now in
custody had also written letters for the prisoner to Dublin,
and obtained a large quantity of tobacco, from manufacturers
there, by sending them forged notes. He would produce
the woman; at whose house the letters were written to
Dublin and Belfast, and she would prove that
letters were received at her house for the prisoner,
in the name of Taylor. He would ask for a
remand on these cases, but would proceed with the case of
Mr. Carroll, of Dundalk, and one of Messrs. Johnston, of
Belfast, as he had them ready, and the witnesses present.
He then called Mr. Carroll, and his son, who corroborated
the evidence of his father, given on the last day, and
identified the notes received from the prisoner, with the
letters written by the approver Davidson. He also called
Mr. David Johnston, tobacco manufacturer, of Bel rast, who
said : I received this letter, signed " Samuel Goodere."
[Davidson proved that he wrote this for- Lambert, and
posted it.) I wrote in reply to Samuel Goodere on the 11th
of April, and sent samples of tobacco. I did
not get any reply to this. We • sent samples of
tobacco, in reply, worth sixpence. Inspector Wilson said
I found this letter in the prisoner's house,. and I saw it
previously taken from the Crooked Billet, by Davidson, to
Lambert's house. Officer Scaife said : I found a letter in
the prisoner's house, addressed to Messrs. Johnston of
Belfast, and it contained £25 in bad half notes. I found a
letter also addressed to Messrs. Murray, Esq., Belfast, and
that contained the corresponding halves of the notes in the
letter addressed to Messrs. Johnston. Davidson said : I
wrote those letters for the prisoner, and by his directions.
This witness also proved his handwriting on the backs of
the notes. Cross-examined by Mr. Cobb : I wrote
the name " George Halliday" on the note. I
did not disguise my hand. These- were the cases,
as regarded the charges of Mr. Carroll, of Dundalk, and
Messrs. Johnston, of Belfast. Mr. Cobb then applied to
have Davidson taken into custody. but his Worship refused.
Officer'Scaife then put forward Arthur Thomas Fowler, and
said : I went to the'workhouse, whore I arrested him, and
told him he was charged with a conspiracy, and obtaining
tobacco from several persons in Dublin by false representa-
tion and forged notes. He said he had been employed to
write the letters by Lambert, who had made him take a
lodging at No. 10, Herford-street, where he wrote letters
in the name of " Taylor." He made him 'inclose bad notes
to houses in Dublin, and - tobacco did come
to the house, and remained there for a short
time, when Lambert came and took it away.
He went soon after and asked Lambert to pay him, when
he took up a poker, and only for Lambert's wife he would
have knocked his brains out. Lambert sold the tobacco in
his own shop after that. He was obliged to go' to the
workhouse, he was so poor. Detective-officer Carlyle said,
Davidson, the approver, called on him several days, and told
him he was writing the letters for Lambert, and informed
him of all the facts. Eliza Cross, of 10, Herford-street,
said : 1 know Mr. Taylor (the prisoner Fowler), but nothing
of the other prisoner. He lodged at my house for a short
time. She proved that the tobacco spoken of by Scaife
came to her house, and the prisoner Fowler and another
man took it away in a cab, but I would not know the man.
I don't think the other man was Lambert or Davidson.
Several men called after Taylor (the prisoner) left, looking
for him, saying they came from Dublin and Belfast to look
after him. Mr. Clough said that was all the evidence he
would offer at present. In reply to the magistrate, Fowler
said he was employed by Lambert to write the letters for
him, and to receive the tobacco. He took lodgings at the
house of the last witness, and when the tobacco came
Lambert took it away, and paid him for the lodging and
his trouble. That was all he had to say. Lambert was
then committed to the assizes on the two charges—Mr.
Carroll's, of Dundalk, and Mr. Johnston's, of Belfast—and
remanded on the other charge, along with Fowler, for
another week:

LIVERPOOL POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—YESTERDAY
BEFORE MR. PRESTON.
THE MAN AND THE PONY.-William Cole was brought
up. He was an individual of an antideluvian appearance,
with a head like a mop, and a fiery red handkerchief tied
round his neck in a manner that the " finisher of the law"
could not have imitated. One of his eyes appeared to be
peeping into his ear, whilst the other was taking observa-
tions towards the zenith. The "coat of many colours,"
worn by Joseph, was only a dish-clout compared to the
garment worn by Mr. Cole, and as for his nether garment,
it is better to remain an " inexpressible" for the present.
The charge against this fancy portrait of a man was pre-
ferred by police officer 746, who said, yesterday evening, I
was on duty in Upper Parliment7street, when I saw the
prisoner, along with another man, in a pony cart ;
he was very drunk, and beating the animal in a manner that
brought him clearly within a statute called after a person
named " Dicky Martin." The officer is a soft-hearted
creature, and could not bear to see the " dumb beast" wal-
loped in this way., and, besides that, he had a stern duty to
perform, in carrying out the aforesaid act of parliament. In
accents soft as the sounds of an .iEolian harp, he informed
Mr. Cole that it was contrary to Immanityand to the law to
" castigate" the " hannimal" after that fashion. The pri-
soner maintained that he was at liberty to do with his pony
as he liked. The officer wanted him to let the other man
drive the pony, but he refused, saying that "the creature"
would not allow itself to be driven by any
one save himself, and forthwith he lashed away in such a
fashion that marble could not have endured it, let alone
horse flesh A discussion followed, and the prisoner, to show
that he had full liberty to beat his pony, jumped out of the
tart, and showed that he could beat the officer, too, by
" punching his head," and " barking" his shins, for which
he was ordered to pay lOs to the coffers of the borough, or
go to jail for one month.
MR. BANKS'S BEEF-STEAKS.—William Banks, a carter,
was charged with having stolen a quantity of cotton bale
ropes. Mr. Cobb defended. Officer 332, said he was on
duty at the Bramley-Moore Dock, when he saw the
prisoner amongst some, cotton bales, cutting the ropes
off them. He got some ropes with him, and more
in the nose-bag of the horse. He asked tte prisoner
what he was doing there ? and he said, eating his
dinner. The sagacious officer said it was the first time he
had heard of a bale rope being used in place of a beef steak.
He had heard of an ingenius Hibernian who managed to
broil a beef steak off a piece of pork, but to metamorphosis
a bale rope with a portion of a dead ox, was quite beyond
his comprehensive philosophy. He thought that things
equal to themselves should be equal to one another, and
therefore he concluded that an open knife. in the hands of
Banks, with a cut bale rope by his side, and the absence of a
beef steak, was a clean case of thievery on the part of the
carter, and so, in the name of our Sovereign Lady Queen
Victoria, he deprived him of that which is very much
valued by all Englishmen, to wit---his liberty:--which the
carter much preferred to the grave or the prison! Mr.
Cobb (to the officer) : You saw an open knife in his hand ?
Yes. Would he not be likely to have a knife in his band
at his dinner ? Yes, he might. Did you ever eat your
dinner without a knife ? I cone
eat my dinner with
my teeth, and I have done so without a knife.
Mr. Cobb : Then I tell you to your teeth they are very bad
" dents." Officer No. 6 : There is no " dents" in them at
all. Mr. Cobb : Would'nt they make " dents" in a beef
steak ? Yes, but I could'nt eat a rope in place of
one. Mr. Cobb : And do you swear lie was eating a
rope ? No, he said he was eating his dinner. Mr.
Cobb : Will you swear this rope was not cut with
a hatchet ? but men don't use hatchets at their
dinner. Mr. Cobb : You are the "sharpest" policeman
I have met with. My mother said the same thing. Mr.
Cobb: Does she know you're out ? I hope you have not
" cut" her ! Mr. Cobb then argued that the case was
not proved, and produced a high character for the prisoner.
The latter was " put down" for the present.
BROWN AND JONES'S ADVENTURE IN LIME-STREET.---
A strange looking person, named Thomas Brown, charged
three unfortunate girls, and a sailor named James Cock-
burn, for having stolen a gold watch and chain,
value £2o,' from him. Mr. Bluck was for the
prisoners. The short story of the complainant was, that
a night or two since he fell in with the parties in Lime_
street; and that they took him to a " house," and then to
a public-house, and then to a third " house," where they
not only knocked his brains out, and his senses into the
bargain, but, what was far worse, and of a greater loss to
him, they stole his watch and chain. Mr. Bluck got up
to cross-examine the prosecutor, and looked at him for some
time, amid considerable laughter. The " gentleman," at this
interesting moment, looked, as nearly as possible, like the
following. He wore a pair of greenspectacles,. very like a
Pen
portion of what Master Mosey rimrose received in the
twelve gross that he took for a fine horse, belonging to his
father, the Vicar of Wakefield, when the young :rondo-
man was much greener than the "goggles." Mr. Brown
had very long hair, of no particular hue, his vest might have
been black, and was adorned with sparkling glass buttons, set