The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-01-14 00:00:00

LAW SITTINGS.

Sittings appointed to be held in Aliddlesex and London, before
the Right Hon. Sir Charles Abbott, Km., Lord Chief Justice of
the Court of King's Beach, in and after Hilary Term,
MIDDLESEX. IN TERM. LONDON.

Wednesday - January 18 'fbursiay nary 29
NVedntsday - February 4 Thursday - February 6
Tuesday - 10 Wednesday - - II
AFTER TERM.

Friday - - Fcbnwy 131 Saturday . February 14
—Sit at half-past twelve o'clock, January 28, 29, February 4,5,
and at hall-past nine on the tither days.

IMPORTANCE OF BENEFIT SOCIETIES.

It may not beirimerally I:mown to the public, that, from
strict inquiries instituted by Committees of the House of
Commons and from other authentic sources, it has been
ascertained—

I. That Friendly.Sooieties, if conducted upon sound principles,
tend to prevent an increase, and generally produce a reduction in
the amount of the Poor Hates.

l'hat wherever thts operations of good Friendly Societies are
at all extensive, the beneficial results are almost incalculable.

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3. That good Benefit Societies will secure the tnembent from Ills-
tress in case of sickness, for months, years, and indeed for life ; but
that Saving Banks meanly useful to those persons who arc free from
sickness and scrams for a length of time sufficient to enable their
savings to accumulate.
4. That, OW carelessness with which many Societies have been
formed, and the erroneous principles upon which they have been
conducted, have closed many to fail.
b. That the chief errors which have caused Societies to fail have
been the smallness of the monthly payments, the admission of old
mei:dices at the same rate as young ones, the want of system in the
management, and the impositions of the members; and that the
plan of meeting at public-houses is highly injurious to the morals
and subversive of the comfort and happiness of the working classes.
6. That the system of mutest assurance, as now applied in many
Benefit Societies, is capable of the greatest improvement ; and
7. That, the greatest encouragement should be held out by parish
officers, by the nobility and gentry, resident on their estates, and
the public genera Iy, to the improvement of the existing
Societies, and the establishment of others upon known mound prin.
ciideles the most effectual means of bettering the condition of the
nuinuiacturing and labouring classes, and the reduction of the poor-
' rates.

A petition to Parliament for the abolition of the duty on
cider, is now lying for signatures at Hereford. The agri-
'culturists of this district ought warmly to second this at-
tempt to remove an impost, which affords but a compara-
tively trifling amount to the revenue, but which is partial
in its operation, and very injurious to the interests of the
cider grower.--Olotteester JoaraaL

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS,

TUESDAY. JAW. 13.

ASSAULT.

1 Thomas Anrgru was indicted for assaulting Mrs. Hart.
Mn. Rosa Hart, the wife of Mr. Aaron Hart. stated, that on the
13th of November she was returning home in the evening, about
hall-put six, to her house at Tottenham. She got into the Edition-
ton stage-coach at the Flower Pot, in Bishoptigate-street, at which
time there were two females in the coach. At Kingsland the de-
fendant got into the coach, and took his scat by her side, and
whispered in her ear language of the most disgusting and fulsome
description. At Newington the ladies got out, and he and she re-
mained in the coach. The defendant forced his elbows two or
three times into her side; she told him repeatedly that she was in
the family war, and he would hurt her; he continued to insult her,
and took the most indecent liberties with her.
Cross-examined by Mr. Annals.—The defendant and her
husband had been intimate from their childhood ; hut she had
never been intimate with him. She could not say that there had
been a dispute between them. There was a young. gentleman in
the coach at the time the defendant of her the insults she had
stated.
Mr. Laver was one of the passengers in the coach on the evening
in question, and heard the defendant ask Mrs. Hart how her sister
was, and observed that she was a good girL Mrs. Ilart said, "Am
I not a good girls I have bees married sixteen month, and have
had one child, and am large with another." The defendant then
whispered in her car, and she said, "Oh ! you nasty blackguard !
you nasty varment!" He did not see him assault her, nor did he
hear what he whispered in her ear. The witness heard no abuse on
the part of the defendant.
A doctor was then tailed to prove the injury done to Mts.
Bart.

Mr. AltAlllN.—This is doctoring a case with a vengeance.
The Jury instantly acquitted the defendant.
Wm.Striekland, John Ihisk, and John Clink, were indicted fur
obtaining money under false pretences.
Mr. Mowbray, umbrella-manufacturer, of Cow Cross-street,
stated, that tet the 17th of November he left two horses in Saint
Martin's-lane, in the care of a lad; on returning to the horses,
Strickland came up to him, pushed him, and took the horses away
to the Green-yard; he asked why the horses were detained, and
then he saw Cuttle, the keeper of the Green-yard ; they then
told him he had incurred a penalty of 305., for allowing his
horses to stand in the street ; Strickland then (having the Act of
Parliament in his hand) said he would mitigate the penalty to ss.
each horse, and 10s. expenses, which he was obliged to pay to ob-
tain his horses. _ .

Cross-examined by Mr. A Ll.TY.—Went to Bow-street, but the
defendants were discharged, and he had to pay the coots; two
of the defendants were beadles of the parish, and the other thi
keeper of the Green-yard ; paid the 20s. to Cuttle, who gave a re-
ceit for it.
The CHAIRMAN read the indictment, which stated the pretence
of the defendants to be, that the horses were left in the street for
sale.
The witness added—He told them the horses were not for sale;
he merely left then in care of a boy until he went into Aldridge's
Repository, in Little tit. Martin's-lane. When before the Magis-
trates, the defendants were not ordered to return the 20s. ; it was at
one o'clock in the day.
James Ruddock, errand-boy to the last witness, stated that he
was ordered to take care of his horses. He was there only ten mi-
nutes when his muter came back.

Mr. ALLEY said, that he would prove that the defendants,
thinking themselves acting correctly, took the horses to the
Green-yard, imposed the penalty upon the prosecutor, and paid it
fairly over to the Commissioners. The facts were these :—ln
Martin's-lane was Mr. Aldridge's Repository for the sale of homes,
a place of great nuisance to the inhabitants—not (observed the
Learned Counsel) as far as Mr. Aldridge was concerned; there
many persons exhibited their horses in the street, in the hope of
attracting the attention of the persons frequenting this repository ;
and these persons thus saved the usual fee for taking the horses
into the repository. The defendants had acted, as they imagined,
correctly, because the homes were illegally exposed for sale in the
street, and were authorised to take them to the Green-yard ; they
did so, levied the fine, gave a receipt for it, and paid it over to the
prom qAuarter.
Mr. LLEY read the section of the Act, which authorises any'
person appointed by the Committee of the parish to seize any
goods, Ace. in the street, and cause to impose a penalty of 10e. and
not less than M. Mr. Alley contended, that the defendants were
authorised to do what they had done without going before a Ma-
gistrate.
Mr. Samuel Hawkes, clerk to the Paving Committee, stated, that
the Act produced was their local Act; the two beadles (defend-
ants) were appointed by the Committee; they brought to him 10s.
the penalty from the prosecutor, within half an hour of their having
received it. They bear good characters.
Robert Belwood, a housekeeper near Aldridge's Repository, de-
posed to the nuisance of a number of horses being left in the street,
so as to endanger the lives of the passengers.
Mr. Latchford, M:. Holland, and Mr. Canning, residing near
the spot, deposed to the nuisance every Wednesday.
The I:umlauts said, the case was very simple; the question
was, whether the money was fraudulently taken : under the Act
alluded to the defendants had no right to take the horses; whether
they took the horses right or wrong, they did it bunefick. The act
was not done secretly or for purposes of profit ; they took them
to the Green-yard and imposed a penalty, which was paid over to
the proper authorities. There was no false pretence used, but it
was evidently a mistake; therefore the Jury would acquit the de-
fendants of the fraudulent pretence. The proper mode would be
Jas the prommitor to summon the Committee for the money.
TN Jur" food than Nee &Aft.

POLICE.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

Yesterday a very interesting young woman, rather shabbily clad,
of the name of Melinda Masters, was brought from St. George's
Watch-house, Ilanover-square, charged on suspicion of intending
to destroy her infant child. She bad the child in her arms, a fine
baby about nine weeks old.
Lacy, the watchman, stated that this morning about two o'clock,
he found her wandering about Blenheim-street, Bond-street, with
the child exposed to the cold of the morning, which was very foggy,
and he believed if it had been kept much longer under the air it
would have perished. She said, when in the watchhouse, that she
had come from Chelsea, and that she had been in Drury-lane look-
ing for the father of the child.
Mr. CONANT, the Sitting 3lagistrate, here questioned her as to
who the father of the child was; and if she was in distress.

Sbe replied she was in no distress ; the father of the child. she
said, was a baker, who now lives at Chelsea, but she would not
swear the child to him. She said her father lived in George-street,
Richmond, from whose house she had come a few weeks past.
Her sister now came forward, and said the truth was, that she
had been abandoned by her father in consequence of the misfortune
she had met with ; that their father was a respectable tailor, living
at Barnes. She said she had been doing all she could to get her a
situation, as well as to induce her to swear the child to its father,
and that she was in the deepest distress.

Mr. CONANT desired her to be brought from the bar, and
strongly impressed upon her the impropriety of her conduct; told
her the consequence of destroying the child would be a prosecution
for murder, and the disgracing of her family. The lecture had
the debited effect, and the unfortunate young woman was prevailed
upon to swear the child to its father. She left the office with a
letter from the Magistrate, to the proper Officer in the parish of
Mary-la-bonne, where the child was born, for the purpose of
doing so.