The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-09-22 00:00:00

properly denominated a dwelling-house, as Mr.
Huntingdon only occasionally slept in the room al-
luded to.
The Jury, according*y. found the Prisoner Guilty,
not of burglary, but simply or stealing the goods.

MIDDLLSEX

CLI•S:ISWp'LL, SIFT. 21 .

-- Lawler, the associate of Squirts and Smith,
who were taken up on the 15th ofly last, by two
of the i• Ricers of Police, at How, ne1o• Streatham, in
Sorry, under suspicious circumstances, respeCting
the breaking open a wareliothe in the city of Lon-
don, and robbing theteout a sum of one hundred
and twenly pounds, Exchequer Balls, divers ar-
ticles of p•Tate, &c. was this day tried upon an in-
disffment under the Statute against vagrancy, the
lith of George the Second, with a view of tran-
sporting him as a rogue and vagabond.
The Officers stated. that, on meeting the Prisoner
with Squires and Smith, near the house of a Mr.
Adams, they iuterrogated them about their business
or employment. when one ot the three cried out to
the re,t to run away ; but they were pursued and ap-
prehended by the aid of Mr. Adams. 06C of them
Ist fall an iron crow upon the font of Ray, the offi-
cer, and another crow was found upon one of them
afterwards, on closer search, with other impiements
for house-breaking. Squires and Smith were com-
mitted to Newgate, to be there tried, as the evi-
deuce against them seemed more clear, and the Pri-
soner, Lawler, was to have been transported under
the statute. It turned oat, however, that Lawler
escaped ccnviCtion ; for. instead of laying the m
dietenent under the twenty-third of His present Mae
jesty. which wculd govern the Prisoner's case, it was
laid coder the seventeenth of the late Kier, which
did not reach the present case. The ptisuner was
of course, acquitted.
liiisairik Kerber/ea stood charged with fortune-
teUing.
Sarah Burgess, a comely young woman, was
examined (after the Police Officer had produced to
the Court the cards, lit.le books, and other ap-
paratus, by him found spoon this sorceress) ; the
Witness stated. that the Prisoner told her that she
would have a fair handsome man for her husband,
and that the sum paid by her for the information
Way sixpence only.
The next IVittuss stated, that the Prisoner foretold
she was to i:ave a handsome young man (then at
seal for her husband.
The third Witness. an old woman, stated, that
she was told no fortune, but bad afted as a kind of
procuress of customers for the Prisoner.
The Ma ctn. ears ordered this old woman to be
turned out of the Court, after a severe reprimand
for her wicked way of life, and postponed the sen•
tenet: of the Prisoner until Saturday next, to
which day the Se.cons are adjourned, whets sen-
tence will be prtnounced on several persons
found guilty in the course.of this Sessions.
Several received sentence for petty offences this
day; among w:som was a man named Jame Louts,
sentenced to six months imprisonment, for stealing
twopence halfpenny out of his master's till, in
Holborn ; and a man named Nap Doren, an old
soldier, a native of Dorsetshire, sentenced to six
months contLement in Bridewell, for being fotrid
begging about the streets. This Pi ironer stated,
tint he had served his King, in the army, for thirty-
six years, and has a pension, or bounty, of SH. per
annum.

The MAGISTRATI observed to him, that those
circumstarr.es aggravated his misconduti, ►y de-
grading the name and eharalter of a soldier.

The following anecdote will shew that the age of
superstition is not yet passed. even in this enlighten-
ed country. Two sailors who strived at the port of
Liverpool, in an Arwrican ship, a few days ago.
solemnly assured every one they met with, tha
about a week before their landing, they saw, intshe
Atlantic Ocean, two Mermaids, who, raising toeir
treads above the water, and assuming a prophetic
attitude, declared in a loud voice, "that on a cer-
tain day, (Thursday last), Ile town of Liverpool,
with its environs. for tee snits round, would be
destroyed by an earthquake." Several persons ex-
pressing some incredulity at this account, the men
offered instantly to go before the Magistrates to
testify, on oath, the truth of the assertion ; and if
arch a ridiculous attestation could have been pub-
licly received. they would actually have fulfilled
their promise. In the mean time the matter be-
came a common topic of discourse among all the
lower orders of people, and the fatal day was ex-
pelled with no :mall degree of alarm and appre-
hension. Several person, we are well-informed,
were so far overcome by their tet tors, as to leave the
town, in order to avoid the approaching catastrophe.
Happily, the day passed over without mischief, and
public tranquillity is of course restored.
The following singular circumstance has occurred
at Portsmouth :—Between nine and ten o'clock cn
the evening of last Sunday three weeks, two men
engaged Intim •s Haas, a whervyman, to take them
from Gosport beach to Spithead, to get on beard a
ship there, as they said : when the boat reacted
Spithead, they pretended the ship had gone to St.
Helen's, and requested the waterman to go on after
her. Having reached that place, one of them (for
the other it seems could not speak English) tuck
a dagger from under his coat, awl swore he would
take away the life of the wherryman if be did not
land them in France. Under this threat ; the
man consented to follow their direftions, and land-
ed them at Fecamp. They were no doubt French
prisoner, making their escape, though they appeared
to be in the uniform of offices of our navy. The
wherrymen was lodged in prison at Havre de
Grace, and kept there about tea days —He was
then released on representing himself to be a fisher-
man; his boat was returned to him, and tin. French-
men gave him six or seven pounds of bread, some
cyder, a pocket compass, and a pass to pre-
vent his being interrupted by any French vessel he
might meet with.— i hey sent him adrift, and he
landed at Portsmouth on Wednesday last, ■od,
gives the above description of his voyage. lie
brought several le from English prisoner?, ii,
France, and horn French persons to tin sr frond,
prisoners in this country He foal been, we under-
staiid, examined, to sift this singular stoty.
'lle sdavah bound to New York,
is on shore near Liverpool, but expected to be
got off.