The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-11-08 00:00:00

POLICE.

BOW-STREET.
Yesterday a man of very respectable appearance and gentlemanly
address, who gave his name Thomas Ronto' and described himself
as a weaver residing in Itetlinal-green, was brought up and placed
at the bar. on a charge of purloining various small articles of plate, I
from a coffee-house in the neighbourhood of this office.
Robert Sherwin, a waiter belonging to the Oarrick's Head. in
Bow-street, deposed, that oo many occasions lately, several silver
spoons and other pieces of plate of a similar description having been
missed from the coffee-mom, he was induced to suspect the priso-
ner (who was in the habit of coining in late, after the breaking up
of the theatres, and ordering ramp steaks, &c.) as concerned in
their abstraction. Ile communicated his suspicions to Mrs. Tho-
mas, the wife of the proprietor of the establishment to which he he-
longed, and in order to detect the thief, laid the cloth, on Saturday
evening last, in such a manner as to be able, at a single coup d'reil,
to discover the disappearance of any of its appurtenances, of which
he placed on the table no more than the number necessary. Hardly
had he made his arrangements when the prisoner entered, and, In
his usual manner, called for" a beef-steak, to be done quick."
Witness took the order, and went to the bar to cut the bread, on
his return with which he at once saw that a salt-cellar and spoon
had been removed. Without seeming to take any notice of what
Ice had observed, he went, under pretence of bringing up the steak,
and called in Morris, the patrol, who went up with him to Mr.
Ronto, and acquainted him with the nature of the suspicions enter-
tained against him. Al'itness now found that, during hie second
absence, two of the table-spoons had disappeared. The prisoner
treated the charge against him with much seeming indifference,
saying, " Well, then, take me into custody if you like ;"and on his
rising, the articles missing were found on the bench upon which he
was mated. concealed beneath the lappets of his coat. The salt-
cellar and spoons were now produced and identified, 3lorris con-
firming the witness's statement as far as he was concerned.
The prisoner admitted lie had been in the habit of frequenting the
house, and watproceecling, when
Sir RICHARD BIRNIE humanely cautioned him as to commit.
ting himself, especially as he had no legal adviser present; but
added, that if he insisted on making any statement, he was bound
to hear it.

Alf 'tont°, however, under all the circumstances, availed him-
self of his Worship's advice ; and having declared that he should
decline saying anything more at present, wu fully commfttecl
for trial.

HATTON-GARDEN,

Sydney Smith, whit;;,a; tried the Westdrins before last, at the Old
Bailey, under Lord Ellenborough's Act, for stabbing Mr. Waters,
landlord of the Three Tuna public-house, was brought up in cus-
tody of Cadby, a constable on the Foundling estate, charged on
suspicion of stealing a quantity of plate from the house of James
entworth, Esq., No. 22. hunter-street, Brunswick.square.
Mrs. Wentworth stated, that the prisoner had been employed for
some time as an occasional servant. On Friday evening he
cleaned up the plate after dinner, and directed the conk to take it
up to the parlour for safety ; he went out; in a short time after, a
knock came to the street door, and a letter was put into the hands
of the servant, addressed to " Mrs. AVentworth," the purport of
which was, " a request from a Mr. Steele to Mrs. Wentworth, to
accommodate a female friend for a night or two, in her house, as
his just then happened to be particularly crowded."
Mrs. Wentworth, on reading the note, expressed much surprise,
as she had not the honour of any acquaintance with the writer;
however, she went down stairs to speak to the messenger, but,
to her great surprise, he was gone. This circumstance naturally
excited suspicion, and on searching the parlours it was found that
the plate which had been deposited on the sideboard had disap.
peared. It was quite evident that whoever had committed the rob-
bery must have been well acquainted with the place, as Lome plated
articles which lay on the same place had not been touched. On
inquiry it appeared that there was a gentleman named Steele, re-
siding in Marchmont-street, but he denied any knowledge of the
letter.

Carlby stated that the prisoner had been suspected of n rob-
bery under somewhat similar circumstances some time since, and
he had been in custody on a charge of robbery at a house in Mid-
dleton-street, but was liberated from the want of sufficient evidence.
In the present ease, there was reason to believe that the property
might be traced if time was allowed for inquiry.
Mr. Rooms, the sitting Magistrate, observed, that the circum-
stances were extremely suspicious, and he should therefore remand
the prisoner for farther examination.