The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-01-06 00:00:00

GUILDHALL.

A Szatous Joxs.—Two young men, named John and Thomas
Fynn, underwent examination yesterday before Mr. Alderman
H St: HOLEY upon a charge of felony, under the following circum-
stances
A journeyman carpenter, named Johnson, engaged in making
some alteration* at Messrs. Gi{dart and Palmer's. paper-
stainers, Old Fish-street, on entering the premises early on Tuesday
morning, threw his grrat-coat across a counting-house stool in
a comer of the warehouse below, while he went to commence his
work in one of the upper stories. lie saw it lying safe when he
went to breakfast, hat upon his return it had disappeared. There
are four or five-and-twenty men and boys employed about the pre-
mises, and on the alarm being given by Johnson, they mostly joined
him in making a general search from the roof to the basement of the
house. At length the desired object was discovered, concealed under
a heap of paper shavings in the cellar, and it was deemed ad.
risable to leave it in the state it was found, with a view to detect
the party who had placed it there. Mr. Dever, the clerk, having
observed that all the persona in the house, except the prisoner
Thomas Flynn, who was a sort of a superintendent, had left
the premises without going to the cellar, went away himself
soon after eight o'clock in the evening, but detcrtnined to remain
about the neighbourhood, and watch until Flynn came out. About
nine o'clock. the prisoner John walked up to the warehouse, and
looked towards the upper part, when a large blue paper parcel was
immediately lowered from a window by a long string, and taken
povsesston of by him. Mr. Dever requested the assistance of a
watchman, but he refused to tallow him, and lie therefore by him-
self seised John and the bundle, which be immediately discovered
to be the carpenter's coat ; he called again for the assistance of the
watchman (which, however, he did not obtain), and ultimately,
with the aittof s neighbour, who is a constable, secured both pri-
soners in the Compter.
Thomas Flynn, in his defence, declared he only had the coat by
way of joke originally ; but when such an outcry was made about
it, and so many threats of prosecution and transportation were dealt
out, he became too much alarmed to admit that it was himself that
had hidden it, and he therefore thought the only way to prevent
the fact trom being proved against Win, would be to take the coat
off the premises at night. and send it back again as a parcel by an
errand-cart next day, by which means all clue to him would have
been destroyed. The idea of stealing it never entered his mind.
John Flynn said he was an apprentice with Mr. Galloway, the
engineer, and that his brother called on him is the course of the
day, represented that he was going to purchase a great-coat, and
asked him to come and meet hint at nine o'clock. He went to Mr.
Uildart's aceordihgly, looked up to see if his brother had done
work, saw the pareel lowered, was sarpvised, and wee looking at it,
when lie was seized by the clerk.
The carpenter identified the coat, and the Alderman, in corn.
' mining the prisoners for ttial, observed, that however much their
story, their appearance, and the circumstance of their both being
in good employ, weighed in their favour din his mind, he still
thought it was a case which lie must send to a Jury. The watch-
man's conduct must be represented to the Deputy of the Werd.—
Committed.