The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-02-10 00:00:00

COMMODORE O'BRIEA:

Of the many eccentric charactersof the present day,
this is one of the most singularly successful and fortunate.
During the King's visit to Ireland, he started from his
obscure native village of Kilrush, and by exhibiting him-
self in Dublin Bay, in a little vowel scarcely large enough
to contain his diminutive person, he attracted very general
attention, and in no small degree heightened the pictu-
resqueness of the scene, which the gay appearance of the
King's yachts and royal cortege presented. The King on
that occasion was a donor to the Commodore of ten gui-
neas. Since that period we lost sight of the adventurous
O'Brien, until we heard that he sustained an unfortunate
shipwreck—that his little bark was sunk—and that he
himself escaped almost miraculously. Subsequent to this
sad run of misadventure, O'Brien repaired to Brighton,
with a tale as fraught with pathetic woe as Falconer's
Shipwreck. lie detailed his misfortunes in the quarter
most likely to excite sympathy, and more particularly that
species of sympathy of which he now stood most in need.
His tale of sorrows soon readied the Pavillion, and his
Majesty's Household (who remembered him in Ireland)
entered into a subscription for his relief. Sir E. Nagle, as
an Admiral, was deemed the most appropriate person to
whom to entrust this unfortunate son of Neptune. Sir
Edmund accordingly took him under his special care; the
King handsomely subscribe., ten guineas for the Commo-
dore, and accompanied it with an order, that he should be
comfortably provided with- elothes—.hat a boat should be
built for him according to his own instructions—and that
lie should be invited tp the royal kitchen until it should
Iv built ; so that Conutodore O'Brien is likely to be better
off than lie has hitherto been in the world, and has to
boast of sharing, as be now does, the royal hospitalities of
the Pavillion. The boat is to be five feet in length, and
of proportionate width. It is to be made of such frail mate-
rials, that the Commodore, on coming on shore, may
place it on his heed, and awry it home with him. lie
mtimils exhibiting in it this season at Brighton, principally
about the Chain-pier, where it will impart a very gay and 1
lively appearance to the scene in summer. The Comm-
dore projects a trip to Dieppe in it this summer, an under-
taking, we fear, too venturesome even for his nautical j
skill to encounter. Great anxiety and curiosity has been
excited about him and his boat at Brighton. The various
liberal subscriptions that have poured into hint from all '
quarters, have quite piped him to a state of affluence.

. POLICE.
kflV STREET.
AUDACIOUS RODllLlY.—YeAlaftlay a respectable droned
young man, who stated his name to be Jolts Adams !leaky, was
brought before sir It. Sink., charged with stealing a watch and
appendages, the v.oparty of Mr. Tuck, a salesman in Castle-
street, Leicener•square.
The prisoner, about eight o'clock on Saturday evening, went
into Mr. Tuck's shop, and said he wanted to purchase a watch.
One wl ich he pointed out in the window was shorn to him, and
the price being fixed, be said he would get a friend who was a
better judge than himself, to call and look at the watch, and if he
approved of it, the proehase should be completed. In about an
hour and a half he caged again, and asked if his friend had been
there, and being inf to the negative, he requested to look
agrou at the watch. pretending to examine one of the
springs, he suddenly mew a quantity of snuff in .Mr. Tuck's face,
and ran away with the Int&
He was telly controlled to Newgata.

iiiATTON-UARDEN.
William /lam*, • man of colour, a notorious offender, was
brought up in the cons* of Thompson, the constable, cl:arged
with being coneerneitio • most daring robbery.
Mr. Jades, a jeweller, stated, that about three weeks ago, as he
was returning horns about eleven o'clock, be went into the
Coopers' Arms, Sm eld, to also glass at the bar, and while
doing so, four fellow, rushed is (of wide the Prisoner was one)
and snatched his gold watch sat of his pocket. Leery wirtion has
since been made to discover them, but without success, mail Sunday
night, when Mr. Jades met the minuet in Old-street, St. Luke's,
and gave him into custody. As Thompson has got some it-1
formation respecting the party, the pthower was remanded until
Saturday.
UNION-HALL.
Cwaank or
wire' poworfoUrroir cartedC%ffiribirstawn, has been in the employment of McMinn*
Pan* Esq. as • day-labourer, was brought before R. J. Cham-
bers and L. Ballot. Esqrs. charged with the murder of James
Richardson, a fellow-labourer, on the 29th of June, 1821, in the
parish of Enfield, Middlesex. The Cowen warrant for the an-
ion of the prisoner was produced, 'by which it appeared that
prehension
Johnsen was round gutlty eo the inquest of the wilful Illur.
der of James Richardson, by nearly levering the unfortunate de-
ceased's thighs from his body with a inow-icythe. The prisoner
was disguised in sailor's clothes at the time of his apprehension.
The following evidence was given against the accused:—
Samuel Brickett, labourer, sworn.—l live in the village of Cock-
faster, in the parish of Enfield. On Friday, the 411th of June,
1821, between one and two o'clock in the afternoon, I was return.
ing in company with the risme.. Charles Johnsen, and the de-
ceased, James Richardscn, from dinner, at which we had a pet of
porter each, to a swarth of clover, which we had been mowing for
Archibald Parris, Esq. in the parish of Enfield, near Haddelefs
and in goingacruss the field the prisoner said that he would lay ('he wager that he had a foot wider swarth than the deceased
had, and they had some further word, concerning it, upon which
the deceased swore he would hit hint if he continued to irritate and
vex him. The prisoner then threw down a scythe, which he car-
ried on his shoulder, and told him (the deceased) to strike him if
he dared; deceased did not hit the prisoner, but still used ag-
gravating language, and at length the prisoner ran to where has
scythe was lying on the ground, picked it up, and approached the
deceased with it ; and with an oath exclaimed, he would chop off
his (the deceased's) legs with the scythe, if he would not be quiet
and leave off annoying him. At this time they were both standing
near to each other quarrelling. and almost directly afterwards, the
prisoner struck the deceased with the blade of the scythe, across
the upper part of the thighs, near the belly ; the deceased instantly
fell backwards to the ground, exclaiming, " Oh Loral ! oh dear !
you've killed me." Witness then ran to Johnson, and said,
Look what you have done; you have killed the man, are you not
lathamed of yourself?" To which the prisoner swore that he
would serve any man so that meddled with or provoked
him. Witness then went to fetch a horse and cart ; and on
his return from the village he found the deceased lying stretched
along the grass, in the 1111111 C place where he fell when the wound
was inflicted, completely. drenched in blood. The scythe lay near
the deceased ; but the pawner had absconded during his (witneaa's)l
absence. Witness assisted in placing the deceased in the cart, and I
drove him home to Cockfaster, where he expired in a few hours
afterwards. The witness added, that an inquest was held on the
deceased, when a verdict of " Wilful Murder" was returned
against the prisoner, and a reward offend for his apprehension.
Since the above circumstances, he (witness) did not see the prisoner
until his apprehension.
James W Wien's, of Haddeley, stated, that on Saturday after-
noon, between two and three o'clock he met the prisoner in the
Borough, near St. Thomas's Hospital, and knowing him to be the
man who stood charged on the Coroner's warrant of the milder of
the deceased, he had him apprehended.
John IC/buy, a constable of the Town-hall, stated, that on Sa-
turday last, in the afternoon, upon the prisoner being delivered
over into his custody by the last witness, he asked him if lie was
guilty of the charge alleged against him, when he replied—" l'es,
I am ;" and, without witness putting any further questions to him,
he gave the following account of the circumstances which led to the
death of the deceased :—That he was at work in a field of Mr.
Parris's, with four o•Ave tabor men, em the 2911 a of June ; that he
and the deceased had a few words, when the latter threatened to
strike him, and that he (the prisoner) while in the act of defending
himself front the blow with his scythe, the deceased, by accident,
fell upon the blade, and received the injuries, which he (the pri-
soner) was accused of wilfully committing. After the accident, he
said that the other men who were present gave hint money, and
persuaded hint to go out of the way, which he did. The prisoner
further said, that the reason he allowed Williams to take hint into
custody was, that he did not think :hat person would have recol-
lected the charge against hint ; and that lie could have easily
escaped if he thought the above charge was to be brought forward
against hint. He added, that he would long since have given him-
self' up to justice hut for the fear of being hanged.
Mr. CH AMrien s—What have you been doing since you left home?
The prisoner said that 'le had been for some part of the time in
the employment of a Mr. Coleman, but that lie had had no work
from about -is weeks before I Thistmas, and he in consequence was
reduced to great distress, having been obliged to part with all his
clothes to support Itiint If. Ile had a wife and four children, whom
he had neither scen nor heard of since he left Cockfuster.

The Magistrate incturtil whether the prisoner and the deceased
were acquainted with each other before the murder. and if the de-
ceased struck or kicked hint previous to his having received the
wound.

The Prisoner—ile did. Sir, and he kicked me.
The witness fireckett here repeated that he did not ace the de-
ceased either strike or kick the prisoner during the time.
Mc. l'itxwax its observed that he would rcnrnnd the prisoner,
nr.d in the interim he directed thnt Mr. Sawyer, the solicitor to the
pariah of lintield, might be apprised of the apprehension of John-
son, and that gentlenivn would have an opportunhy of collecting
the rest of the evidence against the prisoner by the next examination.

Awrit 1. Ev EN T.—On Saturday last Mr. David Ains-
worth, of the house of Jesse Ainsworth and Sons. of this town,
expired whilst at (boner, at tee Alosler Arms Inn. 111 r. Ainsworth
had for some time been rather unwell; but as late as the noon of
the day on which he died he was about, and attending to his busi-
ness as usual. His disease, we understand, is considered to have
been an ossification of the lican.—Afarrchest.T Payer.
INTOXICATION.--It appear* from the quarterly return
of the Coroner of Manchester, presented last week, that, during
the preceding three months, out of the numerous cases of death,
no less th— Inenty.nine have bees owing to drunkenness, and
, itgertty-rix to drowning, awed by the elects of intoxication--
.Blackburn ,Vaik