The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-20 00:00:00

PO LI fiE INTELLIGENCE.

SOUTHWARK.—Percy Burt WA3 brought before
Mr. A'Beckett for re-ex:Animation, charted with stealing,
a gJlii watch and chain, the property of Euiily Devon-
port.

Mr. Solomon again attended fur the prisoner,
It appeared Irons the evidence given on Tuesday after-
noon that the pi n r was at the house of the prosecu-
trix on the tni..rning of the 19th of November, and per-
ceiving her gold watch and chain lying on the mantel.
shelf, he took them ud and suspended the chain round.
his neck, deposi:ing the watch in his waistcoat pocket.
The prosucutrix reque,ted hint to hand them back to her,
but he refused, promising to return them in half an hour.
He then left the house with her, and proceeded to
Windmill-str*t, Haymarket, when he ran away from
her with the watch and
,chain, and she saw ntithii.g
more of him and her property "until she met hill
on Monday night last at the Holborn Casino, when
she gave him into custody. When examined
on Tuesday he stated himself to be a •clerk in the Bank of
England, and acknowledged that he had taken away the
watch and chain, but with the intention of returning
them. He sent the constable to his mother, a lady resid-
ing at Dalston, who came to the court a short time after-
wards, and produced the watch, but not the chain. Mr.
A'Beckett accordingly remanded the prisoner unit yes.
terday, to give the officer an opportunity of making
further inquiries.

• Police-conmtable Wells—l omitted in my last examine
tion to say when the prisoner was in my custody he said
he had part of the property at tome ; that he had sent a
friend with the watch to deliver it to the prosecutrix,
and if he had not given it to her it was not his ftnit, but
he wo-ild advertise for it. The female, however, told
me be had pledged ir. I t iok the note froM the pri-
soner to his in,:tber, aod she came to the court and pro-
duced the watch to me.

Emily D-vo Iport—Toe watch produced is mine, and
the one the prisoner stole fr me. There ha 3 ►•eea a
new glass fixed on it shine then.

Seiornon —I pr ,duce the chain. The pa- one'',
mother gave it to me. She fiund it in the pri,ontr'-
bed-r,),,rn iinme iiately afar returning !ionic; last Tu-i -
day, and she is ready to prove that. I Mere), want to
show that neither watch nor chain ever was out of my
client's possession.

Prosecutrix—His mother told me the watch wa:
pledged for 2/. 83,

Mr. Solomon . to pro-ecutrix—When you gave hin
into custody, did he not say, Come to my lodgings,
and have your prop,rty
Prosecutrix--Yes ; but I did not know where he
lived, or what he was. Ile did not day the wataa and
chain were at home with his mother, but he said, " I dare
say I can get them." I have no desire to prosecute. All
I want is my property. If that's restored, if the ma-
gistrate will peewit, I will withdraw the charge.
Mr. A'Beckett—l can have nothing to do with that.
Mr. James Palmer, one of the ofE,:= rent the BAnk of
England, said that he had t-earched the Looks, aad
among the 800 clerks employed by the directors, he
could not find such a name a$ prisonet4. The prisoner
was quite unknown to him.

.......
The prisoner here, with some hesitation, said that he
belonged to the National Provincial Bank of England, a
statement which Mr. Solomon, in reply to a remark
from Mr. A'Beckett, said he believed to be true.
Mr. Solomon—l think there is nothing in the case to
show that he took the property with intent to steal it,
for when he sent to his mother it waa immediately
brought here.

Mi. A'Beckett—Not immediately.
The prosecutm, in reply to Mr. A'Beckett, said that
the prisoner had at times given her money, but she had
not seen him from July to the day on which he stole
her watch and chain. He had never lent her any money,
nor had she ever allowed him to wear the watch before.
Mr. A'Beckett—l should like to know where the
watch has been.

The prisoner's mother was then called, and on being
sworn, said she took the watch out of pawn for 2/. 10s.
Tim duplicate was upstairs in her son's bedrooni, and
when she heard from hiar she went and redeemed it,
and brought it to this court. The chain wa-; not pledged..
Mr. Solomon—l hope after what you have heard, sir,
that you will see there was no guilty intention of stea!-
ing the property, and that you will deal with the pri-
soner for illegally pawning, as such is the fact.
Mr. A'Beckett, to the prisoner—It is very lamentable
to see a young man of respectable connexions, and in
a good social position, placed in such a degraded situa-
tion as you are, caused by forming bad condxions and
c.mtracting bad habits. You have by this ant lirlught
your tatnily and yourself to disgrac,, ti,:t I have any
doubts as to whether you took the property with guilty
intent of stealing it ; and as I think the jury would be,
of the same opinion, and give you the benefit of that
doubt, I will derd with the ca‘e. I think that aftery(m
foolishly took the watch, you pledge:l it to eatisly your
depraved habits, and I hope thi 4 will be a warniag to
you for the future. I shad deal with y.O fur unlawfully
pledging the watch, and fine 3,,,u 51. fir that ofFenct,
and, in default of payment, commit you to prison for
one month.

LAMBETH.--Yesterday Meg. Pocock, the widow of
a sergeant of police, who had set ved for some years it,
the P, or Camberweltdivisioe, and was universally re-
spected by his brother officers, but who had terminated
his services as well as his existence in the Crimea, at-
tended before the Hon. G. 9. Norte!), in compliance
with a rates-age sent to her by the magistrate. •
It will be recollected that, owing to the defective state
of the commissariat in the East in.the summer of last
year, an a plicitiun was in.de to the polio, fir a certain
number of respectable and well-conduct, d sergeants to
join the army, and act as ..torekeepers ; and several of
the sergeants belonging t i the different divisions veins'.
teered their services. Such was the enthusiasm of those
who had se voluuteered, awl so great their cenfidence in
the liberality ated consul ration of the Gevernment, that
they never thought of making any terms as t their pre-
sent emoluments or future settlements, and the conse-
quence was that theuiseive-e their wives, and families,
and earticwar'y the latter, were placed in a most pain-
ful 'situation.
In IVlrs. Pocock's case her husband, as before stated,
went away without making any particular arrangement
as to her future support, believing, no doubt, that she
would continue to receive his pay from Scotland-yard,
and that therefore she could nut be inconvenienced in
the means of provelirg fir herseif and his children. 01,
making application to Siotland-yard, however, she was
told that her husband had left the service of the police,
and as he had ceased to be a member of that force he
could no longer receive the pay as a constable. . She
text applied to the Horse Guards, and finally to Sir
Charles Trevelyan ; but in neither department had she
received the slightest assistance, and in the depths of
poverty she applied to Mr. Norton at this court for some
temporary assistance from the poor box. Her distress-
ing case at the time got before the public in the usual
channels. On Wednesday Mr. Norton received a com-
munication, dated Balaklava, April 2, enclosing four-
teen sovereioms, and as its contents relaCed more
particularly to her, the magistrate forwarded a message
to her, requesting that she might attend at the court
yesterday. She was accordingly, in attendance, when
Mr. Norton real to her a communication received
by him from Balaklava, by which it appeared that
her case, and that of the widow of another assistant.
storekeeper, named Elliott, formerly a sergeant in the K
Division, had attracted the notice of the assistant-store-
keepers of the commissariat at Balaklava, twenty-one of
whom had subscribed 141., which had been forwarded ti
Mr. Norton, to be apportioned at his discretion for the
relief of Mrs. Pocock and... Mrs. Elliott, and that of the
widows and families of such other of their deceased com-
rades as might come under Mr. Norton's notice.
In reply to the questions of the magistrate, Mrs.
Pocock said that, since she bad been last to the court,
she had received a letter from General Fader, which she
took to the Patriotic Fund-office, and there it was kept.
The gentlemen then agreed to allow her 10s. a-week for
three months.
Mr. Norton was glad to hear this, and remarked that
he felt certain that the reason the public did nut respond,
and subscribe iu her ease, which waa truly a distressing
one, was solely from a feeling that, under the circuni-
starices, the Govenament should provide for her and her
children. For his own (Mr. Norton's) part, he had no
doubt whatever that the Governinent would do Horne. thing in her as well as in similar cases, particularly after
the promise and dec,aritten of General Filder,
Mrs. Poe ,ck expressed her grati!ude for the kind in-
terest his worship was taking in the matter, and for the
substantial relief he had ou the fornLir occasion afrmle
her ; and left the court.

•
INGENIOUS FORGERY:--A well-dressed man, wearing
the ribbon of a foreign order at his butt inho/e, went a
few days ago t the shop of M. Marital'. taker, at St.
Denis, woo, an,touncinis, that he was about to establish
a boar libg school in the neighbourhood, made arrange-
ments for the Supply of 10 loa,ve, of bread a day. Be
said that he dii.uld make a role of pavii,g cash, and he
p:-rtieulhrly requested the to write receipts to his
bills the moment the money was given. To,prevent any
aiteihii;-:, he Nairl, a; fraud on the part of h s servants, he
asked M. Main,n fora specimen of hid writ ng, and the
baker wrote his name and the date of the month on one
„f his I,IP-heads, aliowing the stran;. er to take with
him another. 13,-fors leaving, the strap
the baker whether he supplied asked
school any other boarding-
school in the neighbourhood, Lied the tradestnananswered
that the school of Mme. Maidin the Rue des Ursu-
, lines, war, supplied by him. Shortly after the stranger
went to Mine. Mal aid presents:{to her a written quest from from the baker for a load of 500 f. on the round
that h„„ wife had gone away with the key of
hisg cash-
box. Tin request was written beneoth one of the bill
heads of the baker, and the signature was apparently
his. The lady without hesitation, gave the money ;
but it subsequently turned out that she had been de.
frauded. A c.onplaint was made to the police, and they
an ae•Ye search. jitter the man. It appeal,
tr
t'isiit7l:eatit:racently,coulueitted several robberies i
tee
nun ingeuiQua zuavior,—(Mignoini's moven