The National Register.
London, England, 1815-02-05 00:00:00

86

A few drys ago a little girl, about twelve years of age, walked
deliberately into the sea, near Sunderland pier, and attempted to
e:row a her.elt. A pilot observing her, rushed into the watery dente' t.
ro:d brought her ••Itle ashore. On questioning the child as to the came
o: her attempt at suicide, she declared that U. was in consequence of
her mother in4,ting upon ber leorxing to write, and obliging her to
p-ovide money to pay for her instruction, by gatihyring and belling
atickt.!

A great number of burglaries and other robberies have lately been
committed in Hertfordsiiii e, partielarly in tlie neighbourhood of
11,,ekerel and Bishops Stortford. Vickery and Bishop, of Bow-
street, Office, were in consequence engaged by the Gentlemen of
that pal t of the country, to endeavour to detect the robbers, which
they succeeded doing at Bishops Stortford, where they appre-
hended Thomas Turner and William Pratt. The officers proceeded
to search their bowies, where they found a large ti uss of broad cloth,
a large quantity of stationery goods, and also ironmongery and otl►er
articles, w Inch have been examined by the different parties whose
Louses have been broke open and robbed, and who indentified them
a!!. as part o the goods stolen froin their premises. There if: re also
found on their premises by the Officers near one hundred skeleton
keys of all descriptions and sizes, a number of dark lanthorns, and
various other kinds of implements, which were recognised to be used
in horse-breaking; several loaded and unloaded pistols. After
the officers had taken the men into custody, they were recognised as
tUo notorious poachers in that part of ;i►e country. They have been
examine:l before the acting Magistrates of the district, and fully
cennmtted for trial to Hertford gaol.

About one o'clock on Sunday afternoon, two men went to the
house of Mr. Merrington, fanner, of. Bntsbury, Essex, during the
absence of the family, and asked the female servant, who was left at
home alone, for something to cat; but she told them the family were
gone to chapel, and therefore she could not give them any—at the
same time she very prudently kept the door closed. The villains
then proceeded to enter the house at the chamber window, by means
of a ladder, and immediately began to break open all the bureaus,
drawers, hutches, &c. that they could find, wherein they found a
coasiderable booty, with A% hich they made a precipitate retreat.
While the robbers were busily employed above stairs, the servant
ran to Mountoes•ing church, a distance of amile and a half, and gave
an alarm of the robbery, when parties were immediately dispatched
in i iTeriast d'rectiot s, and the villains wore soon after taken in a field
near the above church, in the act of packing np the spoil.—Monday
they underwent an examination at Chelmsford, and were fully com-
roitted fur trial. -One of the villain►.•, when apprehended was in the
act of Mari ing a loaded pistol from his breast pocket, which he had
woltai in the same state from.lllr. Merringtotes, and which there is no
doktrt he intended to have dischareed at the constable who secured
h:in, but who tortmiately caught hold of his arm at the moment. A
third man, who was seen in company with these villains, and who is
supposed to have been employed as a loak-out, is in custody.

We hre *terry to announce that a horrid intirder was on Wednesday
conanitted'on James Nbirrloch, a shopkeeper, at Latidgric, a small
village, near Whitbitro, Scotland. The following are reported to
be the circumstancei :

. This poor man was, we understand, visited a few days ago by
an old acquaintance of the same name' who was a soldier, and
itely discharged. This person had been hospitably entertained by
the deceased, who kept house by himself ha that lonely part of the
cuuntry. The neighbours were surprized that the shop was not
opened on Wednesday-, as usual, and in the afternoon several of
them assembled and forced open the door, when, to their astonish-
ment, they found the visitor and pretended friend, of whom they
etiqnired what was become of the deceased, and were answered, that
lie•had gone to Whithurn, whence he would return in the evening.
This answer only raised their suspicion. They rushed forward,
when they mere presented mall the awful spectacle of the murdered
body ! The man immediately attempted to make his escape, but
was quickly overtaken, and secured. The weapon with which this
barbarous act was perpetrated, was, it is said, a carpenter's adze,
which nearly divided the head of the deceased. The man, when
taken into custody, bad the watch of the deceased, and some Bank
butes concealed in his clothes, and some silver in his stockings. lie
wits immediately conveyed to Liqlithgory jail, whence be was:
. brought last night, on a warrant from the Court of Justiciary, under
the charge of a mater of that Court, and Serjeant Major Inglis, of
V.° Edinburgh Police establishment, and lodged in the Tolbooth
of this city. It is thou ht will bo Lott:lei thisdity to stand
ifiaL—(Ediabvres Paper.