The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-12 00:00:00

lAPril 21

!April 16
May 5
April 16
April lit
April 12
April 12
(April 16
April 20
!April 12
April 20

ISontharapt. May 5
Iced (') are convoyed by

A letter from Breslaw, in the Prussian Gazette,
states that on the Ist of April the mountain of Zobt was
observed to be enveloped in a thick smoke. while a rumbling
noise, like that of distant thunder, was heard. When ce
smoke had cleared away, it was discovered that the chapel
which being built on the summit of the mountain e
had
disappeared, having been swallowed up in an abyss. No
further details, nor any account of the number of victims,
are given.
THE CONSOLIDATED FUND.—The only Act of
Parliament passed in the present session (Victoria, 15th,
chap. 1) is to apply the sum of 8,000,0001. out of the =soli.
dated fund to the gerylco of the preaut year.

LONDON,

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT
OLD COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice TILLYOURD.)
FORGERY.—Charles Clifford, aged 45, described as a
labourer, was indicted for feloniously uttering a forged
receipt for the sum of 60/., with intent to defraud George
Holgate Foster, and others. The prisoner pleaded not
guilty.
Mr. Clarkson conducted the prosecution, and the
prisoner defended himself.
It appeared from the evidence that the prisoner, up to
1850, had been in the habit of banking with the London
Joint Stock Bank, but at the commencement of that
year the balance standing in his favour was only ss. sd.
Nevertheless a cheque which he sent in for 121. was duly
honoured, and he afterwards sent in another which was
stopped. The prisoner then sent in his pass-book to be
examined with his aceount, and it was discovered by the
bank authorities that an entry of 601. appeared in the
pass-book, but there was no corresponding entry in the
ledger of the bank, which circumstance led to the ap-
prehension of the prisoner on the present charge, as the
entry of the 601. was not in the handwriting of
any clerk attached to the bank. The prisoner
had no settled residence or occupation, but
had some indirect connexion with the Stock
Exchange, and generally gave his address as at the Hall
of Commerce, or Garraway's Coffee-house; bat last
month his wife called at the bank, with a cheque, and
she was asked where she got it from. She at once de-
clared that her husband gave it her, and she was then
asked where he lived, but she refused to say, and she
was detained while an officer went in search of him.
He was found waiting in the neighbourhood, and he was
immediately told that his pass-book, which had been
sent in a few days previously, contained a forged entry
for 601., which purported to have been paid into the
bank towards the close of 1850, since which time the
prisoner's account had been balanced. He denied that
it was a forgery, but his denial was not satisfactory;
and he was, therefore, given into the custody of the
police.
On being called upon for his defence,
The prisoner denied the accuracy of the charge, and
solemnly declared to God that he paid 601. into the bank
either on the 30th Sept. or the Ist of Oct. He further
said that if proper inquiries had been instituted no
doubt the fabrication of the entry would have been traced
to some of the employ .es in the Bank.
The Learned JUDGE having summed up,
The jury found a verdict of Guilty, but strongly re-
commended him to mercy on account of his poverty.
He was sentenced to transportation for seven years.
Arnold Garber, William Wagner, and Philip Kessler
were placed at the bar to receive judgment.
These prisoners were convicted at the February ses-
sion, principally upon the evidence of an accomplice,
named Solomon Krehcour, of endeavouring to pass a
forged cheque at the London and Westminster Bank.
Sentence upon them was respited in the expectation
that they might make some disclosures with regard to
an alleged system of forgery of which the bankers of
this country and the continent were the intended
victims.
Mr. CLARKSON, who appeared for the prosecution,
said that the prisoners had made no such disclosures,
and he therefore prayed the judgment of the Court.
The Learned JUDGE said he was directed by Mr.
Justice Williams, who tried the case, to order them to
be transported for ten years.
dreTshseedptrhiseoncenraGrteribnera,
nasealaceitawdams
that he was innocent, and that the charge had been
al en a
nv
ei
rn g
at
nh
de ba r
declared a d
trumped up against him by the witness referred to, in
order that he might himself get out of trouble.
wilful
and Jackson pleaded guilty to a charge of
and corrupt perjury.
Mr. CLARKSON, who was instructed for the prosecu-
tion, said that this charge bad been preferred by the
ners of Inland Revenue, in consequence of
evidence given by the prisoner in favour of certain par-
tiesCommissio charged with working an illicit still. There was no
facts which he knew to be false; but appeared
doubt that the prisoner had upon oath deposed to cer-
tainit
that he was very young, and that he was to some extent
under the influence of other parties, and possibly, under
these circumstances, the Court would be inclined to
take a lenient view of the case.
The Learned JUDGE sentenced the prisoner to be kept
to hard labour for nine months.
Isaac Cooper, 24, fisherman; Thomas Knott,,3o, fisher-
man; and Richard Palmer, 27, fisherman, were indicted
for piratically taking possession of a fishing-vessel upon
Jurisdiction of the Admiralty
tohfeEhnigglhansde within the
.as,
In another count the prisoners Were charged with
the offence of simple larceny in stealing the same
vesseL
Mr. PAYNE, who appeared for the prosecution, said
that this indictment was framed under the statute of
the 11th and 12th William the Third, which enacted
" that if any person having the charge of a
British vessel, and being a British subject, should
unlawfully take possession of such a vessel it should
be deemed an act of piracy," and subjected the
party convicted of the offence to a certain punishment
prescribed by the Act of Parliament. The Learned
Counsel then proceeded to state the facts of the case,
and it appeared that the vessel in question was named
the Experiment, and she had formerly been a revenue
cutter, but had been purchased by a gentleman named
Howard, who was the owner of a number of fishing-
vessels, to be emplsyed for the same purpose at Great
Grimsby. She sailed from that place on a fishing
voyage on the 4th of January, and at that time the
prisoner Cooper acted as master, and there were also on
board a man named Denny, who was the mate, and a
seaman named Smales, and two boys. The ordinary
course of proceeding on such occasions was for the vessel
to remain at sea fishing three or four days, and then to
return to the port with the fish that was taken, which
was then sent up to London. It appeared that instead of
doing this the prisoner Cooper, in the first instance, after
they had obtained a quantity of fish, proceeded to Scar-
borough, where he sold the fish, and then wrote a letter
to the agent at Grimsby, stating that the vessel was in
a bad state, and required repairs, and he requested that
some money should •be sent to him for that purpose.
The agent, in consequence of this, dispatched a person
to Scarborough, under whose directions some repairs
were done to the vessel, and she proceeded to sea again,
and the prisoner Cooper continued fishing until they
had got a cargo, when, instead of returning to Grimsby,
as it was his duty to have done, he sailed to Sunder-
land, where he sold the fish that had been caught, and
also some. of the tackle belonging to the vessel. He
thed proposed to Smales and Denny that they sbould go
across to Holland, and get a freight and' smuggle it
home; but they both refused to have anything to do
with such a proceeding. While they were at Sunder-
land, the prisoner Palmer, who went by the name of
" Dover Dick," came on board, and he also pressed them
to joinin the smuggling trip, and said that he had fre-
quently been across before. They still, however, re-
fused to join them, and Smaies proceeded immediately
to Grimsby and stated what had occurred. At length
it appeared the three prisoners took the vessel away
from Sunderland, and after fishing about the coast a
short time, they sailed across the Channel, to a port
called New Dieppe, on the Dutch coast, and upon
their arrival they sold all the fish they had taken
for a bottle of gin and somo tobacco, and very shortly
afterwards they sold a large quantity of chain cable,
three anchors, a compass, and other articles belonging
to the vessel, and, in fact, almost dismantled her. The
affair subsequently came to the knowledge of the British
consul, who ordered the prisoners into custody, and they
were soon afterwards brought over to England with the
vessel to answer the present charge.
The prisoners said nothing in their defence.
The jury acquitted Knott, who appeared to have
merely obeyed the orders he received, and found the
other two prisoners guilty.
Mr. Justice TALFOURD observed that the offence of
which the prisoners had been convicted was a very seri-
ous one, and he sentenced Cooper to be transported for
ten, and the others for seven years. The Learned Judge
at the same time observed that the man Smales appeared
to have acted very well in the matter, and that his con-
duct deserved some consideration at the hands of the
prosecutor.
Mr. Howard said it was his intention to make him
a present for the very proper manner in which he
had acted.

FOURTH COURT.
(Before RUSSELL GURNEY, Esq., Q.C.)
In the course of the afternoon a jury were em-
panelled in the grand jury-room.
George Shirley, 16, poulterer, was indicted for
killing and slaying Ann Shirley.
Mr. Platt prosecuted, and Mr. Parry defended.
It appeared that the prisoner and his father reside
in Vincent-court, 'Westminster, and the woman co-
habited with his father. The prisoner had always
been very kind to her, contributing to her support.
She was a woman of most drunken and abusive
habits. On the sth of March the prisoner came home
while she was cutting some bread, and she imme-
diately began to abuse him, taxing him with having
stolen a penny, which he denied, and was much
frightened at her violence. She continued for some
time to abuse him, and at last threw the knife at him,
which fortunately fell at his feet. She then struck at
him, until at last ho seized the poker and struck her
a blow on the side of the head, but not a very severe
one. She, becoming ill, was taken to the West-
minster Hospital, where she died the next night.
The surgeon who attended her and made a post-
mortem examination of the body, said he never saw a
body so fearfully diseased, and it seemed difficult for
him to explain the exact cause of death.
Several witnesses gave the boy an excellent ohs-
ratter for kindness and humanity.
The jury Acquitted him.
etabbiriiel
, R linen
Billington, 28, labourer, was indicted for
„,r. W. Sweeny, with intent to kill her.
The r Cooper prosecuted.
h,a,an:di t
ts h 12: 0.31 er ci
suht ri x and prisoner (who from his savage
thal nieZ., likeness to the murderer Good goes by
with
,anuatralaelrcioshbawboimteadnt,ogianthear, slloedegpiinTihnouaireooimn
beenerssta.:bleeiainnd
she
22d of mare, Rosemary-lane. On the night of the
.Ider
1"
thE7 came home, and were quarrelling,
threethpelancefao.unsdhtehawt
at
woman was awoke by the cries of
hospital, where
and close in the region
found to be two inches deep,
vers ad the abdomen
regi°ll shetawkeonmatno badthe
of the kidneys ; another tra-
life had been savee:lll arid it was a miracle that her
Tbe poor creature,
injury to her ;
be prevailed upon. who seemed very ill, could not
was in the room via, e evidence of the woman who
Jale jury found nitlllite conclusive.
but d the Court to say who did the
til Guilty.

MOND/CY

Mr. GURNEY told him it was a very brutal case;
and if the woman had died he would have had to
answer the offence with his life. He was sentenced
to two years, and hard labour.
This ended the business of the session, and the
courts stands adjourned until Monday, May 10.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
WESTMINSTER.
ATTEMPTED MIIRDER.—FeIix M` Gee, a furniture-
broker, who has been in custody since the 12th ult.,
charged with feloniously shooting Michael Collins,
with intent to murder him, under went a lengthened
examination.
The unfortunate victim of the prisoner's deliberate
attack has been ever since an inmate of the West-
in consequence of the severity
of thes t 'West-
minster ri Hospital,jf
received, but little expectation
He was, however, sufficiently
m existed i n
oninjuries
e iar e he
c owhere,vhadery .
convalescent on Saturday to attend at this court, a
circumstance at which Mr. Broderip, the presiding
magistrate, expressed his gratification, admitting
that, from the perilous position the unfortunate suf-
ferer bad been in at one time, he had hardly expected
to have seen him.
for
r others
holdingn
Michael Collins said that he resided at Buckingham
Rochester-row,
•
the meetings of
theaand progressivewas
o
which had
been taken in York-street, Westminster. Although
the key of the place had been handed to the treasurer
of the society for the body, prisoner set up a claim to
prisoner
p r e mis east'
be considered the landlord, objected to a piece called Sir
ciety,Cottages,
John Barleycorn, showing the folly of people drinking,
being acted, was frequently called to order at the
meetings, and made himself very offensive. At about
half-past seven on the evening of the 12th prosecutor
found that prisoner had taken possession of the pre-
mises, and refused to let his brother members in ;
upon which he (Collins) partially broke the door in
with a piece
of quartering, The prisoner was stand-
ing with a pistol in one hand and a drawn sabre in
the other, and they repeatedly asked him to come out,
but he refused, and swore he would shoot the first
man who crossed the threshold of the door. He then
struck at prosecutor with the sabre, declaring that
unless he removed his arm, which was resting on the
half-shattered door, he would cut it off; but prose-
cutor removed. and avoided the blow. Prisoner re-
peated again and again that whoever entered should
pay for his temerity With his life, and prosecutor then
told him that he had no more business in the pre-
mises than the rest of the society, and no right to
bare armed himself in the way he had, and while
in conversation prisoner fired the horse-pistol he held
in his hand at him, and the charge entered his abdo-
men. He deliberately raised the pistol and fired it,
and prosecutor was then carried away.
Prisoner and his solicitor both questioned the
prosecutor in a most irregular way—the former re-
peatedly interrupting his advocate—and endeavoured
to elicit that the pistol had gone off by accident, but
received the reply that he had raised it and fired as
described. They next, in the very face of this, ques-
tioned the prosecutor in order to show that he had
exasperated the prisoner by some offensive epithet,
which prosecutor admitted he had applied with refer-
ence to a meeting about the wrongs of Ireland, which
prisoner wanted to have held at the hall.
William Sherman proved that some of the shot
with which the pistol was charged also stru ck him.
Mr. bliran, an inspector of the B division, stated
that having heard what had occurred he went and
found the prisoner armed in the room,
and when be
told him his determination of taking him into custody
he put down the pistol and sabre and surrendered.
The inspector found two pistols loaded and a quantity
of shot, powder, &c.
Police-constable Saunders, 192, B, proved that he
and two other officers were present while the prisoner
stood for some time in the menacing position described,
when he fired and while he reloaded, and admitted in
reply to Mr. Broderip's question, that-they made no
effort to disarm him.
A clerk from the office of Mr. Games, for the prose-
cution, asked far a remand, owing to the surgeon being
unavoidably absent.
Prisoner was remanded for a week.

HORRIBLE MURDER in LAMBETH

A WOMAN'S HEAD CUT OFF BY HER SON,

A sensation, which it would be difficult to describe,
was caused on Saturday afternoon, throughout the
neighbourhood of Kennington-road and Lambeth, in
consequbey a consequence
yoofutnhg man upon his mother, a e following frightful murder
respect-
ably-connectedcom-
mitted
female, of the name of Elizabeth
Wheeler, a widow, about 44 years of age. The fol-
lowing particulars connected with this dreadful tra-
gedy were obtained on the spot a few minutes after
the melancholy occurrence :
The house in which the tragedy took place was No.
1, Durham-place, Kennington-road, and immediately
facing Bethlem Hospital for Lunatics. The building
was occupied by Mr. Wickens, a dyer and scourer, a
family named Toms, and the unfortunate woman who
has been thus prematurely hurried into eternity, and
her son, a young man about 28 years of age.
On Saturday afternoon, at a few minutes before
one o'clock, Mrs. Toms, who was in the house at the
time, had her attention directed to a loud scream,
proceeding from the upper part of the building,
which was succeeded by a heavy fall of something on
the floor. She immediately went to ascertain the
cause, when the son of the unfortunate woman made
a hasty retreat out of the building, carrying in his
hand a stick and a knife, Mrs. Toms having entered
the apartment occupied by the poor creature, she
was horror-struck at finding the trunk of the woman
lying on the floor in a pool of blood, and the head,
which was completely severed from the neck, was
lying on a table in the same room, the flesh still
moving to and fro. Mrs. Toms instantly hastened
down stairs, and informed her husband that the
young man had murdered his: mother. By that pe-
riod he had proceeded some distance up the Kenning-
ton-road, in the direction of the Common. Mr. Toms,
however, never lost sight of him, but followed his
track until he got within
a few yards of Chester-
street. At that point police-constable Lockyer, No.
135, came along, and having had his attention directed
to the alleged murder, he forthwith secured him. He
at once admitted that he had murdered his poor mother,
and informed the officer that he first struck her on the
head with an iron, and afterwards cut her head
off by means of an axe and a knife. The constable
at once took the man to the station-house in Ken-
nington-lane, and on his way thither he told the
officer he was now sorry that he had committed the
murder, but the fact was he could not help it, for his
mother and other persons were continually torturing
him and following him about. He also informed the
same officer that he had been confined in a', lunatic,
asylum, and had not been liberated long. The mur-
derer, when arrested, did not offer the least resist-
ance, and to all outward appearance did not feel the
awful position he had placed himself in.
From the state of the room there is no doubt enter-
tained but the unfortunate female was in the act of
leaving the apartment with a saucepan of greens in
her hand in order to strain off the water, when her
son gave her a violent blow on the head, which felled
her to the floor, after which he must have knelt upon
her body and performed the act of decapitation. The
saucepan was lying near the door, and the steam was
midst of the pool of blood was lying a pillow, which,
it is believed, the murderer had placed there to pre-
vent the gore from flying over his clothes. When
still ascending from the greens therein. In the
apprehended by Lockyer not a spot of blood was per-
ceptible upon his clothes, and his hands were per-
fectly clean, leading to the supposition that after
perpetrating the dreadful deed he had washed his
hands.

In the afternoon the prisoner was examined before
the Hon. Mr. Norton, at Lambeth Police-office. The
prisoner, on being placed at the bar, looked wildly
around him, and appeared to be either unconscious or
indifferent to the position in which he was placed.
He was dressed in a black frock coat, black waistcoat,
and light woollen trousers. He had a black scarf, or
neckerchief, twisted rather than tied round his neck.
He is a well-made man, with large black eyes, regular
features, and an intelligent countenance.
Mr. Norton inquired—How old are you ? Pri-
soner (carelessly)—Twenty-eight.
Mr. Norton—What is your name ? Prisoner—
Thomas Cupper Wheeler.
The following witnesses were then called :
Eliza Phillips said, in answer to questions from the
magistrate—l reside at No. 1, Durham-place, Lam-
beth-road. I have known the prisoner from the
time he was a little baby. I knew his mother,
whose name, I believe, was Elizabeth Wheeler.
I have resided in the same house with her since
August last. She was there before we went there.
We found the prisoner and the deceased there. They
lived on the second floor, and we lived on the first
floor. The prisoner was living with her when I went
there. His mother informed me on more than oneh
occasion that there was something the matter with
himh .
him. I have frequently seen him in the house_
uwsie
to
flat-iron in his hand, and also a hat.c e .
his hand.
mother did not fear though,
The prisoner—My
go up and down stairs with a fiat-iron or hatchet in
gentlemen.
a youn y -
itmhpeocssriibtmlee
.twoitchonwcehiivceh
nform you that
are charged, and it is my duty
to inform
and may be
nA,loaregishtorartreihTel
every word you say will be taken down,
used iii evidence against you.
and the
hatchet witness—l have seen him with the iron
tbiTnghe tthaisn
himself, at frequent
hatchet in his hand, muttering to
The prisoner—l don't fear anything.
intervals.
as I have no one else to speak to, and my mother was
The prisoner--I have a habit of speaking to myself,
always blackguarding me.
The witness—About three weeks ago I saw him
with tho fist•iron in his hand, muttering to himself,