The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-26 00:00:00

THAMES.

IMPORTANT CONVICTION.--John Ilan and Thomas
Maynard, carmen, were brought before Mr Paget, charged
with being in the Commercial-road for the purpose of
committing a felony.

Porter William Dunaway, a detective police sergeant,
stated that he saw the prisoners at the corner of Grove-
street, Commercial-road, on the morning of Thursday, the
18th of the present month. They were standing opposite
a publichouse drinking out of a pint pot. There was a
waggon laden with a hogshead of sugar standing close to
them. Directly the prisoners Eaw him Hall jumped into
the waggon and drove off in a hurried manner, while
Maynard run down Grove-street, as fast as he was able, and
made his escape. He called to Hall, went to the horse's
head, and said " Holi on a bit." The horse and van
were stopped, and he said to Hall, " You have had a nice
companton—a convicted thief. Where is that parcel that
was lying hero just now, against that hogshead of sugar ?"
The prisoner said that he had not seen any parcel whatever.
He said, " Oh, yes, you have—you must have seen it. It
was lying here just now, tied upon a sack." The prisoner
said, "I have not seen it at all; I have seen nothing," He
told him to stand aside and let him look, and he took from
under his feet a sack, containing a chisel, a piece of tin, and
soma bent hoop-iron. He asked him where he was
going to take the sugar to, to which he replied, to a grocer's
shop in Whitechapel. The prisoner also said the other
man who was with him must have put the parcel in the
waggon. He told the prisoner be must have seen May-
nard do so, as the parcel had been shifted from where he
first saw it against the hogshead. He then allowed Hall to
depart with his horse and van, and deliver his sugar. He
apprehended both prisoners last night. Dunaway then
fully explained that sugar robberies were very frequent,
and that a set of lawless villains were constantly prowling
about the docks, and in the Commercial-road, the great
thoroughfare from the East and West India Docks, to
plunder the hogsheads of sugar on their way to the grocers'
shop, and as few grocers had the machinery or means of
weighing hogsheads of sugar, many of these robberies were
not detected. The tin over the sample hole was removed
by a chisel, the sugar raked out by a piece of bent hoop-
iron, and the sugar deposited in a sack. These robberies
could of course only be committed with the connivance of
the carmen, many of whom had been convicted, The
chisel, the pieces of bent hoop-iron, and the sack were the
very implements to commit a robbery of the eescription he
had spoken of. The sack contained a small portion of
sugar, and, as well as the hoop iron and the chisel, had
been used before. Maynard was a notorious thief, Hall was
in the employ of Pope and Cook, town carriers.

Francis Kelly, police-constable 130 H, said ho took May-
nard into custody in December, 1857, for stealing a horse
and cart, a hogshead of sugar, and fifty sugar loaves,
and the prisoner was convicted of that robbery and sentenced
to 18 months' imprisonment and hard labour.
Mr W. Cook, carman, said—The prisoner Hall has been
in our employ for 10 years, and I have nothing to say against
him. lle left Scott, another carrier, to come to us.
Maynard denied that he was in the Commercial-road at
the time mentioned, but Dunaway positively swore to him,
and was confirmed in that and every other part of his evi-
dence by Kinwood, a police-constable, 191 H.
Hall said he had been a carman a great many years. He
was never in custody before. He did not know how the
sack and other things got into his van.

Mr Paget said this was a very important matter, and that
Dunaway was rendering good service to the public by look-
ing after the sugar thieves. Ho know that sugar merchants
were frequently plundered in the way stated by Dunaway.
Ho had no doubt at all that the chisel, the hoop iron, and
the sack wero to be used in plundering the hogshead of
sugar in Pope and Cook's van. Ho discharged Hall with
a caution, and advised him to avoid bad company in future.
He sentenced Maynard to three months' imprisonment and
hard labour for being in a public street with the intention
of committing a felony.

The Tallahassee at Halifax,

(From the Index)

The following is part of the official report of
Commander Wood :
" Richmond, Virginia, Sept. 6.
" Hon. S. R. Mallory, Secretary of the Navy.
" Sir,—l found in the port of Halifax on my
arrival there her Majesty's steam ship Duncan, 84,
bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir T. Hope. I
called promptly upon him, though he took no notice
of our presence by the customary boarding and
offering the courtesies of the port. Neither on our
arriving nor leaving were the honours of the side
extended. On being shown into his cabin, ho did
not rise from his seat, nor shake hands, nor offer me
a seat--!As manner and tone were offensive. I men•
tion this to show his animus. I stated that 1 had
come to report my arrival—that I wanted coal, end
as soon as it could be procured the ship would go
to sea. lie replied by saying that of course I knew
the regulations which governed my stay in port ;
that he, however, had nothing to do with it ; that
the governor must settle that with me. lie asked
me what my orders were in regard to neutrals. 1
replied that my orders were particular and explicit
upon this point—to respect sedulously all their
rights. Whet were my instructions in the case of
vessels which had recently changed flags cr were
` whitewashed ?..—Unless the papers wero clearly
fraudulent I would let the vessel go. Had I seen his
letter to Capt, Morris, of the Florida, on this subject,
called forth by Capt. Semmes burning the ship Mar-
tiban under English colours ?—I had read it. His
Government, he continued, required that in all such
cases the vessel should be brought into an English
port to have the case decided on, or adjudicated (I
am not eertuiz, of the words). I told him what had
been my course, a few days before, with El vessel
with fraudulent papers—that on examination of a
ship's papers I must determine my action. He re•
peated the above in substance again, and remarked
there were a great many vessels now being white.
washed, and it was a subject which required deli.
cate handling, and on which they were greatly in-
terested. The above is the substance of our inter-
view on the subject. With the governor I dil not
speak on the question.—Respectfully, &0,, your
obedient servant,
J, TAYLOR WOOD, C.S.N."