The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-21 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.—Dec. 20

Charles Felix Lascarde, 22, a Frenchman, was in-
dicted for having stolen five rings, value U. 10s„ the
property of Mary Ann Thompson. He pleaded guilty
of stealing three of them, and also of having stolen a
watch, value 31., the property of John Thomas Wood.
The prosecutrix in the first case met the prisoner at a
coffee-house in Norton-street, at an early hour on the
morning of the 3d instant. He accompanied her home
to her lodgings, 15, Buckingham-street, Fitzroy-square,
and remained with her till the middle of the day. When
he was about to leave, he said he had no money, and
took a ring from his finger and gave it to her, and ' said
it was worth 31. 10s. He then went away, and directly
afterwards she missed five rings from a small basket on
the looking-glass, and when the prisoner was appre-
hended three of them were found upon him. The watch
he stole from a fellow-lodger.
The Assistant-Judge said the robbery of the watch
was bad enough, but the other was one of those pecu-
liarly base cases which the Court always treated with
marked severity. He then sentenced the prisoner to
one year's hard labour.
Gustave Julius Getti, 25, a German, was indicted for
having unlawfully attempted to obtain a diamond ring
and other articles, value 2451., the property of Richard
Attenborough, with intent to cheat him thereof.
Mr. Parry prosecuted.
It appeared that on the afternoon of the 30th of No-
vember the prisoner went to the shop of the prosecutor,
a pawnbroker and jeweller, 68, Oxford-street, and sig-
nified to the shopman that he wished to see a diamond
bracelet which was in the window, ticketed 1501. Ac-
cordingly it was shown to him ; and he then wished to
see a necklace, the price of which was 60 guineas, and
then a diamond ring, value 351. The shopman did not
like the appearance of his customer. and while showing
him the ring placed the other articles aside by way of
precaution, upon which the prisoner desired them to be
replaced before him on- the counter, and taking up a
piece of paper he wrote, down the figures and made
an offer of 2301. for tlie three articles, which was
accepted. He desired them to be sent to Christie's
Hotel, and the shopman repaired thither at the
appointed time. Being suspicious, he took the pre-
caution of making some inquiries of parties at the hotel,
the result of which was that he was convinced he had
a swindler to deal with. The prisoner, it appeared, had
on the same afternoon gone to the hotel and engaged a
suite of apartments, as the agent of a Count Beckendorff,
who, he said, would arrive that night, at half-past ten
o'clock, with the countess and family. After doing this
he went to Mr. Attenborough's, and his hiring of the
rooms no doubt was part of his scheme to get the pro-
perty in question into his possession. When the shop-
man was shown into the apartment where the prisoner
was, he took the bill (the shopman had not delivered the
goods) and went into an inner-room, as if to submit it to
some one, and on his return he inquired if the ring could
be altered in size. He was answered in the affirmative,
and then he wished to take the ring into the inner
room, and said something about "Madame," to induce
the shopman to suppose it was for a lady. The shopman
said the ring could not go to the lady—" Madame" must
come to the ring ; and then the prisoner finding that he was
suspected, went back to the room as if to fetch "Madame,"
but he slipped on his overcoat and went down stairs through
another door. As he was about to leave by the street door,
one of the servants asked him if he had paid Mr. Atten-
borough for the jewellery, when he replied, "Me no
English." He was detained and given into custody. It is
almost needless to say that no Count or Countess Becken
dorff made their appearance at the hotel. When searched,
the sum of twopence-halfpenny was found on him.
The prisoner, through an interpreter, in his defence,
said in effect, that he had acted on the instructions of a
friend at Paris, who was to have arrived that night ; but
he had destroyed the letter, as it related to private
family matters. He said nothing about his having
wanted to show the ring to Madame.
The jury found him guilty, and the Court sentenced
him to eight months' hard labour.
Mr. Buchanan, a magistrate, said there were in the
House of Correction, at the present time, 21 Germans,
who were regular scamps and thieves, and he had no
doubt the prisoner was one of the gang.
The interpreter said the prisoner wished to be sent
back to Germany.
The Assistant-Judge.—The sooner you get back to
Germany after the eight months the better. (A laugh