The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-25 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.-Frederick Stearns was charged
with having forged a bill of exchange for 271. 10s., with
intent to defraud William Fownes, innkeeper, of Erith.
There was a vast crowd to witness the proceedings.
Mr. Mullens, of the firm of Bush and Mullens, ap-
peared for the prosecution, and Mr. Binns for the de-
fence.

Mr. Fownes said : I have known the prisoner
four or five years, and have had transactions in busi-
ness with him. I have purchased corn of him, and
was in the habit of paying for the corn by my ac-
ceptances at two months. After I had had dealings
with him, he asked me to accommodate him with my
acceptances, which I agreed to do. My first was for 171.
odd, which he ultimately paid. The second was for
201., and the third was for 251. It was in the year 1850
he asked me for the accommodation of my acceptances.
The 251. became due on the 7th of June. Shortly before
that day he said to me that he would not be able to take
it up. He told me he had won 301. on the horse Daniel
O'Rourke at the Derby, and that the shop had been shut
up where the money had been left. He asked me to
give him my acceptance for 201., and said that that, with
what he had, would enable him to take up the bill for
251. I gave him my acceptance for 201., and I was
afterwards sued on the 251. bill, and I paid the amount
and costs (in the whole 411. 165.). I saw the prisoner
about the time I paid the money in Leadenhall-street.
He then said the 201. bill would be all right. Soon after-
wards the 201. bill became due, and I received a letter
respecting it. A Mr. Strickland called upon me sub-
sequently at Erith, with a bill which looked much like
the bill I had accepted for the prisoner for 201. The
amount was 271. 10s. The acceptance seemed to be
that which I had given the prisoner for 201. The
words i‘ twenty pounds" were written in the body of
the bill. I never gave the prisoner any acceptance for
271. 10s., and I never authorised him to alter my ac-
ceptance from 201. to 271. 10s. lam now being sued
in the county court at Dartford upon that bill. In the
left corner are the figures 27/. 103., which were not on
the bill when I accepted it. That part of the bill was
entirely blank. There was a great space between the
word " twenty " and the word "pounds," and the word
" seven " has been squeezed in, and the "ten shillings "
added.

Mr. Binns cross-examined the witness, with the object
of showing that he was not quite qualified to decide at
the time he gave the acceptance for what amount he had
given it..

The witness on re-examination said the prisoner, upon
being told he had committed forgery in the bill, stated
that it would be all right, and that he would take up the
bill and send it to Erith.

Robert Hogg, clerk to Mr. Milligan, of Hungerford-
wharf, Strand, corn-merchant, said—ln June the pri-
soner was indebted to Mr. Milligan, and on the sth of
June he called to purchase twenty quarters of oats, and
gave me the bill for 271. 108., purporting to be accepted
by Mr. Fownes, to put to his credit. I delivered to
him an account in which I gave him credit ; and after
the bill was due I advised Mr. Fownes that it was
dishonoured, and I gave it to Mr. Strickland. It is now
in the same state in which it was when I received it.

The prisoner was remanded, but was told that bail in
two sureties of 501. each, and his own security in 1001.
would be accepted for his appearance.

GUILDHALL.—WiIIiam Weeks and Patrick Grady
wers brought up on remand before Sir Peter Laurie, the
former charged with stealing 16 dozen of port and other
wines, value 601., from the premises of Mr. Burgh, of
42, Bartholomew-close, and the latter with receiving a
portion of the same, knowing it to have been stolen.
From the evidence given on a former occasion in this
case, it appeared that on the 24th of August last the
prosecutor discovered his wine-cellar had been entered
from the back of his premises by a hole made in the
walls and his entire stock of wine taken away. He im-
mediately gave information to the police, who were,
however, unable to obtain any clue to the parties com-
mitting the robbery until Saturday evening last, when a
man of the name of Hughes met the officer, and, being
drunk, insisted upon being taken into custody as a
disorderly character, and while at the station he
divulged the names of the prisoner Weeks, and a
man of the name of Hurley, the latter at present
in the House of Correction, at Holloway, for an
assault upon the police, as the offenders, and at
the same time described the manner in which the robbery
was effected. On being brought into court, however, to
give evidence against the prisoners, he denied everything
he had stated, or that he had ever stated anything con-
cerning the matter to the officer at all. The prisoner
Weeks, when apprehended, said he had two bottles only,
and it was no use "pumping" him, for he should say
nothing else. Grady admitted he had bought two bot-
tles of wine of Weeks for is. 6d.
Edward Welling, a lad about 14 years of age, said he
had been under-deputy at the lodging-house, 2 and 3,
Back-court, running at the rear of Mr. Burgh's premises,
and remembered in August last going down stairs to-
wards the kitchen, when he was stopped by " Sailor
Jim" (Hughes), who told him to go back, as some' men
Were tossing in the kitchen: Witness afterwards went
down and saw " Billy Weeks" making a large hole in the
ground, and subsequently saw him • with Hurley and
"Sailor Jim " coming up the stairs with bottles of wine
under their arms and in their pockets.
Sir Peter Laurie—What time in the day did this take
place ?
Witness—Seven o'clock in the morning.
Sir Peter Laurie—Was, this kitchen adjoining Mr.
Burgh's cellar ?
Witness—lt was, sir, and almost on a level with it,
so that, by boring through the ground in the kitcten,,
they came upon the wall at the back of the cellar. t
Sir Peter Laurie—There is quite sufficient to place the
witness Hughes in the dock on the charge of iobbeiy.
Sir Peter Laurie then ordered Hughes into custody,
and said that in all his experience he had never heard
of such a determined mode of entering a house, as that
of burrowing under ground, and with such a system no
person was safe from depredations night or day.'
The prisoners were then remanded to be brought up
with Hurley.

MARYLEBONR—George Dunn and Ann Ward,
who has gained some notoriety amongst the police, were
plaeed'at the' bar for final examination on the charge of
murderously assaulting police-constable Westcott,
246 D: •

Westcott, who was accommodated with a seat, in con-
sequence of the injuries he had received, deposed that
about half-past five o'clock in the afternoon of the 12th
of October, he was on duty in Porchester-terrace, when
a lady and gentleman came up to him and told him that
they had heard cries of murder. Witness walked to the
spot and saw the male prisoner, who appeared to have
been fighting, and heard him threaten to do for some

one. He also saw two men taking away a third, who
appeared to have been fighting also. Witness went up
to the male prisoner, and asked hink what he had been
'.oing to the man ? The prisoner, without saying a
word, put his hand on witness's shoulder, while the
woman came behind him, and put her arms round his
neck, and attempted to bite him. Not succeeding in
this, she kicked him with great violence in the abdomen,
and knocked him down across a quantity of slates and
tiles in the road. She then knelt upon him, and said, "You
, I've done for you now." Witness, although in
great agony, managed to get up, and obtaining assist-
ance, went back and took both prisoners into custody.
.The woman bit the other constable, and the man struck
him as well. The male prisoner resisted very much, and
kicked witneds twice in the stomach, struck him on the
head with his fists, and swore that, if he touched him, he
would do for him. Witness was so much hurt from
these repeated assaults, that he could not move for some
length of time ; he afterwards so far recovered as to
walk slowly to the station. Witness had been ill ever
since, and suffered much pain at present across his loins.
Mr. Ansell, surgeon, said he found Westcott labour-
ing under a shock of the nervous system, with a pain in
the abdomen, the result of some injury inflicted. This
was followed by inflammation internally, slight in degree,
but dangerous in its nature. He was in an extremely
debilitated and nervous condition, but was now recovering
slowly.
-

The prisoners in defence said the were very drunk, and
did not know what they did.
Mr. Broughton committed them for trial.

WORSHIP-STREET.--A young man, named James
Carry Sergeant, was brought up, on remand, before Mr.
D'Eyncourt, charged with having fraudulently obtained
the sum of 10s., as bounty money, from Captain Grey, of
of the Ist Tower Hamlets Light Infantry Regiment of
Militia, he having previously enlisted and received a
similar bounty as a recruit in another regiment.
Sergeant-Major Rushton stated that on the 21st ult.,
the prisoner presented himself at the rendezvous of the
regiment in the Mile-End-road, and offered himself as a
volunteer. In answer to the usual questions, the pri-
soner declared upon oath that he had never before en-
listed, and was not attached to any other regiment, and
having been duly ;nspected and approved by the medical
officer, the customary bounty of 10s. was handed over
to him by the adjutant. It having been subsequently
ascertained, however, that the prisoner had previously
enrolled himself in the 2d Regiment of the Tower Ham-
lets, on which occasion he had also received the bounty,
he was at once given into custody, and witness was in-
structed to press the charge against him to the utmost
extent of the law, as a caution to others against the
commission of such an offence, for which there were so
many facilities that it would doubtless be otherwise of
very frequent occurrence.

The first enlistment of the prisoner was then proved by
Sergeant Hill of the 2d Queen's Own Regiment of Tower
Hamlets, who was present on the sth ult., when prisoner
presented himself as a volunteer, and who saw him re-
ceive the bounty from the adjutant.
The prisoner declined offering any defenhe, but an
earnest appeal to the magistrate to take a lenient view
of the case was made by his father, a decent-looking
elderly man, who stated that his son had been brought
up.and. educated in a creditable manner, and he was,
therefore, most anxious that he should be spared the in-
fliction of an ignominious punishment.
Mr. D'Eyncourt said that he could not for a moment
listen to the application, as he regarded it as a very grave
offence, and he considered that it could not be too ex-
tensively known that although the Militia Act which
had been recently passed contained no express provision
to meet such a case, it could be summarily and severely
dealt with under the 64th sec. of 42 Geo. 111., c. 90,
which enacted "that in case any militiaman at the time
of offering to enlist shall deny to the officer, sergeant, or
other person recruiting for men that he is at the time of
his so offering to serve as militiaman then actually en-
rolled and engaged to serve, or shall offer himself to be
enrolled to serve in 'any other regiment, battalion, or
corps of militia, every militiaman so offering himself
ishall, on conviction thereof, be committed to the com-
mon gaol or House of Correction, for any period not ex-
ceeding six months." In the present instance, although
it was the first case of the kind that had been brought
under his notice, he felt it his duty to inflict the extreme
penalty; but taking into account that the prisoner had
already been some time in custody, he should order him
to be imprisoned for the further term of five months.