The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-17 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE

BOW-STREET.
A young man, named John Alfred Gabell was yesterday
brought up by Robert Tyrrell, a constable in the service
of the General Post-office, and placed at the bar before
Mr. Twyford, the sitting Magistrate, on a charge of steal-
ing three letters, containing various sums of money, which
came intu his possession by virtue of his situation as letter-
carrier to the Twopenny Post-office.
Mr. Peacock, Solicitor to the Post-office, who conducted
the prosecution, called the following witnesses to prove
each case :

Mrs. Mary West, wife of Charles West, a paper-maker,
residing at No. 5, Mail Coach-yard, Shoreditch, being
swo:n, stated that on Tuesday last, the 13th instant, be-
tween nine and ten o'clock in the morning, the prisoner
came to her house, saying, that in consequence of his hav-
ing had the misfortune to get intoxicated, he had on the
Thursday previous lost a letter containing a sum of money
which he had for her, upon hearing which she said it was a
bad job for her, as her family wanted bread, and she
should be under the necessity of writing to her husband,
who was then in Haverfield, Berkshire, to ascertain what
the amount of the money, which the letter contained, might
be, but the prisoner offered to write himself and to pay
the postage down and up ; besides, when an answer could
be received he would refund the money, be the amount
what it might. He then wrote for her to her husband, and
gave her the letter to put into the Post-office, with 9d. to
pay the postage, at the same time giving her the duplicate
money-letter receipt produced, which she laid on the
mantel-piece, saying lie would much rather pay Si. than
have any further trouble about it, and the letter was sub-
sequently posted by her little boy. The prisoner came
to her house again on Thursday morning last, between
the hours of nine and ten o'clock, inquiring if she had
received any answer from her husband respecting the
money, and she told him she had not ; upon which
he said that the duplicate receipt he had left with
her, had been inquired for at the Post-office, and she
said if it was of any service to him he was welcome to it ;
but on his saying that he dare not sign it as his handwriting
would be known, and on her declaring that she could not
write, he asked if her daughter Sarah Paget could write,
and on witness answering in the affirmative, she wrote
" Mrs. West" on the receipt produced. The letter pro-
duced, dated 4th of August, 1839, addressed to Mrs. West,
Mail Coach-yard, Shoreditch Church, with the words
" Money letter," and " post paid" in the corner, and signed
" Chas. West," was from her husband, and in his hand-
writing. Witness never received it nor never saw it until
Thursday in the afternoon, and the receipt produced pur.
porting to be the mark of Mrs. West was not made by her.
Mr. Robert Smith, Superintendent President of the
Twopenny Post-office, proved that the prisoner was a
letter carrier in his department for the last two or three
years, and his district for delivery was in the Kingsland-
road, Shoreditch. The letter produced and addressed to
the last witness appeared to have reached the Post-office
on the evening of Monday, the sth inst., and to have been
sent out for delivery on the following morning at eight
o'clock. Witness had no doubt that the receipt produced
was delivered to the prisoner for the purpose of procuring
the signature of Mrs. West, to whom the letter had been
addressed, and the prisoner ought to have delivered the
letter about nine o'clock on the same morning, and he
should have brought back either on the same day or
on the following morning the receipt duly signed.
In consequence of a communication that had been
made to him, he called the prisoner before him on
Thursday morning, when he told him that he had been re-
presented to him as having returned his money receipts in
a very irregular manner, at the same time producing to him
the duplicate money-letter receipt for a letter which had
been given to him for delivery on the 6th inst., addressed I
to Mrs. West, asking what he had done with the letter in
question, and the original receipt, to which he answered
that Mrs. West was out when he delivered the letter, and
he gave it to her daughter. After remarking that it was a
very insecure way of leaving a money-letter, without a pro-
per discharge, in case the party should say they had never
received it, he asked why he had not called again to get the
receipt signed, and the prisoner said he had done so several
times, and the person to whom it was directed being a
hawker of china, he could never succeed in finding her at
home. Upon being questioned respecting the original re-
ceipt, the :prisoner said they had lost it, and he got the
duplicate signed that morning. Witness having some
doubts of the truth of his statement, said, " You are quite
sure that you delivered the letter on the morning of the tith
inst. ?" to which he replied, " I am ;" and after he had left
the office, witness, upon sending to Mrs. West's house, as-
certained that the letter had never been delivered to her.
Constable Tyrrell stated, that in consequence of instruc-
tions he had received, he went to Hoxton in search of the
prisoner, and about half-past three o'clock in the afternoon
he found him delivering letters in Great James-street.
Upon telling him he should consider himself in cus-
tody, lie searched him, and found in his waistcoat-
pocket the original money receipt, bearing the Post-
office date-mark of the morning of the 6th instant,
with the address of Mrs. West upon it. On drawing his
attention to the mark at the bottom of the receipt, he
asked him was it the cross of the party to whom the money
belonged, and he said it was not, but he had made it him-
self ; and on asking him if he had delivered the money-
letter, he said he had lost it. Witness: then inquired if
he had made such a statement at the Post-office, and he
said he had not. The prisoner was then conducted to his
lodgings, No. 30, Reeves-place, Hoxton Old Town, where
a further search being made in his pockets in the presence
of Cole, a sub-sorter, who identified the letter of Mrs. West
as belonging to the receipt, and upon questioning the pri-
soner about it, lie said he had kept the contents to pay tip
his treasury, but it was his intention to have replaced it as
soon as he could.
Mr. TWYFORD said the evidence was pretty strong in
this case, and inquired if the other cases were as complete.
Mr. Peacock said that lie should require additional
evidence previous to a committal, and therefore he should
apply for a remand.
The next charge was for stealing a crown-piece from a
letter.
Mrs. Anne Rapley, wife of Edward Rapley, a sawyer,
residing at Waltham Abbey, in Essex, proved that on the
13th inst., she inclosed in a letter a crown-piece, and
addressed it to Mr. Thompson, 99, Old-street, Shoreditch.
Mr. Alexander Thompson, a saw-maker, residing in
Old-street, Shoreditch, was expecting a remittance from
the last witness's husband, which lie did not receive, nor
was the letter produced marked " post paid" ever pre-
sented to him. He knew the prisoner as a twopenny post
deliverer, having seen him in the district every day, and
having frequently received letters from him.
The next charge was for stealing a letter containing two
crown pieces.
Mr. Smith, the witness in the first case, proved that on
Thursday last he was in the solicitor's office in the Post-
office, when the prisoner was asked whether the let-
ter produced, directed to " Miss Tunstall, 2, King-
street, Bartholomew-square, Old-street-road, and which
was broken open was in his delivery, and he said it was
not, but that the receipt had been sorted to him, and he
had signed for the latter; witness then looked at the blue
paper which had been inclosed in the letter, and from the
marks upon it observed, that it had contained two-half-
crowns, when the prisoner had it. The letter appeared
from the date stamp to have reached the twopenny post-
office between two and three o'clock in the afternoon of the
13th instant, and would have come into the prisoner's pos-
session about half-past three o'clock. The letter was not
in his delivery, and he should have transferred the receipt
to the proper letter carrier, instead of procuring the letter
from the clerk of the money book and signing for it.
Ty7ll proved that, on searching the prisoner, he found
in addition to the letter referred to in the first case, the
letters alluded to in the ethers ; and on questioning him
• o,eir contents, he said he had disposed of them in
a theb °MUstraill.T"( \ TannerYFOßD ahe
sked the had done the others.
priz:er if he had any defence
to make to the charges made against him, n.. having
ceived an answer in the negative, be was ordered to u.
remanded for a week,

MARYLEBONE.

RIGHT OF FOOTWAY. ForZM ; time past various at-
tempts have been made at Hampstead, Kentish-town, and