The Sun.
London, England, 1837-05-22 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.
John Whiteside, a cabdriver, was brought before the
Lotto MAYOR on Saturday. Policeman Fletcher, 19,
stated that on Thursday, at about twelve o'clock, a cab,
driven by the defendant, made a sudden appearance in King
Nyilliam-street, and dashed along until coming in contact
with a stage coach and other vehicles it tumbled in pieces,
and a cabman and a drunken colder named Billy Holmes,
rolled over each other under the feet of the horse, which
kicked at them as if determined to he revenged for the ill-
treatment he had evidently undergone. The cabman was
very drunk, as well as the cobbler, but the latter had more
cunning in his cups, and somehow staggered out of sight in
the midst of the hubbub caused by the occurrence. A stone
botti,!, containing nearly a gallon of gin, fell from the arms
of the cobbler at the feet of the witness. As the cobbler
was well known to be in the habit of carrvina about with

h m, when on a " sprese," what he called his wet blunder-
buss, it was believed in ti.'e watchhouse that the gin belonged
to him, and it remained kr .the hands of the superintendent.
The great matter of astonislnuent was, that, notwithstanding
the furious kicking of the horse and his desperate kicking
when he stopped, nobody was hurt.
The defendant's master had lie greatest reliance upon
the cabman, who was a man 01 strict integrity, and of
sober habits to ; but the cobbler w.lO, it appeared, quite ir-
resistible with his wet blunderbuss, and was accustomed to
ride about in cabs, and to blow the bro..;ns out of his drivers
with that formidable weapon.
The LORD MAYoR asked the defendant why he was so
beastly as to drink to such excess, particularly with a man
whom he knew to be disposed to make ever' body drunk ?
The Cabman—My Lord, it was beastly ; I:, ut he never
pays if we refuse to drink with him. If you'd soy so, he'd
poke his wet blunderbuss down your throat, and f ,defy you
to get over it.—(A laugh.)
The LORD M AYOR—W hat did this cobble: give you to
drink ?—The Cabman—Let me see : we had rum ant.l
brandy—gin and hollands—and gin and beer.—(Laughter.) 1
The LORD MAYOR—What ! all that morning ?—The
Cabman—Yes ; and we had cloves and peppermint—pop
—and two pots of half-and-half to cool it ; and then we
had a double shot out of the blunderbuss, to prevent the
cold from raking our insides.—(Great laughter.)
The LORD MAYOR—And then you were shot out of the
cab, I suppose ? The cabman—The last thing I remember
was hearing the gin go clown my throat.
_ _

The LORD MAYOR—I never heard of so monstrous a
thing. But where does the cruel cobbler get the money ?
Several persons who were in the Justice-room said that the
cobbler was a right good fellow, who occasionally drew sums
of money from the bank, and then pitched leather to the
devil the moment he mounted a cab, in which it was be-
lieved he would ride some time or other after the leather.
The driver of one of Mr. Hamilton's stage-coaches from
Hampstead stated that the horse and cab came down plump
upon his vehicle, and did it great damage. He was sure
the cobbler was in the habit of tumbling from cabs, for lie
fell " quite natrally, and jist as though he wanted nothing
else."—( Laugh ter.)
The cabman's master hoped the Lord Mayor would be
good enough to have some conversation with the cobbler,
for the sake of the drivers. It was quite impossible for a
master to carry on his business, while any encouragement
was given to such persons. The worst of it was, that the
queer customer would sometimes give the driver a sovereign
for driving him about for is couple of hours, but that was
nothing to the damage that :night be done to other vehicles,
or to his own.
The LORD MAYOR—I think you may also take into ac-
count the danger to people's lives and li,:lbs:
The Cabman—My Lord, the cobbler swore he wouldn't
pay me a farthing if I refused to drink, and it was with
great difficulty I could prevail upon him to pass 3 single
public-house on my way from Deptford.
Mr. Hobler—Well, I dare say he will pay all the damage
when he is sober. _

The Cabman—Nobody knows when he is so. I don't
think that any body ever saw him sober yet ; and he needn't
care how often a cab goes to pieces, as he knows how to
fall out of it.—(Laughter.) ,
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, let him know that if he re-
fuses to pay the expences he shall come before me ; and as
for you, if your master did not give you so good a character,
you should have some days in prison.

POLICE COMMITTEE (GUILDHALL.)
Sir Peter Laurie presented to the Committee a return of
the number of prisoners brought to the Justice room, Man-
sion-house, and Guildhall, during the last year, setting
forth the nature of the offences, and how they were disposed
of. He said, that from the return, it appeared that of
1,130 prisoners charged with felonies and misdemeanours,
the Aldermen had, in the exercise of their discretion, sum-
marily convicted as many as 669, under the Vagrant and
Petty Trespass Acts ; the remaining 461 having been com-
mitted for trial. The return furnished by Mr. Hobler,
whose perspicuity and talent were so well known, showed
that, of 170 prisoners sent for trial from the Mansion-house
only 14 were acquitted—nine bills were ignored, but for-
tunately, the Magistrates were not responsible for
the conduct of Grand Juries. He made those remarks
to show that the course taken by the Aldermen was one
which worked well for the public. In convicting summa-
rily in cases of felony they were, perhaps, stretching the
law a little as it at present stood, but what was the result ?
The Commissioners on the criminal law, consisting of seve-
ral very eminent lawyers, had reported that the powers of
the magistracy should be increased, thus recognising the
propriety and advantage of the course pursued in the city
for some time. He firmly believed that a very large mass
of the crime in the metropolis arose from the astounding
fact that of those tried throughout England and Wales
every third prisoner was acquitted. The plan he advo-
cated was of peculiar utility in cases of juvenile offenders.
They were at once sent to a prison where wholesome dis-
cipline could be enforced, whereas, when they were sent
for trial it was impossible to prevent contamination from
taking place. He was glad to find that Sir Frederick Roe
had given his evidence to the Commissioners in favour of
summary convictions, and he hoped it would be more gene-
rally adopted.
The returns were then ordered to be entered on the
minutes.