The Sun.
London, England, 1830-12-04 00:00:00

FIRES IN MIDDLESEX.

The two Sheriffs, Chapman Marshall, Esq., and
limn Henry Poland, Esq., having learned, through the
usual *norm of intelligence, that the property of a farmer
named Higgs, who resides at a village called Preston, ntron
two miles from Harrow, was art fire to on Monday evening
determined, with a very commendable seal for the public
gond, to Adopt immediate prnceedings to secure the county
again►t future incendiary operations. They accordingly
advertised a meeting on the subject, in pursuance of which
Mr. Marshall and Mr. Poland, accompanied by the sub-
sheriffs, went yesterday to the place appointed for the
met-
ing, but whether it was attribntalsie to the shortness of
the notice, ot• to the aloggiolutess of the county' magistrates
resident in the district, the only gentlemen in the commis-
sion who tnet the Sheriff were Mr. Serjeaut Pell, whose
Activity in the public concerns of the county cannot be
too highly praised, and Major Abbe. Mr. Hutch, another
Magistrate of the county, was, it appeared, unavoidably
absent.

The Sheriff of illidillesex atat;al 0 the Magistrates, that
having observed thus incentliarles were AMA; prat:killing to
destroy the property'of persona in the county, and having
learned that the Duke of Portland, the Lord Lieutenant
of the county, was riot of town, l-Ae considered it tit be his
ditty not to remain an 'inaetive spectator of the atrocities
' which had began to sithibit, thenarelvea so close. t4l
!metropolis..
Sticant X'4 ,t, and 41s)or Aeas expresses! their
anxiety 4q Itv the progress of the incendiaries, and spoke
in strong tenni of approbation of the zeal of the Sheriffs
on the emergency.
" '

No formal resolution was passed at the meeting; but
the Magiatrates would .attend 4 meeting oit sasl.o4, it
Edgware, where they expected they ahu 4 ioveAlti warm
co-opetation c f tLeir kittylittA 'de cominiowitin, anti
aleaattliiinVula no doubt be taken to secure the pro-
perty of the county as much as poasible.
Judging from the conversation which took place between
the persons resident in Harrow and its neighbourhood,
yesterday, and the local inquiries made by our comimmi-

,tant, it tentild app,..ar that Lord Ilroughim's observations,
attributing to the n aeistracy a want of val, and activity
and disinterestedness, were aeon-ably correct.
Mr. Higgs, the far,:,!., 'tsp. property hail been dr.
strayed by fire, htivirm been ia lot meal that the sheriff wt
It Harrow; waited anon pion for the purpose Of stating the
particulars of the 'calamity. The farmer had gone to spend
Nfoutlay at the house of a friend within a short distance of
hie own, and between six and /coven o'clock in the evenine
he saw his stack Of beans on fire. The flames rapidly
spread over his property, and before they were extinguiehed
the poor man was a loser to the amount of 6011. lie had
not the most distant grounds for st.peeting any of the men
in his employment. He had been in the habit of allowing
the ha!f score of men who usually worked for him:l2s. am'
144 a week during the summer, anti the pet iOd at which
he had commenced the reduction of their wages was about
ave weeks:sgo. No murmuring whatever had been heard,
and all the poor men usul their utmost exertions to extin-
guish the are.

- Mr. Bodkin asked whether Mr. Higgs suspected any
person who was known in the neighbourhod ?—The farmei
by no means believed that the mischief was done by c
neighbour.

Mr. Higgs afterwards stated a circumstance which
struck him and his neighbours as rather strange. A
cripple mendicant had made his appearance near the
farmer's house on the day the fire took place, and one of the
farmer's family threw him an alms of 2d. The farmet
observed that a penny would have been quite enough, and
the beggar walked away, but was afterwards seen in the
neighbourhood, and was spoken of as a great object of
compassion. It occurred to several that the stack of
beans was set on fire by that individual, who might have
assumed the disguise of a vagrant, in order the more
effectually to accomplish the nefarious object of destroying
the property. The suspicion Inciame the stronger when
it was considered that the road near the stack was an ex-
tremely unfrequented one, and that not a single stranger
had been seen to pass on the day the fire took place, with
the exception of the cripple mendicant who had received
-the alms. The farmer said he did not see the face of the
suspected pert on, but a neighbour took great pity on the
man, and gave him 6d. ; so that if he was an impostor,
he was one of the most skilful and II Igitious of impostors.
The Sheriff• requested that Mr. Higgs would attend the
meeting of the Magistrates on Saturday.
The Sheriff, we understand, intends to visit other parts
of the county, with the view of co-operating with the
Magistrates. He considers that the emergency is of such
a nature as to justify hint in adopting the course he has
putsued, however unusual it may be deemed, and uncon•
genial with the forms of the country,