The Sun.
London, England, 1808-04-27 00:00:00

Pottcp,.

. a
, Yesterday
.case camp betbre Mr. Justice READ
for investigation, w h :h, 'upon a viet.v of the circoin7
stances, -appears more like a romance than any thing;
that :could poSiibly arise out sf any case that m:ts
ever brought belbre a Magistrate to ground a charge
of suspiCion of felony upon, and the whole would
appear almost incredible 'if the evidcnee had not,
beep given upon' oath.. The circumstances are as'
follow :-.--Yesterday, about eleVen O'clock, a soldier
called upon Mr. Beal, who 'keeps the Feat hers public-
house, in Hart-street, Covent- garden, and addressed
him in a familiar manner, 'asking him how he did,
&c. Mr. Beal recolleetingbim to have been at bis
house often, to visit a soldier who skas lately quarter,
ed uphn him,;ons,%vered in a free way. The soldier ,
told him he had got plenty of money, and had ac- '
Otally more than 1).6 wanted, and took a handful of
guineas out of his pocket, and sbewed them to bin.
Mr. Beal discovered that he had much more in his
pockets, and observing that he had been drinking.
freely, with a view to ascertain whether he .had got.
the money honestly. as well as to prevent hits from'
losing it, questioned him as to how te,hertme
sensed of it, as he was not it, a state fit. to take care.
of it himself. fie.answered;that,he was. m
street tharmornine-:, about. •-six o'clock, nenr Fleet-
market, when an eklerlyGehtlemao,„wbo hal the
dialeB of a YOrkshireinan, came .up to itinvi: and ad
dressed him in la farbiliar way, and asked hint' to hold:
his purse for him Cilj he returned, which would in,
a short time, which heagreed *and be saw the'Cienl•
dernan go into a house in zeourt Fleet-sb efg, sup-
posed to bea house of with a girl .thAt liehad
waited full Cum.' hours near the spot; but the Gontle-
man did not return:- Mr. Belli asked him if he I, iiew
how much Money he had. got, And he ans%%„„a is
the negative. 'Mr.:Beal ,was much %astonished at the,
tale, andadvised him to go again, and try to.tind the
Gentleman, which the soldier readily agreed toe, and
Mr. Real and a neighbour accompanied hire, the
soldier pointed out No. 9, in Black Horse-court,
Fleet-street as the house where the Gentleman and
girl entered ; but the people of the house deniedithat
any such people had been there, and recommended
that application should be made at No. 7, in the: same
Court, which was done, but. with no :bettor success,
They then tried, at the suggestion of the'soldier,
house in I:'oppitt's-court, Fleet,street, but could hear
no tidings of the Gentleman, Th'ey..then. proT
ceeded on their way back to Mr. Beal'a house ; they
had tiot proceeded far before Mr. Beal discovered
that pintas. were -dropping. out of the -.soldier's
pocket, andt oft exantination, found that he bad a
hole in .his :poeket :' he tied up the hole„to ineverkA
'any more beitig I,.st. When they got:.to_ Nlr.
house agailv, l: prevailed upon the soldier to ascer-
tint .hot' ninel, money he had. On searching, his
pockets, one hundred, and eighty guineas, were
tbund ; • Bank Alotes to the amount of. -#Bl. and,
- a promissory note for fifty pounth, which her
Came due ye.sterday, from Messrs. Cliaringain's ;. he
prevailed upon him to agree to deposit it in a banker's
hands fur safety, and they went to Messrs. Wright
and Co. Henrietta-street, Covent-garden, who, after
hearing the circumstances, refuSed to take money,
and advised Ahem to go to Bow-street Odice, whicti
they accordingly did, where the soldier pet sisted in
the above extrzordinary tale,- and .said he had no
more money about him ; but oo • Itivett seat chit%
`him, he found more cash upon hint, to the aMonnt
of 61. -325: Cid.

On his being asked by the Magistrate what had
'became of the purse he had,said the money was in,
he replied it was not in a purse, • but was tied up in a
'pocket-handkerchief, which he produced, nod it
proved to be a common red linen One.
The account he gave of himself was, that his
name is.Josepli Moody ; that he is a seaman by pro-
feSsion, and was master of the Britannia, Collier _five
years, of, which his brother is owner; and about
two rears: since he inlisted, intO the 3d Regiment of
. Foot Guards, and, now bekaged to Colonel Oh-
now." COMpany, in .the lid Battalion, which was
now lying in the Knightsbridge Barracks.
He condnaed himself during the examination in
a very rough and oc;:,,ntre manner, although with. a
deal of good humour.. -He ,Was ordered to be de-
tained till the. business i 3 further inquired • into.
When the. gaoler was about to take him away; ha
held:out his hand to shake hands with Mr. READ.

On Monday night an Inquisition was taken by the
Coroner, at the Ship public.house, at the bottom of
EsJex-street, Strand, on the body of a decent dressed
man, name Unknown, found drowned near the stairs
at Esiex,-street, the FYI= morning. it appeared the
deceased was rirst discovered-lying in the tratd, by a
\vornatu''who went to pick pp the coals which 'dropped
from the barcr,o4. The tide was out, and the woman
imtnediately atArtned the coal porters at work on the
craft. ''..Phebody was then taken to the workhouse to
be owned. A wound of large magnitude appeared on
the Inrehead ()kale deceased,- which-Seemed to have
been received by his falling against a atone. tialf a
guinea, a silver watch, and a paper containing a calcu-
lation of work done by a plumber, were foetal in the
pockets of the deceased. The watch had stopped
about one o'clock, previous to which it is supposed
the deceased fell into the water in a state of intoxica-
tion. The stairs at the bottom of Essex-street were
destroyed. some time since, and any person in a state
of intoxication, 'who incautiously went to that part
of the water side, during the night, must inevitably
fell in. Mrs. Cleaver, the landlady of Aux Ship
public•house adjoining the stairs, heard some one
pass the windoW tetV after the: house wits Atli up,
and then the dog harked. . Under all these tireum-
stances, it was evident the deck,asee. had tallen from,
the stairs, and the Jury found their Verdi&--..-icci-
deni4 Death. ,

EXTRAORDINARY AtTRRLOT AT St7lCrzsc.—Yeater,..
day evening, atioet 7 o`elock,- a bay about i tiyears old,
who is tiltr son of :ali6i3t.' WOMan in Hungerford-st met,.
in the Strand; having t nld his mot her an-tin t rut h
persisted in it, she him time tv consider of miter.
ng his declaration, o+ The hoy, how.
ever, went into the hed-rooni4 Wrote a letter to tits
moiher, ilippe:i o;rt of the house unrerveived by
nriy one,- The tnother;-sYkirtly -after that, tollorved
him towards the wat,:r-Eide; when she tOond that.
SOlTle'boys who were at play nem. liTir.2,:r:oYd-mat-
ket, bad prevented hi:n .firori dr woi la bituselrin
the Thames his intent;on of thin,g I..ltielt he hnt.
states in hi; getter that he left b0h134 Wm.