The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-08 00:00:00

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

HOW PICKPOCKETS LlVE.—Three young men named
John Brown, Wm. Durant, and Joseph Hives or Shaw, all
well-dressed, were charged before Mr. Knox with loitering
in.the Haymarket for the purpose of committing a felony
Mr. Edward Lewis, of Great Marlborough-street, ap-
peared for Hives.
The evidence of Sergeant Cole, 23 C, went to show that
on the previous night ho saw an elderly lady and gentle-
man come out of an alamodo beef shop, in Tichbourne-
street, and saw Durant leave the others and go up to the
side of the lady, and put his hand down by his side and feel
the lady's pocket. He then followed the prisoners with the
view of getting assistance, when he saw them walk up and
down the Haymarket two or three times, and then met
Sheen, 272 B, who had also been watching the prisoners
pushing amongst persons in the Haymarket. The prisoners
then all went into Barnes's public-house in the Haymarket,
and they were on coming out all taken into custody. On
searching the prisoners £lO was found upon them, and a
pair of spectacles upon one of them.

Sheen corroborated Cole, and said that he had known
Brown four years, and had seen him convicted at the Lam.
beth Police court, and in prison several times. He (Brown)
always dressed very respectably, generally as a midship-
man, and this season he had sported a saddle pony and a
pony and trap.
Sergeant Cole said—Durant had been convicted several
times of picking pockets.
Mr. Lewis addressed the magistrate at some length on
behalf of Hives, and said that he had only recently come
from Yorkshire, and had accidentally fallen into the pri-
soners'
s'
Mr. Knox committed Brown and Durant for three
months each with hard labour, and said he would remand
Hives for a week that inquiries might be made.
to company.
the police.He was in. respectable employ and not
known

The Court of Assizes of the Aube has just tried
a man named Bezain, aged 89, on a charge of poi-
soning a widow named Berthier, who had lived with him
at Troyes. It appeared from the evidence that the woman
Berthier, who had been separated from her husband, in
1840, soon formed au illicit connection with the prisoner, and
had been living with him nearly 20 years at the time of her
death. On her husband's decease she came into possession
of about 16,000 f., one-half of which she advanced, without
security, to the prisoner, who employed it in stocking and
cultivating a small farm. In May last, the widow Berthier
discovered that the prisoner had formed an improper con-
nection with their servant, a girl named Courillon, and
having determined to leave him, she demanded the re-
payment of her 8,000 f., but could not obtain it. On the
21st June, after breakfasting with Bezain, she was taken
suddenly ill and died in the afternoon of the same day, ap-
parently from the effects of poison, and the analysis of the
contents of her stomach proved the presence of arsenic.
Suspicion fell on Bezain and his servant, and both were
arrested, but the latter was subsequently discharged and
admitted as a witness. In his defence, the prisoner pro-
tested his innocence of the crime, and asserted that if the
deceased had been poisoned, it was by her own hands.
Several witnesses were examined, but their evidence threw
no light on the question, and the jury having, after a short
deliberation, brought in a verdict of not guilty, the court
ordered the prisoner to be set at liberty.
The bank of MM. Guyon and Co., of Lyons, has
been forced to suspend its payments. This disaster
has indirectly arisen from the cotton crisis, the bank having
had heavy business transactions with a manufactory at
Taran (Rhone). The situation is now said to be not so
bad as was at first supposed, and the bank has boon formed
into a joint-stock company, the creditors being the share-
holders. The suspension has been followed by several
distressing circumstances : a merchant of Lyons, who had
300,000 f. deposited in the bank, has since committed
suicide, not being able to support the idea of his money
being lost. The manufactory above referred to has since
been closed, throwing from 1,000 to 1,200 workmen out of
employment.
LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP.—Is there any leap
more complicated than one consisting of a low i
hurdle in the middle of a meadow, which may not, under
some circumstances, turn out a break-neck affair ? Here
is a man committing a murder in the next field to the one
in which I find myself. I want to get to the rescue, and I
ride up to the next hedge intending to leap it. I must look
first through. Here is a high bank, a rail on the top of it,
a ditch beyond ; my horse may be able to clear it, but the
ground looks rather slippery just here. Suppose he was to
strike that rail with his hoofs; suppose he m;scalculated
his spring, and did not clear the ditch; suppose the ground
on the other side were to prove wanting in firmness. I will
go and look a t the gate. The screams in the next field are
getting fainter, by the by, and it is desirable to decide. The
gate is awfully high; it has spikes on the top bar, and the
ground is covered with loose flints. Impossible to think of
it. Suppose I get off and crawl through the hedge, or get
over the gate; but then I should be so much more useful
on horseback. I should intimidate the murderer; I should
be able to pursue him. Stay, now I hear no cries—all is
is over—what a dreadful state of things f—. Dickens's All
the Year Round.

LIFE FARMHOUSES.—In the true provincial farm-
house the genuine rural profusion still exists,—only
a little modified by regard to modern ways. One may not be
compelled to sit down to a loaded table every two or three
hours ; but when one does sit down (which is still four or
five times a day), the table is a bountiful one. The hostess
is not thinking, as the great lady or her housekeeper may
be, of the dairy sales of the week. The farmer's wife first
supplies her own house without stint, and then sells the
rest. There is no gardener there to diminish the desert by
slow degreess that he may have the more fruit to sell ; but
the farm-gardens and orchard overflow all the year reued,
and no cockney guests, with the London frenzy for fruit,
could make much impression on the supply. All through
the house the plenty is the same. There are roaring wood-
fires in every room ; a pile of blankets on every bed ; wine
always in view ; ale always at call; horses for any number
of riders, and amusement and hospitality overflowing in
every corner of the house and land. From such abodes
there might be a good deal spared for Lancashire; and I
believe there is. Of the gifts of game and other eatables
received at ➢Manchester it is probable that the bulk arrives
from farm houses, where it is natural for people to give
what they have and what they see their friends enjoy.
Nothing is more likely than that the farmer and his sons,
when they come home with a full gamebeg, say that it is a
pity those poor Lancashire people, in their pinch, have not
some of these good things ; and hence perhaps the perplexity
of the relief committees about what to do with pheasants
and hares, if game may not be sold without a licence.—
Once a Week.

THE LATE WRECK ON THE CEFN SIDAN SANDS,

—lt was greatly feared that the seven men who

endeavoured to escape in a boat from the wreck t..f the
French barque recently lost on the Cefn Sidan Sands, in
Carmarthenshire, had been drowned, as no clue could be
obtained respecting them, but on Monday they arrived in
Pembrey, in an almost helpless condition, having been on
the water since the previous Saturday night. They are
now under the protection of the French Consul at Llanelly,
where the captain and six of his men had previously ar-
rived in a boat half full of water. The second boat, which
contained five men, it will be remembered, was stranded not
far from the vessel. The men arrived at Kidwelly next
day, having walked all night upon the sande. The vessel
has completely broken up.
The Paris Board of Longitude has published
official returns of the sailing ships lost at sea during
the last four years. The number of ships lost during the
year 1859 is stated at 2,320; in 1860, 2,148; in 1861, 2,171;
in 1862, 2,098. Although the year 1862 was more favour-
able than the preceding years, 221 ships disappeared during
that period of which no tidings have been since heard. Of
these, 21 were French and 78 English; the remainder were
American or Dutch. The number of collisions between
ships has become greater, and the number of ships missing
is attributed to this cause. Forty-two English and six
French steamers were lost at sea during the year 1862.
The Paris journals announce the death, in Paris,
of M. Bazin, professor of modern Chinese at the
Imperial School of Oriental Languages, and assistant-
secretary of the Paris Asiatic Society. M. Basin is the
author of several works on Chinese literature, among which
is a grammar of Mandarin or vernacular Chinese, a lan-
guage which he spoke with fluency.
The Journal des 7ravax-Publics states that,
among the bills which are to be presented to the
providecussi foonr
hro WA out of employment in the manufactories,
the
work Address,
for th eism:
one
for a credLegislativeit
oßfo7cl,oyoaof,toeorotpr! discussion