The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-15 00:00:00

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.e of Smashers in Birmingham.

Birmingham has of late been infested with an unusually
large number of that class of persons known as "smashers,"
or passers of counterfeit coin; but, fortunately, by the vigi-
lance of several members of the borough constabulary, many
of them have been brought to justice. A few days ago a
man was captured with three moulds for making base shil-
lings and sixpences in his possession ; but the traffic in the
" smashing" line seems to be chiefly with bad half-crowns,
As r, cently as Fridayayouth was committed by the borough
magistrates for trial at the sessions for having passed three
counterfeit half-crowns—two of them to a poor widow; and
on Saturday last four men, well-known to the police, were
brought before Mr. F. I. Welch, at the public office, on a
charge of having passed three and attempting to pass one
other base half-crown at the house of Mrs. Upton, licensed
victualler, Bradford-street. They described themselves as
'Wm. Thornton, brass-caster, Bull-ring; Edward Jones,
stamper, Mass. house-lane ; David Swift, striker, Thorpe-
street; and William Jones, stamper, Icknield-port-road.
Mr. Dickens defended Swift. From the evidence it ap-
peared that on Friday evening, at about seven o'clock, five
or six persons, amongst whom were the prisoners, were in
the liquor shop of the prosccutrix. The prisoners in the
course of the evening successfully passed three counterfeit
half-crowns, one for gin, another for ale, and a third for
some sherry. They received a good amount of change in
genuine money for their base coins. At length one of the
prisoners,Thornton, we believe, threw down another half-
crown and asked for change. Mrs. Upton who had re-
ceived the rest of the base money examined the coin, and,
discovering it to be a counterfeit one,
called out her son,
and told him that she had taken three other similar coins
from the prisoners. He at once looked into the till, and find -
ing three bad half-crowns, went round the counter and en-
deavoured to arrest the four men. The latter, however,
made a desperate resistance, and all, with the exception of
Thornton, got away. The prisoner having been taken into an
adjoining room, a police-constable was sent for. Before the
arrival of an officer, however, the three men who had escaped
returned, in company with five or six other wen, and at-
tempted to rescue their captured companion—but the son of
the landlady, not willing to liberate his prisoner, seized a
good strong poker, and laid it about his assailants pretty
freely. At this point a police-officer came to the scene of
action, but no sooner did he make his appearance than all
Thornton's gallant rescuers ran away, Thornton was then
quietly handed over to the officer, and removed to the po-
lice station, On the following morning Detective Serjeants
Mountford, Seal, and Robinson, from a description they
had received of the men who had escaped, apprehended the
two Joneses at a lodging house in Mssshouse-lane, and
Smith at a house of ill-fame in Thorpe-street. The whole
of the prisoners were now clearly identified by the prose-
cutrix, and they were remanded for a week in order that
the depositions may be sent to the Mint authorities, who in
the meantime will consider the advisability of a prosecution
at the sessions,

Full benefit of reduced duty obtained by pur-
chasing Horniman's pure Tea ; very choice at 38. 4d. and
4s. "High Standard" at 48. 4d. (formerly 4s. Bd.), is the
strongest and most delicious imported. Agents in every
town supply it in packets.

ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR.--The citizens of
London have been cited to attend at the Guildhall
on the 99th inst. for the purpose of proceeding to the election
of a Lord Mayor for the year 1863-64, in succession to Mr
William Anderson Rose, whose term of office will expire
on the Bth of November. The Lord Mayor, sheriffs, and
other civic officials, will attend Divine service in the parish
church of St. Lawrence Jewry, where a sermon will be
preached by the Rev. J. Lupton, M.A., minor canon of St.
Paul's, and rector of St. Michael's Queenhithe. At the
Guildhall the following gentlemen "below the chair" will
be put in nomination ;--Mr. William Lawrence, alderman
of Bread-street Ward, elected 1855 ; Mr. Warren Storms
Bale, Coleman-street, 1856; Mr. Benjamin Samuel Phillips,
Farringdon Within, 1857; Mr Thomas Gabriel, Wintry,
1857; Mr John Joseph Mechi, Lime-street, 1858; Mr
Edward Conder, Bassishaw, 1859 ; Mr James Abiss,
Bridge Within, 1859; Mr James Clarke Lawrence, Wal-
brook, 1860. The following aldermen, below the chair,
are ineligible, inasmuch as they have not served the office
of sheriff:—Mr Thomas Dakin, Candlewick, 1861 ; Mr
Robert Besley, Aldersgate, 1861; Mr Sells John:Gibbons,
Castle Bayard, 1862 ; Mr Sydney Waterlow, Lang-bourn,
1863. The livery will, no doubt, return Mr William
Lawrence and Mr W. S. Hale, upon which the Court of
Aldermen will select Mr Lawrence as the Lord Mayor for
the ensuing year. He carries on the business of a builder
in Lambeth.

EMIGRATION—PLYMOUTH, Saturday.—The ship
Derwentwater, 567 tons, Capt. Thompson, belong-
ing to Messrs. Richardson Brothers, of St. Helen's-place,
arrived here this morning, the first of several ships which
have left London within the last ten days for Plymouth, but
have been detained in the channel by heavy weather. She
is bound to Canterbury, New Zealand, with a full general
cargo and 16 passengers, including Mr. Harper, son of the
Bishop of Canterbury. The ship Duncan Dunbar, 1,371
tons, Uapt. J. B. Swanson, built by the late Mr, Dunbar ex-
pressly for the trade, now the property of Messrs. Gellatley,
Hankey, and Sewell, of Leadenhall-street, arrived in the
Sound this afternoon, bound for Sydney. She has a com-
plete cargo, including 150 tons of railway iron, a large quan-
tity of Burton and other ales is cask and bottle, and an un-
usual proportion of furniture, carriages, lc., belonging to
the passengers, one of whom has 150 measurement tons.
On deck there are three choice bulls, seven cows, 12 merino
sheep, Sec. The Duncan Dunbar has, as usual, many pas-
sengers, there being no less than 60 in the chief cabin, be-
sides those in the steerage. Among the former are several
old colonists, Mr. Land and family, Mr. George Thorneand
family, Mrs. Carr and Son, and Mrs. Henderson, who has
been here several days. It is intended that the Derwent-
water and the Duncan Dunbar shall sail for their destina-
tion this evening. The Dover Castle. Capt. J. M, Ayles,
belonging to Messrs. Green, of Blackwell, bound to Mel-
bourne, received Mr. Minn, her pilot, off Exmouth yester-
day. She is expected every hour. The Ida, Capt. Laws,
with Government emigrants for Sydney, is due here on the
14th, and the Northumberland, Capt. Hawkings, for South
Australia on the 21st. All these ships are despatched hence
by Mr. Wilcocks. The total number of passengers and
emigrants who have left this port during the quarter ended
June 30 is 2,090, being 995 more than in the parallel quar-
ter of 1862. Of these 107 went to Canada, 533 toNew South
Wales, 250 to Victoria, 389 to Queensland, 19 to South
Australia, and 467 to New Zealand.
SIIOC.TING DESERTING SUBSTITUTES.—The exe-
cution of the five deserting substitutes from the
118th Pennsylvania—Charles Walter, Emile Lai, John
Reannese, G. Kuhn, and John Folany —took place yester-
day afternoon, at 20 minutes to 4 o'clock, within the lines
of Col.Sweitzer's brigade, before the Filth Army Corps. Tho
condemned were paraded, with hands manacled behind,
accompanied by their priests, before each regiment in turn,
preceded by their coffins and by a band playing a dirge.
The different regimental bands either joined in as they
passed or the drum corps beat a muffled roll. On reaching
their graves each man was seated on his coffin, and Captain.
Orme, Provost-Marshal of the First Division, read the
several sentences, preceded by long and tedious charges
and specifications. Through this trial of patience the
agonised men appeared resigned. Their eyes were vacant
and glazed, with a general idea that a marshalled host of
men was before them, and that a few stood near by. They
fixed their vision on no ono person or thing, they were ab-
sorbed in their fate. Walter was a Jew, and was attended
by the Rev. Mr. Szold, Rabbi of the Gnebshalon Congrega-
tion in Baltimore. Lai and Reannese were Catholics, and
attended by the Rev. C. L. Egan, of St. Dominick's,Wash-
ington, in lace canonicals. Kuhn and Folany woe Ger-
man Protestants, and were administered to by the Rev.W.
O'Neill, chaplain of the 118th Pennsylvania. Walter,
much agitated, stood up and recited in Hebrew after the
Rabbi the Penitential Psalms and Voices of the Penta-
teuch, swinging his body rapidly backward and forward.
The rest knelt, while their priests knelt and prayed. At
the close the Rabbi kissed Walter, Walter kissed him in
return, and crossing ever to Folany, with whom he had
been intimate, also kissed him. The men again sat on their
coffins. Their eyes were bandaged with white cloth. Fifty
men, in two ranks, stood before them. A rapid " Ready,
aim, fire I " was given, and they simultaneously fell back-
ward on the coffins, placid lumps of clay. Reannese, Kuhn,
and Folany ran off and fell upon their faces. The two
former hi eathed for a few moments, though insensible. Ten
men fired at each, one of the ten muskets being unloaded,
as is customary. An argument for precedence in the proces-
sion took place between the Rabbi and the Catholic priest.
The latter claimed the first rank as representing what ho
considered the first of churches. The former asserted his
right as acting for the eldest of faiths. The provost-marshal
decided in favour of the Rabbi. Another argument took
place between Gens. Sykes and Griffin. The court-martial
ordered the execution between the hours of 2 and 4. Tho
troops of the sth corps had not all arrived till long after 3.
Griffin, in whose division the transaction was to occur, said
it 4 o'clock struck before their arrival he would feel himself
to he murdering them to allow their death. Sykes, com-
manding the corps, did not see the point in the same light.
The tarrying regiments, however, came up before the time
had elapsed. Four of the culprits weremarried. Folany was
single. Walter's wife lives in New York, and interceded
with the President, but to no purpose. The families of the
rest live in Europe. 'They had all hopes of pardon till the
procession commenced.—New York "tribune.
SUICIDE THROUGH DlSTRESS.—Yesterday Mr.
John Humphreys, the coroner, held an inquest at the Bell
Tavern, Church-lane, Whitechapel, respecting the death
of James Hartley, aged 66, a coachman. The deceased
lodged at No. 42, Church-lane, Whitechapel, and had
been out of employment for a considerable period, which
fact preyed on his mind, The deceased was a widower,
and went, to bed about eleven o'clock on Thursday night.
Oa the following morning the deceased did not make
his appearance as usual, when the landlady opened
his room door, and found him in a sitting position
on the floor with a rope round his neck. When medical
assistance was procured life had gone. After some further
evidence, showing that deceased had been desponding and
had threatened his life, the jury roturnPd a verdict of
"Suicide while of unsound mind."