The Sun.
London, England, 1830-03-23 00:00:00

UNION.HALL.

An old woman, of the gypsey tribe, named Martha
Allen, was charged with obtaining money from a young
female, under pretence of telling her fortune. Betsy
Shelly, a girl 17 years of age, stated she was in the service
of a coffee-shop-keeper, in Prospect-row, whose wife was
in the habit of having her fortune told by the defendant.
Anxious to know whether she should soon procure a hus-
band, she one day called upon the prisoner, at her house in
Three Cups-alley, and gave her some money, which she
obtained upon pledging her ear rings. The prisoner then
told her that two men—a dark one and a fair one—were
desperately in love with her; that the dark one would use
every effort to get her into his power, but that the fair
one would become her husband. The prisoner then gave
her a paper, which she said contained American seeds, and
desired her to put it into her bosom at night, and she would
be caressed by the man she loved. These directions were
complied with ; but, said the complainant, I never saw
or dreamt of the dark man or the fair one. In a week
after she again visited the prisoner, and received from her
a quantity of red powder, which she was desired to sprinkle
upon nine pieces of paper cut in the shape of hearts. This
she was to do in her bed-room, and then blow out the
candle; when the prisoner assured her that the man who
was to be her husband would walk into the room and em-
brace her tenderly in his arms. " Don't be alarmed," she
added, "when you see him, but welcome him to your cham-
ber." At night the girl cut out the nine hearts, but she
said, " just as I was in the act of spreading the red powder
upon the first heart, I heard a loud thump at the door, the
flame of the candle burnt blue, and the house shook as if it
had been threatened by an earthquake."
Mr. HONE-Well, what did you do next, when the
house shook about your ears in the way you have de-
scribed ?—Complainant—What did I do, Sir? Why I
jumped into bed as quickly as I could, and covering my
head over with the blankets, lay there afraid to pop it up,
in case I should hear or see anything.
Mr. HONE—Then you did not put the experiment to
the test ?—Complainant—No, Sir; for in my hurry to
get into bed, I upset all the red powder.
The Magistrate committed the prisoner to the House
of Correction for fourteen days, to hard labour. The old
woman said she had the rheumatism so bad, that it was
impossible she could go on the wheel.

TAX ON NEWSPAPERS.

(From the Sheffield Mercury.)

The Journeymen Letter-press Printers of Shef•
field, at a meeting lately held of their body, agreed
to petition Parliament for a revision and moddica-
tion of the Laws affecting Newspapers. A Com-
mittee wat in consequence formed, and the following
petition subsequently agreed upon to be transmitted
to Lord John Russell, M.P., Chairman to the Prin-
ters' Pension Society, to be by him presented to the
Commons' House of Parliament :

To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled,
The humble Petition of the Letter-press Printers
of the Town of Sheffield, in the West Riding of the
County of York,

Humbly £heweth,—That while they beg leave to ap-
proach your Honourable House with the expression of
their sincere thanks for the many favours the Letter-press
Printers of this country have received from your Ho-
nourable House, they wish briefly to draw your serious
attention to the present heavily-taxed state of the News-
paper Press of Great Britain, with a view to its amelio-
ration, without at all impairing the Revenue at present de-
rivable therefrom.

That your petitioners humbly suggest to your Honour-
able House, the expedience of a reduction of the pre-
sent Newspaper Stamp Duty from Fourpence to Two-
pence ; as well as that of the Advertisement Duty
from the present sum of Three Shillings and Sixpence
charged upon each, to the sum of Two Shillings ; or
to such reduced sum as your Honourable House shall,

in your wisdom, deem most advisable; which reduc-
tions, your petitioners presume to assert, would effect
the practical extension of at least double the present sale
of Newspapers, and a proportional, if not greater increase
of the number of Advertisements, particularly smaller
ones, in provincial towns ; such as Houses to Let ; Situa-
tions and Servants wanted, &c., which Advertisements,
from the present high rate of duty, are almost excluded
from Country Newspapers; and your petitioners need
scarcely add, that while your Honourable House will
readily perceive the practicability and sound policy of such
an alteration in the laws affecting Newspapers, the Duty
of Threepence per pound, which is now paid upon Print-
ing Paper before leaving the Mill, would then be very
considerably increased.
That your petitioners, in addition to the above, would
fervently wish to impress upon the most serious attention
of your Honourable House, the important moral and pc-
litical consideration that, by granting what they now to
humbly but earnestly crave, a very great number of addi-
tional hands would find employment, not only from what
your petitioners conceive certain as to the additional extent
of Newspaper circulation, but also from the very probable
addition of Newspaper establishments throughout the
kingdom ; thus strengthening, by their willing energies
and increased means, the good purposes of a wise Govern-
ment, as well as filling their respective situations in so-
ciety in a manner honourable to the respectable profession
of which they are members, and with credit to themselves,
and comfort to those with whom they are connected.
Your petitioners consider it unnecessary to trouble your
Honourable House with any enumeration of the advantages
that would accrue, direct or indirect, to the country in
general, especially the commercial public, and last, though
not least, to your humble petitioners, which they presume
will evidently present themselves as the certain and happy
results of the proposed reduction of Newspaper Stamp
and Advertisement Duties, while the increase of Revenue
consequent thereupon would be very considerable. And
your petitioners being also aware that many statements
have already been before the public and your
Honourable House, calculated with great nicety, and
after mature study, by those best qualified for such investi-
gations, they have no wish to again obtrude them upon the
notice of your Honourable House; yet they cannot omit
recurring to the authentically ascertained fact, that the
Stamp Duty upon a Newspaper amounts to more than one
hundred per centum, and the present Advertisement Duty,
upon an average of all Advertisements, to above eighty per
centum.

Your petitioners therefore humbly crave your Honour-
able House to take the foregoing petition into your most
serious consideration, and grant such relief as in your
wisdom shall be judged necessary, (provided always that
the public at large participate in the benefit of the wished
for reductions.)
And your petitioners shall ever pray, &c.

SHOCKING MURDER NEAR EMLEY.—The
neighbourhood of Emley and Kirkburton was thrown into
great alarm on the morning of Wednesday sennight, in con-
sequence of the body of a young woman, named RACHAEL
CROSSLEY, being found at the bottom of a coal pit in that
parish, by the workmen who were going to their daily
labour. The following day an inquest was held upon the
body of the deceased, before Mr. Thomas LEE, coroner,
when, after hearing evidence at length, the jury returned
a verdict of " Wilful Murder against Wur.uor Siraw."

On the 7th inst. a great sensation was excited
at Solihull by the discovery of a humm body, in an cd-
vanced state of putrefaction, in a ditch in a field near the
residence of 11r. POWELL. On being removed to the
work-house, it proved on examination to be the body of a
female, but decomposition had taken place to such an ex-
tent as to render it totally impossible to identify the
The action of the water in which it had laid
iad converted the greatest part of the body into adipocere,
a substance greatly resembling sperniaceti.—Birminyham
Journal.

Features.

SHEEP SKINS.
Wool Os. Od. to 00. Ott. I Polledw.34. CI to 40. 6d.
Downs