The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-11 00:00:00

ALLEGED OFFENCE AGAINST THE REGISTRATION ACT.

Mr. Benjamin Holme, fish salesman, of Lime-street.
City, surrendered to an indictment, charging him with caus-
ing a false entry to be made in the registry of births, mar-
riages, and deaths, of five- of his children born, of Soph a
Robins. The defendant, it appeared, married Mary Ann
Saunders in 1838, but a separation took place some three
or four years after, and then he cohabited with Sophia
Robins, and continued to do so when the entry was made,
and the five children were entered as those of Sophia
Holme, which it was contended was not the fact.
The prosecution was instituted by the Treasury.
Mr. Giffard, on the part of the defendant, took several
objections, and said his client had been guilty of no offence,
as the act was very vague in certain parts.
The Recorder, after consulting Mr. Justice Mellor, said
the point he should put to the jury was whether there had
been a wilful misrepresentation on the part of the defendant
to effect a false entry in the registry.
The Jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty.

NEW COURT.
(Before the Recorder.)
A NEST OF HOUSEBREAKERS.

William Farrow, James Parsons, John Fellows, William
Grant, and Thomas Henderson, were indicted for burglary.
verTdhicetof
evidencenot
guilty was
wasnotrectuonrncleud.sive by the jury, and a
The whole of the prisoners were again indicted for being
found at night without lawful excuse, in possession of cer-
tain housebreaking implements with intent to commit a
felony.

From the evidence of a number of police-constables, it
appeared that the prisoners were hanging about Holywell-
street, Shoreditch, and from circumstances that became
known, they proceeded to a house in George-street, Hoxton,
and a wholesale stock of housebreaking implements were
discovered corresponding with a number found on the per-
sons of the different prisoners.
The jury found all the prisoners guilty.
Previous convictions were proved against Farrow,
Fellows, and Parsons.

The " tools" were then handed up to the bench, for the
inspection of the learned Recorder and the aldermen on the
bench.

The Recorder said he had no doubt about the system the
prisoners had been carrying on, and he very much regretted
the conviction had not been for the felony instead of the
misdemeanour, because then he would have sentenced them
to a punishment commensurate with their deserts. As,
however, three of them had been previously convicted, he
should make a difference as regarded them. The learned
judge then sentenced Farrow, Parsons, and Fellows, to
three years' penal servitude, Grant to eighteen months, and
Henderson to twelve months' imprisonment.
After the prisoner had left the dock, Mr. Orridge called
the attention of the Recorder to what was called a " Life
preserver," as being a most frightful instrument. It dif-
fered very materially from the instruments hitherto used
by desperadoes, by having four projecting iron points fixed
to the leaden head.

The Recorder looked with astonishment at the weapon,
and said—" Why, this is meant to kill I"
lhe police have received orders to transmit the weapon
to the Home-office, to afford the authorities an opportunity
of inspecting the newest pattern of housebreakers' life-
preservers.

STRANGE DEATH OF AN ATTORNEY'S

CLERK.

Yesterday morning, at ten o'clock, Mr. John
Humphreys, the coroner for Middlesex, opened an
inquiry at the King's Arms Tavern, Charles-street,
City road, St. Luke's, to investigate the cause of
death of Mr. John George Webb, aged 42 years, the
chief clerk to F. Webb, Esq., the conveyancer, &c.,
of No. 31, Southampton-buildings, Chancery-lane.
Emma Webb, the sister-in-law, said that the
deceased was a married man. and his wife was too
ill to attend the inquiry. Deceased was an attor-
ney's clerk, and always enjoyed good health
until Monday week last, when deceased returned
home from his place of business in Southamp-
ton-buildings, and said that he had met with
an accident while attempting to light his tobacco
pipe. He told her that he had been sitting before
the fire, and while in the act of stooping to reach a
light the long straw pipe which he was smoking
touched the front of the stove-work and forced one
end into his tongue and caused him much pain. He
became worse and called in a surgeon, who pre-
scribed for the deceased, but he died on Monday
morning last. Witness understood that deceased
was alone, and he said that his employer was out of
town. He had been several years in his situation,
and was a steady man. He was a man of full habit
of body, and after the accident the deceased's mouth
and tongue were very much swollen and became
mortified. She understood that a portion of the
tobacco pipe was found fixed in the thick part of the
deceased's tongue.

Mr. Robert Bolton, surgeon,
of Claremont-square,
stated that he was called in on Friday to see the
Witness visited the de-
deceased at his residence.. He Was suffering con-
siderable pain, and told witness that he had sus-
tliaginhetdhiasnpiipnej.uryHeofeotuhled toscnaguceelyvvhile stooping to
speak, and wit-
nesscea day, and found that
de-
ceased ed a prescribedseeon
df for
time
he was getting worse. On the following morning
gangrene, or mortification, of a portion of the
einloi.i that
tongue had set in and witness treated him accord-
ingly. Witness continued to do all he could for
the deceased, and continued in attendance upon
him until twelve o'clock on Sunday night, when
he died. Had since made a post-mortem (mann-.
nation of the body, and found the chest in a
highly congested state. The heart was weak and
fatty. The other organs were generally in a healthy
condition, and the stomach was quite healthy. On
opening the mouth he found a Wound on the left
side of the tongue, which was in a state of mortifi-
cation. Witness then, upon making an incision,
discovered a piece of tobacco pipe firmly embedded
in the fleshy or thick part of the tongue. The
deceased had no doubt died from gangrene of the
tongue produced through the Puncture and injury
by the tobacco pipe.
The jury returned the following verdict :—" That
the deceased died from mortification of the tongue,
caused by a puncture through the breaking of a
pipe accidentally and by misadventure."

granted the use o'farh
shedre
leel3Yoi
rfkDiemnopchokeratdißnptooottcLrkdsi
vfeorhrpaotovhlee.
PETROLEUM
.—The
inflammable oils, which are
barrels, and the rent to be
flow
r a
bg
ee
coo fmpi
ne tgr oal evuemr y alna
rdg oetti‘ ittahrteehtrri ecsi
The shed will hold 20,000
of
charged is sd. per ton per week. About 60,000 barrels of
and without through
any accident Liverpool,
Glasgow,
petroleum have lately been forwarded to different parts of
the and London
hands,
importance. It is an-
ticipated that about hdi a million's Worth of petroleum is
on its way to this country.
A letter-carrier at Vendome has been sentenced
country,
to four years' imprisonment for stealing 420 newspapers
and letters,