The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-13 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS—Sept, 11.

The September sessions for criminal business were con-
tinued to-day at Clerkenwell before Mr. Serjeant Dowling,
sitting for the Assistant-Judge ; Mr. J. Payne, Deputy
Assistant-Judge ; Sir James Tyler, Dr. Jervis, Mr. Good-
hart, Mr. Tewart, and Mr. W. P. Bodkin, justices.
Mary Holden, 2`2, was charged with stealing several sums
of money belonging to Henry Harris, her master.
Mr. Sleigh prosecuted ; Mr. Daly defended the prisoner.
The wife of the prosecutor lived at 49, Duke-street, Man-
chester-square, and she had a sum of money in a chest in
the back parlour, of which the housekeeper kept the key.
There was another key of the chest in a wardrobe, and
money having been lost she accused the prisoner of taking
the key and so gaining access to the chest. The wardrobe
was found locked and the prisoner denied the charge.
The jury found a verdict of not guilty.
John Follett, captain of a barge, was indicted for steal-
ing a quantity of lead, the property of Messrs. Cubitt's,
builders.
Mr. Richard Harris prosecuted; Mr. Montagu Williams
defended. _ .

It appears that the prisoner was the principal person on
board the barge in question, and that the key of the fore-
hold in which the lead was found was kept in the cabin, to
which others had access besides himself. Three men were
on board at the time, but as soon as the lead was discovered
made their escape, although Sollett ordered that no one
should leave the barge.
There was no evidence to show that Konett knew any-
thing of the lead being in the hold, and a verdict of not
guilty was taken.
(Before Mr. Payne.)
William Thompson and William Welch were charged
with attempting to break into the house of Mr. James
Mapleson.
Mr. Collins prosecuted; Mr. Horry defended Welch.
The prosecutor, the lessee of her Majesty's Theatre, re-
sides at 3, Park-village East, and on the night of the 2d of
September the prosecutor's brother-in-law was aroused by
some noise at his window. He jumped up and struck at
the prisoner Welch through the window. The prisoners
at that time escaped, but were subsequently apprehended
at some distance from the house, Welch without hat or
boots. The premises were searched, and a pair of boots and
two hats were found on the lawn. Welch, on being taken
to the station, immediately claimed the boots as his own,
and they were given to him.
The jury found the prisoners guilty.
There were ten previous convictions proved against
Welch.
The Deputy Assistant-Judge sentenced them each to
two years' hard labour.
Robert M‘Lean, a sailor, was indicted for unlawfully and
maliciously wounding John Wright.
Mr. Richard Harris conducted the prosecution ; Mr.
Collins defended the prisoner.
It appeared that M'Lean, his brother, and a woman were
in the Royal Pavilion publichouse, kVauxhall-road, on the
night of the 26th of August, when a dispute arose respect-
ing the breaking of a drinking glass. The potboy of the
house accused prisoner's brother of having done it ; the
landlord and barman proceeded to clear the house, and it
seemed that after the prisoner was outside the act was com-
mitted
with which he was charged. Thore was a struggl
to get in again, andthe prisoner struck at the barman, soon
after which the latter found that he was wounded. The
defence was that the wound was of so slight a nature that
any edged instrument, as the door latch or the buckle of
the prisoner's belt, might have inflicted it.
Mr. Antonini, the house-surgeon of Westminster Hospi-
tal, said the wound might have been occasioned by any
sharp instrument, and was a mere scratch.
The jury, after deliberation, found the prisoner guilty of
a common assault, and he was sentenced to a fine of £3.
The next sessions commence on the 25th inst.

THE OPERA HOUSES.--" Every one will be glad
to hear," says the Athenaeum, "that the project of making a
gigantic speculation by uniting our two foreign operatic
theatres—the result of which would have been fatal to art,
in every sense of the word—has come to nothing."
BOY'S PLAY SIXTY YEARS AGO.—The school was
not without its recommendations, but the teaching
was carried on at one house, while we were domiciled and
were fed (under contract) at another. But unfortunately
our master fell in love with the daughter of the Apiarian.
She was no favourite, and the rude rustics sometimes in-
quired of the enamcured minister, "How's Miss Saucer-
eyes ?" I remember a dreadful burst of indignation when
one of his own congregation put to him the question ;
but the "love-affair" did undoubtedly tend to the neglect
of the duties of the school. The boys were hypercritical ;
on one occasion, when the master did not make his ap-
pearance at the proper time, they blackened all the desks
with ink, and when he entered and inquired what it
meant, a boy had the boldness, the effrontery, to say—
" They have gone into mourning for your absence, sir! "
Another time a still graver practical joke gave a more
emphatic lessen to the teacher. He was, as usual, non
inventus—" gone a courting." Under the schoolroom
was a cellar, to which you descended by a dark steep
flight of stairs. In the centre was a pump, used to sup-
ply the wants of the house, and in one corner a heap
of coals for winter use. To the cellar the boys re-
treated. They cut off the two bottom steps, and pumped
and pumped till there was a foot or two of water
in the cellar. They then ensconced themselves on the
coal-heap, and waited for the master's return. He
came at last : it was night ; found the school vacant,
and, hearing a noise below, seized a candle and dashed
down the staircase ; he of course fell face foremost into
the water, which was thoroughly saturated with coal-
dust. The candle was extinguished ; the boys escaped
in the darkness, and left their drenched, disordered, and
dismayed master to recover himself and reach the upper
regions as best he could. He had his revenge, as far as a
good flogging of the whole school could give it, but I
thought the boys almost enjoyed the castigation, and con-
soled themselves with having had the best of the sport.—
Dickens's " All the Year Rated."