The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-18 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE,—June 17.

BOW-STREET. EXTRAORDINARY POST-OF-
FICE ROBBERIES.—Edward James Smith was
brought up for final examination, charged with
stealing the halves of notes to the value of £25,
which had been sent for security in separate letters,
and also stealing a £5OO note from another letter.
Mr. Peacock, for the Post-office authorities, con-
ducted the pro,lecution; and Mr. Abrams, of Bow-
street, defended the prisoner.
On the Ist instant, Miss Corder, a lady, residing
at Newark, posted a letter containing the halves of
one £lO and two £5 Bank of England notes, and
one £5 note of the Grantham Bank, addressed to
her brother, Mr. Corder, merchant, 12, Ironmon-
ger-lane, and the corresponding halves to Mr. Un-
derwood, at the same address. Neither of these
letters reached their destination, but in a few days
the £lO note and one of the £5 notes were paid into
the Bank of England. It then appeared that the
£lO note had been changed at the shop of Mr. Luc-
cock, linen-draper, Upper-street, Islington, by a
man who purchased 16 yards of blue silk and some
other articles, to the value of £5. The £5 note had
been changed at the shop of Mr. Cafflin, jeweller,
Upper-street, by a man who bought a gold ring.
The prisoner was the letter-carrier who ought to
have delivered the letters, and on being con-
fronted with the witnesses, he was identified as the
person who had changed the two notes. The 16
yards of silk and other articles purchased at Mr.
Luccock's wEre found at his lodgings in Dorches-
ter-street, New North-road, and the wedding-ring
purchased at Mr. Clain's, was given up to the
police by the prisoner's wife. Being charged with
stealing the letters addressed to Mr. Corder and.
Mr. Underwood, the prisoner at first denied it ; but
when the articles hehad purchased were shown to
him he acknowledged that he had bought them
with the notes which he had' taken from those
letters. lie also said that he had at home a note
for £5OO, which he had found in a pocket-book on
the footway in Finsbury-pavement. The £5OO
note was found in a cash-box at his lodg-
ings, and was identified by Mr. Haigh, a share-
broker at Huddersfield, who on the 16th June had
enclosed it in a letter addressed to Messrs. Moore
and Carr, merchants, Royal Exchange-buildings.
That letter was posted at Huddersfield on the 16th
June, and ought to have reached London on the
17th, but had never been delivered.
The prisoner, who adhered to his statement that
he found the £5OO note in Finsbury-pavement, was
commited for trial.

HAMMERSMITH.—A QUEER STORY.—John
Berkinshaw, engineer at the engine-house in Ken-
sington-gardens, was summoned by Rizabeth
Harris for assaulting her.
The complainant, a powerful-looking young
woman, stated she was single, and lived in Ernest-
street, Edgware-road. The defendant was a
stranger to her. On the 10th inst. she was sitting
in an alcove in Kensington-gardens, opposite the
fountains, when the defendant came by and told her
that she had no business to be there. She told him
that she was locked in the gardens, and could not
get out. She did not know what o'clock it was,
but it was before it was daylight. He caught hold
of her, and applied very offensive terms to her.
She told him that she would stop until the gates
were open. He dragged her out, struck her,
knocked her down, and kicked her. She had a
black eye from his violence.
Mr. Ingham—How was it you were locked up in
the gardens ?
Complainant—l sat there too long. I was not
aware of the gates being closed.
The Defendant—lt was two o'clock in the morn-
ing, and tbere was a man with her.
Complainant-Yes; but I did know him.
Mr. Ingham—l suppose he was there quite by
accident, locked up like yourself.
The Defendant—The man got up, and I let him
out with my key.; but the complainant would not
go.. She was lying on the seat with her boots off.
Mr. Ingham—How came your boots off, Miss
Harris ? (Laughter.)
Complainant—My feet were swollen walking
about the gardens trying to get out.
The Defendant—She had a black eye when I first
saw her, and she was tipsy.
Complainant—You are a story-teller. (Laughter.)
I came for a walk in the gardens about eight
o'clock, and I had not taken anything except a cup
of tea. I never do drink. No one gave me any-
thing to drink inside the gardens. The man did
not speak to me. I have never been locked up in
the gardens before.
The defendant denied the assault, and stated that
the young woman struck him on the head with her
boot. He also said that she was a frequent visitor
of the gardens, and had been complained of by the
shepherd. On thi,s occasion she jumped over the
palisade into the Bayswater-road.
The complainant was called on to explain why
she remained in the gar dens when she was able to
jump over the palisade.
The complainant said it was a wall she climbed
over, and she was not aware of the place until just
before. She also stated that the defendant offered
to let her out with his key, but she did not know
that he had a key.
Mr. Ingham said it was a very queer story. She
was found sitting in an alcove at two o'clock in the
morning with a strange man, and her boots off. He
bound the defendant over, in his own recognisances,
to keep the peace, in order that she might not be
molested by him again.

THE DESECRATION OF THE DEAD AT
SHEFFIELD.

On Monday, the prisoner Isaac Howard, the
sexton of St. Philip's Burial-ground, Wardsend,
near Sheffield, was brought up on remand, charged
with disinterring the body of a child, named Ed-
ward Charles Shearman, aged two years and one
month. On Friday the prisoner underwent a ma-
gisterial investigation, when the father and mother
of the child Shearman distinctly swore to having
found the body of the child which they had interred
in St. Philip's Cemetery in September last, in a
" hole," in quite a contrary situation and a consider-
able distance from the grave in which it was origi-
nally placed. Not only was the child identified from
its general appearance, but the features were posi-
tively sworn to, and also some shavings, as well as
part of a " bump" sheet which had been placed under
the infant's head. In addition to the evidence of
the child's parents, three neighbours, who had been
well acquainted with the child when alive, gave
confirmatory evidence as to the identity of the de-
ceased. Elizabeth Rotheray, when shown the de-
ceased child's body, said—" I am quite sure it is the
body of_ Edward Charles Shearman." Margaret
Young, another neighbour, who went to view the
body when it had been removed from the hole in
which it had been found, made use of similar ex-
pressions when she saw a child's body, to which she
was taken by Shearman's mother. Ann Bennett
also remarked, " I had no difficulty in recognising
him, and was quite sure it was the body of Edward
Charles Shearman." The defence on Friday set up
by the prisoner's solicitor was that the witnesses
were entirely mistaken in their identity, and in
order- to prove that, he requested that an exa-
mination of the grave in which the body .of the
deceased had been deposited might be made.
Accordingly, at an early hour on Monday morn-
ing, Mr. Jackson (chief constable), the parents of
the deceased child, and the prisoner, in charge of
the police, visited the cemetery. The grave of the
child Shearman, as indicated by the register-book,
was opened, and, after digging about 13 feet, a
child's coffin was found, and near it was also dis-
covered the coffin plate, containing the name, age,
&c. On the lid being opened it was found to con-
tain the body of a child, which body was recognised
by the parents as that of their son, Edward Charles
Shearman. The coffin was sworn to by them, and
also the " bump " sheet on which the child's head
rested. Consequently the evidence given at the
previous hearing was incorrect; and on the same
day, Mr. Broadbent, the prisoner's solicitor, made
an application for the prisoner's discharge upon the
specific charge of having disinterred the body of
Edward C. Shearman, which had been found in the
place in which it had been interred. On behalf of
the prosecution there was no opposition offered, but
a request was made to detain the prisoner in cus-
tody upon a warrant which had been taken out
against him for the disinterment of the bodies of
persons unknown. The magistrates acceded to the
request of tie solicitor to the prosecution, and the
prisoner was remanded in custody.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE,