The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-21 00:00:00

TUE CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.

the pe
,a,c for h
se
essi
otnse
House,City of London,
Old Bailey,
was
Nov.
: 2()-,--
1849.
The following letter from Mr. Clark, the clerk of
"My Lord,—l have the honour to inform your
Lordship that at a meeting of the judges at the Cen-
tral Criminal Court, on the 2d inst., I asked permis-
sion to have an additional number of persons sum-
moned at each session, to insure the formation of an
extra jury to serve in the Third Court whenever their
services were required.
"By means of the extra jury, I hope the inconve-
nience which has been found to result from requiring
all the jurors to attend daily during the sitting of the
Third Court, to secure a sufficient number to keep the
three courts occupied, may be remedied. The judges
directed a sufficient number to be summoned to se-
cure the formation of an additional jury; but, as it
will be a matter of great importance to them, as
also to prosecutors and witnesses, and, indeed,
to the public generally, to know on what
day the Third Court will commence its sit-
ting, I take leave, through your Lordship, to ask
if the Court of Aldermen (as commissioners of
the Central Criminal Court) will be pleased to give
directions on the subject, that they make the
same known as publicly as possible. At the same
time I take leave to suggest that time,would be gained,
and much inconvenience avoided, if two commissioners
would attend in the New Court, as soon as the grand
jury have been sworn, to select the petty juries,
instead of selecting them as heretofore in the Old
Court.—l have the honour to be, your Lordship's
obedient servant, " JOHN CLARK.
" The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor."
After some conversation, in the course of which it
was stated to be the practice of the county magistrates
who committed prisoners for trial at the Central
Criminal Court, to bind over more witnesses than it
was at all necessary to produce upon trial, and that
very recently a county magistrate had actually sent
to the Old Bailey seven or eight witnesses, when no
more than two were required, and the whole batch
were supported in town from Monday till Friday, the
Court agreed to resolutions to the effect suggested in
Mr. Clark's letter, and appointed Thursday for the
commencement of the sittings of the Third Court.
The RECORDER, in reference to the statement that
the county magistrates were in the habit of sending
more witnesses to the Old Bailey than were necessary,
said, those who presided in the court had no control
over the county magistrates in matters of the kind,
except so far as public expostulation might be a con-
trol; and he was constantly expostulating against the
useless and prodigal expenditure. He could add, too,
that in some instances in wnich several witnesses
were crowded in a case, the most important witness
of all was, through the judicial skill of the magis-
trate, left out.—(Laughter.)
A letter from the Commissioner of the City Police
was read in the court. He complained that the chief
of the police of the City had no place at the Gui!d-
hall Lanquets appointed for his accommodation, and
was on such occasions subjected to the indignity of
coming in contact with the waiters and the refuse of
the kitchen.
Sir G. CARROLL and others of the aldermen said
the Commissioner was perfectly justified in com-
plaining of such indignity, and the letter was referred
to a committee,—Adjourned.

MISS KELL Y.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—As I have not, I hope, at any time imperti-
nently thrust myself before the public, either iu my
professional or private character, I trust I may be
excused if, unconsciously, I now appear to do so by
indulging an irresistible desire to draw, through the
powerful medium of your columns, the attention of
my friends to the peculiar hardship of my present
position, as I can in no other way so well extend the
statement to those who, beyond the immediate circle
of my intimate acquaintances, I flatter myself may
take some interest in my welfare, and a conviction of
that integrity I have had credit for through a longand
arduous professional life.
Sir, I witnessed, on Tuesday morning last, the
utter demolition of the fixtures, fittings, and furniture
of my Theatre and Dramatic School in Dean-street;
and now only by the courtesy of the sheriff's officer
am permitted "a day or two" to remove, and find
space for this ponderous and (for any other than its
original appropriation) useless property, before I am
myself for ever expelled from the building I have
raised for the urest purposes, and towards which I
have, for the last 15 years, devoted my whole fortune,
mind, arid time.
Now, Sir, as it would deeply wound my proud
heart to be pitied or blamed as a rash enthusiast or
idle speculator, I wish to arrest at once conjecture
and misrepresentation, to which all seeming failure
is liable, by stating that my whole property has been
wrested from me by my ground landlord, on default
of the instalment of 1601. due to him in June last,
upon arrear of rent for which I had signed to him an
all-powerful document.
His legal right is undisputed, and I am bound to
acknowledge that he has on some occasions shown a
patience and forbearance, too generally, I fear, called
for from landlords now-a-days. And I also account
myself fortunate in the kind and gentlemanly con-
duct of Mr. John Allen, his solicitor, who has, I
sincerely believe, done all in his power to avert this
cruel and unnecessary step—a step that lam unable
to account for, and which I own I could not have
believed would be taken only 18 days before the time
that would have satisfied his demand. But the pecu-
liar feature of the case, and the hardship of which I
complain, is this—that when I signed this fearful
document I distinctly stated, in presence of his
solicitor and my own, that I could not fulfil
my promise as to the first instalment (having
no dependable resources) until the end of November.
—the present month; and that, therefore, I signed
depending on the fact that I was perfectly un-
derstood, and should be treated with the same consi-
deration as on a former occasion, when I had placed
myself equally in his power. The result, however,
is, that on default of the said instalment of 1601., he
has only 18 days before the time prayed for, seized a
property to which, in the cost for building and the
operation of the purposes for which it was designed,
I have sacrificed from first to last 16,0001.
Should you, Sir, feel kindly disposed, and think
it well to gratify my wish in allowing space in any
form for the substances of my letter, I shall consider
myself infinitely obliged.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
F. M. KELLY.
Bayswater, Nov. 16.

GENERAL THEATRICAL FUND.—The directors of '
this truly excellent institution, established in 1839, " for
the granting of permanent pensions to actors, actresses.
chorus singers, dancers, pantomimists, and prompters,"
have issued to the profession a statement of the finances
of the fund received and disbursed during the past year,
and made up to the 21st of February last, from which it
appears that her Majesty has been pleased to become an
annual donor of 100 guineas. The receipts—including
members' subscriptions, 364/. 163. 6d.; admission fees,
331. 55.; interest, 1571. 155.; profit of dinner, exclusive
of arrears, 1541. Id.; and arrears of donations (1847),
161. ss.—amounted to 7261. Is. 7d.; while, after the dis-
charge of the liabilities of the fund, a balance of 339/.
ss. 8.1. was left. The assets at that period were 4,492/.
ss. Bd.; invested in the funds, 501.; London and West-
minster Bank and cash in treasurer's hands, 57/. 15s. id.,
making a total of 4,6001. Os. 9d. Since ttat period
other investments have been made, and the funded capital
of the institution now exceeds 5,0001., standing in the
joint names of Mr. Justice Talfourd, Benjamin Bend
Cabbell, Esq., and Charles Dickens, Esq., trustees of the
fund. The profits of the dinner in May last. at which
Mr. Charles Kean presided with so much stnease,
amounted to- about 30u/. Mr. Benjamin Webster Las
kindly consented to take the chair at the ensuing anni-
versary festival in March next.
A WONDERFUL WEAPON.--'The .Doneaster Chro•
niele states that during the last day or two, a formid-
able looking staff, or truncheen, with an ugly looking
dirk inserted in one end, has been exhibited in the shop
window of Mr. Welborne, gunsmith, with the following
description of its astonishing properties and adventures:
—" This staff was took at the island of Chootyooty, by
Sir John Ross, during his late voyage in the Arctic re-
gions. It killed fifteen Polar bears, and wounded twelve
of the native Esquimaux!" All that we can say is that
this is the most terrific weapon we ever heard of; aed
we trust that every precaution will be taken to preveet
it frem slaying any of the " natives" on Mr. Welbourne's
premises.
THE IRISH ENCUMBERED ESTATES ACT.—The
Act of last session (12 and 13 of Victoria, cap. 77), for
the sale or transfer of encumbered estates in Ireland, is
now in full operation. The value of estates already sub-
mit:ed to Its provisions is of the estimated amount of
nearly 1,000,000/. Baron Richards is the chief commis-
sioner under the Act, and by the statute applications by
petition may be made by the owner or by the incum-
brancer to administer the same, under the new law.