The Sun.
London, England, 1814-02-22 00:00:00

ARSON'.,

ikjAz,istoN-flotysE.—Trin. Whittiquatt ttfts,
terday taken 'before the LORD MAYORJ Chill*.'d
with setting- fire to his house, No:19,
-4-}e-t‘,o--
stivet, Bishopsgate-street.
Several of the lodgers of the prisoner attended;
,
and from their evidence it appeared that they had
reason 'to suspect the prisoner's design foe some
days back. ---:This.persnasion had gone so far that
Shepherd, one '-of the lodgers, who occupied the
front-room on the first-floor, had sactualkipre-
.Fpared ropes to facilitate the escapeicAhnself and
amily from the windows. ,On Saturday and Su-
n, day night, so,sTal of the lodgers sat up for. Ott
purpose of estate ing the prisoner's motions. Sa-
turday night nothing transpired to conarm their
fears„ butt on Montcay. morning, at a quarter pest
three, a strong smell of fire excited their alarm,
and they flashed -from their. rooms. On, bearing
them, hnd not• till then,• the prisoner opened his
room door-, and cried , out, " for God's sake
help am all on.fire." The lodgers instantly
went into his room, and foond the bed-clothes
in a blaze The prisoner was only dressed
in his waistcoat. The, principal evidence Which
went to support the. charge against the,prisoner
was that of Jane Sidebottom, who had coha-
bited. with hiM', and through whose informa-:
tion the lodgers were alarmed: This woman
deposed, that she had loyntoilyliyed asbousekeeper
with the prisoner, and had since been married, and
lived with her 'husband and family in Blue An-
chor-yard, Bunhill7row. She still, however, con-
tinued her intimacy with the prisoner, and with her
husband's consent occasionally slept with him. On
the night of Sunday week she went home with
him as' usual, when be said, " Jane, I am sorry
.you came home With me—if you had stopped
away, I should have a fortune by to-morrow. It
would have been a great deal better for both of us."
Witness asked him how's° ? When he said, That.
is a secret, which I shall keep within my'' oWn
breast, for if I dividge it to you, you will hang
Me." " God forbid," said she, .and 'finding that
he would -not tell her his troubles, she was put-
ting on- her shawl to go away, when he bid her
take ,with her_ the best of her things., lie af-
terwards would not let, her go away, as it was
so late, hut abused her very much, still saying-
she had frustrated his plans. He seemed much
disturbed in the night: From his conduct alto-
gether, she suspected he intended to set the house
on fire, or qt-ake away with 'himself. She com-
municated her suspicions to the lodgers, and ,did
not, go home on last Sunday evening. She was
with the prisoner on the Saturday evening, how-
ever, and took an opportunity of putting water in
the tinder-box, to prevent him from gettintr
light in the-41Rity.: 'The lei-isorfer'
livelihood by means of a Little Go'. '
`Mrs. King, a lodger in the next room to that
in which the Prisoner lived, corroborated the
ctatement of the last witness, baying overheard
the whole of her conversation with the prisoner
on the night of Sunday Nt•eek. .
The prisoner, in his defences denied having set
fite to his house intentionally, a,nd said it was the'
pure: efF,..et of accident.
-Mr, Wilson, one of the DirCaCa§ of th,C INcenix
Fire Office, attended to state: that the prisoner had
insured with them to the amount of 1501. and ex-
pressed
,the 'readiness of the• Office, from motives
of public justice, to undertake the 'prosecution.
- The Loan :MAYOR observed, that from all.whieb
had been stated, a case of very strong suspicion
"had been- made,out against the prisoner, and hi.
felt it his dtity to commit him for trial.

The prisoner was then remanded till ,Friday, to
afford an oiiportunity for reducing the depositions
to a proper fo►

OLD BAILEY.

ROBBERY OF THE EXETER COACH:

Yesterday, Thomas Williams was indictetifor
robbing'the Exeter coach of a parcel, contain-
ing .twenty,two books, the property of John
.

Mr. Rees, a' bookseller in Pall-Mall, proved,
that he received an order for some books fi on& Mr.
Curtis, of Plymouth. On the 27th of January he
sent the order to the Cannon Coffee-house. to be
forwarded to its destination.
A servant prfived t•he delivery of the parcel,'aud
the guard sworethat he deposited it in the boor,.
After the coach had passed the Kensington turn-
pike, the guard. WitS.lllfolllCd-thht something had
been taken from the coach he searebed and mks-
ed 'a box and parcel.
Richard Westbrook, one of the Bow-street pa-
trole, saw the prisoner and two others on the
Kensington pathway ; there was a waggon.which
.appeared to belong to them ; he suspected them,.
and watched them ; in a few minutes _he ";:lw
coach pass the prisoner jumped up, threw s
thing
.down, and was carrying it away on hid
shoulders when be apprehended him : the other
two eseape4. The contents of the box ivere iden-
tified by Mr, Rees.__Tbe prisoner made no de-
fence, and was' found guilty. - -
William Ditcher was indicted for stea;ing, in the -
th-velling-house,of Vincbin, 9f the Plough
'tavern, Blackwell, (where the prisoner, t; ho wars
the servant of 'the chief mate of the Bengal East
Indiaman, lodged), two IN. notes, and a number
smaller notes, amounting altogether to 75/. The
prisoner confessed the. robbery .when he wkis tip-
prehended,:—The 'Jury found him, Guilty.•

'A recent auction of .English hard-ware goods at ,
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U. S. a cask con-
taitiink awl blades and tacks were sold for 23 dol-
lars 10 cents. the pound sterling—the value of the
cask was about 5000 dollars.