The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 21, 1836.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR—Permit me through the medium of your well-
conducted journal, to call the attention of Railroad Ma-
nagers to the propriety of measuring their starting place in
London from the General Post Office, as being more cen-
tral than the Royal Exchange, and the spot from which all
the roads in the kingdom ought to be measured.
A FRIEND TO REGULARITY.
[We think the suggestion a good one.—ED. SuN.]

CROYDON PETTY SESSIONS.

At the sitting of the bench on Saturday, Coleman, the
chief constable of Croydon, came before the magistrates for
the purpose of making them acquainted with the following
singular and interesting statement which had been made by
a person named Samuel Tilling, who was sentenced to
death at the last Dorset Assizes, but whose sentence had
since been commuted to transportation for life, and eight.
years of labour in a chained gang.
Coleman then handed in the following statement :
" Samuel Tilling states that he; William Arlett, James
Hill, Curly Bill,' or William Fisher, John Lismore, alias
Bath Jew,' and old Winchester Bill, the Earl" (he does
not know the name of the latter), were at the burglary at
Chipstead. The five I have named met at Kingston after
Egham Races, and they joined me at the sign of the Arrow
beer-shop at Kingston. Three nights before the robbery
Curly Bill, Winchester Bill, and John Lismore, started to
Dorking Home Wood to rob a house there. Hill and Ar-
lett went after them. Curly Bill and Winchester Bill
came back to Kingston, and said they could not find the
house. The next day I went with them. 'We met James
Hill and Arlett, and we all together went to find the house.
It was Mr. Smith's house, next door to a beer-shop in the
Home Wood, Dorking. We did not rob that house,
but all started away directly for Chipstead. When we
arrived we broke into the house. No one was wounded
but Hill. I was the first man who went up to the win-
dow, followed by Arlett. I tried to lift up the window,
but could not. We had first got a ladder from a farm-
house. One of us broke a pane of glass, and thus gave the
alarm, and a gentleman came into the room with a cutlass
before we could get in at the window. I snatched away
a watch that hung near the window, and jumped off the
ladder. Arlett still continued on the ladder fencing with
the gentleman ; but after a little while he also jumped off,
and we all then retired from the garden. Curly Bill went
away from us and broke in the panel of the side door of the
house. The rest of us had previously determined to leave
the house ; but Curly Bill came and said he had got a
panel out of the doors and we could get in. We then re-
turned to the house. 1 got in first through the broken
pannel, and undid the fastening of the door, and all the
rest then came it. We rifled the two front rooms of se-
veral silver articles and a coat, and we also drank two
bottles of wine. After we had rifled these rooms below we
made up stairs. When we got to the door at the top of
the stairs Winchester Bill wanted 501. to be given to him.
They answered that there was no money in the house.
Winchester Bill had lighted a candle, and I saw some one's
hand through the bannisters, and I called out to them to
come away, for they would be shot. The gun had been
fired out of the window before. I went back, and Hill
took the candle out of Winchester Bill's hand, and said
" let's have a look at the —." I went out, and as soon as
was outside the door I beard the report of a gun, and imme-
diately went back and met Hill with the candle blown out in
his hand. I asked him who was shot. Hill said," Sam, it's
me ;" and immediately fell down as though he was dead.
I and Arlett carried him out into the road, and Lismore
and the others assisted to carry him away. We carried
him down the lane into a field, and took off his round frock
and hat, and left him senseless. We agreed to go and
plant' the plate, and come back to him again. We did
not go back, because it got too light. We went across
Walton Heath, and across Epsom Downs, on to Ewell
Marsh ; and there we examined the plate, and threw some
of the plated articles away. We then went to Kingston,
and from thence to Brentford. We sold the plate to some
Jews. We also sold the watch and pawned the coat, and
divided the money between us. I never heard anything
about the murder of Mr. Richardson. We all had hand-
kerchiefs over our faces. Curly Bill has since that been in
a robbery at Barnet fair. Winchester Bill, Arlett, and
me, committed a robbery also at Harlow Bush fair.
(Signed) SAMUEL TILLING."
The Magistrates, after having perdsed the above state-
ment, said that it was a very important one ; and Coleman
deserved great credit for the pains he had taken to rid the
county of such a daring gang of villians.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HO USE.

On Saturday an old Irishwoman who said that her name
was Kitty Crawley, and that she had lately arrived from the
city of Cork, was brought before the LORD MAYOR, charged
with having stolen a ham and two cheeses, the property of
Mr. Batton, of Leadenhall market. The prisoner was seen
to yalk deliberately to the prosecutor's premises, and take
away the goods. Suspicions having been entertained of her,
she was followed, and seen to lodge the stolen property at
the bar of a public-house, at which she was believed to be
a fair trader, and where she had been in the habit of leav-
ing " swag ;" which she afterwards employed a porter to
carry away for her to other destinations. The officer who
apprehended her stated that he had ascertained that she
was in the habit of disposing of the goods thus obtained
at fair market prices, her demand for which effectually
blinded those who dealt with her as to her real character.
The Loan MAyom—Well, Mrs. Crawley, how did you
become possessed of these cheeses and this hem ? Pri-
soner—l'm an honest poor Irishwoman, please your Wor-
ship, and I'm not in.the habit of doing any thing that's
wrong ; the Lord knows I'm not.
The LORD MAYOR—How then did it happen that you
stole them ? Prisoner—The Lord only knows, please
your Lordship ; but I certainly stole 'em, and they a'nt the
first I stole of his property.—(A laugh.)
The LORD MAYOR--I dare say not. They say here
that you have been doing a good deal in this way. Pri-
soner—No, your Lordship ; very seldom, I do assure you.
I am so old, and so poorly, that I am not able to do any
thing now.--(Laughter.)
A porter, who attends the market, stated that the pri-
soner frequently employed him to carry hams and cheeses
from the public-house to which she had in the morning
conveyed them, to customers. She sometimes appeared as
a butter-dealer In the market, but was believed to have
carried her basket merely for the purposes of conveying
away plunder.
Prisoner—Oh, then, God knows, if you knew how de-
cent I was brought up, you wouldn't say any thing against
me ; but I am a stranger in this country, and I must do
something for a bit of bread. You wouldn't have me kill
myself would you ?—(A laugh.) Well, you may laugh,
but any body that allows themselves to starve kills them-
selves.—(Great laughter.)
Prosecutor—How often have you played me this trick ?
—Prisoner—How often ? Why, then, to tell you God's
truth, I robbed you three times afore, and your hams were
always so good, that people liked them better than any
others. There's plenty of people in the market besides
yourself, but I could not get a respectable price for their
goods, they are sucjr bad stuff; I say they ought to be pro-
secuted for selling things that the Lord knows a'nt worth a
groat.—(Laughter.)
The LORD MAYOR—How old are you ? Prisoner—
. bout sixty-five.
l'he officer said that she did her business in a most busi-
ness-like manner. She did not appear to be in the slightest
degree confused, but filled her basket from a shop-window,
as if she had paid to the last farthing.
The LORD MAYOR then sent the prisoner to Bridewell
'or two months.

HATTON-GARDEN.
John Morris Drew, Mary Drew, and Charles Young,
were charged before Mr. Bennett with counterfeiting the
money of the realm.
Duke, an officer of this establishment, stated that at one
o'clock in the afternoon he and three other officers pro-
ceeded to No. 8, Church-street, St. Giles's, having received
information that it was occupied by coiners, who were cir-
culating base money to an excess unheard of. They broke
open the door, which was barred and bolted, and in a room
on the second floor they pounced upon the prisoners Drew,
and secured them. On searching the house they found an
immense quantity of counterfeit half-crowns, shillings, and
sixpences, together with the moulds in which they ha been
cast, besides various implements of coining. In the room
there was a brisk fire, and beneath it, in the cinders, wit-
ness found a quantity of metal.
William Reynolds, a constable of Clerkenwell, and Ser-
geant Palmer, 17 G, gave similar testimony.
The prisoners were fully committed to Ncwgate.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
UNSTAMPED PAPERS.—The officers employed by the
Commissioners of Stamps have seized, during the last week,
10,000 copies of the various unstamped papers, all of which
have been lodged in Somerset House.

MAR YLEB ONE.
-Two genteelly dressed persons, John Young and Ann
Turner, who it is supposod have for a considerable period
levied contributions on the nobility and gentry at the west
end of the town, to a very considerable amount, by means
of begging letters, were placed at the bar before Mr.
SKUTT, charged with having endeavoured by a fictitious
tale of distress to obtain a contribution from Lady Stopford,
37, Upper Harley-street, Cavendish-square.
The male prisoner was discharged for want of evidence,
but the woman, Turner, who could give no satisfactory ac-
count of herself, was committed to the House of Correction
for two months.

L AMBETH- STREET.
Thomas .11ferr !plan was charged before the Hon. G. C.
NORTON and Mr. CONIBE with having in his possession
thirty numbers of weekly papers which were unstamped.
The prisoner would have evaded the vigilance of two of
the officers of this office who were looking out for such of-
fenders from the excellent manner in which he was dis-
guised, had he not been known to be an old hand in hawking
the unstamped, and it was proved that he had been brought
to this office for similar offences once or twice before.
Ccommitted for one month to the House of Correction.