The Sun.
London, England, 1807-01-12 00:00:00

MR. Lt'D LA M.

On Frilly night, about ten o'clock, Mr. Cross-
land, Solicitor to Mr: Ludlam's brother, went to -the
Public Office, Bow-street, with the Lord Chancel=
lor's warrant for, securing Mr. Ludlam, under the
Statute of Lunacy ; having learned that Mr. Ludlam
occnpied a house in Tenterden-street, Hanover-
square. Adkins and Bacon, who were in attendance,
went with Mr. Crossland to the house : -they knock-
ed at the door, and inquired for one of the servants ;
they were answered by a man in the hoifse, without
opening the door, that he was not at home. They
then inquired if Mr. Ludlam' was at home; the man
said he was not to be spoken with, and refused to
open the door. The Officers said they must see him,
and if the door was not opened they would break it
I open ; they then heard a great bustle of several per-
sons in the passage, fastening the doors and win-
• lows, and in a short time several men appeared
in the balcony of,the first floor,' and desired the Of=
ficers to leave the door; which they refused ro do ;
'the men in the:balcony then sprung asattle, several
times,' very-violently; which brought a' number of
. watchmen in the front of the house ; the- men in
the balcony gave charge of the Officers; saying,,
they were attempting to break into the hciuse; - and,
the watchmen were abouf to force:the Officers to the
watch-house, till they at length convinced them;.
who they were; when the watchmeh told the Men
in the houSe-they. would :not.take the Officers into;
.custody, except they .would tome out of the house,
and- go' to the
.Wateb,house, to 'make good their
charge ; which they declined to do. . The Officers.
remained some time longer, endeavouring to- gain
admittance ; but finding all their • threats.-and fair
Means fruitless, they left the- house, not deeming it'
prudent to attempt breaking if open withobt the spe-
.cial authority of a Magistrate.
- On Saturday Morning.the Officers represented to
Mr. READ, the Sitting Magistrate
_at‘ the Office,
;what had happened; and the- state -of the case.-
-Mr. REAP, in consequence; direeted that the War-
rant_ originally granted by the LORD MAYOR, and'
backed by him, should.:be-iresorted to, and that.. a
nutuber4f Officers, well •armed;iishonld go. with it;
.and, in case *of a refusal to open' the door, and
I there being nodouht of Mr. Ludlam being in the
bouse, to break it open.. Mr. Nalder;. _oue.• of the
. City Marshals,-..who was in pesse-ssion of the War-,
, rant, was accordingly applied•toandi about -one-
o'clock, Mr. Nalder, -and Messrs. Adkins.;.- Rivett,
Pearkes, Carpmeal; Taunton, R.-Limberick, and
Lavender, went armed with loaded pistols to the'
house in Tenterden-street, where Mr..budiam lvasi
supposed to be. Pearkes- went forward ',singly, and
knocked at the door;- he was answered- by a stable
boy from the area, who asked the Officer what he
wanted ? Pearkes replied, he had. brought a letter.
from--Mr. Vandercomb, Mr: -Ludlam's Solicitor,'
and he wanted to,-See•iiinr; - the-boy went into the
.kitchen,: and returned -with an
,answer that Mr.
Ludlam could *not be seen ; and, on the boy's re-
turn to the kitchen,--the doors and windows were
fastened, and a noise was heard in other parts of
the house, securing it. against being entered.—
Pearkes-gave a Signal that 'he could not gain ad-
mittance, and the other Officers came to him. They'
,
gave some violent knocks at the door, when several
men carne into the balcony, and. demanded of;the
Officers What they wanted,; the Qfficer4 told them
who they were; and' what they wanted. The men
demanded to see their, atithprity; the, Officers sheav-
ed 'the Lord Mayor's warrant, but told the men
they could not- read -it where they were, and re-
quested them to come down and open the door, or
they must he.under the necessity of breaking it open.
The men 'replied,, they Should not ; and: that Mr.
Ludlam was. well' taken care of, as he was tin-
der the management of" two of Dr. Montoe's men :
they theil went in, and shut the window.—The
Officers 'then endeavoured to break opal "the
door with an iron crow, but it was so well se-
cured, that . they could not accomplish it ; they
were, therefore, under the necessity of borrowing
some large
,hammers, and other weapons, in the
neighbourhood ; but even With these they could Licit,
-break it open. They were, therefore, obliged, to
have recourse to other expedients to gain adrnit-.
Once ; 'accordingly; several of them got into the
area; 'they endeavoured, in vain, to break open The
kitchen door, likewise the windows, as they were
secured With strong it-on bars, as well as the shut-
ters-;•- they endeavoured; by intreaties and. threilts,
to persuade an old woman, whom they discovered
in the kitchen, to open • the door •'• but she said, she
, dared not ; assured. the Officers, Mr. Ludlam
was not in the lower part of the house, and that
she bad not seen him for above an hour. La-
vender`at length contrived to get a standing on the
sill of one of the parlour •windos) and, by force,
brpke in the sash and shutters, and gained admit-
tance into the parlour; he immediately went to th'e
street door to let in the Other Officers, but be could
not accomplish it, the doOr being double-locked,
and the key .takenout ; he, hoWeer, described the
part of the door where thefOck was, and the other
OfficerS soon forced it opch.. All the Officers then
entered the house with piStOls in their bands, and
proceeded to search the closets, beds, Chimnies, and
every_ part 'they could suppi, e. it. possible• for Mr.
Ludlam to be concealed in. They proceeded to the
top of the house,
.where 04:found a trap-door, lead-
ing to the roof, and discOyered that the whole of the
sky-light had beeh removed ; they; were both very:
high from the stairs, and they could not-for some
time find any thing sufficiently high to enable them
to ascend to them, till they discovered a ladder con-
cealed behind a bed. On forcing, open the trap-
door, ae great' quantity of rubbish,. books, &c. fell
Upon them, which.they had no doubt had been placed
there to impede their pursuit of Mr. Ludlam ;. they,
however, 'got upon the roof,. by the sky light, 'and
traced footsteps in the gutters, which they 'had no
doubt were. Mt, Ludlam's; they continued their
pursuit upwards of an hour, during which time they
entered. all the houscs in Ten terden-street, Hanover-
square, and Oxford-street, that had any connection
but all the inhabitants denied having admitted Mr.
Ludlam ; the Officers were-, therefore, obliged, very
reluCtantly, to give up their perilous
During this extraordinary attack of the Officers,
several hundred persons were assembled in the street
to sec the event. While the Officers were search-
ing the house they discovered that Mr. Ludlam

s. t, G rosy eno r.s:Vir,e;
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