The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-26 00:00:00

AN EXTENSIVE PARISH DEFAULTER.

William Dodd Bond, a tailor, formerly of Old Brentford,
was opposed by Mr. Cresswell on the part of the church-
wardens of the parish of Ealing, and in person by a Mr.
Hemmings. The insolvent was opposed on the ground of
having committed a breach of trust to a considerable amount.
In 1832 he was one of the oversesrs of Ealing parish ; in
that year a collector having failed, the insolvent and Mr. H.
Hemmings, who was also an overseer, gave a bond to the
Commissioners of Land and Assessed Taxes, and became
collector ; he was one of the overseers at the same time.
The insolvent continued in office until April 1834, when it
was ascertained that his defalcations to the parish as over-
seer amounted to 648/. 135., and as collector of Land and
Assessed Taxes to no less than 1,197/. The former sum
was admitted by the insolvent in the account he had ren-
dered and sworn to before Messrs. Floyd and Codd, the
Magistrates, at Kensington Petty Sessions. Upon that
amount being ascertained, a distress warrant was granted
by the Magistrates on his property, to liquidate the de-
ficiency, but it was claimed by a market gardener named
Newell, a brother-in-law, and the distress was with-
drawn, without any benefit arising to the parish. A
warrant was afterwards obtained for his committal to
the county gaol, but he had eluded the pursuits of
the officers, and since 1834 the parish had lost sight of
him, until they received the notice of his application
to this Court. The parish offered a reward of 20/. for his
apprehension, and afterwards 50t. The bill was produced
in Court, these facts were proved by the vestry clerk of the
parish, and Mr. Hemmings said his case was a short and
glaring one : the insolvent had collected the rates, had ap-
propriated them to his own use, and he (Mr. Hemmings)
had been called upon to pay no less than 1,1001. out of
1,179/., and he did not know how much more he should be
called upon to pay. The insolvent, on his examination,
stated that after he left Brentford he went to Rotterdam,
where he remained some time. He came to England to
receive 150/., as a consideration for executing a deed of
separation between himself and wife ; that sum was offered
to the parish and refused. He again returned to Holland,
and remained until June last, when he came to England,
and was arrested. He said he owed his brother-in-law,
Newell, 1001., and gave him a warrant of attorney, on
which an execution had been put in on his property, and
the effects valued at 80/., and he held them by a bill of sale.
The property was still on the premises, and his father car-
rying on the business. His brother-in-law was surety for
him, and at the time the distress was levied by the parish
he had not paid the money. The insolvent's debts amounted
to 2,508 t., and his credits to 7001. On being asked how
his large defalcations had arisen, he said that it had accrued
from his having given paupers money, which he had not en-
tered, and from having laid out sums which the parish
would not allow. It was stated that at the time the defi-
ciency was discovered he made no explanation. The Court
observed that the insolvent had fraudulently made away
with his property, and sentenced him to an imprisonment of
eight calendar months.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HO USE.

A very great sensation has been caused in the metropolis,
particularly in the City of London, by the report that the
coal-owners are determined to give additional proof of the
injurious combination which is stated to exist amongst them
by an immediate increase in the price of the commodity for
the London market. At the conclusion of the day's busi-
ness in the Justice-room on Saturday, the following com-
munication and request were made to the Lord Mayor,
upon a subject on which it is known he entertains a most
decided opinion. As the question appeared to him to be
one of the very highest importance to the community, his
Lordship did not hesitate to express from his seat in the
Justice-room his readiness to afford every facility in his
power to meet the object of those who might see, in what
was going forward in the North, a necessity for adopting
immediate measures of counteraction
" MY LIORD MAYOR—I have received the inclosed letter
from Sunderland, by which it appears the shipowners are de-
termined to resist the unjust attempt of the coalowners to raise
the price of coals for the London market. Surely, my Lord,
the inhabitants of London are sufficiently interested in this
question to justify them in meeting, to oppose the aggrandize-
ment of a few coalowners at the expense of the general body
of consumers. lam satisfied that if a public meeting of the
inhabitants of the metropolis were convened, under the auspices
of your Lordship, there would be no want of spirit in resisting
an act of oppression which will operate most unjustly upon all,
and with peculiar severity upon the few.—l have the honour to
be, your Lordship's very obedient servant,
" London, Sept. 24, 1836. " J. HALLEM."
The following is the copy of a printed bill enclosed in
the above-mentioned letter :
" Port of Sunderland, Sept. 16, 1836.
" A general meeting of the shipowners of the port is re-
quested
to be held at the Exchange, on Monday next, at
eleven o'clock, for the purpose of taking into consideration a
letter received from the secretary of the coal trade, announcing
the intention of the coalowners to raise the price of the best
coals two shillings per chaldron, from the Ist of Octobor next,
a measure which, the committee of this society submits, cannot
be sufficiently deprecated and ought not to be submitted to.
" By order, " JOHN R. KIDSON,
" Secretary to the Shipowners' Society."

The Lord Mayor wished it to be stated, as publicly as pos-
sible, that if a requisition were sent to him to call a meeting
upon the subject of the apprehended increase in the price of
coals he should deem it to be his duty to consent, at once,
to the proposition, and to preside in the Guildhall, in order
to give greater effect to the intention.

Mr. A. Booth. practical chemist, of No. 59, Goswell-road,
waited upon the Lord Mayor, and stated he had observed
in the newspapers a communication from a gentleman of
the same profession, to the Magistrates of Union Hall, re-
presenting the danger to be feared from the mixture of
arsenic with the pork, bacon, and other articles of food in-
jured by the late fire at Fenning's wharf. It was, Mr.
Booth said, well known to medical gentlemen, that great
mischief had been often done by the contact of that poison
with a broken skin, and there was not the slightest doubt

that the use of bacon and pork with which arsenic-hap-
pened to be used in the making of soap would be pro-
ductive of the most injurious consequences. He made this
last statement to the Lord Mayor because he knew from
the interest his Lordship took in the matter for the sake of
the public that the damaged food would be consigned by
him to immediate, destruction—the only safe alternative.
Alderman HUMPHERY, who was at the time adjudicat-
ing with the Lord Mayor, asked whether Mr. Booth under-
stood the manufacture of soap ?
Mr. Booth was well acquainted with the process.
Alderman HUMPHERY asked whether that process would
not have the effect of destroying the corrosive quality of
the arsenic, and thus rendering it harmless?

Mr. Booth (as our reporter-understood him) said that the
poison would retain its pernicious quality even after that
process. A solution of arsenic was frequently applied in
medical cases ; but he understood that, in the case of the
pork and bacon, incrustations of arsenic were formed, and
there could be no doubt that great mischief might result
from " this" mixture. He was not a medical man ; but he
knew that, in cases in which a cut finger came in contact
with arsenic, paralysis of the arm was the consequence.
The LORD MAYOR thanked Mr. Booth for his commu-
nication, which more completely proved the propriety of
the caution with which he (the Lord Mayor) had acted in
the affair the moment mention was made of the probability
of danger.

A gentleman who was present mentioned same instances
of the indestructible nature of arsenic ; amongst others, the
instance of a body, in the stomach of which was found a
quantity of poison ten years after the death of the person
who was killed by it. in that case the arsenic, which pre-
served the stomach entire, was found possessing fully its
destructive mineral power.

The moment the above statement was made the Lord
Mayor received the following letter from Mr. Fennings :
" Fenning's Wharf, Sept. 24, 1836.
My Lord—With reference to your sentiments, which ap-
peared in the public journals of yesterday, respecting the pro-
visions that were impregnated by arsenic on my premises, I
respectfully beg leave to request your Lordship's directions
concerning the property, by disallowing any further delivery
of such articles as may be used for diet.
" I am, your Lordship's most obedient servant,
" R. L. FENNING."

The LORD MAYOR stated to the messenger that lie had
no communication to make to Mr. Fenning on the subject.
His Lordship then stated that he had observed a letter in
some of the papers from Mr. Fenuing, complaining of not
having been afforded an opportunity of making an answer
to the charge of the Irish gentleman, who complained at
the Mansion-house of the demand for the salvage. He
certainly felt sonic degree of surprise at such a statement,
for he most particularly asked Mr. Fenning whether he had
any question to ask, or any reply to make. His Lordship
declared his readiness to receive any statements which Mr.
Fenning might, at present, think proper to make, and he

was sure that the full measure of justice would be done him
by the press.

MARLB ORO U GH- S TREE T.
After the investigation of the statement of Agnes Graham
on Thursday, it was agreed the girl should be, with her
own consent, restored to the care of her foster parents,
who had so unexpectedly come forward and made such
singular disclosures. It was, howover, considered to be
more beneficial to the girl, as the interest excited by her
story remained unabated, that she should remain until the
following Monday with her kind friends, the Dagnells.
Mr. CHAMBERS on Saturday, wishing to have the num-
ber of the cab which came so mysteriously to Titchfield-
street, for the purpose of conveying away the girl, sent to
know if any person belonging to Mrs. Dagnell could furnish
him with it.

A very respectably-dressed young woman came to the
office, and announcing herself as the daughter of Mrs. Dag-
nell, said she came to give all the particulars in her power,
and, in addition, to inquire of the magistrate if he was per-
fectly satisfied that the girl's foster parents acted exactly
from those disinterested and benevolent motives which they
professed, for some persons of distinction, who had taken a
warm interest in the girl's welfare, had recommended her
(applicant's) mother not to relinquish her charge until some
circumstances of rather a suspicious nature were cleared up.
Mr. CHAMBERS told the young woman that it had been
decided by those who were present during the investigation,
and also with the free consent of the girl, that it would be
the most advantageous mode of settling the matter, by
allowing her foster parents to have the charge of her.
He was quite satisfied of the truth of the foster parents'
statement, and of the humanity of their motives, and he
thought it could only be from interested motives that any
person opposed this arrangement.

The young woman disclaimed the intention of wishing to
profit by the attention which had been attracted towards
the girl, but having reason to suspect that the persons to
whose care she was to be entrusted were not precisely
what they represented themselves to be, she thought it was
her duty to state her grounds of suspicion.
Mr. CHAMBERS taxed the young woman with enter-
taining selfish views in her present application. Large
sums of money had been given to her mother for her hu-
manity, he had every reason to believe, and as further ad-
vantages were likely to arise it did appear to him that from
interested motives the young woman sought to prevent the
girl from claiming the protection of her foster parents.
The young woman with great warmth repelled the insi-
nuation. Her mother had acted without expecting the
least return for her kindness, nor had she any idea that the
disclosures which had taken place would have excited public
attention in the remotest degree. Her mother did not
seek for reward, and it was with difficulty she could be in-
duced to accept the gifts of those benevolent persons who
came forward in consequence of what had transpired ; but
as persons of distinction had requested that the girl might
not be removed from her present protection, she thought it
right to lay a communication before the Magistrate.
Mr. CHAMBERS having intimated his readiness to hear
her, the young woman said that on the morning after the
case first appeared in the papers a person called on her and
told her his name was - , and that he knew the mo-
ther of the girl, and the girl herself. He said that he
adopted her at the age of twelve months, and when about
six years old -,he girl had been taken from him by an order
of the Court of King's Bench ; that the girl was the ille-
gitimate daughter of Lord C- ; and that 3,0001. had
been paid to her mother after the girl had been taken from
his care. He then pulled out a number of papers, and said
he was in a situation to prove that the girl was entitled to
a very considerable property, and he would do all he could
to procure justice for her. He wished to have her under
his care, but that was for the present refused, and he went
away. The following' morning a man with a cab came to
Titchfield-street, and presented a note, the purport of
which was to request Mrs. Dagnell to accept 51., and to
send the girl in the cab to her friends in the country. The
man, who did not look like a cab-driver, received a
pe-
remptory refusal, and he drove off. Shortly afterwards a
female came, and said she had been deputed by a lady of
title to inquire if she (Mrs. Dagnell) would, on being pre-
sented with a liberal reward for her kindness, give the girl
into her charge, so that she might provide for her. The fe-
male
(the wife of the girl's foster father, as applicant after-
wards learned) on receiving a general answer, went away.
The foster father made a second call, at which time there were
present General -, a magistrate of Windsor, and in a vio-
lent passion declared that the girl, Agnes Graham, was not
the child he had adopted, and that in fact the girl, her
mother, and herself were impostors. Now, when she
found that this same individual had within a very short
space of time retracted his words, owned the girl in the
presence of the Magistrate and another, and had obtained
the consent of all parties to have the girl transferred again
to him, she could not help thinking that some further in-
quiry was requisite, especially as she knew that the foster
parents had lived in London for many years, and were in
circumstances which did not warrant them incurring such
an expense. Her mother had also received letters, warn-
ing her against the character of the foster parents.
Mr. CHAMBERS said he would not hear the character
of a person taken away, of whose respectability he was
convinced, and of whose humanity the most convincing
proofs existed.
The young woman replied, she wished to hurt no ones
character ; she only communicated facts. All she wanted
was that the truth of what she had stated might be ascer-
tained, so that the poor girl, from want of caution, did not
again become a sufferer.

The young woman then retired.
It has been reported that the father of the girl is a
Noble Lord, not unconnected with the present Ministry,
as a laison has been known to exist for some years between
him and the girl's mother. The foster father, however, posi-
tively asserts, if the story of the young woman Dagnell is
to be credited, that she is the daughter of a celebrated de-
ceased nobleman.

A celebrated architect was speaking of the difficulty
there would be in destroying the old London Bridge, " none
at all," said his friend, " shoot it."
BELL'S LIFE IN LONDON AND SPORTING
CHRONICLE, PRICE sD.—Bell's Life, of Sunday, September
18, with the engraving of the Doncaster Cup, and Bell's Life,
of Sunday, Septeml-?.r 25, containing the portrait of Lord
Lichfield's Elis, the winner of the St. Leger, with the most
perfect and fullest description of the Doncaster Races, are
kept on sale, for sd. each, at the office, 170, Strand. Bell's
Life, of Sunday next, October 2, will contain an engraving of
the Heaton Park Cup.
REPORTED MURDER OP A WOMAN BY HER
HUSBAND.—A great sensation has been caused in the village
of Tovil, near Maidstone, by a tragic and melancholy event
which occurred there on Saturday evening last. The de-
ceased was the second wife of a man, named Covis. Three
weeks after their marriage, it is reported in the neighbour-
hood, that she was heard to cry out " Murder." On Satur-
day night last, the deceased came into Maidstone, and pur-
chased some meat, which she carried home, and cooked for
her husband's supper. After supper, they went up stairs to
retire to rest, and shortly after the neighbours heard cries of
distress proceeding from the house, as well as violent strug-
gling, and a heavy fall. A number of persons collected round
the door, which they burst open, and found Covis waiting to
receive them, who threatened to knock down the first who at-

tempted to enter. He, in fact, carried his threat into execu-
tion, but several other persons rushed into the house, and the
poor woman was found lying at the foot of the stairs appa-
rently dead. Being raised in the arms of one of the persons
who had entered, she sighed once, and instantly expired.—
Kent Herald.

An impatience rarely witnessed on the announce-
ment of a literary work, has been manifested by the public for
the appearence of Mr. Washington Irving's " Astoria."
" From this author," says a contemporary critic, " we have
the humours of every-day life in America—the traditionary
peculiarities of the Dutch founders of New York—the nicest
shades of the school of English manners of the last century_
the chivalry of the middle ages in Spain—the glittering visions
of Moorish romance—a deep insight into the passions and
pathos of the human heart—and, lastly, the whole unhacknied
freshness of the West—life beyond the border—a hunt on
Buffalo ground—a camp outside the frontier. This is Mr.
Irving's range, and in every part of it he is equally at home."
CURIOUS NATURAL PROFILES.—One side of

Moel-y-gest, a hill near Tre' Madoc, Carnarvonshire, when
viewed from the high road at Criccieth, presents a profile of
the humane countenance which bears a remarkable resemblance
to the Duke of Wellington. This hill is about 1,000 feet
highi and the side which presents this prodigious portrait faces
the North at the inclination of about 45 degrees, so that the
face is turned upwards, as if the body lay in a horizontal po-
sition, with the head raised upon a pillow. The features are
very distinctly defined. A similar phenomenon is found in
b
New Hampshire, United States; for formingpart of a range,
called the White Mountains, is the Profile Mountain, so called
in consequence of one side of it bearing a very accurate out-
line of the lumen face. Another occurs near Edinburgh,
immediately beneath the Monument of Nelson, on Calton hill.
is a rocky precipice of about 100 feet high ; the face of this
precipice, when viewed from the south of Holyrood Palace,
about half a mile distant, presents a profile in every way well-
proportioned, bearing a strong resemblance to the hero of
Trafalgar. Another instance of the freaks of nature exists at
Malta, in the Lion Rock, which emerges froM the sea at the
height of several yards, and forms a gigantic statue of a recum-
bent lion. To these may be added a remarkable stone be-
tween Carnarvon and Beddgelert, about four miles from the
latter place, which bears a strong resemblance to the profile of
that "heaven-born minister" William Pitt; the road passes
close to it.—Carnarvon Herald.
An ipteresting discovery was made near the Gowts-
bridge, at the beginning of last week, by some workmen
digging for foundations to some new houses. About six feet
below the present surface they found a fine stratum of bril.
liant red sand, which contained two human skeletons, buried
north and south, together with four jars, a curious flagon, and
a dish, all of fine Roman pottery. Two of the jars contained
skulls, and the others burnt bones. The site is upwards of a
mile from the walls of the Roman Linum, and must have been
that of a suburban cemetery.—Lincoln Gazette.