The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-03 00:00:00

THE stIN, LONDON, FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER 3. 1841.

EXTRAORDINARY POST-OFFICE •
ROBBERY.
THE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE. 1 BIRMINGHAM, TUESDAY.--Yesterday Chalks Webb,
The portrait of Dr. Barrett, late Senior Fel- apprehhended on the 17th ult., in this town, by Mr.
low and Vice-Provost of the Dublin University— George Redfern, on suspicion of being concerned in
one of the most eccentric, and in many respects stealing a letter from the Post-office here as far back
most remarkable men of modern times—embel- : as the year 1828, was again brought up for examination
fishes the Picture Gallery of the Dublin lEfaga- before Charles Shaw and D. Leasam, Esqrs. Mr. Pea-
zinc for this month. Dr. Barrett, better known ' cock, solicitor, of London, appeared on behalf of the
in the Irish University by the soubriquet of Post-office authorities. Mr. Suckling attended for the
"Jacky Barrett," was a compound of oddities so prisMoner Sink Ti.
nson was thehere were fourteen
and witnesses
stated hat tin the
heterogeneous, that the wonder is, how they ever r. first, he
year 1828 he was a traveller for Messrs. Simcox and
Pemberton, came to co-exist in • the character of the same of Birmingham. On the 4th of December
individual.. " Though acquainted," says his in that year he enclosed in a letter at Dublin bank post
biographer, "with the abstrusest things of set- and other bills, amounting to 581 d. Bs. 11d., which he
ence, he was so ignorant of the things of COM- directed to Simcox and Pemberton, but which never
mon life, that he absolutely did not know a live reached its destination.
duck-from a partridge nand though he had dined Mr. Pemberton proved that at the above period he
at Commons on mutton fun- forty years, he actu- counting -house
daily in the habit of attending in his countinc,-house
ally did not know a live sheep the only time he at post hours, and that if the letter had arrived on the
ever saw one; though capable of speaking and 15th, as it ought to have done, he or his clerk (Mr. Bur-
writing the dead languages with correctness and ton) would have received it. He (Mr. Pemberton) had
not received a money letter that day ; but he received
fluency, he was so ignorant of his own, that his I oneiinforining him that a remittance had been forwarded.
conversation was a tissue of blunders and °Tam-
matical absurdities. Though generally kind and Bird, manager of the Birmingham rest-office
good-natured,. he was never known to give a recollected an inquiry being made about that time re:
specting a letter belonging to Messrs. Simcox and Pern-
penny in Charity ; and., so narrow was his heart, berton. Wilson was the name of the letter-carrier to
that he suffered his nearest relatives to pine in the above firm, and in the month of December, 1828,
poverty while he lived, and starve at his death, James Webb, the prisoner's brother, was also employed
while he had accumulated useless thousands. in the office, and generally sat beside Wilson. On the
• Though a religious and pious man, he indulged
a habit of cursing and swearing to a frightful ex-
10th December, 1828, Webb applied for. and obtained
leave of absence for a short time, and on his return ha
tent ; and. though moral and continent, he pur-
gave contradictory accounts of the way in which he had
chased. all sorts of books and pictures for his pri- spent his time. Suspicion then fell upon him, and he
vate indulgence."was apprehended, but he was discharged for want of suf-
gui followingte
cnteecrdi
sottiecs :if. !
ficient evidence.
Mr. Samuel Mackey, clerk belonging to Messrs. Minet,
Mector, and Co., bankers of Dover, proved that on the
cliaraa
Dr. Barren's
man:— Mector,
person la'lli.ce

THE MAGAZINES.

His. solitary habits prevented his having any asso-
ciates among his fellow-students, but he made compa-
nions of his scanty stock of furniture, and when reading
for Fellowships used every day to go through the form
of an examination with them. Having placed his chair,
table, basin, and bolster, in a semicircle, he gave them
the names of the declared candidates, and propounded
such questions as occurred in the part of the examination
he was readily,. To the first whom lie supposed to an-
swer, he said)" male," to the next " minus recte," to
another " die tu," and so on to the last which represented
himself, to whose imagined answer he always replied
" recte respondisti, domine Barrett." In this way with
wonderful perseverance he got through the whole course,
and ob:a!ned a Fellowship with ,considerable cpylit in the
year 1778, and was cu-opted to a Senior Fellowship, A.D.
1791.
As soon as be became a Fellow, all the eccentricities
which his former mode of life had tended to conceal as
well as to confirm, began to be better known, and every
one who had any intercourse with him had numerous
anecdotes of his blundering simplicity. The anecdote of
the two cats, which has been told of many learned men,
originated with him. Ills only pets were a cat and a
kitten, its progeny. A friend seeing two holes in the
bottom of his door, asked him for what purpose he made
them there. Barrett said it was for his cats to go in and
out. _ _

3th December, 1838, he cashed for Mr. Emanuel Levi,
a money-changer, a Bank of England post-bill for 5C1.,
No. 9,364.
Mr. Levi deposed that on the last-mentioned day, be-
tween nine and ten o'clock in the morning, the prisoner
came to his house, and asked for cash for a SCI. note.
He gave it to him, and he could swear that the one then
produced by Mr. Peacock, and sworn to by the last wit-
ness, was the one he received from the prisoner. To the
best of his knowledge the prisoner had a small paper
parcel in his hand.
Mr. William Stevenson, a cotton-dealer at Calais,
stated stated that on the 9th of December, he, being in
want of a hundred pound bill to remit to England, went
to the house of Mr. Darquer, a money-changer, and,
while lie was there, a stranger came in and asked
for cash for a hundred pound bill. Mr. Dar-
quer gave him cash for one, and he, Mr. Steven-
son, bought it from Mr. Darquer. The bill produced
was the same, but lie could not swear that it was the
one the stranger sold Mr. Darquer, because it was out of
I his sight while Mr. Darquer was getting the money in
another apartment. He could not swear the prisoner
was the stranger, but he believed he was, because he
dined with him accidentally the same day at the table
d'hote at the Crown Hotel, Calais.
Richard Baker, formerly waiter at the Crown Hotel.
proved that on the 9th December, 1828, a stranger, who
gave his name Brown, arrived at the hotel from Dover,
and dined at the table d'hote with the last witness. He
could not swear the prisoner was the man, but he be-
lieved he was. While at the hotel he was much agitated,
and his manner attracted attention.
Mr. Abraham Hamnayn stated that on the 9th Decem-
ber he was chief officer on board the Crusader, her Ma-
jesty's packet between Dover and Calais. He conveyed
on the above day to Calais a person named Brown, who
put up at the Crown Hotel. The next day he brought
him back again, and he was so much agitated and terri-
fied on his passage back, that he found it necessary to
have him watched. He could not swear positively that
the prisoner was the man.
Mr. Darquer deposed that he received from a stran-
ger, on the 9th December, 1828, a one hundred pound
bill, which he sold to Mr. Stephenson, but he could
not swear the prisonar was the person from whom he
bought it.
James Woolley and John Rhodes, fellow-workmen of
the prisoner, fully identified him as the brother of Jas.
Webb, who had formerly been employed in the Post-
office, and deposed to his having absented himself at the
beginning of the month of December from his work, and
his final departure at the commencement of the year
129. They had no doubt of his being the same man,
as his countenance had not undergone any material
change.
At the close of the last witness's examination, Mr.
Peacock applied to have the prisoner remanded, as it
was probable much more important evidence might yet
be obtained.
Mr. Suckling wished to know if the Magistrates would
admit the prisoner to bail ?
Mr. Spurrier, who was with Mr. Peacock, said it was
not a bailable offence.
The MAGISTRATES ordered the prisoner to be remanded
for a fortnight.
The case excited much interest, and lasted four hours,

" would not one do for

" Why," replied his friend,
both ?"
" You silly man," answered the Doctor, " how could
the bio• cat get into the little hole ?"
" But," said his friend, " could not the little one go
through the big hole."
" Egad," said Barrett, " and so she could, but I never
thought of that.'
Equally. ingenious was the plan he proposed at the
Board fur removing the rubbish after some buildings had
been pulled down in the College courts. He considered
it a very unnecessary expense to have it drawn away in
carts, and said it would be a more expeditious means of
getting rid of it, to dig a hole and bury it ; when asked
what was to be done with the clay taken out of the hole—
" D'ye see me now," replied the philosophic Doctor,
" can't you dig another hole and bury that ?"
Nor can we omit the following :
How completely this extraordinary passion for board-
ing money had counteracted the natural kindness of his
disposition, was strongly exhibited in another instance,
towards his poor old attendant, Catty. lie had sent her
out, as usual, one morning for a halfpenny-worth of
milk ; he gave her a penny to pay for it, with strict in-
junctions to be correct in bringing back the change. The
poor woman, whom old age and want had rendered in-
firm, slipped and fell in the College-court as she was re-
turning with the milk, hurting hr leg so severely that
she was immediately carried off to an hospital. She had
for many years been the Doctor's only companion, and
being sincerely grieved for the accident, he went at once
to th hospital to see her. The unfortunate woman was
lying on bed writhing with pain, and her old master was
at first affected to tears, but hii habitual avarice was too
strong to be suppressed, and after expressing his sorrow
for her misfortune, lie began, " D'ye hear, Catty, where's
the jug ?"
" Oh ! Doctor dear," groaned the poor woman, " sure
the jug was broke, and -I couldn't help it.
" Very good, Catty, that's true, it couldn't be helped;
but d'ye see me now, where's my halfpenny change ?"
" Charles O'Malley, the Irish Dragoon," is
continued this month with much spirit. The
remaining articles, especially those entitled
" September Flowers," and " Sketches on the
Coast of Clare," are as clever as any that have
lately appeared in this periodical.

CANADIAN POLICY OF THE PEEL GOVERN-
MENT.-A leading article of Tuesday's Times contains
the following passage :—" Passing from foreign to colo-
nial affairs, Lord John Russell takes credit to himself for
having restord free institutions to Canada,' without
confessing to any culpability in the transactions which
made it necessary to take these institutions away. By
coquetting with treasonable practices at home and
abroad, these men educated the spirit of rebellion in
Canada, and afterwards by their vacillating incapacity
encouraged it to make, head and break out into overt
acts. The flame of civil war once kindled, was quenched
by no wisdom of theirs, but by the gallant British
troops, and the loyal British settlers. How have those
settlers been since treated by this Government, which
claims praise for restoring free institutions to Canada ?
In such a manner as may probably teach those whose
patriotism is not proof against temptation to seek their
own interest on the next. similar occasion, by taking part
with the insurgents instead of putting them down. And
if the course of Whig Administration had not been
ar-
rested, there is too much reason to apprehend that such
an opportunity might have been speedily found." All,
this, being interpreted, means that the recent Govern-
ment of Canada has been mischievously popular,' and
that it behoves Sir Robert Peel and Lord Stanley to re-
store the dominion of the old family compacts. It will
be read thus in Canada. If it were also read there as an
expression of the views of the Peel Government, it
would almost suffice to produce that third rebellion,
which the writer in the Times, in utter ignorance of the
State of Canada, thinks would have happened if the
course of. Whig Administration had not been arrested.

—Colonial ..Tonal.
THE WESTMINSTER REFORM SOCIETY

On Wednesday a numerous meeting of the Westminster
Reform Society was held at Stannard's Hotel, Charles-
street, Covent-garden, to receive the Report of the
Election Committee. Among the members present were
Major-General Purlby, Sir F. Knowles, Knt., Mr.
Front, &c. Major-General Purlby was called upon to
preside, when Mr. Front read the Report of the Com-
mittee appointed by. the Society to conduct the late
election against the Tory candidate, and in doing so he
observed that it was a matter of great moment that the
Society should be put in possession of the causes which
led to the return of a Tory; and their defeat at the late
election, as they would thereby be better prepared upon
another occasion. They had been busy in attending to
the registration, or they would have presented the Re-
port earlier, and he was able to say, that in consequence
of the exertions used, there were above 2,000 new
claims this year.--(Hear, hear.) He hoped, there-
fore, that the Reformers would exert themselves in
order to place Westminster in that position it has main-
tained for many years. He had for thirty years la-
boured for the Liberal cause, and he regretted that,
after so long a period, it should happen that they were
represented by a Tory. He then presented the Report,
from which it appeased that 666 electors voted for
Captain Rous beyond the number who voted for Sir
James Murray in 1137, and 500 electors less voted for
Sir De Lacy Evans and Mr. Leader. The Committee
attributed the loss of the election to over-confidence,
and observed, that if the plumpers given to the
Reform candidates, which were 99 for Mr. Leader,
and 59 for Sir De Lacy
.Evans were divided, that
the latter would have had nineteen, and the former two
votes more than Captain nous. The Committee then
proceeded to regret the loss of Sir De Lacy Evans as
their representative, observing that he had always faith-
fully discharged his duty in support of the interests of
his constituents.—(Hear.) Mr. Scaif then moved, and
Mr. Child seconded the motion, that the Report be re-
ceived and entered in the minutes, which was unani7
mously agreed to. Thanks
,were voted to the Chairman,
several other members having addressed the Chair, when
the Chairman, in reply, suggested the propriety of
forming local Committees, so that they may be prepared
for another election. Mr. Huggett informed the meet-
ing that there would be 716 objections against the
Tories at the Registration Court, and 198 claims made
on their part. About twenty members were added to
the Society.
WORSE THAN THE KNIFE.—At Stour.
bridge Police-office, on Friday, a fellow named Edward
Head was charged with cutting and stabbing Thomas
Pardoe, and Mr. Mobberley, publican, of Coalburn- brook
Amblecote, on the 26th ult. From the evidence ad-
duced, it appeared that on the day in question the pri-
soner came into Mr. Mobberley's taproom, and inquired
if any of the company had any razors to set. He had
half-a-pint of ale, and had not been in many minutes
when he began blackguarding all the company, and ulti-
mately became so violent that Mr. Mobberley thought it
necessary to turn him out This he resisted, and, with a
razor, cut at Mr. M. and slightly wounded him in the
face. Mr. Mobberley cried out, and Pardoe went to
his assistance, when the prisoner set upon him, razor in
hand, with the ferocity of a Thug, and it appears
miraculous he did not murder him outright ; as it
was, he escaped with a few very slight wounds on
the abdomen, and a fearful one on the right shoul-
der, about four inches long, commencing at the top and
extending to the arm-pit. From this wound the blood
must have poured in torrents, for I'ardoe's coat, waist-
coat, and shirt were completely saturated. After a most
determined resistance, the prisoner was secured by po-
liceman Thornton, and conveyed to the prison. The
prisoner made no defence, other than saying they set
upon him, and showing a bruise on his arm, which he
said some one did. He was committed to take his trial
at the next Stafford Assizes. Poor Pardoe seems very
weak and ill from the loss of blood which he sustained.
He had a most providential escape, there being six
cuts entirely through the front of his trousers (three in
a perpendicular and three in an horizontal direction), and
his escape from a fatal wound in this part of his person
is to be attributed to the circumstance of the trousers
being of a large, roomy description. Head is a rough-
looking customer, from Wolverhampton. His wife was
in Court during his examination, and appeared much
distressed at the situation in which ke had placed him-
sel£-IVorcestershire Chronicle,