The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-03 00:00:00

NEW COURT.

Richard Bull, 24, William Johnson, 23, John Critile, 23,
and Dennis Leonard, 31, were indicted, the three first
named prisoners with having stolen, and Leonard with
having received, with a guilty knowledge, one black
mare, of the value of 151, the property of Henry Ruck.
Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Espinnasse, and Mr. Chambers,
appeared for the prosecution ; and Mr. Prendergast and
Mr. Ballantine defended the prisoners.
Mr. CLARKsoN stated theed-te to the Jury, from which
it appeared, that on the 11th of October last, the prose-
cutor was possessed of a horse, which horse had been
safe in his stable on that day. On the next morning
the prosecutor's groom went to the stable, and found it
open and the horse gone. The prisoners, on the 11th
October, were seen together at Ashford, in Kent, at a
public-house there, and were observed to go in the di-
rection of Merstham. The;prosecutor is a farmer residing
at Merstham, and on the day succeeding the departure of
the prisoner from Ashford the horse was missed. Two
of the prisoners, Johnson and Leonard, were seen riding
two horses in the direction of London, one a black one,
corresponding with the horse jn question. It was sub-
sequently ascertained that the prisoner• had sold the
horse to a cabman for four pounds. This horse was
identified as the property of the prosecutor. There had
been several robberies committed in the neighbourhood
of Merstham, and the prisoners were detained upon these
several charges, one of which was for stealing a gelding,
value 251., which corresponded with the description of
another horse which was• seen in the possession of the
prisoners on their road to London,

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
WORSHIP STREET.

A young man named William. Simmons, one of the
wandering musicians called " Waits," whose midnight
serenading announce the advent of iristmas, was placed
before Mr. Broughton, the Magistrate, upon a charge of
demolishing a violoncello,.helonging to a brother musi-
cian, named Richard Williams.

They were part of a quartdtt of "Waits," who had
been about all night Collecting-pence and drops of drink,
in payment of their harmonious greetings, until they be-
came quite fuddled, and about four o'clock in the morn-
ing, when a lady, as one of thetn stated, looked out of a
window, and called for a particular overture, the com-
plainant and prispner were quarrelling about the division
of the parts and the pence. In their contention the vio-
loncello was thrown down, and the complainant charged
the other with wilfully stamping on and crushing it to
pieces.. _ _ _

The instrument, broken into about twenty pieces, was
produced, and the prisoner said, rather jeeringly, that it
could easily be glued together again.
The complainant, in reply to a question, said the value
of the instrument was 41.

Prisoner—Four pounds ! Why he enly:gave 9s. for it.

The complainant said it was true that he had given a
friend only 9s. for it, but he—found it to be a fine-toned
instrument, and worth at least what he had stated.
Mr. BROUGHTON said be had heard 50L or 601. men-
tioned as the value of good instruments of the kind, but
after inquiry into the facts of the case, he ordered the
prisoner to pay 205., or be imprisoned ten days.
The prisoner had not the wherewithal to pay, and
The complainant interposed, and begged that he might
not be sent to prison, intimating that, although the de-
struction of the instrument was a serious matter, the
fracas in which it had occurred-need not entirely destroy
the harmony between them. He would take the prisoner's
word for payment of the damage.
The Magistrate, finding this appearance of returning
concord, sanctioned the proposed arrangement, and the
prisoner was therefore discharged.

THE LATE OUTRAGE IN THE

CROYDON WORKHOUSE.

At the last meeting of the Croydon Bench of Magis-
trates, an application was made on behalf of the Board
of Guardians of the Croydon Union for a summons, in
accordance with the provisions of the New Poor-law,
against the master of the Croydon workhouse for mis-
conduct while engaged in that,eapacity.
The circumstances that - originated the application
having created very considerable sensation, it will only
be necessary briefly to alludb to them. It will be re-
membered that a labouring man on his way home being
reduced to the necessity of applying for a night's shelter
at the workhouse, was admitted, and when he was about
to go away in the morning, the master of the workhouse
insisted upon " marking " him by cropping his hair, and
when the poor fellow refused to allow this to be done,
fearing that if his hair bore the appearance of having
been cut in a gaol, that he should not get employment
when he returned home, the master of the workhouse,
and two or three of his, subordinates, seized him and
forced him into a chair, and, after a violent
struggle, in the course of which the poor man's
clothes were nearly torn from his back, and
he received the most brutal treatment, a strait-
waistcoat being also sent for by the master, at length
they succeeded in cropping his head, and he was then
turned out. The occurrence would never have been
heard of in all probability, but that the poor man, feeling
indignant at the treatment he had received, immediately
applied at the Croydon police station, to know how he
could obtain redress ; and Collier, the inspector on duty,
upon hearing his story, and seeing the condition he was
in, directed him to go at once to the Town-hall, and
make his complaint to Mr. Currie, the presiding Magis-
trate, who, after a full inquiry, expressed a very decided
opinion as to the impropriety of the course that had been
adopted. These facts having been made public at the
next meeting of the Board of Guardians, the subject
was taken into consideration, and Sir Edmund Ikad, the
Assistant Poor-law Commissioner, attended the inquiry,
in consequence of the account which appeared in the
papers ; a full report of the whole proceedings was
furnished to the Poor-law Commissioners ; it Was
understood that sonic instructions would be given by
them to the Board of Guardians, as to what further steps
should be adopted ; and it appeared that the present ap-
plication was the result.
Mr. Andrews, the Clerk to the Board of Guardians,
said he was instructed, on their behalf, to apply for a
summons against the master of the workhouse, for having
misconducted himself, by infringing the regulations of
that establishment.
Mr. Currie wished for some explanation as to the
grounds of the application. He was aware of what had
already occurred, and that the whole of the facts had
been
t submittedno toknow
whetherthe Poor-lawh
t epresent
Commissioners,
application
w
an dha he
wished o k
s
made by their direction.
Mr. Penfold, the Clerk to the Bench, said that it ap-
peared that the Poor-law Commissioners wished the Ma-
gistrates to investigate the matter, and upon the result
of that inquiry would depend whether the master of the
workhouse would be retained in his situation or dis-
charged. By the section of the Act under which the
present proceeding was framed, the master of the work-
house was liable to a penalty of 201., if the Magistrates
should commit him.
Mr. Andrews confirmed the statement of Mr. Penfold
relative to the Board of Guardians having been directed
by the Commissioners to institute the present complaint.
The Bench then directed the summons to issue; and
upon a suggestion being thrown out by some of the
Union officials as to the expediency of having the inquiry
in private, the Bench unanimously scouted the proposi-
tion; and Mr. Currie observed that he thought it was a
subject which required investigation, and that the inves-
tigation could not be too public.
The occurrence has created great excitement in Croy-