The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-29 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.
After a charge against a man of the name of Bridge
for assaulting a Bank porter, had been disposed of.
Sir PETER LAURIE took the opportunity, as there
were three or four of the principal officers of the Bank
present, to ask some questions and make some observa-
tious relative to the Independent and West Middlesex
Assurance Company, which had caused so much ruin
amongst those who had been rash enough to place con-
fidence in the fellows who had concocted that scheme
of robbery, and had impudently published the Bank of
ltagland and Coutts's bank as the places at which they
for the purpose of more effectually
Mr. Marshall said it was very true that the mane.
blinding kept
gers, as they called themselves, of the Independent
West Middlesex Fire and Life Assurance Company
had opened an account with the Bank of England, but
he saw that the concern was one with which the Bank
could not be justified in baying aaything to do, and
insisted that the account should be closed, which was
accordingly done. The public were certainly deeply
indebted to Sir Peter Laurie for having so completely
exposed the transactions of the persons who were con-
nected with the Company.

Sir PETER LAURIE-LI am glad to find you, Mr.
Marshall, and Mr. Smee, the comptroller of the Bank
of England, are here ; for I have received from Mr.
Anderton, of Bridge street, Blackfriars, a letter, which,
he informs me, was written by the Exeter agent of the
Company, and which shows with what energy the in-
dividuals called their agents endeavoured to advance
their interests,—Messrs. Hole and Knowles, who have
the principal merit of getting up the delusion. I must
confess that I was never more astonished than upon
perusing it. It was addressed to' a gentleman who
wished, in consequence of the reports he had heard,
to havillothing more to do with the Independent West
Middlesex Life and Fire Assurance Company
West Middlesex Insurance Office.
" Exeter, March 3, 1840.
" Dear Sir—Since I last had the pleasure of seeing
you I have been to London purposely to examine the
affairs of this Society, and I can assure you that the re-
ports issued against them are wholly without foundation.
The principal part of them are gentlemen living on their
own property. The following is the result of my inves-
tigation, which must surely satisfy the minds of any
parties insured with them of their respectability :-
63,000/. in the Bank of England, to meet emergencies.
160,000/. on mortgage property in London, at 7 and 8

per cent.
40.0001. in reversionary property.
120,000/. on different funded securities.

3 0001. in the Bank of Scotland.

30,000/. on mortgage security in that country.
10,0001. on landed security in that country.
And their paid up capital is 375,0001.
" Now, Sir, with these facts before you, I shall leave
you to form your own judgment, at the same time, we
by no means wish to deprive you of the benefit you
expected to receive ; and although you have no moral
right or claim to your policy by your allowing the time
to expire, still, if you wish to renew it, Mr. -- will
grant you the receipt.
" I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,

Now (continued Sir Peter Laurie) there appear the fol-
lowing names in the prospectus, as trustees and ma-
nagers of this Company, which is said to possess valu-
able and exclusive privileges in regard to the profitable
investment of capital :
James Alexander, Esq. Alfred T. Knowles, Esq.
Geor;e, Andersen, Esq. John Lloyd, Esq.
Thom as Bedford, Esq. H. R. Perkin, Esq.
James Drummond, Esq. Thomas Price, Esq.
Samuel Eyre, Esq. William Reid, Esq.
Robert Fergusson, Esq. Edward W. Taylor, Esq.
Theen,s Hope, Esq. John Wilson, Esq.
William Idol?, Esq. Wm. Whittaker, Ezq.
and I have ascertained th not one of these Esquires
is iti existence except Allred Thomas Knowles, Esq.,
and Earn Hole, Esq., who is the secretary. I have
been given to understand that Mr. Knowles actually
waited upon Sir J. Reid, the Governor of the Bank of
Eng'ascl, and requested him to allow himself to be
named Director of the Company, stating at the same
time that he could command a number of votes at
Dover. In fact, it is no wonder that my ignorant
cout.tryruen were imposed upon by the manoeuvres
which was practised, for amongst other allurements, they
sent down to Glaszow a number of the most splendid
fire-engines ; but I have learned that a vast number of
people of fortune, who were anxious to get the most
they could for their mono:, were so attracted by the li-
berality of the scale as not to see that the game was a
desieritte one to those in whose hands their hard cash
was t be deposited, and that a vast number of
thousands have been swamped without the least noise, '
exposure being considered discreditable.
Mr. Hobler said he apprehended that there were
other associations, the flashy appearance of which ins-
posed upon many, and the stability of which was not
much more secure.

Mr. Mirsball observed that there was perhaps at
presept greater caution necessary than usual in guard-
ing against the impression nude by elegant buildings,
as they were rising every day all around in the neigh-
bourhood of the Bank.

Sir PETER LAURIE—Most certainly there is. lam
extremely glad to hear that Mr. Labouchere has given
notice of his intention to move on Thursday next for
the appointment of a Committee to inquire into the
conduct of Joint Stock Companies. It is right that
such an inquiry should proceed, as it were, under the
sanction of the Beard of Trade, and I shall take the
liberty of suggesting to the Committee the propriety of
ascertaining from the several insurance comnanies the
following intelligence, and demanding the following se-
curity for the public :—I shall propose that the number
of the insurance companies be stated, that the number
of the insured, and the several amounts for which they
are insured be particularised, together with the average
ages of the insured, and that they be valued by the
Government tables, and the companies be called upon
to show the assets they possess to meet the demands
upon them. A regulation to such an effect would be
attended with the best:consequences, and I trust that
the Committee will proceed resolutely to prevent the
repetition of such atrocities as have been committed by
the independent and West Middlesex Life and Fire
Assurance Company.

immediately whipped him across the legs, nntl mare '3.10
of bad language to hi im.
Defendant said he had an order to pass, and declared
that he never struck the man.
Mr. BURRELL said he must pay a penalty of 203.
The penalty was paid.

MYSTERIOUS DEATH AT NOR

WOOD.

On Saturday Mr. CARTEI, the Coroner for Surrey,
held an Inquest at the Horns Tavern, Norwood, on the
body of Mary Ann Messenger, who was found on
Wednesday last, under mysterious circumstances, in a
dying state by the side of a small pond near Green-
lane, Norwood. After the Jury had viewed the body
the following witnesses were examined :
David Osborne said the deceased was his daughter,
and her name is Mary Ann Messenger.
Adam Smith gave the following evidence :—Witness
is a labourer in the employ of Mr. Roupell, living at
Mrs. Martin's, at Norwood. Mr. Roupell lives in
Cross-street, Blackfriars, and is a lead merchant, He
also had a dwelling-house and farm opposite the Crown
and Sceptre Tavern, Brixton-hill. Witness is em-
ployed on his farm. On the morning of Wednesday
last witness was by the gate in Green-lane, leading
across by his master's fields out of Lingham-lane, at the
end of Thurlow-place. It was six o'clock, and wit-
ness was going to work. The Green-lane is a private
road. When witness got near the gateway he heard a
noise as if a drunken man were snoring in his sleep.
He stopped still for a few minutes, and then crossed
the lane and looked over the hedge into a little paddock
belonging to his master. The paddock is about two
acres in extent, and has no particular name. When he
looked over the hedge he fancied he must have been
mistaken, and he then returned into the lane, and
waited until a man and a boy, whom he saw coming
towards him from Brixton, had reached the spot. In
the meantime the noise was repeated once or
twice. The persons were Underwood and his
son. At the time they came up he was looking
towards a pond in the field, and saw something lying
beside it. It appeared to be very small, and he called
Underwood's attention to it by saying, " What the
devil's that ?" The moment after he saw the person
lying by the side of the pond lift up an arm, and said
to Underwood, "There's a man or a woman lying
there." Underwood said it 41 as a woman, and both of
us went through a gap in the hedge-row, and found a
woman lying flat upon her back. with her clothes lifted
above her waist, entirely exposing the whole of the lower
part of her person. Underwood said, " She appears as
if some man had just left her." No one was near that
could give rise to Underwood's observation. Under-
wood and his son were the first persons he saw. Un-
derwood and witness, after putting her clothes down,
then laid hold of the woman by the feet and the arm;,
and put her in a drier place. At the time they first
saw her she was lying in water, but not in the pond-
There was about five inches of water in depth where she
laid. She was alive and breathing, but quite insensible,
and appeared to be in convulsions, as her lower lip
was between her teeth, and she was blowing out of both
corners of her mouth. Her hand was cold. We then
wiped her face. Her bonnet was on, but pushed back.
After that witness ran off for assistance, and to Pol:ce-con-
stable Taylor's house, to givelhim information of the occur-
rence. Taylor being out, he went to Archer, another
police constable. At the time he was in bed, but he
got up and came down soon afterwards. Witness then
went to Mr. Laurie's, the doctor, and on his way met
Taylor, and told him what had occurred. When wit-
ness went to Mr. Laurie's that gentleman was not up,
but on the facts being mentioned to his servant, he
knocked him up, and Mr. Laurie came almost imme-
diately. He felt the woman's pulse, and said she had
been dead some minutes. She was brought to this
house.
By the CORONER—When witness first saw the wo-
'mei he knew her to be Mary Ann Messenger. She
was servant to Mr. Roupel!, at his town residence in
Blackfriars. Witness has not the slightest idea how
she carne by the pond and had not seen her before for
three weeks. Oa that occasion, she was at her father's
house at Brixton, and came from there to his master's
barn-door and spoke to him and his father, who was
working with him. She was then in good health.
When Underwood and the witness found the de-
ceased her clothes and bonnet were we'. There
were not any signs cf dryness about her. Where
she was lying was clay, and there were lumps of
clay on her knees, as though she had beea
scrambling about. The ground seemed disturbed
about a yard from where she was lying, and about three
or four feet from the edge of the pond, as if there had
been a struggle. Tue pond is about four or five feet
deep. The pond had overfl med. There was no ap-
pearance of her having scrambled out of the water, or
of her having been in the water. In consequence of
her clothes on the back of her person being tumpled
above her head, witness's impression was, she had been
dragged out of the water by the heels. There was no
marks of blood, nor anything from the edge of the pond
to where she lay, that could induce him to think she
had either scrambled or been dragged out of the water.
Iler head was nearest the pond. The ground round
the pond was soft enough to bear the impression of a
foot, but it did not appear to have been disturbed. A
short distance from the body was a foot mark impress
of a short squabby foot. There were also marks of her
own knees and toes, but he could not say how long the
mark of " the short squabby foot " bad been made.
The mark was sideways to the pond. There were also
prints of her knees and of her arms and hands, as if she had
been kneeling. The knee marks were about two feet apart.
She was apparently facing the pond when she went down
upon her knees. The prints of the toes were about one-
and-a-half or two inches deep. The grass under
the body was not pressed down as if any one had forced
her on the ground. The deceased had lived in Mr.
Roupell's service three or four years. Witness had
never heard she was subject to fits. These was no
marks of violence on her person to lead them to suppose
She had been ill-used.
By the Jury—There was the track of a female in
the field from the gateway at the top leading from the
Green-lane near to Brixton. That gateway is not the
one where witness first saw her. The marks were evi-
dently those of a woman's foot, they were so small, and
discernable from the lane to the field. There was no
marks of any other person having gone through the
gateway. The marks appeared to bear down towards
the pond. They were traceable for four or five yards
in that direction. There was no track back again. She
had no shoes on when found—they were lying near her,
and were" rights and lefts." The marks in the field
were also "rights and lefts." No portion of her dress
was torn. The deceased's shoes seemed to have been
drawn off her feet by her own struggles. Witness
overtock a person in the morning in Thurlow-place,
about half-way between the school-house and Mr. An-
drew's house. He was going in the same direction with
witness towards the pond. He did not appear to have
any knowledge of the body being there. When we
called for assistance he turned round and stood still for
a minute or two and then joined us.
By a Juror—Underwood did not say to me first,
" Holloa, Jem, here's Messenger."
By the CORONER—The marks of the shoes were
square toed.
Margaret Gibbs, widow, deposed that she stripped
and washed the body on Wednesday morning by the
order of Dr. Laurie. The clothes were all very wet ;
water might have been wrung from them. They werenot
torn. Witness examined the body ; there was a slight
bruise on the lower part of one of her legs. Deceased
had no gloves on. There was nothing to excite her
suspicion that deceased had been violated. Witness had
never seen her before.
John Underwood, of Pleasant Retreat, Brixton, a
gardener, was called in and sworn, and said he was going
to work about six o'clock on Wednesday morning last,
from his home to Hanwell-road, Norwood, beyond the
Woodman, accompanied by his son Thomas, aged 15.
He had reached the Green-lane leading from the top
of Mr. Roupell's fields to Lingham-lane, when he was
accosted by a person about thirty yards distanee from
him—the last witness, Adam Smith, whose statements
he corroborated. In answer to the Coroner, the witness
said he saw nothing in the state of Adam Smith's
clothes or manners to excite a suspicion. Witness found a
pocket-handkerchief a short distance from the body, and
close to it were marks of her knees and of her fingers,
as though she had stuck her hand in the mud. After
the body had been removed the watchman of the Ce-
metery and witness found a needlecase floating on the
water of the pond, towards the spot where the body
was lying. There were no marks of any one having
been dragged out of the pond, or of any atruggle hav-
ing taken place. The weeds and grass round the edge
of the pond were not disturbed. Her snuff-box was
lying beside her. A person came and looked over
the hedge, and stood watching us ; he was dressed like
a bricklayer's labourer, and had a handkerchief with
provisions in his hand. He stood in the turnpike-road.
He afterwards came up to us ; and was a tall thin man,
of florid countenance. There was nothing in his man-
ner and appearance to induce a suspicion that he had
come purposely to watch us, but was led there by cu-
riosity. In her last struggle, as she was leaning against
witness, there was a nasty smell from the body, but
not like liquor, which caused him to vomit, and made
his nose bleed ; and he said to the strange man, " You
see this blood about me ; and if anything is said about
it, you know bow it came."
By the Jury—The wetness of the clothes appease?
to be more the effect of the dew, or of the water Lich she was lying, than from her having (h,n
i b
mused in the water.
William Forbes Laurie, surgeon, living at Toni-low-
plice, Norwood, was then sworn and examined. On
Wednesday morning witness was called to attend de-
cessed, who was lying near a small pond, in the neigh-
bouring fields. She was lying on the groeend, between
two police constables. Several persetvi were standing
round her. Witness examined her. She was dent 4,
and• seemed to have died about three quarters of an
hour before. There were no external injuries, or
blood upon the body. By his direction she was brought
to fin Horns. 'Witness has subsequently made an ex-
amination, both externally and internaUy. There are

A most singular and extraordinay incident took place
in-this city (New Orleans, America) last week. Two
brothers have been living for twenty years within a
hundred yards of each other in neighbouring streets,
and the consanguinity was never known until a most
trivial accident a few days ago developed the story.
The partie.alars are of too remarkable a nature to escape
publioity, although the names we must withhold. The
brothers were born in Paris, and were orphans at so
early an age as to have no recollection of their parents.
While yet children, an accidental explosion of gun-
powder wien which they were playing, marked an in-
delible acrar upon the cheek of one, and rendered use-
less for, rafe the finger of the other. They were sepa-
rated y bile still infants and taken care of by strangers
"—eel- afterwards went to sea as a cabin-boy for many
Years , the other remained an apprentice in Paris. TI e
eabi' a-boy, when 15 years old, found himself in this
(4'.:1, and obtaining employment more to his fancy than
rowing the waves, he abandoned salt water and applied
himself to another pursuit. Even at this time his brother
Iwas residing in the neighbourhood, and they became
acquainted and conversed with each other daily from
then till now. Both were industrious, aad have gra-
lldually improved their condition in life, until: now they
roe surrounded by the comfortable rewards of thrift.
Tach remembered the accident which occurred during
4 hildhood, and knew that he had a brother, but this
was all. The other evening one of the brothers col-
lected a circle of friends to 'witness the christening of
dtia lint grandchild, and his old familiar neighbour
round the corner was among the guests. Accident
brought the mutilated finger into notice, and the history
of it was of course told, when the delight and surprise
of the whole party may be imagined at the old neigh-
botrir abruptly giving the history of the scab on his cheek