The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-26 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

VIOLENT ASSAULT.—Yesterday William Roseberry,
a young man of very respectable appearance, who holds
a situation in the General Post-office, was placed at
the bar before Mr. Grove, the Sitting Magistrate,
upon a charge of committing a most violent and unpro-
voked assault upon a married woman named Mary
Birket.

The complainant, it appeared, was walking home
with her husband, when the defendant came round the
corner of a street, from which they were four or five
houses distant, and ran against them, and then, with-
out the slightest provocation, attacked them with his
stick, with the butt-end of which he struck the female
upon the head, inflicting such a wound that the blood
was streaming from it when a policeman came up.
A surgeon's bill for attending and dressing the
wound, was produced before the Magistrate.
The defendant alleged that, as he was turning the cor-
ner, the parties ran against him, and that the husband
had struck him before he used his stick.

The contrary, however, was sworn to by the other
parties, who proved that the defendant first ran up
against them, and then, without the slightest provoca-
tion,used his stick upon the female.

Mr. GROVE remarked that a great number of similar
cases of wanton violence had come before him, and he
remanded the defendant until Saturday, to be then
committed to Newgate for cutting and wounding the
woman.

GREENWICH POLICE.

(Before Mr. J. TIIACKRAY, Chairman, and Messrs.

SMITH and HARGRAVE.)
The Magistrates were occupied for several hours in
the investigation of the circumstances connected with
a very serious imputation upon the character of Thomas
Smith, one of the police-constables of the R division.
Mr. Malalicu, the Superintendent, was present during
the whole of the inquiry, which created a great deal of
interest, and the Court was crowded.

The following is an outline of the transaction :
Mrs. Turner, the landlady of the Pilot public-house,
East Greenwich, was charged upon an information with
allowing drunken and disorderly conduct in her house,
contrary to the tenor of her license.
The constable Smith appeared in support of the
chi rge, and upon the hearing it turned out that the
house in question was in general very quietly and re-
spectably conducted, but that in consequence of a row-
ing match having taken place, there had been a little
extra jollification among the winners, and the Magis-
trates, therefore, consented to dismiss the information
upon the payment of the costs.
A waterman, named Benjamin Allen, who, it ap-
peared, was the winner of the boat race, was then
charged upon a warrant with assaulting the constable
Smith in the execution of his duty.
Smith, the policeman, being sworn, stated that on the
night of the l2th August, about half-past eleven o'clock,
he was on duty near the Pilot, when he heard a great
disturbance in the house, and the landlady came to him
and requested him to go in and clear it, but he told her
he could not do so. Shortly afterwards, however, hear-
ing a cry of murder he did go in, and he then saw several
men fighting, and the prisoner Allen abused him and
struck him, and his companions forced him out of the
house. He had not been drinking in the house at all
or, this evening, neither did he draw his cutlass. He
endeavoured to use his staff, but the people prevented
him from doing so.
Allen, in his defence, denied altogether the charge of
assault, and added that the policeman had been in the
house for an hour and a half drinking before the occur-
rence took place.
Thomas Cobb was then called as a witness, and he
stated that he was in the tap-room of the Pilot public-
house on the night in question ; and about a quarter
past nine o'clock the policeman Smith came in, and he
drank with witness and several other people in the
tap-room, and he stayed in the house for an hour and
a half. A dispute at length arose about the rowing,
and some one shoved Allen against the constable, and
he was pushed out of the house ; and Allen asked him
why he did not do his duty. The policeman then drew
out his cutlass, and made a thrust at him, and all the per-
sons who were there called out " Shame."

The CHAIRMAN, upon this evidence being given, ad-
dressed the constable, and asked him whether he had
any observations to offer to the Bench respecting it ?
He declared that the statement was false, and that
he was not in the house at any time, except when he
heard the cry of murder, and he denied positively hav-
ing drank there.
Thomas William Platten, a person who was with
the last witness at the house in question, confirmed his
►testimony as to the policeman having come into the
public-house, and remained there drinking an hour and
a half.

The constable, however, still persisted that the charge
was untrue, and the Magistrates upon inquiry, having
ascertained that there were other persons who could
give evidence u'on the point, the Chairman said that
the question was one of great importance to the public,
and he thought the matter ought to be dully investi-
gated. He, therefore, suggested that all the persons who
were referred to should be sent for.
The case was accordingly adjourned for a short
time, when another witness named Thomas Stevenson,
who gave his evidence with considerable reluctance, was
examined, and he also stated that a policeman was in
the tap-room drinking for some time on the night in
question, but he could not, or would not, identify
Smith as being the same man.

The niece of Mrs. Turner and the servant were also
examined, but their evidence was not material.
John William Peck was then examined on behalf of
the defendant, and he swore that he was well ac-
quainted with the person of Smith the officer, and on
the night in question he was drinking in the Pilot, and
he saw him there drinking with several persons for
above an hour and a half. During the time he was
there it began to rain, and the policeman went out for
a short time, and when he returned they asked him
what he went for, and he said that as it rained the ser-
geant would feel his coat, and if he found it dry he
would think he had been neglecting his duty, and ho
had gone out to get his coat wet to deceive him.
The defendant Allen being asked if he had any-
thing further to say, replied, that he denied having com-
mitted any assault upon the policeman, and declared
that he drew his cutlass, and threatened to strike hi:n,
and that caused all the disturbance.

The Magistrates then retired, and returned into
Court in about twenty minutes, and the Chairman then
said that the Bench had come to the decision of dis-
missing the charge against Allen, on the ground that
they could not believe what was said by the policeman,
who they thought had grossly misconducted himself.
He had made himself amenable to the law by the gross
perjury he had committed, and although they did not
feel themselves called upon to set the law in motion,
they should direct that copies of all the depositions that
had been taken should be forwarded to the Commis-
sioners of Police, in order that they might determine
what further steps should be taken in the matter.
The warrant against Allen was then discharged.