The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-24 00:00:00

NEW COURT

(Berore the Commos SERGEANT and Mr. Alderman

FINNis.)
James Green alias Wentworth was indicted for forging
a promissory note for GO/.
It appeared that in August hat Mr. Henry Reynolds,
a surgeon, of Cambridge-terrace, Regent's Palk, had a
house to dispose of in Saville-row, Piccadilly, and that
the prisoner applied to him to become tenant of it.
Being anxious to know what sort of a person he was, he
put some inquiries to him, and received the following
particulars:—That ho had been engaged for the last two
- •
years in a railway survey in the East Indies, the plans
of which he would show to him,
__but they had been lost
or mislaid ; that his name was Wentworth, and that he
was related to the Fitzwilliam family; that he was con-
nected with the Northern Counties Coil Company, and
had been making a survey of the mines at Sunderland;
that he was related to Mr. Reynolds' neighbour, Lady
Augusta Wentworth' and also to Mr. Godfrey Went-
worth, of Woodley Park, Sheffield. Upon the faith of
these representations, and having found that
Mr. Godfrey Wentworth was a gentleman well
known in the City, the prisoner was allowed
to have possession of the house, and shortly
afterwards he gave Mr. Reynolds the promissory note
which formed the subject of the indictment, saying that
Mr. Glyn and the other City bankers were well ac-
quainted with him, and would readily discount it. The
note was signed "J. Wentworth." It appeared that
the prisoner had been convicted at the Old Bailey, under
the name of Green; and instead of being engaged in a
survey in India for two years, he was survejinclfor that
period the walls of Coldhath-fields Prison, into which he
had been consigned as an inmate. So well did the pri•
soner play his part that he managed to insinuate him•
self into the friendship of Mr. Reynolds, and had more
than once been invited as a guest to his house, where he
professed to take great interest in the principles of
honoceapathy as laid down by Mr. Reynolds.
The defence was that there was no forgery, inasmuch
as the prisoner had legally changed the name
of Green to that of Wentworth, and it was proved that,
after leaving prison in May last, he passed as Mr. Went-
worth, and he did not take the house from Mr. Reynolds
until August following.
The COMMON SERGEANT having retired to consult Mr.
Justice Cresswell upon this point, said his Lordship
thought there might have been some doubt upon the
subject if the prisoner had simply signed the name
Wentworth, without making any representation ; but
the fact of stating that he was related to families and
persons with whom he was in no way connected removed
all doubt as to the act, under such circumstances, con-
stituting a forgery, for his intention was to defraud.
The jury found the prisoner Guilty, and

TLe bo3imoN SERGEANT sentenced him to transpor-
t ation for fifteen years, intimating that he would respite
the sentence if the judges upon the rota thought the
case was a proper one for an appeal to the court above.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.
(THIS DAY.)
(Before the ASSISTANT-JUDGE.)
Mary Ann Thomas, aged 33, was indicted for stealing
a gown, valued at. 55.. the property of Mr. Jul(s Vagues,
of the Restaurant Franais in Coventry-street, Hay-
market, in his dwet ling-house.
The prosecutor stated that on the morning of the 13th
inst., being on the first floor, he heard some one coming
down stairs from the rooms above, and looking out he
saw the prisoner passing through the private door into
the street. Ile pursued and overtook her, and the gown
which ho produced and identified, was found under her
shawl.

The jury found her Guilty, when
The ASSISTANT-JUDGE said this was a most remark-
able case. The prisoner had been convicted, in July,
1847, of stealing in a dwelling-house; in Nov., 1847, of
the same offence; again in Feb., 1818; and in August,
1848, she was sent to prison for ten days for having
been found in a dwelling-house, with an illegal intent.
Again, in Oct. she was sentenced to three months' im-
prisonment, having also, on a previous occasion, under-
gone twelve months' imprisonment under a sentence
passed at the Central Criminal Court, for felony. He
should endeavour that those cases should be louked into,
for it was monstrous that such people as the prisoner
should be allow(' to remain in the country.

BOW-STREET.-(THIS DAY.)
OBTAINING A SITUATION BY MEANS OF A FALSE
CEARACTER.-A respectably-attired young man, named
Henry Crozier, was charged with having obtained a situ-
ation as grocer's assistant by means of a false character.
Mr. Lurd appeared for the complainant, Mr. Sen-
tence;grocer, of Clare-market, and stated that, some time
ago, the defendant applied to his client for a situation,
stating that he had last.lived with Mr. William Webb, a
grocer in Blackfriars•road, who had recently commenced
business at Newport, in Monmouthshire. lie had been
into the country as Mr. Webb's assistant, but not liking
Newport, he had quitted his service in the hope of ob-
taining another situation in town. Mr. Sentence wrote
to Mr. Webb for the defendant's character, and received
a communication in reply, to the effect that what the
prisoner had stated was correct, and that he was a sober,
honest, respectable, industrious man. Upon the faith of
this character Mr. Sentence took the defendant into his
service, but he had since discovered that the defendant
was not the character he had been represented, while the
party to whom he had referred in Newport was William
Webb Crozier, his own brother. Mr. Lord added that
be was not in a position to prove these facts now, but
ho would produce the letter he had referred to, and
solicit a remand, to enable the complainant to obtain
more conclusive evidence of the defendant's past pro-
, ceedings.

Mr. HENRY said he could receive no evidence that was
not of a legal character, and before he could allow the
letter to be used the handwriting must be proved in the
usual way.
Mr. Lord had only been instructed within the last
few minutes, and was not in a position to give that evi-
dence; but if the defendant were remanded it could be
procured.
Mr. HENRY presumed the defendant was charged
under the 4th section of the 32d George 111., for having
offered himself as a servant, stating that he had pre-
viously lived iu another service?—Mr. Lord replied in

the affirmative.
Mr. HENRY skid that was not an indictable offence,
and the proper course would have been to apply to a
magistrate, who had power to adjudicate in the matter
summarily, for a summons or Ni arrant against the de-
fendant.

The Inspector informed his worship that when the
complainant gave the defendant into cu3tody ho told
him that--

Mr. HENRY, hesidrs doubting whether the defendant
could be considered in the light of a servant, such as
that contemplated by the Act of Parliament, thought
the cotrplainant had acted very improperly in giving the
defendant into custody without previously consulting his
solicitor. The chargepreferred against him was not only
not indictable, but did not come within the provisions
of the Police Act, and the inspector might have refused
the charge. Even had there been sufficient evidence
adduced against the defendant, he had no power to re-
mand him; but here there was no evidence at all against
him, and the defendant must be discharged,
The defendant was accordingly liberated.

COLONEL THOMPSON EEITOMISED. - The best
English attender and the best in the whole House, is
Colonel Perronet Thompson, who, though now in tl.e
6711 year of his age and getting corpulent, and after
having served in the navy and army, and after being
taken prisoner at Buenos Ayres, and after being Go-
vernor of Sierra Leone, and atter being ambassador and
interpreter to the Waham, and after writing books on
rent, corn laws, lianhing, mathematics, and music, and
after repre:enting Hull, and after being the unsuccessful
candidate for Preston in 1885, for Maidstone in 1837,

for ALrylebone in 1638, for Manchester in 1839, and for
Cheltenham in 1841, and for Hull in ditto, and after
being made a burgess of the town of Cuor, does now
represent Bradford, and after all this during last session,
has contrived to be present and to vote at no fewer than
217 out of 219 divisions that have taken place—all
which shows that the capacity of bearit g fatigue in-
creases with the exercise of that capacity, and that, as in
other arts, in the art of attending the House of Com-
mons, practice makes perfeetness.—Fifeshire Journnl.—

[There is a mistake in the above, for Colonel Thompson
was not absent at a division once during the session.
The two times referred to are when he was one of the
Tellers at the divisions.—En. Sun.]

IIACKNEY POOR• RITE COLLECTION.—Yesterday
a meeting of trustees of the poor was held to appoint an
additional collector. There were five candidates, and
the result was declared in favour of Mr. Francis Dalton.
The mind, no more than a child, should be trusted
out of leading-strings; with judgment to guide, and
discretion to guard, it it does not attain happiness and
distinction, it will at least avoid misery and ensgrace, tv
which an unrestricted imagination and uncontrolled sen-
sibility will too often lead.—Eliza Cook's Journal.
FINANCIAL REFORM 111ELTINGS.-=A Aeries of
meetings on the subject of Fintatcial _Reform will shortly
be held in the north of England and in Scotland. it
will commence, we . believe, with Newcastle-on-Tyne,
and include Berwick• or eed, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Dundee, and a second meeting in Aberdeen. Mr. Hume,
it is expected, will attend those held in Edinburgh and
Glasgow.
AUSTRIAN ATROCITIES.—A memorial to Lord
Palmerston, prepared by Earl Fits william; on the subject
of Austrian atrocities and Hungarian freedom, is now
being circulated for signatures amongst the Peers and
Nientbers of the House of Commons of the Liberal

party. It urges the Foreign Secretary to use every
means in his power to put a stop to the barbarities of
Haynau, and to restore to Hungary a constitutional
system. It has already been very numerously signed;
and will bhortly be made public.