The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-25 00:00:00

WOOLWICH PETTY SESSIONS.

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF BURGLARY.—Oa Satur-
day Thomas Harding, a private in the Royal Horse
Artillery, was brought up in custody on a charge of
burglary, under the following extraordinary circum-
stances :—From the evidence brought forward it ap-
speared that between the hours of three and four
o'clock on Friday morning, the family of Mr. Lacy,
wine and spirit merchant, Red Lion Tavern, Woolwich,
were aroused from their slumbers by a loud groaning,
proceeding apparently from some person in extremity.
Mrs. Lacy, who first heard the sounds, awoke her hus-
band, and they got up. Apparently the cries were those
of a dying person on the top of the house ; the servants
were rung up, and they proceeded to examine the
house. At first it was supposed that the place was on
fire, for the interior was filled with smoke. On going
to the bar, Mr. Lacy perceived the fire-grate therein
filled with burning soot, and at the same time heard a
voice from the chimney—" Oh God ! help me out !
oh, help me out !" The alarm was raised, and shortly
assistance arrived, when. after great difficulty, the
prisoner was dragged forth from the flue in a most
deplorable plight, and apparently dead. He was
laid in the air and medical assistance was sent for,
but it was some time before he recovered, when, on
being asked how he came in the chimney, he declared
that it was his intention to have robbed the house. It
further appeared that, on the top of the house, a crow-
bar was found, and also other housebreaking imple-
ments, and that the prisoner ascended the roof by
scaling the adjoining house, and then got down the
chimney. The prisoner, who appeared in Court in
the same state as when drawn from the chimney, in
defence said that the statement about his intention to
rob the prosecutor's house was false. He had been in
the constant habit of ascending to the roof of the pro-
secutor's house, and enjoying his pipe of tobacco at night
time upon the chimney-pot. On the present occasion
he had gone up as usual, and was looking at the lights
across the river, when he suddenly slipped down the
chimney ; and the more he tried to get up the further
he went down.—(Roars of laughter.)
Mr. Lacy said that the prisoner was nearly dead
when drawn out. He was tightly wedged in the chim-
ney, and it was impossible for him to extricate himself.
The Magistrates, unwilling to credit the prisoner's
statement, committed him to Newgate for trial at the
next sessions of the Central Criminal Court, on the
capital charge. The case created considerable interest,
and the Court was densely crowded. The prisoner is
a married man, and has been sixteen years in the Royal
Artillery.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

On Saturday a gentleman came to the Justice-room
to inform the Lord Mayor that he had received a letter
from a friend in Devonshire, in which the following ac-
count of an impostor in London was given :
" Some time since, I saw, both in a Cornish news-
paper and in the Devonport Conservative, an advertise-
ment of three illustrated maps of England and Wales,
Scotland, and Ireland, each map to be thirty-eight inches
by twenty-six, full-coloured, on a French polished ma-
hogany roller, to be published on the 15th of April, for
two guineas the sot, but to those who should become
subscribers before the 6th of April, and forward the
amount of their subscriptions, they were warranted to
be sent to their destination carriage-free, on the day of
publication, for thirty shillings. As they are maps
which I really want, I did not hesitate, as the sum was
not a very large one, to give my name as a subscriber
(though I confess I did not altogether admire the prin-
ciple of being required to pay the money beforehand),
and accordingly sent a Post-office order to the party,
namely, Christopher Webster, 17, Angel-street, St.
Martin's-le-Grand, at the end of March. As the maps
were not forthcominr, at the time appointed,land there
had been no acknowledgment of the money, I wrote, a
fortnight since, to Mr. Webster, to say that if the pub-
lication of the maps was postponed, I considered the
subscribers ought to he apprised of it, or that at
least the receipt of the money ought to have
been acknowledged, and which I requested, there-
fore, might be done immediately, but have hi-
therto received no account of either. As I
have, therefore, just reason to suspect that all is not
quite right, and it may possibly be a swindling affair, I
think it well to write to ask if you will have the good-
ness at your leisure to make inquiry on the subject. I
would add that, as an additional inducement to sub-
scribers a beautiful print of Queen Victoria and Prince
Albert was to accompany the maps gratis, or to those
who might besubscribers, to single maps at ten shil-
lings each, a similar one of the Duke of Wellington."
The communicant stated, that in compliance with the
request of the writer of the above letter, he applied at
No. 17, Angel-street, where he learned that Mr. Chris-
topher \Vebster took lodgings at seven shillings a-week,
which he left three or four weeks since without paying
any rent, and subsequently, he wrote a letter in the
name of Gould, stating that he had broke his leg in
going to Chester, and begged that his letters might be
forwarded to Manchester, and his lodgings let. A let-
ter was addressed to him at Manchester, which had a
few mornings ago been returned by the Post-office, the
party not being known there.

- The LORD SIAYOR said, he did not know of any pro-
ceeding so likely to put an end to the prosperous career
of fellows like him whom the letter described, as expo-
sure in those papers to which the public were upon all
occasions se much indebted for protection.