The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-30 00:00:00

THAMES-POLICE.

ROBBERY AND CURIOUS DISCOVERY OF THE THIEF.
—lsaac Bonham, a man of respectable appearance, an
assistant elder of the East India Company's tea-warehouses
in Fenchurch_street, was charged with stealing a quantity
of tea, the property of the East India Company.
William Reeves, a policeman, early on the morning of
Saturday week, during the heavy rain, saw the prisoner
standing under a doorway, and heard him call to the driver
of a cab which was passing, but the driver took no notice
and went on. Another cab afterwards passed, and the
policeman, by the direction of the " gentleman," told the
driver to stop; but when he pulled up at the side of the
road the prisoner refused to get in, and the policeman,
who was close behind him, then observed that his coat
pockets were very bulky, and suspecting that he had been
robbing the house opposite to which he was first seen, he
detained him, and asked him what his pockets contained.
The prisoner refused to satisfy Reeves, who thereupon put
his hand into prisoner's pockets, and found them filled
with tea. He took the prisoner into custody, and on his
way to the station-house he discovered that the prisoner
was getting rid of the tea in his possession by throwing it
into the road. When Reeves first detained the prisoner
his pockets contained upwards of four pounds of tea, but
on his arrival at the station-house he had got rid of it all
but seven ounces and three quarters.
Mr. Cornelius Wheeler, chief clerk in the department
to which the prisoner belongs, said his salary was 1201.
a year; and he had free access to the tea in the East India
Company's warehouses.
Mr. BRODERIP inquired if the East India Company
intended to prosecute.
The clerk to Mr. Lawford, solicitor to the Company,
answered this question by stating that it was impossible
to identify the tea, and he wished the Magistrates to dis-
pose of the case summarily.
Mr. Comm had no doubt the prisoner had been plum-
daring the East India Company's warehouses, and that
the tea came from there. He convicted the prisoner in
the penalty of 5/. for unlawful possession of the tea, which
sum was instantly paid.

SHOCKING ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday
last the fireman of the New Dumbarton steamer met his
death in a most awful manner, while the vessel was on her
way to Glasgow. He bad gone down to the engine house
to repair the fire, and it is supposed that, while in the act
of opening the furnace door, which was new, and conse-
quently rather stiff, the instrument used for that purpose
bad slipped, and that he had fallen under one of the side
levers, which literally crushed his head and body to
pieces. The attention of the engineer was first attracted
by something like a faint squeak proceeding from the
morethatwhat
renders
and,
he washat
engine house, and on descending to ascertain the cause, be
found the body in the state thus described. We understand
he wasahis
dealt,
up young
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Paper.

On the debtors' side of the French prison,
called Le Fort, an eccentric Englishman, like Swan at
St. Pelagie, was confined 17 years for a debt which ori-
ginally amounted to only 6,000 francs (240/. ), but *hich,
during the course of his incarceration, was increased to
60,000 francs (2,4001.) It must be owned, however,
that his long durance vile arose entirely from his own ob.
stinacy. In 1815 he was arrested, and refused to pay, at
the same time proving it was from what he termed a
" principle of right," and not from a lack of cash. In
1832, he emerged from the prison-house, hut not till he
had paid the 60,000 francs; thus, according to Cocker,
his " principle of right" cost him just 2,0001. sterling, and
a confinement of about a fourth part of a man's natural
existence. It was ascertained that the captive's income
was upwards of 2,0001. per annum, which he regularly
received, and expended as far as his capabilities and possi-
bilities admitted of. Every three months one of the in-
-spectors of the prison went to receive the prisoner's quar-
terly payment. The Englishman lived in the greatest
luxury, his rooms were richly furnished, and he devoted
much of his time to the cultivation of the arts.