The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-04 00:00:00

URT OF BANKRUPTCY.

This morning an application was made in the
matter of Thomas Richard Browne, timber-mer-
chant, Commercial-road East, to expunge a proof
for £2,354, by a creditor named William Marshall.
The bankrupt had neglected to comply with an
order of the registrar to file accounts upon a certain
day, and the chief judge decided to refuse a motion
to expunge the proof upon this ground, but con-
sented to allow Mr. Reed time to file accounO.

POLICE LV7ELLIGENCE—This Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

TIIE POLICE AND THE CABMEN.—For some time
past the greater part of the afternoons has been
occupied by the magistrates in hearing summonses
taken out by the police against cabmen for the
offence called " loitering," &c.—some of the cases
being of the most frivolous character—the number
of summonses having gone on steadily increasing
till it now averages about G 5 a day. The conse-
quence is that the ordinary business of the court is
much impeded, and at times there is a scene of
great confusion, as may well be imagined, when
it is stated that frequently of an afternoon there are
as many as 65 cabmen and an equal number of pro-
prietors or horsekeepers in attendance, besides a
large body of police and those having other bUSiIiCS3
at the court. Yesterday afternoon for some time
the court was entirely filled with cabmen and the
police, and the street in front of the court presented
somewhat the appearance of a cab yard.
SAVAGE ASSAULT BY A FEMALE.-111aly Ann
Beaumont, a woman who has been several times
charged at this court, was charged before Mr.
Knox with being drunk, disorderly, and assaulting
Police-constable Henry Waller, 151 C.
The constable was called by a tradesman to re-
move the prisoner from his shop as she was annoy-
ing his customers and making use of the vilest lan-
guage, and on his attempting to do so she became
very violent, threw herself down, and bit one of
the constable's fingers very„.badly, causing him in-
tense pain. Several persons went to the con-
stable's assistance, but they were frightened to
touch the prisoner owing to her violence, and some
other constables arriving and putting the pri-
soner on the stretcher she forced off the straps,
and it was with the greatest difficulty she was got
to the station.

Mr. Knox committed the prisoner for two
months', with hard labour.

THAMES.

ALL THROUGH KLErromANlA.—Elizabeth Car-
penter, an elderly woman, described as having no
fixed abode and no occupation, was charged with
stealing a pan, value se. 6d., the property of Mary
Ann Morgan, of Diamond-row, Stepney, shop-
keeper. A few days since the prisoner was seen by
a boy named Gregory to enter the shop of the pro-
secutrix, and remove a pan, with which she
coolly decamped with. She was pursued, and
dropped the pan, and then fell on her face
on the ground. It was some time before she
recovered, and she was apparently in a fit. A sturdy
police constable, named William Walker, No.
40 K R, said to her, " Now, old lady, this
will not do—come out of that fit," and she
recovered immediately, and called him an un-
feeling wretch. • He was still more unfeeling
to convey her to the station-house, and to state
that she was an old thief.
James Briden, a police sergeant and detective,
said the prisoner had been convicted of felony in
1863, and was sentenced to five years' penal servi-
tude. She then gave the name of Elizabeth
Thomas.

Another police constable said he had the prisoner
in custody after her release from prison on a
charge of larceny, for which she was convicted at
the Worship-street Police-court, and sentenced to
three months' imprisonment and hard labour. She
then gave the name of Harris.

Briden said the prisoner was at large on a ticket-
of -leave when she was last arrested, and that after
she had served her three months in gaol she was
sent back to serve the unexpired term of her first
sentence. She had been in custody and convicted
several times before her conviction for pot-stealing
and a sentence of five years' penal servitude.
The prisoner admitted all that was said against
her was trtle. She had been subject to fits of klep-
tomania throughout her life, and magistrates and
juries would not make allowance for that. She had
a fit a few days ago and took the pan from a shop.
She did not know what she did when fits were upon
her.

The magistrate would not admit the plea of klep-
tomania, and committed the prisoner for trial.

Lieut. Posnett and Ensign Baker, of the Ist
Battalion of the Ist Regiment, who are with the
depots at Chatham, have received orders to hold
themselves in readiness to proceed to Madras to
join the service companies.

Major-General J. 11. Lefroy, Royal Artillery
F.R.S., Director-General of Ordnance at the War
Office, and head of the Ordnance Dopartment at
Woolwich, will shortly, it is reported, be trans-
ferred to the Council of Military Education ; and
Major-General G. Balfour, C. 8., late Madras Ar-
tillery, is named as likely to succeed General Le-
froy, assuming the title of Commandant of the
Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. It is considered rather
singular to select a retired Indian officer for such
an appointment, especially when there are so many
officers on the Retired List, both of the Royal Artil-
lery and Royal Engineers, thoroughly qualified and
of equal if not superior claims, to occupy such an
important official position. The residence in the
Royal Arsenal, formerly in the occupation of Major-
General Boxer, is likely to be allotted to General
Lefroy's successor.