The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-26 00:00:00

......„........
LONDON, THURSDAY EVbri.ING. SEPT.EMBER 26, 1833

away from the part intended for the infusion. If it
were mixed with China tea, a common observer
would not know the difference.
The LORD MAYOR (after looking at the samples)
—No; nor an uncommon observer. The imitation
is as close as possible. It is quite enough to de-
ceive any body.
Sergeant Bompas—Did you not say " We have
not a leg to stand upon in the. Exchequer, and we
must therefore go to the Lord Mayor ?" Witness
—No; by the virtue of my oath, I said no such thing.
Mr. Hawkins, a supervisor of Excise, deposed
that he knew a tea-dealer at Eton, and that he
found a bag at a public-house there, containing some
of the British leaf, with the covers of Mr. Neale
upon it, and directed to the tea-dealer. He seized it.
Sergeant Bompas—There is no proof that it was
ours.

Mr. Adolphus—You recognize your mark, and
the stuff is of the same quality as that we have
exhibited.
Mr. Phillips—Any one may put those papers
upon anything.
Mr. C. M. Snowden, the late mayor of 'Windsor,
deposed that he was a grocer and tea-dealer. A
package of imitation had been brought to him. A
sample of the British leaf was then produced. What
he had seen was like that sample, and with a mix-
ture of real tea it would pass for tea.
Mr. Farrady looked at the samples. He had, at
the East India House, examined two parcels of the
British leaf, and they resembled these. They were
very like tea, but he could not give an accurate
opinion without a close examination. It appeared
to him that the samples were in imitation of teas,
and, if mixed with tea, they might deceive him.
Sloe leaf was injurious, and differed materially from
tea. He derived benefit from tea, but he had not
tried whether he could derive benefit from the
British leaf.—(Laughter.)
Mr. Phillips—Are not many persons injuriously
affected by China tea ?
Witness—No doubt of it. To me its medicinal
operation has proved serviceable.
Mr. W. A. Hunt, inspector of teas for the East
India Company, deposed, that the samples appeared
to him to be the leaves of shrubs. Some of them
were not an imitation of tea, others were an imita-
tion of the dust of Bohea. One quarter of a pound
mixed with three-quarter, of Bohea would deceive
anybody. Witness was 20 years in the habit of ex-
amining teas.
The infusion of the British leaf was handed to the
Lord Mayor in a cup. It was tasted by many in
the room, and was no doubt exceedingly unpalat-
able. A cup of what was called pure Bohea was
also produced, and that also had a most disagreeable
flavour.
Another witness, a tea-dealer, stated that he had
cautioned the public against the British leaf. It
bore a strong resemblance to tea, and might be
mixed with common Bohea without being observed,
but could not be mixed with fine tea.
Mr. Adolphus said that this was his case.
Mr. Sergeant Bompas argued against the possi-
bility of a conviction in such a case. No partner-
ship between the defendants had been proved, and
there had been no identification of property ; neither
was it stated in what parish the offence imputed
was committed.
The LORD MAYOR, after having consulted with
the City Solicitor and Mr. Hobler, said that the
objection was fatal to the information. He tnus
quash the information, as the partnership was no
proved.
Sergeant Bompas—Then you pronounce us no
guilty.

The LORD MAYOR—I am obliged to quash the
information.
Mr. Adolphus--In manner and form the de-
fendants are not guilty ; but I have another appli-
cation to make. A warrant was issued for the
seizure of certain leaves manufactured in imitation of
tea, It has been seized, and I call upon your
Lordship to proceed to judgment upon the article.
We have it, and we want your Lordship's authority
to destroy it.
The LORD MAYOR—I'II adjourn that decision.
In the meantime, no doubt, the Excise will keep the
British leaf close. I cannot conscientiously order it
to be given to the defendants.
Sergeant Bompas then applied for costs, but the
Lord Mayor rejected the application.
G UILDIIALL.

STREET-BEGGING.—DanieI Collins, a man in tie garb
of a carpenter, and a notoriously old practitioner in the
art of street-begging, was brought up, charged by a female
of the name of Johnson with exercising his profession
towards her in begging money. On her refusing to give
him any thing, he used the most abusive language, and
struck her violently on the head.
Mr. Nangle, a professional gentleman, and George
Green, the watchman of St. Bride's, stated that the pri-
soner was a constant annoyance in the neighbourhood
of Fleet-street. Mr. Nangle had been repeatedly accosted
for money hy him in the street, and when he refused, he
received a volley of abuse.
Sir Jourt KEY sentenced the prisoner to one month's
imprisonment and hard labour in Bridewell.
BO W-STREET.
THE BEGGING-LETTER IMPOSTER.—john Wood,
alias Underwood, who stands charged with a se-
ries of impositions on the nobility and gentry, by
means of fabricated tales of distress, and who, from
the extent and variety of his epistolary effusions,
added to his enormous bulk, might be described as
a folio edition of the " Complete Letter Writer,"
was yesterday brought before Sir F. ROE, for re,
examination.

Sir F. ROE said that the prisoner was charged
with having obtained money by false and fraudulent
pretences from the Marquis of Stafford, Lord Pal-
merston, Sir Herbert Taylor, arid others; and a
subsequent case had come to light in which he had
also initposed on Lord Skelmersdale. He should
proceed with that case now, if Mr. Bodkin was
prepared to go on with it.
Mr. BODKIN was quite prepared with tbz• case of
Lord Skelmersdale, and had evidence to prove that
a letter written to his Lordship in the name of Mary
Burn, together with a certificate which accompained
it, were forged, and that the latter document was in
the hand-writing of the prisoner.
A sealed letter was here produced, addressed to
" Mrs. Mary Burn, No. 2, Cross-street, Newington-
butts," and the Magistrate having ordered the seal
to be broken, it was found to be from Lord Skel-
mersdale, enclosing half a sovereign, and acknow-
ledging the receipt of the following letter:---
" My Lord,--It is with most agonised mind and heart
I presume to address these few lines to your Lordship's
! notice, whom I have had the honour of knowing by sight for
a great an my years, and also your Lordship's seat (Latham
House), at some small divance from which I lived with
some late relations in the years 1797 and 1798. I am,
however, a native of Preston, where I am descended from
a respectable family named Grimshaw. My parents have
been dead many years, and I am the widow of a late re-
spectable schoolmaster, who was proprietor of a b9arding-
school at Guildford, in this county, for a number of years,
but who unhappily died of fever some five years ago, when
I was left with four children under 11 years of age, and
obliged to dispose of my premises for the purpose of set-
tling my husband's few debts, defraying his funeral
expense,,, Sze. Since then, my Lord, I have kept a
day school in the parish of St. George, Siuthwark,
held
although‘v theorth
tostyiht
acceptance;
situation
emolument
n; governarisingesso
ufgar
htt,
from
t sw Shhivacnvhdi
having
Sc,
scarcely scarcely
pleased the Almighty to deprive toe of the use of my
lower extremities by rheumatic gout during the last seven-
teen months, which period I have been wholly prevented
from attending to the duties of my avocation, in conjoin-

tion with the great expense attending the support of my
family, have been the means of reducing me from a com-
fortable station in life to that of extreme and heart-rending
distress; inasmuch as being linable to pay my rent, my
furniture has been distrained, and is now under the hands
of my late landlord or his broker ; and I have been obliged
to quit my late residence, to save myself from an arrest
and incarceration for a small debt, incurred for the neces-
saries of life. lam become a great cripp'e, a melancholy
spectacle; and but for the kindness of a friend, I and nay
fatherless children would have been driven into the work-
house, or have become poor hotiseless wanderers. How-
ever; through God's blessing, and the aid of humanity, I
have been enabled to pay one moiety of the rent for which
my goods were seized, and I am allowed until the 24th
instant to pay the rest, but am unable to do so, ex-
cept through the aid of charitable assistance. In addi-
tion to which, my Lord, I am sadly fear'ul, and under
the apprehension that my present place of abode will
be discovered, and that I shall he arrested, torn away
from my dear children, and incarcerated for the small
debt above alluded to, which is only 375. 6d., and which
accumulated for bread only. I know not what to do,
my Lord ; I am almost distracted, while my dear chil-
, dren, who are as innocent as lambs, during the last six
weeks appear to me to be quite happy with bread, potatoes,
or whatever I can give them, which is a great consolation
to me. In reflecting this morning on my unhappy situa-
tion, considering to whom I should apply, it suggested to
my mind, from some little knowledge of your Lordship's
disposition, that your Lordship would, in all probability,
be pleased to afford me some small pecuniary assistance
towards helping me to surmount my difficulties, and for
which I humbly appeal to your Lordship's goodness and
generosity. I assure your Lordship that, whatever assis-
tance you may he pleased to render, I shall remember it
with gratitude to the end of my life. I beg to subscribe
myself; my Lord, your Lordship's most humble servant,

"MARY BURN.
"2, Cross-street, Newington butts, late of Garden row,
St. George's, Southwark."
This letter was written in a small and very ele-
gant female hand ; and it was accompanied by a cer-
tificate, of which the following is a copy :
" These are to certify that I have known Mrs. Mary
Burn, who is a naive of Lancashire, and the widow of
the late Mr. John Burn, who was proprietor of a very
respectable boarding-school at Guildford many years; that
since his decease she has supported herself and her four
children, with which she was left, in a very genteel and
creditable manner, by keeping a day-school, and attending
in the capacity of teacher or governess to the Sunday
school of this parish, and that she is a woman of very
sober and religious habits, but unhappily, through her
having been unable to attend her scholastic duties for
nearly a year and a half by an acute attack of the rheuma-
tic gout, she is reduced to a state of almost unparalleled
distress, and I verily believe she is in every respect de.
serving of charitable assistance.
" J. MANSFIELD, Surgeon.
" 11, London-road, Southwark, July 12, 1833."
The copy of a supposed levy o 'distress accom-
panied these documents.
Mr. BODKIN said that there was no such person
as " J. Mansfield, surgeon," residing at the above
address, and he should now call evidence to prove
that the certificate was in the hand-writing of the
prisoner.

Richard Sutcliffe, a broker, residing at No. 9,
Bedfordbury, proved that the prisoner lodged at his
house about eight years ago. He had frequently
seen him write, and, on his oath, believed that the
certificate now produced was written by him. He
believed that the prisoner was in the habit of writing
in different hands, but had never himself seen him
write but in that mode.
Joseph Wetenhall, a hair-dresser, of No. 2, Cross-
street, Newington-butts, deposed that no person of
the name of Burn resided in his house in August
last, and, to the best of his belief, no person of that
name had ever lived there. Witness knew prisoner
merely in the way of business; and in August last,
he called upon him to request he would take charge
of any letter that might come directed either to Mr.
or Mrs. Burn. Witness knew the prisoner by the
name of Burn. Three letters came to his house,
directed to Mrs. Burn, two of which he delivered to
the prisoner himself, and a third to a stranger, who
called for it in his name. A fourth letter, namely,
the one now produced (written by Lord Skelmers-
dale), he was directed by the officers of the Mendi-
city Society to detain.
Mr. Bodkin submitted that with the exception of
the attendance of Lord Skelmersdale, a case of
fraud had been made out against the prisoner, who
was proved to have written the certificate in the
name of "J. Mansfield," and who had made the wit-
ness Wetenhall his innocent agent in the fraud.
Mr. Hutnphreys admitted that a case for remand
was made out, but said there was no proof yet that
the certificate produced, which he took to be the
gravamen of the charge, had ever been received by
Lord Skehnersdale.
Mr. Bodkin—His Lord,hip will attend in person
to give evidence of that fact.
Mr. Humphreys hoped that the prisoner would
not be denied access to his friends in prison, and
that the magistrate would erase from the back of the
warrant the order of exclusion.
Sir F. ROE, said that no act of his, as a Magis-
trate, should ever be effaced with his consent. If he
had acted illegally in the matter he was liable to be
corrected elsewhere.

Mr. Humphreys—l know that. The Courts of
Law are open to my client, but as Horne Tooke
once said, " Westminster Hall is open to every one,
and so is the London Tavern." My client is not
in a condition to go to law.
Sir F. ROE—As to that, although the observa-
tion may be extra-judicial, I am well aware that
your client has plenty of money to bring me to
Westminster Hall.

Mr. Humphreys subsequently apologised to the
Magistrate for the observation he had used.
The prisoner was then remanded until Wednes-
day next, when he will be brought to Union-Hall,
and examined before Sir F. ROE, on the charge of
obtaining money from Sir Herbert Taylor.
There are several other charges of fraud against
the prisoner, in which the attendance of the Mar-
quis of Stafford, Earl Spencer, Lord Palmerston,
and others, will be requisite.

HATT ON- GARDEN.
Hiram Holmes, who has been several times ex-
amined on a charge of bigamy, in marrying a young
lady named Slee, his former wife being alive, was
again brought up yesterday, when, the necessary
evidence being produced, he was fully committed.
UNION-HALL.
SINGULAR CASE.—On Tuesday two well-dressed
young men were charged with refusing to pay for
the hire of a cabriolet, in which they had been riding
about in the vicinity of town for nine hours. Some
curious circumstances were brought to light in the
course of the examination respecting one of the de-
fendants.

James Elderton, the cab-driver, was hired by the
defendants on the preceding day at the Marsh-gate,
arid at their desire he drove them to the King's
Bench Prison, from thence to Fendall-street, Ber-
mondsey, and from thence to Greenwich, and back
again to town, arid continued driving them about in
this manner for upwards of nine hours. At the ex-
piration of this time he applied for his fare ; but in-
stead of paying him,
one of the defendants, who called
himself Captain Foster, borrowed a half-crown piece
from him at the door of a public-house, saying that
he should pay for the fare and all when he arrived at
his lodging in Fendall-street. The cabman waa then
ordered to drive them to the above address, but
finding little prospect of being paid for his day's
work, both the defendants declaring their inability
to settle the demand, instead of setting them down at
their lodgings he set them down at the station-house.
Inspector Brown, of the M division, stated that