The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-30 00:00:00

contents of the boss 286, which proved to be a letter from
the Bank of Liverpool, containing bills to the amount of
6,4091., a letter from the Bury Banking Company containing
a check for 47/. 10s., and a third letter frr.m Newtown, in
Wales, containing a bond. The mistake which had been com-
mitted was not discovered until the clerk who usually fetched
the Manchester Bank letters called and found they had already
been delivered. In the course of the morning the check Inim
the Bury Bank was presented by a person who was identified
as the prisoner at the house of Messrs. Jones, Loyd, and Co.,
in Manchester. It had-been, in the usual way crossed to the
Manchester Bank, but this had been struck out, and the name
of Thomson inserted. On being presented, the clerk before
cashing it spoke to one of the principals, who went to the
counter and spoke to the prisoner, saying there was something
wrong about the cheel, and it would be detained until a com-
munication was had with the !!enchester Bank. The prisoner,
however, was allowed to depart, and o course did not return to
claim the amount of the check. On the 2izt of December,
Mr. Burdekin, manager of the Manchester Bank, received the
following letter through the post :
" Sir,—l will be obliged to you to inform me what you
would give to have the bills and notes returned I got from the
Post-office. If you will advertise in the Manchester Guar-
dian I Kill return them. They amount to about 7,6001., and
you shah have them all back except the check of the Bury
Bank, which I sent a lad with to Jones, Lloyd, and Co.
" J. B.
" Just state what you will give, in the Manchester Guardian
of Saturday."
The prisoner was taken into custody on another charge some
days after, and on inquiry being made at the house of a Mr.
Rowe, a hosier, in whose service he was, the bond which was
enclosed in the third letter was found in the pocket of his
jacket, and in the room which he oecup'ed some fragments of
letters, which l roved to have belonged to those in which 'lie
bills and check had been enclo ed. In the pocket of a mark...-.
tosh cloak, also belonging to the prisoner, were bound nine s,;-
verigry.
- When taken to the lockup he Wrote a letter to Mr. Rowe, in
which he spoke of the disgrace which he had brought upon
himself; but said he did not know what had induced him to do
rt, and that he had never wronged Mr. Rowe of a shilling. He
begged Mr. Rowe to forget him, but 'aid he should never think
of him but as a kind and generous master.
Mr. WORTLEY (for the prisoner) in point of law, contended
that the offence proved by the evidence, supposing it conclu-
sive, was an obtaining under false presences, and not a
felony. Its Lordship. after argument, overruled the objec-
tion. The Learned Gentleman then proceeded to address the
Jury, and admitted he could not contend with the evidence
which had been adduced to show that the prisoner was the
party who had obtained the letters from the post -office, an offence
to which he had no doubt b een tempted by the extreme care-
lessness displayed in the Manchester office. The only questiorr
for them was, whether the prisoner had the deliberate inten-
tion of stealing the property and applying it to his own use at
the time he obtained it, or whether it had not been originally a
mere boyish frolic in calling out at hazard a number, the temp-
tation to dishonesty coming upon him when he found the na-
ture of the papers which this careless conduct on the part of
the post-office officials had put in his hands. In the latter
case his act would not be a felony.
His Lordship summed up, and the Jury found the prisoner