The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-30 00:00:00

EXTENSIVE ROBBERIES AND

COMPLICATED FRAUDS AT ABINGDON.

ABINGDON, WEDNESDAY.—Considerable excitement
has prevailed in this town for some days past, in conse-
quence of the discovery of several extensive robberies
and frauds, in which have been eng,,agd many persons
holding respectable positions in the town and neighbour-
hood. The depredations have been principally corn
mitted upon the corndealers, malsters. and brewers, re-
siding in Abingdon and its vicinity; the property stolen,
amounting in value to several hundreds of pounds, con-
sisting chiefly of malt, hops, barley, and wheat. Several
examinations of the persons engaged in the p!under have
taken place before the mayor and borough magistrates,
the last of which was held yesterday, before 1). Belcher,
Esq., in the large room at the house of Correction,
which was crowded during the lengthened proceedings,
which occupied upwards of live hours.
No less than seventeen persons, some of whom were of
apparent respectabiliay, holding respectable positions in
society, were brought up in custody, and placed in three
rows, before the sitting magistrate. Their names are :
—William Hazel!, John Hazel!, Joseph Edney, Charles
Trinder, Benjamin Blagrove, William Peed. Richard
Jones, George Bowler, George Hayeroft, John Seymour,
William Westbrook, Joseph Dutton, James Edney, Geo.
John
fhwn whom were charged as either
and Mary Huggins,
Williams, barrister-at-law, of the Oxford
the. examination of the numerous
Cprriieislrl:netrwkuura; .iippfrtle,jap' hlew:lajomrt she.radessVePwfrcr,iiml)accessories. retained on the part of the Crown
witnesses, that the brewing establishment of Miss Spen-
quantities of malt and
'7°peratnstels)stem of robbery
three' or four years.
had
pes
b,heaaendndbi been ehnaetxrii plunderedsmteonscte(
ifor
rpt
deeply funned
It further appeared that the principal portion of the
plunder had been disposed of to persons in a respectable
way of business residing within a circuit of ten miles of
Abingdon.
At the conclusion of the inquiry, the whole of the
prisoners were remanded for further examination (war-
rants having been issued against several other parties not
yet in custody),
.and conveyed to the borough gaol.
The case excited the greatest interest. The mayor
and magistrates have expressed their determination to
i
adopt the most nefatigsble means to bring the whole of
the guilty parties to justice.
Warrants have been issued against three men who
were amongst those who were the most actively engaged
They are now supposed
to b
in removing large portions of the stolen property in
boats from the premises of the corn dealers and malt-
st".seengagednti guo
s as
to
navigators the .
on some railway works.
Their names are:—William Butler, alias Turkey, alias
Tincy, aged 40, about
i 5 feet 4 inches high ; Thomas
eo
Gilts, 40, 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high; and William Faulk-
ner, alias Perch Faulkner, 40, dressed in a shooting
jacket.

The prisoner Benjamin B!agrove, who was one of the
first 4.f the batch who was taken into custody, has con-
fessed to several robberies in which he was engagsd,
connected with the cases against the wher prisoners.

KILLED IN ESCAPING FROM 'IAN WELL ASYLUM
trhiaetelloannlNviel)lnLdauynaetrenAingsvNiuirrn.
Mills ,
on thheelibi odlynt ionf(.l uPehs 1.1 at
p
Watson, aged thirteen. From the evidence of the offi-
cerstia'inev ecedoaurilnnyttyroa
ght
,ioe
and
nsi
edi s t) t
whenu
ct i
to)
rnor
ne olc)nr:
of the asylum, and from that of deceased's mother,
tti ithoeßni.)4l.l2llroeeft 'To
sut that
ti
sl he
fesat wasttfiror mraetet
five years old he began to earn a living by standing on
his head, beating time with his feet, "and singing Jim
Crow. The continual practice of these feats causing un-
natural pressure of blood On the brain, deranged it
so much as to render him violently irritable imme-
diately after his performances, and if he did not
consider himself sufficiently remunerated for them, he
would throw missiles at the crowd and break windows.
For having done so he was committed to the House of
Correction for a month. On being liberated, instead of
being corrected by the discipline of the prison, he
became worse, and from tumbler advanced to pick-
pocket. In his new vocation he stole a watch and chain,
and was sentenced to twelve months' impri•zonment for
felony. Whilst undergoing the sentence of the House of
Correction his conduct became so palpably tinged with
insanity that he was sent to the above asylum, from
which he had escaped twice, and was continually, medi-
tating escape. In conseqne'nce of this he slept in the
escape ward," so called from the difficulty there is in
escaping from it. All the inmates of this ward, about
twenty in number, are required in stripping for bed to
place their clothes outside the doors of their sleeping
cells. On Friday evening, at the usual hour, the
ward keeper saw deceased get into bed undressed
and found outside his door a parcel containing,
he thought, deceased's clothes, but which turned out
afterwards to be portions of the clothes of others he
had cleverly Purloined hiding his own clothes, no
doubt, under the mattress of his bed. The following
morning, about six o'clock, he was found dressed in his
own clothes on the pavement, about forty feet beneath
his cell window. H lle was quite dead, and in one of his
pockets was found an iron
spoon, which he had used to
unhitch the bolt of the shutter of the cell window. A
water pipe ran by the window, and circumstantial evi-
dence proved that the deceased fell and was killed in
trying to slide down this pipe, and so escape. The Jury
recommended that the windows' of the escape cells should
for the future be more firmly secured, and. the authori-
ties of the asylum having
romised to carry the recom-
mendation into immediate effect, a verdict of " Acci-
dental death " was returned.
INCREASED INCREASED CONSUMPTION OF MILE.—The farmers
is Lancashire and Cheshire have nearly discontinued
making cheese and butter, in consequence of the increased
demand for milk, which '
is attributed to the increased
consumption of rice, Indian meal, and oatmeal, owing to
the scarcity of potatoes.—Liverpool l Imes.
Mr. John Scott, the father of William and John
Scott, the celebrated trainers and jockeys, diedin this
town on Thursday last, at the advanced age of 96. Mr.
Scott was formerly a jockey himself.—Brighton Gazette.