The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-01 00:00:00

THAMES.

James Ryan, a licensed agent for supplying seamen
ltith inst.,
for merchant ships, and who also keeps a boarding-
house for sailors at No. 3, Princes. street,.Ratcliff-high-
way, was summoned to answer the complaint of William
Williams, a mariner, for unlawfully detaining 131. Is. 6.1.,
his money.
This was a case under the Merchant Seamens' Pro-
tectio❑ Act, which passed last session,. and has already
been of great service to the class it is intended to
benefit.
Williams said he came home in the brig Arrow on. the
a.fortuight only. The second day after he had taken
and went to Ryan's house, where he remained
his things there, he gave' the defendant I Is., and on the
board and lodging, fourth day 17 soverei,ms He took an account of every-
thing he had had during: the fourteen days ho remained
give him alfacrothffienrge
in the defendant's house, and allowing 28s. for his
41.. 9s. 6d. He asked hefor the balance of his account pre-
that was due, and h.de
found he was indebted to Ryan
pre-
vious to leaving. the defendant's house, and he refused to
himr
eThreefusueldsolo
whichfouraec e
pdtayi
shets. before
said
wasth the de-
fendant's
1-
fenda n t ' s wife

Mr. BRODER/P —You paid into his hands the whole of
your wages, I suppose ? Williams—Yes, sir, every far-
thing, and he advanced me a shilling or two as I re-
quired it, and supplied me with the clothes I now
have on.

Ryan, in defence, said he was licensed by the Board
cf Trade under the new Act, that the proceeding arose
out of a conspiracy on the part of the Jews and crimps
in his neighbourhood, who were no longer able to supply
seamen for merchant ships, and defraud them with im-
punity. He then declared that he had only received a
sovereign of Williams.
The seaman was recalled, and swore positively to the
payment of 171. I Is. to Ryan and his wife.
Ryan said he would admit his wife received sixteen
sovereigns, but he only received one.
Mr. BRoDnRIP could plainly see what sort of a person
the defendant was, and asked what magistrate signed his
certificate before he obtained his license from the Board
of Trade ? The defendant replied, that he received a
certificate of good character from Mr. Stutfield, a county
magistrate, and proceeded to state that his bill amounted
to 171. ss. 4d., and that only ss. Bd. was due to the moo,
Mr. BRODERIP asked the defendant for his account,
which he put in, and said that on the 24th June, 1844,
the complainant, who had walked all the way from Ply-
mouth, came to him quite destitute, and he boarded and
lodged him until the 2d of September following. He
clothed him, gave him an outfit, and procured a ship for
him. During that time he never had a farthing from the
seaman. He charged him for eleven weeks' board and
lodging,
runner 16
touter
minslsBa4id4,hwehwicahs aemmopulonyteedd taos
aBl.ralo6
during the eleven weeks, and that when he obtained a
ship, Ryan did supply him with his old sea clothes, for
which he gave him his advance note.
Mr. BRODERIP at once said he should strike out the
Si. 16s. for eleven weeks' board and lodging. It was clear
that Williams was acting as servant to Ryan ; and if he
had not, he could not take cognizance of a by-gone
transaction.

Williams then put in his account, in which he had made
himself a debtor to Ryan for two weeks. board and lodg-
ing, at the rate of 14s. per week.
Ryan claimed 16s. per week, and as that sum was
stated upon his card, it was allowed.
The sum of 30s. was charged for a blue top-coat, of
very coarse texture, and it was declared by Mr. Hart, a
slop-seller, who was in Court, to be worth 20s. only, and
the magistrate would allow no more.
Ryan charged the seamen 3L for cash delivered at dif-
ferent times.

Williams declared he had only received 11. ls. 6d.

Mr. BRODERIP said that V. was put down in a lump;
he could not allow that. It was the old trick, that was
the way seamen were duped by the old crimps, and the
licensed agents, it appeared, were playing the same
game.

The defendant's wife said the various sums were in-
serted in a book which she had left at home, and Mr.
Broderip ordered Douglas, an officer of the Court, to
accompany her to her house, and fetch the book.
After an absence of a minute Douglas returned, and
said the woman would not go one way or the other.
She said she had no account.

Mr. BRODERIP carefully went through the accounts,
and said he believed no more than 21s. 6d. had been ad-
vanced to the seamen. He found that 111. was due to
the complainant, and he made an order that that sum
should be restored to him by Ryan. He should also
inflict a fine of 20s. on the defendant for unlawfully de-
taining the sailor's money. In default of payment of
the money and fine, the defendant would be imprisoned
for one month in the House of Correction.

John Saunders, a porter in the employ of Messrs.
Hoare, the brewers, and Mary Ann Saunders, his wife,
appeared on their recognizances, before Mr. Broderip,
to answer a charge of being in unlawful possession of
1161bs. of sheet lead, suspected to have been stolen.
It appeared, from the evidence of Inspector Falconer,
of the Thames Police, that on the evening of the 23d
ult., he wont to a marine-store shop kept by the defen-
dants in Old Gravel lane, Wapping. He was induced
to visit the place in consequence of information that two
houses in the neighbourhood had been recently stripped
of the lead. After some considerable time, and with
much difficulty, he got into the house. The female de-
fendant was in the back part of the shop, and the in-
spector informed her that lead had been stolen, and
asked if she had bought any that day. She at first said
she had bought some on the previous day, on which
Falconer commenced searching the place. She then
pointed to a bin full of rags, and beneath them the in-
spector found 1161bs. of sheet lead. It appeared to
have gone round the skylight of a house, or had
been taken from the gable end of some build-
ing. He asked the woman how sho became pos-
sessed of the lead, and she said she bought it
from time to time of a carpenter-looking man. lie
asked her to let him look at her book, and she said
she kept none. Falconer seized the lead, and soon
afterwards the male prisoner came home. On the
inspector asking him how he accounted fur the lead being
o❑ his premises, he said he knew nothing of it, and was
very seldom at home. While Falconer and hit men
were in the marine store shop, a notorious thief, named
Humphreys, came there with a piece of sheet lead,
which was concealed in his side-pocket. He attempted
to make his escape when he saw the officers, but was
pursued and detained.
Mr. Thomas Holbrook, of the "Black Boy," had no
doubt the piece of sheet lead taken from the thief was
stolen from his house. He missed such a piece from the
copper in his back kitchen; but he would not undertake
to swear to it.

Humphroys was fined 505., and the dealer and his wife
held to bail.

Falconer now repeated his evidence, and said ha had
been unable to trace the owner of the lead.

After further proceedings,
Mr. BRODERIP said the Act of Parliament was specially
directed against those receptacles called " marine store
shops," and it was impossible for any one with their eyes
open to walk along the streets and not observe what was
going on in them. The marine store dealers, as they
called themselves, bou4ht of anybody and anything. He
fined the defendant John Saunders 5i for unlawful pos
session of the lead.