The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-23 00:00:00

SHEERNESS.

Owing to the naval establishment formed here
Sheerness has grown up into a considerable town,
consisting of two divisions, Blue Town and Mile
Town; it has been recently much enlarged, some
neN streets and a spacious hotel having been erected.
A pier and causeway ex:end from the town to 1?w
water mark. There was formerly a great scarcity
of water, but it is now supplied, and of a very ex-
cellent quality, from subscription wells, sunk to a
depth of 360 feet. The beach on which the sea-
bathing machines are stationed is clean, and forms a
delightful promenade. On the cliffs from the beach
towards Minster there is, perhaps, one of the most
splendid and interesting views in the kingdom—the
German Ocean on the east ; the Thames and Med-
way bearing innumerable vessels of all sizes, with
the town and harbour of Sheerness to the north
and west; and the fertile valleys of Kent, with
the Medway winding through them, and tire towns
and villages interspersed, towards the south, com-
bine. The harbour has of late years been much
enlarged and improved. The dock-yard has been
greatly extended and improved within the last
fifteen years, at a cost of about three millions,
and is DOW one of the finest in Europe; it co-
vers an area of sixty acres, and is surrounded by
an extremely well-built brick wall, which cost
40,0001. The storehouse, which is the largest
building in the country, is six stories high, with
iron joists, beams, window-frames, and doors, and
will contain at least thiry thousand tons of naval
stores. The chief trade arises from the dock-yard
and other establishments connected with Govern-
ment, though considerable quantit;es of corn arid
seed, the produce of the isle, as well as oysters (of
which the beds extend all along the coast as far as
Milton) are shipped for the London Market. There
are copperas works of considerable extent within a few
miles of the town ; the pyrites, or copperas stones,
are collected in heaps upon the beach, from the
falling cliffs, and carried away in vessels. The
market is on Saturday. In sinking the wells here
the workmen, at the depth of two hundred feet, dis-
covered a complete prostrate forest, through which,
in the prosecution of their work, they were obliged
to burn their way; this is considered a remarkable
confirmation of the history of the Deluge, and spe-
cimens
inst in
itutions
possession of most of the philoso-
phical in Europe. Stories well adapted
for the composition of Roman cement, in conse-
quence of being impregnated with copperas, are
dredged up from the sea in the neighbourhood of
the cliffs.

INGENIOUS ROBIIERY.—A few days ago a
well.dressed young man went into a Cafe in the Rue
Montmartre, and desired that eight cups of coffee might
be immediately sent tu No. 8, Rue des Jenneurs. lie then
went into a wine shop, took off his coat, put on a white
apron, displayed a napkin under his arm, and waited till
the man with the tray came in sight, upon which he went
hastily
create -ewer, spoons, and
-ewer,
e and brigg a bowl of punch.
desired
sitrielyd coffutip,eeet.opot, other
him,
:st took the whole apparatus, consisting of
silver toigiturn a.r
The waiter of the coffee-house, nothing doubting, returned
to execute this new order, and, when the punch was ready,
carried it to No. 8, Rue des Jenneurs, where the trick
was at once discovered, for no party was to be found
there, and it is needless to add that the valuables the man
had incautiously parted with were never turtlacorning.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MARLBORO UGH-STREET.

Just as the office was about to close on Saturday,
a lady and gentleman of fashionable appearance
came before Mr. CHAMBERS to make an application
for a warrant, to apprehend a respectable tradesman
for an alleged felony, the charge being grounded on
the following singular statement :

The lady informed the magistrate that she was the
wife of Col. Hampton (the Hon. Col. Hampton, we
understood), who was at present in India, and the
charge she had to prefer was against a silversmith
and jeweller named Barnes, carrying on business in
one of the streets leading into Cavendish-square,
into whose possession a bank-note for .50/. had been
traced, which note she was prepared to prove had
been feloniously obtained from her by a female
named Ann Vickers, who had recently lived in her
service as lady's-maid, and who, at the present mo-
ment, stood fully committed to Dover Castle on a
charge of felony.
Mr. CHAMBERS inquired in what way Mr. Barnes
was presumed to be connected with the transaction,
and was informed the discovery had taken place that
Ann Vickers had been obtaining, by fraudulent re-
presentations, large quantities of the most costly plate
and jewellery, from a number of respectable trades-
men, and in particular that Mr. Barnes had sent in
a bill to a large amount for payment, for articles
which be asserted he had supplied to Mrs. Hamp-
ton, but which she declared she had never ordered
nor even seen. The girl, Ann Vickers, it was stated,
had carried on a most extraordinary system of de-
ception on the tradesmen with whom Mrs. Hampton
had had any dealings, and also on others with whom
Mrs. Hampton was entirely unacquainted.
The solicitor who attended for Mis. Hampton
intimated that Ann Vickers had contrived to obtain
jewellery and plate to a large amount from different
tradesmen in the name of her mistress, and in order
to account for the facility with which she obtained
credit, there existed the strongest grounds for be-
lieving that she had possessed herself of a quantity
of her mistress's visiting cards, and had passed
herself off as Mrs. Hampton. According to the
bill which had beer► sent in, Mr. Barnes had
supplied plate and jewellery to Mrs. Hampton,
which had been taken in by Ann Vickers and
immediately pawned, as was evidenced by the dates
of a great number of duplicates, upwards of 70,
which were discovered in her possession. The
amount advanced by pawnbrokers, according to the
duplicates, was 4501., and some of the property
was of the most valuable arid expensive description.
In particular, there was a service of plate of the
value of 1801., and a diamond and emerald neck-
lace, charged in Mr. Barnes's bill 160/., and other
articles of a similar description, not one of which it
was asserted, had been ordered by Mrs. Hampton.
It was further stated that the girl, Ann Vickers, in
order to make the deception still more difficult to
detect, had paid bills in the name of Mrs. Hampton
for articles which Mrs. Hampton had really selected
herself, and thus having lulled suspicion, she had no
difficulty in procuring the execution of larger orders,
which she gave to tradesmen in the name of Mrs.
Hampton.

From the nature of the property specified in some
of the duplicates, it was stated every reason existed
to believe that other tradesmen, whose names were
not yet known, had been similarly defrauded.
Mr. CHAMBERS remarked that what had been
stated appeared very extraordinary to him, and cer-
tainly not the least surprising part was the ap-
parent facility with which tradesmen parted with
their goods. He wished to know if Mrs. Hampton
had ever personally had any dealings with Mr.
Barnes.

Mrs. Hampton—Oh dear, yes. Part of the bill
now sent in is for some trifling articles which I se-
lected myself.
Mr. CHAMBERS—WeII, then, at all events, he
could not have been imposed on by Ann Vickers
representing herself to be Mrs. Hampton. Pray,
madam, did you ever see this emerald necklace for
1601., stated to have been sent in by Mr. Barnes?
Mrs. Hampton—Yes. It was sent to my house for
approval, but I returned it to Mr. Barnes, who was
below, by my servant Ann Vickers.

Mr. CHAMBERS remarked it appeared very singular
to him that a tradesman should do business in such
a loose manner.

The gentleman who accompanied Mrs. Hampton,
whose name was Tuffnell, connected with the Audit-
office, said it was by no means an uncommon prac-
tice for tradesmen to send in goods for approval,
and to press for a purchase on credit. He had him-
self lost a diamond breast-pin in the House of Com-
mons, arid as soon as his jeweller knew the circum-
stance, he insisted upon sending an extremely valu-
able one to replace the loss.
Mrs. Hampton then gave the necessary proof of
the reception of the note in question—among others,
from her agent, and also detailed the manner in
which she had been feloniously deprived of the
possession of it.
Mr. CHAMBERS granted the warrant.

It may be stated, that on Friday evening the so-
licitors for both parties applied for cross warrants
against each other, but they managed to infuse so
much personal warmth into their professional duties,
that Mr. DYER was obliged to order one of them
to leave the office, in order to prevent a breach of
the peace.