The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-06 00:00:00

on that occasion. Gas has bee❑ laid on to the splen-
did mess-room of the Royal Engineers in Brompton
Barracks.

STAFF.—Major-General P. Bainbrigge, C. 8., has
left Belfast on a tour of inspection, and arrived at
Rathmullen Fort on the Ist October; Col. Hamilton,
K.H., Inspecting Field Officer at Newry, is in corn-
mand of the district. Colonel Robert C. Manse',
K.H., Deputy Quartermaster-General to the Forces
serving in Ireland, has returned to Dublin from leave
of absence in England. Colonel William Cochrane,
Deputy Adjutant-General, has returned to the Royal
Hospital, Kilmainham, from leave of ;absence in
Scotland.

METROPOLITAN SEWERS COMMISSION
On Friday a court was held at the Sessions-house,
Newington-causeway--present, the chairman (Mr.
Lewes), Sir John Burgoyne, Mr. Hawes, and Cap-
tain Dawson. The accountant reported that the
available balance amounted to 6,3761., and necessary
payments to the extent of 9641. received the sanction
of the court. Some applications of no general inte-
rest were then disposed of.
THE ESSEX-STREET SEWER.
The CHAIRMAN said it would be recollected that a
short time ago the consideration of the Essex-street
outlet had been entered upon, and some discussion
having taken piece, the matter had been referred
back to the engineer to prepare a detailed plan and
estimate. It was then suggested that the work should
not be merely of a temporary character. Keeping
that suggestion in view, the engineer had prepared
the following report :—" In obedience to the instruc-
tions of a former Court I have examined the outlet of
the Essex-street sewer again, with a view of covering
it over to low-water mark. And having taken into
consideration the suggestion of the Commissioners,
that this might be a permanent work, I have to re-
commend that 300 feet in length of cast-iron pipes,
three feet in diameter, be laid down under
the surface of the river bed to low water mark,
and that a flap should be hung upon the present out-
let to keep the effluvia from issuing from the mouth
of the present sewer to the inconvenience of the
public, and fur the discharge of extraordinary storm
waters. The estimate for the work will be 5681.
The difference between this proposition and that sub-
mitted in my last report, is in the material—that
being a wooden trunk, this being an iron pipe. At
about one-third the length of this pipe it will ulti-
mately be connected with the main low level sewer,
end the remainder of its length will then serve as an
overflow in cases of very heavy rains, so that the
whole of this work will be of a permanent character,
and afford general benefit, and should be paid for out
of the district rates. And as the discharge at low-
water mark will be into the channel of the river, the
nuisance to the public frequenting the steam-boat
pier, arising from the stench, will be as far as practi-
cable removed. The river being permitted to rise
every tide up the pipes into the sewer will leave the
sewer, after this work is finished, in the same condi-
tion as at present, and there will be therefore no fear
of the sewer being overcbargcd with back water or
the tide."
Captain DAWSON thought the present position far
more desirable than the previous one, but he was of
opinion that the inhabitants should contribute some-
thing towards the work.
The CHAIRMAN considered that the work would
prove beneficial to the pub!c in general, and would,
therefore, recommend that the expense be defrayed
out of the district rates.
Captain DAW6ON would not pte.,es his objection, con-
ceiving the work one likely to prove most acceptable
to a large ()less of persons.
The work was then ordered to be executed, as
were also the undermentioned :—The construction
of 1,640 feet of sewer in Phillimore-place' Ken-
sington, 9521. ; the construction of 3,278 feet of
pipe sewer in London-street and Hyde-vale, Green-
wich, 840/. ; laying down 990 feet of pipe sewer in
line of open sewer at the rear of Clarendon-place,
Camberwell,llsl.
Other minor works were then agreed to, and after
disposing of the cases of several defaulting ratepayers,
the Court adjourned.

LIVERPOOL COUNTY COURT, Friday.
THE REPORTERS AND THE PRESS.
At half-past ten o'clock his Honour the Judge
opened the court. The attendance was very thin.
After some preliminary business, his Honour, in an
address, made another attack on the reports which
had appeared in the papers as not being sufficiently
full or accurate.
The only reporter then present challenged his
Honour to disprove the verity of any paragraph or
notice of his proceedings which he had ever written,
and said he felt convinced that there was no truly
recognised reporter of any paper in Liverpool who
dared to offer the proprietor an account he was not
prepared by his notes to prove as accurate. Some
manifestations of applause were here indulged in, and
his Honour disclaimed any intention of alluding to
the reporter who addressed him ; on the contrary,
he respected the courteous manner in which the
charge had been repudiated. The reporter said he
was convinced, if the warm-heartedness of which his
Honour had spoken were sincere (which no one of
right mind would doubt after the solemn asseveration
of his Honour), that the remark with regard to the
report was, at least, inconsiderate.
His Honour at the conclusion of the business of
the court again assured the reporter that he did not
intend to insult him, as he (the reporter) had ever
showed respect to that court.
The reporter thanked his Honour, but he begged
to observe that he was not speaking for himself alone
but for the profession to which he belonged, and that
he was only vindicating the character of honourable
men—men, he hoped, who were above suspicion, and
who were not present to defend themselves.
His Honour replied that the reporter was only
taking a manly
and straightforward course, and that
he was happy he had elicited the explanation.—
Liverpool Chronicle.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Oct. 4.
(Before Mr. Commissioner Evezis.)
IN RE BUCHANAN.
The bankrupt, William Buchanan, of Gerard-
street, Soho, picture-dealer, came up to pass his last
examination.

The balance-sheet, from May, 1849, to July, 1851,
shows the following:—Creditors, unsecured, 4,6511.;
ditto, claiming to have a charge upon the Murray
collection of pictures, 4,1831. ; creditors holding se-
curity, 13,8321. ; liabilities, 201.; balance of picture,
&c., account, contingent upon the property in band
realising the amount therein estimated, 7,465/. ; pro-
perty, 1321. ; ditto, the Murray collection of pic-
tures, upon which thera are claims to the extent of
4,1331., 6,470/. ; property in the hands of creditors,
13,8221. ; trade expenses, commission, interest, and
law charges, 1,684/. ; personal expenses, 741/. ; arti-
cles of marriage, by which he contracted to provide
3,000/. for the issue of such marriage, with which
sum he charged the Murray collection, 3,000/. ; de-
ficiency, May 24, 1849, 4,2231.
Mr. H. Linklater appeared for the bankrupt ;
Mr. Bodkin for the assignees.
The bankrupt passed without opposition.
IN RE CRAWFORD.
The bankrupt, who kept the Primrose Tavern,
Chalk-farm, passed his last examination.
The accounts, which extended over nearly six
years, showed that he began with a capital of 2001.
His profits were put down at 2,850/. He owes to
unsecured creditors 9031.; the assets are about 251.
The expenses are estimated at about 3,056/., and the
losses 854/. The bankrupt estimated that he had
spent about 1301. over the premises.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, Oct. 4.
(Before Mr. WITHAM, Chairman, and a Bench of Ma-
gistrates, at the Guildhall, Westminster.)
THE ROBBERIES IN NEWCASTLE-COURT AND
SHIRE-LANE.—Ann Mingay, alias Lady Mansfield,
aged 45, Jane Owen, a woman of colour, aged 29,
Ellen Smith, aged 24, and Julia Divine, aged 21,
were indicted, charged with having stole❑ two Bank
of England notes of the value of 10/. each, and 15
sovereigns, the property of Edmund Digby Anstice,
from his person.

Mr. Parry and Mr. Ribton conducted the prosecu-
tion ' • Mr. Payne defended Owen and Divine, and
Mr. Metcalfe was counsel for Smith.

Mr. PARRY, in stating the case to the jary, said
that the present prosecution bad been instituted by
the parochial authorities of St. Clement Danes, with
the view of cleansing certain parts of their parish of
some impurities with which it was infested. He
might probably add too, that the fact of the authori-
ties coming forward in these prosecutions for the pur-
pose of purifying the parish might be taken as a
proa that the animadversions which had lately fallen
from the Learned Sergeant the Assistant-Judge of
those sessions were undeserved and unmerited. The
Learned Counsel then entered into the details of the
case, which may be thus briefly described :
It appeared that the prosecutor, who stated that he
was in independent circumstances, and lived in the
Mosley-road,
Birmlawghl?Ez, had come up to London to
sell out some stock
he had in the Bank, and
that on the 9th of lastin month he had made a sale of
251. stock, which realisedfor him, after deduction of
the broker's charges, 24/. 3 for which amount
he received a cheque upon 3. 411.iessrs. Currie, e
bankers, in Cornhill. In exchange for the chequeth he
received two Bank of England notes of
copper. What
ot. 10/. each, and
the
the remainder in gold, silver,
and
became of the prosecutor duringrest. of the day
was not elicited, and no account was
until he stated that he met the prisTeern`n` fLad-hinly
Mansfield," in a public-house in Drury-lane
and
that he remained drinking with her and Paying' forall
the liquor from out of his purse, in which all his
money was, all night and until long after daylight had
arrived, when they left the public-house in a cab,
accompanied by the other prisoner, Smith. Sem,
time before they quitted in the cab another woman

had snatched off and ran away with his hat, where-
upon " Lady Mansfield" said she would look after the
woman and his hat for him. The prosecutor and his
two companions, in the first instance, drove from
Drury-lane to Newcastle-court, in the Strand,
and having gone to the Grapes public-house,
they there had something more to drink.
From Newcastle-court they drove to Shire-
lane, Temple-bar, and here they went to the house
kept by the black woman, Jane Owen. Upon going
into one of the rooms upstairs with " Lady Mansfield"
and Smith, the prosecutor found another woman in
bed in that room. Here they had divers liquors to
drink, which were brought up to them by the black
woman, whom he paid from his purse, so that that pri-
soner had ample opportunities of seeing that he had a
considerable sum of money about him. When they
had been at 0 vven's half an hour the prosecutor
caught the prisoner Smith in the act of drawing his
purse from his pocket. He took the purse from her
after some difficulty, and, having seen that the money
in his purse was safe, they bad more to drink, and
when the black woman brought up the fresh supply he
told Smith, in her presence, not to try on again the
game of robbing him. A short time after he had par-
taken of this further liquor the prosecutor became
insensible, and having remained so for several hours,
he at length, upon his recovery, found himself stand-
ing in Shire-lane, and on examining his purse found
that the whole of its contents had been taken with the
exception of the stockbroker's "sold note." The prose-
cutor thereupon gave information to the police, and
the whole of the prisoners were apprehended in the
course of the evening of the 10th. "Lady Mans-
field" was found in a state of intoxication upon the
floor of one of the rooms at the Grapes, in Newcastle-
court. Owen was taken in her own kitchen, and
Smith was taken from her bed, evidently the worse
for drink. All of the prisoners denied any knowledge
of the robbery when apprehended, and protested their
innocence. 'When Divine was taken and was told what
she was charged with, she inquired if " Lady Mans-
field" was in custody. The officer informed her that
not only " Lady Mansfield' but that " Black Jenny"
(Owen) was also in custody, and then she exclaimed,
" Then lam done." The black woman denied that
she had ever handled the man's money. It, however,
appeared from the evidence of a girl of the name of
Alexander, who lives at the black woman's house, that
she saw the prosecutor come there in the company of
" Lady Mansfield' and Smith, and that some time af-
terwards she heard the men swearing very loudly and
complaining that some of the women had tried to rob
him. Some hoursisubsequently this girl wentdown stairs
to ask Owen for a jug of water, and then she saw the
prosecutor on the floor, lying as though asleep, with
z,(auos
lu dt
aroused
s girl's
something
notm eatoyn (g l application
eto forhe r
then a his head under the sofa. Owen at this time was
stauding by the door of the room, and in reply to
the
somes
she water
wassaid
that
engaged
she
c
Some time after this the girl
healse.
ring the prosecutor being pushed
or dragged down stairs, and on looking from the win-
dow she saw the man in the court. Evidence was
also given which went to prove that the black woman,
accompanied by Divine) a girl of the name of Byrne,
who was dismissed by the magistrate, and Smith,
had made purchases of articles of clothing at different
shops for which she had paid with the two 101. notes,
which a reference to the banker's book proved to have
been the notes which had been stolen from the prose-
cutor on the day in question.
Mr. Payne and Mr. Metcalfe made powerful ap-
peals on behalf of their respective clients.
Mr. Witham then' summed up the evidence.
The jury, after a brief consultation, returned a ver-
dict of Guilty against Owen, " Lady Mansfield," and
Smith. and of Acquittal with respect to Divine,
Blatchford, the inspector of the F division of police,
now stated that " Lady Mansfield" and the black
felony,w m a n
butad beenthat t fhr
ee
yq uhe
andt
l
the parties whom they had robbed were either
yi
nivua rcitla sletloyd yg
got no
charges
u soef
ashamed, being married men, to appear as prosecutors,
or refused to take the trouble to appear. Smith had
been tried for stealing a watch, but was not convicted.
As to the black woman, she had long been known as
a most expert thief, and her house had obtained so
much notoriety that the police had received orders to
caution all persons they might see about to enter it.
She had for a long time lived in a brothel in New-
castle-court, and had subsequently become the keeper
of this brothel in Shire lane.

Mr. WirnAm said it was most lamentable to meet
with such a case as this, where women had fallen into
such depths of degradation. The sentence upon each
of the three prisoners was six months' imprisonment
with hard labour ; and let them take this warning—
namsly, that if they should be again convicted in that
court their punishment would be transportation.
While the next case was being tried,
A policeman informed the Court that the husband
of the black woman had threatened the witness Alex-
ander with violence, in consequence of her having
given evidence against his wife.
Mr. WrruAm desired the officer to tell the man
that he wanted to speak to him.
The husband presently came into court, when
Mr. WrraAm asked him if he was not ashamed of
the disgraceful life he had been leading, living in-
famously on the prostitution of his wife, and aiding
her in all probability in the robbery of the victims
who might have been drawn to their house. It had
been stated that he had threatened to punish one of
the witnesses for having appeared against his wife on
that occasion. Now the Court would inform him
that if he dared to commit any violence upon that
young woman he would be himself most severely
dealt with. _ _

and promised not to hurt or maltreat the girl.
The husband begged pardon for having used the
Davis, aged 39, pleaded Guilty to an indict-
thrAeantn,
ment, charging her with haring unlawfully assaulted
and done grevious bodily harm to Ellen Davis, her
daughter, of the age of eight and a half years.
The details of this painful case appeared in our
columns during the past week.
Mr. WiTuAm said that this was one of the most
cruel and barbarouse cases he had ever heard of.
Here
adopted for the chastisement of children by
he
but sae had resorted to the horrible
ptmlaondireoswfba us a
parents, mother, not satisfied with the ordinary
burning g the lower part of her back with a red
hot poker, to such an extent that the child had not
been able to sit down for nearly a month. The sen-
tence upon the prisoner was imprisonment for six
months with hard labour.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.
It will be recollected that some weeks ago Mr. F.
W. Thomaq, a highly respectable auctioneer in the
City, was summoned before Sir Peter Laurie, at the
instance of a tnusicseller of the name of Fairchild, to
show cause why he refused to deliver up a pianoforte
which had been left at his auction rooms by a Mr.
Metz for sale, and upon which a sum of 141. had been
advanced by him. It was then contended by the de-
fendant that every precaution consistent with the
custom of the trade, in respect to the advance by
auctioneers of money upon property, had been adopted,
by making inquiries into the character of Metz, who
had lived thirty years in the place in which he at that
time resided, during the principal part of which time
he exercised the calling of a teacher of music. After
having heard Mr. Fisher for the complainant, and Mr.
Dalton for the defendant, Sir Peter Laurie decided
that the pianoforte should be restored to its original
owner, and assigned as one of the reasons for his
judgment that Mr. Thomas had not exercised proper
discretion in making the advance, Metz having depo-
sited two pianofortes with the defendant—a fact which
the magistrate considered should have at once sug-
gested suspicion that the instrument had not come
into :the possession of Metz by honest means. An
order for the restoration of the intrument was, in
accordance with the decision of the alderman, served
upon the defendant, who still refused to deliver it up,
except upon the condition of being reimbursed the
sum he had advanced ; thereupon a second;summons
was issued, and the case was again brought before the
Court.

111 r. Alderman WIRE presided upon the hearing o:
the second summons.

Mr. Dalton, on the part of the defendant, now con-
tended that although upon the former occasion he had
not discussed the question whether the magistrate had
or had not jurisdiction, and had been content to allow
the decision to go upon the merits, he had at present
to urge that the order for the restoration of the piano-
forte was one which Sir Peter Laurie had no power
whatever to make, and that, supposing the alderman
had that power, he had made it wrongly upon the
facts of the case as then presented to him.
Alderman WIRE---You had a full opportunity,
when the case was under discussion before Sir Peter
Laurie, of going into the merits, and the Act of Par-
liament leaves it at the absolute discretion of the ma-
gistrate either to allow or disallow the return of the
money advanced by the defendant upon property of
this description. I find nothing in the Act to compel
the magistrate to order the money advanced to be
returned to a defendant upon the restoration of the
property. The order for the delivery of the pianoforte
to Mr. Fairchild, without the return of the 141. ad-
vanced upon the instrument by Mr. Thomas to Metz,
must be enforced.

Mr. Thomas (the defendant)—Will you allow an
appeal, as I should like to try the question in another
court?

Alderman WIRE-4 wish I could, in order that
the law might be thoroughly settled upon this
most important subject; but it is now too late for
notice of appeal.
Mr. Goodman (the chief clerk)—The instrument
will be delivered to Mr. Fairchild this afternoon ?
-Mr. Dalton—Certainly ; we will deliver up the
pianoforte this afternoon and commence an action.
Mr. Goodman—Mr. Fairchild will be good enough
to attend at Mr. Thomas's sale rooms to take the in-
strument away.