The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-08 00:00:00

in and round the mi,iropolis, waA brought up tor
final examination. Not only the Justice-room, but
the hall and the avenues to it were crowded. A
woman, who stated herself to be his wife, whom
he was said to be very much in the habit of beat-
ing, and o❑ whom he used to pour out religious
ejaculations while he inflicted the punishment, was
put to the bar with him.
Sapwell, the officer who apprehended the pri-
soner, stated to the Lord Mayor that he had already
found half a cart load of bibles, prayer-books, and
hymn-books, at the shops of pawnbrokers in the
metropolis, and that he had ascertained they had
been all pawned by the prisoner. He stated that
the prisoner now appeared in the camblet cloak
which he used to wear in the churches and chapels,
and in which a great number of the ladies and gen-
men present recognised him as a constant attendant
at public worship.
The moment Mason sneaked up to the bar, there
was a general cry in the office of " Oh dear ! I
know his face; he was in church the day I lost my
books." He looked round timidly, but took no no-
tice of those who claimed acquaintance with him.
The Rev. Mr. Watkins, Rector of St. Swithin's,
London Stone—Oh, my Lord Mayor, I know the
man well ; he called upon me one day, and begged
that I would let him know whether he could be
allowed to receive the Sacrament before he was
confirmed.—(Great laughter.) I really took him
for an excellent Christian, and asked him to come to
my house, when I would give him all the advice in
my power, and administer all the religious console-
don he might think necessary to require. He lis-
tened to me attentively, and then departed ; and
next day I missed a quantity of my books.—
(Laughter.) I need not say that he did not call
next day, which was the time he appointed.
Here Sapwell produced several bags full of reli-
gious books. Some of these books had been stripped
of their pictures, many of which had been found
embellishing the walls of the prisoner's room, to-
gether with a great deal of poetry in the hand
writing of Mason, on the punishment preparing for
the evil doer, the blessings awaiting him who
walked' in the right road, and the vanity and inuti-

lity of all things without charity.
The LORD MAYOR—Were many of these books
found at the house of one pawnbroker ? Sapwell—
Yes, my Lord ; I found twenty-three books at the
shop of one, twenty-four at the shop of another,
and at very few I found less than five or six.
The LORD MAYOR—And these pawnbrokers will
tell me they had no right to suspect that a man or
woman who pawned so many religious books got
them dishonestly.
Some of the pawnbrokers said the man was so
constant a customer, and a person of so serious an
appearance, that no suspicion was ever entertained
of him. It was, they assured the Lord Mayor, the
practice of many purchasers of books to pawn them,
to obtain a supply of money to make other promis-
ing speculations.
Mr. Nobler (the Chief Clerk) said, that such cer-
tainly was the fact. his experience had made
him acquainted with many instances of the
kind. It was particularly the case with the
Jews. They bought, and pawned to buy more, and
they would afterwards borrow and take out their
pledges, and sell, and perhaps make a profit of six
or seven pounds in a day's work in that way.
The LORD MAYOR said that such an explanation
was certainly necessary to exonerate the pawnbrokers,
but he was not quite satisfied that they were uncon-
scious of having dealt with a thief in this instance.
—(Laughter.)
Sapvvell said that he had received the greatest
attention and assistance from the pawnbrokers on
this occasion, and several of them had offered to
give up the stolen books without receiving the money
which had been lent upon them.
The LORD MAYoß—Prisoner, have you nothing
to say to all t his ? Prisoner—No, my Lord, nothing
at all ; but many have lost their books without be-
ing able to say I took them.—(Laughter.)
Here several ladies and gentlemen who had been
examining the bundles of books pawned set before
them, said that they identified their property. Many
of them, it was found, had been pledged on the very
day they were stolen. The prisoner used, it was
stated, to visit some places of worship with his head
heavily powdered; but the most frequent observa-
tion made respecting him was, that he was more
absorbed in the high contemplations of religion than
any other person. He must have sometimes carried
out with him, after a long time spent on his knees,
eight or ten books, the camblet cloak giving all the
required facilities.
The LORD MAYOR—We have two cases suffi-
ciently strong against the prisoner, and it will be
therefore quite unnecessary to add to the expenses
by obliging such a multitude of plundered persons
to appear at the Old Bailey.
Some of the pawnbrokers expressed their willing-
ness to give up the stolen property without re-
quiring the capital they had advanced.
The LORD MAYOR, however, thought, under all

the circumstances, it would be too hard upon the
pawnbrokers to require such a sacrifice. He thought
that the pawnbrokers might give up the claimed
books for one half of the money obtained upon them.
This proposition gave satisfaction, and the ladies
and gentlemen regained their boi,ks for a trifle, and
the pawnbrokers went home with the consolation
that they were not obliged to attend and give evi-
dence at the Old Bailey.
Sapwell said that the old gentleman from whom
the prisoner had stolen the ring was in attendance.
William Tyndall, of No. 3, Corbett's-court,
Spitalfields, an aged man, in a deplorable state of
paralysis, deposed that the prisoner lodged in the
same house with him. The prisoner visited him to
talk religion to him, and give him spiritual comfort,
and, after some conversation of the kind, took a
ring out of his drawer, and walked off and pawned
it for eleven shillings.
A pawnbroker deposed that the prisoner had
pawned the ring at his shop.
The LORD MAYOR—It will be too much to require
this poor man to attend the Old Bailey. You had
better give him his ring.
The pawnbroker said he should not like to give it
up without finding that it was claimed at the Old
Bailey.
The LORD MAYOR— Well ; it shall be claimed
there.

The old man was then bound over to prosecute ;
and the lady, whose books were stolen out of Al-
dersgare Church, was also bound over to prefer ano-
ther indictment.
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, prisoner, have you
anything to say about the robbery upon this poor
cripple, whom you plundered while you spoke to
him of eternity?
The prisoner shook his long head, and aid—No ;
I am of a respectable family, but I won't say who
they are.
Sapwell said, that any body who went into the
prisoner's room, would be impressed with a belief
that the inhabitant was a very proper person. On
several parts of the walls were written, in the pri-
soner's own hand-writing, the following words:—
" Words without thought ne'er reach the Almighty car—
Then dread the direful mockery of prayer ;
In other scenes be innocently gay,
But gravity becomes us when we pray."
The prisoner was fully committed for trial, and
the LORD MAYOR highly commended the conduct of
Sapwell throughout the business.
MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
A pale-faced lad, with his hair nicely parted and
twisted at each side into the genuine Bermondsey
curl, was put to the bar under the not inappropriate
patronymic of Shanks, charged with having made
an attack with a carving-knife last Friday night, on
his own life, and the life of a young female, whose
profession appeared to be indicated by a yellow
chintz gown and green Adelaide boots.
The prosecutrix gave the name of Emma Robins,
and stated that on Friday evening, about eleven
o'clock, as she was taking her accustomed evening
stroll in the Quadrant, she was accosted by the
Prisoner, with whom an acquaintance had formerly
subsisted, who invited her to partake of a glass of