The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-03 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
GUILDHALL.
Willim Piper, aged 43, and Justin Guun, aged 40,
were placed at the bar before Alderman Finnis,
charged, the former with having in his possession a
quantity of fancy soaps, supposed to be stolen, with•
out being able to render a satisfactory account of
them, and the latter with robbing his employers,
Messrs. Price and Co., perfumers, of Lombard-street,

City. .
Robert Packman, a detective officer, said—ln con-
ssquonce of information I received, I went to Mr.
Smith's, oil and colourman, 87, London-wall. I was
in the back part of the shop when I saw Piper come
in and ask Mr. Smith what he was to have for the
soap he had left. There were two parcels of fancy
soap. Mr. Smith offered him 9d., and prisoner was
going away contented, when I told him I was an
officer, and took him into custody. lie said the soap
was his own property, but on my asking him how
he became possessed of it, he said that he would not
account to any one how he got it. He gave me a
wrong name and addre,.s. The goods were labelled
with the name of Price and Co., of Lombard-
street. I ascertained that Piper lived at No. 8,
Great Tower-street, and I accordingly went there
and searched his lodgings, and found seventeen
packages of various articles in perfumery. I then
took him to the station. From further information I
obtained I afterwards went to Gunn's lodgings, at
No. 6, Three Kings-court, Lombard-street, where I
found 201 b. of yellow soap, 61b. of fancy soap, 4 balls
of twine, 8 pots of bears'•grease, 7 bottles of hair oil,
2 bottles of some kind of essence, 4 pots of pomatum,
4 hair-brushes, and some hair and violet powder. These
articles were all secreted in various parts of Gunn's
apartment. He implored me not to take any notice
of the articles when I first discovered them. They are
all labelled with the name of the firm of " Price
and Co."

George Smith, oil and colourman, London-wall,
said-1 know the prisoner Piper. He brought some
goods to my house on Thursday last, and asked me to
allow him to weigh them. After he had weighed them
he told me they were fancy soaps, and that they were a
job lot he had bought at a sale at a chemist's shop in
Aldgate. He took out two packets, each containing
three smaller packets of brown Windsor soap, and
hffered to sell them to me. He said he had 12 large
packets altogether, containing 36 smaller ones, and he
would let me have them for 41. 6d. I offered to buy
the lot after I had opened the parcels and seen the
quality of the soap. I then asked him for his name
and address, and he said it was "William Johnson,
No. 14, Crutched-friara." I returned Piper the two
parcels he first showed me, and he left the shop. In
the evening I went into Aldgate and made inquiries,
the result of which was, that there had been no
sale of a chemist's stock at all in that neighbourhood.
I then went to Crutched-friars, but there was no No.
14, neither was there any one of the name prisoner
gave me known there. I returned home and gave
information to Packman, the (Beer. Piper called
again in the morning, and said the auctioneers had
mislaid the other parcels, and he promised to bring
the white Windsor in the course of the day. He ac-
cordingly called again, and said the white Windsor
had been disposed of. I then asked him what I
should pay him for the two parcels he had left, and he
said 93. The officer then took him into custody, and
I gave him the soap.
Mr. W. Philips Hughes, of the firm of Price and
Co , said—l know nothing of Piper, but the goods
found on him I believe to be a portion of our stock.
We have not missed any, but having 20 hands em-
ployed in our establishment it is very easy for any of
them to take goods away in small quantities without
our missing them. Gunn has been in our employ for
the last 15 years. He was the superintendent of our
soap factory. I believe the goods found at his lodg-
ings are a part of our stock, but I could not swear
they are, as there is no mark upon them to show they
have not been sold. The property altogether is worth
about 201. We paid Gunn 265. per week.
Alderman FINNIS—It appears that this is a case of
great suspicion, and I shall therefore remand it for a
few days for further inquiry ; but as it has been stated
that Gunn is in a very delicate state of health let him
be recommended to the medical attendant of the
prison as soon as he enters, and see that he be placed
in the infirmary.
The prisoners were accordingly remanded.
BOW-STREET.

James Clark, a carman, and James Collins, a com-
mission agent, were re-examined before Mr. Hall
upon five distinct charges of robbing the London
Docks and defrauding the public revenue.
Mr. Ballantine (instructed by Mr. Beverley, from
the Customs) conducted the prosecution ; Mr. Lewis,
solicitor, attended for Collins, and Mr. Humphreys
watched the proceedings on behalf of the London
Dock Company.
The Learned Counsel for the prosecution said that
he should confine the evidence on the present occasion
to three of the alleged transactions, occurring in Dec.,
1849, and Jan., 1850.
James Burton said he lived at 63, Osklerstreet,
Lambeth, and was formerly a housing foreman in the
London Docks. Clark, the prisoner, came to the
docks for a hogshead of sugar, and on that occasion
witness agreed with him about taking away some
bags of cotree. Witness gave him two bags in 1849, and
two more in December. He abstracted the bags from

the pile called " sweepings," composed of between
70 and 100 bags. They were not sweepings, but had
been previously abstracted from ships' cargoes, with
the sanction of the company, and by the express di-
rections of their cfficers. Witness had repeatedly
assisted in such abstractions, by the order of his super-
intendent, a Mr. Nothcote, who was still in the ser-
vice of the Dock Company. The pile in question had
been taken in this manner from three ships. The
order to make up the " sweepings" into casks, bags,
or cases, according to their respective qualities, would
issue from the superintendent's office, by the direc-
tion of the Dock Company, and the commodities
would be regularly weighed by their check clerk.
Witness never heard of any duty being paid upon
these goods. They were always abstracted from the
cargoes before they were examined and weighed by
the Customs' officers, and usually while the landing
waiters were at their meals.
Cross-examined by Mr. Lewis—The first statement
which I made upon this subject was about a fortnight
ago, to Mr. Beverley, of the Customs. I had heard
that Collins had made a statement, and I was induced
consequently to make the disclosures. No promise was
held out to me. I was a convicted thief before I
went into the Dock Company's service. About ten
years ago I was tried at the Central Criminal Court
for robbing my master, and was sentenced to two
years' imprisonment, but, owing to a representation
made upon the subject to Lord Normanby, I was re-
leased before the expiration of twelve months. The
only other robberies I have committed were the dock
robberies. I have robbed 300 ships by the direction
of the superintendents of the Dock Company; and I
have known hundreds of tons of goods to be disposed
of for the benefit of the company. If these are felo-
nies I have certaily committed hundreds of felonies.
Mr. Ballantine—A man who commits a felony
by the direction of his employers may not be the real
criminal in the transaction.
Cross-examination continued—Hundreds of men
have assisted me in abstracting goods from the vessels.
I could mention many of their names,— Jackson,
Jacques, Draper, Bateman, Lawrence, Hayter, and
others.
Mr. Humphreys, as the solicitor of the Dock Com-
pany, said that any one of their servants would be
forthcoming, if required, to explain auy matter in re-
lation to the present inquiry.
John William Bennett proved that he lodged in
the same house with the prisoner Wiles, and re-
membered bags of coffee being brought to him early
in January, 1860. A man named Bellamy took
them away in a truck. He once said to Collins, "I
do nut like to see • Sweepings' on the bag, as Mr.
Sharp will think the quality is inferior, which is not
the case." Witness had seen Burton with Collins at
his house.

James Langtry, a grocer, of 9, Salmon's-lane,
Limehouse, proved that he had purchased coffees of
Collins, whom he bad known for two years as a travel
ler for Mr. Freeman, in Love.lane. Early in January
he brought a bag of fine plantation Ceylon coffee to
itness, and the prisoner Clark was his foreman.
They drew up their cart on the opposite of the road,
and when witness mentioned the circumstance, Col-
lins replied that it was the stupidity of the carman.
The bag was brought across to witness's shop, and
witness paid the market price for it. They had other
similar transactions at other times.
Mr. Sharp, a grocer at Mile-end, deposed to having
made similar purchases of Collins.
A warehouseman named Edwin Hook, in the
employ of the London Dock Company, and a carman
named William Staenard (whose name bad been re-
ferred to by Burton, the accomplice), were next ex-
amined, but their memories did not serve them suffi-
ciently to aid the inquiry.
Mr. Ilumphreys was next examined as a witness
for the Crown. He deposed that he was one of the
solicitors to the Dock Company, and, in that capacity,
was authorised to receive a statement made by the
prisoner Clark in June last, with a view to a sub-
stquent prosecution against somebody. Such a state-
ment was made to witness in the presence also of a
Mr. Chandler.
Mr. Ballantine—Will you have the goodness to
produce that statement, or state the purport of it ?
Mr. Humphrey s—l object either to produce the
statement or to disclose v‘ hat that statement was, on
the ground that it was made to me as the solicitor to
the company, under an implied promise that it should
not be used as evidence against him. I believe the
Dock Company would not object to my producing the
document, but I do so on conscientious grounds.
Mr. HALL allowed the objection.
Mr. Ballantine said this would be the case for the
prosecution. There were other charges, but they
would not be proceeded with at present.