The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-05 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.
Alexander Ripion, a hair-dresser, was charged under the
following circumstances :
J. Maunders, a meagre-looking object, who acknowledged
that he " yarned" a livelihood by gagging in public-houses,
stated that he went the night before into a house of call
for tailors in Bishopsgate, and sat down to enjoy his pipe.
The defendant began to annoy the gentleman present very
much by telling lies about the many men, and ladies too, of
high rank whom he had taken by the nose, and he (com-
plainant) endeavoured quietly to prevent any further of-
fence, an attempt which was resented by a blow on the top
of the nose.
The defendant said that the complainant had thought
proper to play off one of his professional tricks upon one
who knew nothing about him, while he (defendant) was telling
the company that he had just been out of compliment to the
family to shave a deceased friend ; that complainant then
said he heard a dog growl and bark under his chair ; and as
at the same time something touched his leg, he jumped up
to avoid a bite, but he could see no dog, and his distress
seemed to cause a great deal of amusement in the room.
About a quarter of an hour afterwards he heard, he could
have taken his oath, two cats fighting under the same chair,
and up he started a second time, but the company burst out
a laughing, and to his surprise he could not see any animal
whatever. At last a friend of his whispered to him that
the complainant made all the noise with his belly. Of this
he (defendant) was soon convinced, for upon hearing a pig
grunt under his chair he turned the grunt suddenly into a
roar, accompanied with a great variety of oaths and curses,
by giving the complainant a dab in the face.
The complainant said that it was customary to try skill
upon somebody who was a stranger, and althongh he had
made experiments upon hundreds he never caused anything
but good humour before. In this instance the defendant
was such a bore with his long stories about the nobility he
had shaved, that the company tipped the wink to bark or
grunt him out of them.

Defendant—l never shaved a nobleman in my life, and I
never said so.

Complainant—You said you shaved a Duchess the night
before the last drawing-room.—(Laughter.)
Defendant—Never, my Lord. I said I shaved a Duke's
bitch. She was an old poodle, a long time in the family,
and I shaved her hind quarters ; but, by the virtue of my
oath, I never shaved a Duchess yet.---(Great laughter.)
The LORD MAYOR said the complainant ought, before
he had played off a practical joke, to have ascertained the
temper of his customers. If a man imitated dogs and pigs
so well he must expect sometimes to be treated as men
often treated such intruders.—(A laugh.)
Defendant—This man is wel known, please your Lord-
ship. He was had before a Magistrate of Rumford Market
for playing off the kitten-rig.

Complainant—lt wasn't me. It was a man that pre-
tended to be me. I never was there in my life.
Defendant—You was. I'll tell you how it was, my Lord.
He brought up a kitten, and he drawed her teeth eut
to
prevent her mewing, and so gets he three quart pots and
lie claps 'em on the table, and says he, " I'll go a shilling
nobody tells me which pot the kitten's under." Well, the
people listens for to hear the little cat, but she was too well
up to it to say a word. At last a mew came from one of
the pots. " I'll bet upon this pot," says a countryman, and
he put down a crown upon the pot. " Done," says the
rigger, and he whips up the pot, and sure enough there was
not cat there—(Laughter.) There was an Irishman pre-
sent, that swore the cat was spirited away, for he saw her tail
sticking out of the pot that was just lifted ; but they all
examined the vessel, and the devil a cat's hair was to be
seen in it.

The LORD MAYOR thought that the complainant was
wasting his time at the Mansion-House, when he ought to
be at Bartholomew Fair, where he might doubtless be much
more profitably employed, and where he might show off his