The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-25 00:00:00

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LONDON ADJOURNED SESSIONS.

FALSE SCALES.—Joseph Sharpe, the keeper of a
coalshed in the district of Blackfriars, was indicted
for a misdemeanor.

Three of the inquest jury of the Ward of Far-
ringdon Within deposed to the following facts :
The inquest went to the premises of the defendant,
and on examining the scales on which the coals were
weighed found that they were unequal, to the ex-
tent of 31bs. 5 oz. The defendant, when they were
proceeding to examine, put his hand to the left side
of the scales, and down dropped a weight of 21bs.
7 oz., evidently suspended from the place in which
the coals wet e to be weighed, thus constituting an
instrument for plundering the poor. The scales,
without such an appendage, were nearly a pound
deficient on the side of the coal owner. The de-
fendant, upon being accused of fraud, declared that
it was all a rascally conspiracy against him ; that he
defied the inquest, and did not care if it cost hitn
1001. to show that fact. Afterwards he begged and
prayed for forgiveness.
Mr. ADOLPHUS, for the defendant, asked how
much coals were weighed at a time in the scales,
and was told 501b5., and that coals were at the time
255. per ton.
The RECORDER—Such a deficiency is important
to those who cannot afford to buy more than 501bs.
of coals.

A poor woman, named Langton, had been in the
habit of dealing for many years with the defendant
for coals, but she never could afford to buy more
than seven pounds or fourteen pounds at a time.
On a certain day she paid him for fourteen pounds,
and on her way home she called in at the house of
a Mrs. Weston, another coal-seller, who wondered
at the small show of the article; and upon weigh.
ing the fourteen pounds, found tnat they were
minus five pounds five ounces. Witness took the
coals back to the defendant, who declared they
were right weight, and put them into his scale
again, where they certainly appeared to be an honest
bargain.

The jury found him Guilty.
The RECORDER said he should pay a fine of 201.
The defendant could not pay the fine, and was
immediately committed to prison.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HO USE.

CHARGE OF FORGERY.—Yesterday a young
man, named George Taylor, was brought before the
LORD MAYOR, charged with having forged a draft
for 7001. upon the banking-house of Sir John Lub-
bock and Co. The prisoner was an out-door clerk
in the house.

A clerk in the banking-house produced a check
upo❑ Drummond and Co., purporting to be the
order of C. Fuller and Co. upon that house for the
sum of 7001., and made payable to H. C. or bearer.
The prisoner had, upon his returning from his out-
door business, made rather an unintelligible entry
of the amount of 7001., and, upon examination, it
was found to be irreconcileable with the draft which
he subsequently produced upon Drummond and Co.
There had been no declaration in his entry as to
who had paid the check, and suspicion was excited
by the incongruity. Sir John Lubbock was in-
formed of the circumstance, and questioned the
prisoner as to an explanation of the matter. The
prisoner was silent. " How long," said Sir John,
have you been carrying on this ?" The prisoner
replied that he had been carrying it on for a con-
siderable time, arid had spent all the money.
The LORD MAYOR supposed the draft would
have made the prisoner's balance correct, and asked
why it had not been sent to the clearing-house, ac-
cording to the usual arrangement?
The witness said the draft was upon a `Vest-end
branch of the town-house, and the banking-houses so
situatedid not send to the clearing-house in Lombard-
street, as was the case with the city establishments.
With respect to the question whether the check, if
the forgery had not been detected, would not have

covered the prisoner's balance, he had to answer in
the affirmative. The draft would, according to
usage, have gone back into the hands of the pri-
soner next day.
The LORD MAYOR—And he would have to sup-
ply its place by a fresh forgery. It was an inge-
nious plan, and no doubt it began in the small way.
The solicitor to Sir John Lubbock stated that, in
all probability, it began as low as W.
The LORD MAYOR—Was this the first discovery
of any irregularity in the prisoner's entry ? Wit-
ness—The first.
Mr. William Hayer, a clerk in the house of
Drummond and Co., stated that their house had no
customers named C. Fuller and Co. The printed
cheeks, of which the forgery was one, were easily
obtained.
The LORD MAYOR—It is a very lamentable case,
and God knows where it would have ended, or to
what height the forgery would have gone, if the
matter had not been detected on this occasion.
What have you to say, prisoner, upon this subject ?
Prisoner—Nothing.
The LORD MAYOR—I shall remand you until
Saturday, and then commit you for trial.
The wretched young man was then taken to the
Compter.
BEGGING LETTERS.—Two respectably dressed
women, named Muller, a native of GA-many, and
Bowditch, an Englishwoman, were brought before
the Lord Mayor, charged by Mr. Hubbard, a tobacco
merchant in the Minories, under the following cir-
cumstances :
Mr. Hubbard stated that Mrs. Bowditch called
upon him and presented an appeal to his compassion
on behalf of Mrs. Muller, whom she represented as
the widow of a man who had been in the tobacco
warehouse. He made a few inquiries of her, and
said he had no money about him at that time, but
wished her to call again. This was in the pas-
sage to the counting-house, and Mrs. Bowditch,
who seemed to understand her business, without
hesitation proposed to him to borrow of some per-
son in the counting-house.—(A laugh.) He, of
course, declined, and suspecting that the story of the
distress of the widow, who was represented as hav-
ing two helpless unprotected children in a foreign
land, was a fiction, he made inquiries, the result of
which convinced him that the application was part
of a system, and he then had the women appre-
hended.
The LORD MAYOR, finding that the appeal to the
humanity of the public was earnestly recommended
by a gentleman who signed himself Count Wacker-
barth, and whose large seal was attached, said that
the whole affair had symptoms of humbug and de-
ception about it, which were not to be mistaken.
His Lordship asked whether Mrs. Bowditch's hus-
band was present ? Mrs. Bowditch—My Lord, he
has been here all the morning.
The LORD MAYOR—But where is he now ? This
is the time for him to be present. Mrs. Bowditch
—lf he's not here, my Lord, I dare say he is to be
found on 'Change.—(Great laughter.)
The LORD MAYOR—Aye, I dare say you have a
'Change of your own, where you transact your beg.
gi rig business.—(Laughter.)
Mrs. Bowditch was induced to make this appli.
cation for Mrs. Muller from mere motives of hu
manity, and had no idea of deriving the least profi
from her interference.

His LORDSHIP then directed that Count Wacker-
barth and Mr. Bowditch should be sent for, and
questioned the gentlemen when they attended.
Mr. Bowditch said that his circumstances had

been once good, but were now much reduced. His
wife was not a begging-letter writer, or bearer, and
he had himself nothing to do with such things.
The LORD MAYOR—Perhaps Count Wacker-
barth will tell me whether this recommendation of
Mrs. Muller to people's charity is his writing ?
The Count looked at the writing, and seemed to
hesitate.

The LORD MAYOR—Is not that in your hand-
writing, and is not that your seal ? The Count put
his finger apon a line and said—Why, yes, this is.
The LORD MAYOR—Give the Count a pen arid
ink, and let him write, and we'll tell him whether
it is or not.—(A laugh.)
The Count wrote a few word, and handed the
paper to the Lord Mayor.
The LORD MAYOR—Why, yes, to be sure it is
your writing, evcry word of it.
The Count—Yes, my Lord, it is my writing. I

met Mrs. Muller at Hamburg, and she wanted vera
much money; so I wrote for her. I am a gentleman
and literat or.

The LORD MAYOR—Exactly so, and she has
been handing about your Countship and your mag-
nificent seal, to make dupes of people. I believe
these two women to be guilty.—(here Mrs. Bow-
ditch said " Oh !" and threw back her head, as if

about to faint.) Oh ! don't faint. But Ido not
think the case is one on which a conviction could be
obtained ; I therefore shall discharge them. See
how fast Mrs. Bowditch recovers from her fit.—

(Great laughter at the expedition with which the
recovery took place.)
Mrs. Bowditch was about to relapse, when

The LoRD MAYOR said, " You may go away;
but, if ever I catch you at this work again, I'll send
you as rogues and vagabonds to Bridewell; and,
Count Wackerbarth, if you lend your name and fine

seal to people of this kind, you'll be taken for one
of the parties, and run a chance of the discipline of
the tread-mill, although you are a Count."—(Great
laughter.)