The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-09 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE

A Ficrirrous INSURANCE COMPANY.—It will be remem-
bered that a short time since a Youngman named Williams,
or Webb, w ho had been a pawnbroker's assistantoras charged
with having been connected with a sham Plate Glass
Insurance Company. The impostors had obtained a
number of subscriptions from licensed victuallers and
other tradesmen, and the court was crowded with their
dupes. It was pleaded on behalf of the prisoner that he
was merely the tool of others. The Recorder has, how-
ever, arrived at a different conclusion, for on the case
being heard on Tuesday at the Central Criminal Court he
was sentenced to five years' penal servitude.
ROBBERY AT COLONEL TEESDALE'S.—At the Middlesex
Sessions, on Tuesday, James and Mary Gillis were charged
with stealing jewellery of the value of £lOO from the
residence of Colonel Teesdale, equerry to the Prince of
Wales. The male prisoner was Colonel Teesdale's servant,
and he and his wife remained in charge of the Colonel's
house during his absence with the Prince of Wales in
Egypt. They commenced a regular system of robbery,
taking fourteen parcels of goods to one pawnbroker,
eleven to another, eight to a third, and so on. They were
each sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard
labour.

AN UNREASONABLE COMPLAINT.— An elegantly-dressed
woman presented herself at Marlborough-street Police.
court, on Tuesday, to make a complaint against the police.
She was the same person who had been convicted
at that court of obtaining goods fraudulently from
several tradesmen. She complained that she
was engaged in establishing a ladies' school, but that the
police prevented her and injured her prospects. The
magistrate told her that she was most unfit to have charge
of a school, and that he was surprised at her application
after she had been proved to be a swindler of no common
order.

ANOTHER IRISH OUTRAGE. —A Dublin corn-
spondent writes :—" John Ryan, a farmer at Kilcommon,
near Nenagh, was fired at and wounded by his stepson,
named Burke, on Monday evening. It is alleged that
Burke felt aggrieved at Ryan acquiring the farm by his
marriage."
THE SUSPECTED POISONING IN NORFOLK.—The
inquiry into the case of John Mayes Davy, who, it is
alleged, was poisoned in the course of last month by his
brother, George Davy, and his sister-in-law, Susannah
Davy, is not yet concluded. An outline of the case has
already been given. On Monday the prisoners, George
Davy and Susannah Davy, were before the magistrates at
Swaff ham for some time. James Mayes Davy has not
yet fully regained his health. He was subjected on
Monday to a long cross-examination, and a further remand
was determined on.
A NEW KIND OF RAILWAY. —A novel and in-
genious scheme for railway extension has been before the
Ottoman Minister of Public Works and the Council of
State. According to the Levant Times, "it consists of a
sort of serial railway, recently patented in England. The
idea is borrowed from the telegraph wires. A strong wire
cable is carried across poles at certain distances, and on this
wire is slung a number of trucks which are drawn along
either way by another wire attached to a stationary
engine at each end—as the Black wall Railway
in London was originally worked. The posts
are so constructed as to enable the trucks to pass
them. On inclines, the line can be so arranged as to
require only steam power one way in drawing the
trucks up. The speed is six miles an hour. The
trucks are adaptable for the conveyance of passen-
gers, though the plan is specially suitable for
the transport of heavy goods in rural districts which
could not afford a railroad. The scheme is recommended
by its cheapness, there being no land to buy nor road
to make ; by its practicability in localities where the con-
struction of a railroad would he enormously expensive ;
by the readiness of the promoters to carry it out without
any guarantee from the Government beyond protection to
their interests. If it should prove a success it would go
far to solve the great problem of all in Turkey, the impor-
tance of which will be only enhanced by an extension of
railways—the provision of means of intercommunication
in the interior of the empire."
THE FATAL FIRE AT PENTONVILLE.—OH Tiles-
! day Dr. Lankester opened an inquiry at the Cherry Tree
Tavern, Bowling-green-lane, Clerkenwell, into the cause
of the death of Martha Naylor, aged 20, Ann Letitia
Thomas, aged 23, and Annie Richardson, aged 3, who
lost their lives at the fire which broke out at 217, Penton-
ville-road, through the ignition of a bottle of paraffin
oil. The mother of Martha Naylor, who was first
examined, said that her daughter worked for Mies
Jago, at 217, Pentonville-road, and would have re-
turned home that night but for the fire as soon as she had
completed her work. The attention of the witness having
been drawn to the fact that her daughter ought not, in
accordance with the Workshops Regulation Act, to have
been at work when the accident happened, she replied
that her daughter had often to stay at work till
ten or eleven. Mr. James Richardson said
that he was taking supper with his wife and friend
i on Saturday night, about ten o'clock. Suddenly hearing
i screams for help, he ran clown to the basement, where he
was met by Mr. Till, who exclaimed, " Come and help
me, for I have a bottle of oil on fire in the kitchen."
. Witness, however, was driven back by the fire and smoke.
Running up to the first floor front, which lie mistook
for his own room, lie threw up the window and
gave an alarm. Having gone to the second and third
floor, he descended to his own room and took his boy
out through the roof and passed lihn into another house.
Whilst on the roof he saw a rope lowered to a young
woman on one of the window sills, and she was dragged
up and saved by it. Not seeing his wife and deceased
child in the room when lie left it. he concluded they were
saved. He afterwards saw his wife in the crowd,
Ibut another child, which slept through all the disturbance,
was found burnt to death just where it had been placed.
A relative of this witness had to-identify tte body, as he
*lad refused to look at it. The iuiry wasejourixeg,