The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-24 00:00:00

THE IIABITUAL CRIMINALS fiCr.

sos
Mr. Serjeaut Cox, addressing the grand it'll ail,t'
Middlesex Sessions, on Monday,said it was not usn-sliP
that court to direct the attention of thei grand jury ts°:cl
changes in the law, but on the present occasion be ;ilia
it to be his duty to do so, for an Act had been Passe"; be
was now in operation, which would very much atiec-
b
administration of justice, and the provisions a w,17,i
could not be too widely known. The gallitist
Criminals Act provides that on a second
anycotivicti°-
be
thefe felony
punishment,
men misdemeanour
tthen,
in addition
tdishonesty,on
to
anwybpaiitne Lebt:fte-1
awarded to the criminal by the judge, it shall be dee,,,--reed
part of the sentence passed on him , unles's otherwise ele°- f
by the court, that he is to be subject to the supervisi°l;
the police for seven years. Now, the effect of the suPerl-io
was this being subject to the supervision, am°ttieC
charged by any constable or police officer with ge" ato
his livelihood by dishonest means, and he failed to 11/bis
it appear to the magistrate that he was not getti°,so,o3
lining in a dishonest way ; or, secondly, if lie Was
by the police in any place under such circurestanc`t et
satisfied the magistrate that he was about to connaltio
aid in the commission of any crime onPP
punishable
50 or.
mar)* conviction, or that he was waiting for ° of
tunity to commit or aid in the conainis°i°l3o9
any such crime ; or, if he was found 11. f
sotsl,
person in or upon any dwelling-house, building, e,
or premises, or in any shop, warehouse, countinglf, the
garden, orchard, &c., without being able to accounttob
satisfaction of the justice for his being found On:tlis
premises (the burden of proof being thrown t11)°„-ipent
prisoner) he was then to be subjected to inirris°",,it/i
for a term not exceeding twelve months, 201
or without hard labour. These enactments rtiss
give a great hold upon the criminal POP11031:138
of the country. Further provision was ,00(14‘
in this Act with respect to receivers of stolen oiltio
Hitherto in these cases the burden of proving
badg
knowledge
se e lay
theformerprosecution,
the
doubtcourse oil,
difficulty which sometimes arose with respect of thisePosiaa
because it was one thing to prove a man was 10 115 boa
of stolen goods, and it was another to shew that be bey'
guilty knowledge that the goods were stolen, IC°te tjt 05°,,
he referred to would partially meet this diffienitl,..a bee'
provided by the Act that when any person wb° h-b-oula b,„°
previously convicted of receiving stolen goods 5 then'
°*
charged with receiving stolen goods, or having t knew
his possession, the burden of proof that lie did cif of
they were stolen should lie on the pris',,'gb
cases of previous convictions, it would be 513-13,00 '-
the prosecutor to prove the stolen g°°`l, 3A bete:i
the possession of the prisoner, and it rv°ll`-‘ho o°2
for the prisoner to prove he did not know of
were stolen. To enable this to be done the COnrs-eyeree
seeding previously observed on these trials w 5 t o e°
by the recent Act. Hitherto former convicti°l3l, i
tlO
concealed from the jury until after the convict 1,
iarf
object being to prevent the minds af ;gtorf
being prejudiced or influenced by the previous i" coieef
the prisoner. But under the new law, in cases of
cap witbe
of stolen goods the course would be to comer
proving the former conviction;
jury would start with the knowledge in tbtellifernle7;sed°,ltl:l)ll°:
the prisoner had been previously convicted. e
knowledge would be presumptive proof that thibe Pris ro
knew the goods were stolen. It would then be
u;l:)osstslfr
soner to shew he did not know the goods in Pble
were stolen. By this means the jury would be a reflons,s
tain an answer in these cases which they could nc't Psogs ,jg
come at. Further, then, this Act referred to de_:
old metals, provisions having been introduced Pc:estibib
:A
the purchase of lead, whether new or old, in 11101)5t 00
at one time, of less weight than 1121 b.; or of c,eight
or new, in any quantity at one time, of less offence
561 b. A penalty of £5 can be inflicted for these off bang.
These provisions would, he considered, have a'a 000'
ficial effect in checking dishonest dealing i 3
district
1: dof
Twelve fires took place in the metroroo' TO,
in the forty-eight hours ending at six o'elocr °
S At
morning. ter-pol ow-cl 10,4
The loss of the oysters in the or
r
r
Arcachon, due to the coincidence of the extrao
sitlu totr°P
tides and the exceptional heat of the 10th, e close
-
of July last, is estimated at 1,200,000 L, o
bee°
£50,000.
ALARMING TO PARENTS.— Quite a s 0 IP
tor
created amongst parents of the working e`a_snef a °tot
around Cork by the mysterious disappear:o,l76;g theillove
ber of children, mostly of tender years, °,tted to the
fortnight. So numerous are the cases e•,,oseo°the
occurred that an extensive system of kidnalrogijout
only possible explanation. Placards posted tler,°ol,o resereic,
city state that two little girls of twelve and fiv.)_ ,ftt 0.34.
tively have been missing from Mayfield for tent''o j 31:;
No less than five children have disaPPeare,tedss 01;olr•
pool within the last two days ; two are reP°' 0 fool of
from the neighbourhood of Lady's twhe
toffs
obeir
lane, and two others from Evergreen. In !tilos bY .rt•
instances the children were sent on errs their si
parents, and never returned. The police 110e0;_iitotiol,
yet ]nave
tention directed to the matter, but AS
the circumstances has, in any case, been a o,ollP.ttis
COLD-FINDING IN A COUNTRY C°V. 011
Abe
A few days ago, whilst a little boy NY"thei~ei 1)1
boys will play, at knocking stones one gins'as
and thus breaking them, lie was
seeing a glittering sul,6tance in the heartc 00 rV 0,64
til
stone which he had broken in a court-Yar.l' „f
lie paid no attention to this on time first turti,eratst oftt,o'
it ; but on again seeing a bit of the 533-I.e_ took
in another piece of quartz in the yard, lice) wbo 11113
jeweller's in the adjoining town (Braintreetce graog
nounced it to be a nugget of remarkablY.apol'ily, belt
gave him 6d. for it. A member of nIY
,otiog o_,
of this unusual occurrence, accompanied °
th
nogget.7o.o
sonewli.
()f 0;1;
man to the jeweller's and bought back the
0„old
curiosity. Since then two more particlesadV t
Oa- op
been found, and it is hardly necessary*
nto. breAloge, of
young friend is now occupied in dilige t.lnYthe ha roe
all the paving stones in the court-yard, Votory, to
becoming the veritable treasure•finder of U.!. „oselblch.
stones have been down too long for It to.. Pi; rotor
ovh";
ascertain whence they came from ; hut It_ w
wherever that may be, there innet ale Do A "
031111i161140 officarkwishilis ea Mori*