The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-20 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

THE FOMEER GOV2IIXOII or Pr.NTorrvraz.—At BOW-
street, on Saturday, Captain Ninian Craig, the former
governor of Pentonville Prison, was finally brought up,
charged with embezzling £690, the property of the Govern-
ment. He pleaded guilty, and was committed for trial.
He informed the officer who apprehended him at Liverpool
that he had fully intended remaining in America, but that
he had received a letter from his wife, saying that she
and her children were starving, which induced him to
return.

A DISHONEST BETCHEIL—On Saturday a pork bucher,
named Stevens, was fined £2O and costs, at Southwark
Police-court, for exposing for sale a quantity of pork, beef,
and bread unfit for human food. The inspector sound on
the defendant's premises putrid meat and mouldy bread,
laid in tubs ready for making sausages.
A tits Boddy, the secretary of the Gas
Con,inmers' Gas Company, was summoned at Southwark
Police-court by the proprietor of a public-house for refus-
ing to supply him with gas, and the magistrate was asked
to fix the amount of security to be deposited. Mr.
Partridgp was of opinion that £4, the amount which had
been asked, was an excessive demand, and dirested that
the company should lay on tho gas upon receiving £1
deposit, and they must allow tho complainant intekost on
that amount.

A CismAN's FARE.—A person named r.canitn was
brought up on a warrant at the Thames Police-court for
refusing to pay a cab faro. He was arrested 'in a Leer-
house, and described himself as a builder. The cabman
had driven him from Paddington to Bow, and the fare was
Cs. He had also been put to subsequent expenses. Tho
defendant's wife had given him a sovereign, and he
expressed himself satisfied. The magistrate sharply
rebuked Mr. Scanlan, who said he was a gentleman, and
the affair was unpleasant to his feelings. The magistrate,
advising him to make no pretensions as to character, dis-
missed him.

PROSECUTION OF A STREET PREACHER.

On Saturday Mr. Sampson Longmore, of Albert-street,
Haggerstono, appeared before Mr. Ellison, at Worship-
street Police-court, to." answer a charge of obstructing the
footway of a public thoroughfare, whereby an obstruction
was cccasionod. Mr. Baxter, solicitor, appeared for the
defence, on behalf of the Open Air Preaching Association.

Police - constable Samuel Tobit stated that about
seven o'clock on :the evening of Sunday, the 29th
ultimo, he was on duty in the Mile-end-read, when
he saw a crowd coming towards him. There was a pre-
cession of about sixteen persons arm-in-arm across the
footpath, and they were followed by a crowd of mon,
women, and children to the number of nearly 200.
They completely blocked up the pavement, and ho
(witness) saw several persons pass from the pavement
into the road in order to avoid tho crowd. As they
advanced towards him, witness saw the defendant arm-
in.-arm with another at the head of the procession,
and tho defendant was beating time, with a
book in ono hand, to lead the crowd in its singing.
Witness stopped the defendant, told him that he had no
right upon the pavement, asked him for his name and
address, which he subsequently gave, and then the present
proceedings o' were taken. This evidence received cor-
roboration by that of another officer. Inspector Gee
stated to the magistrate that for some months past great
complaints had been made by the inhabitants of the Mile-
end and Whitechapel roads of the constant assemblage of a
number of itinerant preachers on a piece of waste ground
standing back from but contiguous to the main thorough-
fare. There they " held forth " from an early hour on Sun-
day mornings until late at night, often until one or two
o'clock on the following (Monday) morning. There were
Protestants, Roman Catholics, Wesleyan, Shakers, Deists,
Atheists, and men of every denomination congregated
there, shouting out their opinions and various beliefs one
against the other. Persons occupying houses overlooking
or in the immediate neighbourhood of this spot, complained
that they could not use the upper part of their houses, and
the whole thing had become an unbearable nuisance, not
only from this fact but another of equal importance--
the frequency of robberies from the person at such times.
In answer to Mr. Ellison, the inspector said that the
preachers stood close to the pavement, on the waste
ground, which kept them without the reach of the law
of obstruction, but the crowd which gathered round them
stood upon the pavement. The magistrate was handed a
numerously signed memorial, praying for an abatement of
the " intolerable nuisance." Mr. Arthur Helsham, a medi-
cal practitioner residing at 33, Milo-end-road, entered
In detail into the nuisance complained of, and said that
the crowd gathered round his door on a Sunday night,
rendering ingress and egress very difficult. Moreover, he
was unable to• use the front rooms of the upror portion of
his house in consequence of the shouting of the itinc-
rant preachers. Witness did object to street preach-
ing if it was a nuisance to the inhabitants. It
was a nuisance to him. Was aware that thOpresent Arch-
bishop of Canterbury was a street preacher, but he should
object to his preaching if he occasioned a nbisaaco to tho
inhabitants. Many cf the bishops were also street
preachers, but they, as well as the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, held their views upon theological subjects; so did he
(the witness).-llft. John Symons said that on one occasion his
niece left his house to pest a letter, fcr which purpose she
had to pass through the crowd, and in a faw minutes
returned minus her purse. The witness added that he
did not object so much to the prisoner as to Atheists
who preached. Ho objected most to a man named
Heiken. The magistrate, remarking that Hebbon was not
before the court, said he would certainly be fined if he did
come. In defence, Mr. Baxter commented upon the man-
ner in which this case had been brought forward Ly the
police. In the roughest and rudest manner these proceed-
ings had boon taken. All might have been saved if the
constable had but pointed out to the defendant that
by walking on the pavement in a procession he created
an obstruction. They would then have gone into the road.
He (Mr. Baxter) was sure that the magistrate would not
lend the weight of his authority to put down street
preaching which did so much good. Mon and women who
would not go into a church were garnered by this street
preaching, banded together in a crowd, and, led by .psalm-
singing, were taken to a theatr:l or public-hall, there to
hear more preaching. Ti,"is work, which had continued
for the last five years. on this ground, was now sought to
be put down. Tr. Ellison said that there was no occasion.
for Mr. Baer to call witnesses. The matter could well
stop this point, the defendant clearly understrnding that
le was not to obstruct the footpath or carriage-way. In the
present existing state of things he (Mr. Ellison) was of
opinion that street-preaching was desirable, but it must not
be a nuisance. The summons could be withdrawn.

The South London Press states that Mr. Spurgeon
is rather seriously unwell.

A. LAMENTABLE FACT.—On Friday morning the
workmen employed at the powder mills of Messrs. Curtis
and Harvey, at Hounslow, were examined as they came
on the premises, and no fewer than fifty-eight of them
Were suspended for having pipes and lucifers in their pos-
session.

It is worthy of remark that the calendar of crime
for the northern circuits this autumn is an uncommonly
light one. There is only one case connected with Perth-
shire, that of an old thief, who has been sent into penal
servitude. Aberdeen does not furnish even one ease.
Morayshire has one case, and Inverness-shire has two; and
Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness are without any
crime. Though neither tho town nor county of
Aberdeen has any case, however, there will be two
tried there—one from Banffshire, and cue from Kincar-
dineshire.

I" HODSON'S CHorcE."—ln Lord Eldon's "Anecdote
Book" occurs the following ludicrous case :—"I was at the
assizes'for Cumberland in seven successive years before I
had a brief. It happened that my old friend, Mr. Lee,
' commonly called Jack Leo, was absent in the criminal
court when a cause was called on in the civil court; and
some attorney, being by that absence deprived of his
retained counsel, was obliged to procure another, and he
gave me a guinea, with a scrap of paper as a brief, to
defend an old woman in an action for assault brought
against her by another old woman. The plaintiff had been
reposing in an arm-chair, when some words arising between
her and my client, the latter took hold of the legs
of the chair, and in fact threw the plaintiff head and
heels over the top of the chair. This sort of assault of
course admitted of easy proof, and a maid-servant of the
plaintiff's proved the case. I then offered in court that a
chair should be brought in, and that my old female client
•hould place herself in it, and that the lady (the plaintiff)
should overset the chair and my old woman, as she had
'seen upset herself. Upon the plaintiff's attorney refusing
'his compromise, the witness (the maid-servant) said that
I her mistress (the plaintiff) was always willing to make up
Ithe matter, but that her attorney would never allow
her to do so; and that her 1111131*C33 thouzht that she must
do as her attorney bid her do, and hail no will of her
own. 'So then,' observed Ito the jury, knowing that her
attorney's name was Hobson, 'this good lady has had
nothing for it but Hobson's choice. And pray then, gen-
tlemen,' I added, 'as the good woman wants no damages,
and the cause is Hobson's, give him but a penny at most, if
you please.'
This penny the jury gave. When I record
that in the same assizes I received seventy guineas for this
joke, for briefs came in rapidly, I record a fact, which
proves that a lawyer may begin to acquire wealth by a
little pleasantry, who may weight long before professional
i214241.19ed bid iut9 49tin Mid business.",