The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-20 00:00:00

THAMES.

AUDACIOUS ROBBERY Or TALLOW BY A MASTER
CARMAN.—John Pugh, aged 32, and described as a car-
man, of Bow Common, and who is the proprietor of four
vans, as many horses, and in flourishing circumstances,
was brought before Mr. Selfe charged with stealing three
quarters of a hundred weight of new tallow, the property
of Messrs. John Knight and Sons, soap and candle manu-
facturers, of Old Gravel-lane, St. George's-in-the-East.
Mr. Charles Young, solicitor, defended the prisoner.
It appeared that the prisoner had been in the practice of
calling at Messrs. Knight's factory to load soap ashes, and
that latterly he had been suspected of pilfering tallow and
other things on his visits, and it was determined to watch
him. On Tuesday morning last, at ten o'clock, the pri-
soner came to the prosecutor's yard with a horse and cart.
He loaded the cart with soap ashes, and was seen by
a man, named George Hart, to lift a cask of
tallow, near the soap-house, and try to 'put it in the cart.
The prisoner failed in doing so, and then took up some
straw in each hand and wiped them. Hart immediately
communicated with another man named Frederick Cocke-
rell, in the employ of Messrs. Knight and Co., who fol-
lowed the prisoner, when he drove away with his horse and
cart, and upon overtaking him, said, " What have you got
in the cart," to which he replied, soap ashes. Mr. Cockerell
then examined the cask which the prisoner had been
handling. The hoops of the cask had been broken off, and
three quarters of a cwt. of tallow worth £1 17s. 6d. taken
away. Mr. Cockerell returned to the prisoner, and said to
him " What have you got in your cart besides ashes." The
prisoner said "Nothing." ,Mr. Cockerell said " Yes, you
have ; I expect you have something else besides." The
prisoner solemnly protested he had not, but he was not be-
lieved, and Mr. Cockerell said, " You must go with
me." Ho then took the prisoner before Mr. Knight, and
said to him, "This man has been robbing you." The pri-
soner insisted he had not. Mr. Cockerell said, "I must
search your cart," to which the prisoner replied in a bole
manner, "Do that, and welcome." Mr. Cockerell directed
the prisoner to bring the horse and cart into the factory
yard. The prisoner, instead of doing so, jumped upon the
cart, whipped his horse, and drove away as fast as he was
able. Mr. Cockerell ran after him, and overtook him in
Wapping-wall, a quarter of a mile from the factory. The
prisoner immediately jumped out of the tart, ran away, and
made his escape. The cart was searched, and in a bag
under tho soap ashes three-quarters of a cwt. of tallow was
discovered. It was identified as the property of Mr Knight.
The prisoner eluded the search made for him until yester-
day, when he was arrested by a policeman.
Mr. Young said his client would plead guilty, and throw
himself on the mercy of the Court. The prisoner had
hitherto maintained a good character, and was suddenly
tempted to steal the tallow within his reach.
Mr. Selfe, after hearing three witnesses as to character,
said the prisoner had committed a most serious and audaci-
ous robbery. The prisoner was well to do in the world, and be
had not the excuse of poverty, as many poor creatures had,
in extenuation of his crime. He hardly knew that he was
justified in passing less than the maximum sentence under
the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act. He should
not, however, pass over the offence lightly. He sentenced
the prisoner to be imprisoned in the House of Correction
and kept to hard labour for five calendar months. If the
prisoner had not brought several respectable persons to
speak to his previous good character he should have made
it six months.

CRIME IN FRANCE.

The Tribunal of Correctional Police at Besan-
con, in Dec. last, condemned to imprisonment for
robbery two females, who gave the names of Clau-
dine and Philiberte Jacquis, and who represented
themselves to be sisters. Subsequently the dis-
covery was made that the first woman was no
other than the notorious Catherine Minder, who
in 1858 was tried, with several other pei sons
bearing the same and other names, but all rela-
tives, for the murder and robbery of a jeweller,
named Pedlar& at Caen (crimes which excited
immense sensation), but was acquitted. On her
examination on the charge of robbery she signed
the false name of Claudine Jacquis, and was in
consequence ordered for trial before the Court of
Assizes of the department for forgery. The trial
took place the day before yesterday, and the offence
was clearly proved. A singular account was given
of the woman :—She was, it appeared, a foundling,
named Dufour, but married to one of the Minders,
who was condemned to 20 years' hard labour for par-
ticipation in the Caen murder. She had at different
times by the names of Jules, Roche, Laroche, Cer-
riere,
and Wall, as also of Dufour and Minder,
and had been condemned under each. The Minder
family, to which she belongs, is notorious in the
annals of crime ; the head of it, an old man, is
unergoing a sentence of imprisonment for life
for participating in murder, and would. be in
the bagne if it were not for his age ; three
brothers, his sons, have been condemned to death
for murder ; another son, now deceased, was re-
cently condemned ; old Minder's sister, and her
daughter and the daughter's husband, are each
undergoing sentences of hard labour, and lastly
the prisoner's husband, as already mentioned,
has been sentenced to twenty years of that
punisment. It was stated that the prisoner has
four children, two sons and two daughters, but
that some .tharitable people have had them reli-
giously educated, and placed out in respectable
callings. The jury declared the woman guilty of
the forgery, and the Court condemned her to five
years' hard labour. The other woman, who was
concerned with her in the Besancon robbery, really
bore the name Philiberte Jacquis, which she gave ;
but she had encouraged her companion to take the
name of Claudine Jacquis, and had affirmed that
that was her right name. This constituted com-
plicity in forging, and Philiberte was accordingly
tried for that offence, She was declared guilty,
and sentenced to two years' imprisonment and five
years' survei:lance of the police.
It may be remembered that some few weeks
back an account was given of a man having been
condemned to imprisonment for having swindled
extensively under the name of a well-known
dramatic author. Yesterday another case of false
assumption of a name came before the Court of
Assizes. Some months since a young man, named
Benech, proposed to enlist in the army, but when,
as is usual, he applied at the Prefecture of Police
for a certificate that he had not been condemned
for crime or grave offence, he was told that it
could not be granted, inasmuch as in 1856 he had
been sentenced to imprisonment for robbery, and
in 1860 for vagabondage. He protested that he
was not the person referred to, but it was shown
that the individual condemned not only resembled
him, but had resided at the same place. He
waited on an examining magistrate, and prayed
that an investigation might be instituted. Just
as he has leaving the office, a person who had
been arrested for vagabondage was brought in, and he
gave the name of Benech, at the same time admitting
that he had been previously condemned. The real
w Benech,ho had
residedhow eve recognised him as one Vignon,
the same lodging-house as him-
self in 1856, and with whom he had for some time
been intimate. Vignon then admitted that he had
falsely assumed the name of Benech, but why he
had done so he did not explain. In the examina-
tions which preceded his two condemnations he had
always signed the name of Benech, This consti-
tuted forgery in the eye of the law, and yesterday
he was tried for that offence. Being declared guilty,
although with extenuating circumstances, he was
condemned to five years imprisonment.

Mr. Abraham John Robarts, eldest son of the late
Mr. A. G. Robarts, has been admitted a partner in the
banking house of Itobarts, Lubbock, and co.