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

THAMES.

AUDACIOUS ROBBERY OF 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, aid
that latterly rie 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 Cooke-
sell, in the employ of Messrs. Knight and Co., who fol-
lowed the prisoner, when ho 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 ho was not be-
lieved, and Mr. Cockerell said, " You must go with
me." He 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 bolt
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 cart, ran away, and
made his escape. The cart was searched, and in a bag
under the 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 ]mew 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.