The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-07 00:00:00

THAMES.

ROBBING A SAILOR.—Sarab. Hall and Mary Ann
Wilson, 4/ia,f Yorkshire Poll, a soubriquet by which the
last-named prisoner is well known, were brought before
Mr. Yardley, charged with stealing a purse containing £2l
in gold from the person of a seaman named Platt, who has
lately made a long voyage., and squandered about £BO of
his hard earnings.

It appeared, from the evidence, that on Monday last the
sailor was strolling through Shadwell on a cruise, and was
"brought to" by the prisoners, who asked him to treat
them. He complied with their request, and afterwards ac-
companied them to a house in Elbow-lane, Shadwell, where
more drink was obtained at the sailor's expense. He was
next invited to accompany the women to that well-known
and most iniquitous place called Angel Gardens, in
Shadwell, and upon entering a room he gave ono of the
women 2s. to purchase half a pint of brandy. He took the
silver from his purse, containing gold, and saw the prisoners
looking at his money with an evil eye. He began to sus-
pect them, and instead of returning his purse to his left
hand trousers pocket, from which he had taken it, he
put it in his right hand trousers pocket, and buttoned
his pocket. He lounged for a short time on a bed,
and both prisoners began pulling him about. The " pull-
ing about" continued for some time, and Hall suddenly
left the room. He then missed his purse and money, and
mentioned his loss to Wilson, who said, " I will go after
her and bring her back." Wilson left the room, and did
not return. The prosecutor went down stairs and saw two
men and a woman, who pretended to be very much con-
cerned at the sailor's loss. The sailor communicated
with the police and Sergeant Stimpson, No. 21 K, a very
intelligent officer, ultimately traced the prisoners, and re-
covered £9 10s. of the money.
Joseph Rayment, barman at the Albion public-house in
High-street, Shadwell, said that Yorkshire Poll came
into the house with a man on Monday night. She had a
handful of gold in her possession, and she left £l2 with him.
The man in the prisoner's company called upon him half an
hour afterwards, and said he was not to give the money
back to Yorkshire Poll, except in his presence. The money
was subsequently returned to the woman in the man's
presence.

George 'Vass, barman at the White Swan Tavern and
Assembly-rooms, High-street, Shadwell, said that York-
shire Poll left £9 10s., in gold, in his care on Tuesday night.
The other prisoner was present at the time.

Mr. G. Matthews, landlord of the White Swan, said that
directly he heard of the robbery he spoke to Sergeant
Stimpson, and handed him the money.
Mr. Yardley said that Mr. Matthews had acted most
properly, and was relieved of all responsibility as regarded
the money, which must remain for the present in the care
of the police-sergeant. He asked Stimpson if there was
any probability of the remainder of the sailor's money being
recovered.

Stimpson—Not the least chance of recovering a farthing,
sir. Sovereigns and half sovereigns in profusion have been
changed in the houses of public entertainment in Shadwell
and Rateliff during the last three days, and the prisoners
and others have been drinking to excess. Neither of the
prisoners have been sober since the robbery, and were drunk
when I took them into custody.

Mr. Yardley committed the prisoners for trial.

ABUSES AT ELECTIONS BEFORE THE
REFORM ACT.

Before the passing of the Reform Bill an election
was a very different affair to what it is now. In
the first place, party spirit ran to a height which
the better sense of the present day would not tole-
rate and can scarcely realise. In many towns a
Whig wold not sit down to the same table with a
Tory, and their respective wives and families would
not show common civility to each other when they
were thrown in contact, merely because they hap-
pened to differ in politics ! Many large counties,
such as Cheshire, Lancashire, Surrey, and Corn-
wall, which now return four members to Parliament
sent but two ; whilst towns of considerable com-
mercial importance, such as Manchester, Halifax,
and Birmingham were not represented at all. On the
other hand, numbers of petty places—belonging to
some nobleman or rich country gentleman—
of no political or commercial importance
whatever, and containing not more than a score
or so of voters, and often less, returned their
one or two members to Parliament. These were
called rotten boroughs, and those who owned and
supported them boroughmongers. The party in
opposition to these were reformers. The proprietor
of a rotten borough returned whom he pleased—
himself, or his son, or nephew, or if these were not
of sufficient age, some obliging friend who would
continue its member until they attained years of
discretion, when he would retire in their favour.
In counties where some great landowner was su-
preme, or a combination of landowners holding the
same politics prevailed, the same thing was done.
But in others, where the interests were divided, the
fiercest contests took place. The voting began at
nine o'clock in the morning, and continued till four
o'clock in the afternoon, and went on day after day
provided that a vote were recorded every hour,
until the whole of the electors had polled. Thus in
a constituency o several thousands contests were
kept up for months, the question being not who was
the best men to send to Parliament, but which side
would spend the most money. The most whole-
sale bribery went on openly, or was administered
under the flimsy pretext of giving employment to
electors as agents, messengers, banner-bearers, and
the like, at wages out of all proportion to their
labours. The electors who had voted were enter-
tained, with a view to securing their suffrages on
some future occasion ; those who had not, were
lodged and feasted, in order that the other side
might not obtain their votes. The more protracted
the struggle the more money would be spent by
both parties, and the better would it be for the
electors. Bands of prize-fighters and other
ruffians were hired by rival candidates, to up-
hold their cause. Drunkenness and every species
of debauchery reigned paramount. Electors were
kidnapped by the opposing party for fear they
should vote, or locked up by their friends for fear
they should be kidnapped. Hundreds and thou-
sands of pounds were spent in carrying out these
disgraceful tactics ; and the resources of many a
noble family were sadly crippled by the enormous
outlay required. It is reported that the costs of a
celebrated contested election in Leicestershire re-
sulted in the permanent charge of £15,000 a year
upon the estate of the successful candidate !—" How
we are Governed," by Albany Fonblanque.

THIS DAYS MARKETS.

CORN EXCHANGE.

IMPERIAL WEEKLY AVERAGES.—Wheat, 43s 2d ;
barley, 36s 6d ; oats, 24s 10d ; rye, 33s ld; beans, 45s 8d ;
and peas, 44s Od.
THE SIX WEEKS' AVERAGES.—Wheat, 44s 2d ;
barley, 35s 5d ; oats, 26s Od ; rye, 33s 9d ; beans, 46s 3d ;
peas, 44s 4d.
ENGLISH GRAIN SOLD LAST WEEK.--Wheat, 121,133;
barley, 43,767 ; oats, 12,719 ; rye, 276 ; beans, 3,749 ; peas,
902 quarters.