The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-26 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—Nov. 25.

MANSION-HOUSE.--Sohn Sullivan, aged 23,
who has been in custody on a previous occasion
and committed to prison for theft, was brought be-
fore Sir It. W. Carden charged with stealing a
coat, of the value of £3, from the shop of Mr.
I.7ttley, a tailor, in Bow-lane.

S. C. Knight, constable 437, said that on the pre-
vious evening he saw the prisoner and another
man, not in custody, looking into different ware-
houses in Milk-street. Suspecting them from their
movements to be thieves he followed them through
several streets, and eventually noticed the prisoner
enter the shop of the prosecutor and leave it with
something under his coat. Witness thereupon
seized him, and found the prosecutor's coat, now
produced, concealed under his own coat.
The prosecutor identified the coat, which he said
was worth £3, as his property. He saw it safe in
his shop, the door of which was closed, a short
time previous to the.officer taking the prisoner iitto
custody.
The gaoler said that the prisoner was in custody
at this court about a twelvemonth ago, on a charge
of stealing fish, when he was sentenced to six weeks'
imprisonment with hard labour.
Prisoner—Yes ; that is quite right. I have only
been in prison once before this.

Knight—He has refused to give me any address.
Sir R. W. Carden—Where do you live ?
Prisoner—l don't live anywhere.
Sir R. W. Carden—Where do you sleep ?
Prisoner—l don't sleep in any house. I lie in the
streets, or in any hole and corner I chance to find.
I am guilty of stealing the coat.
Sir R. W. Carden—As you plead guilty to the
offence you will be remanded till to-morrow, and
brought up in petty sessions, and in the meantime
the police will make every inquiry respecting you.
Remanded accordingly.
Thoma 3 Tracey and John Cotter, the former a
labourer the latter a cobbler, were charged with
stealing a piece of bacon, value ls., from the shop
window of Mr. S. Murley, cheesemonger, of 109,
Bishopsgate-street Without.
H. Hawsbees, the prosecutor's shopman, said,
that on the previous evening he saw the prisoners,
whom he had lately noticed loitering:about the
shop window a good- deal, looking at some pieces
of cheese, when one of them stole the bacon pro-
duced, and handed it to the other. He then seized
them and gave them into custody.
The gaoler said that Tracey had been committed
from this court to Holloway Gaol for 21 days for
assault a few weeks ago.
The officer said that he found 6s. ld. upon Cotter.

Sir R. W. Carden—Where did you get the 6s. ld.
from?

Cotter—lt is the result of my hard earnings. I
am a cobbler by trade.
Sir IL W. Carclen--No doubt that is tha rcsult"of
some other robbery. I shall commit you both to
prison for a month, with hard labour, and the 6s.
ld. will go towards your maintenance during your
confinement.

BOW-.STREET.--A good-looking young woman,
named Elizabeth Burgess, was brought up on re-
mand, charged with attempting to commit suicide.
On the night of the 10th inst. a policeman (F 120)
found the prisoner sitting on a door-step in a state
of stupefaction. He took her to the hospital, where
an emetic was administered, and she vomited a
quantity of laudanum. She said she had taken
threepennyworth, and a small vial containing
another pennyworth was found upon her. She
told the constable that it was of no use trying to
save her, as she would eto it some time or other.
She had done it from distress of mind, from being
" unfortunate, and her mother would have nothing
to do with her for fear she should contaminate the
other children." On inquiry it was found that she
had been only a few days before discharged from
the Marylebone police-court, after having been re-
mandecl on a similar charge. An attempt had been
made to obtain her admission into the Institution
for Female Penitents at Pentonville, but without
success ; and on application to her mother, the
latter refused to receive her at home for the reason
above stated.

It was now stated that in the interval since her
remand on the present occasion the chaplain at the
House of Detention had interested himself on her
behalf, and it was expected that she would now be
admitted to the Penitentiary, if sent there by the
magistrate, in charge of one of the female warders
from the House of Detention now in attendance.
Mr. Hall accordingly- desired her to be handed
over to the care of the female warder and taken by
her to the institution.

THAMES.—Capt. John Webb, the master of the
ship Commodore Perry, from Calcutta, now lying
in the Victoria Dock, appeared for the second time
before Mr. Selfe to answer a charge of assaulting
Hassan Ali and other persons at sea.
Lieutenant-Colonel R. Marsh Hughes, secretary
of the Strangers' Home for Asiatic and Afri-
can Seamen, at Limehouse, attended to watch
the case on behalf of the directors of that insti-
tution; Mr. Joseph Smith, solicitor, conducted
the prosecution ; Mr. Gomm, from the office of Mr.
C. Young, solicitor, defended Capt. Webb.
The evidence of the serang (boatswain) who was
disrated on the voyage, the tindals (boatswain's
mates), and six other Asiatic seamen, which was
confirmed by a Prussian seaman named John Jacob,
made out a very aggravated case of tyranny and
cruelty against Capt. Webb and the chief mate,
who had been in the practice, almost continually
throughout the voyage from Calcutta to England,
of beating and kicking the Lascars, and offending
their religious prejudices by stuffing pork into their
mouths, forcing the forbidden meat down their
throats with a belaying-pin, beating some of them
with pork, rubbing it on their faces, compelling
them to carry pigs' entrails round their necks, and
sending them aloft to grease the masts with pork
fat. Many distinct assaults were sworn to have
been committed on the Lascars by Capt. Webb and
the chief mate. Several had been flogged with a
rope's end ; and one Lascar had been " pricked up"
•
with a bayonet to make him move about quickly.
A Lascar, while pursued by the captain, who had
a piece of pork in his hand, either fell or threw
himself overboard and was drowned, and the cap-
tain refused to allow the crew to lower a boat, and
made no attempt to save him. It was admitted,
however, by several witnesses in cross-examination
by Mr. Gomm, that Capt. Webb was in the after
part of the ship when the Lascar fell overboard, or
threw himself overboard, in the fore part of the
vessel, but all agreed that the captain refused to
allow the crew to lower a boat, and said it was of
no consequence. The chief mate had beaten a
Lascar with a belaying-pin, and left marks on his
forehead and back, which were still visible. The
Lascars had been further insulted by being com-
pelled to clean out the pigstye, and their hair was
shortened and their beards cut by order of the capt.
and chief mate. A Lascar was sent aloft to grease
the masts with pigs' fat, and the captain had a gun
in his hand at the time and made use of some
threats. The man was so frightened that he fell
from the mast on to the deck, and was killed.
Mr. Gomm said the fall of the man from the mast
was a pure accident.
Mr. Selfe said he believed it to be so, and the
occurrence was entered in the official logbook in
a very straightforward manner.
Mr. Gomm said the hair and beards of the Lascars
were shortened because they were dirty and full of
vermin, and that the Asiatics were fond of pork
and ate it.