The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-17 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—(Ndv. 16.)

BOW-STREET.—Henry Brown, or Broughton,
a relative of the notorious family of the Donovans,
who have so often been brought to this court for
violent assaults, was charged with stabbing Mr.
Simpson, a traveller, with intent to do grievous
bodily harm.
In order to provide for the contingency of lock-
jaw setting m, and giving a graver aspect to the
case, the prosecutors depositions were fully taken
down and signed.
The prisoner was then remanded for further exa-
mination. _ _ _

Mary Alone Poole, a woman of bad character,
was charged with stealing a gold chain worth £8
fron Mr. Thomas Dunn, of Manchester.
A cabman named Scully said he was with his cab
on the Bridge-street rank about 4 o'clock that
morning, and was hailed by the prosecutor, who
was accompanied by the prisoner and another
woman, now in court. They all got into the cab,
but, observing that prosecutor was not sober, that
his dress was in disorder, and that his watch chain
was hanging loose from his pocket, witness " did
not like the look of it." Prisoner told him to drive
to Princes-street, Drury-lane, but he replied "
do nothing of the sort." She then ordered him to
drive to the nearest public-house, which also he re-
fused to do, adding, as he observed the prosecutor's
chain in her hand, " I will not allow any robbing
in my cab." She assured him it was " all right,"
but he expressed his conviction that it was all
wrong, and declared she should not leave the cab
till a policeman could be found. Prosecutor
asked her to give him back his chain, but,
though he offered to /five her £5 for it, she
denied that she had it. The other woman
said, "I saw you take it off his neck." Shortly
after a constable (Steadman, 156 F), came up and
took her in charge. She still denied it, but the
constable felt it in her bosom,
and made her pro-
duce it. She then said the prosecutor gave it to
her.

The cabman's statement wati, confirmed by Mr.
Dunn, the prosecutor ; by Elizabeth Wilkins, the
woman who was with the prisoner in the cab ; and
by the constable Steadman.
She was committed for trial.

MARLBOROUGFISTREET.--Mr. Beatlon
Bave judgment in a case arising under the new
uilding Act which excited great interest, as it
affected a large amount of house property in the
metropolis.
The outline of the case is this t—The back-yard
of a house in Charles-street, Middlesex Hospital,
was roofed over with a skylight as high as the first
floor. This was held to be an infringement of that
clause of the Building Act which enacts that dwel-
ling-houses shall have a certain space open behind,
in order to furnish a due supply of air and ventila-
tion to the house.

Mr. Jennings, the district surveyor of Maryle-
bone, attended to support the summons.
Mr. Beadon—This case is before me as to the
construction of the 29th section of the 18th and
19th Victoria, chap. 122—the Building Act—and
certainly is a question of great importance, as stated
by the district surveyor, Mr. Jennings, inasmuch
as my decision will affect a very large amount of
property in Charles-street and that neighbourhood,
where most of the houses are being converted into
warehouses or shops on the whole of the ground
floors, while the upper parts are used as dwelling-
houses, and the real question to be decided is whe-
ther the words " dwelling-house" in that section
must necessarily comprise the whole of this build-
ing. The house is entirely lighted from Charles-
street on the front, and from the first story up-
wards well lighted at the back. The ground
floor in front is a shop for pianos exposed for sale,
communicating with a small room, which originally
-was about two-thirds of this court, bounded by high
external walls, but having a small area tothe east-
ern side. That area has been recently covered in,
the small room and small area being converted into
one warehouse-room, amply lighted by a large sky-
light, and I am to decide whether this is to be con-
sidered part of the " dwelling-house" so as to oblige
Mr. Hills to leave an open space in the rear or side
of this warehouse equal to 100 square feet, for the
purpose of ventilation and air. Now, I apprehend
that this section of the Act was intended to apply
to " dwelling-houses" where the ixner rooms were
lighted by a false light from the front rooms, were
used as bedrooms, and could by no means get light
and ventilation in any other way, except they were
forced to leave an area from which such external
light and ventilation might be obtained—and I
cannot help observing that there seems to be no
power in the Act to enforce ventilation from the
area when left—though no one would pro-
bably neglect it. as it would increase the value and
comfort of the house; but in this case there would
be no necessity for such ventilation, as the sky-
light would be ample for all such purposes, and
the area left might be a useless cud de sac, and
the receptacle of xothing but dirt. Now, it is
admitted that this new room is not, nor is it in-
tended to be, used as a dwelling-room, and though
the words of the section refer to every room, I do
not think that 1 shall be straining the fair and
liberal construction of a very stringent act by de-
ciding that the words mean every room in-the.
dwelling-house, and that this new room is and is
intended to be a warehouse, and forms no part of
the dwelling-house. The summons will therefore
be dismissed.

Mr. Tarring, architect, who attended for the de-
fer.dant, said that he considered the public at large
were greatly indebted to the magistrate for the
pains he had taken to understand the act.
Mr. Beadon said he considered it was his duty to
spare no pains ; he even made a personal inspection
of the premises to arrive at what he considered to
be the fair and proper construction of the act.

MARYLEBONE.—John Culpeck, a plasterer,
residing at 46, Salisbury-street, Portman-market,
was brought up on remand charged with having
stabbed with a knife Amelia, his wife ; and also
with attempting to terminate his own existence
with the same weapon.
The particulars of what previously transpired
have already appeared.
The weapon alluded to was produced, it is about
four inches long, and has a sharp point.
The additional evidence now given was that of
Mr. Lawrence, one of the house-surgeons at the
hospital, who stated that on examining; the woman
he ascertained that there was a wound in her nee}
21 inches in depth, and he considered at the time
that it was of a dangerous nature. The weapon
had entered near to the carotid artery, and had it
penetrated it death might have resulted.
The evidence was read-over, and the prisoner
was committed for trial for stabbing with intent
to murder.

Geo. Pearce, a cabman, and Wm. Brooks were
charged—the former with robbing a lady named
Baron of a muff, a brooch, and a purse containing
£1 7s. 6d., and the other with being concerned in
the said robbery.
The evidence, which was very voluminous, went
to show that on Saturday night last, between ten
and eleven o'clock, the prosecutriz got into a cab
at the house of a relative, 83, East-street, and
desired Pearce, the driver, to take her to 12, Judd-
street,• -where her husband, from whom she had
within the last few days separated, lived. He con-
veyed her thither, and was detained about ten
minutes, when she directed him to drive her back
to East-street. She was not well acquainted with
the locality; and after being driven about in various
directions for some time, Pearce pulled up and
handed her out of his vehicle. While doing so he
made a snatch at her gold watch without gaining