The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1835,

pay the arrears of their rent, they considered it only just on
their part to surrender, as some expiation of the offence.
Yesterday Mrs. Brown, of 69, Carlisle-place, Lambeth,
attended at the office, and stated that the two young women
who sutrendered themselves into custody, under the circum-
stances above detailed, had lodged at her house since last
August. They obtained their livelihood by needlework,
which was a precarious way of subsistence, and she had,
since their departure from her house to give themselves up,
discovered that they had sold and otherwise disposed of a
great proportion of the articles with which their room was
furnished. She added that she herself was in very indigent
circumstances, and that she could ill afford to be at the loss
of the property which they had taken.
The prisoners having admitted the offence with which
they were charged,
Mr. TRAILL said that he should remand them until
Saturday, until inquiries were made.
The accused are sisters, and daughters of a seafaring
Captain named Humble, now deceased, and their mother
is living at Croxteth, near Liverpool, with their uncle, who,
they state, is steward to Earl Sefton, at Croxteth Park.
According to the account of these two unfortunate young
women, they had some misunderstanding with their family,
which was the cause of their separation, since which period
they have been residing in London, totally dependent upon
their own exertions at needle-work for support, and these
means of earning their bread having failed, they were at
length reduced to the necessity of taking the articles with
which their room was furnished to keep them from starva-
tion. Inspector Hack having been made acquainted that
a gentleman residing at Clapham is godfather to the younger
sister, transmitted a letter to him, in order to apprise him
of their situation, and to ascertuin if something cannot be
done to save them, in the event of its appearing that dis-
tress was the cause of their committinc, the offence. One
of the sisters addressed a note to the 'Magistrate, written
by herself in an excellent hand, describing, in feeling lan-
guage, their distresses as the cause of the unfortunate si-
uation in which they were both placed.

EXTENSIVE FRAUD on the REVENUE

FURTHER PARTICULARS.—Last week a most daring
attempt to run on shore a general cargo of goods, which
had been shipped for exportation, with the drawback allowed
by the Custom House and Excise Office, was detected in
the river under very extraordinary circumstances. The
French schooner Lavinia had been recently purchased by a
Yorkshireman, who was in the habit of trading between
England and France. A few days ago she began taking in
a general cargo of hops, pepper, tobacco, and brandy, osten-
sibly for exportation, and was moored right off the Custom
House. The drawback on the whole of the articles had
I been allowed, and bills of clearance were about to issue,
the destination of the Lavinia being Hamburg, when,
owing to some private information received by a coast
waiter attached to the Custom House, named Thomas
Smith, he was induced to overhaul the schooner, and ascer-
tained that a great portion of the cargo bad been removed.
The vessel was immediately laid under detention, and
marked with the broad arrow. Further inquiries were then
instituted by Smith and other Custom House officers, who
discovered that the smuggled property had been taken up
the river in barges, and on searching a warehouse at White
Hart-dock, Lambeth, near the church, they found 7,3001b5.
of hops, a bag of pepper, and 1,300 pounds of leaf to-
bacco which had formed part of the Lavinia's cargo. The
revenue officers also discovered an empty brandy cask, con-
taining bladders in which the liquor had been removed in
small quantities. The tobacco had been deposited in hop
bags which had been previously emptied of their contents on
board. On rummaging the schooner another brandy cask
was found to be filled with water, and near it two empty
skins were picked up. Thirty stone bottles, each filled with
brandy, and adapted for concealment about the person, were
found secreted in various parts of the vessel, and in a keg
were ten gallons more. The shipment of goods previous
to the discovery consisted of forty-two pockets of hops, ten
bags of pepper, two hogsheads of tobacco, and two pun-
cheons of brandy. The whole of the brandy, excepting,
the small quantity remaining on board, and the draw-
back on which amounted to 2001. had been smuggled
ashore, besides one hogshead of tobacco (exclusive of
that fund in the warehouse), a bag of pepper, which
was recovered, and ten pockets of hopi. Nine bags of
pepper still remained in the ship after the seizure. The
captain, mate, and crew absconded immediately after the
discovery of the illegal transaction, and have not since been
heard of. Yesterday morning the remaining part of the
cargo was re-landed, and with the property seized at Lam-
beth lodged in the King's warehouse. The ship which has
become confiscated, and with the sails and rigging is worth
upwards of 7001., was towed down to the " condemned
hole" at Rotherhithe. The cargo was the sole property of
the Captain, and it is believed that he was connected with
various other parties on shore, in carrying on the illegal
traffic. It was owing to a quarrel with some of the per-
sons' concerned in the transaction, that the affair was brought
to light. NVhat renders this transaction more extraordi-
nary is, that revenue officers were on board white the pro-
perty was being removed, and great tact must have been
displayed in unshipping the goods without their knowledge.
On Saturday morning, after the ship had been seized, a
lighted candle was discovered below, placed in such a posi-
tion that, in a few minutes more, the schooner would have
been on fire. Suspicion rests on a man who was seen about
the vessel, and whose person is well known.
,ed