The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-15 00:00:00

UNION-HALL.

Yesterday the boy Mason, in the employ of Messrs.
Wilson, the hatters, of Holland-street, Blackfriars-road,
was brought up for re-examination, charged with breaking
open a letter containing .501., belonging to his employers,
and a man named Peterson, connected with flat exhibition
at the Rotunda, and two other young lads, were charged
with receiving a portion of the money, knowing it to have
been stolen.

The boy Mason, on the preceding day, in accounting for
the quick manner in which he got rid of the whole of the
501., which he had abstracted from the letter, stated that he
had given 251. to the prisoner Peterson, at the Rotunda, for
merely attending there to witness the performance. Yester-
day, however, he gave a different version of the affair, and
when examined on this point by Mr. Trail the boy said
that he did not give the whole of the 251. into the hands of
Peterson, but only a portion of that sum, giving the remain-
der of it between the actors who had performed at the Ro-
tunda. When questioned closely as to the exact sum he
had given to Peterson, the reply was that he had given him
a 101. note, and when asked why he gave a different
statement on this occasion to that on the preceding day,
his answer was that his being taken into custody was the
subject of conversation at the gaol, and amongst his fellow-
prisoners were some of those to whom he, had given a share
of the 501., and they brought to his remembrance that he
had distributed the 25/. amongst the actors, and not given
the whole of it to one person. It was manifest that the
boy was now equivocating, and that he had been tampered
with by some of the parties, but he adhered to his second
account of the transaction.

Deller, the officer, went to take Peterson into custody
on the preceding night, and although he was at home at
the time, yet he was denied, and tried to conceal himself
in a neighbour's yard. When first asked by the officer
whether he did not know something about a 101. note
given to him by a boy in custody, he assumed to be igno-
rant of the matter, but when he found the officer was
about to take him into custody, he then said, addressing
Deller, " tell you all about the money, and I know you
will not mention it to the Magistrate." The officer, how-
ever, cautioned him not to say anything on the subject,
adding, that whatever he should say would be communi-
cated at the office as soon as he was brought before the
Magistrate.
Mr. TRAILL said that the officer was bound to have heard
the prisoner make any voluntary statement if he liked ; but
that he was not to have extorted any confession from him.
The Magistrate then said that he supposed what the officer
said completely closed the mouth of the prisoner afterwards.
The officer replied in the affirmative.
The prisoner Peterson also preserved a similar degree of
silence on the present occasion ; Mr. Warner, his profes-
sional adviser, contending that the statement of the thief
himself could not be received in evidence against Peterson.
The two other lads in custody admitted having received
from Mason, the one 3/. and the other 21. One of them
expended the whole in buying a suit of clothes, and the
other had the money still in his possession. The boy Mason
was committed for stealing the 50/. ; Peterson was re-
manded, and the other two boys were discharged.