The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-12 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE, Nov. 11.

MANSION-HOUSE.—G. Mason and William
Silway were charged, on remand, with stealing two
£lO Bank of England notes, a quantity of four-
penny and. threepenny pieces, some tobacco, and
some cigars, from the Queen's Head public-house,
Upper Thames-street, and burglariously breaking
out of the said house.

When originally charged it was deposed
against them that they had beed in and put of
the Queen's Head till just before its being
closed at night; that about two hours after
a policeman found the door standing open, with
every indication of its having been unfastened from
the inside, while a search about the place led to the
discovery that two £lO notes had been taken from
a pocket-book in a coat which had been left hang-
ing in the bar parlour, and other articles above
enumerated from the bar itself. Suspicion falling
on the prisoners, they were apprehended, and some
foot-marks imprinted upon sawdust on the floor of
the cellar, where the thief or thieves had evidently
secreted themselves before the house was closed,
were found to correspond exactly with Silway's
boots, which were of a somewhat peculiar construc-
tion about the sole. The notes were not found or
traced, but some tobacco found upon the prisoner
resembled the prosecutor's stock, and a threepenny
piece found on Silway, being part of a sum of £3
18s. 9d. stolen from his pockets, the prosecutor was
strongly inclined to swear to as being his property;
but there was nothing in the shape of positive proof
actually to connect either prisoner with the robbery.
The Lord Mayor, after being made acquainted
with these facts, inquired whether there was any
additional evidence ?

The officer said, none at all with regard to the
present case, but if the prisoners were remanded
for a week he thought he could prove another case
against them.
Mr. Goodman (Chief Clerk)—Have you any evi-
dence upon that case now ?
Officzr—No ; we only heard about it this morn-
ing.
Mr. Goodman—Well, we cannot remand prisoners
upon a new charge without some evidence being
offered.

Officer—Silway refused to account for the £3 18s.
found upon him, and it is a very large sum for him
to have unless it was the produce of the notes.
Mr. Goodman—However that may be, you cannot
compel him to account for the money being in his
possession unless he pleases. You have not traced
the notes.
Prosecutor—l feel quite sure about that three-
penny piece with a hole in it.
,The Lord Mayor—lt is a common thing for three-
penny and foarpenny pieces to have holes in them.
I must have stronger evidence before I send them
to a jury. The case is one of very great suspicion,
but the proof is altogether deficient ; therefore they
must be discharged, and, with regard to the new
case you alluded to, officer, if you get any evidence
you can apprehend them again.
The prisoners were then discharged. •
William Ward, a tall, well-dressed, gentlemanly-
looking man, whose deportment and appearance
generally were well calculated to disarm suspicion,
was brought up for further examination on a charge
of having stolen a coat, value £2, from the luncheon
rooms at the Commercial Sale Rooms, Mincing-
lane. Hanging about the place in the middle of
the day in a desultory way, he at length fixed him-
self near a chair on which a coat was hanging, and
ordered a steak, but before his order could be exe-
cuted he walked off with the coat, after placing it
on his arm under his own, but being observed, he
was followed and given into custody. There were
grave suspicions that he had dishonestly come by
several other articles which were found at his lodg•
ing, and he was remanded for inquiry. His defence,
through his solicitor, Mr. Wontner, was that he
was shortsighted, and had taken up the coat by mis-
take with his own.
There was no other evidence against him now,
but it was stated that he had been previously con-
victed; and the prisoner then, by the advice of Mr.
Wontner, pleaded guilty, in order that he might
be summarily dealt with. •
Police-constable 33 A deposed that he was on
duty at the House of Commons in April, 1858, and
had the prisoner (whom he had previously sus-
pected) in custody for stealing a coat and an um-
brella from the lobby there, and on searching him
found in his pockets nine pairs of gloves and three
cigar cases. The prisoner, on being taken to the
Westminster Police-court, pleaded guilty, and was
sentenced to four months' imprisonment. At that
time he gave the name of Robert Thompson, but
witness had previously known him by the name of
Robertson.
Henry Carpenter, inspector at the London-bridge
Railway-station, deposed that he had twice seen the
prisoner in the refreshment-rooms there, and kept his
eye upon him ; but that, having been called away
for a few minutes on each occasion, he found the
prisoner gone, and a coat, which had been hanging
there previously, gone too.
The Lord 'Mayor (with whom sat Mr. Alderman
Abbiss) told the prisoner his conduct was atrocious,
since he appeared to make robbery a system,gand
to live upon other people's coats and umbrellas.
In the present instance want, at all events, could
not be pleaded in extenuation, for when he was
taken into custody a sum exceeding £l4 was found
in his pocket. The C curt felt they would not be

justified unless they inflicted the utmost amount a
punishment in their power, and therefore he must
be imprisoned, with hard labour, for six months.

WORSHIP-STREET.—Yesterday week three
separate complaints were made to Mr. Hammill,
one by a young woman whose father was a Dane
or Swede and her mother a Piedmontese, her father
having been drowned at sea, the second by a young
woman who had recently had the smallpox and
was manifestly not in health, and the third by a
wretched-looking little girl, who was charged by
the police with squatting about and sleeping at all
hours upon doorsteps; and a I lof these complained
that, though admitted into Shoreditch workhouse,
they were turned out with a piece of bread in the
morning with no place to go to or means of help-
ing themselves. Mr. Hammill, whose feelings were
evidently touched by the distressing statements
then made to him, made some strong and pertinent
observations upon the treatment the applicants
weke alleged to have received, and yesterday Mr.
Howes, chairman of the Board of Guardians, ac-
companied by several other gentlemen of the board
and Mr. Painter, the master of the workhouse, at-
tended to offer an explanation and justification.
Mr. Howes said—l have no complaint whatever
to make, sir, with respect to the report of the cases
on which we are here, but am extremely desirous
to explain the circumstances attached to them. As
soon as the facts came to my knowledge I and others
of the board attended here, but your colleague, Mr.
D'Eyncourt, suggested, that as the mat ter had come
before yourself, we should attend before you with
our explanation.
Mr. Hammill—Yes, one of these complainants
was a young child, whose face as she stood at the
bar, I could scarcely see, from her low stature. She
was manifestly feeble also—in fact, could scarcely
articulate, and her whole appearance was indeed.
wretched. The child has a very dfferent appear-
ance now. A constable of the G division stated
that he had seen her late at night sitting on a
doorstep in Shoreditch, shivering with cold, that
she ate voraciously when he took her to the station,
and that he had a night or two before found her
under similar circumstances in the sameneighbour-
'hood, and that upon his then taking her to the
workhouse he was asked by some person, whom he
believed to be the master, for his number.

Mr. Howes—l should state that a journal of all
such admissions is kept, and Mr. Painter would be
lax in his duty if he could not furnish an account
of every. such case. Here is the journal. (Mr.
Howes produced it.)
Mr. Hammill—But, as I well - recollect, the
officer expressed himself in such a manner as to
show he considered he had been rebuked by his
questioner.

- Mr. Howes--I have not questioned the shild, sir ;
the neighbours give the father an excellent charac-
ter as a parent.

Father- of the Child (apparently much distressed)
—I am a labourer in the docks, have lost my wife,
and my two children are left unprotected at home
during my absence. But what can Ido ? This
girl was once intrusted by me with half-a-crown,
stopped away from home for some time, and then
returned and said she had lost it, but I don't know
whether she did so or not. She took out her
younger brother several times, and kept him out all
night.
Mr. Hammill—And they have no protection
while you are away at work ? Ah I there it is.
Mr. Howes—lt is sad, sir, but can you suggest
anything we can do under the circumstances ?
Mr. Hammill—Nothing, except that the greatest
care should always be taken, when children are
brought to your house, to see that they do not leave
without being delivered into the hands of their
parents.

Mr. Howes—We are always particularly careful
in such cases, sir. Casuals having been she:tt red
and relieved, in the morning, as a matter of course,
go on their way. The two other girls—she who
had the smallpox and the foreigner—were casuals,
and so was this child. The former, whose name is
Sarah Nokes, has cost us altogether as a casual up-
wards of £3. We sent her to the Smallpo* Hos-
pital in our own covered carriage, and on her re-
covering she was received as a casual again. Really,
if we tried to effect more than we accomplish we
should require a house as large as the parish itself.
Mr. Hammill—Now, Mr. Chairman, I have had
another complaint made against your workhouse—.