The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-08 00:00:00

CRIMINA:

This Day.

OLD COURT.
(Before the Recorder.)
ROBBING A PUBLICAN.

Thomes Jones was indicted for stealing £2105., the pro-
perty of Mr. John Sadler.
The prosecutor kept the Burridge Arms publichouse,
Plumstead, and on the day of the robbery the prisoner
ontered the bar and called for some refreshment. While
the back of the parson who served him was turned, he
reached over the bar and abstracted two sovereigns by
means of a stick ho had in his hand, at the end of which
there was a quantity of bird-lime. The money was after-
wards found in the prisoner's mouth.
The jury found him guilty, and the Recorder sentenced
him to two years' imprisonment with hard labour.

NEW COURT.
FORGERY BY A CLERX.

Henry Alfred Parker, who pleaded guilty last session to
a charge of forgery and uttering two cheques for £650,
was this morning brought up for sentence.
The prisoner was a clerk to Messrs. Black and Co., of
Covent-garden, and in that capacity he was regarded as a
person of the utmost integrity. It appeared that he had
become mixed up with betting men, and it is supposed he
became involved, and that to relieve himself of
his liability he stole a cheque book belonging to
his employers, and filled up two of the
cheques for a sum amounting to £650. He presented
the cheques at the London and Westminster Bank, and
the forgery being a close imitation of the signature of the
firm, he obtained the money, and then absconded to Aus-
tralia. The prisoner being well known at the bank, it was
soon discovered who had presented the forged cheques,
and an application was made to the Home-office, which re-
sulted in Sergeant Nicholson being sent to Australia, where
he captured the prisoner and brought him back to Lon-
don. Sentence was postponed last session in order to give
the prisoner an opportunity of giving information as to
the manner in which he had disposed of the money, but
beyond stating that he had paid £l5O to a betting man,
which that person denied receiving, no information had
been given. When the prisoner was captured in Australia
he had in his possession about £55 in money and a quantity
of clothes worth about £7O, and this was all that had been
recovered, there being a sum of over £2OO still out in
bank notes, two of which were for £5O and five for £2O.

„- • -
,The Common Sergeant, on sentencing the prisoner, said
he had pleaded guilty to an offence which was of a very
serious nature, viz., forgi.ig and uttering cheques to a con-
siderable amount in order to gratify his taste for betting
of. horse-racing. It was not on account of insufficiency
os salary that the fraud had been committed, but solely it
was supposed to gratify a taste for gambling. There was
no palliation at all for such an offence, and under all the
circumstances of the case he felt it his duty to sentence
him to five years penal servitude.

ROBBERY BY A BUTLER.
James Andrews was indicted for feloniously forging and
uttering eight receipts for the payment of money with in-
tent to defraud, and also for stealing a quantity of plato,
the property of his mistress, an aged lady named Black-
burn.

The prisoner had been for a number of years in the ser-
vice of Mrs. Blackburn, and was looked upon as a confi-
dential servant. He had charge of the plate, and in con-
sequence of certain irregularities he was called upon to
produce the whole of the silver, when ho was unable to do
so, and ultimately admitted he had pawned a quantity of
it, and produced the tickets.

The learned counsel who defended the prisoner submit-
ted that the prisoner was bailee of the plate, and therefore
there had been no stealing, as it had been recovered.
The Common Sergeant overruled the point; it might as
well be urged that a chambermaid was bailie° of the sheets.
The jury found the prisoner guilty.
Mr.Metcalf said there were other cases against the prisoner,
but it was not intended to press them. A large quantity
of wine had been abstracted from the bottles in the cellar,
which had been replaced by water. The prisoner had £4O
besides perquisites, and had been well taken care of by his
aged mistress in her will, all benefit of which he would
now lose.

The Common Sergeant said it was a very bad case, and
taking into consideration the disgraceful position he had
placed himself in, and the loss he would sustain by the
alterecP arrangements of his late mistress, lie should pass
upon him a comparatively light sentence. He wished to
know whether ho was a married man.

The counsel for the prisoner said he was, but that his
wife had been an invalid for many years, and this had
occasioned his becoming involved.

Sergeant Cole, of the Metropolitan police, said ho had
known the prisoner for a long time, and instead of his
treating her in a proper manner ho allowod her only ss. a
week for herself and children. The prisoner was a
thorough drunkard.

The Common Sergeant sentenced him to 18 months'
imprisonment with hard labour.

Representation of the People Bill.

The following amendments and clauses are to be
proposed in committee :
MR. WENTWOIITII BEAUMWIT.

Tn clause 3, line 29,- to insert 46 4 returning
officer' shall include the sheriff of any county, and
shall apply to every person having the execution of
any writ for the election of a member or members
to serve in Parliament for any county or borough."
To move the following clauses :