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

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 12, 1859.

POLICE

rvpr,

'E, Nov.ll.

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 out 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 Ili) 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 failing
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 aequaiuted
these facts, inquired whether there was any
additional evidence ?
The officer ;aid, 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 ?
Offic:r—No ; we only heard about it this morn-

g m.
Mr. Goodman—Well, we cannot remand prisoners
upon a new charge vithout some evidence being
offered.
Officer—Sil way refused to account for the L 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 fourpenny 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
mast 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 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
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 is 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, wl_ich had ken 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, and
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 )urt felt they would not be
justified unless they inflicted the utmost amount of
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 tad the smallpox and
was manifestly not in health, and the third by a
wretched-looking little girl, who was charged iby
the police with squatting about and sleeping at all
hours upon doorsteps; and a llof these complained
that, though admitted into Shoreditch workhouse,
they were turned ot.t with a piece of bread in the
morning with no place to go to or means of help-
ing themselves. Mr. Hammill, whose feelngs were

evidently touched by the distressing statements
then made to him, made some strong and pertinent
observations upon the treatment the applicants
wc►e 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. llowes 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 matter had come
before yourself, we should attend before you with
our explanation.
Mr. llammill—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 Shorediteh, 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-13ut, 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—l have not questioned the ehild, 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 nut. 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 ! there it is.
Mr. Howes—lt is sad, sir, but can you suggest
anything we can do under the circumstances ?
Mr. Ilarnmill—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 alcfays partieular:y careful
in such cases, sir. Casuals having been sheltered
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 Smallpox 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--

that of an elderly woman, who states that she had
been in your house, bat had left it, and, although
quite unable to work, was only allowed one shilling
and a loaf. Now, this is very clearly not relief,
under such circumstances; nominally it may be so,
but practically it is an absolute mockery.
A woman, about fifty, "here got into the witness-
box, and stated that she had worked at the army
clothing, but that she was quite incapable of work
now, having on the forefinger of her right hand a
gathering and abscesses, and that she was
now receiving only I.s. and a loaf from the work-
house. She had been previously in the house, but
she could not support herself upon the allowance
now made her.

Mr. Painter—TMs woman is ashamed to say why
she left the house; she committed a theft, ana was
discharged.

Mr. Safford, the clerk—Yes, she was charged
before Mr. D'Eyncourt with stealing stockings, and
I believe it transpired that she was induced to take
the things to wear herself instead of flannel, which
she had been accustomed to ; at any rate, she was
discharged from this court.
Mr. Howes—l must be allowed to say that a
woman like this is not the most desirable person to
have in a workhouse.
Mr. Hammill—Why, she is absolved from the
charge of robbery ; Mr. D'Eyncourt was clearly
satisfied with her account of her possession of the
things, or he would not have discharged her. She
cannot work, you hear, and it is impossible that any
one can conceive that a shilling and a loaf are suffi-
cient to keep her. As I have observed before, it is
a mere mookery. I think that this is clearly a case
for admission to the house.

Woman—The relieving-officer told me that the
house was too full, and that some more of the in-
mates must be got rid of.
Mr. Painter—The workhouse is under repair in
one of its wings, and we cannot accommodate all
that we should otherwise be enabled to do. The
woman shall be taken in, sir, when it is completed,
and meanwhile a lodging shall be procured for her.
Mr. Hammill—And something given her, I hope,
that will keep her soul and body together. I have a
thousand cases in which the shilling-and-loaf relief
is all that is ordered, and so frequently is this told to
me that I have almost surmised it is a set rule to allow
uu 111U1 e.
Fairall, the warrant officer—Here is a woman who
complains of St. Luke's. She says that she slept in
Shoreditch workhouse, and that they told her the
next day to get a lodgiug in St. Luke's, which I be-
lieve is her own parish ; and, when she applied there,
they sent her back to Shoreditch, to be passed in the
usual vi ay.
Mr. Hammill—Ay, there again is a great deal of
sufferinc, endured by these poor creatures being
bandied°about from one workhouse to another, starv-
ing, while they can scarcely crawl, and calling in at
the police-court on their way.
Ultimately this case was disposed of, and the
gentlemen left.

LAMBETH.—Among the persons who applied
for relief from the poor-box was the wife of a labourer
on the " strike," who said that in consequence of the
long duration of the turn-out and the small pittance
allowed by the society she and her family were re-
duced to the greatest possible distress.
Mr. Norton observed, that it was quite lament-
able to find such a state of things as persons allow-
ing themselves and their families to be on the brink
of starvation while they had plenty of work to go
to at remunerative wages, such as would provide a
proper maintenance. It had always been his wish
to afford every assistance to the distressed, and par-
ticularly those whose distresses were brought on
without any fault of their own, but he did not con-
ceive he should be justified in ordering assistance
from the poor-box in cases where, as in the one be-
fore him, the distress was occasioned by persons
obstinately refusing to go to work when they could
get abundance of employment, and earn the means
to support themselves and families. He should re-
commend the applicant to go home and persuade her
husband to go to work immediately, and and dialer
doing so she came to him and applied for some
assistance, he should have no objection to do what
he could for her.

The applicant said she was afraid she would not
succeed in this, as her husband was about to go on
the tramp, but she would do her best to act on his
worship's suggestion.

THE STRIKE IN THE BUILDING
TRADES.

ABANDONMENT OF THE NINE HOURS'

CLAINI.

The conference of the building trades, finding
from the feeling which pervaded the meeting of the
ielegates held at Shaftesbury-hall, on Tuesday
evenino• last, that the other trade societies were
disposed to support them in opposition to the docu-
ment or declaration as required by the employers,
but did not look with much regard upon the demand
mune ey ilium for the reduction of the time of la:
bour to nine hours a day, came yesterday, after
two days' deliberation, to the resolution to abandon
their claims in that respect, but still to hold out
against signing the document. The strike at Messrs.
Trollope's has been accordingly abandoned, and tha
men employed by those gentlemen waited on them
yesterday evening to announce their willingness to
return to work on the same terms as formerly.
They were very favourably received, but the
Messrs. Trollope declined to accept their labour
until they had consulted the Committee of Master
Builders upon the subject. Should the masters
now withdraw the document as the men have re-
tired from their demand of short time, both
the strike and the " lock out" will be at an end.
It is likely that the masters will take this course,
as the negotiations for the settlement of this dispute,
promoted by Mr. Ayrton, M.P., failed by reason of
the men refusing to abandon the strike at Messrs.
Trollope's.
-With respect to the rules of the six trades' socie-
ties, they have been printed by the Master Builders'
Association, as proof of the alleged illegality of the
laws and regulations by which these societies are
governed.
The operatives on the other hand have submitted
these rules to Mr. Edwin James, Q.C., and Mr.
Gordon Allan, for their opinion, together with the
rules of the Amalgamated Engineers, which the
Builders' Societies offered to adopt. The conduct
of the masters in combining to lock out their work-
men has also been submitted to the learned counsel,
the case for opinion having been drawn up by Mr.
W. P. Roberts, solicitor, of Manchester, and the
following is the opinion of these two learned gen-
tlemen on the case so submitted :
OPINION.
_

Ist. We have carefully perused the rules and
by-laws of the six societies which are contained in
the pamphlet circulated by the executive commit-
tee.of the Central Association of Master Builders,
and, with the exception of one rule amongst
those regulating the Metropolitan Society
of Operative Bricklayers—viz., the rule 20 (a),
headed " Members' objection to work with a
black,'" we are of opinion that the rules are
legal, and do not contravene the statute law or com-
mon law of England. We are not prepared to say
that the rule referred to is in itself positively
illegal, but as an attempt on the part of a number
of workmen to carry into execution its spirit might
lead to injurious consequences, we would recom-
mend that it should be either erased, or at least
modified.
2d. We are of opinion that the rules of the Amal-
gamated Society of Engineers, which have been
proposed to be substituted for the rules of the six
societies before referred to, are strictly legal. They
do not, in our opinion, infringe the provisions of
any Act of Parliament, nor can any danger result
from their adoption. We are confirmed in this view
by the opinion of Sir Alex. Cockburn, the Attor-
ney-General, alluded to in the case now submitted
is us, and also by the provisions of the Act passed
during the last session, which clearly indicates the
policy of the. Legislature to mitigat3 the severity of
the statutes against combination, and to protect
workmen in the exercise of their right to meet and
act in union for the purpose of fixing the rate of
wages at which, and the hours of labour they should
work, and peaceably and in a reasonable manner
persuading others to cease or abstain from work, in
order to obtain the rate of wages agreed upon, so
long as no threats or intimidation be resorted to.
3d. The law relating to conspiracy is so vague
and unsettled that we feel reluctant to offer a de-
'cided opinion on this question ; but we are inclined
to think that the conduct of the masters, in com-
bining and agreeing to lock out from their several
yards the workmen employed, and who had
taken no part in what had occurred at Messrs. Trol•
lope's factory, until the wo:kmen who had struck
there had returned to their employ, was such a
combination by the employers as amounted to a
conspiracy at common law, and might be made the
subject of an indictment.

• Evcry master has a perfect right, individually, to
discharge any or all of the workmen whom he may
have employed, as every workman has the right to
refuse to work for any particular master; but the
combination of masters to dismiss and deprive of
their labour and means of subsistence a number of
workmen, for the purpose of compelling or inducing
those workmen to effect an object which it may not
be in their power to accomplish—appears to us to
come properly within the definition given in the
cases, and to amount to a criminal offence.

EDWIN JAMES.
Temple, NON'. 10, 1859. GORDON ALLAN.
Fortified by these opinions, the Conference have
resolved that a memorial to her Majesty, which had
been previously prepared, shall now be completed;

and if the employers persist in a course which
amounts to a " criminal offence," they will ask that
her Majesty instruct the law officers of the Crown
to institute a prosecution for illegal conspiracy. It
is to be hoped, however, that the surrender by the
men of the original cause of the dispute will
vent the farther continuance of this deP:orable
contest.