The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-28 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—Jan. 27.

MANSION-HOUSE. —CHARGE oF HOUSEBREAKING.
—William Coates was brought before the Lord Mayor
upon a charge of housebreaking.
Legge (440) said on Saturday morning the 17th inst.,
I went to the warehouse of Messrs. Kohler, of Maiden-
lane, Queen-street, Cheapside, iu consequence of appli-
cation from the proprietors. I searched the premises,
and found on the second floor a quantity of skins lying
about, and the loop hole of the first floor, from which a
person could get into the street, open, and on Sunday
to
fg) rtcheed
same
off
the warehouse,
doors
leadingand foundfrom the
the
street into the cellar under the warehouse, and I found
p nightadlo clka sht ald wheel; tn
that some beards leading into the warehouse had been
broken away. The aperture was large enough to admit
a man. This was secured, and a man was left in charge
till Monday morning, when, on the arrival of the clerk,
I searched the premises. I found that a desk in the office
on the ground floor had been forced open, and that the
clasp of tine keyhole of the iron safe bad been forced
down, and apparently with some instrument, but the
safe had not been opened. I found a ladder in the cellar
placed in such a position as to assist a person in getting
out a trap-door.
Knight (437) said—Last night between six and seven
o'clock, the prisoner was brought by his father to the
police station in Bow-lane, and in consequence of in-
strdctions which I received, I went to No. 97, Britannia-
street, City-road, when a young woman, who lives there,
gave to me six sample walking sticks, a comb, and a
cap. The prisoner gave up to his father, in my pre-
sence, five duplicates which relate to property stolen on
each of the occasions on which the warehouse bad been
entered. I produce a pair of boots which were taken
off the feet of the prisoner at the station-house.
Eliza Cox, Britannia-street, City-road, said the pri-
soner occasionally visited her, and on Sunday evening,
between 6 and 7 o'clock, he brought to her place the
sample sticks, and comb and cap produced, stating that
he had brought them from L .wesi oft.
The prisoner was remanded, Knight having stated
that he %mild be able to prove that the articles pro-
duced were part of the property stolen from Messrs.
Kohler's premises.
INFRINGEMENT OF THE MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT
Henry Reed, an American seaman, belonging to the
United States ship Majestic, now lying in the port of
London, was charged by Mr. E. H. Coleman, clerk to
the Board of Trade, under section 176 of the Merchant
Shipping Act, withl having fraudulently made use of a
certificate of discharge and character, belonging to Ed-
ward J. Whitehead, a cook and seaman, who was dis-
charged at Leith on the 27th of November last, from the
Empress, of Leith.

The Lord Mayor sentenced the prisoner to a penalty
of
month,
or imprisonment, with hard labour, for one
The prisoner was then committed.

V —INDECENT ASSAULT.—Wm. Edney,
a y DunglLmDaHn Ai
nL
theL.
eoploy of a bookseller at the West-
end, was brought up 0a Monday, on remand, charged
:
with indecently assaulting a respectable. woman, of the
natne of Wood vard.
G
Mrs, Woodward stated that the izisoner had, on three
different occasions, aszaulted her in a
grossly indecent
manner. She was in the habit of passing iLhrough Pater-
noster-row every morning, and sometimes of u.'l evening,
in going to and from a warehouse for which she worked,
and it was upon such occasions, but alss-ays in the evene.7,
that the prisoner's offensive conduct took place. The first
time she was very much alarmed, and told iitts if he re-
peated the offence she would box his ears. On tine second
occasion she called him a nasty beast, and threatened to
give him into custody if he ever acted so again, and
ticularly cautioned him to beware the third time. But
regardless of her warnings she said the prisoner repeated
the indecent assault, of which she complained, and she
raised an alarm and gave him into custody. She was
sure he was the same man that had grossly insulted her
on the two previous occasions.
The prisoner denied being the party who had so mis
conducted himself towards the complainant, and said it
was impossible for him to have acted in the manner de-
scribed, as he was carrying a parcel of books in one hand
and a bag in the other, so that neither of his hands was
at liberty to have touched Mrs. Woodward, unless it was
aceiden.ally out.ide her clothes, as he passed her.
The prisoner's master gave him an excellent character.
Alderman Carter said he was satisfied the prisoner
had committed a gross and dastardly assault upon a re-
epeCt4We farnale, and it was necessary that persons of
the prisoner's character should be made to understand
that they could not be permitted to insult respectable
persons with impunity, It is much too serious a matter
for bim to deal lightly with, and for the sake of protect-
ing the public it was his duty to make an example of the
prisoner. If it had not been for his otherwise good cha-
racter he should have sent him to prison for six months,
but under the present circumstances he fined the prisoner
51. or two months' imprisonment.
The fine was paid.

BOW-STREET.—NOVEL CAB QUESTION.—Mr. Jar-
dine was called upon yesterday to decide a somewhat
difficult and novel question, under the Hackney Car-
riage Act.
The complainant, Jag. Shaw, is the driver of one of
;Filson's cabs, Long-yard, Lamb's Conduit-street, and
the sari coons was taken out against Mr. Houghton, silk
mercer, Vic., of 83, Edgware-roa4
One day lab, week, when the rain and sleet were pour-
ing down, and the wind was in full force, Mr. Houghton
hailed the eomplainai," in Holborn and desired to be
dritten to' his businees estabiL:timent at tLe corner of the
Is:eye-road; Us above: It WWI ii.lansom cab, and con-
,equently open in front ; but In spit:, of the weather,
the tief'relant did not dovhe the window. The cabman,
seeing thai the lining and eUetieen of his vehicle would
soon be saturated, requested the geistVemaa to close the
window, but Mr. Houghton refused to de anything of
the sort. The cabman urged that his property would be
destroyed, and that the cab would be rendered unfit for
any subsequent passenger, who might summons him, it
the cushions, ac., proved to be wet. Toe defendant,
however, remained imperative, asserting h o right to
keep' the carriage open, and insisted on doing so. The
cabmen then refused to take him any fuither ; upon
which the defendant ordered hint to drive to the Bow-
street Pelice-court,
On the arrival of the disputants at Bow-street the pre-
siding magistrate, Mr. Jardine, after hearing the state-
month pro and con., hesitatesi to decide the question
without some consideration, but his worship granted a
summons against Mr. Houghton for the sixpenny fare,
in order that the matter might come before him pro-
perly in the ordinary way.
The complainant and defendant being now in attend-
ance, in pursuance of the above arrangements,
Mr. Jardine said it was an unfoitunate thi, g for the
cabman that he (the magistrate) did not look into the
act of Parliament when this case first came before him,
because he might have decided the qu €l,B lion at once,
without putting him to the trouble andhiss of attending
again, there being no doubt about the law upon the sub-
ject. It did certainly appear to him (My -Jardine) a
little unreasonable that any man should insist in ea-