The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-30 00:00:00

MARLBOROIIGH-STREET.

PICKPOCKETS AT TILE ST. JAMES'S HALL.—Mary Ann
Taylor and Catherine Smith were charged with being at
the St. James's-hall, for the purpose of picking pockets,
during tke preaching of a sermon by Mr. Spurgeon.
_ Charles Cole, 317 A, a detective, said that on the pre-
vious day he was on the staircase of the St. James's-hall,
coming down towards Regent-street, when ho saw, Taylor
standing by an elderly female in black, and, knowing her
to be the companion of thieves, he stood behind her, looking
to the right, and saw the prisoner Smith, whom he.also knew
as the companion of thieves. In a few minutes he saw

the prisoners talking together, and heard Taylor say, " We
won't wait any longer," and leave the hall with Smith.
They directly after returned, and Smith took off her left
glove and put her hand into the pocket of a female. He
. afterwards saw Taylor put her hand into the pocket of a
female who was looking into a window in Regent-street, but
observing him (Cole) she motioned with her hand, and an
Atlas omnibus coming they both hailed it, but getting tho
assistance of another officer he took them into custody.
Smith said that she knew nothing of the other woman,
that she was respectable, and had come to Regent-street
for work, but could not say at what shop. On searching
them a knife was found on each.

Mr. Bingham committed the prisoners for a month each

THAMES.

I HOUSE-BREAKING IN THE DAY-TIME.—Thos. Billings,
a strange and reckless-looking fellow, well clad in good
cord, and wearing a large silver ring upon one of his fingers,
was brought before Mr. Yardley, charged with breaking
into the dwelling-house and shop of Henry Jaques, boot
and shoe maker, of No. 1, Grtn-lane, Limehouse, and
stealing nine pairs of boots and two concertinas therefrom.
The prisoner is a wall-known thief, and is strongly sus-
pected of having committed many burglaries and robberies
in the neighbourhood of Limehouse On Tuesday morning
last, between the hours of 11 and 12 o'clock, the prosecutor
left his house and shop, and locked up the doors in the
usual manner. He returned in about two hours, and dis-
covered that his house and shop had been forcibly broken
into in his absence, and missed nine pairs of boots and two
concertinas. The prisoner was seen by the prosecu-
tor loitering about his shop on the same morning,
and he was standing opposite to it when Mr. James left
home. Information was given to the police, and Abbott, a
constable, 322 K, having received information that the
prisoner had been offering boots for sale, took him into cus-
tody. On being made acquainted with the charge, the pri-
said, " Yes, I did take the boots. I was famishing and
starving when I did it." Another police-constable, named
Wall, 204 K, searched the prisoner's lodging, at 1, Night-
ingale-lane, Limehouse, and found a pair of boots covered
with a board. Richard Clough, of 3, Brook. street, Ratcliffe,
produced two pairs of boots he had purchased of the prisoner
on Tuesday last. The three pairs of boots produced were
identified by Mr. James as a portion of the stolen property.
A former conviction against the prisoner, for felony, was
proved, and it appeared that he was not in the famishing
and starving condition he represented.
Mr. Yardley committed the prisoner for trial.

•.........i
A LION ADVENTURE TY ALGERIA.

I was roused by something, and felt a pain in my
head, and directly afterwards I received a blow on
the head through the side of the tent, which made
me think for a moment that I had been . struck by
an iron bar with claws at the end which I carried
with me in my waggon ; but in an instant the idea
flashed across my. mind that it was a lion which
was sniffing at me through the back of the tent.
If I remained where I was without moving there
was-the probability of the beast tearing up the tent
and dragging me through. On the other hand, an
attempt to move closer to the fire would probably
be detected, and the lion has the same character-
istics as the cat, and would doubtless have sprung
upon me in that case, and have carried me off.
While hesitating what to do, the animal, most
likely from not being able any longer to feel any-
thing through the wallof the tent, must have turned
away, ibr after what was, in fact, but a few mo-
ments, but which seemed a very long time, there
was a terrific shriek, followed by a low, deep growl-
ing, then a shot and a louder growl. I felt about
for my revolver, which I had placed beside my head
before going to sleep, and creeping round the tent I
saw the horrid beast standing perfectly still, with
glaring eyes, and continuing the same low growling,
and holding in his mouth the body of a man, which he
occasionally lowered on the ground as if with the
intention of taking a firmer hold, but never entirely
letting go of it. I saw- by the direction of his look
that he had caught sight of me, and so terrible were
the associations connected with the beast in my mind
that I dared not move or breathe for some seconds,
when the thought suddenly occurred to me that it
must be the body of Hamed that he held in his
mouth. My liking for this man 'had become so
strong that the desire to rescue or avenge him
drove every feeling of fear out of my mind, and,
with a steady aim, I fired at his body just behind
the shoulder. Singularly enough, although I knew
I had hit him, he-merely gave a loud growl and
remained stationary, without relaxing his hold of
the Arab's body. How long he would have re-
mained in this state of immobility I can't say, but
I was just about to try the effezt of a second shot
wlien a regular volley of guns was fired from out
of the darkness ; the beast sprang forward towards
me, almost at the same instant that I felt a sharp
stinging sensation in the upper part of my arm,
and fell to the ground so close to me that I stepped
back to avoid a blow from his paws in his death
struggles. They did not last long, and as soon as
they were over I_ fetched a lighted brand from the

fire, and, first holding it to 'the face of the dead
man to see who it was, and feeling much relieved
at finding it was not named, I waved it about as
a signal for the others that they might come
with safety. They soon came and clustered
round the body of the dead lion, some kicking it,
and others spitting on and reviling it, and all of
them claiming the honour of having killed him, a
claim that they seemed far more interested in de-
fending than in commiserating the fate of their
dead companion. All the efforts we made to release
the latter unfortunate from the jaws of the lion
were unavailing without having recourse to our
knives, and as there was not the least doubt of his
being dead, for the teeth of the powerful brute were
buried in his chest and back, we determined on
leaving both bodies where they were until daylight.
The first thing I did when I awoke was to look for
the bodies of .the Arab and the lion. They Were
lying where the beast had fallen in the niz,ht, and
his stiffened jaws still held the body of the man as in
a powerful vice: The desire of preserving a record
of the event for my friends in England to look at
was too strong to be resisted, so we set to work,
cut three pieces of timber to a point; and, having
raised the lion to an upright position, kept him up
by means of the pieces of wood. To conceal these,
I planted a shrub here. and there, which had the
desired effect ; and the result I obtained was a

negative, the like of which I believe never was
seen. The attitude is as natural as possible, and
makes one shudder to look at it.—Photographic
News.