The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-19 00:00:00

BOW-STREET.

William Thomas was placed at the bar !on remand,
charged with obtainiug money from Indian officers by
false pretences.

It will be recollected the prisoner called a few days ago
upon a gentleman named Leggett, at the Exeter-hall
Hotel, and asked for some pecuniary aid towards este-
Wishing a private school in India, calculated to be of great
service to persons resident in India. Being upon the
Indian Committee for the Propagation of the Gospel and
the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, Mr.
Leggett informed him he could not assist him in carrying
out his object, but from a conversation he had with
him he was induced to believe him an impostor,
and he accordingly gave him into custody, as his (Mr.
Leggett's) brother, an Indian officer, had been duped by a
person making precisely the same representations to him,
as the prisoner had done.
Mr. Corrie, in order to discover whether the prisoner had
been practising upon other gentlemen, remanded the pri-
soner until to-day when a number of gentlemen were in
attend once.

Col. Talbot Shakespere said—l remember seeing the pri-
soner at my residence some time ago. He knocked at the
door and immediately my servant opened it he walked in
and requested to see me. When I went to him he spoke in
Hiadostmee, and told me he had been directed to call upon
me by some brother officers. He spoke very fluently or.
Indian civilization and education, and mentioned
the t_ station at Lucknow where I had been for
two years. He also mentioned the schools founded
in India by Sir Henry Lawrence, and said he
proposed to found private establishments on the same
principle. He then introduced a long list of names, amongst
which I recognised those of several officers with whom I
was acquainted. I was completely taken in. I gave him
three guineas, and he accordingly entered my name on his
list of subscribers. _ .

Mr. Corrie—l hardly think that will make out a case of
false pretence.
Col. Shakspere—He most certainly swindled me out of
three guineas in the same manner that he had done other
officers.

Mr. Corrie—He represented the money was to get an
outfit.
Col. Shakespere—So far as I am concerned, he swindled

Mr. Braddon said--I saw the prisoner at my residence
at Cambridge-terrace, in March last. The servant came
up to me and told me that a gentleman wished
to see me. I went down stairs, when the pri-
soner accosted me in Hindostanee. I invited him into
my dressing-room, and after he had been there he very accu-
rately described my father, who is at present in India. I
cannot tell, without he has been in India, how he obtained
his information. He told me he wished to found schools
in India, and I accordingly gave him a sovereign, which he
took, and then asked me to make it a guinea for form sake,
which I did.
Dr. Ogilvie, of Blackheath-park, said I saw the prisoner
at my residence a few weeks ago, when he represented him-
self as a friend of my commanding • officer. I invited him
in, and he then began to sympathise with me regarding the
state of my wife's health. I don't know how he pos-
sessed himself of that information, but after he had
been in conversation for some time I asked him the
object of his visit, when he said he was about to pro-
ceed to India, and that ho wished to raise subscriptions be-
fore he left England to establish schools on the hills, as it
was a very serious thing for parents in India to send their
children to England for education. I told him the object was
good, but I could not assist him. He then left the house.
Mr. St. John Brown said the prisoner called upon me at
Brompton-square, and told me exactly the same tale as he
had related to the other gentlemen. He also said he was
going to found schools at Tasmania. I gave him a guinea I
and he left the house. A lady friend of mine told me
just as he left the house that some time ago ke had obtained
money on the same representations. I Im.t I nau vet,.
swinatea, out the fcllow had gone off, and there was no
help for it.
Inspector Witham said he had received letters from
Aldorshott, Edinburgh, and Brighton, all stating that the
writers had been visited by a person of the description of
the prisoner asking for subscriptions for schools in India.
Mr. Corrie—As far as the present case goes, I don't see
that a case of false pretence is made out. No doubt, had
he got a good round sum of money, he would have left the
country. It shows, however, how easily gentlemen in
London part with their money when a plausible person
obtains an interview with them.
Horsford, of the Mendicity Society, said the prisoner had
been discharged three times on evidence similar to that
which had been heard to-day. However, he thought he
had a case against him for forgery, as he had sent
up a petition to a gentleman residing in Marylebone,
on which was a signature of a gentleman which could be
proved to be a forgery.
Mr. Corrie—That is certainly a clear case if it can be
found out, and you had better take the prisoner to Maryle-
bone Police-court.
The prisoner was then handed over to the custody of the
Mendicity Society officers.

IRELAND,

DUBLIN, FRIDAY.
Mr. William Sharman Crawford died yesterday at

his residence, Crawfordeburn, near Bangor, county
Down. He was long known to the British public as
member of Parliament for Dundalk and Rochdale,
and he has been popularly known in Ireland as "the
father of the tenant-right question." He was an in-
dulgent landlord, content with moderate rents, en-
couraging improvements, and rejoicing in the pro-
sperity of his tenantry, not one of whom he ever
ejected. He allowed them to sell their " tenant-right"
freely, and on his estate it reached the highest figure,
equalling the fee-simple of the land. The great ob-
ject of his political life was to give that customary
right in Ulster the effect of law, so that it would
not be disturbed by the landlord, and also to extend
it to the other parts of Ireland. The tenant-farmers
throughout the country regarded him as their cham-
pion, and he spent most of his time for years in ex-
pounding their grievances in long letters and heavy
speeches. He attended the meetings of the " Irish
Tenant League," not only in Ulster, but in some of
the southern counties, where he was regarded with
respect and gratitude by the Roman Catholic priests
and people For many years be had chat ge of the
tenant-right question in Parliament, for the settle-
ment of which he brought in several bills; and the
platform and newspaper cry of the tenant-right
party in Ireland then was,—" Sharman Crawford's
Bill—the whole bill, and nothing but the bill."
His measure, however, never found favour with the
Legislature, and all attempts to get tenant-right
embodied in an Act of Parliament proved abortive.
Mr. Crawford opposed the Repeal agitation when
first started by Mr. O'Connell, and he once ap-
peared in Conciliation-hall to " beard the lion in
his den." The great agitator did not appear to ad-
vantage on that occasion. He was rude and abusive
to his distinguished opponent, and attempted to
overwhelm him wim with ridicule, remarking upon
dress, and reciting a song with the burden—
" Sharman my jewel, Sharman my man."
But Mr. Crawford was equally unmoved by the
invectives of the assailant and the hisses of the
excited mob. Though opposed to the repeal of the
Union, he had a plan of his own for a " Federal
Parliament " in Dublin, by which purely Irish
questions might be entertained and determined.
But at that time the multitude would hear
no dissentient voice in the Liberal ranks.
0' Connell ruled with despotic sway, and Mr.
Crawford, driven from the representation of
Dundalk, could enter Parliament only as member
for an English borough. Since the tenant-right
agitation died out he has taken no part in public
affairs. He was a magistrate and a Deputy-Lieu-
tenant of the county Down, wnere he was regarded
by the people with a feeling bordering on venera-
tion. The journals which represent the Roman
Catholic interest pay glowing tributes to the
memory of the deceased. The Freeman ranks him
among illustrious Irishmen, and says :--
"As a landlord, he illustrated in practice the
principles he professed. In the House of Commons,
while representing Dundalk and Rochdale, he was
universally respected for his integrity, fairness, and
sound sense. Sharman Crawford was almost the
last of the race of great men ; and if honour,
honesty, and a loyal devotion to the rights of the
Irish people be a claim to their gratitude, few
deserved it better than William Sharman Craw-
ford."
The .Morning News thus notices the mournful
event:—
" Sharman Crawford is dead! True, honest,
benevolent old man—in him the Irish tenant has
lost a great, a faithful, and an earnest friend.
Many a time have our columns been draped with
mourning hues, but never for an occasion more sor-
rowful than this. Over all our land, in every home
where the news shall speed, few there will be who
will not realise the loss of such a man to the cause
which won his earliest advocacy, and which to his
latest moment he never deserted. No man devoted
his time more zealously, no man devoted his labours
more generously, to the poor persecuted and unfor-
tunate tenants of Ireland. Whatever differences
may have arisen between those with whom he
worked i❑ the endeavour to ameliorate their con-
dition, none can refuse to concede to him a a charac-
ter for integrity and devotion perfectly unimpeach-
able . No name in the ranks of public men in
Ireland has been so long before the country, and on
non. has there rested less stain of selfishness. A
great portion of this century has found him occupy-
ing a prominent position in the regard of our people,
and that regard he has continued to maintain to the
close of a long career of usefulness. With the great
labour to which he gave his best years unfulfilled,
with a long life of effort expended without the
success of its dearest aim, we cannot but regard the
death of William Sharman Crawford as a great
public calamity."