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, in 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 Sutiday
night last I went to the same warehouse, and found the
padlock had been forced off the doors leading from the
street into the cellar under the warehouse, and I found
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 bad been forced open, and that the
clasp of the keyhole of the iron safe bad been forced
safedow down,
had
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ar
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-
structions which I received, I went to No. 97, Britannia-
street, City-road, when a young woman, who live:: there,
gave to me six sample walking sticks, a comb, and a
cap. The prisoner gave np to his father, in my pre-
Bence, five duplicates which relate to property stolen on
each of the occasions on which the warehouse had 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,
bet ween 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 ,wes;oft.
The prisoner was remanded, Knight having stated
that he a ould be able to prove that the artioles pro-
duced were part of the property stolen from Messrs.
K,hler'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, with 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 101., or imprisonment, with hard labour, for one
month.
The prisoner was then committed.

GUILDHALL—INDECENT ASSAULT.—Wm. Edney,
a young man in the employ of a bookseller at the West-
end, was brought up on Monday, on remand, charged
with indecently assaulting a respectable woman, of the
name of Woodward.

Mre. Woodward stated that the prisoner had, on three
different occasions, assaulted her in a grossly indecent
manner. She was in the habit of passing through Pater-
noster-row every morning, and sometimes of an evening,
in going to and from a warehouse for which she worked,
and it was upon such occasions, but always in the evening,
that the prisoner's offensive conduct took place. The first
time she was very much Warmed, and told him if he re-
peated the offence she would box his ears. On the second
occasion she called him a nasty beast, and threatened to
give him into custody if he ever acted so again, and par-
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 bad 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
acciden.ally out,.ide her clothes, as he passed her.
The prisoner's master pave him an excellent character.

Alderma❑ Carter said he was satisfied the prisoner
bad committed a gross and dastardly assault upon a re-
spectable female, 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 him 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 OAR QUESTION.-Mr. Jar-
dine was called upon yesterday to decide a somewhat
difficult and novel question, under the Hackney Car•
riage Act. _

The complainant, Jas. Shaw, is the driver of one of
Wilson's cabs, Long-yard, Lamb's Conduit-rreet, and
the summons was taken out against Mr. Houghton, silk
mercer, &c., of 83, Edgware-ma-1;
One day last week, when the rain and sleet were pour-
ing down, and the wind was in full force, Mr. Houghton
hailed the complainant in Holborn and desired to be
driven to his bu.iness establishment at the corner of the
New-road, as above. It was a Hansom cab, and con-
sequently open in front ; but in spite of the wea'her,
the defendant did not let down the window. The cabman,
seeing that the lining and cushions of his vehicle would
soon be saturated, requested the gentleman to close the
window, but Mr. Houghton refused to do 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, if
the cushions, ,to., proved to be wet. The defendant,
however, remained imperative, assertirg h:s right to
keep the carriage open, and insisted on doing so. The
cabman then refused to take him any further ; upon I
which the defendant ordered him to drive to the BJW-
street Police-court.
On the arrival of the disputants at Bow-street the pre-
siding magistrate, Mr. Jardine, after bearing the state-
ments pro and con., hesitated 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 unfoi tutia'e thief, 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 question at once,
without putting him to the trouble and loss of attending'
again, there being no doubt about the law upon tLis sub-
ject. It did certainly appear to him (Mr. Jardine) a
little unreasonable that any man should insist in ex-