The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-13 00:00:00

CHARGE OF ARSON.

At. the Mansion-house yesterday, a respectable-
looking young man, named Henry Coventry, was
brought befor the Lord Mayor, in custody of Mr.
Foulger, one of the inspectors of the City police,
upon the capital charge of feloniously, wilfully, and
maliciously setting fire to the Robin Hood public-
house, Skinner-street, Bishopsgate, persons being
therein at the time.

Mr. Humphreys, jun., of the firm of llumarcys,
Son, and Morgan, of Newgate•street, attended on
behalf of the prisoner. The case appeared to be one
of rather an extraordinary character.
inspector Foulger said—At half-past three o'clock
on Monday morning, in consequence of information
I received I went to the Robin Hood public-
house, kept by Mr. Mawer, accompanied by some
of the fire brigade, and when I arrived there I
observed smoke issuing from the cellar-flap, and
also an appearance of flames inside the cellar.
The cellar flap was forced open, and we went in,
and I then saw that the joists of the flooring above
the cellar were on fire in two places, 6 feet apart.
One portion of the flooring on fire was over the
beer engine, and the other was in a corner under
the spirit pipes, and some of the latter were melted
by the heat, and five of the pipes of the beer engine
were also melted and detached from the engine. I
examined the place carefully and found several of
the metal branches which conveyed gas to different
parts of the house were also melted, and the metal
had fallen upon the ground, and the gas blazing
from the main iron service pipe, and the flames ap-
peared to have set fire to the joists of the cellar.
From the examination I made I believe that a hole
must have been made in the lead service pipes, and
that the gas was ignited, and that it then consumed
the metal up to the iron main pipe; and if the fire
had not been discovered when it was the house
would in all probability have been destroyed.
The gas appeared to be turned on full, and it smelt
very strong when we went into the cellar. One of
the gas pipes appeared to have been unscrewed,
and this must have been do,ne intentionally. The
prisoner was the potman at the Robin Hood, but
he was not in the house at the time the fire was
discovered. The landlord and landlady and two
children had gone to bed, and the children were
taken out by means of the fire escape. I ascertained
that the back and front doors of the house were
properly secured, and there were no means of ob-
taining access to the premises except the oack, but
any person, in order to get there by that means,
would have to climb over a very high wall. On
Monday evening I went again to the house and had
a conversation with the landlady and a female ser-
vant upon the subject of the fire, and I afterwards
saw the prisoner and told him that there was some-
thing very suspicious about the fire, and that I was
about to put some questions to him, but he need not
answer them unless he pleased, as his answers
might affect him afterwards. I then said to him,
" This house was set on fire by some one in two
•places; your mistress says that you were the last
person in the cellar on the night before the fire, and
that she sent you down to turn the gas off at the
main, and that she knows you did turn it off, be-
cause while you were in the cellar one of the lights
in tho bar was turned out." I then said there was
no one in the house but his mistress, himself, the
servant and the children, and that one of them
must have set it on fire. The prisoner then said
that he knew nothing about it—he did not do it ;
and he added that he had fastened up the house,
and saw all safe, and his mistress let him out at a
quarter to twelve o'clock ; and he then took a short
walk in Shoreditch, and got home about half-past
twelve o'clock. The inspector then produced the
pieces of gas pipe that had been :detached
and burnt in the manner he described.

The Lord Mayor inquired whether there was any
evidence to connect the prisoner with the fire.
Inspector Foulger eaid he had no further evi-
dence to•lay before his lordship at present.
The Lord Mayor inquired whether it was true
that the prisoner was let out of the house before
12 o'clock on the night previous to the fire.
Inspector Foulger said he believed it was.
Mr. Humphreys said there was no doubt of this
fact, and that the fire did not break out until nearly
three hours afterwards. If the prisoner had set fire
to the house before he left, a discovery must have
been made Ion-,' before half-past three.
The Lord Mayor inquired whether there had
been any quarrel between the prisoner and his
master and mistress, or whether any ill-feeling
existed between them. _ _

Inspector Foulger said he had not heard that
there was anything of the kind.
His Lordship then said that, however suspicious
the circumstances might appear, he did not see that
there was the slightest evidence against the pri-
soner, and he should therefore order him to be at
once discharged.