The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-25 00:00:00

I also found in his trousers pocket a purse, which I
now produce. I asked him what money it con-
tained, and if it was his ? He said, " Yes, it con-
tained two £5 notes, and £1 9s. in gold and silver,
which was correct. Being asked where he got the
notes, he said he found them two days ago in Lom-
bard-street, lying loose with a letter, which he
produced. I have since received information that
they formed part of a remittance of £153 10s. in
bills, drafts, and notes, from Messrs. Harvey and
Hudson's bank at Thetford, Norfolk, addressed to
Messrs. Hankeys and Co.'s bank, in Lombard-street.
I also found on him an ivory ticket for the Horti-
cultural Society's Show, and a Foreign Office pass-
port.
It was stated.that an incredible number of letters
had been secreted by the prisoner.
Ho was remanded for further examination.

THE CHARGE OF ARSON AT PECKHAM.

Yesterday Frederick Clift and George Clift,
quill merchants, lately carrying on a part of their
business at No. 2, Lansdowne, Peckham, and
who have been in custody for a fortnight on the
serious charge of wilfully and maliciously setting
fire to their house and premises, with the inten-
tion of defrauding the Globe Fire Office, and
further with conspiring together to defraud the
same insurance company, were again brought up
and placed at the bar before Mr. Elliott, at Lam
beth Police-court, for further examination.

Mr. Metcalfe, instructed by Mr. William- D.
Freshfield, of the firm of Freshfield and Newman,
appeared, as before, for the prosecution ; and Mr.
Sleigh, instructed by Mr. Bartley, attended for
the defence.

The court, as on former occasions, was much
crowded, and the prisoners appeared more smartly
dressed_ than on any former examination.

The first witness called was Inspector Frost, of
the P, or Camberwell, division of police, who de-
posed that he was present at the fire at the house
No. 2, Lansdowne-villas, on the night of the 2d of
August last, and on the same night he received the
brass candlestick he produced from Mr. Brindle, a
gentleman residing at Nunhead Lodge, close by.
William Frederick Metcalf said—l am an engi-
neer belonging to the fire brigade, and attached to
the Waterloo-road station. On the night of the fire
I went to the house of the prisoner George, and
there saw him, and also the other prisoner, Fre-
derick, and the wife of one of them. I asked if
they could give any account of the fire and how it
occurred; and Frederick said he could not.
Mr. Metcalfe—Did he say why he could not ?
Witness—Yes ; he said they had been down to
Waltham Abbey to inquire about the character of a
servant or servants ; that his wife had gone to the
doctor's with a child ; and when they came home
they found it out.

15id you ask him how about his insurance ?
Yes ; I asked him if he was insured, and he said he
was, in the Globe Fire Office. I asked him if he
had his policy so that I might take its number and
forward it to the Globe Office, and he said his bro-
ther could tell me more about it than he could ; and
the brother gave me the number.
You saw the remains of the quills in the stable ?
—Yes. _ _ _

Now in your judgment what height of feathers
must there have been to produce these remains ?
About three feet.

Thomas Knott—l live at Littlefield Lodge,
close to Lansdowne-villas, and am servant to• Mrs.
Soper there. On the day after the fire I found a
street-door key, wrapped up in the handkerchief
produced, in my mistress's garden.
Mr. Elliott—What did you do with the key ?
Witness—l gave it up to my mistress.
Mr. Metcalfe—Did you afterwards see your
mistress deliver the same key to Baxter, the fire-
man in charge of the ruins ?
Witness—l did..

Did you find a second key P—Yes, I found the
second key stuck in the earth, about a span from
where I found the first.

Did you see that key also given up to the fire-
man P—l did. The witness further said his mis-
tress's house was nearly opposite to that of Mr.
Brindle, in whose garden the candlestick produced
had been found, and about two minutes' walk• of
the house of Mr. Goodwin, the grocer.
Mr. Metcalfe here said that the keys spoken of
had been identifiel on a former examination, by
Mr. Puller, the landlord of the house, those of
the stable and pantry, and they as well as the
candlestick had been found, as stated, close to
where the fire took place, and in the direction the
prisoner George was seen to run just before the fire
was discovered. He, Mr. Metcalfe, should call a
witness as to the identity of the candlestick.
Lucy Byatt, a respectable-looking young woman,
here got into the witness-box, but, on the oath
being about to be administered to her by Dixon,
one of the ushers, she at first, and for some minutes,
refused to be sworn. At length, however, she con-
sented, and the oath wis administered to her. Sue
said she was sister to the wife of the prisoner Fre-
derick Clift, and had lived with him a short time
as servant.

Mr. Metcalfe—Have you been shown a candle.
stick by the police?
Witness—Yes, sir.
Mr. Metcalfe—Now, look at the candlestick be-
fore you, and tell the Court whether you did not
say that you knew it well from having cleaned it
shortly before, and that it belonged to your brother-
in-law, the prisoner, Frederick Clitt ?
Witness (hesitating)—No, I said it was too tall
to be his.

Now be careful what you say, young woman.
Look at this candlestick again, and tell me whether
you did not say that it belonged to the prisoner
Frederick, and that 3 ou knew well ?—No, I did not.
It is too tall.

Now I should advise you to be careful, for I have
your statement where you said it belonged to the
prisoner Fred. Clift, and that you should know it
out of a thousand. It is not so long ago since you
stated this, and I wish you again to look at the
candlestick, and tell me what you said about it P--
The witness, after some hesitation, said—l do not
think it is the same ; it is too tall.
Mrs, Mary Austin, the wife of a cowkeeper and
dairyman on Peckham-rye, deposed that on the
afternoon before the fire, about 4 o'clock, she was
passing by the house No, 2, Lansdowne-vi,las, and
saw a van drawn up close to the door with a num-
ber of bales of goods in it, and other bales lying
about the lawn.

Mr. Elliott—Did you see the van take these goods
away ?

Witness—No, I did not stop for that.
Mr. B. Watkins, quill merchant, No. 1, Cannon-
street, City, said he saw the debris of the quills in
the ruins shortly after the fire, and in his judgment,
and judging from the quality of the quills, the
quantity of quills to produce it would not exceed in
value £BO or £lOO. It was also his opinion that if
the place had been quite filled with such quills they
would not exceed in value £3OO.
Mr. Metcalfe—Did you notice any swan quills
there ?
Mr. Watkins—None.

Had the place been filled with swan quills, what,
in your judgment, would be their value P—l should
think one thousand pounds.
You think nothing like X 2,500 P—Certainly not.
The following document of the claim made by the
prisoners on the Globe Fire Office was here put
in :

" Schedule of stock in the hands of Messrs. George
and Frederick Clift, quill and feather merchants, of No. 2,
Lansdowne-villas, Albert-road, Peckham, destroyed by fire,
on Tuesday, the 2d day of August, 1861, with value of same
to Messrs. Clift at the time of such fire, and insured in the
Globe Fire Office for £2,500. Number of policy, 7215.
6,000,000 foreign quills, value to Messrs. Clift at the time of
the fire, 10s. 6d. per 1,000, and cannot now be pur-
chased .... .
80,000 swan quills, value 16s. per 1,000 ..
241 b. sable hair, value 16s. per ounce 307 4
A- quantity of Russian matting, bags, rags, and
sundries, estimated value at

£4,104 14
"We hereby declare that the foregoing is a true account
of the goods destroyed by the fire that occurred on the 2d
inst., and we call upon the Globe Insurance Office to pay
the amount insured by them, £2,soo.—Signed Geo. Clift
and Fredk. Clift. Dated Aug. 13, 1861."

Mr. Fuller, the landlord of the house, was re-
called, and deposed that to the best of his belief the
signatures to the document were in the handwrit-
ing of the prisoners.
This being all the evidence Mr. Sleigh addressed
the Court, and said he was desired to say by the
gentleman who had instructed him that he had a
complete answer to the present charge, and had a
number of witnesses in attendance for the defence,
whose testimony would fully bear out his assertion;
but before calling them, and taking up the time of
the Court unnecessarily, he should wish to be guided
by the opinion of his worship as to whether the
evidence given on the part of the prosecution was
such as called on him to send his clients before
another tribunal. If so, he should reserve his wit-
nesses for another place, and he (Mr. Sleigh) was
therefore anxious to have an expression of his wor-
ship's opinion.
Mr. Elliott said that, without offering any
opinion
whatever on the case, it was undoubtedly his in-
tention to send it before a jury. At the same time,
he was prepared to hear any witnesses Mr. Sleigh
wished to call.
Mr. Sleigh thanked his worship, but said he
should, under the circumstances, decline calling wit-
nesses at present, and this matter being disposed of
he had an application to make for the liberation of
his clients on such bail as would ensure their pre-
sence to take their trial.
Mr. Elliott, before giving an answer, requested
the whole of the depositions to be read over, and this