The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-22 00:00:00

HURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 22, 1850.

for the us 3 of Ihe proprietors of the Eastern Counties
ail* ay.
'This resolution was seconded, and eventually
adt pted amid considerable uproar.
A . vote of thablis was then passed to the Chairman,
and the meeting, which was cf a somewhat noisy
chat acter throughout, separated at a little before four
o'clt ck.

(CRIMINAL COURT.—(THIS DAY).
OLD COURT.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition.)
Ifir. BODKIN replied shortly upon the evidence adduced
c u behalf cf the prisoner.
Mr. Baron PLATT summed up, and
'The jury, after a short consultation, found the prisoner
Gu hut strongly rezommended him to mercy.
Ir. Baron PLATT sentenced him to ten years' trans-
por !ation.
Sl'hc case did not conclude till nearly four o'clock.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
THIRD COURT.
(Before Mr. RUSSELL GURNEY.)
William Augustus Sheen, 34, gentleman, was in-
diczed for bigamy with Mary Whilleber Greene,
his wife Cecilia being then alive.
Mr. Ballantine and Mr. Parry prosecuted ; and
Mr. Robinson defended.
The prisoner is a tall military looking ma-, wear-
ing large moustachios and whiskers.
BALLANTINB, in stating the case for the pro-
secution, said that charges of this character were ge-
nerally, as far as the jury were concerned, merely
confined to the actual facts of the marriages, and that
the other circumstances connected with the offence
were for the consideration of the court to direct them
in their judgmen. ; and as in this instance the facts
were abundantly dear, he should but briefly allude
to them. The prisoner, who it was evident was a
mere fortune•hunter, and had behaved most heart-
lessly to those who had become his victims, was mar-
ried to his first wife in 1838, when she had a good
fortune, and all that the prosecution now knew of her
was, that she was in Boulogne penniless, and
unable to came over to this country. Without
entering into the circumstances under which he be-
came acquainted with his second wife, he would
merely state that she also was a lady of fortune,
and that in the year 1848 he was married to her.
After they had been married some time, during
which period he ex•;,,ended a great portion of her for•
tune, she became acquainted with the fact of the pri-
soner being a married man ; up' which she imme-
diately left him, after which he camtnenced hunting
her, and holding out threats, for the purpose of ob-
taMing money from her ; upon which her relations,
having otrained the necessary evidence, took the pre-
sent proceedings, which could be proved withou: the
appearance of the second wire.
Mr. John Baker, the parish clerk of St. Mary,
Dover, proved the marriage of the prisoner on June
23, 1838, to Cecilia Charlotte Franchall. They Brayed
at Dover a short time, and then went on the Conti-
nent. Witness saw the first wile alive in Boulogne
abut a fortnight ago.
Cross. examined—At the time of the marriage the
lady appeared to be between 30 and 40.
Captain Morris Burchell, a retired officer, proved
the identity of the prisoner and the marriage with his
first wife.
Mr. John Farrell, parish clerk of St. Magnus the
Martyr, in the City, produced the certificate of the
marriage of the prisoner with Miss Mary Whilliber
Greene, spinster, on the 2d of February, 1848.
Miss E. J. Greene, sister to the prisoner's second
wife, deposed to being present at the marriage. It
was not until the July of 1849 that she heard the pri-
soner had been married. Taxed him with it, and he
said his first wife was kinder to him than her sister.
Her sister had been abroad after she was separated
from him.
A letter, partly in French and partly in English,
and addressed to this witness from the prisoner, was
then put in and read. Its contents, which were
couched in a somewhat incoherent style, proved that
the prisoner, partly by threats and partly by as ap-
peal to her feelings, wished her to let him again ob-
tain possession of her sister.
In cross-examination, witness said that her sister is
about thirty-eight. I cannot say exactly where she is
now. She left Dover the weak before last, and is
somewhere on the Continent. She came from Paris
to be married. I was living at Richmond at the time.
I heard from my sister about tour days before the
marriage, and came up from Richmond to be present.
I did not then see the prisoner for above half-an-hour.
They left for Paris. It was in July, 1849, that I
heard from my sister of his being a married man. I
was then living with Colonel Rose, at Richmond. He
treated me as his daughter. He is dead. At his death
he loft me money, but not any to my sister.
Re-examined by Mr. BALLANTINE—I was C donel
Rose's adopted daughter. My sister is now very ill.
Thomas Barnes, a City police-constable, said that
he went to apprehend the prisoner at 0 Idard's
Coffee-house, Waterloo-road, and when he told pri-
soner that he took him on a warrant for bigamy, pri-
simer said, " I do not understand you, or know what
you mean." Witness then told him, and he sail he
had a greater charge to make against Miss Greene—
that of murder. He further added there might be
some mistake—they might mean his brother.
After some further evidence,
Mr. ROBINSON addressed the jury for the defence,
complaining of the statements made by the prosecu-
tion, and denying that the prisoner bad any money
with his wife beyond the amount spent for ordinary
expenses, and also that it was most unfair that the
first wife was not present, and also the exist t circum-
stances under which prisoner became acquainted with
his wives, both of whom were older than himself.
The Learned Counsel thee called
Mr. Joseph Crawford, Consul-General at the Ha-
vannahs, said that he knew the prisoner, who had
moved in the best society at that place, and also at

. .
Paris.
This gentleman produced a letter from the pri-
sonet's first wife, written in the mildest spirit, awl
expressing her intention of not being present at the
trial, as it would only serve to assist the case for the
prosecution, and could not aid the position in which
her unhappy husband was placed.
Mr. GURNEY, in summing up, said there was no
blame at all to be attached to the prosecution for the
course they had pursued, nor was there any necessity
for further wounding the feelings of the first wife, by
bringing her up to this court as evidence. All the
jury had to do with was the fact of the two mar-
riages.
The jury found him Guilty.
Mr. BALGANTINE said he understood prisoner had
15,0001. with his second wife.
Miss Greene was recalled, and said she believed
her sister's fortune was above 10,0001., but it was
settled on her.
The solicitor for the prosecution, who was also so-
licitor to the lady, said it was above 10,0001., settled
on her, but he heard that the prisoner bad dissipated
nearly all of it.
After some further discussion the Court said they
would take time to consider what sentence should
be passed.
The prisoner, who stood with his arms folded du•
concerned, then walked out of the dock with a
ring the whole of the trial, try ing to look very un-
military step.
Mary Fitzgerald, 47, married, a decent-looking
woman, was indicted for feloniously intermarrying
with William Bickford, her husband being then alive.
Mr, Clark prosecuted, and Mr. Billantine, who had
been retained through the humane interference of the
Under-Sheriffs, appeared for the woman.
Mr. CLARK stated the case to the jury, and in so
reprehensible,
doing seid that, although undoubtedly an offence had
been committed, still the manner in which the charge
andhad beentact
greatbrought
discredit forward
on wasall h! gl-,I
pyrites,y as no public
wrong would have arisen if the proceedings had
never been instigated. Tne facts were these :—ln the
year 1824 the prisoner was married at Marylebone to
u man named Fitzgerald, who, after living with her
some time, deserted her and enlisted in the army,
first going wish his regiment to Ireland, and then to
India. She was then married to her second husband
at St. George's, Bloomsbury, in 1831. After she had
lived with him for ;six or seven years, Fitzgerald came
home and crime to claim her from her second husband,
who, however, continued to live with her altogether for
sixteen years, and had five children by her. Finally
the first husband got discharged from the service,
and it appeared made use of the power the commission
of bigamy gave him to work upon her fears to
extort money from her, she still living with her second
husband, and some disagreement taking place, he left
her, and for some time allowed her money to support
the children ; • but ultimately withdrawing that sup-
port, and she falling ill, they became chargeable to the
parish of Richmond, where they lived, when the se-
cond husband made known the whole affair to free
himself from them, and these proceedings were taken
and the poor woman sent here for trial.
Mr. Beeessereee having most warmly commented
upon the shameful character of the proceedings, con-
tended that she might have thought her husband dead
when she again married.
The jury found her Guilty, and she was sentenced
to seven days' imprisonment in Newgate.
Mr. GURNEY said he should not allow the expenses.
The poor woman, who was in a fainting state
during a great portion of the trial, was obliged to be
carried from the dock.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
GUILDHALL.

sc d il
William Clayton was brought up on remand,
charged with stealing a 40/, Bank of England
note, a 101. ditto, aed 101. in gold and silver, the pro-
perty of Mrs. Jane Lawrence, of 38, Radnor- street,
St. Luke's, about seven sears ago, and absconding
with the same.
After the. evidence taken on the previous examina-
tion had been read over, the witness, Catherine Hart,
who stated that she saw prisoner take the money
from a desk in the parlour of 12, Golden-lane, where
Mrs. Lawrence was then living, came forward and
requested to be heard, as she had something further
to state relative to the case. She said that a young
man who was outside the court, came to her the day
before, and told her that be came from prisoner's so-
licitor. He said he wanted her to compromise the
affair, as it was likely to go wrong with the prisoner
if she appeared again, and confirmed her testimony.
She declined to enter into any compromise whatever,
whereupon he endeavoured to dissuade her from her
intention not to Ow don the prosecutrix. Finding
ndeffect
otrlhdfroerhaeit
rte naitfnbt
ega
rt
ani
rigdussa,
hgaees
swahl
„el)
pl
wel would
rs he
doa
nv elay,g iasniwnde
hr
ioho
g or
away c
he could not persuade by pecuniary offer, he tried
what u
the life of the prisoner for the purposo of
extorting money from the prisoner and his friends. He
then told her that she would be severely punished if

she attended the examination yesterday. He made
use of similar threats to a shopkeeper in the neigh-
b mrhood with regard lo witness s appearance aga nst
prisoner. Several partit's were present at the tme
he made use of the threatening language towards
with( ss.

Alderman KELLY directed one o!' the officers o' the
court to see if the party was still remaining ouVde,
and to call him in if he was.

In two or three minutes the officer returned usher-
ing in, much to the astonishment of every one in the
court, the gentleman who had acted as interpreter in
a case just beard, in which a girl of the town was
accused of robbing a French gentleman. The accu-
sation made against him was then read over, when he
denied a great portion of what had been stated, but
admitted that he had called upon her and asked her if
she wished to compromise the affair, and, on her de-
clining to do so, he told her that she was swearing
prisoner's life away by perjuring Ferst-lf, and that she
would ultimately be severely punished for it. He
did not say he came from the prisoner, but that he
had been requested to call on her by his so!icitor, as
they believed, and he still thought so, that her whole
aim and object wos to extort money from the prisoner.

Alderman KELLY slid that from- hi 4 own statement
he hld ben guilty of an indictable offence by
in itni-
dating a witness. The worthy Alderman then re-
primanded the party for his conduct, which bethought
was rather a serious offence, and he was allow, d to
depart.
Tnis case was remanded from last week for the
attendance of Mr. Serte, the secretary to the Camber-
well Savings 13. ink, who appeared and stated that the
prosecutrix withdrew her money, amounting to about
150/., on September 11, 1843. hut they had no note
or memorandum in any of their bOOkS bignifying
what money it was paid in.
Alderman KELLY said it appeared to him that there
was a great dr ficienc% in the management of a savings
bank, to pay such a large sum out without making an
entry of the notes and cash the demand was met with.
Mr. Searle said he c_aild not tell whether it was
done or not by other savings banks, he only knew
that it was never done at the Camberwell Bank.
There was an entry of the money having been paid to
Mrs. Lawrence, hut it was in the handwriting of Mr.
Green, the former secretary. He could not swear
positively that he actually saw the money paid to Mrs.
Lawrence, but he hpd no doubt that it was paid.
John Krellick, a friend of the proF.ecutrix, stated

that the money was the fruits of her hard-earned
savings during twenty Sears of servitude, and that
the loss of the money alleged to have been stolen by
the prisoner proved her total ruin, as she was obliged
to give up her shop and gain a subsistence the best
way she could by plain needlework, or any employ-
ment suitable to her age. He stocked her shop at
the time the opened it, shortly before losieg her
money, With goods to the amount of 201., for which
he had never been paid, nor did he ever expect to be
from the circumstances of the prosecutrix at present.
He had advertised the prisoner at his own expense,
and offered a reward of 101. for his apprehension, but
all to no purpose. Had known the prisoner for six•
teen years, and he (prisoner) had been in the habit of
calling upon him (witness) every evening to let him
know how prosecutrix got on in her shop, but on the
evening of the robbery, he never made his appearance
and the landlady where be lodged said he had been
there and taken away his things, and appeared in a
very excited state, and his manner was very inco-
herent.
Alderman KELLY said the case was of too im-
portant a nature to be disposed of lightly, and he
would therefore remand it, to have Mr. Green's evi-
dence. The attempt to intimidAte the principal wit-
ness only made the case more flagi ant, as far as the
prisoner was concerned, and he would therefore re-
mand the prisoner till Tuesday next.
SOUTHWARK.

Yesterday Francis Davis, a well dressed you2g
man, was brought before Mr. Seeker, charged with
being concerned with two other men in knocking
down and robbing Alfred Greenland, a young man in
the employ of Mess's. Sanders, cheesemongers, of
Collingwood-street, Blackfriars-road, of a bag con-
taining 375/., the property of his employers.
The particulars of the robbery appeared in the
newspapers on Friday last, when an account was.
given of the apprehension of Robert Archer, one of
the three implicated in the charge, together with the
recovery of the hag containing the whole of the
money of which the young man Greenland had been
plundered. Since then the police have been on the
alert to apprehend the other two men concerned in
the offence, and it will be seen from the annexed
examination that the police succeeded in that object,
but that one of the prisoners escaped by knocking
down a sergeant of the L division, by striking him on
the head with a life-preserver.
Sergeant Wright, M division, stated that in con-
sequence ef information he went, accompanied by
S,.r.zeant Jones, of the L division, to the Oiwe B. anch
public-house, in the New Cut, at the corner of the
Waterloo-road, between four and five o'clock on the
previous aftertnou. When they entered the house
they observed Davis and another men standing iii
front of the bar, and, having strong grounds for
suspecting they were concerned in the late highway
robbery near Sr. Saviour's Church, they mentioned to
them their suspicions, and at the same time intimated
that they must accompany them to the station-hou-e.
Davis and his associate at once expressed their will.
ingness to go, and they quitted the public-house, hut
had not proceeded more than a doe- n yards in the direc •
tion of the station-house, when the roan in custody of
Sergeant Jones struck him a violent blow on the head
with a life-preserver, which stunned him and felled
him to the ground, and while he was lying thus pros-
trate, ran away and made his escape, none of the per-
sons by whom the police were surrounded making
any effort to re-capture the offender. Sergeant
Wright added that Jones, the sergeant, was
unable to attend the present examination, in conse•
quence of the serious iuj ury inflicted on his head with
the life-preserver.
Mr. Robert Ward stated that he is a salesman in
the Borough Market, and that on Thursday last, be•
tween 'doe and ten o'clock in the morning, as he was
walking along the passage near St. Mary Overies
Dock, his attention was particularly attracted on see-
ing Archer, the man examined at this court on Thurs-
day last, together with the prisoner Davis and
another man, walking slowly along. When they saw
him they drew up with their backs to the wall, and
it struck him at the time that they were "up to no
good," particularly as he saw at a short distance a
chaise standing, with a gentleman's coat lying on the
seat, and it struck him that they wanted to steal the
garment. lie, however, passed on, arid had not pro-
ceeded many yards when he herd one of the three
men exclaim " Here he comes 1" and in less than a
minute afterward, a cry of " Sop thief!" was raised,
and on looking to the spot from whence the sounds
were heard, he observed the young man, Greenland,
on the ground, an 1 the three men whom he had pre-
viously passed running away, one of them hiving a
bag in his hand,. Witness saw the latter man el)
tured with the bag and money, hut the other two
men escaped at the time, and he has no doubt the
prisoner Davis was one of the parties he saw upon
that occasion.
The prisoner asserted his innocence of the alleged
charge, arid accused the last witness of having given
two different accounts of the traesactien, with regard
to his identity ; that he could prove he was in bed in
the house No. 8, St. Andrew's-terrace, Waterloo-
road, with a young woman named Caroline Lewis, at
the time the robbery was effected, and that he had
no hand in it.
Mr. Secaea remanded the prisoner, to give time
for the apprehension of the others concerned in the
affair, and who escaped from custody by knocking
down the police-sergeant.
MARLBOROUGH•STREET.
ATTEMPT AT EXTORTION.—THE TABLES TURNED.
—A very old gentleman, who gave the fictitious name
of John Jackson at the station-house, was charged
with having assaulted Joseph Bragdell.
The substance of Bregdell's smry was, that while
looking into a shop window in Hemming's-row, the
prisoner had acted with gross impropriety towards
him, and that on meeting a police-constable he gave
prisoner into custody.
A companion of the prosecutor, named Wren, cor-
roborated this statement.
The prisoner said he was a gentleman of inde-
pendent property. He had only arrived in town the
preceding day and had taken up his temporary abode
at the Tavistock Hotel. After dining yesterday he
walked towards the Haymarket, taking his way
through Hemming's-row. Seeing something going
on in a shop he stopped and while standing at the
window he felt somebody+ press against one of his
hands, which was hanging down. He moved, and
again he was pressed against, and then walked away.
He was followed by the first witness, who asked him
what he was going to stand for what he had done.
He demanded an explanation, and the witness said he
was not going to allow himself to be pulled about for
nothing. He was indignant at this insinuation, nod
told the witness he would not submit to any such
attempt at extortion—he would give nothing. He then
walked on, but finding he was still followed he stop-
ped. The first witness then told him to come with
him into a public-house and the matter might he set-
tled there without farther trouble. He refused the
proposal. The witness said he had better do some-
thing, or be must take the consequences. The wit-
ness did not mention the word "money," but all his
remarks assured him that his object was money. Ile
asked the witness if he meant to threaten him. The
witness gave him to understand he knew the law, and
if the matter was not arranged he would give him into
the custody of a policeman. He told the witness he
was ready to go with a constable, and a constable st as
then brought and he was taken to the station-house.
The prisoner admitted he had not given his correct
name at the station-house, but the police had been
made aware of it, and he was willing to disclose it if
required. The prisoner then mentioned his name and
station.