The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-14 00:00:00

Alfred Hawksbee, a young fellow described as a
cheesemonger, was placed at the bar before Mr.
Arnold, charged with having conspired with others
to defraud Mr. James Meteyard, a butcher in the
New-road, of the sum of 301., under the following
circumstances :
The complainant stated that whilst standing at the
door of his shop, about the beginning of July last,
the prisoner, of whom be had some slight previous
knowledge, engaged him in conversation, in the course
of which they were joined by a man named Stead-
man, who is now under remand at this court upon
another charge, and who challenged the prisoner to
run him 150 yards for a bottle of wine and a couple
of sovereigns. The prisoner at once accepted the
challenge, and having persuaded the witness to act
as the stakeholder, they conducted him to a public-
house, when the race was lost by the prisoner, and
after handing the money over to Steadman he was
about to return home, but they insisted that he should
stop and partake of the wine which formed part of the
bet. The wine was taken into the skittle-ground, at
the rear of the premises, where they found a well-
dressed man, apparently intoxicated, who was making
a lavish display of his money, and was engaged
in play with two others. Steadman afterwards
offered to play the drunken man, who lost several
games, and they then persuaded the witness, whom
they had plied with 'brandy and water until he was
nearly stupefied, to play the same person a single
game for a couple of pounds, which he declined to do
for some time, but, on telling them that he had no
money in his pocket, they advanced him six sove-
reigns, saying that they knew him well as a man of
substance and respectability, and he then consented,
when his antagonist suddenly displayed such skill and
dexterity that he lost the whole of the money, to-
gether with two pounds more, which he obtained
from the same source. At the instigation of the pri-
soner be then returned home, and having taken 301.
'rota his desk, from which he refunded the Si. lent
him, they managed to entrap him into another public-
house, where, to his great surprise, he found his former
4pponent was waiting, and having been pressed to take
mere drink until his senses were almost gone, they
induced him to play ten games in succession for a
stake of 201., which was also lost, and on taking up
his coat, in the pocket of which he had left two loose
sovereigns, he found they had been stolen by one o'
the gang. He had no recollection (f anything that
took place afterwards, but was confined to his bed for
fortnight, from the effects of the pernicious liquors
given him on the occasion ; and his wife's health had
,ustained such a shock from the loss of the money,
which was all they had at the time to carry on busi-
ness, that she had been seriously ill ever since.
Sergeant Harvey informed the magistrate that he
had received a communication from the waiter of a
tavern adjoining the prosecutor's residence, who ex-
pressed his readiness to come forward and depose to
the fact that he had overheard the prisoner and his
confederates arrange the plan to decoy the prosecutor
from his house and plunder him of his money, in the
exact mode which they had carried into execution, as
detailed by him in his evidence.
It having been also intimated that other charges
would be preferred against the prisoner's accomplice
in the above transaction on the day appointed for his
re- examination, •
The MAGISTRATE ordered the prisoner to be re-
manded till then ; but consented to accept two
substantial sureties in 40/. each for his future ap-
pearance
The required bail, however, was not fort hcom-
ing at the close of the court, and the prisoner was
therefore taken away in the van to the House of
Correction.