The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-18 00:00:00

it ; but I think it was a compound oil; there was a
strong smell of copaiba about it, but it looked very
like olive oil. I, however, had my doubts witn re-
spect to the prisoner's ability to make it at such a
trifling expense. I never heard of oil being extracted
from mangold wurtzel. He gave me - the name of
Charles Johnson.

Cross-examined by the prisoner—I sent to Alpha
Cottages, and no such name wes to be found. I ad-
vanced the money before I made any inquiry into
your general character.
Orlando Vidler, of 4, Thornhill-place West, Is-
lington, said—l carry on business at 29, Cowcross
street, under the firm of " James Crease and Sons,"
colourmen and varnish manufacturers. I believe
prisoner is the party that came to me in April, 1849,
under the name of Wilkinson. He brought a sample
of a bright red colour in powder, which he said he
had discovered in a course of galvanic experiments,
by mere occident. He said he did not know what it
was, or what was the value of it, but he could produce
it at an ( xpence of not more than sixpence per lb.
lie was unwilling to sell the process, but proposed
that we should manufacture it, and give him a share
in the profits. He then represented that the apparatus
required could be purchased at a very trifling expense
compared to the enernious profit to be derived from
the manufacture of the article wholesale. After some
negotiations, we at length agreed to advance a sum
not exceeding 301.,,f0r the purchase of the necessary
apparatus. We had no agreement in writing, anda
few days after this arrangement he sent in
some parcels wrapped up in brown paper and very
carefully sealed. The porter produced a bill for
191. 103., and a note from the prisoner re questirg me
to pay it, as he had purchased all the principal parts
of the machinery he required to carry out his plans
with. He gave his address 18, Arlington-street,
Camden-town, and observing that he had not been near
us for some time, we instituted inquiries in Camden
Town, but we found he had never lived there. My
partner paid the money to the porter, who gave him
a stamped receipt, signed "Charles Wilkinson." Pri-
soner cautioned me in his note, that the parcels he had
sent were not to be opened until I saw him again ;
and shortly after, he sent more apparatus, and a note
requesting me to pay the enclosed bill of 101. 10s. I
however declined to pay any more, unless I could
see the prisoner, who never showed himself again to
me. But even then we had no suspicion that we were
being duped. The porter professed to know nothing
whatever of the prisoner. I ultimately opened the
brown paper parcels, which I found contained several
small sheets of zinc, rolled up, and some zinc pipes.
I should say they are worth about 3s. 6d. or 4s. I
never saw prisoner again until now.
The letters received by these witnesses were here
put in and examined and compared with others received
from the prisoner, and were identified by several par-
ties, who were present at the last examination, and
gave their evidence, as the handwriting of the pri-
soner.

Daniel May, of the City detective force, said when
prisoner came to the station on Thursday, the 12th
of the present month, he said he lived at 4, Marl-
borough-road, Old Kent-road. I made inquiry, and
ascertained he had lived there about eighteen months,
in the name of John Stevenson. Previous to That I
found he had been living at 32, Ernest-street, Ber-
mondsey, in the same name. He was a clerk in Mr.
Prince's patents office, at Charing-cross, from 1840 to
1842, and since that he has opened a patent office in
Earl-street, Blackfriars, on his own account. After
that he lived in Drury-lane, where he represented
himself as an engineer, and practised the present
game. On Friday last, as I was conveying prisoner
from this court to the Giltspur-street Cumpter, he
said it was poverty that made him do it. He was
starving, and he saw it was an easy mode of getting
money, and he was driven to it. As for Mr. Floc-
ton, prisoner said he thought him a perfect gentleman,
and he wished to pay him back what he bad had from
him. I told prisoner that he had had frequent op-
portunities to do so had he felt inclined. He replied
that he was aware of that, and said that " money ob-
tained in this way never does any one any good.
Prisoner—l mean to say that whenever I have had
opportunities of filling situations honourably I have
done so. But when I find myself out of employment,
and my means exhausted, my wife and children for
twelvemonths with nothing more than a blanket to
cover them, and on the verge of starvation, I could
no longer hesitate upon the course I have since
adopted. I hope, your Worship, if you are going to
pass sentence on me, that you will be kind enough to
order me solitary confinement.
Alderman loopEß—l am not about to pass sen-
tence upon you, I think that duty will devolve upon a
higher tribunal. I shall, however, be under the neces-
sity of remanding you, in order that we may have
time to go into any other cases that may be brought
against Sou.
• Prisoner—l_assure you they are all similar cases.

Alderman HoorEuLThere- seems to have been a
regular system carried on to defraud the unwary and
trusting tradesman.

Prisoner—There was no system, your Worship, it
was all the same thing.—(Laughter.)
Alderman HoopEn—Then we'll call it an organised
system of plunder.—The prisoner was then remanded.