The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-02 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
(YESTERDAY.)
MANSION-HOUSE.
Mr. William Read, the owner of the brig Colina, and
Captain Simpson, the master of that vessel, were
brought up before the Lord Mayor and Sir John Pixie,
Bart., for re-examination upon a charge of having con-
spired together to sink the said brig, for the purpose of
defrauding the Alliance Marine Insurance Company,
with whom the vessel was insured. - Several gentlemen
connected with the shipping interest in the City were in
attendance in the Justice-room, to listen to the pro-
ceedings.
Mr. Clarkson and Mr. Bodkin appeared as counsel for
the prosecution. The prisoner Read was represented
by Mr. Wontner.
Mr. Clarkson, addressing the Lord Mayor, said he
had to inform his Lordship that, since the prisoners had
been before him, the master of the brig Colina—the pri-
soner Simpson—had made a statement in reference to
the loss of the vessel in question. The statement was a
general one, which he (Mr. Clarkson) was not then in a
condition to lay before his Lordship. It was enough for
him to say that it materially affected the prisoner Read.
The statement went the length of showing that the loss
of the brig was wilful—that it was after some delibera-
tion, and by arrangement, she was lost— and that the
circumstance took place at the instigation of the prisoner
Read. On the previous examination, Mr. Wontner ex-
pressed his determination to apply to the Judges, in order
that the prisoner Read might be allowed to find
bail. If it was still Mr. Wontner's resolution to do so,
he (Mr. Clarkson) would feel it to be his duty to submit
the statement, to which he had referred, before the Lord
Mayor at the earliest possible moment. If, after Mr.
Wontner saw the nature of the statement in question,
he should feel it to be his duty to make an application to
the Judges, he, of course, might do so. He now begged
his Lordship would remand the prisoner to such a day as
would enable him to complete the case, so as that the
prisoners might be committed for trial at the Central
Criminal Court at the ensuing sessions.
Mr. Wontner expressed a hope that the remand would
be to an early day, as it might be necessary, after hear-
ing what the nature of the statement referred to was, to
make inquiries respecting it.
After a short conversation, the prisoners were ordered
to be remanded till three o'clock on Saturday next.
The depositions taken on the last day of the examina
tion were then read over by Mr. Goodman, and the wit-
nesses bound over to prosecute.
One of the witnesses, George Gardner, clerk to Read
and Page, of Ipswich, said that the gentleman who came
into his employers' counting-house, with a newspaper
containing the loss of the brig, was Mr. Taylor, ship-
owner, of Ipswich.
Mr. Wm. Henry Moss, a clerk in the Ship Registry-
office of the Custom-house, produced an office copy of
the registry of the brig Colina, dated sth January,
1841, showing the ownership of the vessel to be in the
prisoner Read and his partner.
The prisoners were then remanded till Saturday.
TREATMENT OF MR. 131RNARD GREGORY IN NEW-
GATE.—Mr. Wells, the barrister, appeared before the
Lord Mayor, for the purpose of calling his Lordship's
attention to the case of Mr. Barnard Gregory, and the
treatment which it was alleged that individual was suf-
fering from in the gaol of Newgate. He knew nothing
whatever of Mr. Gregory personally, and he was only
induced to come forward respecting him, in consequence
of the statement which had appeared in some of the
public journals, as to the conduct which had been
pursued towards him, in the gaol in question. If
the statement put forth in the journals referred to
was a true one, he must say, that the treatment from
which Mr. Gregory was suffering was more cruel than
any he had ever read of, in connexion with the Bastile,
the enormities of Robespierre, or even the Government
of Algiers. The Learned Gentleman then read the
statements in question, from which it appeared
that Mr. Barnard Gregory was compelled to associate
with felons ; that he was denied the use of pens, ink,
and paper, or even of a black-lead pencil ; that
he was not allowed any books to read ; that
he was not permitted to have candles, and was conse-
quently in darkness for fifteen hours out of the twenty-
four ; that he was obliged to sleep on an iron bedstead,
with rope mattress and rug covering ; that he was only
allowed the prison diet ; that he could only see his
friends under the order of a magistrate ; and that al-
though a certificate signed by two physicians and four
practical surgeons, had been transmitted to the Secre-
tary of State for the Home Department, showing that
Mr. Barnard Gregory had since his imprisonment burst
a blood-vessel, and that if the present treatment was
continued the result would be the death of Mr. Gregory;
yet, up to that time, no notice had been taken of the re-
presentation by the Home Secretary, and the prisoner
was still treated in the same manner and subjected to
the same hardships and privations as heretofore.
The LORD MAYOR said that the case of Mr. Gregory
had already been under the consideration of the Magis-
trates of the City of London, and the attention of the
Home Secretary had been called to it.
Mr. Wells said that his Lordship must no doubt be
aware that the prison discipline did not apply to persons
incarcerated in the gaol of Newgate on account of libels,
and added that he was determined not to allow the matter
to sleep. Me would either apply for a habeas corpus on
the first day of term, or call a public meeting to address
the Queen, who, he was sure, couldlnot be aware that
one of her subjects was treated so unjustly.
The LORD MAYOR said he would take care the matter
should be inquired to.
MARYLEBONE.
William Crouch, the man charged with the murder of
his wife, and against whom a verdict of wilful murder
had been given by the Coroner's jury, was brought
before Mr. Rawlinson for further examination. On
being placed at the bar, he appeared in a very weak
state, and was accommodated with a chair. He shed
tears, and looked much paler than when before the
Coroner. _ _ _ _

The same witnesses having been examined before Mr.
Rawlinson as gave testimony at the inquest,
Elizabeth Haines, whose evidence was additional, was
called, and stated that she was the wife of Samuel
Haines, and lived at 7, Great Chesterfield-street. The
prisoner and the deceased had lodged at her house. OR
Saturday he went out to look for work. On his return
he was accompanied by a man; she spoke to him, and he
went out again. He returned a second time in about an
hour and a half, and appeared in liquor. She told
him that he was so, but he denied it. He talked
of taking a room, which she told him she thought
was let, and said that he was better as he was, as his
wife had left him. He then sat down, and said, "If it
must be done, it must be done." She gave him some
clothes, and he said, " I shall never want these ; I shall
never wear them." He then opened the bundle, took
out a shirt, and said, " Here's a shirt to wear ! it has
lain in the box six weeks, and she was too lazy to mend
it or sew the buttons on." lie afterwards said, " Why,
the b— 11—, could not she mend my stockings ?" He
went into another room locked his box, and put the key
into his pocket. He shortly afterwards went away
without saying anything. On a previous occasion, about
a fortnight ago, the very night she had left him, he said
he would lie in wait for her, and give her a good hiding;
and if he had had her there then, he would cut her
throat with a razor.
The Magistrate having asked the prisoner if he had
anything to say, the wretched man merely replied, the
mother and sister of his wife had persuaded her to leave
him, and that had undone him. lie had been out on
Saturday drinking, and took more than he could manage.
The thoughts of her leaving him had so wrought upon
his mind that it was more than he could bear. He had
wished to cut his own throat, but the handkerchief pre-
vented it.
Mr. RAVILINSON—Have you any more to say?' Pri-
soner—Nothing more.
Mr. RawuNsoN—Then you are committed to New-
gate, to take your trial.
The crowd around the Court was very great, and it
was with difficulty that the mob could be prevented from
laying violent hands on the prisoner, both on his being
taken to and removed from the Court.

CLERKENWELL.
Henry Williams was charged with obtaining money
on false pretences from several housekeepers.
The first case against the prisoner was that of a poor
woman named Hayes, who keeps a little shop in Peter-
street, Clerkenwell, whose son is a seaman, and went
out to China in the Castor at the commencement of the
war with that empire. The prisoner told the mother
that he had been serving on board the same ship with
her son, and mentioned the name of the vessel. He
added that he had parted with Hayes about two months
previously at Rio Janeiro, and that Hayes had given
him a parcel for his mother, containing two damask
shawls and a letter. He had taken the greatest care of
the parcel, and having been steward on board the
Amelia, which arrived in Liverpool on the 16th March
last, he thought there would have been nothing to prevent
his removal of it. The vessel had, however, no sooner
anchored in the dock than the Custom-house officers
boarded her, seizing the parcel, and refused to give it
unless 14s. 6d., Custom-house fees were paid upon
hit.
The poor woman, upon his promising to send up t e
parcel by railway on the following Wednesday, gave
him the money, which she made up with difficulty. No
parcel arrived, and the whole story turned out to be
fabulous.
The second case was that of Mr. James Alexander
Mathews, a glass merchant, residing in the Dover-road.
To him the prisoner stated that his name was James
Edwards, and that he was second steward on board the
Amelia, which had arrived from the West Indies on the
previous Monday, the sth of last February. He asked
Mr. Mathews if he had not a son in the colonies, and on
his replying in the affirmative, told nearly the same tale as
hi in mat hd
ke
efrocrhmi
eefrs,caa swe ,r
isttiantgi ndgesthkat the
ppaarrccee
parcels
ot cigars. contained ke
was sorry to inform Mr. Mathews that the cholera was
then raging with great violence in the district in which
his son resided. The parcel was detained for 18s. 6d.,
Custom-house fees. This sum he obtained on the same
promise as in Mrs. Hayes' case. They never heard more
of him until his arrest. Mr. Mathews wrote to Liver-
pool, and was informed by one of the officers of the
docks, that there was no such vessel there as the
Amelia, and he (the officer) regretted to say, that Mr.
Mathews was only one of a large number of London
housekeepers who bad been made the dupe of some
swindler, as he had received a large number of commu-
nications to the same effect.
Mrs. Elizabeth Brown, No. 2, Cockpit court, Poppin's-
oourt, Fleet-street, deposed, that on the 22d of Decem-
ber the prisoner came to her, and ask,A her if she had
not a son in the West Indies. She replied in the affir-
mative, and he made the same representation to her as
in the former case regarding the parcel, and obtained
98. 6d. from her ; but the most cruel part of his con-
duct was telling the poor old woman that he had left her
son dangerously ill of„the yellow fever, which grieved
her exceedingly. He told Dirs. Brown his name was
John Phillips.
Two other • elderly women, named Rainsforth and
Burgess, residing in the Borough-road—the one having a
son in Sydney, and the other in New Zealand—deposed