The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-08 00:00:00

EXTENSIVE ROBBERIES FROM THE
LEEDS POST-OFFICE.
Much excitement has been occasioned in Leeds and
Bradford by the discovery that several merchants
and manufacturers have been robbed of letters ad-
dressed to them from parties with whom they had
business transactions, some of the letters containing
large remittances of money. It is supposed that the
letters have been obtained at the Post-office by parties
who have represented themselves as the servants of
the firms or persons to whom they were addressed,
but who had no authority for what they did.
A few days ago Mr. Read, the chief-constable of
Leeds, received information that a letter, containing
a bill or draught for the sum of 7441. 15s , had been
sent through the Post-office by Mr. John Atkinson, of
Bradford, to Messrs. Holt, wool-merchants, Leeds,
and that it had not reached its destination. Inquiries
were made, and suspicion fell upon a young man
named John Warren, who some four or five years
ego was in the employ of Messrs. Holt as an errand-
boy. _ _

'Yesterday (Thursday) morning Mr. Read and
Superintendent Grauhan apprehended the suspected
person (John Warren), his brother (William War-
ren), his father (Peter Warren), and a young woman
who gave her name Hannah Leonard, and said she
came from Hull.
Peter Warren, a weaver, of good character, rays
that his eon John told him that he was going to
marry the female prisoner, and he had ordered a
barrel of beer and a quantity of meat and provisions
for the celebration of that event.
The whole of the prisoners were yesterday forenoon
placed before a bench of magistrates, at the Court-
house, when the following- witnesses were examined :
Mr. Atkinson, of Bradford, stated chat on Monday,
the 4th instant, he sent by post to Messrs. Holt, of
Leeds, a bill of exchange, drawn by the Bradford
Banking Company on Jones Loyd and Co., London,
for 744/. 15s.
Mr. Joseph Holt proved the non-receipt of the
lett r containing the bill of exchange. The witness
added—Last night I went to the Leeds Post-office,
and saw the postmaster, who showed me a letter, now
produced, and of which the following is a copy :
" Harrogate, Nov. 6. 1850.
"Herewith you receive a cheque t,ir 4001. and a note
for 501., from your father, which please to acknowledge.
" From your affectionate father,
"THOMAS HOLT."
That letter, which was then sealed, the postmaster
op nod in my presence. It contained a cheque for
4001., and a 501. bank note ; that letter purport., to
have been written by my father, who resides at Har-
rogate, but it is a forgery. I assume from that letter,
and the contents of it, that au original letter had been•
sent by my father to our firm, with that cheque, and
that it had been fraudulently intercepted at the Post-
office, and then the party who had done it, finding
that he could not use the cheque, had enclosed it in the
forged letter above-mentioned.
Mr. Joseph Croft, clerk and cashier of the Brad-
ford Banking Company, stated that on Tuesday
morning last the prisoner, John Warren, presented
for payment the bill of exchange for 7441. 15s. On
being titled his name, the prisoner said it was William
Holt, and that he was of Leeds. He wished to have
the bill cashed in back-notes and sovereigns. Be-
lieving his statement to be true, witness cashed the
bill, and asked the prisoner to endorse it, upon which
he wrote " William Holt." Witness then said to
him that it would require endorsing by the firm of
Holt, Brothers, and he wrote that firm on the back of
the bill. Witness then paid the prisoner John War-
ren the full sum of 7441. 15s. in bank-notes and
sovereigns. (Tae witness then mentioned the num-
bers of these notes.)
Wm. Palmer Ord, cashier at the Leeds Branch
Bank of England, said, on 'Tuesday last, between one
and two o'clock, the prisoner John Warren came to
the bank, and produced one or •'two bank-notes, for
which he wished coals, but as they were London and
Manchester notes I declined. The prisoner then
produced a Leeds Bank of England note for 1001.,
and wished me to cash that note for him. I agreed to
do se, and desired him to put his name and address
upon it. He then wrote upon it the name of " Henry
Watson Brooke," and as he did not add the address
to the name, I inquired of him his address, and he
then gave " Alfred-place." I gave the prisoner the
full change, all in Bank of England 51. notes. He
immediately crumpled up the notes, and was about
leaving the bank without counting them, when I
told him so, and he then opened them and counted
them very hastily. In this way my attention was
called to him. I entered in a book the numbers and
dates of the notes I gave to him, and I have examined
the twenty notes of Si. each produced by Mr. Read,
the chief constable, and they are the same notes I paid
to the prisoner.
Mr. Read, chief constable of Leeds, stated that he
apprehended the prisoner, John Warren, in the house
of his father, Peter Warren. He found the prisoner,
John Warren, at breakfast with Hannah Leonard.
In his left trousers-pocket be found four bank-notes
of 1001. each, and in his right trousers-pocket Dl. or
101. in gold. A key of a box was Bing upon the
table, and witness asked John Warren if that was
the key of his box, and he said it was. Witness asked
him if he had money there, and he said, " No." Wit-
ness then went upstairs, and, on opening the box,
found five Bank of England notes for 101., twenty-
two notes of the same bank for Si. each, and 1301. in
gold. There was also 151. in gold in a purse at the
bottom of the box, which Pater Warren claimed as
his own. He also took from John Warren's finger
a ring, and from his pocket a watch. He likewise
took a gold ring and a silver watch from the girl Leo-
nard, and a silver watch from Peter Warren. Upon
being charged with the robbery John Warren did
not deny his guilt, but exonerated his father from
any knowledge of the affair.
Mr. Prentis, clerk in the Leeds Post. office, proved
tbat the prisoner John Warren had, on the 28th of
October, obtained the letter of Messrs. Stansfield and
Blume.
As there appeared no evidence against Peter
Warren' the father, be was taken out of the dock and
examined as a witness. William Warren was also
admitted evidence.
Mr. Barker, Temperance Hotel-keeper, Briggate,
Leeds, proved that the watch which was found in the
possession of John Warren was stolen from his house
in July last.
It also appeared from other evidence that the pri-
soner had visited Harrogate on Thursday with a
horse and gig, and that he then had 4001. in cash in
his pocket.
The prisoners John Warren and Hannah Leonard,
were then remanded till Monday next, the others be-
ug discharged.

THE DUKE or NEWCASTLE.—The accounts re-
ceived in town on Wednesday evening from Clumber• park
describe the Duke of Newcastle as being in a sinking state,
though free from pain. No hopes of the Noble Duke's reco
very are entertained.

SHOCKING ACCIDENT.— On Wednesday morning,
about half-past ten o'clock, a gentleman, whose name has
not transpired, was proceeding on horseback through Broad-
street, Bloomsbury, when his horse took fright, and before
he could be reined in the animal came into violent collision
with one of Messrs. Soulbv'a coal-waggons, which was
crossing from Drury-lane to luseum-street ; the gentleman
was thrown on the top of bis bead, which was lacerated in a
dreadful manner, and before the waggoner could stop his
horses one of the forewheels had passed over the gentleman's
thighs and over the unfortunate animal, which lay in the
most excruciating agony until the arrival of a veterinary
surgeon, who put an end to its misery. The gentleman was
taken to a surgeon's, when it was found that no bones had
been broken.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.—At the monthly
general meeting held yesterday. at the society's house, in
Hanover-square, Mr. Wm. Yarrell. V.P.. in the chair, his
Excellency the Baron Brunnow, Mr. George Routledge,
Mr. John S. Gaskoin, and Mr. Richard Hartley Kennedy,
were elected fellows, and Mr. Thomas Brooksbank was pro-
posed as a candidate for the fellowship. The report of the
Council states that the number of visitors to the gardens
during the current year has been 344,590, and that there
has been an increase in consequence of 5,6001. in the
receipts, as compared with the corresponding period of
1849. Upwards of eighty animals have been added to the
menagerie, by purchase and donat'ons, since the meeting
in September. The principal objects of interest are
a Polar bear, three grisly bears, and a male brush
turkey (Talegalla Lathanti), of which species the society
had previously only obtained a female. The principal gifts
are a lioness from Mozambique, presented by her Majesty
the Queen of Portugal; a lioness presented by General Sir
Harry Smith, Governor of the Cape ; and a herd of rein deer,
presented by W. C. Domvile, Esq. The first portion of a
collection which has been obtained in Ceylon, by Alexander
Grace, Esq., reached the gardens on the Ist instant, and wilt
be regarded with interest, as coming from a country of
which the zoology is still very imperfectly known. The
first evening meeting will take place at the society's house
on Tuesday, November 12, when, among other papers, Dr.
Mantel' will make a communication on the discovery of a
living specimen of Notornis (a bird hitherto only known in a
fossil state) in the middle island of New Zealand.
LEGAL PROMOTIONS.—Mr. Sergeant Allen, of the

Oxford Circuit, and Mr. Sergeant Wilkins, of the Northern
Circuit, have received a pat,nt of precedence. Mr. Miller,
of the Midland Circuit, will receive the coif. The vacancies
occasioned by the elevation of Mr. Martin, and the retire-
ment from circuit practice of Mr. Whitehurst, have led to
several applications to the Lord Chancellor for silk, but at
present no determination has been made as to which, if any,
gentlemen will be called within the bar.
THE MARINE SOClETY.—Yesterday a meeting of
the governors of the above incorporated society was held at
their offices in Bishopsgate-street, City. for the reception of
boys and general business. The report of the society's
operations during the past year was satisfactory, clothing
and outfit having been provided for 282 poor and destitute
boys, who had been sent into the royal navy, Indian navy,
and merchant service, making up to the present period near
ceEnstqly.,baenend
thus
1001. p rofrvoimdedthfoeriatAe
during the past year 5001. from the late J. Curteis, Esq.,
rsereivoedboyksifyPehaacsocrke,
Alderman Lucas, and a bequest of 9,908/. 6s. Bd. by John
509/: 14s. 2d. by the late Sir C. Wintringham, 100/. late
Massee, Esq., in the Three per Cent. Consols, after the de.
raise of his widow.
Falsehood is often rocked by truth, but she soon
outgrows her cradle, and discards her nurse.—Eliza Cook's
Journal.
FOREIGN GAME.—An importation of a quantity of
game has taken place by a vessel arrived from Dunkirk, con.
signed to order. This is an unusual article of importation
from abroad.