The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-27 00:00:00

„
••
. • •
. APRIL 97
- 1850

• Mr. Sue-wing, of the NorthuMberland Arms, 77,
`Wells-atreet,aoxford-street, said a—l received aletter -
fadm'Atnerica,- the, 'postage of which was not paid,
rtinal paidals.i-the demand made, thinking that it
from kfrtenda However, I found that the con-
tents were neither more nor less than a lithographed
leite'r, in which *ere the particulars of some schemes
of lotteriei to be drawn next month. The letter was
da'ed William-street, New York, April 2, 1850, and
represented that the holder of a ticket might be en-
titled to 100,000 dollars, less 15 per
.cent., and other
great pecuniary advantages. The paragraph which
led to the application to Mr. Robinson was as
follows , aa'T.
" Parsons des .4ng to invest can remit Bank of Eng-
land notes, or where the amount is less than. 5/., or an
uneven sum, may deposit it with Mess:3. Willmer and
Smith, Thanet-place, Temple-bar, London, or 32, Church-
street, Liverpool, sending me a certificate of deposit
with their order, or in bills on the London or Liverpool
Bank, the amount to be calculated at the rate of four
and three:parter dollars to the sovereign."
This letter was signed " William Russell, agent, '
126„William-street." I called at Messrs. Willmer •
and Smith's, and -saw Mr. Robinson, who represented
them. I complained that I had to pay a shilling fora
communication which ought not to have been sent to
Me at all, and I stated that I should publicly state
the facts to Sir Peter Laurte, in order that the En-
glish public might be put completely upon thelir guard
as to the experiment of embarking in such specula-
tions. Mr. Robinson assured me that he knew nothing
of the party calling himself W. 'Ruud].
Sir PETER LAURIE.-As has been always my cus-
tbm, I sent to Mr. Robinson notice of Mr. Snawing's
intention to appear at the Mansion-house on the sub-
ject, and I received a request from Mr. Robinson,
that he might be allowed time to communicate with
.his principals respecting it. I am glad ttafind that
both gentlemen have attended punctually.
Mr. Robinson said, I am the clerk and agent of
Messrs. Willmer and S'nith. We know nothing of
the letters of the kind received by Mr. Snewing, but
we have a newsplper, and three weeks or a month
ago there came over a vast number of prosp:ctuses
and handbills from America, a ith a communication
requesting that we would circulate them through C:e
country. Knowing that it would be illegal to do
anything of the kind, we sent the papers back, and
when I was called upon by Mr. Snewing I wrote to
Liverpool to nay principals upon the subject, and re-
ceived the following answer :
" Liverpool, April 17.
" Dear Sir,—The explanation of the affair of the lot-
tery, about which Mr. Snowing called upon you is briefly
this:—About a fortnight ago or more we received, p,,r
steamer, from our friends Willmor and Rogers, in New
York, a letter, requesting us to become agents in this
country for the sale of shares in one of the. state I t-
;eri,,,s—we think that of Maryland. There accompanied
an advertisement for insertion to a large extent in

the London papers. It was of course illegal, and we
could not do it. and by the next au amer we returned
the whole of the papers referring t,) the affair. The
acivertiserneat had certainly our 'mines with the premises
here, and at Thanet-place, in London, named as agents,
and where shares and further information could be ob-
tained, but it was never published in this country, and
we could not have supposed that any prospectus or copy
would have been circulated in America until it was as-
certained that we could or would act as agents. We do
not know Mr. Russell, of Now York, at all.
"It appears that Mr. Snewing's anger is very much
misplaced. If he had made an inquiry at either esta-
blishment, he could have ascertained that we were not
acting at all as agents, and have never agree.d to do so,

er authorised the use of our names, and we are
clearly not responsible for what another mats may
publish at 2,000 miles distance. We may observe that
the parties in America have acted in perfect good faith
we believe, and with no evil intentions according to their
notions. Lotteries are legal there in most states, as they
once were in this country; and we bdieve they were
not aware that the sale of shares in a lottery carried on
in another country was illegal in England. —We are, dear
sir, yours truly. " WILLIIER and SMITH.
Mr. G. V. Robinson."
Sir PETER LAURIE—I am very glad that the sub-
ject has been brought forward here; and I consider
the attendance of Mr. Snewing and Mr. Robinson—
the one to state the matter of complaint, and the
other to give an explanation—is very creditable to
both parties. We know that a great deal has been
said about the iniquity of certain German lotteries,
the schemes of which were published all over the
country some time ago, but I did not suppose that
after an end had been put to that system of monstrous
humbug by the press, America, with her high cha-
racter for the payment of money demanded by
equitable claimants, could have taken it into her
head to make an experiment upon our credulity, by
holding out large rewards for the venture of small
amounts. It is necessary to state that lam perfectly
satisfied with the disclaimer which has been made.
My daily experience shows to me that, as steam and
other scientific operations advance, the science of
scheming goes on at as rapid a pace, and I
shall be always most happy to do all I can to obtain
restitution for those who are the victims to the vil-

lanous ingenuity of foreigners, as well as of our own
countrymen.

MARY LEBONE.

Mr. John Lawrence, a fishmonger, No. 2, Mot-
combe-street, Belgrave-square, and who is said to be a
man of considerable property, was placed at the bar
before Mr. Long on the charge, as entered upon the
police-sheet, of "feloniously obtaining possession of a
title-deed or counterpart lease of premises, 2, Mot-
combe-street, the property of Mr. Seth Smith, by
inciting John William Jones to steal the same from
his employer's office, No. 30, Somerset-street, Port-,
man-square.
Tilts MAGISTRATE considered that the case, taking
all the circumstances into consideration, was one of a
very peculiar character, and he could not say at pre-
sent what shape it might ultimately assume; the
" inciting to steal" had, no doubt, been clearly made
out, but not so the felonious intent, with which the
prhoner was charged. It was a matter, which re-
quired full and further consideration, and he should,
therefore, remand the prisoner until next Thursday.
Upon that day another important witness, necessary
to the completion of the case, will be in attendance.
Mr. LONG said he had no objection to the prisoner
putting in bail, himself in 4001. and two sureties in
2001. each, for his being forthcoming on the day
named; he should, however, require twenty-four
hours' notice, in order to afford time for the neces-
sary inquiry with regard to the respectability and
competency of the parties whose names might be

given in.
The prisoner was locked up, and afterwards re-
moved in the usual way in the Government van to
the House of Detention, Clerkenwell.
LAMBETH.

Thomas Bennett G ibbins, who has been in custody

for some weeks on a charge of obtaining enormous
sums of money from the benevolent by fraud and
false pretences, and who, for the last ten years has
lived by the same fraudulent means, was placed at
the bar before Mr. Norton for final examination.

The prisoner, who declined stating anything in
reply to the various charges, was fully committed for

[PRICE 6D.

The MaoisTaAvo directed her to be at once com-
mitted upon the above charge, but ordered her to be
brought up again on a future day, to afford the po-
lice an opportunity to substantiate other charges
against her.