The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-12 00:00:00

THAMES POLICE.

DEFRAUDING A GAS COMPANY.—Yesterday, Henry Nicks,
the landlord of the Cricketers public-house in London-street,
Ratcliffe, was charged on a summons with committing a
fraud on the British Gaslight Company, who sued for a
penalty of 101.
It appeared that the defendant was a gas consumer, and
that his bill for the first quarter, commencing in :Ikeptember,
1844, was a very large one, but in the succeeding quarter
the register, as denoted by the meter, exhibited a very great
dionution, and a suspicion arose in the mind of Mr. Grum-
wood, the Company's inspector, that a fraud was being prac-
tised. On the lit of March, i❑ company with another
man, named Coote, he examined the meter in the defendant's
cellar, and found the inlet pipe disconnected from the ser-
vice pipe, and the outlet pipe belonging to the meter dis-
connected from the fittings or pipe leading to the burners• in
the bar, parlour, and tap-room, consequently the meter was
out of action, and no gas passed through it. Another pipe
was connected with the service pipe which led to the burners,
and no register was kept. Any quantity of gas could be con-
sumed without the Company knowing anything about it. It
was also proved that oa a former occasion Coote wished to
examine the meter, and was told their was a fierce dog in
the cellar, which turned out to be false.

Mr. Bucomury sentenced the defendant to pay a fine of Si.
and the costs of the prosecution. The penalty was paid.
MURDEROUS AssAm..T.—Yesterday two young men, named
Thomas Wilmott, a currier, and John White, a cigar manu-
facturer, were brought before Mr. Broderip on remand,
charged with wounding William bridges, a painter and
glazier, with intent to do him bodily harm.
The prisoners have been in custody since the 10th of
February, and the prosecutor, who became an inmate of the
hospital on that day, could not attend till yesterday. It ap-
peared from his evidence that early on the morning of the
10th of February he was in the Globe and Friends public-
house, in Morgan-street, St. George-in-the-East, when a
quarrel took place between him and the prisoners. Wilmott
struck him under the ear, and he returned the blow. A row
ensued, and the prisoners, who struck the potboy with some
hard substance, which one of them had tied up in a handker-
chief, were turned out of the house. A few minutes after-
wards Bridges left the house, and found the prisoners waiting
for him. White struck him with some instrument, which
appeared to be about ten or twelve inches long, on the fore-
head, and inflicted a dangerous wound. He fell to the
ground, and when he rose he laid hold of his assailant, on
which the other prisoner, Wilmott, struck him with some-
thing he had in his hand, supposed to be a stone. He was
removed to the London Hospital, and Mr. Ward, the house-
surgeon, stated that when he was brought there he was
bleeding profusely from an irregular wound on the scalp, a
little above the left brow. The man was for some time in
danger.—The prisoners were committed for trial,

FOOT-RACE FOR 401. ASIDE.-A foot-race, which
excited considerable intlrest amongst sporting men, the dis-
tance being 100 yards, came oft' on Monday afternoon, close
to the turnpike on Sunbury-common, between Mullett, the
Running Tailor, of Staines, and Smith, the Regent-street Pet.
After between fifty and sixty false starts, occupying nearly
three-quarters of an hour, the men went away in earnest,
the Pet having the advantage of the lead by a yard. At
the end of fifty yards both were breast ana breast, when
the Pet shot away, and won by between two and three yards,
performing the distance in eleven seconds. Mullett, who
beat the " Antelope" in a 100 yards race, by only nine inches,
a few months since, near Windsor, was all abroad, and ap-
peared to be greatly distressed in coming in. The odds on
the ground were 3to 2 on the Pet. A good deal of money
changed hands on the occasion ; the metropolitans (a great
many of whom were present) proving themselves a little too
knowing for the yokels.