The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-03 00:00:00

SOUTHWARK.

Henry Joseph Ktlierby, a youth of 17 years of age, appren-
tice to a printer in the City, was brought before Mr.Cotting-
ham, charged on suspicion of being the writer of anonymous
letters addressed to several families residing in the borough
of Southwark, threatening the lives of the parties, and also
inclosing poison for the purpose of destroying them.

It will be recollected, that in the course of last week the
churchwareens of St. George's
.parish, Southwark, made an
application at this Court on the subject of anonymous letters
received by several of the parishioners, and amongst those
producel was one addressed to Mr. Stead, the parish clerk,
the writer threatening to set fire to the church if he did not
announce to the congregation on Sunday some vile insinua-
tions against the character of a Mrs. Spriggs, residing in
White-street, in the vicinity of the church. In consequence
of the application to the Magistrate, two officers of the de-
tective police have been engaged in the discovery of the affair,
and the result of their inquiries was the apprehension of the
prisoner, on suspicion of being the person who had trans-
mitted the letters containing the threats, as well as the poison,
to the parties to whom they were addressed.
The prisoner is rather a decent-looking lad, and on being
placed at the bar, he evinced no fear or alarm at the position
in which he stood ; he was accompanied to the Court by his
father, who is a tradesman in White-street, nearly opposite
to the residence of one of the persons to whom a letter con-
taining poison had been recently sent.
Mr. COTTINGIIAM inquired the nature of the evidence im-
plicating the prisoner in the alleged charge of sending the
threatening letters to the parties who made the complaint.
Sergeant Kendall, of the detective police, made a state••
ment to the effect that a memorial was transmitted to Sir
James Graham some tine ago, which was afterwards placed
in the hands of the Commissioners of Police, and that it con •
tabled a representation of the state of alarm into which the
writer and his family had been thrown in consequence of the
threats of an anonymous writer. The document. which was
signed by a brother of the accused, on being placed in the
hands of the detective officers, was found to bear a strong re-
senablanceto the writing in the anonymous letters, and this
fact led to further inquiries, in the course of which some
writing of the prisoner's was procured, which bore such a
similarity to the offensive epistles as to create a very strong
belief that he was the writer of them. On arecent occasion it was
also ascertained that a letter had been posted in the Minories,
and that the prisoner was seen near the place about the time
at which it was dropped in the letter-box.
Here several anonymous letters were handed to the magis-
trate, and amongst them one by Mr. Samuel Clouter addressed
to his daughter, containing about three-quarters of an ounce of
poison, and which ran thus :

" Sept. 5, 1845.
"My dear Elizabeth,—lf you mix the white powder I
have inclosed in the letter you will find it very delicious. It
has come from France. I will call in a few days. Mind you
mix the powder directly you receive it, and you will find that
it has the flavour of the melon."
Mr. Corrmietinm compared the writing of the above note
with a specimen of the prisoner's handwriting recently pro-
duced, and remarked that the resemblance was certainly very
strong.
Evidence was then adduced that the powder containel in
the letter had since been analyzed, and was found to he
oxalic acid.
Another letter was read by the magistrate, addressed to a
Miss Elizabeth Spriggs, describing that the writer of it was
aware that exertions were made for a discovery; that he was