The Sun.
London, England, 1828-04-01 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGMICK.

GUlLDHALL.—Yesteriay Henry Child, an agent in
the Insolvent Debtors' Court, was brought before Sir PIETER
LAURIE, charged with stealing a document belonging to the
records of the Court of King's Bench.
Mr. Horne, the deputy signer of the writs from the
King's Bench, stated, that yesterday morning the prisoner
came to his office, and asked to examine the prcecipes in
the Michaelmas vacation, for London. Witness knew
there was a fictitious prceeipe on the file, which he had
produced in the Insolvent Debtors' Court, and which, from
the proceedings there, he expected he should be called
upon elsewhere, as the Metropolitan Law Society were
about to move upon it in the next term, that two attorneys
named Black and Rushbury, should be struck off the roll.
He therefore watched the rile carefully, and, before he
handed it to the prisoner, ascertained that the said precipe
was safe. The prisoner took it to the window, and

some persons coming in upon businesg, the deponent's

attention was drawn away ; but he noticed that
he did not examine the slips of paper one by one, but
turned over several without stopping to read them, as if he
was already aware of the place where the prcecipe he wanted
would be found. The prisoner kept them five minutes, and
they returned them immediately ; after which, witness
looked over them, and missed the fictitious preecipe before
mentioned. lie ran out into the Temple, and found the
prisoner conversing with the man whose handwriting the
fictitious prcocipe was believed to be (a clerk at Mr. Rush-
bury's). The prisoner was seized and searched, but the do-
cument could not be found.

The prcecipes which the prisoner had examined were pro-
duced. A pracipe is a slip of paper containing in a few
words the substance of a writ, merely the names of the
plaintiff and defendant, the nature of the action, and the
name of the plaintiff's attorney.
Sir PETER LAURIE understood that the object of steal-
ing this document was to destroy the evidence upon which
the Metropolitan Law Society intended to proceed ; but be
did not yet know what object was to be obtained by forging
that document.

Mr. Horne explained, that it was to enable a person to
take the benefit of the Insolvent Act without going to
prison, or without any real suit being instituted against
him. It was a trick frequently played off while Sergeant
Runnington was in the Insolvent Court. When an at-
torney has prepared a writ, it is signed at the office, and
he leaves a summary of its contents, or pracipe. The writ
is afterwards taken away, and the prcecipe remains to be
referred to upon all after proceedings. In the present in-
stance, without any writ having been obtained, a pnrcipe
headed " Hutchinson against Wilcox " was wafered in
among the rest by some person who pretended to examine
the file. Sham bail was put in, as if some person had
actually been arrested, and in due time an authenticated
copy of the preccipe was sent from the Signer's Office to the
Insolvent Court, to show that process had issued against
Wilcox, who sent the usual notice to his creditors. The
solicitor to one of them came to the office, and discover-
ing that the file had never passed through the previpe,
but that it had been wafered into the place, inquired for
the affidavit of debt. None could be found, and there
remained no doubt that a writ against Wilcox had not
been issued. Nevertheless he had proceeded as far as
getting his petition before the Insolvent Court, and, in el-
milar cases, where the creditors have deemed it useless to
offer any opposition, persons have cleared themselves of
their debts without suffering an hour's imprisonment.
The prisoner said he had formerly been an attorney's
clerk, and admitted that he met Mr. Hulbert, Mr. Rush-
bury's cieik (who is suspected to have written the fictitious
pnecipe), just after he quitted Mr. Horne's office. He
submitted he was not guilty of stealing a record ; for, inas-
'much as there war no action, the piece of parer was not a
pnecipe or record.

This was evidently a good objection as to its not being
a record of the King's Bench ; but having been produced
in the Insolvent Court, and its nature ascertained, it was
a question whether it might not be deemed to relate to a
matter begun or depending, with respect to the motion
against the solicitors, and the prisoner was remanded for
further examination. He strongly denied having stolen
the paper.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.—.I person of very re-
spectable appearance and genteel address, who gave his
name .John Montgomery, but who, it appeared, is more
generally known as Colonel and Captain Montgomery, was
yesterday brought from St. Giles's watch-house before Sir
GEORGE FARRANT, the sitting Magistrate, charged with
uttering a forged 10/. note ou the Bank of England, know-
ing the same to be counterfeit.

The prisoner, who was very fashionably dressed, being
placed at the bar, Mr. Newby, a silversmith, residing in
Soutltampton-row, Bloomsbury, was sworn, and deposed,
that on Saturday, the 22(1 of March, the prisoner, who was
totally unknown to him, came to Lis shop, and selected
half a dozen silver tea-spoons and a pair of sugar-tongs,
which he said he should purchase, and desired that they
might be put aside for him, and that he would call again to
pay for them in the course of the day. He did accordingly
come again on the same day, and handed apparently a
genuine 101. note of the Bank of England, the same now
produced, in payment for the articles, which he took away
with him, Mr. Newby giving hint the difference in change
between the price of the spoons, 8c;!. (21. 45.) and the note.
The prisoner wrote, as his name and address, on the note.
" Mr. Gordon, 29, Marchmont-street." In the course of
his business Mr. Newby paid away the note the next day,
and shortly after it found its way to the Bank of England,
where it was pronounced to be a forgery, and returned as
such in due course to Mr. Newby. Inquiry was then made
after Mr. Gordon, in Marchmont-street, but no such person
was at all known there, and the prisoner being a total stranger
to Mr. Newby, the latter had nu clue whatever to his dis-
covery. It happened, however, that on Friday last an ac-
quaintance called in upon Mr. Newby, and the subject of
the forged note being mentioned to hint, together with a
description by Mr. Newby of the person who passed it,
his friend said that, from the description, he had no doubt
but it applied to a Colonel Montgomery, of whom, it
seems, he already had some knowledge. Search was now
made to trace out Colonel or Captain Montgomery, but it
was unsuccessful until Sunday last, when Mr. Newby
learned that the object of his search was that day on a
visit at the house of a tailor in Great Ormond-street,
Queen-square; and accordingly a watch was set upon
this house, Mr. Newby himself taking his station at the
back of the house, which leads into a mews, while he
placed a friend to keep an eye upon the front. The
watch was kept up without any effect the whole day, until
about seven o'clock i❑ the evening, when Mr. Newby
observed the prisoner come out of the back door and
make his way quickly down the mews; and on his seeing
Mr. Newby, he took to his heels and ran off with all pos-
sible speed. The prisoner hung a very strong and active
man, Mr. Newby dreaded losing him, and set up a cry of
" Stop thief," which brought several to join in the pur-
suit ; and, after a considerable chase, the prisoner was
overtaken and lodged in the watch-house.
The note was now put in, and Mr. Freeman, one of the
Bank Inspectors, who attended, declared it to be forged in
every part.

The prisoner was remanded until Thursday next.
Furzeinan, the watch-house keeper, said that the pri-
soner was considerably agitated while in the watch-house;
so much so, that it was deemed prudent to have a person to
sit up with him all night.
It is understood that a vast number of forged 101. and
5/. notes have of late been presented at the Bank, but no
clue has been had to the utterers.

UNION-HALL—Yesterday James and Charles Gan-
der, and a female named Gardner, were brought before
the Sitting Magistrate, M. SWAB —, Etiq., charged witk
having excited a disturbance in the house of Mr. Wilson,
landlord of the Waterman's Arms, iu Stangate, and vio-
lently assaulted two of the Bow-street patrol.
The defendants were committed for the riot and assault
upon the patrol while in the execution of their duty.

The brig Agnes is at present taking in a valu-
able cargo destined for Calcutta, consisting of wines in
wood and bottle to a great amount, bottled malt liquor, and
a variety of general merchandize of British manufacture.
This is the second vessel that will sail direct from Leith to
the East Indies.—Scotsman.

ANECDOTE OF DR. —. —The following
anecdote—and we have every reason to believe its authen-
ticity may be depended upon, has been communicated to us
verbally :—When Dr. --, a celebrated clergyman in
the Church of Scotland, and one who has acted a most con-
spicuous part on what he himself would term the right side
of the Apocrypha Controversy, was a little urchin at
school, his venerable father was Minister of a country parish
church, and his brother officiated as master of the parish
school. The bellman, as the story goes, had been for some
time indisposed, and at List expired. Our young hero
was the first to learn the intelligence of his death. He
immediately' hastened to his father to apprise him of the
event. " Father," exclaimed the witty youth, " I've good
news to tell you the day," " Fats this now ANDREW," said
the worthy clergyman. " The bellman's dead," rejoined
the young urchin. 46 And do you call that good news, you
little rascal," rejoined the venerable Pastor. " It's surely
that," replied the embryo Doctor of Divinity : " fur ye
have the kirk, and WILLIE has the kehool, and I'll get the
bell ; and then we'll hae it a'anion's."—E/yin Ccurier.