The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-11 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

Charles James, alias Fitch, alias Thompson, who
has been a considerable time in custody, was finally
examined before Mr. Broughton, the magistrate, upon
several charges of swindling.
Different parties of an exceedingly numerous gang
of male and female swindlers, who have been for
many years in the habit of victimising landlords and
tradespeople in all quarters of the metropolis and en-
virons, have been for several weeks under examina-
tion here, and in the course of this week no less than
seven of them have been committed for trial, on
charges of felony and conspiracy, and one of them
for forgery. The prisoner now before the magistrate
was stated to be the son of one of the others, named
William Johnson Thompson, but the charges against
him were entirely distinct from the rest, and they
have been reported as they occurred. The following
is a brief outline :

The prisoner, who is a smart little fellow of im •
posing address, hired a house at Notting-hill, belong-
ing to a gentleman named Gyles, resident in Burton-
crescent, and father-in-law of Mr. Ballantine, the
barrister, and he signed a written agreement for three
years' occupation, stating himself to be an individual
of fortune, keeping a couple of hunters, &c., and de-
sirous of j ust such a house in the vicinity of London.
The house being partly furnished, Mr. Gyles em-
ployed a van to remove the furniture to his own resi-
dence in Burton-crescent, but just as they were
loading the van the prisoner arrived, and pretending
to take a fancy to some of the articles, pro-
posed to purchase the whole, and they were
accordingly left on the premises, the prisoner pro-
mising that if "his lady," who, he said, was then in
the country, did not approve of them, he would send
them to the prosecutor, free of expense. Having
thus obtained possession of the house and furniture,
he drove about in a hired four-wheeled chaise, accom-
panied by a confederate, who passed as his groom,
and levied contributions upon the tradespeople about
Kensington and the neighbourhood, the " groom "
representing him, " in confidence," to be a young
gentleman of good family and large fortune, just re-
turned from college and commencing housekeeping ;
and having obtained large quantities of goods in the
course of a few weeks (to the amount, it was said, of
3001.), they shut up the house, and absconded,
stripping the house completely of the pro-
secutor's furniture, and even of some of the
fixtures. The prisoner was lately apprehended
at lloxton, by Brenan and Cole, of the
G division, who found him in a poor lodging at a
shell-fish shop, and in his possession an immense
number of tradesmen's bills, a number of pawn-
biokers' duplicates, and no less than four written
agreements for houses which he had taken in different
parts, where he had played much the same game as
above-mentioned. It was stated also that he had been
previously convicted. He was now committed for
trial upon five different charges.
Mr. Vann, a solicitor, applied to the magistrate for
an order to the officers to deliver up the duplicates,
and other things not identified, but the magistrate de-
sired him to communicate with Mr. Humphreys, the
solicitor for the prosecution, intimating, however, that
such things as were not required in connexion with
these charges ought to be restored.