The Sun.
London, England, 1828-03-10 00:00:00

HOWARD THE CONVICT.

Another attempt was
,made by Howard, to
decoy a gentleman, .with a large slain of money in
his possession, into' the same chamber where he at-
tempted the assassination of Mr. Mullay, a short
time: before that event, and.had very nearly proved
'suecessful. Howard called on Mr. Massey, gold-
smith and bullion dealer, in Leadenhall-street, on
Saturday, the 26th of January, and stated to him
that he had a quantity of gold and silver in his pos-
session, which he wanted to dispose of, the following
list of which he produced :—A gold cup, 9 oz. ; a
crucifix, 16 oz. 13 dwts. ; 70 doubloons (old) ; 36
ditto (new) • 207 Spanish dollars • *4B five franc
pieces; 16 sitildores, and 215. rix-dollars. This,
he said, a moiety of the property in his
possession, btti: the other half belonged to another
person, in conjunction with whom he had made the
purchase in another country. He observed to Mr.
Massey, that he had formerly dealt with Mr. Smith,
of Cornhill, and about. twelve years ago had made
a sale to Mr. Massey himself of a smaller amount.
Mr. Massey had no objection to make the purchase,
which was between five and six hundred pounds,
for which he was to pay ready money, and
agreed to call on Howard, at No. 36, Red Lion-
square, the ensuing Monday morning. Mr. Massey,
accompanied by his clerk, accordingly. called at 11
o'clock on Monday morning, and were taken up to
the top of the house, to the very room in which, a
few days after, the attempt was made to assassinate
Mr. Mullay. Howard. then stated, that the pro-
perty was at that instant in the possession of his
partner, who had advanced him between 2001. and
300/., which must be repaid before the matter could
be finally settled. Mr. Massey now began to enter-
tain no very favourable opinion of his customer ; the
situation of the room to which he. was taken, which
he had before attributed to its being the place where
the property. was deposited, now appeared to him
very extraordinary, as well as the non-production of
the property itself. Howard requested that Mr.
Massey would call on him the next day, when
his partner would be. in attendance with the
coins and bullion. To this invitation no favour-
able reply was given; and Howard perceiv-
ing that Mr. Massey was disappointed, said to
him, " It may appear strange to you, Sir, how we
became possessed of such a quantity of coin and
bullion, but the fact is, it has, been all pur-
chased from pirates;' but howe'ver dishonestly it
might have been obtained in the first instance, our
transactions have been most honourable, I assure
you." Mr. Massey, on hearing this account, refused
to call again. Howard, however, was not to be
easily repulsed; he called upon Mr. 'Massey, and
pressed him to come to Red Lionssquare, where he
assured him the property was ready for delivery on.
payment. Mr. Massey, however, positively refused
to go there again, telling Howard, that if he wished
to make a sale to him, he must bring the property
to his shop. It is scarcely necessary to add, that
this determination on the part of Mr. Massey. put an
end to the negotiation. It is believed that Howard
had an accomplice, and that if Mr. Massey had paid
a second visit at Red Lion-square, with the money
for the purchase, even though accompanied by his
clerk, they would probably not have returned alive.
Mr. Massey declares that he never saw -any 'place
under a roof in the metropolis so much`adapted, by
its locality, for the commission of m4der:.
Since Howard's committal to Newgate several per-
sons, who have been plundered by a man whose de-
scription resembles that of the convict, have been at
Neu-gate to see him. Of those six or seven have
identified him as 'the individual who plundered them.
To one gentlemen, a laceman inßond-street, he in-
troduced himself at Paris in the name of English,
representing him Self as a general agent between Paris
and London; and recommended: himself so strongly
by his accomplishments as to secure a warm invitation
to. Bond-street. No soorier,. however, was be esta-
blished as a visitor, than he contrived to obtain pos-
session of 2001. worth of lace,, and made off towards
the Continent. By the activity, however, of one of
the partners, he was overtaken at Dover, and stripped
of the lace, which he was carrying concealed on his
person. A pretty. girl, with whom it appear's he
has been some time acquainted, has called' twice at
Newgate to see him, but without effect : no other
human being has ever asked after him, except those
who have been robbed, and who suspected that it
was to his ingenuity they were indebted. Some
persons, in their determination to make Howard a
rival of John Thurtell, declare that they have been
concerned together in devising plans of robbery, and
that the bloody disposition. of the one was as Com-
pletely established as that of the other.

EXECUTION OF FIVE MEN ON

WEDNESDAY.

Five unhappy creatures are (loomed to expiate
their crimes on Wednesday morning next, on the
scaffold in front of Newgate—three for the offence
of robbing i►► the dwelling-house, under very aggra-
vated circumstances, and two for horse-stealing.
The three for robbing in the dwelling-house are
named Charles Mclford, aged 18 years, William
Melford, aged 21 years, and Jeremiah Sullivan,
aged 28 years. The two former are brothers; they
were convicted on two indictments in January last,
and in the last indictment Sullivan was included.
The two Melfords, on Sunday morning the 9th of.
December, entered the house of Mr. Pring, a cheese-
monger, No. 9, Plumber's-row, Shoreditch, when
his wife was left alone in the house. They Pre-
tended that they wanted to buy some cheese, when
W. Melford presented a pistol at her head, and
threatened to blow her brains out if she gave an
alarm ; Charles then said, "It is your money we
want—do not be alarmed—we won't hurt you, but
we must have your money." They then rifled the
drawers up stairs, and took property, in cash, &c.
value between twenty and thirty pounds. When
they came down stairs they produc©d a cord, and
were about to tie the hands of Mrs. Pring, but she
begged them not to do so, and promised she would
not stir from the place for half an hour. They
were both identified and convicted. The second
indictment charged the two Melfords and Sulli-
van with a robbery in the house of Mary Anne
Norbuu•y, who keeps a fish shop, No. 5, 13irchin-
lane. . William Melford had. some time before been
in the service of Mrs. Norbury. Ile and the other
two prisoners entered her shop, on the evening of
the 11th of November, when a young man, named
Tibbs, was alone in the house. They had some
oysters, and inquired of Tibbs whether Mrs. Nor-
bury was at home, and being informed that she was
at her father's, one of them instantly shut the door
and locked it ; and William Melford, at the same
moment, pulled out a pistol, which he presented at
Tibbs, saying, " Don't speak a word—l won't hurt
you—we don't want any thing of you—we only
want your mistress's money." Charles Melford also
drew a sword from a stick, and Sullivan pulled out
a pistol, and said to the shopman, that if he made a
noise he would blow his brains out. They then
broke open several drawers, from which they took
5/. in money, and several articles of plate and linen;
after which they tied the shopman hands and feet,
and left the house.

Part of the stolen property was found in their
possession, and they were identified in the most po-
sitive manner, and found guilty. The Recorder, to
mark his sense of the enormity of the pritioner's
conduct, instead of allowing them to remain to re-
ceive their sentence at the end of the Sessions, with
the others convicted, called them up for judgment
immediately after the second trial, and warned them
not to indulge the slightest hope of znercy. Their
demeanour, while in confinement, has been ill suited
to persons in their awful situation--even subse-
quently to their conviction, their conduct was
so violent even towards eaeh other, that for
sonic time it was found necessary to place them
in a more than ordinary degree of restraint.—
Charles Melford, the younger brother, was the con-
triver of a desperate plan for breaking out of New-
gate, a short time since, but fortunately the inten-
tion was discovered before an attempt was made to

carry it into effect. It appears that 'they have ne
father living. Their mother, who; it seems, is re•
spectably connected, has been unceasing, in her ap-
plication! and endeavours to obtain aFOintruitation
of the sentence passed on her unhappy offspring, and
petitions in their favour, numerously and respect-
ably signed, have been presented-'in the,
highest
qtiarter, but without effect.
Jeremiah Sullivan, aged 28, who- Was.. their
partner in crime in the robbery at- -Mrs.-Nbrbury's,
had been employed in the Prevontive Service, from
which he was discharged about R year before, and
afterwards became a patient in Guy's Hospital. It
was here, it appears, that his acquaintance with the
Melfords commenced, Wm. MelfOrd being also a
patient of the Hospital for a disease, by which his
countenance was so completely disfigured, that Mrs.
Norbury, in whose employ he had lived as waiter,
about two years before, was unable•to recognise him
as the same person. For some after the two
brothers were apprehended, Sullivan remained in
concealment in a lodging he had previously occu-
pied, at a public-house near the hospital. On
Christmas eve, the day before he was taken, his
landlady seeing a Police Report of the examination
at Worship-street, immediately recognised, in the
description of the Melfords, the two brothers, whom
she hall known as Sullivan's companions. She ac-
cordingly intimated her suspicion that he was the
person mentioned as the third robber. He endea-
voured to quittt her suspicion by an assurance that
"he did not earn his bread in that way." He- was
apprehended on- Christmas day, by Flarley, of Wor-
ship-street.
Chapman and Johnson, the two men for horse-
stealing, are about 40 years of age. They were seen
at Marshfield, in Gloucestershire, on the sth o Oc-
tober last, and on that night, a Mr. Jones and a Mr.
Bone, both residing. at Marshfield, had each a mare
stolen out of their fields. The prisoners were ap-
prehended.in London by officers,,of Worship-
street,two
mares
stht
o possession
11th of
October,
of the
pr
and
itheyione
prisoners,
whoon
tracer} he
the Bth Oct. arrived in London with them, and put
them ap at a stable, and gave orderittbat they should
be shod. They were found guilty onn-both indict-
ments. The usual sermon to the •condeMited was
preached yesterday, at-the chapel of Newgate, by the
Rev. Mr. Cotton. The culprits have been visited by
Mr. Cotton and Mr. Biker, who have humanely
urged them to prepare, by repentance, for the transi-
tion that so sooh awaits them.