The Sun.
London, England, 1826-04-06 00:00:00

MA NSION-HO USE.'

SINGULAR CASE.—Yestatlay a stout !piddle-aged man,
named Nightingale, was brought before...the , LORD MAYOR,
on a charge of felony.—Mr. Charles Wright stated, that seve-
ral weeks since lie was sitting in the DolphinTliop-hOuse, Lud-
gate-hill, writing a letter, and he took out his watch and chain,
that he might seal it, when the prisoner, who was a customer
there, took them up. as it' in joke, and made off, with them.
Mr. Wright expected they would have been returned, and has
made repeated applications •for that purpose without effect.—
At length he found it necessary to obtain the aid of an offi-
cer to apprehend the prisoner for the ,fefony. Marten, ,the
officer, stated, that the prisoner was one of a firm, named
Nightingale and Co., and that their counting-house *at at
No. 3, Nag's Head-court, Staining-lane. He (Marten) had
waited there for nearly to fortnight in vain, to take the pri-
soner into custody. At length he succeeded, and upon search-
ing his place, he found a number of documents of an im-
portant nature, besides the.duplicate of .Mr. Wright's watch.—
The LORD MAYOR questioned the prisoner closely as to the
nature of his employinttit.—The prisoner said; he was an
agent for the sale of goods manufactured in the country.
About three months ago he , had sold three dozens of
shawls for a person. He assured the Lord Mayor that it was
quite correct that he was engaged as an agent with respect to
bills; but was not desirous of stating for whom. The letters
found in the possession of the prisoner displayed an extensive
system, which will, perhaps, lie soon publicly developed; one
of them, read by the Lord Mayor, was written to the prisoner
from Manchester, by a man named P. Whitehead. It stated,
that it was highly necessary for the prisoner to be at his post,
and to be regular in his measures with respect to the bills, in
order to give confidence to the bankers there—that he must-
open a counting house, and have boxes marked with the words
bills paid, accounts settled, books, and all the externals of bu-
siness--that he must take care to have a seemingly respectable'
reference, and to hold out that they had a house at La Guira,-
and another at Smyrna. It exhorted him to snake as great a;
show of independence as he was master of, for if they succeeded-
in one transaction, both of them would be made cons fortablei-..-
There was a person named Wilson, who appeared to be acting:
with the firm at Manchester; mentioned in the letter; there was•
one letter signed by three parties, who appeared to be of the-
firm, complaining of the prisoner's inattention tnthe perform-
ance of things requisite on his part, and threatening a dissolution'
ofpartnerthip. Another reritained a long list of bins to -to enor--
mous amount, which had been issued hythem. It appeared
that one had been paid in. 'London. With the letters were a
number of flash notes, made to resemble Bank notes, for
two and 'three hundred and a thousand pounds. The land-
lord of, the counting-house occupied •by the prisoner came
forivard, 'and expressed his 'regret that his premises had
been in,the occupation of such a firm ; Aelthin: a: short, time'
persons had been there with bills to the amount of upwards of
10004, which-had not been pull; 'persons;carne there every day
inquiring for Nightingale and Co. He could obtain no rent.—
The Lose MAVoit saia;ft wits evident that the prisoner had
engaged with a nest,of others in a most extensive system: his
Lordship ordered- the prisoner 'to be remanded until Friday,
that further inquiries ma) be made.—The Managing Director
of the Equitable Tea Agency Company still remains in the
Compter, no persons having-made theirappearance to give bail
in the sum of 40!. each to answer for his appearance.