The Sun.
London, England, 1828-09-09 00:00:00

HOAX EXTRAORDINARY.

A hoax of rather an extraordinary character, in
which an incipient actor performed le premier role,
was yesterday played off in this town. In order
that our readers may unilerstand the. plot of this
serio-comic performance, it will be necessary briefly
to narrate the following particulars :—Our hero is
an interesting youth, between sixteen and seventeen,
under the pupilage of —, a celebrated tragedian
in London, with whom he at present resides. Pre-
paratory to his appearancevon the. London boards, he
has been for some time practising at the provincials,
and in the course of the last season performed seve-
ral times at our theatre. During his stay here it
was, that he became smitten with the charms of
Miss M— W—, a stay and corset maker, of
precisely his own age, and living in Thames-street.
This lady, it seems, listened to his vows of eternal
attachment, et cetera ; and, when the time for their
painful separation arrived, pledges of a reciprocal
passion were mutually interchanged. A long corre-
spondence ensued, which was continued up to a
short time since, when in consequence of the gentle-
man fancying he perceived something approach-
ing to a growing coldness on tlir part of the
lady, he deserted from his quarters in London,
and set out for Windsor without the know-
ledge of --, and soon discovered that his
frail fair one, during his absence, had been receiving
the attentions of a more fortunate suitor. The slight-
ed swain, in an interview with the lady, discovered
that her affections were changed, upbraided her for
inconstancy, vowed vengeance against his rival and
his mistress, and declared that he would not survive
his disappointment. A regular scene followed, and
the result was, that yesterday morning at eight
o'clock, our gallant went to the shop of Mr. Lewis;
druggist, Eton where he said that he wished to put.
chase some laudanum. It is a practice, among che-
mists and druggists, never to sell laudanum, or other
deleterious .rugs, without being previously satisfied
of the use to be made of them,. and in consequence
very minute inquiries ,are generally made. In the
present instance, the young gentleman gave so plau-
sible an account of the medicine being required.foi a
youth sixteen years of age, who was labouring under
some complaint of the bowels, that the slightest sus-
picion of its being intended to make an improper use
of it did not exist fora moment. About I I o'clock the
Rev. Mr. Mealey received a scrawl, requesting; his'
immediate attendance in Thames-street ; Mr. Mealey
immediately despatched Mr: Cobbet, the parish clerk,
to the place appointed, who found our young gentleman
in bed wringing his hands, in apparently extreme agony,
and requesting that Mr: Mealey would come imme-
diately, as he had something of importance to com-
municate. On further interrogation lie exhibited
the half-ounce phial, with the words " laudanum—
poisen" legibly written thereon, and declared that he
had swallowed the contents. Mr. Mealey, on being
made acquainted with this circumstance, very judici-
ously sent for medical assistance. Two medical men
arrived, and immediately administered a large dose ,of
sulphate of zinc, which failing to excite vomiting, the
stomach pump was had recourse to, when, on ex-
amining the contents of the stomach, not the least
quantity or slightest appearance of laudanum could
be detected. This circumstance, combined with the
fact that the patient, although in a state of mental
excitement, did not exhibit any of the usual symptoms
of a person laboUring under the effects of poition, in-
chiced the medical gentlemen speedily to come to the
conclusion, that, notwithstanding all his assevera-
tions to the contrary, they had been completely
hoaxed, and that their patient had not taken poison.
but that he had adopted this courseas a ruse to mollify
the lady. To give ft greater air ofreality to his assertion,
however, two sealed lettei a were placed upon his table.
On beineopened, the one addressed to his parents,
after thanking them affectionately for their parental
Solicitude, went on to state what lie had done, and
that M— W—, was the cause of it ; saying that
tchkaatdletvteeiry he should
emphatically;)-DE be—ADly-0D Ete
receivedrd
boenfaorrkeirtiligeyt
he
second letter was addressed to W— herself,
setting forth all his wrongs iii the most heroic terms,
and prayed her forgiveness hereafter! Some time
having elapsed, and the young impostor, .complaining
of feeling sleepy (as well as lie might, not having
been in bed during the previous night), one of the
surgeons present remarked, that that was an invari-
able symptom of laudanum ; but that on no account
whatever was the patient to be allowed to go to
sleep—and threatened that, if he attempted to in-
dulge he should order a horsewhip as a stimulant.
In
.a few hours the hopeful youth gave up the pre-
tence of being ill altogether, although he stoutly
persisted in his former statement of Navin'taken
the laudanum, which he said he swallowedb on the
Hundred Steps; and lie was finally sent to London
by the coach, under the care of a friend.--Bucks
Gazelle of Saturday.

01101101 rfIAZER, formerly a Major in a
Highland Regiment of Pencil)les, who has since resided for
some years in .Canada, was last ws-ek examined before the
Sheriff of Greenock, on a charge of having defrauded 11.
number of Highlanders, on pretence of taking tlWkAlt and
their families as emigrants to Canada., where they were -to
receive grants of land. The details of the transaction, as
given by the unfortunate sufferers, were heart-rending.
The Colonel having impressed their minds by his represen-
tations with the immense advantages of emigrating to
Canada, entered into an engagement to take them out at
so mnch a head, men, women, and children. The poor
people, besid,s giving him all the money they had saved,
also delivered over to hint all their cattle, to be sold to pro-
vide funds for the payment of the passage-tone-, and
having sold off the rest of their stock and household goods,
came to Greenock, at the time appointed to embark. The
disappoiatment vas extreme when they found that no
vessel was provided, and that the grossest deception had
been practised. On their representation of the facts FRAZER
was taken info custody, and admitted that he bad received
207/. for the poor people's cattle, against which he attempted
to set off expenses. The Sheriff committed him to prison,
arid hall laid the cave before the Lord Advocate.