The Sun.
London, England, 1821-12-25 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGESU.

.•
•GUiLDHALL.—(A LEGAL DIEEICULTY.)-111 the course
of a cause (Shiells and Co. v. Russell) which came oR for hear-
ing in the Court of Common Pleas at Guildhall on Saturday,
before Chief Justice. Dallas, the report of which was inserted in
our paper of yesterday, two witnesses, named John Painter and
John Nightingale, examined on the part of the plaintiff, were
directed by the Judge to be prosectited for perjury, and in con-
sequence taken immediately into custody.
The mere direltion of the Judge that these witnesses should
be prosecuted would not, it seems, necessarily have implied that
they should have been taken into custody; the commitment,
therefore, if any commitment was ordered, would have been
for Contempt of Court, in which case they should have been •
• taken 'into custody by the officer of the Court, viz. the Warden
of the Fleet. By some mistake Drinkwater, one of the City
Officers in attendance, took charge of them, lodged them in
Giltspur-street Compter, and in this way they were brought up
yesterday for examination, anong the rest of the prisoners, be-
fore the Sitting Magistrate, Mr. Alderman Birch.
Mr. 11 tISIPIIRE es, who attended as solicitor for the prisoners,
inquired upon what charge, and upon what authority they were
in custody, when it appeared that no formal commitment of
any kind had been made out ? The only warrant Mr. Teague;
the Keeper of the Compter, could produce for holding them
being the certificates signed by .Mr. Ccx, the associate, that the
Chief Justice had directed that they should be prosecuted for
perjury, and assigned JoSeph Green Walford, Esq. as Counsel
for Mr. Russell, the defendant in. the cause, who, by his At-
torney, had undertaken to carry on the prosecution. against
them. Under these circumstances, their Solicitor contended
they were in custody illegally, and upon no proper authority ;
and intimated that they might -have .their action for false im-
prisonment.
The Solicitor for the prosecution intimated that a charge of
felony might be preferred against them; but the parties were
not present, nor did he know that they would be willing to
prosecute. -
On the other hand, the prisoners' solicitor was willing that
they should give bail for their appeaearice to plead to, and an-
swer any, indictment that might be preferred against them ;
' but their bail was net in attendance, and if they 'had been,
the Solicitor for the prosecution would'not consent to accept
them, without time allowed for inquiry into their responSibility.
The City Solicitor was called in, but no other alternative pre-
sented itself, except that the prisoners should consent to remain
in custody till bail was procured and accepted ; and accordingly
they were at their own Tequest remanded until Thursday next.
Bow-SyugET.—Yesterday, a young man, calling himself
Henry Peeke, was charged under . the 52 Geo. II i. cap. 155,
with ' unlawfully, maliciously, and contemptuously" disturb-
ing the congregation at the Great Queen-street Chapel, during
the time of divine service on. Sunday evening.
Elizabeth Dyer, a pew-opener at the Chapel, stated that the
defendant and several other young men had for a long time past
been in the habit of coming on a. Sunday eyening, for no other
purpose than. to " ogle the girls," and laugh and talk during
the time the service was going on. Several of the other sex,
too, she was sorry to say, behaved with equal indecorum, and _
the Chapel. was Made rather a place for flirtation and love-
making, than for divine worship. On Sunday evening last she
saw the defendant and another man " ogling" as usual, and
when they were applied to upon the subject, one of them burst
into a " horse-laugh."
Mr. Elworth, a respectable inhabitant of the parish; serving
the office of constable, stated-that he had repeatedly seen the
defendant conducting himself in the most indecorous manner
in the chapel, and he had him in custody for that offence in
January, 1820, when he was suffered to go at large, upon- a
representation that he was just going to a 'situation in the
country. On Sunday evening he resisted being taken into
custody, and made so much noise, that a crowd of at least
100 persons collected about the doors ; the congregation 'were
much &armed, and the Minister was stopped in his discourse.
The defendant had .nothing to say-
Sir R. BIRNIE said, that perhaps the defendant was not aware
of the provisions of the Act of Parliament, upon which he was
brought here, although he nun: be conscious that he was be-
having extremely wrong, and he would therefore read one of
the clauses for the information of him and others of the same
class.. The Worthy Magistrate then read the clause, which
sets forth that any person " unlawfully, Sec-disturbing a reli-
gious congregation, shall be required to give two sureties of 501.
each for his appearance at the Sessions, and there, upon convic-
tion, be fined in the sum of 401." He' (Sir R. B.) therefore
called upon the defendant to give these sureties.
The defendant was not prepared, and was committed until he
found bail to that amount.

APPREHENSION OF A DARING SMUGGI.T.II.—It
has been ascertained that there were sixty in the gang of smug-
glers who were concerned in resisting the Officers hi the Pre-
ventive Service, in the desperate affray which took place on the
2d day of September last, near the Marsh Bay. Fifteen of
them carried tiro arms, and eleven of them•are in custody, two
of whom have turned King's evidence, A man of the name of
Daniel Fagg was supposed to be one of the gang ; he was sus-
pected some time since of having committed a robbery, and
when some constables were in pursuit of him on that charge,
he escaped from them by. swimming across a river at Canter-
bury, and he had been heard to say he would not be taken
alive. • However, Bond, an active Constable belonging fo 'Bow-
street, not intimidated by his reported threats, undertook to go
in pursuit of him, he having previously apprehended six of them.
Yesterday se'nnight he received private mtbrmation that Da-
niel Fagg was in a house et St..Ntildred's, in Canterbury ; he
repaired there, accompanied by two =able and powerful men,
expecting that he' should have a violea.and desperate charae.
ter to encounter. • To guard against an escape he stationed one
at the front and the other at the back door. Bond contrived
to gain admittance into the house, but not without having
used a considerable degree of management and maneeuvring,
and proceeded with all speed to search the' house, having no
doubt but that Daniel Fagg was in it. In the lower part he
heard a noise, which he had no doubt arose from the falling or
rattling of bricks. He followed the noise, and found it pro-
ceeded- from making an aperthre through the wall under the
cellar stairs into the adjoining house, which no doubt had been
previously arranged and prepared a the officer found Daniel
Fagg stripped to his waistband in•ordeeto avoid being held,
and he made a desperate resistance, but Bond at length sire-
ceeded in securing hiM by handcuffs, and conveyed him to Mar-
gate, where he underwent an examination before .the
Acting
Magistrate. From the evidence produced he is suspected to be
the man who attacked Lieut. Garr, wrested his sword from
him, gave him a desperate wound on his head and forehead of
about three inches in length, and afterwards threw the Lietitee
nant's sword into Pluck's gutten—a•The Lieutenant was knocked
doaeie and supposed to be killed with the wound ; however .it
did not prove mortal. . The final examination of the prisoner
was postponed to a future day, owing to the absence of Lieut.
Carr, who is in Devonshire. In the meantime Fagg is to be
confined on board his Majesty's ship Severn, under the com-
mand of Capt. lll4Culloch. -
POACHERS.—On Sunday night the 9th- inst. it
'will be recollected, between the hours of 12 and 1 o'clock,
Henry Judd, gamekeeper to Thomas Asheton Smith, Esq.,'
accompanied by six assistants, were attacked •in Ashdown
Coppice at Tidwortif, in Hampshire, by a desperate gang of
poachers, consisting of five•or six men, armed with guns and
other weapons,one of whom shot at and killed Rob. Baker, one
of the assistant gamekeepers. - The desperate gang were not
content with having committed ' that miirder, but they fired at
Henry Judd, the gamekeeper, and Noyes, Martin, Jackson;
Pinner, and Holmes were badly wounded, and some of them
dangerously. The poachers 'Made a precipitate retreat, after
having committed their horrid deed, towards Quarley, leaving
two of their guns. Mr. ASITETON SMITH made every pos.
sible exertion to pursue the murderers, and offcred a reward
of 1001. for their apprehension ; but not being able to treee
them out in the country, he sent an express to Sir Ricmann
BIRNIE, at Bow-street, fel- the assistance of an active officer,
when Taunton was dispatched. Taunton went in pursuit of
the villains for some time night and day, and has at length
succeeded in apprehending two of the gang, who prove to be
Edmund Steele and James Turner, two well-known men as
labourer in that part of the country. They have undergone
several examinations before the Magistrates at Andover, and
were finally committed last Wednesday to Winchester Prison,
on a charge of the wilful murder of Robert Baker. The pri..
soner Steel has turned King's evidence, and from his confession
it appears that the gang of poacher's consisted of five. The
other three not in custody 'were labourers; who worked in and
about Andover.
TAMFEItING WITH SERVANTS.—A Gentleman
of Leicester town has stated to us the following
circumstance, which we conceive deserves being.
made as public as possible, for we do not know
a greater nuisance than that of tampering with
servants : they may well assume to themselves
such airs, when those who ought to teach them
better, condescend to such servility :—lie en-
gaged a servant as cook, at eighteen gpineas per
annum ; a fortnight previous to her entering upon
his establishment, •a lady offered her something
more ; she of course declined going to the former
place ; the bargain had hardly been made, when
another, knowing she was hired, actually bid
her two.guineas morel and a new gown extra!
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