The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-01 00:00:00

THE BANK OF ENGLAND, THE,:
MINI', AND THE- LIGHT SOVEREIGNS.-
On Friday the Governor and the Deputy-Governor of
the Bank of England waited upon the Lord Mayor, in
consequence of, the statement of Mr. Hill, an officer of
the Mint, under the head of Mansion-house, relative to
the issue
.of light sovereigns. His. Lordship received
the gentlemen iu the public justice-room, as it was their
wish that the public should be correctly informed of the
answer to what appeared in
,the form of a complaint
against the Bank.
Mr. Cotton, the Governor of the Bank, stated that he
appeared in consequence of a communication which had
been made to him by Mr. Charles Freshfield, the sub-
stance of which appeared in the public prints of that day,
that Mr. llill, the weigher and teller of the Mint, com-
plained to Sir Peter Laurie that the Bank were using
glass weights instead of the weights which were stamped
by the Mint. Considering the great importance of the
subject, he thought it right •to attend in person,
to explain the facts of the • case, and if 'he had
been • aware of the intention of Mr. Hill to make
the application on Thursday, he would either
have been present himself, or sent some person
to explain why the Bank used weights made of grass.
The facts were these :—When the proclamation came
out in the year 184-2 the Bank had a large amount of
sovereigns which they had received from the public,
each sovereign having been weighed by Mint weights;
some of these sovereigns were, when issued, brought
back to the Bank, and stated to be light. That repre-
sentation was found to he correct, and in consequence of
that fact every sovereign in the Bank and its branches
was -re-weighed, and' upwards of 300,000 sovereigns,
which had been received as full weight, were found de-
ficient, and were sold for re-coinage, by which the Bank
incurred considerable loss. That fact led to the exami-
nation of the Mint weights. and it was found that the
weights which had been used were about four one-.
hundreds or one twenty-fifth part of a grain below the
legal current weight. That was admitted by the Mint,
and corrected in a proclamation having reference to the
issue of new Mint weights. Since that period the Mint
weights had been much improved, but there was still
found so much difference between them that a sovereign
which had been received as current by one of the
lightest weights would afterwards be rejected when
weighed again at one of the heaviest weights of the
Mint, and some of the new Mint weights still differed
one-fiftieth of a grain from the true current eight. In
• order that the weights used at the Bank might be as ac-
curate as possible, glass weights were made, which were
less subject to wear and corrosion from the atmosphere
than the brass weights in common use, and he (the Go-
vernor of the Bank) felt confident that those glass
weights did not differ from. the accurate weight the one-
thousandth part oca grain. He assured the Lord Mayor
that the-only-tinxiety felt by the Bank -was, that the
weights should be as correct as it was possible to make
them, and, in addition, he thought it necessary to state,
that every sovereign now received underwent a second
weighing, and every sovereign received by the Bank
as of correct weight, if found to be deficient was
Cut and. melted, and the loss was sustained ,by- the
Bank. He had sent to intimate to Mr. Hill that
he should attend at the Mansion-house for the purpose
of giving the necessary explanation, and had received
a communication from that gentleman to the effect that
engagement in business at the Mint would prevent his
attendance before the Lord Mayor. He regretted Mr.
Hill's absence, but he should be prepared to justify, upon
all, occasions, the course the Bank had taken to obtain
correct weights. He was quite aware that, in the event
of any dispute, the -question must be determined by an
accurate Mint weight, and -the Bank did not wish to
shrink from' any responsibility.
The LORD MAYOR said he had no doubt that the
public would have, next day, before them a correct state-
ment of the important matter- communicated by the
Governor of the i3ank of England, and expressed his
surprisq.that Mr. Hill should have appeared to make a
complaint against the establishment, without having
given formal notice Of his intention, in order, that it
might have been officially met.

MURDER AND ATTEMPTED

SUICIDE.

On Saturday evening the neighbourhood of St.
Marylebone, was thrown into a state of great excite-
ment by the perpetration of a most dreadful murder,
committed by a man named Wm. Crouch upon the
person of Frances Crouch, his wife, and thi subse-
quent attempted suicide of the murderer. The scene
of the horrible occurrence is Little Marylebone-
street, leading out of Great Marylebone-street, near
High-street.
The murdered woman, who is about 26 or 27 years
of age, had been married to her wretched husband,
who is about 25 years of age, in the month of July,
1842, and had a child, \now about nine months
old. Since their marriage Crouch has led rather
an idle life, acting as a horse-keeper occasionally,
but never being in constant employ, while his wife
was a most prudent and industrious woman, main-
taining him for a part of the time by her labour, and
the assistance she received from her Mother, who is
living, in the situation of a lady's maid, in the neigh-
boarhood. of Wilton-place. For some time they
were living together at No. 7, Little Chesterfield-
- street, but his conduct towards his wife was very bad,
and her mother declined any longer to assist her un-
less she-consented to part from her husband, which
step she adoped about a fortnight since, when the
lodging in Little Chesterfield-street was given up,
the landlord relinquishing I/. rent which was due. Mrs.
Crouch from that time slept at the house of a person
named Ilembury, Corn-dealer, 22, Great Marylebone-
street, to whom she was well known, and during the
daytime left her infant in the care of a female named
Line, the wife of a journeyman tailor, living at the
house of Mr. Davis, circulating library, No. 4, Little
Marylebone-street, at which house the murder was
committed. Crouch still remained at No. 7, Little-
Chesterfield-street, in the room of another lodger,
where his wife, notwithstanding they were parted,
almost daily took the child to him that he might
see it. On Saturday morning Mrs. Crouch
went to chair at the house of Mr. Bubb, bottle
merchant, No. 11, Westmoreland-street, in the same
vicinity, leaving the child, as usual, with Mrs. Line.
On leaving her work, shortly after six o'clock, she
went to Mrs. Line's for the purpose of suckling the
child, and while doing so began to mend a pair of
stockings for her husband. Mrs. Line, shortly after
Mrs. Crouch had entered the room, which is on the
attic story, left it for the purpose of cleaning the
stairs, leaving in the room with Mrs. Crouch her own
child, of about six years of age. While so -engaged
the husband, William Crouch, came up the stairs,
and was allowed by Mrs. Line to pass her and go
into the rode. Ile had not been there, however,
above a minute before Mrs. Line was alarmed by the
loud cries of her child, " Oh, mother, mother !" and
on her hurrying up, and entering the room, she saw
Mrs, Crouch in the act of falling off her chair, with.
the floor,deluged with blood, and her husband stand-
ing by a chest of drawers, wiping a razor with a piece
of rag. On seeing Mrs. Line the murderer instantly
rushed past her, and ran down stairs into the street ; but
she immediately followed him, and raising an outcry
of " stop him," he was stopped, after running about
two hundred yards, and given into the custody of
Sergeant Bennett; 18 D, who came up at the moment,
by whom he was taken back to the hour. On their
return to the afoartment, a most hoirid spectacle pre-
sented itself, the murdered woman being found on the
fLor in a sitting posture, with her back against a turn=
up bedstead, having in her lap her unconscious off-
spring, whose clothes were completely saturated with
her bided, which was flowing from a most desperate
wound in her throat. The child was immediately
given into the care of a female in the house, and re-
moved from the tragic scene. Mr. Joseph, surgeon,
of No. 15, Great Alarykbone-street, arrived in a
minute or two after the discovery of the murder, and,
oa examining Mn. Crouch; declared life to be quite
, extinct, the instrument with which the wound was
infikted having completely severed the windpipe, with
the whole of the arteries and veins of the- neck,
leaving only the vertebrm.
In the meantime the murderer was removed by
Sergeant Bennett and others of ,the police to the
statiun-house in Marylebone-lane, followed by a large
concourse of persons, where, on his arrival, he was
immediately searched by order of Inspector Brown,
when the razor, which was stained with blood, was
found iu his trousers pocket. While searching him
he was noticed to hold his chin down in his necker-
chief, and on Inspector Brown telling him to hold up
his head, it was found that lie also had a wound in
his throat, from which a considerable quantity of
blood had flowed inside his clothes. Mr. Clark, a
surgeon, living opposite the station-house, was in-
stantly sent for, who, on examination, found a wound,
about three inches and a half long, on the left side of
the neck, full one inch deep, and gaping about two
'inches, which extended nearly to the windpipe. Mr.
Clark, finding great difficulty 'in dressing
it in the station-house, had the prisoner re-
moved to his own surgery, where the wound
was sewed up and properly dressed. While dressing
it Mr. Clark asked Crouch how he could have been
guilty of so horrible an action ? to which he replied,
"It's all drink ?" He was then removed , back to the
station-house, where Mr. Joseph had by that time
arrived, when the charge was entered on the sheet as
follows :—" William Crouch, charged with murder-
ing his wife, Frances Crouch, at No. 4, Little Mary-
lebone-street, by cutting her throat with a razor, and
with attempting to commit suicide." Crouch was
then, on the recommendation of a surgeon, removed
in a cab by Inspector Tedman and Sergeant Bennet
to the infirmary of St. Marylebone workhouse, in the
New-road, where he will remain until he is brought
up for examination at Marylebone Police-court.

A. LENGTHENED PAST.—MI; Hay, bi!Eiker, Friar's
Vennel, had two hens, which she kept in a backcourt. But one
of them having disappeared, she suspected petty larceny; and
sold the other to prevent its going the same road. This occurred
more than three weeks ago,. and it appeared the poor bird had
found its way to a cellar to make a nest and lay an egg.
While there, unperceived, a washing-tub had been acciden-
tally placed on the top of it covered over with straw ; and
.there the feathered prisoner lay for twenty-one days,not only
without a morsel to eat, but excluded from the cheerful light
of day: On Thursday last the tub was wanted, aid on re-
moving it chuckie reappeared, reduced to skin and bone
certainly, but still with so much tenacity remaining that she
bids fair,.under careful =sing, to become herself
Dumfries Courier.