The Sun.
London, England, 1826-09-13 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

BOWSTREET.—A case of bastardy was yesterday brought
before Sir Ricsuatn Btaxtz, at the instances' of Mr. Rickardyi,
assistant-oversee of St. Martin's parish. The.rank of the de-
fendant, and the seeming respectability of the female, caused Sir
Richard Birnie, contrary to his usual practice, to intimate to the
parties that he, would attend them in his private room, in order,
if possible, to effect an amicable. arrangement between them, it
being understood that the gentleman intended to dispute the right,
of the lady and the parish officers to bestow on him the appellation
of father. The worthy Magistrate, however, after being closetted
nearly half an hour with the parties, was unable 'to effect an
adjustment, owing to the determination with which the defendant,
refused to accept of the honour intended him, and the case was
then adjourned to the Oldie office.
Major Alin Pr4get Sweeniy was Called upon accordingly to
show cause why he shottld not maintain a female child, of which
he was the reputed father, and which was now become chargeable
to the parish of St. Martin.
The mother of the child, Elizabeth Ireland, otherwise Mrs.
Mountain, a pretty woman, fashionably attired, in a silk Opera-
cloak, and hat and feathers, was :then desired to take the book,
which she did, with a trembling hand, and deposed, that she was
delivered of a female child, on the 15th of November, 1825, at
Villiers-street, Strand, and that Major John Paget Sweeney now
preaent, and to whom she pointed, was the father. She had been,
she said, acquainted with the defendant since the year 1819. The
child was baptized at St. Martin's Church, in the name of
Georgiana Augusta.
Major Sweeney said, that he had searched the Church Registry,
and found no such baptism entered there.
The overseer said it was duly entered in the book, and he him-
self had seen it.

Major Sweeney (to Mrs. Mountain).—How long since has
your husband, Mrs. Mountain, been in the habit of sleeping
with you?
Mrs. Mountain.—My husband has not slept with me for a long
time.
Major Sweeney.—Ho he not slept with you in Villiers-street,
and aka at 43, in the Haymarket ?
Mrs. Mountain. —No, he has not ; for he generally came home
late at night, and I constantly Slept on a sofa at 43, in the Hay-
market. •

Major Sweeney.--Nave you not declared repeatedly, in the
presence of witnesses tr,v present, that Mr. Mountain was the
father of this child ? _ . _

Mrs. Mountain (earnestly)—No; I swear I never said so.
Major Sweeney.---I beg, Sir Richard Birnie, to note the answer
to the question lam now about to put. Did you not acknow-
ledge, in the presence of a gentleman now present, that Mr.
Mountain was the father of your child?
Mrs. Mountain.-1 never stated that I had any children by Mr.
Mountain.

Major sweeney.—Where is Mr. Mountain at present?
MEL Mountain.---T don't know.

Mr. really do not see that those questions have any
thing to do with the case. The lady hai distinctly sworn that
you are the father of this child, and our duty as magistrates is
simple anti straightforward.
Major Sweeney.—But, with submission, your worship, if I
can prove that she has sworn falsely--
Mr. IlAnns.—Unless you can prove an alibi, and that being
beyond the seas or elsewhere, at the time when the alleged inter-
course took place, or unless you can prove that the lady is Un-
worthy of belief, having been convicted of perjury ou another
occasion, your preseUt defenee, in opposition to her direct oath,
cannot avail you, either here or eliewhere.
Major Sweeney.--But if I eali prirrei—
Sir Ricumso littome.—Thettruth is this, Sir, if we were to
go into the case at the length which you seem to desire, we shoUld
be too long before we arrived at a conclusion.

Major §weeney—But if I could prove that she has slept night
after night with her husband.
Sir RICHARD BtuNta,--You may appeal to the Sessions against
our decision if you please, and bring your proofs there.
Major Sweeney—She says,the. slept on <the sofa in the Hay-
market. I have been repeatedly in the room she refers to, and I
know there was no sofa in it at the time •he means.'
Mrs, Monntain-4ndeed there was.

Sir 11. thin► is foreig►► to the point. - The truth
is, the case is quite a chandler's shop concern--quite a tnatter of
debtor and creditor. It appears that the child is distinctly sworn
to ; and it also appears that it has already' been an expellee to the
parish of Ma. You are therefore adjudged, Major Sweeney, to
pay 6e. weekly to the parish for its support.
Major Sweeney then retired, evidently mortifiedoleclaring that.
ha would appeal against the Mag►strate's decision.
Sir It.loar. acknowledged the receipt of hi., frietn.serne
hu-
mane individual, inclosed in a letter, sigtuled Ignotus:' .to be
plied to the necessities of the aged foreigner, Dyts, whose case we
noticed last week. It was suggested by the charitable writer, that
the money Might furnish him with a licence to sell hie little wares
in. the streets.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.—Yesterday Thomas Bond,
one of the toll-collectors at the Knightsbridge turnpike gate, ap-
peared before Mi. Rot and Mr.•CoratiT, the Magistrates, to
answer the coMplaint of Mr. HayitzThe nature nes', medical gentleman, resid-
ing in Upper Charlette-street, Vroy-square. ture of

th; eomplifrit was this ::---that. Mr. Haynes pays 'art annual duty
is the post-horee duty office for the korse to his carriage, where
he receives. ticket,whiekfrees him fOr the year through the turn-
pike gates, to save the.delay of *topping to pay the toil every time
ha goes through a gate, and perhaps at the time in a hurry to
visit a patient in an extreme ease of life .nr. death, and to qualify
hint to pass free it is only necessary teat he shoat show this
ticket to the person at the gate 4 On the day on which the
complaint was laid, Mr. Haynes happened' accidentally to have
mislaid the ticket'; but as he was perfectly well-known at this
gate to posses one, and ahnoSt In the daily habit of passing
and showing it, lie, thought h of little consequence not having
it about him on tide occasion; but the defendant refused' to let him
pus the gate unless he Showed the ticket or paid the regular toll,
which he was of course obliged to pay, and besides this extortion
Mr. Haynes complained that the defendant was exceedingly inso-
lent, and refused to give his name.
A solicitor who attended for the defendant, took an objection to
Mr. Haynes being permitted to give any evidence in the case, as
he was the complainant, and consequently an interested person, as
being entitled under the Act of Parliament to half of the penalty.
Mr. CoNAWT, the Magistrate, seemed inclined to think that
although this objection would be good in the ease of a regular in-
formation having been laid by Mr. Haynes, yet as it was only
a were verbal complaint, Mr. Ilaynee was. not disqualified as a
witness.

.The solicitor
,contended, that the complaint, although verbal,
Would be followed an case of a conviction, with
,the same conse-
quences al a reular information,, and Mr.- tiaynes would he
equally entitled to half the penalty, ay if he had laid one in the
usual form.
Mr. Rot and Ali: CONANT both ultimately concurred in the
solicitor'n view of the ease,
and Mr. Haynes's eifidenee WAN disal-
lowed, as being entitled to' half the penalty.
Mr. Haynes then called his coachman, to support by Ilia evi"
deuce the complaint, having been present on the occasion of the
alleged impo*itioo, but he was not sullieitntly acquainted with
.what had occurred.

Mr. Haynes, who' evinced ,tinteh irritation, and, indeed indig-
nation, that a principle of right and justice should be upset by a
mere technicality, now proposed to forego all, claim to the half t)f
the penalty, and then of course.he could not be, considered as in
any way an interested witness, although under any circumstances
he spurned the idea of being considered in any other way in-
terested thorn for the public gond, and his own protection againat
'
Mr. CONAilt avid, That he thought this oiler ,to relinquish
all share of the penalty ought tomaks ,Mr. Haynes a competent
witness.

Mr. llott seemed inclined to the
ly so as Mr. Conant. same opinion, hut not so strong.

The solicitor submitted that Mr. Haynes could not by any offer
or act of his, take himaelf pot of
he hail once made his complaint, and the defendant had pleaded,
w "r".l`
he west still ; the Act of Parliament. When
'i'biett to the objection against an interested
witness in law, although perhapli not in fact; in ahort, he could
not now place himself in any other situation than that of a corn-
plainant or informer, not meaning the
latter term in any offensive
sense.

The Magistrates teemed still to lean to the opinion that Mr.
Haynes Was competent;
journ the case*to a future day,
but they would consider it more, and ad-
Mr. Haynes said, that it might he law, but it did not appear to
him to be either justice or 'common sense, to say that a man was an
interestod witneSs, because lie yeas to weice a part of the penalty,
and still that he was interested, because he was not to receive
it, inasmuch as he had given up all claim to it; but to have done
with the matter, as there seemed to be so many obstacles in the
way Of bringing these turnpike people to justice, he wooid let it
drop if the defendant would make an apology fur his impertinence,
and refund the amount of the imposition.
•The Magistrate, as wall as kis own solicitor, advised the de-
foulant to accede to these terms. The latter, however, said that
he was disposed-to refund the money, but he would certainly make
no apology.
Air, Haynes then said that he would call for the decislon of :the

Magistrates as to his competency as a witness after relinquishing
hit shave of thepenalty, and Thuriday next was appointed to de-
cide the matter.

Mr. nor'eaid, that it was a very erroneous idea of Mr. Haynes,
for even had he in this case, instead of being the coMpleinant
himself, made his coachman, or, indeed, any body elg,e,.
lay a regular information Against the defendant, then he, Mr.
Haynes, would have been, beyond all doubt,-a competent witness.
Mr. Haynes said, that the Insolence of the toll-takers at this
gate at Knightsbridge was beyond all endurance. It was only the
other day that an elderly lady residing in Sloane-street, was passing
through that gate in a carriage, and in paying the toll, she
acci-
dentally dropped a halfpenny in the mud, it being a very wet day,
and the fellow who was receiving the toll actually refused to take
up the halfpenny, but insisted that the lady herself should get out
of her carriage to pick it up, or else give another, which latter
course she was necessarily obliged to adopt. He, Mr. Haynes,
was determined also to have a communication with Mr. Levi, the
lessee of the trust, on the subject of the insolence of the men he
employs.
By common law, informers entitled to a part of the pe-
nalty, are not competent Witnesses ; but almost every penal statute
has expressly made the informer or complainant a competent wit-
ness, as the only mode in nine cases out of ten of preventing justice
from being defeated and even at common law the rule has some-
times been broken. It is, however, a great omission in tlie new
turnpike act if it does not contain this qualification.
UNION.HALL-7-On Tuesday evening, between seven and
eight o'clock,'a man named Rayner attended before the Sitting
Magistrate, R. J. CHAMBERS, Esq. for‘the purpose of meeting a
charge of felony preferred against him by woman named Walker.
He said that the above-named female accused him of havingetolen
a 101.. note ; that she had him apprehended, and brought before
Mr. Roe, of Marlborough-street Office, whO declined entering
into the circumstances from some cause or another that he (Ray-
ner) could not explain. He was then sent to Bow-street, in cus-
tody, before Sir Richard Milie, who also made some scruples in
hearing the case, directing that he should be brought over to this
office. On his quitting the office •at ,Bow-street, however, he
found that the watchman who had him all along in custody,
sneaked off, leaving hint perfectly at liberty to go where he liked..
Rayner then proceeded •to state, that anxious to clear his cha-
racter from imputation, he had voluntarily come up to meet the
alleged charge, and to prove his innocence.
Mr. CHAS/HERS—Where is the woman Walker ?'if she does not
appear, you may walk away.
Rayner said, that he had been in attendance for some length of
time, but did not think the female who accused him of having
robbed her was in the office.
The Magistrate directed that she should called. One of the
officers then hollowed forth the name of Walker three times, in
an audible voice. •No answer having been returned, Rayner was
told that he might go about his business as soon as he pleased, no
one appearing to make any charge against him.
Rayner—My reputation is gone, Sir ; a heavy charge is laid at
my door, and I have come here to disprove it. Walker accused
me of stealinia'lol. note; the accusation has appeared in, the
public paper*, and I humbly conceive that she should lie com-
pelled to attend to substantiate it.

- Mr. CHAMHERS...—I cannot compel her to attend. You leave
this office perfectly free of any imputation on your character.
What trade are you?
Hayner.—l am a shoemaker, Sir, and live in the parish of
Lambeth.

" Then I would advise you," said the Magistrate, " to go home
and mend your shoes, and not bother your head • any more about
the business." Rayner then left the office.

An untbrtunate inaniac named Lydia Janes, supposed to have
escaped front some lunatic estaldishinent, was placed at the bar.
Her wild appearance evinced the dreadful malady with which 'she
was afflicted.

A watchman stated, that on the previous night the wretched
woman made a most violent attack on several persons passing
through High-street. She also approached a shop, and dashed
her fists, which were cut in a dreadful manner, 'through several
panes of glass. On his proceeding to secure her, for the 'purpose
of preventing further mischief, which; she seenied. bent On, her ef-
forts to escape were astonishing, no less than six .men having been
engaged in the task before it was accomplished. • After having
given an immensity of trouble, she was at length lodged in a place
of security; and brought up to this office,
Mr. CH.A.MBIRS, desirous of ascertaining who or where she •
came from, approached, the place in which she was confined, and
began to question her. At first she answered hint good naturedly,
which induced the .Worthy Magistrate. to draw still closer the
moment, however, he was within arm's length of her, she made a
most violent blow, at his face' ; hitt fortunately be drew back, and
received no farther injury'. then a Slight scratch,: one of her nails
coming in p.tritaet with the side of his. nose. She then became
Completely, outrageous, and during the paroxysm was placed in a
coach, one of the officers being directed to see her taken into the
parish workhouse until her late abode should be discovered.