The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-10 00:00:00

IKEY SOLOMONS.

Though when it was stated some weeks since
that this Prince of " Fences" was re• apprehended
at Hobart-town, Van Dieman's Land, and was
about to be sent for trial to London, the prin-
cipal scene of his offences, the announcement
was received with derision and incredulity, the
rumour of his capture by the colonial authorities
proves to be true, and his arrival in the river may
be daily expected.
The following particulars connected with his
apprehension have been furnished to us by a
person who was an eye-witness of the transac-
tion, and who has just returned home in the
Susan, free trader, from Hobart-town :
With the unaccountable escape of Ikey from
the officers of Newgate, and his subsequent ex-
ploits in North America, New York, Buenos
Ayres, and the causes of his flight from these
places of refuge, the public are already partially
acquainted, as well as also with the circumstances
which led to the subsequent transportation of his
wife to the colony where he was apprehended.
A short narrative of his adventures since he
fled from England may not be unnecessary, and
prove that thieving and crime are a kind of ha-
bitual propensity that neither climate nor coun-
try can change. Scarce had he arrived in a land
of freedom, and secured an asylum from the pe-
nalties to which he had been subjected in this
country, when the old passion returned, and he
resumed his former iniquitous practices. Not
content solely with those, he entered on another
branch, and committed, in conjunction with two
other persons, an extensive forgery on the na-
tional bank of New York. His companions
were secured and punished, but he, with his
usual wariness and tact, again escaped the fangs
of the law ; and from thence escaped o Buenos
Ayres, where his restless disposition did not
permit him to remain long in quiet. He here
entered into, ostensibly, the jewellery business,
and having a gentlemanly address, and the air of'
a foreigner, made it the medium of negotiating
fraudulent debentures of the local government,
and discounting fictitious stock of the English,
which was then at a premium. The frauds were
at length discovered, and a friendly municipal
having given him intimation that something was
brewing, he started off for Van Dieman's
Land, where he understood that his wife and
family were then residing. This hasty, and
for him very inconsiderate, step was the most
fatal that he could have adopted.

After the conviction of Mrs. Solomons, for
having a quantity of property in her possession,
which was stolen subsequent to the escape of her
husband, considerable interest was exerted at the
Home-office to permit her children, four in num-
ber, to accompany her to her place of destination.
The Government took the application into con-
sideration, and after some hesitation allowed her,
she paying the expences, to take the two
youngest, the one five, and the other two years
of age, along with her ; but peremptorily re-
fused the two elder sons, who were grown-up
young men, to participate in the indulgence.
they, however, were determined to follow their
mother, and embarking in a vessel bound for
Sydney, took with them an assortment Qf goods
suitable to that market. They immediately got
into business, and hired an extensive store as ge-
neral dealers, and here they remained, carrying
on a rather prosperous trade, until the commence•
ment of last January, when they suddenly re-
moved themselves and their stock to Hobart-
town, where, having taken a spacious shop and
concerns in Macquarrie-street, they again re-
sumed business, and conducted themselves with
so much propriety and evident appearance of
integrity, that they succeeded in obtaining the
liberty.of their mother. She, on her liberation
with the two younger children, were living with
them, and business was going on successfully
and creditably until the middle of February,when
Ikey (the father) made 11;s appearance, and took
a part in the concern. His motives for going to
these colonies, which are under British jurisdic-
tion, appear extraordinary, if not fatuitous; but
in selecting Hobart-town in the place of Syd-
ney, he says that he did so from the belief that
there were fewer, if any, of his old acquaintances
at the former than the latter. In the compari-
son of numbers he may have been right, but in
the consequence he was wrong, for though in a
strange and foreign clime he met no lack of old
acquaintances. He arrived on Sunday, the 15th
of February, and on the following day was seen
parading the straggling streets of Hobart-town
with an air of confidence, self•poEsession, and
indifference ; but scarcely did he pass through
one of them, or near any of the Government or
Penitentiary establishments, when he was recog-
nized by his former " pals," and saluted with,
" Oh ! Ikey, my boy, how are you ? Blow me
but I am glad to see you : what 4 lucky
fellow you have been !' While others, point-
ing him out to their friends, remarked—" I say,
there goes Ikey Solomons ; he used to fence
my swag—the rogue, if it was not for him
I should not be here now."

These running comments nothing daunted
Ikey ; he turned a deaf ear to them : he still
continued his business, and during the week-
days drove about in a fashionable English-built
gig. His superciliousness, and contempt of his
former friends, roused their vengeance, and they
gave information to Colonel Arthur, and the
local government, of the personage who had ar-
rived on the island, and of the circumstances
under which he had escaped, and the heavy
charges that were against him in England. At
about three o'clock on Saturday, the 21st, two
constables, in the disguise of out-settlers, came
into his shop, one of whom said he wanted some
tobacco, and the other a pipe. On coming in
they asked for the old gentleman, as they pre-
ferred dealing with him to the young ores.
Ikey, who was behind the counter, started up,
and said, " I am the person," and instantly one
of the men seized him, and said, " You are the
man we want." On his apprehension Ikey
turned as pale as death, and after recovering
from the stupor of a few moments, exclaimed.
" So help me God I am a gone man now ; it's
all over with me. I am done for." He then
made a rush towards a desk at the upper-end of
the counter, on which there was lying a pen-
knife, which he endeavoured to seize hold of,
no doubt for the purpose of committing suicide,
but was prevented in the attempt by the con-
stables, to whose assistance four of the military
who were stationed outside came with drawn
bayonets and fire arms. Having rendered him
powerless, they handcuffed him, and brought
him before the Chief Police Magistrate of the
colony, and after his undergoing a short exami-
nation, and being identified as Isaac Solomorls,
who stood capitally charged in the county of
Middlesex, he was committed to gaol, in order
to await the sailing of a return convict transport
to the mother country.
While in gaol, to guard against the possibility
of escape, he was heavily ironed, and, by a
strange coincidence, the vessel in which he has