The Sun.
London, England, 1829-10-17 00:00:00

BOW-STREEP.

The new police are beginning to bestir them-
selves in putting down the disorderly public houses
that abound in the district of this office—a course
which had never been effectually pursued under the
old system, owing chiefly to the apathy of parish
officers, and the notorious corruption of the nightly
watch, who it is well known were in the habit of
receiving bribes from publicans and brothel keepers,
which were given not only with a view to purchase
their silence, but to secure their assistance whenever
occasion required. The Commissioners of Police
gave directions to their officers to report to them
such of the public-houses within this division as were
notorious for serving liquors at unseasonable hours of
the night to the thieves and prostitutes whom they
were in the habit of harbouring. In compliance with
these directions, several informations have been pre-
ferred against the :proprietors of disorderly public-
houses, and yesterday two of them were disposed of
by the sitting Magistrates, Mr. MINSIIULL and Sir
R. BIRNIE.

Edward Syrelt, landlord of the Sun and Apple
Tree, White Hart-yard, Catherine-street, Strand,
was charged, upo❑ the information of Police In-
spector Giles, with having, at three o'clock on the
morning of Sunday, the 11th of October, unlaw-
fully suffered persons of notoriously bad character
to drink and tipple in his house, contrary to the
terms of his licence, and to the statute in that case
made and provided.
The defendant pleaded " net guilty."
Inspector Giles having been sworn, stated that
in consequence of information obtained by the Com-
missioners of Police with regard to the disorderly,
manner in which the defendant's house was con-
ducted, he received particular directions to watch it,
and accordingly, at three o'clock on the morning of
Sunday, the Ilth instant, he went into the parlour,
accompanied loy Seijeant Wood, now present, and
found at least 40 persons, men and women, assem-
bled there.

Sir R. BIRNIE—What description of persons
were they 2—The Inspector replied, th it the women
were all prostitutes, and the men had all the ap-
pearance of being thieves. Having consulted with
Serjeant Wood as to how they should act, it was
determined to clear the house, which after some
difficulty was effected. A gentleman, named Me-
rod, who said he was a solicitor, had, by some
means or other, found his way to the house, and was
sitting on a chair in the parlour in a state of intoxi-
cation. He was turned into the street amongst the
rest, and was knocked dotlii and robbed of his hat,
and 14/. in Bank notes and sovereigns, almost op.
posite to the door, by some of the persons who had
just left the house.
Serjeant Wood corroborated the above state-
ment, and

Joseph Chapple, a patrol, added, that some of
the men whom they found in the parlour were en-
gaged in tossing money, and others were at some
game in which they were using chalk upon the table.
The defendant pleaded that be was in bed at the
hour named in the information. He declared that
he had himself given directions to one of the new
police to clear his house on the night in question.
As to persons of notoriously bad characters, he
never harboured such to his knowledge.
Sir R. BIRNIE said, that the case was fully proved
by the evidence of the officers, who it appeared had
acted under superior orders.
Mr. MINSIIULL said, that in order to teach the
defendant that he was not to violate the law with
impunity, he should he fined to the fullest extent
which the law allowed.

The defendant was accordingly fined $/. together
with costs, and ordered to be detained until he paid
the money.
The next information was against Ann Hood,
widow, mistress of the orfolk Arms, in the
Strand. The offence imputed to her was of a like
description, and the hour and morning were also the
same.

Police Serjeant Perry deposed, that P.t three
o'clock on Sunday morning, 11th inst., be was on
duty in the Strand, when one of the patrol came
and told him that there was a disturbance outside
the defendant's house. He (witness) accordingly
walked past the house, and hearing persons talking
within, he looked in and counted 25 males and fe-
males, who had all the appearance of being thieves
and prostitutes. Witness sent one of his men
to advise the defendant to turn out her company
and close her house. She kept it open, however,
until half-past three o'clock, and then witness counted
27 persons who left the house.
Sir R. BIRNIE—Can you take upon you to swear
that the men were reputed thieves, and the women
prostitutes ? The Seijeant replied, that the men
had every appearance of being thieves, and some of
the women he knew to he prostitutes. Their lan-
guage was the most horrible he had ever heard. All
the women appeared to be in a beastly state of
drunkenness.

A patrol corroborated the Serjeant's evidence.
The defendant, in reply to the charge, urged that
She was a poor widow, with six children to support.
She was in the habit, she said, for several years, of
providing the compoitors and printers of the Morn-
ing Chronicle with refieshments during the night;
and in the time of Parliament, she was often kept
up until morning. On the night in question she
had just sent over some tea to the printing room,
when several men and women rushed into the house,
and she was obliged, in order to get rid of them, to
serve them with what they wanted.

Sir R. BIRNIE observed, that the witnesses had
sworn that the company remained in her house fur
at least half an hour. It was not a sufficient excuse
to urge that she kept open for the accommodation
of printers. That plea might be attended to, per-
haps, if the accommodation had been limited to
printers only.
The defendant was then convicted in the mitigated
penalty of 40s. and costs.
A person named Levy, a Jew dealer, residing in
Warren-street, Fitzroy-square, was charged by a
Mr. Benjamin, a jeweller, of Bury-street, St. Mary-
Axe, with having, in conjunction with a person
named James Dewsbury, robbed him of goods to
the amount of 401. and upwards.
The facts of the case, as detailed in evidence, are
briefly these :—ln the course of last week, Dews-
bury, who is not in custody, introduced himself to
Mr. Benjamin, and bargained with him for a gold
watch,:for which he agreed to give 18/. On Wed-
nesday last Benjamin took the watch to the house
of Levy, where Dewsbury was residing. 11e showed
him the watch, and he (Dewsbury) took it up
stairs, for the purpose, as he said, of showing it to
his landlord, Levy, and getting his opinion upon it.
He then returned to the parlour, and Mr. Benjamin
showed him several valuable coral necklaces, ear-
rings, &c., which he carried about him for the pur-
pose of sale. These, together with the watch,
Dewsbury took ❑p stairs, and in a few minutes Levy
came down to the parlour where the complainant
was waiting, and showing him a mourning ring, kept
him in conversation while Dewsbury made his escape
from the house in his morning gown, with the whole
of the complainant's property. The complainant
swore distinctly that Levy fastened the parlour-door,
in order that Dewsbury might escape without de-
tection.

The prisoner solemnly denied the charge, and
said he knew nothing whatever of Dewsbury, who
had been his lodger for one week only, and had con-
trived to rob him during that short period.
Mr. MINSIIULL said, that the mildest course he
could pursue would be to hold the prisoner to bail,
in two sureties of 40/. each, and himself in 801., to
answer any charge that might be preferred against
him at the Sessions,

UNION-HALL.
Yesterday Craig, the officer, who was directed to
look after the girl of the town who robbed a gentle-

man of 165/. in a brothel, in Canterbury-street, re-
ported to the Magistrates, Mr. HONE and Mr. EL-
YARD, that be discovered her lodgings on the pre-
ceeding night, and on inquiry ascertained that she
had abandoned them after the robbery, and the man
with whom she cohabited assisted in taking her
clothes, &c., away. From further inquiries, it is
strongly suspected that the girl and her paramour
have absconded together, and left town altogether.
The officer, however, has not yet given up the hope
of apprehending the guilty party, and the whole of
yesterday he was occupied in the search, accom-
panied by Mr. Porter, who has a perfect recollec-
tion of the girl's features, and therefore can imme-
diately identify her.
In the course of the day information was given to
the Magistrates, that on Wednesday night, about
12 o'clock, as a Mr. David Guthrie was proceeding
home, he was knocked down near the Elephant and
Castle, and robbed of a gold watch, chain, and seals.
The thief was rather a tall man, and was marked
with a deep scar on the right cheek.