The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-31 00:00:00

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

Darius. Shepherd, a young man fashionably dressed,
and with much the appearance of a foreigner, and wear-
ing mustachios, was charged with wilful damage under
the followinc, circumstances :—Mr. William Robinson,
the landlord' of the Crown Tavern, at the corner of
Glasshonse-street and Marylebone-street, Regent-street,
stated that about half-past 7 o'clock ou Tuesday night,
the defendant presented himself in front of the bar,
and called for a glass of Hollands and water, but
with which he was refused to be served, as he was
evidently then in a state of intoxication. He, however,
persisted in remaining there, causing some interruption
to the business being carried on ; but at length, in a
burst of " indignation," he seized hold of a pair of fold-
ing doors,.and dashed them from him with such tre-
mendous violence that they were torn from their hold-
ings, and two patent spring. hinges -broken, so as to be
past repair, and other injuries done, the estimated
amount of which was between 14s. and 15s.

Mr. MALTBY said, the damage must be paid, and the
defendant was then removed to the lock-up cells, but in
about a quarter of an hour was liberated, the required
vim being forthcoming -through the agency of a friend.
:lenry Stokes, a young man, in the working dress of a
inech anic just having left off work, was charged with
uttering a counterfeit shilling to a boy named William
Bryant, aged between seven and eight years.
It appe,:tred that on Tuesday the scoundrel went up to
the child, who was standing with some onions to sell in
Oxford-market, and asked him if he could give change
for a shilling if a pennyworth of onions were bought of
him. The poor little fellow, who was anxious for and
proud of a customer, joyously answered in the affirma-
tive, and directly held out sixpence in silver and five-
pence in copper, which the prisoner snatched from him,
at the same time putting the shilling in his hand, and
set off running, without waiting to take the onions with
him. The boy instantly put the shilling into his
mouth, and, finding he could bend it easily, was con-
vinced it was a counterfeit one, and ran after the pri-
soner, crying out " StOp thief !" The latter was
stopped, but the sixpence in silver wasnot found on him.
Mr. MALTBY ordered a good shilling to be given -to
the boy, and remanded the prisoner until the Solicitor to
the Mint coulcrattend.
WORSHIP-STREET.

Richard Bottomley, a young man with a pale and hag-
gard countenance, and of very dissipated aspect, was
placed at the bar, before Mr. Broughton, upon a charge
of having attempted to murder his wife and to commit
self-destruction.

The wife was prevented by illness from attending, but
from the statement of the father, a respectable looking
old man, and the evidence of other witnessesiit appeared
that she had been married about eighteen months to the
prisoner, and had lived in constant misery during that
period, ixt consequence of the drunken and dissipated
habits to which he was addicted. The prisoner had on
two occasions sold off every thing they possessed. leaving
his wife in a state of utter destitution, and the last time
he did so she sought protection under the roof of her
father, IA here she had since remained. On the pre-
ceding evening the prisoner called at her father's
house in Ramsay-street, Spitalfields, and knocked vio-
lently at the street door, which was opened by his wife;
on seeing whom, the prisoner drew a shoemaker's knife
from under his coat, and made a rush towards her, but
,she slammed the door against him, and succeeded in fas-
tening him out. A few minutes afterwards, police con-
stable Metcalfe, H 123, was passing the house, when he
saw the prisoner standing on the step brandishing the
knife, and declaring, with dreadful imprecations, that
he was resolved on murdering his wife, and afterwards
cutting his own throat. The policeman seized hold of
his arm, and, after wresting the weapon from him, con-
veyed the prisoner to the station-house. After being
locked up. the prisoner made a desperate attempt to
strangle himself with his handkerchief ; and he after-
wards dashed his head against the wall, and broke out
into such frantic excesses, that it was found necessary to
handcuff him, and to strap him down at full length upon
a stretcher.

The knife, a sharp-pointed and most deadly instru-
ment, which had been recently ground, was produced by
a policeman.
Sergeant Coleman stated that the prisoner was in cus-
tody some time ago for threatening the life of his wife,
and the term for which he was held to bail had not yet
expired.

Upon being asked if he wished to say anything, the
prisoner made a long and rambling statement, to the
effect that the father and friends of his wife had fomented
discord between them, and been the chief cause of their
unhappiness. He admitted being a drunkard, but said
that his wife had no right to complain of his infirmity, as
she was aware of it before she married him.

The MAGISTRATE admonished the prisoner in forcible
language, and said that he should remand him until Sa-
turday next, to consider what would be the best mode of
dealing with him.