The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-27 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.—Yesterday' several
Irish male
and female children, who have been long beggars about the
streets, were brought before the Lord Mayor. They were
aged from nine to thirteen.
The officer appointed to the task of apprehending va-
grants is an elderly man, and the prisoners are in the habit
of playing him many tricks. They have been constantly
to be seen about the 'Change presenting matches for sale,
to escape the disagreeable. alternatiVe of being 'apprehended
as vagrants. The condition in which they appeared was
just such as is calculated to excite the strongest compassion.
They were half • naked and barefooted, and they used to
place themselves at equal distances from each other, so that
one did not encroach upon the begging beat of the other,
and they formed a most serious nuisance to the-men of busi-
ness in the neighbourhood of 'Change. The officer had
frequently driven them away, but they put out their tongues
at him when they found that he intended to take them into
custody ; and one of them, a girl about eight years old, was
always mocking him. He at length, however, with assist-
ance, contrived to secure several of them.

Upon going to the habitations of their parents, he found
that the fathers and mothers were generally living in a most
comfortable manner, and that they were in the habit of
sending out the unfortunate children to beg, in order to
support them in idleness. Money was found in the pockets
of most of the little vagrants.

The mothers readily-found Irish excuses for the conduct
of their children, who were, they said, picking up a know-
ledge of business which they could not learn at home.
It was stated that many of the female children who are
in the habit of infesting the neighbourhood alluded to, are
prostitutes.
The officers mentioned that the language used by the
whole batch was such as even to give ofreme to the hack-
nied prisoners in Giltspur-street Compter.
The Lord Mayor sent some of the prisoners to gaol, and
others of them to their parishes.
GUILDHALL.—One of the churchwardens of St.
Ann's, Blaekfriars, attended upon summons, to show cause
why they refused to pay John Harper, rile keeper of the
Bridewell Hospital engine, the reward of 30s. for bringing
the said engine first to a fire in a chimney in the house of
Mr. Plastrier, of No. 7, Crescent, New Bridge-Street, on
the 6th instant. There was a claim also of 20s. for St.
Bride's, as the second engine, and 10s. for the Norwich
Union as the third.
The case was before Mr. Alderman ANst.EY on Satur-
day, but complainant did not produce any witnesses to
prove that there was a fire, and the hearing was therefore
adjourned till yesterday, when one of the watchmen of
Bridewell precinct swore, that at about 10 o'clock at night
he saw a great many sparks come out of the chimney, and
he gave an alarm to the Bridewell engine-keeper. The
Waterman to the coach-stand in Bridge-street made oath,
that flames and sparks emitted from the chimney for ten
minutes. The fire at one time rose three feet above the
chimpey-pot, and the illumination was such that a pin
might have been found on the pavement. He ran for the
Hand-in-Hand engine. The engineer of St. Bride's also
swore that he saw a great quantity of sparks fly up from
the chimney.
Mr. Plastrier said, that two Meads bad arrived that
night from ;Brighton, and the servant was cooking some
mutton chops, when she accidentally spilled some fat into
the fire, and set light to the loose soot in the chimney. She
communicated the fact to him, and his son went upon the
roof, and, seeing some sparks corning out of the chimney,
he called for a jug of water, which be threw down, and
then covered the chimney-pot with a blanket. There was
no flame at all, and Mr. Alderman Ansley bad stated, on
Saturday, that there must be flame to constitute a fire. It
had been so decided at Marylebone also, where Mr. Raw-
linson had warned some firemen-that he would have them
indicted for a conspiracy the next time they swore there
was a fire because some sparks flew out of a chimney. A
little extra wood put on a fire would produce such an effect.
Sir PETER LAURIE said, he should not be guided by the
opinion of others, and, from Mr. Plastrier's own showing,
he should decide that there was a fire.

Mr. Plastrier
said, wished a witness on his side to be heard.
S lie would listen to the witness with
pleasureir
PETERbutlieould do Mr. Plastrier no good, unless,
indeed, he contradicted Mr. Plastrier's statement.
Mr. Plastrier seemed much disconcerted by this obser-

, . t
vation. He hinted at prosecuting the conaplainand for
perjury, and warmly charged the waterman with havi4gat
first alleged that he saw blazes rising six feet above the
chimney. Another witness had persisted, that he (Mr.
Plastrier) was'not at home when the fire happened, in thr
teeth of his own repeated declarations to the contl*ry.
Another had as falsely insisted, that a fireman came out on
the roof of the house and extinguished the flames.
Harper as warmly defended his own character, and
his eager heat to do so, nearly overturned the person of his
good ally, the watchman.
Sit- PETER LAURIE asked what part of the house, thr
kitchen was in. He knew that in the city they were some-
times 'on the first and second stories.
Mr. Plastrier admitted his kitchen was on the basement,
and his house. was a lofty one.

Harper asked why Mr. Plastrier had offered a sovereign
to be divided among the three first engines, if there was no
fire ?

Sir PETER LAURIE restated this question, divested of
the reasoning part of it. He asked why Mr. Plastrier had
offered to pay a sovereign ?
Mr.,Plastrier said it.was merely as an. acknowledgment
for the promptness with which the engines attended. He
had resided in his house 25 years, without such a circum-
stance having occurred before, and he must again revert to
his point, that where there was no flame there could be no
fire.

S►r PETER LAURIE was sure that if there had been fire
in the kitchen grate only, sparks would not have been seen
issuing from the top of the chimney.
Isaac Taylor, a milkman, was then sworn on behalf of
Mr: Plastrier. He was walking on the opposite side of tke
street, and saw nothing but sparks fly from the chimney.
Could not swear there had not been a' blaze before lie came
up. Saw one large spark call unextinguished on the pave-
ment.

Sir PETER remarked, that if this spark had fallen on
any wood about the neighbouring roofs, much mischief
might have,ensued. He inquired how the Act had de-
fined the fires upon which the rewards were to be paid.
Mr. Payne, the second clerk, referred to the Building
Act, 14th George 111. c. 78, and said the clause merely
stated, "Any fire being in a chimney only, or Ant ; be-
ginning, or occasioned by, a fire in a chimney;" but the
intention of the Legislature could he better collected from
the preamble, which ran thus—" That many parishes have
been frequently put to considerable expenses by the neglect
of the inhabitants in not causing their chimnies to be duly
swept, by means whereof alarms of fire are frequently
made, to the great terror of his Majesty's subjects, which
probably would be prevented if such inhabitants were obli-
ged, to bear the charges attending such their neglects."
Sir PETER said he was satisfied he ought to award the
rewards in this case, and he told them they should always
have the rewards when he might be sitting, in cases where
sparks were seen coming from chimney-tops. London had
suffered enough by fires, God knew.
Mr. Plastrier paid the 3/. with costs.

BOW-STREET.—The slave Jaspar, whose robbery
of his master, Oaptain Woodley, of the Royal Navy, we
noticed some time since, was yesterday brought up for re-
examination, when the prosecutor attended, a summons
having been issued to enforce kis appearance. The pri-
soner, it may be recollected, broke open his master's desk
in his absence, and took from it a 501. note, with which,
and some articles of wearing apparel, he absconded Captain
Woodley's service, but was taken in a day or two after
with part of the money in his possession, and a gold watch,
chain, and seals, which he had just purchased.
Taunton, the officer, produced the 50/. note which the
prisoner had changed soon after the robbery, and Captain
Woodley being called upon to identify it as the one which
he lost, expressed a doubt that it was the same, alleging
that the note of which he had been robbed was new and
uncut, and that which was now produced had been in
halves. He was therefore unable to swear to its identity,
particularly as he had not taken the number, and could
only speak as to its appearance.
Mr. HALLS expressed a doubt of Capt. Woodley's desire
to prosecute. _ _

Captain Woodley, with some warmth, asked the Magis-
trate if he supposed he was capable of stating a falsehood
upon oath?

Mr. HALLs.—I do not wish to impute to you any such
thing, Capt. Woodley ; but I mean to say, that if there
be any circumstances to enable you to speak to the identity
of this note, it is your duty to divulge them. Public
justice demands this of you.
Captain Woodley again asserted that he knew of no cir-
cumstance to enable him to swear that the note now pro-
duced was the one he had lost.

Mr. lIALLs asked the prosecutor where and from whom
he received the note of which he had been robbed.

The prosecutor replied, that he received the note about
a month ago, from Messrs. Claxton and Bricks, merchants
of Bristol, to whom he wrote immediately, apprizing them
that he had been robbed, and, requesting a description of the
note they had transmitted to him, but was unable to obtain
a satisfactory answer. •

Here Taunton produced the articles of wearing apparel
found in the prisoner's box, and reminded the
magistrate
that captain Woodley had identified them as his property
the morning after the prisoner was apprehended.
Captain Woodley, being reminded of this circumstance,
said, it was very true that he did say the articles were his;
but v.. 44..nrisoner had the charge of his . wardrobe. and,
indeed, .of his tueney at, ;.a nraa pamible ' !bat tt*'articles
might have got into his box without any felonious intention.

Mr. 'Luis—Then you do. not mean to charge the pri-
soner with robbing you of those articles ?
Capt. Woodley—l do not mean to say that he stole them.

Mr. HALLS said, it was quite obvious that the prosecu-
tor was unwilling to proceed any farther in the business.
It was exceedingly wrong that persons should be permitted
to bring slaves from the West Indies and refuse to prosecute
them when robbed. It was a mistaken mercy on the part
of such persons ; for those by whom they had been robbed
would be turned loose upon the town without means or
character, and would, as a matter of necessity, take to evil
courses ; for it was quite clear that they would not return
to the West Indies, where, according to a late decision, they
would again become slaves.
Captain Woodley said that he did not bring the man
from the West Indies : he came over with a relation of his.

Mr. HALLs—In that case, I can only say that it is ex-
ceedingly wrong for persons to bring slaves from the West
Indies to this country, and then endeavour to get rid of the
responsibility by turning them over to others.
The prisoner Was then ordered to be remanded for a week,
in order, if possible, to trace the note in the interim to the
possession of Captain .Woodley, without which the case
against the prisoner will be incomplete.
Captain Woodley intimated, that his passage was taken
in a vessel bound for the West Indies, which was to sail on
Thursday next, in which event, if no additional evidence be
forthcoming, the prisoner will be discharged.
Mr. Cobbett, jun., attended with a person on behalf of
the trustees of the Hampstead and Highgate roads, to learn
the decision of Mr. Halls on the point raised by the former
on the legality of an 'additional toll demanded by the toll-
takers of the above trust on all waggons the wheels of which
are of a certain breadth.

Mr. HALLS delivered his decision at great length. He
decided against Mr. Cobbett, and in favour of• the trustees.
The same question had been raised at Union-hall and
Worship-street, with a similar result at both places.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.—Yesterday a French-
man, of
,very, genteel appearance, who gave his name An
Bernard, was brought before F. A. Box, Esq. the
sitting Magistrate, charged with the following robbery
It appeared that about eleven weeks ago the prisoner ar-
rived in town from Liverpool, and took up his abode at
the Gloucester Coffee-house, in Piccadilly, where he con-
tinued to reside until the morning of last Thursday week,
when he went out early, and did not again return. He
had not long taken his departure, when a gentleman,
named Frederick Joseph Leine, also a Frenchman, staying
at the same hotel, missed from his bed. room his pocket-
book, containing four 51. Bank of England notes, 6/. in
gold, and an order drawn in favour of Mr. Leine by the
banking-house of Messrs. Stephenson and Co. of Lombard-
stieet, on Messrs. Rothschild, for 800/.

Payment of this order was of course immediately stop-
ped. On Friday morning last, however, the order for
SOW. was presented by a young man, enclosed in a letter,
requiring payment of it at the Bank of Messrs. Stephen-
son ; the prisoner, Who turned out to he thF writer of the
letter, thinking, no doubt through ignorance, that this *as
the proper place to get the order paid, instead of Messrs.
Rothschild's. The bearer of the letter and order was im-
mediately taken into custody, and conveyed to the Glouces-
ter Coffee-house.
The
aty the G
young
man, without hesitation,Highgate:
and that a foreign said that he was a
waiter
gentleman who had ken staying at the Gate-house for
about a week, had sent him that morning with the letter
to Messrs. Stepliensons, telling him that he was to bring
him back SOU, and to be careful about it, as it was a
large sum of money.
Goddard, one of the officers of this establishment, was
then employed, and he went to the Gate-house, accom-
panied by Mrs. Dale, (the wife of the proprietor of the
Gloucester C,offee_house,) who could best identify the pri-
soner, but although they waited there until two o'clock in
the morning, the prisoner, who no doubt took alarm at the
non-return of the waiter from the city, did not deem it
prudent to come back to the Gate-house any more. He
was, however, traced to the Spaniards tavern, at Nang:-

. . - -
stead, which lie had also quitted. It being thus believed
that he was still about that neighbourhood, some peisons
belonging to the Gloucester Coffeerhouse, who knew )ilm,
were on the look-otit there, and on•. Sunday one of them
'accidentally saw him through a window, sitting in a road-
side public-house, and having procured a c•onstahle, had
him taken into custody and•lOdged in-the watch-hous.
Mr. Salt, one of the firm of Messrs. Stephenson' and
Co.'s- banking-house, attended,' and produced the stolen
cheque which the waiter of the Gate-house identified to be
the same which the prisoner gave him with a letter to get
payment of : and Mrs. Dale identified the prisoner as the
lodger at the Gloucester Coffee-house, who absconded on
the (lay Mr. Laine's pocket-took was stolen.
The prisoner, when asked if he .wished to say any thing,
declined doing so, alleging as h;s reason, that he was alto-
gether ignorant of the English language, and therefore
could not properly express himself to his advantage.
In contradiction to this, the waiter at the Gate-house
said, that the'prisoner, when giving him directions about
the cheque, spoke and read the letter to him in very good
English.

The prisoner was remanded for a future examination
when a communication shall have been had with Mr.
Laine, who is at present in Paris.
_ .

Mr. Laine, the gentleman whose property was stolen,
although a Frenchman, and stopping at the same hbtel,
had no knowledge whatever of the prisoner.
tir GEORGE FARR.ANT, the Magistrate, expressed much
surprise at seeing a letter in the Times of yesterday, signiql
" T. G. C. Rieley, 57, Wimpole-street," denying that the
writer knew any thing of a certain Miss Emma Carey,
lodging at No. 6, Park-street, Grosvenor-square, or of
the landlady of that house ; " whereas the fact," Sir George
said, was, that the landlady handed in to him a veil, hand-
somely engraved card, which is still in his possession, with
" T. G. C. Rieley, fi7, Wimpole-street," upon it, as! the
card of the person who had recommended Miss &ma
Carey, and hired the lodgings for her ; and also a written
agreement on the part of a Mr. T. G. C. Rieley, N 0.157,
Wimpole-street, hiring the said lodgings for the said Miss
Carey.
-MARYLEBONE-OFFICE.— William Grovesmiilt, a
decent.looking young.tnan,rwas)charged by William Lun-
day, a drill-sergeant of the 2d. Battalion of. Coldstream
Guards, with throwing snow-balls at the soldiers of that
regiment in Hyde-park, at, half-past eleven on Sunday
morning.

The charge was supported, and the defendant' was lock-
ed-up until two respectable persons. became bail for hisap.
pearance at the sessions.

Martha Kenwright, a ruddy servant-like girl, wa.,
charged with assaulting her master, Richard Bradley, Esq.
of 21, Upper Montague-street,' Montagut,square.
It was stated by Mr. Bradley, and Mrs. Louisa Stanton,
his daughter, who keeps his house, that on Saturday morn-
ing the defendant tried to tear out the eyes and pull off!the
head of Mrs. Stanton, without provocation, and struck her
master when he endeavoured to defend her.

The girl said, Mrs. Stanton committed the first assault
by beating her about the, head, and produced two broken
combs as evidence. She had taken it into her head to
fancy that she (the girl) was too familiar with that old gen-
tleman (her master), and was vexed because she refused to
tuck letters of an improper nature, written by Mrs. Stan-
ton, under the doors of their neighbours.
The evidence of Mr. Bradley's footboy was taken, but it
did not throw light upon the subject, and Mr. Rawlinson,
thinking the case unimportant, dismissed the charge.
HATTON-GARDEN.— Thos. Nicholls, pawnbroker,
Gray's-inn-lane, against whom several informations have
been lately laid, grounded upon charges of having demand-
ed and received interest money contrary to the statute, was
yesterday brought up before Mr. LAING and Mr. ROGERS,
and convicted, upon a similar accoation, in the penalty of
40s. with costs.

The statute of pawnbrokers provides, that upon the sum
of 2s. 6d. lent for one month, there shall arise an interest
not exceeding one half-penny ; upon the sum of ss. lent
for the same space of time, an interest not exceeding one
penny; but upon the loam of any sum between 2s. 6d. and
55., there shall arise an interest not exceeding three far-
things. In cOnformity with these provisions, the Ma-
gistrates convicted Mr. Nicholls in the penalty of 40s. for
having charged a penny for one month's interest upon
3s. 6d. lent.

Mr. Harmer complained of the severe hardships which
his client (Mr. Nicholls) was subjected to in consequence
of these informations, which, be alleged, had their origin
in the basest motives. He appealed to the lenient consi-
deration of the sitting magistrates, and hoped they would
not give their sanction to such 'unworthy modes of proceed-
ing against his client.
Mr. LAINC-We have only one duty to perform,—the
duty of administering impartial justice: according to the
evidence and the statute, we must convict the defendant.
UNION-HALL.—Yesterday, Mr. Cade, of Surrey-
ao ofn s some
recentlyof the
committed lodge, Batter..., attended at this Office for the purpose of
offie
er i in
and
con-
sequence
about that neighbourhood. Mr. Gude stated that his house
and grounds abut upon the unenclosed fields ; that he has
of late been much annoyed, and family greatly alarmed,
by the attempts to rob them, and he has also sustained
apptying forof thedepredations the assistancede
frequent losses, in his gardens. He represented that on
Wednesday last, about 12 o'clock, as his gardener and two
farrier were in the yard with his horse, that a gun was
fired off, the contents of which struck one of the men on
the back, injured his hat, and broke some panes of glass
in the window of the stable, and although they used every
endeavour to discover the miscreant from the direction of
the smoke of the gun, they were unsuccessful. The above
outrage, combined with another circumstance which took
place the week before last, when Mr. Gude supposes he
wounded some fellows in his grounds, from the blood af-
terwards traced, led him to conclude that this last atro-
cious attempt was done out .of revenge by some of the gang.
Grossmith, the officer, stated that he had been to look at
the place, and was satisfied that the gun must• have been
fired from a particular spot, so as to leave little doubt in his
mind as to the parties implicated in the transaction.
To show to what an extent depredations are being com-
mitted, independent of the robberies in the fields,Mr.
.Gude
described that a poor man of the name of Prior has within
a few weeks lost two cows—one stolen, and the other shot
• The applicant concluded by stating it te
by some villains.
be his opinion, that unless an enclosure of the fields takes
is now confidently expected, or some
place, which, he said, -
other effectual means adopted, that the property in the
neighbourhood will soon become so' greatly depreciated, as
to be of little or no value, and the place, although within
a few miles of the metropolis, and so capable
of
improve-
ment, altogether deserted.
In reply to the application for the assistance of some of
the officers of this establishment, Mr. Home, the Magis-
trate, gave directions that it should be immediately 'at-
tended to.

HOGARTH.--. 111 portrait painting, HOGARTH
had the highest opinion of his own excellence, and a degree
of vanity equal to KNELLER. A person was mentioned
to him as having compared a miisician to HANDEL. "lfiy
opinion goes fta. " But, Mr. HOGARTH; he said
that you were equal to V./awns-ex." " Aye, there lie was
right enough ; and, by G---d, so I know that I am—give
me my. own subject and time."—lfonnant was positively
without learning ; l►e availed himself of the assistance of
three friends to correct his tract called " The Analysis of
BeaPty".--TOWNLEY, the head-master of Merchant. Tay-
lors' School ; Dr. Moßmit.; and the 'Chancellor HOAP-
LEY, who wrote for him the clever verses affixed to the
" Rake's Progress." After the publication of this work
HOCARTH began a History of the Arta, which be intended
to be a supplement to it, and in which hs had proceeded
only so far as to write a quibbling dedication to " Nobody." '
HonAant worked on the print of " Character and Cari-
cature" only a few days before his death. That his death
was occasioned by the Tomahawk criticisms of WiLicas
(N.B. No. 15) and CHURCMILLIII Epistle, cannot be im-
plicitly credited ; but that it was accelerated by vexation
so caused, is physically certain. The Poet and his firmer
friend found their grave, one a short, 'month only before
the other.—(From MAJOR'S Fourth Volume of a new Edi-
tion of Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting, edited by the
Rev. Mr. DALLAWAY, recently published.)

A blacksmith, in the neighbourhood of St.
Boswell's-green; Edinburgh, a personage of great weight
and consequence in the village, and who is by no means re-
markable for his early rising, was observed lately by a far-
mer in the vicinity, who had occasion to pass the smithy
about three o'clock in the morning, busily at work, and,
anxious to ascertain the cause of this extraordinary refor-
mation, stepped in and found Vulcan but scantily attired,
and flourishing his hammer with extraordinary activity.—
From the rueful aspect of JOHN'S countenance, which was
now yisible from the dextrous manner in which he applied
himself to the huge bellows, it was obvious he was fast
asleep,
,and upon being questioned and loudly called by his
name, the affrighted blacksmith awoke to the view of his
early labours, which completely put to shame those.of his
waking moments ;, he had made upwards, of 100 horse-
nails, and part.of a horse-shoe, with his usual neatness—
and Jortzes sleepy pertimmance, of his duty, which used
formerly to be proverbial throughout the' neighbourhood,
does still continue so, but with a totally different and en-
tire change of meaning..--Scotsman.