The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-28 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.—CHARGE UNDER LORI) EL-
LENROEOUGH'S ACT.-Yesterday four young men named
Borten, Kevill, Cannon and Megertroy, were brought be-
fore the Lofty Mayoa., charged under Lord Ellenborough's
Act with having cut and maimed a seaman named James
Smith, who belongs to the ship Albion, in a dreadful
manner about the neck and face with a razor. The un-
fortunate seaman is in a most dangerous condition in St.
Thomas's Hospital.
Captain Marshall, of the Thompson, now lying in the
Thames, stated, that at about one o'clock on Thursday morn-
ing, upon going aboard his own ship, he saw two men in
a barge, near the Tower. stairs, in a scuffle ; that he went
on board the barge, and found that Smith, the seaman,
was one of the disputants, and that he was wounded in a
most horrible manner in the neck and cheek and lip. The
wound upon the lip quite disfigured the countenance. Wit-
ness immediately seized them both, separated them, and
took them to the watch-house.
The constable of the night, in the watch-house of Tower
Ward, corroborated the statement of Captain Marshall as
to the condition of Smith, whom he immediately caused to
be conveyed to the Hospital, where he was immediately at-
tended to by the surgeon of the house. Boden's hands
were covered with blood. Before Smith was conveyed to
the Hospital, be mentioned the names of the three other
prisoners, Kevill, Cannon, and Megertroy, as persons who
were engaged in the diourbance which had, lie said, taken
place. Cannon gave himself up as soon as heard that the
officers of justice were in search of him, and witness gave
instruction to Robert Frazer, a watchman, to search the
barge, in order to ascertain whether there were any sharp-
edged instruments to be found, as it appeared impossible
that such wounds could have been inflicted with weapons
of a different kind. Kevill and Megertroy were taken into
custody soon after the violence was committed.
Robert Frazer, a watchman, deposed that, by the direc •
tion of the night constable, he searched the barge, and after
a good deal of trouble he found two razors, one of which
was covered with blood.

The razors were then produced, and one of them was in
the state described, so that no doubt is entertained of the
manner in which the wounds were inflicted. Cannon
told the witness that he had purchased the razors on the
preceding evening, and gave them to Boden to take care
of fur him.

John Bailsford, who has been one of the night watch of
the river Thames 17 years, deposed that at about twelve
o'clock at night he saw the prisoner go on board the barge
to await the arrival of the Ostend steam packet, there
being a quantity of straw in the barge upon which they
might sleep. In half an hour, Smith and twu or three
other men went on board the same barge, and a general
scuffle ensued, but witness could not say how the wounds
were inflicted. The contest seemed to be a desperate and
a general one.
Paine, a constable, stated that he witnessed the scuffle,
and observed amongst those engaged all the prisoners. He
did not, however, interfere.
The LORD MAYOR said, that the conduct of Pal" was
extremely reprehensible, be not having endeavoured to
check such a tumult. This instance, however, only con-
firmed his (the Lord Mayor's) opinion of the witness's in-
competency, an opinion which had been expressed in the
ward for which he was elected deputy constable. The op-
position which his Lordship had given arose, he wished it
to be understood, from the advanced age.of the candidate,
as he thought it most necessary to have able bodied men
employed, and particularly in the neighbourhood where this
desperate occurrence took place.
The surgeon's certificate upon the state of Smith's health
was here handed to the Lord Mayor. It stated that the
unfortunate man was in such a condition from the wounds
which he had received in the cheek, neck, and lip, that he
could not by any rneams be pronounced out of danger.
The Lost') MAYoa asked the prisoners what they had to
say in defence of their conduct in this dreadful transaction.
Roden said, that the complainant and some other man
entered the barge when 'the defendants were there, and at-
tacked them most wantonly, and that they (defendants)
were obliged to do all they could in their own defence. He
complained that Captain 11Iarshall struck bins upon enter-
ing the barge.
The other prisoners said, that when the scuffle commenced
they left the barge immediately, and that they were inno-
cent of the offence in which they were said to be partici-
pators.
The Loan illAvost said, that the assault was a most
dreadful one, and alight be fatal. His Lordship ordered
that the prisoners should be remanded for one week.
Several of the friends of the prisoners came forward with
offers to bail them, but his Lordship, of course, refused to
take bail, whatever might be the amount.

A young man of very respectable appearance, was charged
with having misappropriated the sum of 2691., the pro-
perty of Mr. Banister Flight and his son Mr. Thomas Flight.
A Mr. Taylor stated, that the defendant was collecting
clerk to Mr. Thomas Flight, and had been in that gentle-
man's employment five years--that he was principally en-
gaged in collecting the rents of them, the two complainants,
that it was his duty on receiving money to hand it over to
the confidential clerk of Mr. Thomas Flight every evening,
that on Wednesday he received the sum of 2691., which he
did not hand over to the clerk, 180/. of which belonged to
Mr. B. Flight. The defendant's salary originally was 201.
a year, but it had been increased 51. each year. Yester-
day, instead of handing over the money which he had re-
ceived, he handed in an account as due to him of 257/.,
and a cheque for 121., making up the sum of 2691. The
correctness of this account Mr. T. Flight totally denied.

Mr. B. Flight said, that his son collected his rents, and
that 1801. of the money received by the defendant belonged
to him. . .

The Loan MAYOR asked him who signed the receipts,
to which he replied that be always signed his own receipts
for rent.
__ .

Mr. Wooler, for the defendant, said, that Mr. B. Flight
had no ground for a charge against his client, and that the
transaction was a mere matter of account between his eon
and the defendant; that the son undertook to collect his
rents, and employed the defendant to do so.
Mr. T. Flight said, that the defendant, instead of hand-
ing over the money, as he was bound to do, furnished him
with the account before mentioned. It was true that the
defendant, some time ago, furnished him With an account,
and asked for an increase of salary. The account he con-
sidered outrageous, and to the increase of salary he gave a
negative.
The Loan MAYOR here remarked, that he thought it
rather singular that Mr. T. Flight should have continued
to employ the defendant after such an account as had been
described was furnished. _ _ _

. _
Mr. Woaler said, that he could prove that Mr. T. Flight
promised the defendant 1201. a year, after the expiration of
five years, and that the defendant had been in his employ-
ment six years and a half. He produced a letter, dated
19th December, 1827, addressed to the defendant, stating,
that if be would give up all claims upon him up to the date
of the letter, he would enter into another arrangement.—
This letter Mr. Wooler•said proved' at once that the de-
fendant had claims upon Mr. T. Flight, which were recog-
nized by Bir. Plight's letter.
The LcuuxMAtion said, oat the conduct of the young

man in detaining the money was incorrect. His Lordship
would not use a harsher term, as the defendant seemed to
hare some claim, and recommended that the matter should
be referred to some gentlemen of respectability. This was
agreed to.
Mr. T. Flight wished that the money should be lodged in
impartial hands in the mean while.
The young man said that he would place the money in
the Lord Mayor's hands the next day, and abide by the de-
cision of the referee.

James Pierce, a most deplorable object, evidently half
starved, was charged by Linford, a watchman, with having
gone up a ladder which was placed before Mr. Clode's
house, No. 59, Bishopsgate-street.
The watchman stated, that he saw the defendant, who
is a tall emaciated man, at twolo'clockon Wednesday morning,
mount up the ladder to the very top of the house. Witness
gave the alarm.
James Fish said, that upon going to the top of the house,
he found the prisoner asleep, snoring.
The LORD MAYOR—Ay, a sham sleep.
Fish said that he could not tell, but the man appeared to
be fast asleep, although he had chosen so strange a bed.
Witness awoke him, and took him down through the
house to the watch-house.

The constable of the night said that the defendant had
nothing about him except a few half-pence.
The prisoner shook his head when asked what he had
to say, and declared that he did not know why he chose
the top of a house, when he was always in the habit of
sleeping at the very bottom when he slept any where. He
was remanded.

GUILDHALL. —Mrs. Bridget Tacker, a small,
smoke-dried matron, was charged with having assaulted
Henry Newton; a seventeen-stone guardian of the night, in
the parish of St. Sepulchre, and of course a person of some
weight ist the affairs of that parish.
" And please you, my Worship," said the weight•
watchman, " at half-past ten o'clock last night, in Chick-
lane, this good woman and her husband were having a
piece of work." _ _

" What do you mean by a piece of work ?" asked the
Alderman.
"Why they were bull-ragging and ramshackling one an-
other," replied the watchman by way of explanation;
" by which means they were having a piece of work in the
street at that present time, and accordingly she was down
on the ground—in liquor, as you may say; for I under-
stand it began in a bit of a Christmas gambol ; but
howsever that says nothing—she were down on the ground,
and I puck her up ; with which she flew at her husband,
right and left, and tore him all to pieces in his shirt
sleeves ;—a very respectable man he is, and a man
that dresses well, and wishes to get his living honestly ; but
she tore him up all to ribands in his shirt sleeves ! " Come,
my good woman," says I, " my duty won't allow me to see
you tear your husband up in that onpolite way—though it
be Christmas time," says I ; by which means she kicked
my lantern out of my hand, bit my thumb all across, and
gave me a desperate dig in the short ribs before I could
look about me, please your Worship. " Drat the woman !"
thinks I, " what'll she be at next ?"—whereby I twirl'd
my rattle pretty sharp, and help coming, we got her to the
watch-house ; and there—just as I were opening my
• mouth to tell the night constable what we'd brought her
for, she gives me another desperate dig under the short
ribs, and knocks all the wind out of me, so that I couldn't
speak ! and because the constable told her she had no right
to do that, she called him all the ugliest names in nature—
she di,l!"

" Really, she seems to have treated you very ungen-
teeny," said Mr. Alderman THOMPSON ; " but I should
scarcely have thought it possible that a little old woman
like this could give a watchman of your bulk so much
trouble." . .

" She is little, your Worship," rejoined the bulky
watchman, " but little as she is, and quiet as she is now,
she's a desperate merry one when her blood's up ! But the
worst of it is, her husband—though a hard-working,
pains-taking man as any going_would't follow us to the
watch-house to give charge of her; and when I called at
his house to ask him what he meant by it—' Why,' says
he, I've had trouble enough with her ; and now you've
got her, you may make the best of her !' "
Mrs. Bridget Tucker—the most unlikely-looking person
imaginable for doing the desperate deeds alleged ageing t her
—did not deny that she had done them, but contented her-
self with quietly pleading in justification, that it was
Christmas-time.

Eventually her husband declining to appear, and the
weighty watchman being willing to put up with the des-
perate digs she had given him under his short ribs, she was
admonished to be of better behaviour in her gambols for
the future, and discharged.
B OW- ST REET. —A black female, Charlotte Col-
ville, was brought before the Magistrate, by Earl, one of
the parish officers of St. Martin's-in-the-fields, charged
with refusing to divulge the name of the person who is
father to the child of which she is now enciente, she
being chargeable to the above named parish.
Earl had used every exertion, without effect, to pre-
vail upon her to disclose the name of the man to whom
she could swear the child. She obstinately persisted in
refusing to name the individual, and as a last resource, lie
brought her before a Magistrate with the view that she
should e nyootulnisrd,estl!nen puarnidsehrtwvei illegitimate tiLnaaniteionafftsili offspring,
by withholding the name of its legal father.
nt a
Mr. MiNsirtn.r., in the course of which she acknowledged
that she was pregnant by a white man, whose name, how-
ever, she persisted in refusing to divulge. She said she
was but 18 years of age ; that she was a native of the
Brazils ; had come to this country when in her seventh
year, and had travelled in various parts of Europe with an
English family, under whom she lived as long as she could
remember. After considerable pressing, she at length
stated, that the father of her child was a shopkeeper in the
Strand, whose name she consented to disclose. to Mr. Min-
shun in private, and measures were accordingly taken to
compel him, to provide for the expected maintenance of
the fruit of his (lark amour.

A man named Daly, of Church-court, was charged by
Mr. Warmwell, the proprietor of the New Somerset Coffee-
house, in the Strand, opposite Somerset-house, with an
attempt at fraud, of which it were well that the public
should be on their guard. Mr. Warmwell gave an order
to the prisoner to purchase two hundred weight of pota-
toes for him at Covent-garden market, which he did, but,
on discovery, it was found that two of the baskets in
which they were conveyed, and which were supposed to
contlin 711 b. weight of potatoes, had a 141 b. weight at-
tached to the bottom of each of them. The fraud was not
completed so as to make out a case against the prisoner, but
the Magistrate remarked that there was no doubt of his
guilty intention.
11e was discharged at the intercession of the prosecutor,
with a caution for his future conduct.

lIATTON-GARDEN.—An application was made to
Mr. Sergeant SELLow and Mr. LAING, by a medical gen-
tleman, on behalf of his friend who accompanied him, for
their advice respecting the course that must be taken under
the following circumstances
A few days ago, a highly respectable gentleman, closely
connected with the Greek States, took lodgings at his
friend's house. Oil the morning subsequent to this en-
.gagement, the family were thrown into the greatest alarm
by the wildness and inconsistency of their lodger. Upon
calling in medical assistance, it was found that he was
perfectly insane, and it was thought proper to have him
removed to one of the lunatic asylums, which was imme-
diately done, and the gentleman hound himself to be res-
ponsible for his expences. His trunks were opened, and
his papers, among which appeared some duplicates, were
examined, but no clue could be had to any of his family
connexions in this country. The gentleman now thought
it hard that he should be obliged to bear the responsibility
to which he had somewhat rashly bound himself, and he
therefore applied for instructions to the Magistrates.
The Magistrate. assured him they were incompetent to
give him advice under the circumstances. Upon this they
both withdrew.
lhe names of the persons we could not learn.

MARYLEBONE-OFFICE.—An inquest having been
held on the body of James Croft, who was shot in Black-
lion-fields, Paddington, on Sunday morning, by John Jack-
son, and a verdict found of accidental death, Jackson was
brought to the office on Wednesday night, to be liberated.
—He was discharged.
Yesterday a gentleman informed Mr. Gil.lrrinr, that on
the sth of this month he went to an evening party in one
hackney-coach, and returned in another, and afterwards
missed his purse containing a 5/. note, and 4/. 10s. in
money. Whether he lost it in either of the coaches or
elsewhere he could not tell, but he had since traced the
note from the Bank of England back to the waterman of
the coach-stand, in Portland road, near the Crown and
Sceptre.
Mr. GRIFFITH immediately sent Mr. llewitt, the chief
officer, to bring the waterman to the office.
He gave his name Edwards, his number 283, and said
he found it on Monday morning, the 10th of this month,
among the rank of coaches on his stand, wrapped in a
piece of writing paper, and no money with it. He men-
tioned it to no one, kept it till the following Sunday, and
then changed it at the shop ,)f a Mrs. Davis, in the neigh-
bourhood, to whom he owed a few shillings.
Mr. RANvuNsoN asked him if he did not know an
office in Rossiez-street, where, under a rail, coachmen
, • *