The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-25 00:00:00

THE HOWART HS.

(From the Bath Journal. ) •
One of the indictments preferred against
Ralph Howarth, at the late Bridgewater assizes,.
was. for stealing, in company with his brother
George, a gig, the property of Mr. Lewis Drews,
painter and glazier, of Frome. It has since
been ascertained, that these daring villains actually
went to the shop of Mr. Drew, the day after the
xobbery, and purchased some paint of Mm, for
the very purpose of painting Mr. Drew's gig
another colour, to prevent his knowing it !
The conduct of George Howarth, since his
re-capture, has not been marked by so much of
that. daring and determined character as might
have been expected ; but he seems absorbed in
thought, and is extremely sullen and morose.—
make any remark on the nuine-
but would ", I 1 en iIP
manner of his escaps:., and how he was i7eirtUen.
He prides himself on lt;..s great stiength'and in-
genuity. On his return fr6.ln Knutsford, he was
lodged the first night by I. Oxley and, Mr.
Lee, in Birmingham gaol, where he busted to
the prisoners " that if he had not those heavy
irons on his leg, he would get through
the roof of the gaol in ten minutes."—
After his escape from Frome, he says that
he beat the handcuffs off his right hand by means
of a stone, and threw them into a ditch near the
barn in which he slept the first night. Search
has been made for them, but they are not yet
found. After he bad been. brought back to
Frome, and secured in the guard-house by. Mr.
Culvert-louse, the constable, he declared to him,
" that the strength of, his wrist ,was so great, that
he could, if he chose, snap the handcuffs he then
had on in a minute," although they were ex•
ceedingly strong. He further observed, " that
if he had but two knives, he would get the heavy
irons. from his legs in 20 minutes.". Being
dinestioned how he could do this, his reply was
" by hacking the knives against each other, and
making saws of them." The most effectual
measures were, however, taken by Mr. Culver-
house to,prevent either an escape or self-destruc-
tion on the part of the criminal, by placing guards
inside and out of the guard-house, until he was
removed and safely lodged in the custody of Mr,
Hard), at Ilehester, who has been made fully
acquainted as to what a desperate character he
has to deal with.
The Nunnery has been occupied by both fa-
milies pf the Tiowarths till about four years ago,
at which time George Howarth and his family
removed, leaving Ralph in possession up to the
time of his apprehension. A c°Hstiult PPlnum-
nieation was, howeoTr, kept up between the fa-
milies, as George was a joirneyman to his brother
Ralph, and it.was at the,Nunizery that their busi-
ness as millwright was carried :On i the removal
of George being only to a very short ,;stance,
for the convenience of assisting his brother in
the regular trade by day, and his marauding ex-
peditions at night.
At the Gothic window over
the porch is the
sifoll room, supposed to have been used for
slaughtering the sheep that'were stolen : a great
deal of blood being found smeared on the walls,
and the place furnished with
,crooks and rails.
Behind that' )5 a large room, used partly as a
workshop, and underneath. the floor of which the
parish blankets were found concealed, as well as
manvsother stolen articLes, At the 'window on
the left hand ground-floor was the‘common dwel-
ling-room of the Hoivarths ; and ;be, chamber
and garret immediately over it are the Iwa rooms
jn which many secret recesses, Were made in the
wads and floors, and where much stolen property
was found. There is a continuation of an ori-
ginal part of the nunnery on the right hand, but
it is divided into tenements, and occupied by
industrious .nersons, who had not the least idea
what wretchel) were living 'so contiguous to
them.

a
tiViT Locke'“efinition of Wit is, that .
lies it
most in the assemblage of 41e4s, and putting
those together with quickness andvariety where-
in can be found any resemblance or congruity,
thereby to make u
up pleasant pictures and agree-
able visions in the fancy.--JUDGMENT, on the
contrary, lies quite on the other side, in separas'
ing carefully one from another idea wherein can
be-found the least differLice, thereby to avoid
being misled by similitude, and by affinity to take
one thing for another."