Star.
London, England, 1830-04-28 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
PdAirSrltilOUSE.
A young, well-dressed man, named George Williams, was brou4
before the LORD MATOR, by Roe, the officer, charged with havi:g
exposed for sale several pamphlets of a very immoral tendency, .9
youths of both sexes.
A labouring man, named Lacy, who said he had children of t •
own, stated, that as he was walking along Bishopsgate-street,
saw the, defendant exposing mall books and pictures, which I.?
carried in a basket. As the young persons round the basket hp.
peered to be more than ordinarily interested, he stept up to be-
what it was all about, and he found, that although the pictures
and books at the top of the basket were harmless, and even some of
them pious, the defendant occasionally drew up from the bonac
one of very different character, which he found a purchaser for 1.,
an instant The sale became very smart, and the witness supplvi
himself with prima and a great deal of dialogue for the small tut
of fourpence. This purchase he immediately conveyed to the jus
doe room, and put into his lordship's bands, who, as the action ws.
quite unceremonious, was somewhat surprised at the exhibition, an:
asked what, in the name of all that was horrible, it meant ?
The complainant having given the above account..
The LORD MAYOR asked the defendant what he had to Cy,
about the dreadful way of life into which he bad fallen ?
Williams said he had been led into this sort of bookselling by ar.
officer who belonged to Bow-street.
The LORD MAYOR said he could not credit a word that was tit
teed by a fellow who obtained a livelihood by such means.
Williams most solemnly declared that the very publications whir'
had been seised in his possession were given to him by the Box
street officer in payment of a certain debt. " I was confined,"
said the defendant, " for some time in the hospital, and 1 had this
Bow-street officer, who is a printer, to do some work for me. I
paid him beforehand, and I sent to him to request that he wool,
give me back the money. He sent word to me that be could not
let me have the money, but he would supply me with books whit!
would he sure to sell; and when I came out I found a note from hin
accompanying those books, desiring me to make money of them."
The Loan,Mairoz—That's no excuse; you knew what sort of
books they were before you sold one of them.
Williams—Consider, my Lord, my poverty ; I have a wife and
two small children, and I am bringing them up in the fear of GOD.
—(Laughter.)—l never was in a Court of Justice in my life before.
and I wouldn't be here now bat for the Bow-street officer.—[Here
he named one of the establishment alluded to, about whom the pub-
lic are not in the habit of hearing scandalous representations.]
The LORD MAYOR—I do not believe you ; you are a disgrace
to any employment followed by honest men.
Defendant—Please your Lordship, I am a printer.
The Loan MAYOR said, that if there were not miscreants in that
trade, there would be no publications of the kind, which were the
worst he had ever seen.

Defendant—Have merry upon me, my Lord. Consider my poor
wife and children. God knows to what they may be reduced, by
my being kept away from them. Poverty will make people do
anything, and that was the only thing that could drive me to the
trade.

The LoaD MaYort—l adjudge you to the House of Correction
for two months.

The defendant, who evidently expected a heavier punishment,
said, " Thank you, my Lord ; it is a lesson to me. I shall never
be caught in such business again."
The man who brought this delinquent to justice said he had lost
a good deal of time, which, as he was a poor labouring man, was of
great value to him. He should he grateful (it there was any fund
for such a purpose) for a shilling or two, to make up for the injury
he had sustained ; but if there was tot, he should not regret what
he had done, as so many young persons were liable to be ruined by
such bad stuff.

The Loan Hamm said, there was no fund of the kind. but the
poor man should not lose his time, which had been spent so pro.
Stably for society. His Lordship then ordered that the cmnplainan•
should receive remuneration.

BOW-STREET.
Yestaday two well-known thieves, named Francis Skinner st.d
Henry Hull, were brought up charged with attempting to pick tLr
pockets of several Gentlemen on Monday evening, at Covent-garde
Theatre.

The prisoners were seen working about the entrance to the Theatre
about the time of the doors being opened, and being watched by the
police, were detected in " sounding" the pockets of several gentle-
men. They were taken into custody, and in the pockets of earl•
were found three silk handkerchiefs.

No distinct charge of felony could be proved against them. and
they were committed as reputed thieves to the House of Concede:-
for three months, there to be kept to hard labour.
MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
A lad of shabby exterior, named Allied, was yesterday placed ar
the bar, charged with having burglariously entered the dwelling-
house of Mr. Smith, a part proprietor of one of the Richmond stages.
—lt appeared that the mother of the prisoner had absconded from
het children, and the daughter of the prosecutor being aware of
this, commiserated the lies situation, afforded him shelter at
night, and generally gave him one or more meals a day, entirely
unknown to her father, at his house in Ring-street, Richmond. In
the month of August last the prisoner absented himself from his
kind benefactress, and a few nights afterwards the rails were
forced from the kitchen window, and the prisoner and his bro-
ther regaled themselves upon cold sirloin and apple pie, after which
they delibtrately walked away with a new crape shawl, and were no
more heard of until Sunday night, when a second breaking and en-
took place, and a very handsome mirror, which it appeared
they had attempted to move, was broken in pieces. Information
was forthwith given, and one of the pollee apprehended the prisoner
with the duplicate of the shawl in his possession.
The prisoner said his brother had taken the shawl, and he knew
nothing of it until after it was pledged. He admitted that he had
"looked in" to refresh himself, but that was all ; and with nu!
to the looking-glass he had not been in Richmond after six or Sun.
day evening.
Mr. Comore ordered him to be remanded till Friday next.

ADVANTAGE OF ALLOTING LAND TO POOR FA-
MILIEs.—A very decided proof is afforded in the borough
of Malmesbury of the system of allotting portions of land
to poor families. That borough contains one parish and
part of two others ; that of St. Paul being the most ex-
tensive, having five tithing. or hamlets without the bo-
rough. There is in the vicinity about 700 acres of cor-
poration land, 500 acres of which was, until within these
ten years, heath or open common land. About eight or
nine years since, Joseph Pitt, Esq. M.P. fur Cricklade,
and the then High Steward for Malmesbury, kindly
interested himself for the inhabitants, and procured an
act of enclosure. The .500 acres were consequently en-
closed and allotted to 280 families, being free burgesses
of the corporation, with the exception of 50 acres, which
have been let for the purpose of raising funds to make
good roads and keep them in repair. Many of these
free burgesses are poor men with large families, hav-
ing about an acre and a quarter, or an acre and a
half of land each, the produce of which enables the
greater part of them to live without parochial relief.
Out of the 700 acres, et least 600 were dug by the
spade. The consequence has been, that the expendi-
ture of the parish. which, on April 1, 1819, amounted
to 2,0741. has been gradually reduced ; and, for the
year ending April 1, 1830, it amounted to no more than
1,424 ; being a decrease in eleven years, of nearly :11
per cent. although the population has vastly increased in
the same time.—County Chronicle.