The Sun.
London, England, 1829-10-27 00:00:00

BOW-STREE I'.

Upwards of 70 night charges were disposed of
yesterday by Sir R. BIRNIE and Mr. HALLS.
A gentleman came to complain to Sir R. BIR-
NIE of having been defrauded of Is. by one of the
toll-takers at the Middlesex side of Waterloo-bridge.
It appeared that the gentleman took a hackney-
coach for the purpose of driving to the Surrey aide,
and passing through the gate at the Strand side of
the bridge, he tendered a shilling to the toll-keeper
to pay the toll. The man took the shilling and said
it was a bad one, and then handed to the gentleman
a crooked shilling, which was base. The gentleman
immediately declared that the shilling which he ten-

tiered to the toll-keeper was good, and, moreover,
that it was not a crooked shilling; whereupon
the toll-keeper accused the gentleman of attempting
to pass bad money, and the watchman of the bridge
threatened to take him into custody upon the charge,
and no doubt would have done so, but that the gen-
tleman told him at his peril to lay his hand upon
him. The gentleman having given the toll-keeper
a good shilling, placed the one which had been
passed upon him in a piece of paper, and determined
to seek redress. The coachman told him, he said,
that the same trick had often been practised upon
other coachmen and himself by the same individual.
Sir R. BIRNIE asked the gentleman if he felt
quite sure that the shilling which he handed to the
toll-taker was a good one.—The gentleman replied
that he was convinced it was. At all events it
certainly was not a crooked one.
Mr. HALLS advised the applicant to consult the
officers of the Mint on the subject.
Sir R. BIRNIE, however, advised the gentleman
to apply, in the first instance, to the Bridge Com-
mittee, which would by no means exclude him from
pursuing any other course which he might afterwards
think fit to adopt.
Mr. Levy, lessee of the tolls on the Hammersmith
road, was summoned by the owner of the new Om-
nibus, which runs from London to Hammersmith,
for having taken more than his legal toll.
A professional gentleman attended for the owner
of the Omnibus, and Mr. Levy appeared in person
to defend the charge.
It appeared that the sum of five shillings was de-
manded and paid, for four times on the same day
that the vehicle in question passed through the de-
defendant's toll-gates.
Mr. Levy endeavoured to prove, by referring to
the Act, that he was justified in this charge, but it
having been proved that he was entitled to no more
than four shillings and three half-pence, he con-
sented to wave his claim, and ultimately agreed to
take three shillings per day until the Ist of January
for the toll of the Omnibus.

Sir R. BIRNIE hoped that the new act of Lord
Lowther would provide for Omnibuses and Locomo-
tive Carriages.
Mr. Levy—Oh, yes, Sir Richard, that it does,
and for steam-coaches too. We are likely to have
some fun upon the road when those come into play.
The parties then retired.
MA RLBORO U G H-STREET.

Yesterday a Mr. Adams, the proprietor of an es-
tablishment called the " Protector Office," for pro-
viding situations for servants, in Great Russell-street,
Bloomsbury, appeared before Sir G. FARRANT, the
sitting Magistrate, charged with assaulting a young
female, who said that her name was Harriet Lau-
rence, a c► rious sketch of whose history came out in
the course of the investigation.
It appeared by the statement of the complainant
herself, who is rattier a pretty-looking girl, as well
as that of Mr. Adams, that she quitted the neigh-
bourhood of Shrewsbury, of which she is a native,
a few months ago, to seek her fortune in London,
having been discarded by her friends in consequence
of her having fallen a victim there to the seductive
arts of a gentleman► of some fortune in that part of
the country, and that while on her travels up to
town, she chanced to meet on the coach which car-
ried her away from the scene of her disgrace, one
Mr. Harris, who paid her a good deal of travelling
attention, and got from her the history of her mis-
fortunes, and her object in coming to London,—
namely, to get into service in some household esta-
blishment. On their arrival in town, Mr. Harris
and herself stopped at the Bull-and-mouth hotel in
the city, where Mr. Harris very kindly ordered that
she should not be permitted to want for any thing
until she should be provided wi►h a situation; and
to attain this latter object, Mr. Harris also made ap-
plication on her behalf at the office of Mr. Adams,
and paid there the necessary fee for undertaking her
case. After stopping some time at the Bull and-
Mouth, where a bill was incurred to the amount of
about .51., which Mr. Harris very generously and un-
conditionally paid, she was taken into the house of
Mr. Adams, and slept with Mr. Adams's daughter,
for her better protection, until she should be supplied
through the office with the situation that was sought
after for her in some family ; and Mr. Adams was
the more solicitous, he said, about her, because Mr.
Harris told him that he knew all the girl's con-
nexions and relatives in the country, who were, he
said, very respectable, and that she herself was a
young female of the most unblemished reputation.
In a little time a situation was procured for her, and
when she was quitting Mr. Adams's house to take
possession of her new place, she left some papers in
the care of Mrs. Adams, that no accident might be-,
fal them, as she prized them very dearly. She did
not, however, it seems, remain long in her new si-
tuation, and it was found necessary to procure a
second for her, which she also quitted very soon,
and, in short, " Lunnun toon' seemed to have
turned her head altogether away from servitude,
and she therefore gave it up as a bad " spec."
Before her next visit to Mr. Adams, it appeared
that it came either to his knowledge or that of Mrs.
Adams, by means of the papers or otherwise, that
the complainant was no better than she should be,
and that she was not all the description of person
Mr. Harris had represented her to be, who, it turned
out, knew nothing whatever of her beyond the
coach adventure; and when she called the other day
at Mr. Adams's house for her papers, Mr. Adams,
as she alleged, assaulted her violently, and flung
her down the steps of his street•door.
Mr. Adams entirely denied the assault, and pro-
duced two witnesses who fully confirmed that de-
nial ; he merely, he said, told her that she was a
good-for-nothing hussey, for that she had imposed
upon him as to her character, and desired her to
quit the house; on her refusal to do which, he
certainly laid hold of her gently by the shoulder,
and put her outside the street-door. As for his
refusal to give her the papers, he said that arose
from his having been lately written to by Mr. Harris
who introduced her, not to part wtth the papers
until she should have repaid the .51. which he (Mr.
Harris) had disbursed for her at the Bull and Mouth.
One of the papers, indeed, Mr. Adams said, showed
clearly what sort of character the girl was ; for
this document proved to be nothing less than a note
of hand for 50/. from the gentleman who had se-
duced her, as she said, in the country, as the price
of her dishonour. Mr. Adams here handed in this
document to the Magistrate to look at; but on its
being subsequently laid upon the bench, the com-
plainant took it up, folded it very carefully, and put
it into her pocket
This note of hand, she said, which was payable
by instalments of 101., was not given as the pur-
chase of her reputation ; but after that reputation
had been blighted, this document was giver► by her
seducer to restore her peace of mind as far as 501.
could go to effect that object. As for Mr. Harris,
she said, he had no claim whatever either on her
papers or herself, for she had, since he paid the Si.,
met him by appointment, and gone with him in his
gig on an excursion to the country, a short distance
from town, where she fully satisfied him that he had
no right any longer to consider her as his debtor.
Sir G. FARRANT said, that he thought Mr.
Adams had satisfactorily disproved the assault,
and therefore the warrant was dismissed; but he
would recommend Mr. Adams to give up her papers
to the girl.
Mr. Adams said, he had no wish in the world to
detain them, and only did so because be was de-
' sired by Mr. Harris, of whom, however, he knew
nothing, either by address or otherwise, and would
now therefore, as the Magistrate advised it, give up
all the papers in his possession.
Mr. Adams having handed over the papers to the
girl, she examined them, and said that there was one
letter missing, which was from her uncle, with
whom she had lived in the country, and which letter
she prized above
andn theshe rest,eho should
bi
et
vi' was thesor
sorry,
t she
e
had ever written to her, and probably ever would
write. There was also, she said, an English gram-
Pnar, belonging to her, and an umbrella at Mr.
Adams's house,

said, to lose the grammar, because a friend of her'i
hai written some " Latin" in it for her.
_ _

Mr. Adams said, that he knew nothing about,
these articles, but if they were at his house, she,
should have them by sending for them.
The parties then left the office.