The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-01 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER SESSIONS.

. _
(Before -Mr. • Sergeant ADAMS, the Chairman, and a
Bench of Magistrates.)
HORRIDLE PROFLIGACY.—SamueI Dyball was indicted
for assaulting Eliza, his wife.
The prosecutrix stated that she had been married to
the prisoner for two years, who was a gambler by pro-
fession. After living with her eighteen months, as he
was unable to support her, they agreed to sepa-
rate. She was then compelled to' maintain her-
self by prostitution, of which her husband uas
well aware ; she had since frequently supplied him with
money. He had often pressed her to live with him, but
she refused because he was unable to maintain her. On
those occasions he had threatened to murder her; and on
the 21st of January, having met by appointment in the
Park, she. gave him some money. He followed her in
Pall-mall, and struck her in the face. He wrote to her
the next Morning, asking her to forgive him, but she was
compelled' to take out a warrant against him. She had
warrants out against him before, and on one occasion he
had been imprisoned a month.
The prisoner denied the imault, and said that his
wife had bribed the police to take him into custody on
the most trifling charges, because he endeavoured to
induce her to leave her profligate mode of life and return
to him.

Thu Jury found him Guilty, and the Chairman or-
dered him to enter into his own recognizances, in the
sum of 4C1., to conic up and rJeeive judgment when
called upon, intimating to him that if he ceased to molest
his wife the matter would bn suffered to drop.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION HOUSE.

A young man, named William Snow, was brought be-
fore the Lord Mayor, upon a charge of an extraordinary
description, as it was stated by Mr. Hobler, jun., who
appeared for the prosecution.
The piisoner, who had been apprehended by one
of the metropolitan police, at Haversham, in Essex,
stated that he was 24 years of age, and that he had come
over from France and Holland to meet whatever accusa-
tion might be brought against him, as soon as he learned
that he had been charged with swindling and robbery.
Mr. Hobler, Jun., said, that, some months ago, he ap-
plied at the Mansion-house, upon the part of Mr. Mark-
leu, of the Ship Tavern, in Talbot-court, Gracechurch-
street, for . Magisterial assistance, in 'a case in
which the prisoner was a principal performer. It
should be recollected that the complaint made by Mr.
Markleu, on that occasion, embraced several matters cal-
culated to show that the perpetrator was no common of-
fender, for he not only falsely pretended that he paid the
pascage-money of some young persons he prevailed upon
to consent to emigrate to Port Phillip, which
he had reeeived from them and their credulous friends,
but he actually induced a raw young girl, who was
very nearly related to himself, to give up an annuity,
which he knew she would lose upon )ier marriage, to marry
a mere boy,.whom he induced to accompany him abroad,
and after a variety of tricks and manoeuvres, succeeded in
leaving all hiS proteges in the lurch on board ship, from
which, upon her arrival at Plymouth, previously to her
long voyage, they were as speedily as possible removed.
Mr. Hobler, jun. stated, that the four young people ar-
riv6d in London after having experienced a great deal of
hardship and embarrassment, while the prisoner and his
wife, who had left on board trunks full of rubbish, as a
sort of security for their return to the vessel, upon her
arrival at Plymouth, decamped with the money which
was to pay the expenses of the passage, and to prepare
the young visitors for a comfortable establishment at
Melbourne, in Pert Phillip, where Mr. Snow assured
them ho was making a rapid fortune in his hotel.
The LORD MAYOR said he recollected the case perfectly
well, and a more heartless business he had never heard of.
Mr. Markleu said his present object was to have the
examination postponed and the prisoner remanded for a
few days, in order that he might be enabled to collect
the evidence which was scattered about, as nobody inter-
ested ever expected to see Mr. Snow again.
The LORD .MAYOR asked what became of the poor
girl, who had married in the expectation of being settled
for life?
Mr. Markleu- replied that she never recovered the dis-
tressing reverses to which she had been subjected in
consequence of having completely thrown herself out of
bread, for her husband was as much a child as she was,
and had no employment. The consequence was that she
became the inmate of a workhouse, where she lingered
for a while, and, upon being taken out by her aunt she
died. Mr. Markleu here handed a letter to the Lord
Mayor, which he said he had received from the prisoner.
The LORD MAYOR—The prisoner here admits the
truth of the accusation in effect.

The Prisoner--I am innocent of what lam accused,
and my wife and I came over from a foreign country,
.half-starved, for the purpose of proving that I am not
guilty of the bas) and heartless offence imputed to me.
I determined, when I saw the representations in the
newspapers, to come forward. If I wanted to abandon
these.young people, and to take advantage of them, I
would have done it when I had possession of . all their
money. I had- no intention of defrauding them, and I
deny that I received the money under false pretences.
Mr. Markleu—You received money and goods from
me under pretence of paying for my son Edward's pas-
. sage, and protecting him, and you abandoned the vessel,
leaving him on board.
The Prisoner—l say lam not guilty of the heartless
conduct ascribed to me. It is quite impossible that I
could treat my sister in the way deaceibed. I deny that.
The LouD MAYOU—W hat did you me in by filling
your trunks with stones and rubbish, and requesting that
one of those unfortunate young peop..e would have a par-
ticular eye to them, as they contained most valuable
property ? The Prisoner—l can answer that and other
things at a future time, my Lord. I now say that I am
wrongly accused of want of feeling and of intention to
defraud, The fact is, that as is very often the case with
ship agents, the'ship agent employed upon this occasion
acted very badly. The prisoner then proceeded to de-
scribe wliat he said was the ship agent's conduct as re-
garded the engagement and pa) ment for the voyage.
The LORD MAYOR, interrupting him, said, there is no
use in this special pleading here. The offence with which
you are charged has been most truly called a heartless one.
The Prisoner-I must have been an egregious fool,
my Lord, if I was guilty, in not going off with the whole
of the money when I had, it in my power. I had made
a settlement with my agent. Why did not those who
who had the authority come forward at Plymouth, and
offer to return what had been received, upon seeing the
distress which was said to have taken place?
The Lotto MAtort—Depend upon it that justice shall
be done to yon. We shall have all the particulars de-
tailed, and then you can use all the ingenuity you are
possessed of to get out of the difficulty.
A gentleman, who said that he was the owner of the
ship here stepped forward, and said he was quite con-
vinced that the prisoner made the bargain about the
passage of the young people with the intention of swind-
ling them out of their property.
The Prisoner was then remanded for some days, and
Mr. Marklen was desired by the Lord Mayor to bring
ibrWard his witnesses, and whatever documents he might
be supplied with.
His LORDSHIP directed that the prisoner should be al-
lowed to communicate with any persons from whose as-
sistance he expected he should derive any advantage.
Sir PETER LAURIE came to the Mansion-house for the
purpose of publicly stating that he had very good reason
forcautioning country bankers against bungg ready to
let strangers have their signatures, as gangs of the intel-
lectual class of thieves were most busily at work in de-
vising methods of turning their acquirements end talents
to account.

The facility- with which the signatures of public men
are obtained, lead, in fact, to imposition, or attempts at
imposition, every hour in the day. There are puffing bills
handed about the streets, with the present Chief
trates name appended, with such accuracy of imitation,
that those who liim,v his Lordship best declare-that they
could not see the least difference between, the real and
the fictitious signature.
BD IV-STREET

Two sharp-looking little thieves,
about 16 years of
age, named Evans axd Kelly, with the word jullows
Most distinctly visible on their countenances, were charged
with the following audaciouS robbery :
Thomas Mann. the complainant, stated that he was a
tobacconist, resid:ng in Trine s,-street. At about seven
o'4ock on 'Wednesday he and his daughter were in the
parlour off the shod, when heariie a noi3J they wellt
into the shop and found the two prisoners there. Evans
remained quiet, but Kelly made for the door ; he was,
however, laid hold of, and on taking off his hat about a-
half lb. of tobacco fell from it.

Rose Mann, the daughter of the prosecutor, corro•