The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-19 00:00:00

surprise, who requested to know the ground on which it had
been made? The foreman was understood to say the jury
were not satisfied there had bean premeditation in tha case.
The prisoner was sentenced to two months' imprisonment
and hard labour.

Char!otte Brown was indicted for stealing various articles,
the property of Robert Sorrell, hosier, 88, Strand.
John Scott, a shopman with Mr. Sorrell, said that the
prisoner came into the shop on the 11th November, and
looked out goods to the amount of a 95., directing them to
be sent to Mrs. Parker, 31, Queen-street, close by. He him-
self went with the goods to that address, and made inquiry in
several adjoining streets, but could find no such name. Had
not seen her again till the 29th November, when he saw her in
the shop of Mr. Farmer, who had sent him information, and
he had her taken into custody. A brown silk purse, beaded,
was shown him, which had been found on the prisoner, and
which he had no doubt was the property of his employer.
There had been but one such purse in the shop at the
time. It was missed immediately after prisoner leaving, and
the box in which the purses were kept had not been opened
to any other customer from the time it was shown to the
prisoner till it had been found on her person.
The female searcher and the constable who had taken her
to the station. house, were then called to speak to some of the
same facts.

The jury, after a short consultation, found her Guilty.
A verdict of not guilty had been returned immediately
before on an indictment of a similar kind, though of
a more adventurous character against the same individual.
Three other indictments for shoplifting were not tried. She
has been already convicted of the like offence, and sentenced
to three years' imprisonment and hard labour.
One of the police force informed the Court that the pri-
soner was the greatest shoplifter in London. She had been
in nearly every shop in London, and the policemen seemed
to say they had abundance of materials of previous con-
viction, although wherefore they were not used did not ap-
pear from his statement.

The prisoner is a widow, with a young family of two or
three children ; her own age does not exceed twenty, and she
is respectable, even handsome in her appearance.
The sentence of the Court was that she be transported
beyqnd the seas for seven years. The prisoner was taken out
of Court seemingly under a painful feeling of her present con-
dition.

AFFRAY AT BLACKFRIARS PIER.
On Wednesday another affray took place on the newly-
erected City pier, at the north-eastern corner of Blackfriars-
bridge.
The circumstances arose out of the dispute now pending
between the Navigation Committee and the Directors of the
Watermen's Steam-•packet Company, some particulars re-
lating to which, elicited at the Mansion-house on Tuesday,
appeared in this journal of Wednesday's date. Upon the
occasion referred to, Mr. Newbon, the solicitor to the Steam-
packet Company, made an ineffectual application to the
Lord Mayor for a warrant against one of the officers placed
on the pier to prevent the landing of passengers conveyed by
the Watermen's boats at Blackfriars. Mr. Newbon's applica-
tion was made for the purpose of testing the question legally,
no violence having been practised upon him ; but in the pre-
sent case it is to be regretted that a very respestable inhabit-
ant of Woolwich was made the subject of brutal ill-treatment
by the officers on duty, and at the same time had a very
narrow escape from drowning.
The question between the disputants may be thus briefly
described :—Shortly after the establishment of the Water-
men's Steam packet Company, the Directors obtained from
the free watermen of Blackfriars the privilege of calling
with their boats at the pier erected by the latter. The Wool-
wich Steam-packet Company's boats never called at Black-
friars, the directors selecting Temple-bar pier as the land-
ing-place for their passengers in the City district. The
Watermen's Company continued to enjoy the same privilege
up to the erection of the new pier ; and upon the faith of
their arrangement with the proprietors of the pier a very
large number of season- tickets have been issued to passen-
gers accustomed to land at Blackfriars. During the summer
season the Watermen's boats run three times every hour
between Woolwich and London, viz., at the hour, twenty
minutes past, and twenty minutes to the hour. The Wool-
wich Steam-packet Company's boats, during last season,
ran twice every hour, the period of starting from the
respective termini differing occasionally, but being generally
fixed at a quarter past and a quarter to the hour. The Water-
men's Company have recently taken two of their boats
off the station, the boat leaving at the hour only running at
present. In consequence of this boat frequently arriving at
Blackfriars-pier about the same period as that belonging to
the opposition company, the directors of the Watermen's
Company, a short time since, received a notice from the Na-
vigation Committee, informing them that unless they con-
sented to alter the period of starting their boat, it would not
be allowed to call at the new pier. A long correspondence
has taken place between the Navigation Committee and the
solicitor to the Watermen's Company on the subject. No
satisfactory arrangement, however, has been agreed upon,
and since Monday last a body of about 30 or 40 policemen
have been stationed on the pier for the purpose of preventing
vi et annis any passengers by the Watermen's boats from
landing at Blackfriars.
The directors of the Watermen's Company, on their part,
have instructed the captains of their boats to tender their
passengers at the pier as usual, with the additional order
that if the pier-master refuse to receive the warp, the boat
is at once to proceed on its destination. This has been done
in order to satisfy the season-ticket passengers that the di-
rectors have done all in their power to land them at Black-
friars.
The affray, to which the above is a necessary introduction,
occurred at a few minutes before two on Wednesday after-
noon. At that period, the Waterman steamer, No. 8,
approached the pier from the direction of Woolwich. As the
boat neared the dummy, the pierman, together with the
officers on duty, of whom there were at least twenty, rushed
to the spot in a body, and presented a formidable phalanx to
oppose the landing of any person. Several passengers went
to the gangway for the purpose of landing, but the first who
attempted to leave the boat was Mr. Edward Smith, a re-
spectable boot and shoe maker, residing at 22, Richard-street,
Woolwich. Mr. Smith was wholly unaware of the existing
objection to allow passengers by the Watermen's boats to
land at Blackfriars, and upon being repulsed by the pierman,
he inquired by what authority he was interrupted? No
answer was given to his query, and the next instant he
made another attempt to step on shore ; he was then met
by a severe blow which took effect on his mouth and nearly
felled him. While in the act of threatening to give his
assailant into custody, he was dragged ashore from the
boat, and narrowly escaped falling into the water. He
was then taken off between two policemen, followed by
five or six others, to the station in Black Horse-court, where
he was charged by Thomas Ware, one of the piermen, with
assaulting him while in the execution of his duty. The
affray was observed by the passengers on the bridge, and
when the officers reached the street they were greeted with
groans and hisses by a mob of at least 200 persons, whose
sympathies appeared warmly excited in the prisoner's be-
half. Nor was this at all extraordinary, for the diminutive
figure and mild appearance of the accused seemed to give
the lie to the asserted fact that he had been guilty of vio-
lence towards any party. On reaching the station the
charge was regularly taken by the inspector on duty, who
ordered the accused to find bail, himself in 20L, and one
householder in the same amount, to appear at the Mansion-
house yesterday. Mr. Smith represented the great inconve-
nience he had been put to, and the deep injustice of con-
fining him (a stranger in London) until he could obtain the
required bail. He was informed that there was no appal,
and, but for the accidental presence of a person who had
witnessed the whole affair, and who offered to become an-
swerable in the necessary amount, Mr, Smith would, must
certainly, have been locked up until he could have commu-
nicated with his friends at Woolwich.
This is not all. The case was ordered to be heard before
the Lord Mayor yesterday, at 12 o'clock. Subsequently to the
occurrence of the proceedings above detailed, however, ap-
plication was made to his Lordship for summonses against
the captains of both the Watermen's boats, at present on the
station. The complaint against them was literally and
simply " for calling at Blackfriars Pier." The Lord Mayor,
on ascertaining that the summonses could not be served in
time to hear the case against the captains yesterday, directed
them to be brought up to-day, to which day his Lordship
also ordered the charge against Mr. Smith to stand over.
Thus, in addition to having been dragged through the
streets as a felon (for such was actually the case, each police.
man grasping an arm of the accused), Mr. Smith will be put
to the additional inconvenience and expense of travell;ng
from Woolwich to London and back, merely to ascertain that
he has to appear again on the following day.
Yinchin, the captain of No. 8, behaved with great circum-
spection throughout the affair, and on witnessing the treat-
ment to which Mr. Smith was subjected, jumped off the boat,
and accompanied him to the police-station.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.
A case of considerable interest and importance to the
parishes of London, in fact, to all the parochial districts
throughout the country, has for several days occupied
the attention of the Lord Mayor.
At the beginning of the month a poor lunatic was
brought before the Lord Mayor by the officers of the
City of London Union, who stated that the miserable
object had been just landed at London-bridge from a
foreign steamer, and was thrown upon the parish, al-
though he had no claim whatever upon any parish in the
City of London. '

A feinii!e, Who carne over With the' lunatic, preented
be following letter to his Lordship, from the British
Consul at Boulogne, with reference to her charge:—
British Consulate, Boulogne• sur-Ater, Dec. 3, 1845.
My Lord,—The bearer of this letter, Mrs. Wilson, is em-
ployed by me to convey to your Lordship an unfortunate
British subject, named Franklin Alfred Kerr, born at
Bruxelles, of British parents, on the 29th of May, 1815, and
who was bereft of his reason, occasioned by a fire which took
place on the 25th of December, 1822, his mother haviny
perished in the flames, and his father, Franklin Kerr, mang
years well known to me, is now incarcerated for debt in the
prison of Boulogne, and perfectly destitute of the means of
supporting himself or his son, and were he set at liberty his
position would be but little improved.
I understand that the paternal grandfather of the unfor-
tunate object of this letter, Thomas Kerr, occupied a house
in Jermyn-street, St. James's, London, until 1787, in which
parish he paid rent and taxes for many years, and where, I
am told, he fulfilled some of the highest parochial duties
until he left England, in 1787.
As I have no means of supporting, &c., the aforesaid
Franklin Alfred Kerr, I am, therefore, under the necessity of
handing him over to your Lordship's care and charitable con-
sideration.—l have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lord-
ship's most obedient servant,
__

W. HAMILTON,
H. B. M.'s Consul at Boulogne-sur-Mer.
P.S. Mrs. Wilson has been lung acquainted with the maniac
and his habits.—W. H.
The Lon]) MAYOR questioned Mrs. Wilson, who
stated that the poor man was perfectly harmless, and
that he seemed to have no notion of anything beyond
his immediate wants. She knew his father, and believed
that he was imprisoned for having published a con
structive libel in a Boulogne newspaper, of which he was
editor. She had been housekeeper to him, and she cer-
tainly could bear testimony to his respectability, but
the conditio❑ to which he was reduced by his sentence
left him no hope of being able to contribute in the
slightest degree to the support of his poor desolate
child.

The LORD MAYOR asked her by whom she had been
supplied with the means of conveying the lunatic to this
country ?
Mrs. Wilson replied that the consul had supplied her
with money to defray the expenses, and expressed him-
self obliged to her for taking upon herself so distressing
a responsibility, but she undertook it with sincere plea-
sure, for it was quite impossible to imagine a human
being with smaller capability of protecting himself.
The LORD MAYOR said the case was, indeed, distress-
ing, but there were considerations of a very serious na-
ture to the community involved in it, and at the same
time that he should take care to provide a temporary
asylum for the poor object before him, whose appearance
made so powerful an appeal to our sympathies, he felt it
to be his duty to apply to a higher authority to be in.
strutted in what manner to proceed in such a case.