The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-31 00:00:00

ME SUN, LONDON. TUESDAI: EVENING,

ATTE NIPT

ON THE

now appears---" Francis, Tobacconist," and expressed
his intention to open it on Thursday morning. In
the meantime he caused cards to ba printed, and a great
quantity of snu if, tobacco, cigars, and other articles, Were
sent in, and on Thursday morning the sh.,p was opened
and the prisoner attended to it all day. On that night
having closed the 'shop, 'he went home to bed as usual,
and the next morning he again proceeded to the snuff
shop, and remained there until his fellow lodger had
gone to work, and he was then seen to go up into his
room, and. remain there- a short time, when he again
left the house. Upon the young man, Elam, return-
ing, he found that his box had been broken
open, and that five pounds ten shillings in gold
had been stolen. He immediately gave information to
Mr. Foster, his landlord, who at once proceeded to
the snuf7-shop in Mortimer-street, where he found
the prisoner sitting, in a most unconcerned manner,
behind the counter. He immediately said to him,
" What have you been _ about ? I suppose you
knoW what I have come here for ?" The prisoner
immediately replied, " Oh, I suppose you want the
money ;" and he directly pulled out the gold, and gave
it to Mr. Foster, who then told him, not to enter his
house any more. The prisoner expressed some
anxiety about his boxes, and said he supposed Mr.
Foster would not object to letting him have
them. Mr. Foster, suspecting from the discovery
that had been made that the prisoner might have
committed -some other depredations that: would
be discovered by searching his boxes, determined
upon retaining possession of them ; and he told
him that he would take care of them for
him, but that he should not have :possession
of them for the present, and he went. away.
It appears that on this same day the per-
sons of whom the prisoner had purchased
the articles to stock his shop, and to whom he
had promised immediate payment, came to him and
insisted upon receiving the amount, of their goods.
He told them he was unable to pay them, and they
insisted upon having back their property, and the
whole of the goods were accordingly removed, and the
shop cleared. This occurred in the latter part of the day,
and about dusk on Friday the prisoner shut up the shop
and was seen to walk away. He then, it appears,
not having the opportunity, for the reason above
stated, of going to his own lodging, proceeded to a
coffee-shop at the end of Oxford-street, where'. he
hired a room, and where he remained unt

the Monday, when the desperate act was com-
mitted. It has been already stated that the police
obtained access to his apartment in Titchfield-street,
and that they searched his boxes, but although for
the sake of establishing the identity of the accused,
it was deemed advisable that they should be taken
charge of by the police, we are enabled to state that
there was nothing at all suspicials discovered in his
boxes, and the contents were merely dirty linen and
some scraps of poetry, and other writings of no im-
portance, and nothing of a political tendency was
discovered. The conduct of the prisoner on entering
the snuff-shop was looked upon by the I)ersons who
knew him, as a very singular proceeding, as it
was known that he had not the slightest knowledge
of that business, and was entirely without means to
carry it on ; and it is supposed that being pressed for
the money by the parties of whom he had obtained

the-goods, he was induced on the Friday morning to
steal the money'of his companion under the circum-

stances above described.

Since the remand of the prisoner, it has been satis-
factorily ascertained that the pistol actually exploded,
and a search has this morning been made, in ordext to
endeavour to discover the bullet, if possible ; but as
yet the result of the search has not been made known.

As in the case of Oxford, the overt act of treason,
being a direct attaek upon the life of her Majesty, the
ordinary forms in cases of high treason will not apply,
and the culprit will be tried in the ordinary form. If
the pistol had not exploded, the offence of attempting
to shoot, supposing the weapon to have been loaded,
Is one of equal magnitude as if it had been actually
discharged, and the circumstance of the failure to ex-