The Sun.
London, England, 1827-11-23 00:00:00

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This case Us been frequentlyb o the public.
was an information filed against the defendant, as
army agent, calling upon him account for several
large sums received by him in and subsequently to
1794. To this information the defendant pleaded
certain documents called clearing-warrants, which he
contended were in the nature of a-final settlement of
his accounts with the Crown. The plea was ex-
cepted to, and overruled by the Court, but with
liberty to the defendant to amend, giving him also
permission to have access to certain accounts, papers,
and documents in the War-office, for the purpose of •
enabling him to prepare his defence. The defendant,
' accordingly, amended his former plea, by adding to
it certain information which he drew from the papers
in the War-office; and this amended plea being also
excepted to, the case came on for argument on a
former day in this term, and stood over for a further
affidavit in supporeof it.
The Comm to-day, after hearing' Mr: HENRY
BROUGHAM on the part of the Crown, and •Massrs.
JERVIS and MILLER for the defendant again over-
ruled the plea as still insufficient. {'•

'HE PRISONERS COMPREHENDED IN
THE-LAST REPORT MADE BY THE RECORDER.

.tiov. 19.

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It was fully expected some time before the last
report was made, that Bushell, who was convicted
the Session before last of stealing in the shop of Mr. •
Ely, of Soho-square, a gold watch, would have suf-
fered the extreme penalty of the law ;_and up to the i
moment the report was brought down, all the friends .
of Jeremiah Sullivan, convicted of highway robbery,
Were positive that it was ridiculous to entertain a
hope for that prisoner. ' The latter .convict was so
firmly: persuaded his end was, approaching, .that he ,
actually invited all his acquaintancet to +attend at his
execution; and. had, -prepared tq meet - :the expected
intelligence-With the. air of:af Maivatholcoasted rather
than shunned death. •Whfinttold'thas! ,hie:Majesty-,
had spared his lifeirhis resolatiammompletely sham- -
doned him, and he dropped bathe ground hi tairfeet,
insensibility. ' Bushell, a sketch of. whoke extnor7
dinary career we subjoin, and who had been. given
to understand, a few days before the report. was: :
made, that he was merely to cross the water, had, ,
of course, to contend with no violent feeling of the
kind. He received the communication with grati- _
rude, bet without surprise. Three petitions .had been
sent in to the Secretary of State in his favour, one
of which was signed by Mr. Rothachild,•Mr.l3aring,
and all the other merchants of great eminence in the .
metropolis. Soon after the report came down, he
received the following note from Keating, one of '
his unfortunate companions in prison:— .
" Dear Mr. Bushell—We have taken the liberty of
writing to you, if you will be so kind as to collect a small
trifle for Edward Lowe, John Keating, and Charles Smith,
for to get us a pint of beer before we part this world, and
we shall ever be obliged to you.
'•For Mr. Bushell, North-yard."
John Benjamin Bushell is now about 24 years of
age. He was born in Limerick, and is the nephew
of John Bushell, Esq., formerly of an eminent house
in the city. He was expected, and he was brOught
up on the expectation that he would be the heir to
his uncle's property, which was at one time sup-
posed to be immense. He received, his education,
up to the age of. 13, at Carshalton-school, from
whence he was sent to Lisbon, where there was a
branch-of the concern, and received an allnwances—
The house in London failed, and as his resources in
Lisbon failed with it, and he could not 'endure the
comparative slavery of a mere clerkship; he left the'
latter place at the age of 1.5, and went over to Ireland,'
where he lived for some time with his mother ; but
he soon acted in such a manner as disgusted all his
friends. He was, indeed, so completely abandoned
by hia.relations, that at 17 he was obliged to take
the benefit of the insolvent act for 51., a debt - which
he had contracted with .a tailor. He had often
wished to try the stage ',as he is an admirable-rmisi-
clan, and after he had been discharged from' poson.
he determined to exhibit before 'the public. He carnal
to London in 1819, and was introduced to Mr, T.
Walsh,. to whom he became
~a , pupil, and who had
the highest opinion of diis powers
,and taste. He
ROOD afterwards got an engagement at -one, of 'the
principal theatres, and. the newspapers had already
begun to paragraph him, as a" Nonpareit,"• but the
time between the commencement of his 'salary and
the agreement being 'considerable, 'anti Wripdelt—et
being empty,an accident befell' him which dektrOyed
his prospects in the theatrical way. 'He 'not only
contrived to . borrow ' 501. upon. the strength of
his _engagement, but obtained three piano-
fortes, which he immidiately afterwards pawned,
After this expose he went to Paris, where he con-
trived to get into the service of Sheriff Parkins, as
valet de place. He, however, stole the Sheriff's
gold watch, * for which iie was imprisoned" three
years in the Pelagic. In 1826 he obtained his libe-
ration, and became acquainted with a ' Frenchman,
one of the greatest judges and purloiners of dia-
-1 mwiotnhdhs
iimn tihneFwrahnoclee, choeunntreyv,eransdtol‘evhainley, connected
but.ected
substance
his fourth
callet i
fingerdiamonds.
TaheelFamremncyhmadanbeisisiev(el tosubti
" Terebinthine de Venice ;" and while- he painted
at any particular diamond 'amongst those laid before
him with his fore-finger, he contrived to touch an-
-1 other with the " terebinthine," and 'drop 'it down
his sleeve. Upon one occasion he carried out of a
jeweller's shop between 4001. sac: '5OOl. , worth of
jewels. He used also to tip a cane, which had a
hole in the top, with the same stuff, and he always
succeeded in conveying away something extremely
valuable which stood at a little distance from the
counter. Bushell believed for some, time than theFrenchman' made a fair division•of the.spoil 'with
him, but from what he afterwards heardsfissm Some
of the London Jewellers,' Whossiere:plundered by
both, the Frenchman used to sack three-fourths at
least. In the course of their-dealings svith some of
the London jewellers, they found that. the mode of
getting business adopted was not very creditable to
the shopkeepers.
The Frenchman had two desperate fellows while
lie was in Paris in his service, 'but when a grande
role, as it was called, was to be played, Bushell was
appointed to act the principal character. He often
passed as a Spanish Nobleman, and was present at
the coronation of the Emperor Nicholas at. St.
Petersburgh, where he and the Frenchman picked
tip a great deal of money. They found, little diffi-
culty in abstracting jewels from the English jewel-
lers, but they found a French diamond,seller, whose
eyes were so quick, and whose .suspicions were so
much alive, that even the unrivalled Frenchman
came off foiled. This persevering fellow, however,
determined to rob the shopkeeper, . and he gave or-
ders to the two assistants to whom we beige alluded
to be in readiness. The jeweller kept his, diamonds
regularly marshalled in a pincushion,which he used
to hold 'up to the eyes of his customers, whose
hands were not allowed to approach it. His inge-
nuity was beaten out by force and.manceuyre com-
bined. One of the assistants, by,the Frenchman's
' direction, stood at the door with a piece of strong
whipcord,-while the other went into the shop, the
door of which. instantly closed, and asked to see
some diamonds. The brilliant pincushion 'was pro-
duced, The Frenchman, who stood at the other
side of the street, gave the signal ; the fellow who
stood at the door suddenly opened. it, and cried out
aloud "Ha I"--the jeweller started back—the 'pin-
on bd threebere r
wasy u
or
com-
mitted 0 this.omlir..
pin-
cushion instantly changed hands and disappeared,
and the plundered owner found that the latch of his
door was tied down with the whipcord, and that he
must get through the window to follow the thieves.
is known to be enormous.
No person but a master could have planned or
rrseconds.ii
e su-
perintendedlvho leTdthihdeeanexecution
oy. o‘mfv
hosiucechht
phalairni
few jewellers'haVe escaped
him. Afterilltishell was apprehended, he'wrote to
the Frenchmati, charging him with having done him,
irreparable
-.m
s
irreparable injury ; the only answer he rteeived was
mltititsedasleyr, ,liede.tFliriteinclh,ettliyan
Terebinthine is safe ' . ' , ' ''