The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-19 00:00:00

OPPRESSIVE BAIL.

A middle-aged woman having been acquitted of a
trumpery assault, on a charge of which she had been
imprisoned already upwards of a month, having been
committed by Mr. Clive (at Kensington) for want
of bail,

The CHAIRMAN said the woman ought never to
have been imprisoned at all. There was no more
oppressive abuse of English law than the practice of
committing accused persons to prison for want of bail.
In this case the Magistrate ought not to have sent the
woman to prison for a month on such a ground.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
(YESTERDAY.)
MANSION-HOUSE.

A man named Thomas Lee was charged, before the
Lord Mayor, with having committed a great variety
of frauds in the character of a merchant. Childs' a
City constable, who had been watching him and his
partner for some time, at last apprehended him, while
engaged in committing depredations upon a very
simple but successful system.
Mr. W. Leach, cashier to Messrs. Taddy and Co.,
tobacconists, at No. 45 in the Minories, stated that,
about ten or eleven days ago, a person called at the
warehouse of his Employers, and said he wanted
samples of cigars and cheroots, of which he should
probably require a supply to the amount of about 501.,
handing over at the same time a card, of rather dash-
ing appearance, with the inscription, " Lee and Goulcl,
wine -merchants, 14, Cooper's-row, Tower." Subse-
quently the prisoner called and paid for the samples,
and gave an order to a considerable extent, after hav-
ing said that the order must be executed at a lower
figure. Witness consented to let the prisoner have
the goods at sixpence a pound less than had been
charged in the first instance, and sent them to the address upon the card by a porter, who, by mistake left
them at 14, Cooper's-row without receiving the amount
of the bill. Child, the constable, afterwards called at
the house of witness's employers, and, having heard
that the prisoner had obtained the goods, collared him,
and kept him for general inspection by the various
tradespeople whom he had defrauded.
John Holland, waren3usernan to Messrs. Teddy
and Co., stated that he was sent with a large quan-
tity of cheroots to the house of Messrs. Lee and
Gould in Cooper's-row, and that he found the count-
ing-house shut up. After waiting for some time,
however, a young man who appeared to be a clerk
came, and said he had gone out to get something to
eat, and that witness might have left the goods, and
-not taken the trouble to wait. Witness handed over
the cheroots and the invoice to the young man, who
said that all was right. Witness then mentioned
that he wanted the money, upon which the clerk said
that Mr. Lee would be in at four o'clock, and would
then :probably pay the cash, and witness departed,
leaving the goods in the counting-house.
The LORD MAyoa—Were the goods sold on
credit ? Mr. Leach—We expected cash on delivery,
and had no notion of giving credit.
The prisoner said it was quite an error to suppose
that he meant to take in any body. The bad con-
duct, however, of individuals who were in the habit
of defrauding tradesmen had occasioned such a panic
that respectable men now became liable to suspicion.
Childs stated that the prisoner and his partner had
contrived to induce multitudes of tradesmen, by
paying small amounts in a business-like way, to send
in large parcels of goods, which were dispatched to
places were they were turned into money. The
counting-house had been fitted up to serve the de-
ception, but the poor carpenter, who had unconsciously
lent his assistance to the humbug never received any
remuneration.

Mr. John Wood, of 42, Coleman-street, tobacco-
nist, stated that the prisoner called upon him, and
ordered fifty-six pounds of cheroots for Messrs. Lee
and Gould, of Cooper's-row, stating, at the same
time, that he would pay (according to his custom)
one-half in ready money, and the other in a bill at
two months. The goods were sent, and one-half of
the money was paid.
The LORD MAYOR—The bill, of course, was never
paid ? Mr. Wood—We did not draw any bill, for
we ascertained, immediately after the execution of the
order, that it would be of no avail.
The LORD MAvon—You would not go to the un-
necessary trouble ? Mr. Wood—Not at all.
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, prisoner, how can you
reconcile this story with the honourable transactions
of your firm ? Prisoner—The fact is, my Lord, I
trusted a person to whom I sold the cheroots I had
from Mr. Wood, and I lost the whole of the money.
The LORD MAYOR—Has the landlord been paid
his rent ? Childs—No, my Lord ; a broker is now
on the penises for the landlord.
Prisoner-_I assure you, my Lord, that, I don't
owe 50_?. for these eight years, although things are
made to have so bad an appearance against me.
The LORD MAYOR---I don't see how you could owe
much • you have been in the habit of
getting articles '
at so Cheap a rate.
Prisoner—l never had any intention of paying less
than 20s. in the pound, and all my dealings have been
bona fide transactions.
The LORD MAYOR--I shall certainly leave ques-
tion; of the kind to be dealt with by a higher tribunal.
Juries are very well able to distinguish between pre-
meditated fraud and accidental misfortune.
Childs here produced a great variety of papers to
show that the prisoner had given orders innumerable
to different parts of the country.
The prisoner said he knew nothing at all of the pa-
pers, and that great deal of business might have
a