Star.
London, England, 1814-10-12 00:00:00

,'~ ICh .

QUZIN4QOA a a —J. Coofier, of Drury-lane, chemist,
was yesterday summoned on an information for selling
to Lavender, the officer, 'six Are-works, called deiona.
ting balls, contrary to "the statute. Mr. ALIA' ip-
peared for Cooper, and contended that the article soh!
by Mr. Cooper was not of such a nature as was c it,-
templated in the statute of William. That Act evi•,
dently confined itself to fire-works made of potni
powder. It spoke of squibs,' rotketi, and other fire:
world 4suelens generis.• The Act extended to alit per-
sons except the Master of the Ordnance Department,
and persons employed under him. Now, lie main-
tained, this very exception demonstrated the rule for;
which he was contending, namely, ahat the Actonly
meant such tiie.works as were made from gunpow-
der, for with what else had the Master of the Ord-1
notice to do ? The decision in Pianca's case did not
affect him, nor did the proof which he had understood
to have been there adduced, shake his opinion. If it
were to be determined that these detonating balls were
fire-works, within the meaning of the Act, they nii:tht,
Mr. Cooper, and all the chemists in London, shut up
their shops ; for Mr. Cooper had recently prepared,
in promotion of. experiments making by Captain
Mangy, to fire cannon by means of detonating com-
positions, balls, &c. twenty times as drngerous as
those articles purchased by Lavender. ft I r.Cooper,h ow-
ever, weakened this argutnenk a little, by observing,
that Captain Hanby was under the direction of the
Ordnance Department, which brought him within the.
exception of the Act. He added, that phosphorus
boxes, and such like articles, might be brought within
the Act, if these balls were pronounced to be fire=
works, according to its meaning ; and that he and
captain Marshy had in vain tried tb ignite gunpowder
by means of &heti, molting compositiou. Mr. FIELDING
said, that Mr. Alley's argument was a non sequitur. It
might be ingenious to maintain that ete exception
proved the rule=-but it was not founded in truth
for as the Master of the Ordnance could only manu-
facture such tire-works as were made of gunpowder,
the exception could only extend to. that species of fire.
works. The Act said —" Squibs, rockets, or other
fire-works ;" and the statute having introduied the
word eine., the Magistrates had not power to restrict
its meaning to such fire as was produced by gun-
powder —they must deem it to extend to every species
of fire, by SS liatever means elicited. If what Johnson
called .' the ignious element" were piiaduced that
• Vas sufEeent ter the Magistrates. As to the effects
of so construing-the Act, thereby extending it to fire;
biles ;aid the like, that argument was answered by
the preamble to the Act, it purporting to be for the
Orpfise of preventing those mischievous fire-works,
by the explosion of which many persons had, lost their
latti; limbs, or -eyes ; and therefore the
.mischievous
ties of the fire-works formed a necessary part of
tie lima. The devaiating bill, 'unlike the fultoina-
• tfrig pea in this respect, only explodes when it is
petssed with the foot ; and one was so exploded in the
Office. when it emitted a considet able Rash. Nettleton
tgerifficer stated, that he Wok a Lady Out of the
Theatre, a few evenings since, one of whose-hands
was dreadfully torn and laceifitted;in consequence of
explosion of a detonating ball. The Magistrates
Mr. COLQUISOU a and Mr. Fratonso) then pronounced
te
r, Cover to stand convicted, at having hien proved
that the detonating balls were fire-works, and of- a
dangerous and mischievous character. Mr. ALLEY
denying the jurisdiction of the Magistrates in this
case, said that the penalty would not be paid ; but it
was afterwerds arranged that the fine would not be
14triecl tiUafter the commencement of next Michaelmas
'l eras, iu order to give Mr. Alley an opportunity, if
his Client should be so disposed, to move the Court of
Irises Bench for a writ of Certiorari to remove the
PriCtChliitgs.
BOW vraerr.—lt having been a general complaint
that a nunitstr of the robberies which are committed
hi London are accomplished by the neglect or absence
of the watchmen from their posts, several parishes
very properly obtained Acts of Parliament to make
it an (fence for publicans to• harbour watchmen after
gyse on their duty, and the parish officers ref St.
.., .
a have lately given instructions to the beadles to
en '4urce the Act, which they have accordingly done.
Ou SW day morning they went to see that the watch-
*en Were on their duty, and found one drinking at
foie o'clock in the Cock public-house, in George-
stieet, St. Giles's, and yesterday, Mr. Breasher, the
lan& rd, was bronght befote llr..Bittxtr, the Sitting
Magistrate, charged with the offence, when be was
co nvieted in the penalty and costs., .
now Porkr, alias Smith, underwent an minion-
Oro, charged on suspicion of robbing the Monmouth
(Oath, a Ann time since, ofootes and bills to the
amount of 82000, but the Prisoner satisfactoriliprov-
ing that he was a prisoner in the* House of Correction,
Coldbath-fields PI KOll, at the time tlie robbery was
committed, he was discharged.
The driver of the Hackney-coach No. 564, was sum-
inomd by Dr. Bstoposs, for refosing to take him and
some ladies, on Friday night, from'the City-road to
Lis house in Comm-street. Jr being an aggravated
case, the prisoner was convicted in the penalty of 82
and costs. The Doctor said he should give the penalty
to the Lying-in-Hospital.
Elizatc:ll ill• Donald, ali is Pasty Kelly, was charged
with being an incorrigible utterer of counterfeit sil-
ver. William Kelsby, of the Peacock publik-house,
Gray's-ion-lane, proved her uttering a counterfeit
Aiiliing- at his house on Friday evening, and after she
was taken, he had every reason to believe she swal-
lowed some counterfeit n:oney. Dickons, the Aker,
was sent tor, and he believed her to have swallowed
some, and he found upon her a counterfeit shilling,'
and three shillings and five-pence half-penny. in cop-
per. Amelia Bailey, a grocer, •of Gray's-inn-lane,
. Onted that the prisoner uttered a counterfeit shilling
10 her on the same evening. Mr. Ileeby, the Keeper
'of Clerkenwell Prison, stated, that the prisoner was
convicted at the Middlesex Session, 1813, as a com-
mon utterer of counterfeit money, and was liberated
last June. It will, therefore, be a capital offence, in
case of conviction on this charge. She WO commit-
ted for trial.

John Carpenter and Hannah, his wife, were charged
on suspicion of being coiners. In their residence
Rose-street, Brick-lane, t number of tools used in
coining were found, as were a number of unfinished
pieces of copper, tor sixpences, together with liquid
'tor colouring them, Sec. Jane Hiehums, the mother
a Mrs. wai ChargiA on Invicion of being

concerned with them. They werteotirimitted for fur-1
'her examination. "f-Mr. Cooper, the Solicitor to the
Mint, attended to crantinct the proseeutihn.
Charks:J,,raan and John Bartle: were fully commit-
ted for trial on a charge of stealing a chest of tea from
the Wendon wagron.
John Lawrence, Charles Clltsiel. and IVillians Carter,
vi.erechelt gad with felivrionsly stealing a livery coatand
st oat , the property of Busk,'Esq. of Enfield.
The prisoners.were apprehended on Sunday night, by
LlUishop and his filmy, near St. Luke's, with the pro-
rtierty on them, which has since hern owned by Mr.
Busk, it h wing been stolen from his carriage id Fins-
bt r •.
James Hyatt, Williams Jones, Mart/ Cherson, William
,Wilion; and Elizabeth, his wife, underwent a final exa:
%nitration, on suspicion of having committed some
frauds, but were diacharged for want Of evidence.
HA TrON-G A RDEtt...-JOM/14 Smirk was brought Op
for examination, charged with stealing tour shirts, two
neck-handkerchief's and a waistcoat, from the house of
Ann Pipe, No. 63., Wilstead-street, Somers'-town.—
Ann Pore being sworn; said, that on Monday night,
the 3d instant, the Prisoner came to her house, and by
the name of Lewis, took a loging there; he was
shewn to bed at ten o'clock, and was off in the morn-
inp, by six, taking four shirts, two neck-handkerchiefs,
and a waistcoat with him, the property of George
Lee, a young man who slept in the same room, but
who happened to be that night out of town ; the ar
ticles were those now produced, and were loom'
pawned by the prisoner at Mr. Armstong's, a pawn-
broker. He was fully committed for trial.
UNION HALL. —Yeme.rclay W. Martin, alias Scotch
Bit 7, was charged with burglary. May and Goff.
the officers, having received information that the
King's Arms, in Mint-street, had beer. broken °plug
on Sunday night, suspected Scotch Will, and upon
apprehending him, searched his lodgings, where they
discovered a time-piece, which was part of the plun-
der. He was remanded.

Burch was charged with .stealing a goose, the
property of A. Abbott, E,al. of Blackheath. The
prisoner was stopped with it in his possession by a
constable in the Kent-road, and Golf traced it to have
been stolen t: orn Mr. Abbott's premises. The garde-
ner and one of his assistants.. identified the goose, and
the prisoner was fully committed.
•MASCO •ItWCGH-STREET.--CIIAIGE or SETTING FIP.E
TO A HOUSE.—Yesterday it. Jacobs, a slop-seller, of
Saville-row, and Zi'Carty, his toaeman, whir were ad-
mitted to bail to answer a charge of setting fire to the
shop on Thursday night last, were again brought up.
Ile circumstances or the case were stated yesterday,
and thelarther dm-inquiry has been carried, the more
evident it is that the place had been set on fire. Some
of the shop articles were found down the area of the
Earl of Uxbridge's on die morning after the fire, and
it was represented by Mr. Jacobs that the house had
been robbed. It was clearly proved that Jacobs and
his family were in the City at the time the fire hap-
pened. . However ambiguous the case there was a
want of evidence to attach the offence to any indivi-
dual, and the Solicitor to the Eagle Fire-office having
consented to the discharge of the prisoners, such took
piece, after a most laborious investigation on the part
of th• Magistrate.
MaNsims-House.—Yesterday J. Suadercors, a dis•
charged sailor, was brought up for attempting to
enforce alms from a lady in Fenchurch-stret•t, by
threatening words and gestures. He said lie had a
brother a merchant in Liverpool, end all that he
wanted was a travelling pass to get dawn into the
country. lie was however remanded in order to
afford the lady an opportunity to appear against him.
INSOI,VENT DEBTORS' Counr.---Yesterday Mr.
Mtrile, a Dutchman, was opposed on the ground r f
being-a foreigner, and of having fraudulently accep-
ted accommodation bills in prison. Tile prisoner
being in great distress, and without Counsel, a Mr.
Nl'Mattobt, a Gentleartn belonging to the lush Bar,
spoke in his behalf. He said, this unfortunate man
had lostall his property in conducting law-suits doting
many years, with the Messrs. Disks, eminent mer-
chants in Ireland ; that he had obtained a Decree
from the House of Lords, to which he appealed, and
by that Decree he was entitled to itSO,OOO, and was
now, through extreme poverty, the victim of mei
oppression. Mr. Serjeant PALSIER said, he had the
power of discharging foreigners ; and in order to
enable the prisoner to give a better explanation of his
affairs, by amending his schedule, he would allow
1 him to be remanded far a fortnight.

Ala( lit two o'clock on Monday morning, as Cooke,
one of the Hatton-garden officers, was returning from
night duty, he was assaulted in Great %Varner-street,
Clerkenwell, by five villains, who knocked him down,
trampled Upon him, and left him for dead.
Mr. Lamle, who was robbed and so cruelly treated
in the Five Fields, Chelsea, last week, we are sorry
to leaf n, died yesterday.
Wednesday evenin detachments of four different
regiments, • amounting to about 120 men, halted at
Arlesford, on 'tick way to Winchester Barracks, and
during their stay robbed some of the innkeepers of
sheet:, :aid other articles, but which the Officer who
was with them honourably paid for before he left the
town.

Yesterday evening, as the landlord of a public-house
in Upper Ratubrnie•pLtce, was trying the strength of
some spirits which he received into his cellar, the
candle be had with him unfortunately set file to the
spirits in one of the casks, the flames from which
burnt him so dreadfully, that it is not expected he
can survive.

On the evening of the 24th ultimo, a violent thun-
der storm passed over the town of Glastonbury. Du-
ring the storm, a Mr. DOWN WAS 00 his return home
Irons his father's house, guarding hipsselt by an urn-
.hrella from the violence of the rain, which was pour-
ing in torrents, when the electric fluid struck the top
of the umbrella; and passed"down tire stick, which it
shivered in pieces, together with the wires connected
therewith. The slide that comes down the stick'svas
thrown to the distance of several yards, and the wire
that fastened it to the branches of the umbrella was
entirely consumed. Mr. DOWN was struck down with
'such violence; that he was taken home, and remained
'in t kind of stupor for several hours before he reco-
vered.

Saturday se'nnight, 'a fine horse, the property of
Mr. J. Budd, of Medstej, near Arlesford, WAS killed
by lightning, during the heavy storm. The lightning
struck the animal between the en.* and at the same
time-split a stile near is., •