The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-09-20 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.-TrESDAY.

SHOPLIFTING.

Mary Clingan, a slovenly-looking woman, was plated at
the bar charged with having stolen a piece of print from the
shop of Messrs. Pearson Dodgson and Son, general drapers,
Lord-street.
Mr. Pearson Dodgson deposed, that between two and three
o'clock on Monday afternoon the prisoner, Mary Clingan,
with another woman, entered his shop. They requested that
some handkerchiefs might be shown to them. He showed
them some, but, as usual in cases of this description, they
were not easily pleased. The prisoner's companion had a
child with her. With the usual desire to give satisfaction
evinced by those who traffic with female customers, abund-
ance of goods were shown to them, in order that the charms
of variety might produce the desired effect. In reaching down
the goods from the shelves Mr. Dodgson had to turn his
back upon the prisoner and her companion. As he turned
his head on one of these occasions, he saw the prisoner con-
cealing
something under her cloak. He immediately went
round the corner and asked what she had got there. She
replied that she had nothing hut what was her own. The
woman with the child immediately ran out of the shop. He
drew the prisoner's cloak aside, and under it found a piece of
print which he had shortly before laid upon the counter. He
said, " This is mine ; you have taken it off the counter."
She replied, " The other woman gave it to me." He sent
for a police-officer and delivered her into custody. The piece
of print measured 28 yards, and was declared to be worth
Ils. 6d. The prisoner repeated to the magistrate, that the
other woman gave it to her. She was committed for trial.

A ROLAND FOR AN OLIVER.
Bridget Anwright, a delicate-looking young woman, was
charged before Messrs. Rushton and Birch with having
assaulted Sarah Ashton. The prisoner, though handsome
and somewhat pale, had about her eyes a swimming, inflamed
appearance, which seemed to speak of " potations pottle
deep." Such surmise was proved by her own account to be
founded in truth. •
Mrs. Ashton, who, by the by, is twice as big as the pri-
soner, stated that she kept a public-house. On Monday,
about noon, the, prisoner and another woman entered the
house and asked for two glasses of ale. They drank this and
paid for it. Shortly after their departure a glass was missed,
and the prisoner was suspected of having stolen it. At night
she again entered the house, when Mrs. Ashton communi-
cated her suspicions. With that, said the complainant, she
got very obstropolous, and kicked up a row. I told her that
wouldn't do. She got in a passion, and so did I. She got
on the counter and spit in my face, and in return I struck
her on the head with a quart pot; and sent for a policeman
and ordered him to take her to Bridewell.
Police-officer 104, who had taken the prisoner into cus-
tody, was asked if he knew anything of the circumstance.
He replied, " No, I did not see anything of what she has
related ; only when I went to take the prisoner she was very
robust."
The husband of the complainant was called. He stated
that he saw but little of tile matter. He was a brewer, and,
on seeing what was going on, he went away and minded his
brewing. " I remarked, however," said he, " that the pri-
soner was very cantankerous."
The prisoner made the following defence :—" Well, gen-
tlemen, I went with my mother to that woman's house to
have a glass of ale. I goes there very often to drink ; when-
ever I'm dry, or whenever I wants a pint of ale, I goes.
Well, gentlemen, me and my mother got a glass of ale
a-piece, and paid for it and went away. At night I went
again, and she said I'd stole a glass. I said, 'Do you think
I d steal your glass?' an' when I said that, she ups with a
quart pot, an' strikes me the nationest blow atop o' the head
with it you ever seed, an' then sent me to Bridewell for salt-
ing her. If I did spit at her, she gave tit for tat anyhow."
Mr. Rushton said, it was plain the complainant had taken
the law into her own hands, and he wondered how, after
that, she could expect the magistrates to interfere. The
case was dismissed.
ASSAULT ON TWO MARKET CONSTABLES.

James and John Gibson, two brothers, the one a joiner,
and the other a barber, were charged with having assaulted
Maguire and another market constable, in the execution of
their duty.
Maguire stated, that at half-past seven o'clock on Monday
evening, the prisoners, who were both in a state of intoxica-
tion, entered St. John's Market, each having a pipe in his
mouth. As smoking is prohibited in the markets of this
town, he went up to them, and announced to them that they
must put out their pipes, or leave the market. They told
him that they would put his pipe out, if he interfered with
them. He said his duty compelled him to see that the order

of the magistrates should be Obeyed.---;H:eyKuWjcia
and said they would not give over smoking for such a fellow
as him. " Well," said Maguire, "if you won't give it up
by fair means, I must make you ; so, if you must have a
whiff, put that in your pipe and smoke it." The prisoners,
like King Artaxominous, declared that they would smoke
short-cut—the officer might smoke what he pleased. Re-
solved to comply strictly with the law, and to have the regu-
lations of the market enforced, he requested them to furnish
him with their names and a!dress. They again laughed at
him, and kept puffing away in his face with the utmost non-
chalance. Calling another constable, he took them into the
market-office, assuring them that if they did not give their
names and places of residence, so that he might summon
them for their offence, he should be compelled to take them
to Bridewell. The younger brother was about to write his
name when the elder exclaimed, " Oh, never mind him ;
tell him your name is Tim Bobbin, or anything will do."
Finding that he could not get the prisoners to give their
names, his duty was clear, and he told them that they must
go to Bridewell. To this they would by no means consent.
They put up their pipes and showed fight. They were con-
veyed to the lock-up, but they kicked and cuffed the officers
at a fearful rate all the way. After they had been locked up
some time, they procured bail, and were liberated.
The account which the prisoners gave of the affair was
they only continued to smoke, and to defy the officers for
mere frolic. It was all a joke. The elder brother confessed
that he would not allow the other " to sign his name," and
that they struck the officers on the way to the lock-up.
Mr. Rushton said, according to their own account they
knew that smoking was not permitted in the market, yet
they had continued to smoke in defiance of the officers,
whom they had afterwards resisted and assaulted while in the
discharge of their duty.
It appeared that the prisoners were in but humble circum-
stances. They were fined 4s. 6d. and costs each, amounting
altogether to 17s. In default of payment to be committed
for five days.

NOVEL MODE OF RECOVERING RENT.
An individual who keeps a grocery shop in Northumber-
land-street, and who, it appears, further makes the most of
his premises by letting off his rooms, appeared to answer a
complaint preferred against him by one of his tenants.
The name of the complainant did not transpire, but his
tongue proved him to be an Irishman. The defendant was
tolerably well dressed, and respectable looking. The com-
plainant delivered himself as follows :—Dhat gintleman,
plaze yer honour, is my landlord—dhat is, 1 live undher him
in one of dhe upper rooms over his .own apartments. Last
Wednesday night, ov all odhers, I'd been in bed a long time,
and was just asleep and dhramin whin he cum to dhe door
o' my room, an' he sthruck it an baweled out to me to open
it. An' how'll Ido dhat, an' me in bed, siz I? Och, siz he,
Green, I'm mad, siz he. An' you—you do'nt say so, siz I.
Open dhe door, siz he, an' have all the lives ov you—l'll
take all your lives, siz he, dhis blessed night. Do'nt be
talkin dhat way, siz I, but go away peaceable to your com-
fortable bed. Sorra a bit did he attind, but he took an' he
broke dhe door open, an' whin he got in he jumped an'
capered about like a madman. I'll have your lives, siz he,
dhis night. So he wint up to dhe fire-place, an' he tuck dhe
fire out of it an' throwed it about dhe room, to sit the place
a-fire ; an' he tuck fire up in dhe shovel, and he threw it in
dhe bed to de poor little innocent children, dhat were dhere
fast asleep.

The wife of the complainant corroborated the above, and
further testified that the defendant struck her, and that it
was not the first time he had done so.
Other witnesses gave testimony in further corroboration,
and stated that the defendant was intoxicated at the time.
The defendant stated, that the complainant lived in one of
the rooms, and would not pay him any rent. As he was
determined to be paid he went on Wednesday night to see if
could get it out of him. He was perfectly sober, and he
lifted up the latch, and went into the room. He did not
break open the door. The complainant was in bed, and he
told him that he wanted his rent. It was dark, and he put
his hand, into the fire-grate, and threw out the cinders to
make a light. The defendant had no witnesses.
Mr. Rushton said, the defendant had taken a most extra-
ordinary mode of recovering his rent, if that were his object,
in going at a late hour, and behaving outrageously when the
poor people were in bed.
The complainant denied that he owed the defendant any
rent. He had always paid it weekly, as it became due. In
proof of this assertion, a book was presented to the magis-
trate.

The defendant said, the complainant had paid his rent on
Saturday last.

Mr. Rushton.—Why. sir, here is your own book and your
own writing to shew that it was paid the very day before this
assault was committed. We look upon this as one of the
worst cases that has recently come before us. You appear
to be a man in respectable circumstances, and of some edu-
cation, yet your behaviour has been scandalous. The defen-
dant was ordered to pay a fine of 40s. and costs, or to be im-
prisoned one month.

A CANDID CONFESSION.
Patrick Horrighan was charged with having assaulted In-
spector Wharton.
Mr. Wharton stated, that he was in the neighbourhood
of Brick-street, about half-past two o'clock yesterday morn-
ing, when he heard a cry of " Police ! Murder !" loudly and
frequently repeated. He went to the house from whence the
sounds proceeded, and having been admitted he found four
men in a tap-room, quarrelling and belabouring each other
at a fearful rate. They were all drunk, and the one who ap-
peared to be inflicting the most severe punishment on the
others, was roaring murder most lustily, and calling for
the assistance of the police. He succeeded in quieting them,
and in seeing them to their respective beds, when the pri-
soner, who was not among them at first, came to him and
said he had been in bed, fast asleep, when he was disturbed
by the noise made by the others. He pointed to one of the
men, and insisted that the Inspector should take that parti-
cular individual to Bridewell. The Inspector said there was
no necessity for taking the man out of the house, now that
he was quietly going to .bed. You wont! said the prisoner.
Decidedly not, said the Inspector. Then get out of the house
said the prisoner, suddenly striking the Inspector a violent
blow with his fist between the eyes. The Inspector imme-
diately gave him into the custody of one of the officers who
was at hand, for the assault.

The Prisoner.--I know I struck him. He would not take
the man that I told him to take. He ought to have done as
I told him : that was his duty—but he would'nt ; so I struck
him. •

The prisoner was fined Bs. 6d. and costs. In default of
payment he was to be imprisoned five days in the House of
Correction.

WARNING TO REFRACTORY APPRENTICES.

Thomas Maguire, an apprentice, was placed before the
Magistrates, charged with having absented himself from his
work.

The Master stated, that the prisoner had been absent from
his employment since Saturday week.
The lad said he was willing to go back to his employment
on one proviso. He would go back to his work, if his mas-
ter would promise not to thrash him. " But," said he, " he's
always thrashing me ; I can't stand it ; he thrashes me morn-
ing, noon, and night." _
_ _

The Master.-1-le's so insolent, that there's no bearing
with him, and then if he's spoken to, he takes himself off. I
called upon his father, and I told his father that I could not
stand his impertinence. " Give him a good hidin," said his
father.

Prisoner (interrupting).—My father never gave you leave
to wallop me in his life.
Master.—He said I was to give you a good hiding. Ac-
cordingly, I did hide him. But what was it after all ? Only
about half-a-dozen blows with a cane. With that he takes
himself off. I'm obliged to get him took up, and here he is.
Mr. Rushton.—He has been here before, I remember. He
is a very bad lad, and sets a had example to others. He
must, therefore, be punished. The prisoner was committed
to the House of Correction for a month.
WEDNESDAY.

APPLICATION FOR WAGES BY A DESERTING SEAMAN.
Mr. Wardle, solicitor, appeared to prefer a claim for a
balance of wages alleged to be due to his client, Mr. Fyides,
chief mate of the ship Grace, for the passage to Quebec.
Mr. Davenport appeared for the defendant.
The claim was preferred under the following eircum-
itancee :—Fyldes, as chief mate of the ship Grace, signed
articles agreeing to perform the voyage to Quebec and back
to England at the rate of £5 per month. He performed the
outward passage ; but on the day previous to the sailing of
the vessel from Quebec, he had, according to his own state-
ment, an altercation with the master, Capt. Reid, who, in

the course of it, struck him and broke his head. In the
evening, he went on shore to get his head dressed, and at six
o'clock on the following morning went down to the wharf,
with an intention of returning on board the vessel, when he
found that she had sailed. He was aware that, if wind and
weather permitted, the vessel was to sail that morning, but
he did not know that she would go so early as she did.
In reply to this statement, the captain said that on the day
previous to leaving Quebec, he went on board and found
the ship, considering the number of hands on board, in a
very backward state—she was not at all fit to proceed to sea
on the following morning. He went up to the mate, for the
purpose of speaking to him on the subject, when he found
him in a stupid state of intoxication. Not wishing to re-
monstrate with his chief officer before the crew, he told him
to go down into the cabin. The mate went, and the captain
then said to him, " Now, sit down ; I want to give you some
orders." He (Capt. Reid) was about to shut the door of
the cabin, when the mate came up to him and struck him.
He returned the blow. In the evening, he told his officer
that he was much disappointed at the ship not being ready
for sea, and gave him several orders, stating that the vessel
was to sail next morning. When the mate left the vessel, he
did not say a word about going to get his head dressed. The
captain, in proof of the drunken and negligent conduct of
his chief officer, produced the log-book, in which the mate
had made no entries for the ten days previous to the sailing
of the vessel. There was also an entry of the mate's deser-
tion in the handwriting of the captain, but it was not certi-
ficated.
Noah Harris, the steward of the vessel, was called to cor-
roborate the statement of the captain with respect to his hav-
ing been first struck, but it appeared that the steward was
not in the cabin at the time of the dispute.
Mr. Rushton said that he would not trouble the man to
give his evidence. He had heard enough of the case already
to decide, and he was sorry, from the statebf the law, that he
was not able to do what he thought justice. The captain had
behaved in a very proper manner • but still he (Mr. Rushton)
was bound to give the applicant his wages, because there was
not in the log-book a proper entry of his desertion. The act
of parliament set forth that a seaman who deserted his vessel
should forfeit his clothes, and all his wages and other emolu-
ments, provided such desertion was entered in the log-book,
at the time, by the captain, and certificated by the mate or
other credible witness.
Captain Reid.—The mate himself had gone away, and
could not therefore be a witness.
Mr. Rushton.—l know ; but the carpenter or any one of
the seamen would have done. lam sorry that I must decide
for the mate ; but I would advise you in future to be careful
to have a credible witness. There is a small popular treatise
written by one of the officers of the Thames police force,
which you seamen would find very valuable. [The book is
entitled " The Law relating to Merchant Seamen, arranged
chiefly for the use of masters and officers in the merchant
service;' but we do not know where it is to be obtained.]
The accounts of Fyldes were then gone into, and after se-
veral items charged to him by the captain had been struck
out, there remained a balance due of 19s. 10d., which, with
costs, was ordered to be paid.
ASSAULTING AN OFFICER.
An extremely stout gentleman who had the appearance and
manner of one of the we, deux, cinque gentry who frequent
races, together with a girl bf dissolute character, much better
looking and better dressed than that class of wretched crea-
tures, who frequently appear at the bar of the police court,
generally are, were brought before the magistrate on a charge
of having assaulted policeman No. 132, on the morning of
Wednesday, and of having behaved in a very extraordinary
manner in Highfield-street. The complaining officer ex-
hibited a black eye in corroboration of his testimony relative
to the assault.
The male prisoner, thrusting his hands deeply into his
pockets, said,—" I assure you, sir, I never laid a touch on
him. I had my hands in my pockets all the whole time, He
axed me vot I vos, and yen I told him I vos a gentleman, he
grinned most outrageous. To tell you the truth, sir, he
vosn't himself, or he wouldn't ha' done it."
Mr. Rushton.—What do you mean by saying that he was
not himself?
Prisoner.—Vy, I means that he vosn't as he should be ;
he was drunk, sir, and began of this here lady in a most un-
vorrantable vay, I assure you.
Mr. Rushton.—Well, stop a moment. Let us first ascer-
tain whether he was drunk or not.
The keeper of the bridewell in which the lady and gen-
tleman had been deposited, was called ; he deposed that
the officer was perfectly sober, and that the male prisoner
was drunk.
Prisoner.—On my honour, sir, I vos not drunk. He be-
haved most unvorrantably harsh.
The lady.—Yes, sir ; he came into the house when I and
this gentleman were quiet in the parlour, and assaulted him
first. He broke a quantity of glasses that were on the table.
The gentleman.—Yes, sir, as the servant can testify.
The servant, a toothless remnant of an exceedingly fine
woman, who was dressed as servants usually are not, and
who held a parasol in her hand, did testify accordingly.
The lady.—And there was another gentleman—there is the
person—who saw the officer use me shameless.
The gentleman alluded to having mounted the witness-
box, turned out to be an Irish labourer at the docks. He
said,—" I saw the polis man have a hoult of her by the hair
of the head—for I got up and looked out ov the windy ov
my room where I was sleepin"—and I shouted shame. (The
lady,—"Yes, you did.") It was scandalous, the treatment
ov her, and I called out scandalous. (The gentleman.—
" Yes, you did.") An' thin he lifted her up by the hair ov
the head, and bate her. (The lady.—" Yes, sir, you can see
the marks here.") I didn't see what took place in the
house."
Mr. Rushton (to the officer).—Did you follow them into
the house ?
Police. officer.—Yes, sir.
Mr. Rushton.—Why did you do so.
Police-officer.—Because he assaulted me in the street, and
I went in to ask his name, and he would not tell me. He
struck me then on the steps.
The gentleman.—Now, on your oath, didn't you ax my
name ven I vos sitting on the sofa in the house ? An' van
I said I didn't vish to communicate my name, an' that I vos
a gentleman, didn't you say, " A gentleman indeed ?"
Upon my honour, sir, he vos let into the house quiet, and I
had my hands in my pocket all the time. I didn't see him
in the street.
The policeman answered the question in the negative..• ---.
The lady.—l am sure he (the police-officer) is no gentle-
man, or he would not have struck any female in this way.
It might have been the cause of my life.
The female was discharbged. The male prisoner was ordered
to pay a fine of ss.
The gentleman.—l will pay with pleasure ; but I assure
you, sir, I never struck him at all. I only wish to have the
affair properly settled.
He was given to understand that the affair had been settled
—paid the fine, and went away.