Star.
London, England, 1821-10-04 00:00:00

POLICE.

BOW-STREET.—Tuesday ening a young man, of
genteel appearance, affecting to be well known to,ll
and said even to be related to an Officer high in the
confidence of his Majesty, was charged at this Office,
with obtaining £2OO under th.:. false pretence of pro-
curing for Mr. W. Shirley, a surgeon,
Searcher N
ino. 16,
Rockingham-row, Kent-road, a place of
the' Custom-House, which the prisoner told him
would be worth £5OO a-year, and which he said he
could procure through the interest of Sir B. B. and
the collateral interest of the Earl of Liverpool and
the Marquis of Headfort. The whole sum to be ad-
vanced by the complainant was to be £6OO ; but in
advance he paid £2OO on a bond for repaynient if
the place was not got for him. This turned out to
be the case, and when he applied for repayment of
his money under the stipulation of the bond, he was
treated with insult by the prisoner. The case being
proved, Sir IL 1318NIE said, he was reluctant to take
bail ; for this case was only a small matter, com-
pared with about a dozen others which had reachd
his ear. If he did take bail, it must be that of two
respectable housekeepers in £2OO each, and the pri-
soner in £400; and he should require twenty-four
hours notice. The prisoner was then remanded until
• he could give the requited sureties, and will undergo
a second examination on Tuesday next.
MANSION-lloes&-.-Mr. Todd, of the respectable
firm in Fore;street; appeared to answer an informa-
tion founded upon the 34th section of the 28th of
George 111. commonly called the " Wool Act,"
charging hint with having on the 221 of September,
in the Port of London, shipped a quantity of worsted
yarn without having procured a license or provided
that an officer should be in attendance. The officer
of Customs, who had thought proper to push the de-
fendant to an extremity upon an Act generally con-
sidered to be extremely unnecessary and injurious,
gave his evidence upon the subject, from which it ap-
peared that the foifeiture upon the yarn that had been
shipped was 3s. a pound, besides the loss of the yarn
itself, the bags, Bcc. Mr. Todd said the thing had
been done entirely in ignorance, and pleaded guilty.
The Loin" MAYOR was very anxious to know whe-
ther he could not reJuce or do away altogether with
the penalty? He knew the circumstance originated
in mistake, and that an hundred such cases were
likely to happen every day. The Act, however, was
imperative with respect to the penalty. Mr. Todd
observed, that the penalty was greater than the yarn
Was worth. The officer here observed, that if he,
chose to follow the matter lip, the ship in which the
offence had been committed might be forfeited.—
The LORD MAYOR assured Mr. Todd that he regret.
ted that the Act spoke of no mitigation.—The con-
viction was then established.
PICKPOCKETS.--TWO very
dashingly dressed lasses, entirely new faces at this
Justice room, who gave their names Mary lVilliams
aril Ann Gordon, were brought up yesterday before
•Mr. Alterman ANSLEY) charged as pickpockets.-
1;y the description given of their dexterity and ad-
dress by the prosecutor, a respectable married man.
of the name of Kernot, residing in Paul's-court, Hug-
gin-lane, these female professors have arrived at an
eminence in the art which bids fair to surpass the
male competitors; for in the short space of not more
than a minute and a ha'f, which it took him to get
rid of their affectionate importunities, in Skinner-
street, on Tuesday evening, the nimble fingers of one
of them had contrived, unperceived by him, to ease
his pockets of four sovereigns and some silver.—
Though the manners and appearance of the girls.
were little calculated to excite suspicion, he put his
hand instinctively to his pockets in getting out of
such company, and instantly. •missed his money.—
Being scarcely three or four yards from them, he im-
mediately retorned and charged them with the rob-
bery: the ladies affected to be quite shocked at so
vile an insinuation, but Mr. Kernot having more re-
gard for his sovereigns than to the delicacy of their
feelings, persisted in the charge, and the Giltspur-
street Compter being nigh, he fficiated as his own
officer, and lodged Miss Gordon and her friend Miss
Williams safely therein. The whole transaction had
not occupied five minutes, yet in that time they had
managed to get rid of the money, no part of it being
found on either of them when searched in the Comp-
ter. One sovereign, however, was discovered on the
floor near where they stood, which, as. it •is not the
custom in the Compter to strew the looms with gold,
was suspected to have been slily deposited there by
one of the prisoners. In the glove of the girl Wil-
liams, a note was found, which she, too illiterate to
decipher it, said was a one-pound Bank note a Gen-
tleman had made her a present of just before; but
which, upon inspection, turned out to be a £lO
country note of the Rye Bank, No. 5210, dated Oc-
tober 1, 1818, and payable at Messrs. Percival and
Co. bankers, London, and no doubt the produce of
some previous similar act of dexterity. While this
evidence was being detailed yesterday, the girls af-
fected perfect innocence, occasionally lifting up their
eyes and hands in surprise, that such shocking things
should be laid to their charge. This affectation of
simplicity, however, did not serve their turn, for
Harrison, the Marshalman, then on duty, recog
nised them as well-known practitioners, whiS had
only strolled out of dkeir usual how, their regular