The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-07-26 00:00:00

POLICE COURT.-YESTERDAY.
410.

POCKET-PICKING. - Three youths, named James
Williams, James Brian, and Edward Kegan—all of whom,
if their own accounts might be trusted, were as im-
maculate as doves—were charged with picking pockets in
the market on Saturday night. Brian told a very plausi-
ble story, which got him his discharge; the other two
were sent to jail for a month. From the evidence ten-
dered by the officer who took them into custody, it
appeared that the culprits had attempted to pick several
gentlemen's pockets in Great Charlotte-street and Roe-
street.

A QUARREL OF LONG STANDING.—An old woman,
named Helen Gough, was charged with stealing Is. ild.
from a poor old female sexagenarian, who was a neighbour
of her own. It came oat in evidence that a very hearty
mutual antipathy existed in the breasts of the old couple;
and Mr. Clough assured the magistrates that they had
been quarrelling without intermission for the space of
fully two months, during which time they have given an
immense amount of trouble to the members of the police
establishment. Eventually, the prisoner Gough was dis-
charged, the charge of theft not being substantiated; but,
in consequence of the aged prosecutrix having been very
severely beaten by the vindictive Helen, the magistrates
advised that a charge of assault might be preferred. This
was done, and Mrs. Gough told a long story to the effect
that she had gone, with no evil thoughts, to buy a cab-
bage from the prosecutrix, when the amiable dealer in
vegetables gave her, not a cabbage but a kick, after which
Mrs. Helen thought she was entitled to throw a vegetable
at the head of the dealer. After a due examination into
the circumstances of .the case, the magistrates decided
that the prisoner should pay a fine of 10s, or go to gaol
for a week, to which the innocent Helen returned a sar-
castic " Thank you, yer honour," paid the cash down on
the nail, and was discharged.
FEMALE PICKPOCRETS.—HeIen Stephens and Mary
Curran, the former of whom had only been a month out
of gaol, and the latter of whom has been four or five
times in prison, were committed to limbo for three
months for picking the pocket of a woman at a stall in
St. Martin's market, on Saturday evening. The girl
Curran is in such a condition that the probability is
another inhabitant will be added to the population of the
prison before she is released. Mary Kelly, who, when
apprehended, maintained that she was a " widow woman"
but who afterwards appeared to have a man with her
whom she lived with as a husband, was sent to gaol for
fourteen days, for stealing 4s. and a railway ticket from
the pocket of Emma Garside, and for attempting to pick
the pocket of Ellen Turner. The crime was committed
in a shop in which both Miss Garside and Miss Turner
were making purchases. The prisoner, who was in a
delicate position, was a singular specimen from the
Emerald Isle, and was found to have tied round her neck
a large bag containing fully 15s. in coppers.
As UNGRATEFUL BOY.—A boy named William John-
son was sent to gaol for three months for theft, under cir-
cumstances peculiarly aggravated. It appeared, from the
statement of the prosecutrix, Mrs. Elizabeth Rowland, a
very respectable woman, living in Park-row, that, some
weeks ago, the boy Johnson had come begging to her gate.
She was struck by his pitiable plight and gave him some
refreshment, telling him to come back next day and she
would be a good mother to him, if he deserved it. He
came back, and she kept good her promiseto him, making
him as comfortable as the humble circumstances of herself
and husband would permit. The lad was sent regularly
for three Sundays to the school, and he was very well at-
tended to for the entire three weeks. Indeed, Mrs. Row-
lands contemplated getting a suit of clothes for him, that
he might be able to attend a place of worship regularly
with her husband and herself. She had told him this
only a day or two before the one on which she left " Billy"
in charge of the house, thinking, after three weeks' ex-
perience, that she might trust him so far. But in this
hope she was mistaken, as, when she returned, she found
that her protege had fled, and left " the house to the wide
world," taking along with him boots, waistcoat, and other
articles of wearing apparel, which, in a box, he left with
an old man named Holden, whom he requested to keep
the property till he called for it. The magistrates de-
nounced the ungrateful conduct of the prisoner; but,
during the entire examination, and while sentence was
being passed, he remained quite cool and collected', be-
traying not the smallest particle of repentance for what he
had done. His kind benefactor closed her evidence by
stating that the poor boy had no father, and she hoped
the magistrates would be merciful in punishing one who
had been so imperfectly reared.
ROBBING A SAmort.—Eliza Smith, a woman of a
certain character, was charged with stealing five sove-
reigns and 16s. from a sailor on the morning of Sunday.
Mr. Bluck, who appeared for the prisoner, denied the
statement of the prosecutor, who admitted that he was
drunk at the time of the robbery. Mr. Bluck added that
his client had never been before the magistrates previously;
but, on reference to the books, it appeared that she had
been up five or six times, and that she had been committed
more than once. She was accordingly sent to gaol for
three months.

AN ANCIENT PICKPOCKET.—An old woman, who said
she was verging on eighty years age, was convicted of
stealing 7s. from the pocket of a woman named Simpson,
on Saturday night. The antique rogue was loud in her
protestations of innocence ; and, when she was sentenced
to go to gaol, she exclaimed, " Ah! I'm being wronged !
She's in a bad way for the day of judgment !" a remark
which seemed to make but a faint impression on the
prosecutrix.

A SCOTCHMAN "DONE I"—Michael Power, an old
pensioner, and his wife Margaret Power, a fresh-looking
" girl" with a baby in arms, were charged with embezzling
the sum of 305., under somewhat peculiar circumstances.
During the past week a young man named Alexander
M'lntyre arrived in Liverpool from Edinburgh, having
left his employers—Messrs. George Popowitz and CO.,
in consequence of a quarrel which ho had had with them.
On arriving on the banks of the Mersey ho became a
rather wet customer, and in the course of his perambu-
lations of the borough he accidentally met with pensioner
Power, to whom he innocently intrusted the history of
his foolish escapade and unfortunate flight ; for in the
course of a few days his. exchequer became reduced, and
he could not obtain employment. Power recommended
him to write to his old employers in the Scottish capital
for cash—an idea which M'lntyre, drunk as he was at the
time, would not listen to for a moment. So, at all events,
said the prosecutor himself. Power, on the other hand
avowed that his new friend, in utter defiance of the
" canny" character of his countrymen, at once assented
to the proposal, and further requested Power to write for
the money, as he (M'lntyre) was not in a fit state to
exercise his clerkly skill. With this request—if the
request was ever made—Power willingly complied ; and
M'lntyre, who had written on Thursday to his old
employers whom he had left in a " huff, was not a
little astonished on receiving a reply on Saturday, which
acquainted him with the fact that a post-office order for
30s. had been sent for his behoof, in compliance with his
own request. A reference to the Poit-office proved that
Power, the pensioner's wife, had signed her name to the
order and had lifted the cash. The male prisoner, when
called upon to make his statement, disavowed all intention
of robbing M'lntyre ; said he wrote in compliance with the
requestof the stranger, and further avowed that his wife had
kept the postoffice order's arrival a secret, and had herself
lifted the money, but that whenever he discovered the fact
he went about seeking for M'lntyre to restore the cash to
him. Superintendent Clough mentioned that when he
asked Power to give up the money, he said he could not ;
but now Power professed his willingness not only to pay
the 305., but to pay Saunders's expenses back to Scotland.
The magistrates characterised the case as a very suspicious
one ; but, especially from his position, they gave the pen-
sioner the benefit of the doubt, and discharged him and
his wife from the bar on their paying the 305., and after
administering a wholesome rebuke for them to beware of
perpetrating any suspicious tricks of the kind in future.