Star.
London, England, 1826-10-17 00:00:00

DARING HIGHWAY ROBBRAIY AND INTREPID

RESISTANC&

On Saturday evening, as Mr. John Shifter Williams,
a respectable Solicitor in this city, and agent to the Lon-
don Insurance Association, was returning to his house
at Vittoria•place, near the White Ladies ,Turnpike, soon
after he had passed the Park-gate, he received a dread-
ful blow on the right temple, which laid him insensible
on his back in the middle of the road. He could only
have remained in•this state a few moments ; and, on
coming to himself,-he found one" man kneeling on his
hip, and another standing near his head; the former was
pulling at his watch seals. He instantly put his band to his
watch,when the villain struck him a desperate blow on his
mouth ; at this moment he saw the hand of the other
raised, with the instrument in it which had no doubt
first felled him, and again levelled at his head. Mr.
Williams seized it in its descent, and by a sudden effort
wrenched it out of the ruffian's hand; and disengaging
himself by a blow from the villain, who was upon him,.
succeeded in regaining his feet. Mr. Williams had a
double-barrelled pistol in his pocket, but unfortunately
it was bolted, and by the time he had got it ready the
villain had leaped the wall into the Park. He fired, and
thinks be wounded the man, as he fell on his hands and
knees ; he attempted to fire again, but the other barrel
flashed in the pan, and the villain escaped. Mr.
Williams then turned to the man he left in the road,
but he had taken advantage of 4is attention being
engaged by his confederate, and effected his escape.
Mr. Williams was then obliged to go home, for be had
received a desperate cut or wound just above the right
temple, which bled most copiously ; the wound in his
mouth was also bleeding freely. The villains succeeded
in tearing away the two gold seals, and the ring and
handle that connect them to the watch. One seal had
a stag engraven on it ; the other, Mr.Williams's initials,
J. S. W. in old English characters. He still retains the
weapon he wrested from the ruffians. It is a carpets-
ter's long screwdriver, with a large wooden handle,
pear shaped, and the point is a little bent, either acci-
dentally by force used, or to afford a better huld to the
person using it.—Bristol Mercury.

Yesterday, Count Lorrust, Prussian Counsellor of
Legation, and Charge d'Affaires at the Court of London, jointly
with Mr. N. M. Romantic% and accompanied by Mr. BONNET,
Notary, Cancelled, and Deposited in the Bank of England, the
amount of £44,800 in Special Bonds of the Prussian Loan, Nego-
tiated by Mr. N. M. Rornscuicu, in London, being the Sum fixed
for the Sixteenth Half.yearly Redemption, due on the Ist Instant.
Mr. Alderman Bridges has been prevailed upon by
his brother Magistrates to relinquish the intention he had
entertained, of relinquishing the Aldermanic gown.
A second meeting of the leading Members of the
Corporation was held yesterday in one of the chambers
in the Guildhall, to arrange the Resolutions to be pro-
posed to the Common Hall on Thursday next.
Mits. Astnonon.—The maiden name of the cele-
brated Mrs. Abington, was Barton, at which period she
was distinguished in the audience part of the Druz y-laaa
Theatre, with her basket' n her arm, for the elegance
of her gure, sweetness of voice, and arch expression of
her features whilst employed in her nightly avocations
of crying " choice fruit and a bill of the play." These
requisite qualifications for forming a comic actress, in-
duced Mr. Garrick to transplant her from before to be.
bind the curtain, and she soon became not only the ad-
mired representative of Ladies of Fashion on the stage,'
but also in the characters of Hoydens ; her taste in
dress was the means of introducing her into the higher
circles of female ton, who gladly won her money at
cards, and in return took tickets for her benefits. Be.
fore she retired from the stage she became very (wows-
pint, and at one of the fashionable routs laid a wager'
of 5001. that on her next benefit night sbe would play
&rub in the Beaux Stratagem. The bills announced the
singular attempt. On the evening of performance the
House was crowded almost to suffocation, and hundreds
of persons were unable to procure admission. Oa the
appearance of the female &rub, the whole audience
were convulsed with laughter, and every eye rivetted
lon her smolt-clothes, which would have set easy on the
ample rotundity of a Dutch Burgomaster. The wager
was thus won and thessnoney paid. This sum, with the
receipts of the House, extra prices given for tickets, and
many handsome presents, Is said to have netted the fair
Scrub little short of 1,2001. _ _ _

The Sessions commence at Clerkenwell on Monday
next, and at the Old Bailey on Thursday the 26th inst.
and though the number of prisoners for trial amount, at
present, to not more than one-third of those tried at the
last Sessions, many of .the offences are of a more seri-
ous die. Upwards of three hundred offenders are now
confined in Tothill•fields prison, among whom are an un-
usual proportion of females. The Westminster Sessions
commence to-morrow.

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