Star.
London, England, 1821-10-16 00:00:00

POLICE.

Mewston-House—Y esterday, , a man named George
Lane was brought up before the LORD MAYOR, and
charged on suspicion of having robbed the Office in
the Tower for the deposit of records belonging to the
Ordnance, and other departments, of records of im-
portance, which had been sold as waste paper. Jo-
seph Ryder, a labourer, who works in the Armoury
at the Tower, stated, that on Saturday morning he
saw the prisoner coming out of the Record-office,
heavily laden with a large package, tied up with
brown paper, on his shoulder. He locked the door
and put the key in his pocket, and then moved off
with the parcel. Witness suspected from the pri-
soner's manner that he had been acting without pro-
per authority, and followed him to the outside of thc
Tower, where there was in waiting a regular porter
with a knot. The prisoner immediately transferred
the load to the porter. Witness followed and saw
them enter the shop of Mr. Price, cheesemonger, 11.5,
Bishopsgate-street Without. Witness then returned
to the Tower, and informed the Gentlemen of the
Ordnance what he bad seen. Harrison, the Marshal-
man, stated, that.. he went to the shop of Mr. Price,
in company with several Gentlemen belonging to the
Ordnance-office. Harrison asked Mr. Pa ice whether
he had not just got sonic books from the.Ordnance-',
office? Mr. Price very readily shewed some which
he had bought that morning from a man, the descrip-
tion of whom answered that given of the prisoner.—
The Gentlemen identified fourteen large volumes
which were produced. Hesketh went in pursuit of
the prisoner, who was known in the Tower, having
been once employed there, but the circumstance
having been the subject of general conversation, the
prisoner availed himself of the publicity of it, and
abscended. After some search the police succeeded
in :apprehending him at the house of a relation, to
whom he had fled for shel:er. Mr. J. H. Warring,
one of the principal clerks of the Ordnance, deposed,
that the papers found at the house of Mr. Price were
documents belonging to his Majesty, which had been •
deposited at the Iteccird.office of the Ordnance. They
were of various dates. Sonic were 50, others IN) years
old. Some of them were ledgers. The papers found
at the prisoner's apartments also belonged to 114 Ma.
jesty, but were not documents of any importance.—
Those found at the house of Mr. Price were docu-
ments of importance which ought not to be :.goad.
Mr. Price, cheesemonget, of 115, Bishopsgate-street
Without, stated, that the prisoner came to his shop
two or three months ago, and asked witness whether
he wanted any waste paper ? Ile replied in the af-
firmative, and the pri:oner brought him a consider-
able quantity, for which he p aid the full price, which
was four-pence a pound. Witness questioned him at
the time as to the manner in which he procured it,
namely, whether he had come by it honestly ? The
invariable answ..er of thz prisoner was, that he, had got
it into his possession by honest means, and added,
that he got nothing by it himself, as he had been em-
ployed to sell it for another person. Mr. Price, how-
ever, in answer to some questions put to him, said
he had not asked the prisoner who or what he was?
The Lonis MAYOR censured the witness for the care-
less manner in which he had received the paper.
Something more should, he observed, he required by
cheesemongers than the bare words of persons who
offered manuscript for. sale, that they became pus-
sassed of it honestly. In comequence of such con-
duct, things of the utmost value to the owners had
been lost. In the course of the investigation, some
strong instances were mentioned of the very blame-
able conduct (to give it the lightest name) of cheese-
mongers and others in their dealings with low fel-
lows who offer them, books for sale. On one occa-
.
MOP (not long since), a boy went to one of the. butter
shops, with the entire library of an eminent• Solicitor,
which he contrived to get out piecemeal alter many
journey% Amongst other valuable books were the
' no: ks of Htitne, Bolingbroke, Paley, &c. in superb
editioas, richly gilt with morocco covets. The
cheesemonger said he could not buy them unless the
covers were torn off. This ceremony having been
performed by the boy, the cheesemonger bought the
whole library, and still escaped transportation. At
the time the Post office was under repair, one of the
laboUrers each day carried away a basket full of the
Annual Register. Mr. Freeling ascertained the de-
ficiency in time to save the valuable set from de.
struction, and found those which had been stolen
with the covers on, as it happened. Not long since
it was found that a merchant's ledger which had
been stolen was purchased at a butter shop. The loss
of character which a cheesemonger had recently sus-
tained in the City would, it was hoped, operate as a
warning to all those who were disposed to make
cheap purchases of books.—The prisoner, upon being
asked whether he had anything to say in his defence?
was about to make a long statement, when the LORD
MAYOR advised him to be very cautious in the ac-
count he gave of himself, lest it might prejudice him
elsewhere. The prisoner then said_he would reserve
his statement until the next examination. It was
stated by the Gentlemen of the Ordnance-office that
they had not yet ascertained the full es tent of the
robbery, but apprehended that it had been most ex-
tensive. The officers stated, that they had learned
that several butter-shops had been supplied from the
Ordnance-office, and that much had been already
used.—The prisoner was remanded.
GUILDHALL.—Lewis (Joule, one of the watchmen
of the Ward of Cripplegate Within, was brought up
yesterday before the sitting Magistrate, Mr. Alder-
man ScuoLer, charged with an assault.—John Os-
born, a green-grocer in Aldermanbury, the officer
who had the prisoner in custody, is one of the con-1
stables of Cripplegate, and
.his rota for duty at the.
watch-house was Saturday night last. His wife, a
respectable motheily-looking woman, after finishing
business for the week, was proceeding about half-past
twelve o'clock through Addle-street, part of the pri-
soner's beat, in her way to the watch-house to take,
her husband the key of the door to let himself in on
his coming off duty in the morning, when she ob-
served the watchman reeling about evidently much
intoxicated, which she, feeling her dignity as the wife,
of the constable of the night, thought it her duty to
notice, and accordingly, on coming up to him, said,
Why, watchman! you are drunk!" Cottle, who.
was unused to be so talked to by a female at an hour'
when his authority was at its utmost plenitude, in-
mediately seized Mrs. Osborn, declared he knew her
to be a common street-walker, and that be would
take her to the watch-house for her impudetke. He