Star.
London, England, 1821-12-17 00:00:00

POLICE.

ITAITON-Gnawer.— Saturday. John Crooks was brought up
from the House of Correction, in the custody of Wm. Read, the
officer, for final examination, charged with inflicting several se-
vere stabs with a knife, on the person of Mary Anne Nelson
with intent to murder her, or do her some bodily harm. l'h;
Magistrate asked the officer if toe parish intendedto bear the
expense of the prosecution ? The officer said, they would not ;
but that if he was acquitted of the present charge, the parish
intended to prosecute him for bigamy, as there were then three
out of the seven wive. living, and two more, of whom no-
thing was at present known. The prisoner had debauched
one of his own daughters, who was then In the Penitentiary in
St. Pancras; and, to aggravate his crimes. he had his daughter
then present living with him in a state of incest ! Magistrate-
6. Horrible! horrible!—Young woman, you bear what you are
accused with, what do you say to it "—She hesitated, and con-
fessed it was so. He was then conveyed back to prison.
Now -s .—Saturday evening, B. Burgess, lisq. of High-
bury Park, Islington, was brought up in custody, accompanied
by his daughter, charged with having struck Mr. Cole, the
money-taker at e Pit-entrance of Covent-Garden Theatre.—
Mr. Cole stated, that Mr. Burgess being very slow in pulling
out his money, and there being a great presaure of company, be
put his hand oa the defendant's breast very gently, and desired
him to stand on one side; upon which the latter struck him a
tremendous blow on the nose with his fist; and on his retreating
to the back of his box, thrust his cane violently after him, and
had nearly poked his eye out. 'Ms was Mr. Cole's account of
the matter; lad though be had delivered it upon the usual oath,
yet, to make assurance double-sure, he added, " This is the
truth, I swear, by Goa!" for which he got an additional rap
veer the knuckles from his Worship.
In further confirmation of his statement, Mr. Cole called his
attendant cheek-taker, and, according to his colouring, the whole
affair was something like the scuffle between the devil and the
baker, in the puppet shew t first, he saw the money-taker's hand
and head pop out of the pigeon-hole, then he saw the Gentle-
man's hand and head pop in, and out and in, and in and out,
they popped repeatedly, till at last the Gentleman popped his
cane into the hole, when the money-taker got hold of it, and
then it was " pull baker, pull devil," the Gentleman at one end
of the cane, and the money-taker at the other, till the string,
which Mr. Burgess had twisted round his wrist, gave way, and
down tumbled Mr. Cale to the bottom of the hole, with the cane
in his hand !

Mr. Burgess, in his defence, said, that finding he bad not sil-
ver enough to pay for the admission of his friend and daughter,
he produced some gold, and requested change. The complain-
ant then rudely told him to stand on one side • and on his re-
fusing to do so, defendant certainly struck him; a palpable blow
on the breast, which he of course resented. The complainant
therefore committed the first assault, .and he now begged to
prefer that charge.
Mr. Brandon, of the Theatre, with his usual urbanity, recom-
mended pacificatory measures, and the money-taker declared he
was willing to withdraw his complaint, because the young Lady
seemed so much distressed. The Gentleman, however, treated
this commiseration with the mostprofound contempt, and urged
the Magistrate to receive a charge of assault against Mr. Cole.
Mr. bittisuutt, 'after repeated attempts to reconcile the par-
ties, ordered each to enter into his personpl recogulasnce, in the
sum of £2O.

The Rev. J. VARENNE, Rector of Staplehurst, in
consequence of the very great depression of the agri-
cultural interest, has taken nothing for the tithes of
hops in his parish for the present year.
Cannot; to MOTHERL—Last week a child, of
about four months old, belonging to a woman of the
name of Peckham, near Lewes, cried in a:most vehe-
• meat manner, without any apparent cause. The child
was undressed, and closely examined by the neigh-
hours, who thought that a pin might be the cause;
when, to their utter astonishment, they found, near
the child's navel, and just through the skin, the end
of a common sewing needle, which had been forced
by some means or other into the infant's stomach !
The needle was immediately drawn out, and the in-
fant is doing well.