Star.
London, England, 1811-08-08 00:00:00

MOCK PARSON.

.rowing letter it would appeal', that
lam`p,rson, who seems to have been one
tdroit of modern swindlers, has actually
carried his audacity so far as to marry two couples
in the vicinity of the metropolis. This, we believe,
is a transportable of :
}Wirth. August 1, Dill.
" At the desire of Dr. Drummond, I beg leave to inform you
of the following particulars relative to John Tucker :—He came
to Hadleigli in January last, in the capacity of Assistant to an 1
English school; he declared himself in orders Immediately on his
arrival, and within one week afterwards he waited on Dr. Drum-
mond, and tendered his services whenever wanted. lie descri-
bed himself as a deftly of Magdalen College, Oxford; he stated
also that his lather was Mayor of Exeter; and offered mils satis-
factory references to Dr. Routh, President of the above college,
that not a shadow of doubt could for a moment be entertaMed
concerning the truth of his assertions; he therefore was occasio-
nally perini:ted to officiate in Hadleigh Church, anti has officiated
at the sacrament, and marria two couples in that parish, the cer-
tificates of which, front the Parish Register, Dr. Drummond will
send up to town, if required. The Gentleman in whose house
fse resided soca found reason to suspect he was an impostor from
his it:famous falsehoods; he therefore wrote to Dr Routh on the
, subject, vino intOrmed hint that no man of that name had been a
! member of the College for above forty years. He afterwards
wrote to his lather, directing his letter to the Mayor of Exeter,
which, after a week's interval, was returned front the Dead Let-
ter (Alice, there being no such person to be found. in conse-
quence of these falsehoods, he desired him to quit his house,
which he did soon afterwards; arid procured a situation as curate
of Nacton and Lavington, in this county, where, I believe, he,
would have been at this moment, Lid it not been for myself ; for
being infomivil of his conduct by the person in whose botiee be
lived while at Hadleigh, I followed him to Nation, and insisted
OS seeing his letters of orders, which be, of course, was unable
to produce. I then told 10m, if he presumed to officiate amoeba
Sunday, 1 would prosecute him myself. •He decamped next mor-
ning, without paying a single farthing of the debts which he had
frienered in that netlibourhood. At the top of this letter you
will see the at counts of two tradesmen whom he has defrauded
in this town : there are others, whose demands are not so consi-
derable. I have now, Sir, given you all the Minn:union in my
power concerning this sadtorinus character Land I am, Sir, you
humble servant " STIRLING KILTS. Clerk,
" And Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.
" P. S. Dr. Drummond desires me to say, it is lineossible he
can attend in London; and amongst such a multiplicity cat frauds,
it must he perfectly unnecessary for conviction —1 have omitted
to state, that when I was at Nacton, he Wormed me that he was
a member of Wadham Cdlhge, Oxon, and ordaaied by the Bi-
shop of Llandaff—to both of whom I received answers us the ne-
gative. " s. K."
It is strongly suspected that this gross impostor has
been in custody before on a charge of felony, as when
the irons were put on his leg, he handled than and
appeared 'to know how to tie them up to prevent
them from rattling as well as one of the oldest thieves
ix town. He is suspected by Mr. Tapster, of the Ship
'Tavern, Charing Cress, of having stolen some silver
spoons when he was living there. tie has ;;at into a
number of inns and coffee-houses, under pretence of
being a clergyman just from the country. He ac-
complished many of his deceptions by falsely preten-
ding that he was intimately acquainted with Dr.
Drummond, of Hadleigh, in Suffolk, on whom he had
previously imposed, and got introduced to his family
and connections. He also pretended that he was in-
timate with Sir Sidaey :smith, Colonel Bloom-
field, and Mr. Bradshaw, M.P. for Exeter; and
to answer particular put poses, he lorged letters pur-
porting to be written by some of them. He has been
at Harwich, Ipswich, and Bristol, and got acquain-
ted with several respectable families from his officia-
ting at the churches there. He obtained money from
a Mr. For, and others, whom he travelltsl with in
stage-c, aches. He endeavoured to get a tooting in
the church of St. Mary-le-Strand ; but the clergyman
of that .parish being very strict in his inquiries respec-
ting Inns and his qualifications, he was disappointed.

TtinmES POLICE.—A reward of 4100 having been
offered for the discovery of a theft committed on
board the Archduke Charles, recently arrived in the
river from Lima, with a quantity of silver bullion,
indigo, &c. a publican, who had been accustomed to
serve beer in the West ludia Docks, came forward on
Saturday last, and offered to discover his accomplice
in the ro'obet y in question, provided he should be ad-
mitted King's evidence, and be entitled to the reward.
Some doubts being suggested as to his knowledge of
the fact, he proposed to take the Gentleman, broker
to the ship, to the several places where the stolen
silver was secreted ; he accordingly took him to the
coal-hole of the shp, where was concealed a bag of
silver, weighing 471 b. Under a watch-bix in the
D.,)eks, and amongst some tlax, he pointed out further
quantities, all of which were to be conveyed out of
the Docks the first convenient opportunity. Besides
these, a quantity was traced to Usher-street, Water-
lane, Fleet street, which had been conveyed trom the
docks in the inside of porters' knots, without the least
suspicion. the publican having discovered the pro-
perty to the parties concerned, next directed the-
Thames Police Officers to the thieves, who turned
out to be two labourers in the D,Jcks, and a
watchman, beside himself. They were all taken be-
fore Mr. tiwitazorr at the Thames Police Office, on
Saturday night last, at a late-hour, when the above
facts transpired. It was objected to by the broker,
that the publican should be admitted King's evidence,.
as it appeared that-he was the instigator of the rob-
bery : it was agreed that the prisoners, including the
vender of beer, should be committed for a fresh exa-
mination, and the question of King's evidence be de-
cided.—Yesterday George Baum, George Jarvis, Tho.
seas Ford, and Thomas Chili (the publican) were re-exa-
mined ; the first three charged with the above robbery,
and the latter for receiving the property, knowing it
to have been stolen. Tne circumstances were re-
grated by Chips, but nothing new transpired ; and
the question was, whether he was entitled to he ad-
mitted a King's evidence ? Mr. ALLEY attended on
his behalf, and submitted to the :olagistrates, that not
only was he entitled to be adniitted an evidence on
the part olthe Crown, but also that he had a just
claim to the *reward- 'offered by Captain Moore, for
the discovery of the persons concerned in the robbery,
as, but for his information,. the others would nut have
been apprehendt d; and further, that unless he was
admitted an evidence, there was no proof whatever
against the other prisoners. Mr. HAHAIOI, the Sit-
ting Magiitnue, however, expressed a wish, that pre-
vious to his deciding on the propriety of admitting
Chips AB evidence for the Crown, as he was impli-
cated in the robbery, it should be fully ascertained
that there was not sufficient proof to convict the other
parties without his testimony; and, in older to give
Fume for obtaining all the information possible on the
Subject, ordered :he prisoners to be re-committed for
further examination, when the infortnation of Chips
iwili be taken More it length; a$ other evidence be
prtidtteest.