The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-06-25 00:00:00

WARRINGTON.

A CLEVER SWINDLE.—On Monday, George William,
otherwise, George Webb Bakewell, a respectably attired
middle-aged man, was placed at the bar of the Police.office,
to answer the charge of obtaining money under false pre-
tences. On the 15th of February last the prisoner went to
the Bridge Inn, Latchford. He first inquired for Mr.
Greaves, the landlord, and on being told that he was from
home, asked to see Mrs. Greaves, who went to him. He
said that he and Mr. Ogden, the steward at Booth, would
stop and dine at the house, and that Mr. Ogden had gone up
the street and would meet him there in an hour. After or-
dering some brandy and taking it, he said to Mrs. Greaves—
" I think you don't know me." She said she did not ; and
he replied—" That is very strange. I was a neighbour of
yours when you lived at High Legh ;" (Mr. Greaves for-
merly kept the Bear's Paw there,) and in the same trade.
You were once at my house." Mrs. Greaves, somewhat
astonished at her lack of memory, said—" Indeed ! Is your
name Mr. Burgess ; and do you come from the White Horse,
in Rawstorne ?'' He said—" Yes, it is ;" and then com-
menced a conversation about several respectable people
known to Mrs. Greaves, who lived in the vicinity of Raw-
storne. He drank up his brandy, and next inquired whether
he could be accommodated with change for a sovereign ?
Mrs. Greaves handed it to him. He put it into his pocket,
and observed—" I will give you the sovereign when I return,
as," have no cash at present, but a bill which I shall get
et/hiked up the town." He also said he had the interest of
some money to receive. Mrs. Greaves believed his tale and
sss nun 6,, Lt 4., tit.,,mc. SIC a...v..,
last found in the New Bailey, at Manchester, after being
tried for an assault upon a girl twelve years of age, and sen-
tenced to two months' imprisonment, which expired on Sa-
turday. On being informed by Briscall, the officer who
went to receive him at the New Bailey, of the charge against
him, he said it was not true. He denied ever having been
at the Bridge Inn, but said he was at the Black Bear on the
day in question. The prisoner cross-examined Mrs. Greaves
at some length. He first questioned her as to whether she
was the wife of Mr. Greaves, and being answered in the affir-
mative, proceeded to other questions of an equally frivolous
nature. One fact he elicited, viz.—that it was ten minutes
to two by Mrs. G.'s clock when he ordereddinner to be ready
in an hour. The prisoner then commenced a long address to
the magistrates. He begun by calling upon them to dismiss
from their minds anything they might have heard to his pre-
judice relative to his recent imprisonment in the New Bailey.
The charge against him there was not for stealing anything,
and the result did not warrant any imputation being cast upon,
his honesty. He had been charged with an assault with in-
tent to commit a capital offence upon a young girl, and after
cross-examining the prosecutrix, he addressed the court and
jury in a speech which occupied two hours in delivery. It
made the deepest impression on the court, and the chairman
summed up decidedly in his favour, and the jury, to the
great satisfaction of a crowded court, found him ' not guilty.'
He was afterwards convicted of a common assault, and sen-
tenced to two months' hard labour, but that part of the sen-
tence was remitted. He had no reason to believe otherwise
than that some person extremely like him had been at Mr.
Greaves's house on the day named ; but he should be in a
situation to prove a distinct alibi, if time was given him to
produce his witnesses. He was certainly at Latchford on
the day named. He was an assistant to his brothers, exten-
sive bone merchants at Manchester, who carried on an im-
mense trade in Lancashire and Cheshire. On the evening
previous to the day on which the alleged offence was com-
mitted, he came over to Warrington in a car from Newton,
and was set down at the post-office. He inquired there fora
letter which he expected to find waiting his arrival, but none
being there, he went and slept for the night at a house oppo-
site Mrs. Jones's, the butcher's. Next morning no letter
came, and he then walked to the Black Bear, at Latchford,
and borrowed a shilling from the landlord, who had known
him for several years. He then walked towards High Legh,
and stopped at twelve o'clock at a small village on the way
(supposed to be Lymn) which had a chapel and old church-
yard. He stopped along with some farmers he kneiv, from
twelve o'clock until five o'clock, and having spent his shil-
ling, one of the farmers lent him half-a-crown, with which
he went to High Legh and slept there all night. In con-
clusion he quoted a passage in a charge delivered by Lord
Lyndhurst to the grand jury at Lancaster, in which his lord-
ship recommended justices to give prisoners an opportunity
of calling witnesses to prove their innocence. He finally
begged to be remanded until Wednesday, when the witnesses
could be brought forward. On being questioned on this
point, de declared he did not know any of their names, nor
could he say where they were to be found. Mr. Greases was
positive both as to the identity of the prisoner and the time
at which he was at her house, and the magistrates at once
committed the accused for trial at the sessions, who, prior
to his removal, in the most emphatic way said, " If ever 1
saw the woman," pointing to Mrs. Greaves, " may the Al-
mighty strike me blind and dumb, and punish me for ages."
He is the author of a very clever work, explanatory of the
" law of landlord and tenant," and has evidently had the ad-
vantage of a good educatiou and respectable connexions,
Muslims STORM.—On Monday evening between six and
seven o'clock, Warrington and the neighbourhood were vis-
ited by one of the most awful thunder storms, accompanied
by heavy rain, that has occurred for many years past. The
storm extended from Northwich and Runcorn to Parkside,
and the neighbourhood of Wigan. in Some newly erected cot-
tages, the property of Mr. Ward, Mount-street, Warring-
ton, were considerably damaged. The electric fluid caught
the chimneys of 2 of the houses, penetrated the ceilings knock-
ed out the glass, splintered the window and door-frames,
and knocked the plaster from the walls in several places.
Miss Ellen Hilsby, a milliner, residing in Coronation Build-
ings, Back-street, while in the act of shutting the bed-room
window, was slightly struck by the lightning, and for a time
became insensible. Her face and one of her legs were much
injured ; but she is now, we are informed, doing well.
The lightning first struck the spout at the end of the buildings
then descended the chimneys of the houses No. 2, and No. 4,
injured the window-frames and broke the stone chimneypiece
in the back parlour of No. 4. At Belmont, the seat of James
Heath Legh, Esq. near Northwich, two fine trees received
considerable damage, and the splinters of one of them, an
oak, was driven several feet distant from the tree. The
chimney of Mr. Lingard's house, at Runcorn, was also struck
by the lightning, which entered the roof, and set fire to a bed
in the room. The fire was got under without much damage.

SIN GULAR AND NOVEL MATCH.—On Friday last, the
following singular match was made between John Hughes and
John Fordham, and was decided near Hertford between five
and six o'clock in the evening. _Hughes offered to walk a
mile backwards and a similar distance forward against Ford-
ham's horse, and the ground selected was the Ware and Hert-
ford road. It having been decided that they should walk
backwards in the first instance, Hughes commenced his work
with great spirit, but fell down from exhaustion when half
the distance. In the meantime, Fordham ineffectually at-
tempted to back his horse, but the animal entertaining an
objection to such a mode of treatment,. refused to stir, and
the owner was compelled to peld.—Herfford County Press.
FLEETWOOD ON WIRE. The works going on in this
harbour are now assuming a business-like appearance. Mr.
Tompkinsoi?, of Liverpool, who has taken the contract for
the completion of the embankment from Burn Naze to the
terminus at Fleetwood, has already upwards of one hundred
men at work, besides a great many at the quarry. His
steamer which strived on Thursday is intended to tow the
barges from the quarry, several of which are already at work,
so that from 3 to 4000 tons may be expected monthly; this,
with the co-operation of Captain Denham, R. N., marine
surveyor to the Wyre, who has also a steamer, several barges,
and pontoons at work, in removing and cutting away part of
the Knot and Canch Bank, leave no doubt that the directors
are now determined to have the whole of the undertaking
completed early in the spring of next year. The improve-
ments to be carried out by Captain Denham in the harbour
alone, including three light-houses, will cost upwards of
£20,000.