The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-01-07 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.-FRIDAY.

THROWING MISSILES FROM THE GALLERY OF THE
AMPHITHEATRE—CAUTION.
A young ship-carpenter, named William Watkinson, was
charged with having, on the previous evening, thrown from
the gallery of the Amphitheatre, into the ring, while the per-
formances were going on, several pieces of wood, to the great
danger of parties below.
person employed at the theatre as a gas-fitter, said that
he was standing at the circle door, when he saw the prisoner
stoop, and then throw •down a piece of board, about four
inches in breadth, and sixteen to eighteen in length, into the
ring, so that it went across the circle, being aimed at a po-
lice-officer on the opposite side of the house. The prisoner
afterwards threw down, in the same direction, several smal-
ler pieces of wood.
The board (of thin deal) was produced. A nail was stick-
ing in it.
The prisoner said that the wood had fallen upon him from
the roof, and that, in throwing it down, he did not intend to
strike any one. It appeared, however, that he had taken
aim at the officer, and nearly struck one of the musicians.
Mr. Rushton said the conduct of the prisoner had been
most reckless and disgraceful, to throw down such missiles
from a great height, in a place of public amusement, by which
he might have seriously injured the officer, or some of the
musicians. He added, that the offender's mother had cer-
tainly spoken of him as an attentive, industrious lad, and he
therefore felt the greater regret in punishing the offence,
which he could not pass over. He ordered him to pay 40s.
and costs, or, in default of payment, to be imprisoned for
one month.

BILLETING OF SOLDIERS.
Mr. George Robinson, publican, of St. James's Place, ap-
peared before the magistrate, and preferred a complaint of
having had soldiers billeted upon him too frequently. He
stated that he had one soldier on the Sth of November, for
seven nights, and two others on the Ist of January, for four
nights. He added that there were 2,700 public-houses in the
borough liable to have soldiers billeted on them, and con-
tended that no billet should have been sent to his house for a
month beyond the date of which he complained. Calculating
the number of houses liable, he thought he ought not to be
called upon to receive soldiers more than once in three
Months.

Mr. Highton (the billet-master) said there were about
2,000 houses in Liverpool eligible to have soldiers billeted on
them. About 180 of them had stables attached to them, or
were contiguous to livery stables, and these houses were ab-
stracted for the exclusive use of cavalry, which, taking the
average of preceding years, would give them about an equal
proportion of soldiers during the year. The best answer he
could make to the complaint would be to state the circum-
stances under which be had taken the office of billet-master,
and the method he had adopted in issuing the billets. When
he was appointed to the office, in October, he found that the
books had not been regularly posted, and, consequently, had
no correct data on which to proceed. He continued to issue
billets from the old book in the best way he could until the
9th of November (the day of the Mayor's appointment), when
a new book had to be made out. He took advantage of that
circumstance to have a correct list made out of the public-
houses and beer-houses, and began, at that time, to issue
billets according to the order in which the names of the par-
ties liable stood in the billet-book. Mr. Robinson, it ap-
peared, had had a soldier billeted on him on the Bth of No-
vernber,—the day previous to the commencement of the new
system,—so that, in fact, the whole of the publicans had not
had billets since that time ; and he thought the period re-
ferred to the most favourable for that purpose.
Mr. Rushton said he was perfectly satisfied with this ex-
planation:_

111 r. Ellis (clerk of the magistrates) said that Mr. Robin-
son had evidently made a mistake as to the number of public-
houses and beer-houses. He had included, in his calcula-
tion, all the houses in the " collection," which comprised
Wigan, Ormskirk, Warrington, &c.
Mr. Robinson said he was quite satisfied, and left the
court.

[We have taken the preceding report from a contemporary
of Saturday, but we have been informed that it contains se-
veral inaccuracies. We are told that Mr. Rushton acknow-
ledged the case of Mr. Robinson to be a very hard one. It
appears that instances frequently occur of recruits being bil-
leted for six or seven days upon publicans. This must be
felt as a very great grievance, which ought to be removed as
speedily as possible. Why should not a delnit be erected in
Liverpool for the accomodation of recruits ? or why are they
not immediately forwarded to Manchester, where there is a
depot already in existence? It is time for the publicans of
Liverpool to get up a general remonstrance against this heavy
and accumulating tax.—Ed. Liverpool Standard.]
AN OLD FOOL—CAUTION TO AGED PHILANTHROPISTS.
On Friday, a case, of complaint of an ancient admirer of,
and sympathizer with, the fair sex, which had been partly
heard and postponed from the previous day, was finally ad-
judicated upon by Mr. Rushton. A sedate-looking gentle-
man, in a white cravat, of apparently about 60 years of age,
made with great gravity and circumlocution a statement to
the following effect :—" I am a cabinet-maker, at Uttoxeter,
and on Wednesday last, the first day of the year, came on
business to this town. I lodged (as in former years) at Mr.
Whittle's public-house, in Cumberland-street. I had ar-
rived that day by the railway, from Manchester, and finally
from Wigan, and being hungry, went first to Jones's eating-
house, and afterwards to the Wellington-hotel, and got
something to eat. When returning back to my lodgings,
near the top of Cumberland-street, the prisoner and another
woman touched me with an umbrella. One of them asked
me to give them a glass. I said I had no money. They
pleaded great distress, and I consented. We all went into a
trublic-house in Cumberland-street, and I paid for two penny-
worth of rum for myself, and a glass of whiskey a-piece for
them. We then left the house. I had a yellow canvas purse
containing 22 sovereigns, and from £2 to £3 in silver, which
I had received on my way to Liverpool. It was in my left
hand breeches pocket, and I felt it when I left the public-
house. It was bulky. I was sober at the time. I went
down Cumberland-street with the women, and up a dark
" rubbishy passage, and into a house. The witness then de-
scribed the room, in which there was a fire and candle, and
reiterated at every sentence that it was pure good nature for
the distress of the females that induced him to go with them,
and that he strenuously resisted all the insidious attempts to
corrupt his morals. The sequel may be foreseen. The old
booby lost his purse, which the " fair ones" found means to
extract front his pocket with astonishing celerity, and he
threw himself as early as possible upon the aid of the police.
By their exertions the prisoner was traced out as one of the
two nymphs with whose distress he had sq tenderly sympa-
thized as to treat them to whiskey, and as he swore to her
identity, she was committed for trial at the sessions. None
of the money has been discovered. The complainant, at the
close of the case, was rather aggrieved that he should be in-
convenienced by being bound over to appear at the sessions,
next week, as he had a great desire to make a preliminary
visit to his domicile, in Uttoxeter. Mr. Rushton reproved
him for his egregious folly ; hoped he would not again risk
his money in a similar way, and told him he had better, as a
matter of ecenomy, remain in the town until he gave Iris evi-
dence at the trial. The prisoner was then fully committed.

A DRUNKEN PORTER IN THE EXCHANGE NEWS-ROOM.
At the Police-office, on Friday, a tall, strapping porter,
named Foster, was placed before Mr. Rushton, on a charge
of entering the Exchange News-room in a state of intoxica-
tion. It appeared, from the testimony of Mr. Thos. Jones,
one of the assistants, that, on the preceding evening, the pri-
soner entered the newsroom, and, fancying himself, doubt-
less, in a pothouse, commenced bawling for " ale." He
staggered about some time, and, at length, contrived to thrust
his shoulder through one of the windows. He was seized,
and quietly handed over to a police-officer. He was tined
ss. and costs, amounting to 95., and in default of payment,
to be imprisoned five days, Mr. Rushton adding, that, if the
defendant paid the money, it would be transferred to the
committee of the room. Mr. Jones took the opportunity of
informing the magistrate, that the subscribers to the room
were constantly annoyed by boys and rabble congregating on
the area, causing great noise and confusion. Mr. Rushton
stated, that an application to the Watch Committee would,
probably, remedy the evil complained of.
SATURDAY.
THEFT IN ISLINGTON MARKET.
Catherine Gilligan, a market woman, was placed before
Mr. Rushton, on Saturday, charged with having stolen a
ham, value eight shillings, from Elizabeth Bradley. It ap-
peared, that, on Saturday morning, about half-past nine
o'clock, Mrs. Bradley, who comes to Liverpool on market
days from Sefton, attended Islington Market. She had a
basket of cabbages for sale, and, on the cabbages, was a large
ham, which belonged to a Mr. Bruckledge, of Sefton. The
prisoner asked the price of the lot of cabbages, and was told
that it was two shillings. She offered eighteen pence, which
was agreed to, paid, and accepted. The prisoner said she
would leave the cabbages a short time. Mrs. Bradley turned
herself about to attend to some other business, and, in the
meanwhile the prisoner walked off with the ham. The pri-
soner came back in about an hour, and was about to carry off
the cabbages. Mrs. Bradley accused her of having taken
the ham, which she denied, saying she had never seen it.
She was, however, given into custody, and, on search being
made, the ham was found at her residence. The answer of
the prisoner, on her voluntary examination, was, that she
did not steal the ham. It was in the basket, she said, and
the woman sold her all that was in the basket. She was
committed for trial.