The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-09-24 00:00:00

BUENOS AYRES AND RIO D E JANEIRO

Buencs Ayres papers of the 29th of July have arrived, but
they communicate no movement of the naval forces of the
contend;ng republics. The exchange upon London was, as
before, 2d. per paper dollar, and discounts 1 to 2 per cent.
per month. 103 vessels were in port on the 28th, the distri-
bution of which give the greatest number as British,
American, and French.
Dates from Rio de Janeiro to the 13th of July give the ex-
change upon England 301 to 31d.

The London merchants have opened a subscription for
the relief of the sufferers by the great fire at Smyrna, on the
29th of July, and have already made considerable progress
in their collections. The particulars of this fire are most
distressing : nearly 35,000 persons were left without home or
refuge, and of this number 7,000 subsist by charity.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A ROGUE.—At the last assizes at
Bedford, a fellow named Thomas Rainbow, was convicted
of highway robbery and transported for life. A few days
ago he was removed to the Justitia hulk at Woolwich, and
has given the following statement of his roguish career to
the governor of Bedford gaol :—" I am now about 30 years
of age; when a boy about nine years old, I was empbyed as
A bird-keeper in the corn-fields. I saw the fine pheasants
walking through the corn, and I thought I should like some
of them. Upon making inquiry of some young men in the
village, I was informed how to catch them, and bought two
gins (rat-traps), and seldom went home empty handed ; but
I did not make much of them, as I sold them to the young
men for a trifle. In a very short time 1 found a better mar-
ket;
this caused me to look out for hares, and led on from
one thing to another, such as visiting gardens and orchards,
and stealing wood, fowls, ducks, or anythingthatcam ;
e in
my way. Soon after this I fell in with a gang of poachers
we were not satisfied with the profits of day poaching—we
took to a worse step, night poachinkuamndusipisentdininleg
wouervd;ays
half drunk in the public-houses.
could lay our hands on. In 18310
out by night, armed with guns, and took all the game we
com-
panions, was sent to gaol for boll' sle
house-breaking,
i ounge,
butof
quitted. At the assizes in 1832
out the bill. In the saPmeeyemagr,l wwhaesnagtahi
sent to gaol for night- oa li. , I with another
egynodt waei:il s-t
grand jury threw
a third companion, for
_ a burglary, and again acquitted. In
the following year' en
committed, with
I was again committed for fowl-stealing,
and once more acquitted. Not so in 1834; I was, with
another of our gang, committed for poaching in the night,
armed with a gun, convicted, and had to dance the treadmill
for a year—l expected transportation, but the judge did not
order it. From the year 1828, up to the present time, I
have been in the gaol or house of correction 12 or 13 times !
Two of my companions before alluded to as having been
committed with me, are transported for other crimes in the
county of H—. 'I
escaped from the officers, or must have
shared the same fate. About the year 1837 we committed a
highway rebbery, and soon after went into Wales, got work
in the iron mines, and could earn about 18s. a-week. This
did not last long ; we returned to our old courses, and tra-
velled from place to place, stealing from houses and persons,
as often as we were in need. We seldom went out until we
had spent all we bad obtained from the last plunder. Cash
and watches are whatwe had most of, but sometimes we have
had some plate; never had any difficulty of disposing of the
property we bad stolen. Ido not remember ever m t •
hurting any one; if any resistance was offered (which a crially
tuber was seldom), we gave them a - from
our nu scoteeze • •
until the
cash and tickers (watches) were taken from them. I think
I have been engaged in near 200 rob •
eries, and I know of
many more that I had no hand iti.,,