The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-02-13 00:00:00

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for their trouble in packing them. Mr. Dutton said, in
reply to a question, that the elder prisoner was not au-
thorized by him to take away any of the things. It ap-
peared that the articles belonged to the underwriters,
whose agents were Messrs. Chapman and Bowman, who
were not in court.—Mr. Rushton said that the case, as
regarded the elder prisoner, must be considered a felony,
and he should therefore send him for trial. He said he
would not commit the two boys, who no doubt acted
under their father's directions. The lads were discharged.
ROBBERY BY A SERVANT.—Yesterday, at the Police-
court, a young woman, named Mary Gostage, was charged
by her mistress with having, on Saturday, stolen from her
£3, which she had left in a pocket on the top of a chest of
drawers. Twelve shillings were found upon her, and she
had bought a new pair of boots. She had been two years
in the co-hplainant's service, and was not before known
to be dishonest. She admitted that she had taken the
money, and was committed for trial.

THEFT FROM THE PERsoN.—•Yesterday, at the
Police-court, a man named Robert Henderson, and two
others, Pilkington and McNorton, were charged with
having, on Saturday night, at Burlington-bridge, picked
the pockets of Mrs. Mary Callan, of 33, Gibraltar-row,
of a sum of money in silver and three gold buttons or
studs, which were also in her purse. The studs were dis-
tinctly identified, but not the money. The former were
found upon Henderson only, and he was committed for
trial at the sessions. There was not sufficient legal evi-
dence against the other tws7, and, though they are known
to be thieves, they were discharged.
CHARGE AGAINST A TOWN COUNCILLOR.—On Friday,
Mr. R. M. Beckwith, one of the town councillors of this
borough, appeared before Edward Rushton, T. B. Hors-
fall, and J. H. Turner, Esqrs.. upon the information of
the police, on a charge of intoxication. The case as far
as regards the complainants, was gone through, but, in-
asmuch as Mr. Beckwith was not fully prepared to go into
his defence, the matter was adjourned till Tuesday.
CHARGE OF ASSAULT.— Mr. John Laury, coal-mer-
chant, summoned to the Police-court, on Friday, Mr. W.
Ellis, a medical man, for an assault on him at his house.
Mr. Howell appeared for the complainant, and Mr. Pem-
berton for the defendant. It appeared from the evidence
that the complainant and defendant were relations, and
Mr. Ellis having been told by his wife that Mr. Laury
had insulted her, he went to his house, when Mr. Laury
pushed him out, and, in the struggle, Mr. Ellis .hit Mr.
Laury on the head with his stick. Mr. Rushton dis-
missed the case.

SWINDLING.—On Thursday, George Firth, one of the
swell mob, was charged with having defrauded Martin
Higgins of two sovereigns. The complainant, a simple
looking Irish lad, stated that on Tuesday he came over
here from Ireland, and met the prisoner near the docks.
The prisoner asked him if he had any money, and he
(complainant) replied that he had two soverigns, which
he took out of his pocket and exhibited. The prisoner
cautioned him against sharpers, and said that he would
wrap up the money for him, so that it would be safe.
Complainant foolishly parted with his money, which the
prisoner wrapped in paper, and tied up carefully with a
piece of twine, saying he might depend upon its being
perfectly secure. The complainant then took the parcel
and went to his lodgings, but on looking at his money, he
found that the sovereigns had been abstracted and two
flash coins, technically termed " Johnies," of no value,
substituted. Information was given to the police, and
the prisoner was apprehended. Having been previously
before the court on similar charges, he was committed
for trial.

EXTENSIVE ROBBERY.—On Tuesday, George Robin-
son, John Wilson, James Hogg, Margaret Williams, Ellen
Perrey, and Sarah Jones were charged with burglary. It
appeared that on Saturday, Mr. Robert Gannon, shoe-
maker, of Scotland-road, observed some men lurking
about his shop, but took little notice of it. Shortly after,
he made up the premises, but was informed, in a short
time that the premises had been broken upen ; when he
returned, found that £132 been stolen from his house.
The prisoners were apprehended at a house in Banastre-
street, with about £3O in their possession. Ellen Perry,
who was in the house only as a washerwoman, was dis-
charged ; the other prisoners, who are well-known bur-
glars. were remanded. Mr. Rushton said that he had
often had to remonstrate with persons of the prosecutor's
class about the extreme folly of keeping money in their
houses when there were so many good banks in which to
deposit it. Tt was a shocking thing to see a man knocked
down from his hard-earned gain in this life for want
of the prudence to put his money in a place of safety.
DISCOVERY OF AN EXTENSIVE SYSTEM OF PLUS-
DER.—pn Friday, a case was brought before the notice of

the Police-court, through the instrumentality of Sergeant
Corbushley, assisted by officers Lynch and Skeif, which
goes to show that an extensive method of plunder has
been and is now being pursued in the warehouses of this
town. William Hughes, James M`Kenzie, Thomas Wil-
liams, and Robert Gudgeon, were charged under the fol-
lowing circumstances. The officers of the detective force

cated, were on Friday placed to watch near to the pre-
mises of Messrs. Crossfield, in Temple-street. About
nine o'clock, Skeif observed the prisoner Hughes (who,
along with M`Kenzie, was employed in the warehouse of
Mess. Crossfield) to leave the warehouse, and he (the
officer) followed him into Redcross-street, where he was
joined by the prisoner Williams, who went into a public-
house kept by the prisoner Gudgeon, along% iththe prisoner
M`Kenzie. Williams, upon leaving the house, was taken
into custody by Lynch ; and Corbushley went into the
house and asked Gudgeon, the landlord, whether that man
(meaning Williams) had brought any bag there; he was
told that he had not, but in a room in the house, a hag,
three parts full of sugar, identified as belonging to Messrs.
Crossfield, was found. Williams keepsaprovision store, and
upon searching the cellar an immense quantity of butter.

found,all of which
TT Lb h rmrs

1'
Mr. Rushton was about to commit the prisoners for trial,
when Sergeant Corbushley requested a remand, on the
ground that he had good reason to suppose he could esta-

_
Wish other charges. The remand was granted. On Satur-
day it was unequivocally established that at the time the
bag of sugar was left in the room Mr. Gudgeon was taking
his breakfast in an adjoining room, where it was impossible
for him to see who entered, and, consequently, that he
could not by possibility have known of Williams having
gone into the room. Mr. Gudgeon was immediately dis-
charged from custody. Mr. Rushton declaring that he
left the court without the slightest stain or imputation on
his character. The other prisoners were committed for
trial.

MAGNIFICENT CIVIC ENTERTAINMENT AT
THE TOWN-HALL, BY HIS WORSHIP THE
MAYOR.

Corporations are proverbially bodies without souls ; and
mayors, aldermen and councillors have, from time imme-
morial, been in the habit of keeping the good things
which they enjoyed from time to time—the turtle and the

venison, the ices and the jellies, the champagne and the
Burgundy to themselves. The fair sex have only been
permitted to imagine a civic entertainment; to dream of
tables groaning beneath the weight of " all the delicacies
of the season," resplendent with plate, and gleaming in
the radiance of hundreds of lights from chandeliers and

candelebra

The reality of such a banquet, in a suite of
rooms so magnificent as those of the Town-hall of Liver-
pool, even the imagination of the ladies never succeeded
in reaching. To his worship, the present Mayor, is due
the credit of breaking through the selfish curitom of pre-
vious generations; and affording to his fellow-townsmen
anc

townswomen a treat, which will dwell in their re-
membrance for years to come—a treat which, diCtated by
generous feeling and the purest taste, is calculated to
elevate the society of which he is the legally recognized
head, and which, from the complete absence of social or
political bias which characterized all the arrangements,
will do more to soften the asperities of this " worky-day"
life, to teach all classes that there is worth and wit and
beauty to be found beyond the limited circle of each, and
to lay the foundation amongst all classes of a proper ap-
preciation and respect for each other, than could have

••,
been accomplished by any other instrumentality ,•
in so
delightful a manner.

The first announcement of the intention of his worship
• " as the respectable
tradesmen of the

portion of his fellow-townsmen, the
borough as well as the g

,ntry and merchant princes, were
‘,.„1

hope of receiving tickets. Few, we believe, who could
fairly entertain such a hope, have been omitted, and those

rew most unintentionally. The largest number which the
rooms could conveniently hold was estimated to be about
1,800, and tickets for this number were early issued. In
making the selection necessary, and indeed in the general
arrangements for carrying out his hospitable purpose, his
worship was assisted by a committee of stewards, consist-
ing of Messrs. G. H. Lawrence, J. H. Turner, J. B.
Lloyd, W. Nicol, J. A. Tinne, J. A. Tobin, Thos. Moss,
S. Holme, C. Turner, W. R, Sandbach, E. Molyneux,
C. Brownell, and C. Bushell. Notwithstanding all the
care which could be used, however, it was found that
some parties had received no ladies' tickets, the stewards
being unaware of their being Benedicts. This omission,
when discovered, was promptly remedied by the issue of
a notification, calling upon such parties to give in their
names, upon which tickets were at once forwarded.
The happy day at length arrived ; and on Tuesday
evening, the good old town, in the neighbourhood of the
Town-hall, presented a most stirring scene. By seven
o'clock the whole of the streets leading to the Exchange
were occupied with lines of carriages, cars. &c., contain-
ing the elite of the beauty, fashion, and wealth of the
town proceeding to the festivities. By about nine o'clock
the bulk cf the company had arrived ; and the spectacle
presented in the interior of the Hall was almost past des-
cription, composed as it was by elegantly dressed speci-
mens of the far famed " witches" of our county, with their
lords and swains, who had certainly done their utmost to
pay due honour to the occasion. The scene was agreeably
diversified by the intermixture with our more sober cloth
of the glittering uniforms of the staff and other officers
of the military stationed in the district. Imme-
diately on entering the grand staircase the visitors'
attention was at once attracted by a profusion of
rich shrubs, flowers, and greenhouse plants from the
Botanical Gardens, which had been placed in great abund-
ance on both sides of the staircase, and continued along
the corridor to the door of the centre ball-room. On the
arrival of each party of guests they were received by the
Mayor, who was accompanied by the Mayoress, in the
centre drawing-room, commonly called the picture draw-
ing-room, with a kindly and graceful courtesy, on the
part of his Worship, and especially on that of his excel-
lent lady, which imparted an added pleasure to all. From
this room the company proceeded through the suite of
rooms to the small ball-room. The two orchestras in
this room had been elegantly decorated, fort the occa-
sion, with groups of trees, shrubs and flowers, from the
Botanical Gardens, forming various appropriate devices,
and giving to the apartment a most refreshing and lively
appearance. The orchestra in the large ball-room had