The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-17 00:00:00

LOCAL NEWS.

CAPTURE OF AN OLD OFFENDER.—At the Borough Ses-
sions held in the month of March last, two men, Lloyd and
Williams, were convicted of having stolen two bales of cot-
ton, the property of Messrs. Zwilchenbart, from one of
Harbord's warehouses. It was proved that they bad sold
the cotton to John Beckett, a marine store-dealer, of Cum-
berland-street. Beckett, however, decamped, and was not
heard of till last week, when he was captured in Dublin.
He was brought before Mr. Rushton on Saturday, and, the
evidence having been heard, committed for trial at the next
Borough Sessions,
TESTIMONIAL OF RESPECT.—A splendid testimonial was
presented by the congregation of St. Thomas's Church, Sea-
forth, near this town, on Friday last, to their minister, the
Rev. Wm. Rawson, M.A., as an expression " of heartfelt
respect, and of the high sense they entertain of the ability,
faithfulness, and zeal, with which, for twenty-six years, he
has fulfilled among them the duties of his sacred calling."
The testimonial consists of a portrait of Mr. Rawson, by
Phillips; a portrait of Mrs. Rawson, by Richmond; a large
waiter and two handwaiters, a bread-basket, a tea-kettle,
and a cruet-stand, all of silver; an arm-chair, from the offer-
ings of the labouring classes; and a beautiful patchwork
quilt, from the children of the village school. The whole is
exhibited this week, at the parsonage, to the members of
the congregation ; and affords a delightful proof, that Chris-
tian devotedness on the part of a minister is appreciated by
the grateful liberality of an affectionate people.—Seaforth
Church is one of thefour edifices raised to the glory of God
by our highly-venerated townsman, John Gladstone, Esq.,
whose age is cheered, and whose Christian benevolence is
encouraged and rewarded, by the blessing which this noble
expenditure of a portion of his wealth has been the means of
communicating to hundreds of his fellow-creatures. We
can only hope that such examples may be more generally
followed ; and would say to each of our readers, in their
respective spheres, " Go and do thou likewise."
COMMITTAL OF THREE OF THE ST. HELEN'S " LONG
COMPAN r."—The three men, members of the lawless gang
known by the above name, who were apprehended by Super-
intendent Storey, for a robbery and outrage committed on
the afternoon of the day of the late dreadful murder, have
all been committed for trial after an investigation before the
magistrates. Their names are Peter Woods, brother of the
man now in custody at St. Helen's, Thomas Lucas and
Joseph Lucas. The circumstances of the robbery display in
strong colours the characters of the gang. William Arnold,
the object of their attack, was struck down on the road not
far from Knowsley, and to his cries for mercy the ruffians
replied only by throwing him into a ditch, where the unfor-
tunate man would undoubtedly have perished had he not
been found and rescued from his perilous situation. The
robbers took from him a half sovereign and 7s. 6d. in silver,
he had. Mr. Storey, the active superintendent, had only
v hours before met and searched these suspicious cha-
;rs, but found nothing on them. and when Woods was
.n within his grasp, on being asked how he accounted for
e possession of two half crowns, which were found upon
iim, made the very probable excuse, that the money had
been hidden in his shoes or clogs. The committal of these
members of the desperate gang has given great satisfaction
in the neighbourhood. The excitement on the subject of the
late murder, the investigation of which is still pending, has
in no degree subsided, and is enhanced, in fact, by the diffi-
culties which have hitherto been in the way of the police in
procuring stringent evidence against the accused. The town
is placarded with bills announcing the offer of £5O reward on
the part of the authorities for the detection of the murderer,
in addition to the £5O promised by the friends of the de-
ceased. It has been stated that a person answering to the
description of Jacques, one of the accused, was heard by
some persons in a beer-shop to let fall expressions which
tend to fix the murder upon the parties in custody.
IMPORTANT TO BENEFIT SOCIETIES. Mr. Patrick
M' Nulty appeared before Mr. Rushton, on Wednesday, for
the purpose of sustaining a claim against the St. Michael's
Tontine Society, for the recovery of a certain sum of money
which be conceived to be legally owing to him, by virtue of
his right of membership. The plaintiff deposed that he had
been a member of the St. Michael's Tontine Society for a
period of eight years. He belonged to the latter at present,
and had been obliged, in the month of January last, to claim
sick-money from both, having been ill at that time for a period
of six weeks. The Odd Fellows' Society paid the amount of
his claim without any hesitation, but the St. Michael's re-
fused to refund him any part of what he demanded. When
he requested it, the answer he received was, that according
to the first rule of the society he was not entitled to any be-
nefit. The purport of a note on the subject, which he re-
ceived from the secretary, was to the effect that he was not
entitled to any benefit, he being at the time a member of anc-
ther society, and such second membership being contrary to
the express stipulations of the first rule of the St. Michael's
Society. He had answered the questions required of him
when admitted into membership with the St. Michael's
Society, the officers of which received contributions from him
since he became a member of the Odd Fellows' Society, and
were aware at the time that he had become a member of the
latter society. On cross-examination, it was attempted to
be shewn that the plaintiff was a mere honorary member of
the society, and was only initiated for the purpose of having
the meetings of the society held at his Public-house, and not
for the purpose of entitling himself to sick-money. But Mr.
Rushton, admitting the hardship of the case against the so-
ciety, decided that the man was legally entitled to his claim,
as thenor
society t
o regularlyreceive received
honorary
members, his
and
man becoming a member of any other society.

AN UNNATURAL FATTIER.—An elderly man, named
Myers, appeared before Mr. Rushton, on Wednesday, to
prosecute his son, for having, as he alleged, attempted to
break open the door of his house with an adze, about twelve
o'clock on that day. Mr. Owen, who appeared for defend-
ant, stated the facts of the case as follows :—A deed of se-
paration had been made between the complainant and his
wife, eighteen years ago, according to the terms of which,
eighteen shillings per week was to he regularly paid her for
the maintenance of herself and son, the lad at the bar. Upon
the demise of the trustee, for there was only one to the deed,
the allowance was wholly withdrawn, and then the unfortu-
nate woman was compelled to resort to the parish office for
relief. The sum of Xl7 was now owing by the complainant,
which he refused to pay, and the only remedy left the wife
was an appeal to the Court of Equity. She had tried every
means to get at the husband, to see if he would settle with
her, and in a fit of desperation, the lad at the bar had that
morning gone with the adze to avenge the wrongs of his de-
solate mother. Air. Owen concluded by observing that the
complainant was living in a house with a couple of females,
and that his conduct to his wife and child hadbeen extremely
disgraceful. The complainant said he had offered a weekly
payment of 2s. nd., which Mr. Rushton characterised as a
fraud on the trustee, but that the lad was not to redress his
mother's wrongs in the way in which he had gone to work.
Her rights should be asserted in another form. The prisoner
having promised not to annoy the complainant any more was
discharged.