The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-09-28 00:00:00

(From the Manchester Guardian.)

About a month ago, a young man of gentlemanly appear-
ance, went to the York Hotel, in this town, where he took
up his quarters, and stated that his name was Frederick
Williams. A day or two afterwards his bill was presented ;
but, as he did not pay it, Mr. Swyers, the landlord, suspected
that all was not right, and pressed him for the money. The
gentleman stated, that he was a nephew of Lord De Manley ;
but Mr. Swyers not being satisfied with this, consulted Sir
Charles Shaw, who had an interview with the gentleman,
who convinced Sir Charles that he was indeed Lord De
Mauley's nephew. His story was somewhat romantic, and
we believe the substance of it is as follows :—He stated that
his name was Gabriel Frederick William Jacob Ponsonby,
and that he was a natural son of Lord Ponsonby, by a lady
named Fraser. His birth was secret, and soon after he was
born, his uncle, Lord De Manley, gave him in charge of a
man and woman, and presented them with £l,OOO to keep
him. They took him to America, and shortly afterwards the
wife of a Captain Park, who was staying in the same house,
bad a son who was also left in charge of the same people.
That child died, but on their return a year or two after, the
man and woman he was with, passed bins off as the child of
Captain and Mrs. Park, and he was brought up by them.
Some time ago, however, his own mother, who had been
making inquiries after bins, learned where he was, sent for
him, and recognised him by a mark on his wrist, which had

swear secresy, and then told him the history of his birth, and
gave him £5O to go to America, and seek the people by whom
he was taken thither. He went, but did not succeed, and
had returned on the 6th of August. lie mentioned the names
of several gentlemen with whom Sir Charles was acquainted,
and as he appeared to know much about them, Sir Charles
was convinced that the account was true, and gave his word
to Mr. Swyers, that the gentleman might stop at the hotel at
his expense. Mr. Williams, under his new name of Pon-
sonby, gained o❑ the confidence of Sir Charles Shaw ; he fre-
quently called at the police-office, and Captain Sleigh even
invited him to take up his quarters at his house. Letters
were sent to his relations ; but, as no answers were received
from sonic, and doubtful ones from others, inquiries were
made, the result of which convinced Sir Charles that he had
been imposed upon, and Mr. Ponsonby, who had been stay-
ing during this time at the York Hotel, was at length taken
into custody on Saturday last, and brought up at the Borough
Court on Monday, when the case was shortly stated against
him, and he was remanded to Tuesday, when the case was
heard.

Mr. Swyers, the landlord of the York Hotel, stated, that
on the evening of the 23d August, the prisoner came to his
house, and put iip there ; he gave his name Frederick Wil-
liams, and it was taken for granted that he would pay the
same as other people. On the morning of the 25th, his bill,
which amounted to about £1 3s, was presented to him, and
he told the waiter that he had money in his pocket, but it
was due to a friend of his, that he was going out, and on
his return he would discharge the bill, and he showed the
waiter what he stated was money through his silk purse, but
on being pressed, he acknowledged that he had nothing at all
to pay with. He pressed to be allowed to go out, but wit-
ness refused to let him go, and he then sent for a person
named Smith. who, he said, was an acquaintance of his;
Mr. Smith came, but said he knew nothing of him further
than that he saw him once on the exchange. Witness asked
him what he was going to do, and he replie that he was a 4
t
singular personage. Witness told him that e had nothing
to do with his singularity, but if he would di harge his bill
he was at liberty. He asked him how he was singular, but
could get no answer then ; the prisoner, however, sent for
him shortly afterwards, and told him that he was a nephew
of Lord de Manley, and that his name was Ponsonby. Wit-
thought he was not the individual he represented himself to
be, and consulted with Sir C. Shaw with a view of sending
him to his friends, to avoid unnecessary exposure. Sir C.
Shaw had an interview with him ; after which he said the
prisoner should stop at his expense.—Sir Charles Shaw said
that when he was applied to, he saw the prisoner, who ap-
peared to him to be a respectable young man, but had no
money, and he thought he was like many other young men
who had got into a scrape. The prisoner told him a long
story about his being a nephew to Lord de Manley. Wit-
ness questioned him about some gentlemen with whom he
had been dining ; he knew` them, and from the prisoner's
answers, witness thought he was the person he represented
himself to be. The stories the prisoner told him exceeded
in cleverness any thing he had ever heard in all his life.—
Mr. Bent (who appeared for the prisoner). Then he fairly
outwitted you ?—Sir Charles Shaw. He did indeed—(laugh-
ter),—and his statement was apparently confirmed by a cler-
gyman writing to him, and addressing him " Dear Gabriel,"
—he wrote to me stating that he was pennyless ; and a few
minates afterwards Mr. Swyers informed me that he had
ordered a suit of clothes from Mr. M`Stephens. In fadt, the
prisoner is the cleverest young fellow in that way I ever
knew.—Mr. Bent said, that with regard to Mr. Swyers,
there was no false pretence whatever ; and he thought Sir C.
Shaw had acted very improperly in having the prisoner taken
before him as a magistrate, then having him under surveill-
ance for a month, and afterwards bringing him before a ano-
ther court.—Sir Charles Shaw said he was not acting as a
magistrate when the prisoner was brought before him ;
and he had not been under surveillance at all, but
had been walking about the town until Saturday last, when
he was taken into custody.—Captain Byrne, Sir Charles
Shaw's secretary, said, a letter had been received from Mr.
Le Drax, of Chisbro' Park, stating that Lord De Manley
had no nephew of the name of the prisoner. And a letter
had also been received from the Superintendent of Police at
Salisbury, stating that no such person as Mrs. Ponsonby
lived there ; but he thought, from the description, that the
prisoner's name was Park, and that he was formerly in a
bank there, but left some time ago.—The Rev. Mr. High-
more, of Burnley, (and who, we understand, is an uncle of
the prisoner's,) stated that he first knew him about five years
since. His real name was Park, and he came originally from
America.—lnspector Irwin stated, that he had made a good
deal of inquiry regarding the prisoner. He went down to
Liverpool, and found that he came from America by the
packet-ship Sheffield, on the 6th of August. He stopped at
the Adelphi, where he run up a bill of £B, and then decamped,
leaving his luggage. . He then went to Prescot, and stopped
at ,the first hotel there, where he run up a bill of about £6.
Fiom thence he went to Warrington, and played a similar
trick there ; and from Warrington he came to Manchester.
He had found a great number of letters, from which it ap-
peared that he had gone by the names of Ponsonby, Williams,
and Mainwaring. Amongst the papers was a check, drawn
by him in the name of Ponsonby, on Coutts and Co., bankers,
for £l2 6s, payable to himself, but which they returned in a
letter, addressed to him, at the post-office, Liverpool, stating
that he had no account with them.—Mr. Maude inquired
what was the whole amount of the bill against the prisoner,
at the York Hotel ; and Mr. Swyers said, the bills together
amounted to £l4 14s.—Sir Charles Shaw said, the fact of the
matter was, that he had brought the prisoner up there to let
it be known to the public that he was the most dangerous
young man in the town.—Mr. Maude : Did you suggest his
staying in the town ?—Sir Charles Shaw : I think I did. I
advised him to stay, in order that I might put him into the
hands of his friends. I must say, in justice to the young
fellow, that he wrote a note to me, saying, that he was running
up a large bill at my expense, and that he did not like to do
it. I have brought him up here, in order that he may not
do other people as he has done me. (Laughter.)—Mr. Maude
said the case must go the sessions, and the prisoner was then
removed from the bar.—Mr. Maude then asked Mr. Swyers
if he had charged Sir Charles Shaw, in his book, for the pri-
soner s bill, and Mr. Swyers said, No; the name in the book
was Ponsonby.—Mr. Bent said, then Sir Charles Shaw was
not legally liable.—Mr. Maude said, that was a technical
difficulty which he was afraid could not be got over.—The
prisoner was then brought up again, and Mr. Maude told him
he was discharged, in consequence of a technical difficulty,
but if he were once caught in being guilty of these practises,
he would probably be severely punished.

THE NOTTINGHAM BANKING COMPANY,

The London and Westminster Bank has taken the agency
of the Nottingham Banking Company, which will forthwith
resume its operations. At the meeting of the proprietors of
that joint-stock bank in Nottingham last Friday, a call was
agreed to of £5 per share, by which the capital will be raised
from £BO,OOO to £120,000. Exclusive of this resolution,
several of the more wealthy of the shareholders are under-
stood to have made immediate advances in money and secu-
rities to a very considerable amount, it is said SO far as the
value of £lOO,OOO, so that the concern may now be consi-
dered better on its legs in point of credit than ever.

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF THE MANAGER.
(From Saturday's Morning Herald.)
Yesterday, a country gentleman, who appeared in a state
of great affliction, called at the Thames police court to give
information of the disappearance of Mr. John Mellor, mana-
ger to the Nottingham and Notts Banking Co., the affairs
of which concern have been lately under the notice of the
public. Mr. Mellor it appeared, arived in London on Thurs-
day, in last week, on business connected with the bank, and
during that day and Friday was indefatigable in his atten-
tions to matters relating to the banking concern. He was
to have met a deputation of proprietors of the bank in Lon-
don on Friday afternoon, but they did not arrive, and he
appeared very much disappointed at their absence, and was
labouring under great anxiety. He slept at Wood's Hotel,
Furnival's Inn, on Friday night, and on Saturday morning
was inquiring very anxiously if the deputation had arrived,
but they did not reach London till the afternoon. Before
that time Mr. Mellor had left the hotel, and has not been
heard of since, and the greatest anxiety has been manifested
respecting him. He had in his possession £4OO, the produce
of two notes which he changed for smaller ones at a banking
house soon after his arrival in town.
The object of the gentleman, the brother-in-law to Mr. M.,
who applied to the Thames police yesterday, was to request
them to assist him in his search, and to give information if
the body of any person answering the description was found
in the river, as it was feared his anxieties might have preyed
on his mind and caused him to commit self-destruction.
Mr. Mellor is described as thirty years of age, about five
feet seven inches high, and wore a gold watch in his waist-
coat pocket. His relative announced his intention of pro-
ceeding to Liverpool by the night train to ascertain if Mr.
M. had taken a passage in any of the New York packet ships
for America. It is but right to state that Mr. Mellor Is not
a defaulter ; his accounts are strictly correct, and the highest
opinion is entertained of his integrity.

BERNARD CAVANAGH, THE LONG FASTER.—This per-
son has, it seems, submitted to be shut up in a garret (15ft.
by 9, and 7ft. high) for eleven days without food or drink.
On being released on Thursday, never havingthequitteded in al
and
room but
at o gond asolicitor, h to chapel on the
i s
saidSunday,t
olook
closely a
guarded by
aphysician little thinner,
but to be otherwise as before his incarceration.
aTlainze
The si;tefoor
itof
this
wasexploiti
aL
a mhasb a c certainlyon d
ai
Conduit-street
t re
ea
et
ti
butand conveyingti
other gentlemen, who have conducted the experiment, appear
to be convinced of Cavanagh's extraordinary powers of ab-
stinence ' • though they gravely express a doubt (in the Times
report of the matter) that he could fast for five long years.
We, nevertheless, adhere to our proposition, that nature has
framed him to be perpetual president of the Total Abstinence
Society ; and if he turn out to be an imposter, we trust that
the Romish Church, to which he belongs, will impose upon
him the penance of a fast long enough to be a punishment!—
Literary Gazette.