The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-08-07 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

A BARBAROUS JOKE.—Yesterday, at the Police-office, a
tall young man named Core, a member of' the shaving pro-
fession, was brought before the magistrates, charged with
running away with a rival barber's pole.—A policeman
stated, that be saw the prisoner late the night before bearing
away a barber's pole, and on asking him where he got it, be
was not able to give any very satisfactory account about it,
so he took him into custody. He had since made inquiry,
and found that the pole had been carried away from the door
of another barber in Rose-hill.—Another shaving individual
here stood up and said the pole was his; but good-naturedly
enough, be said he thought it had been carried away as a
joke, and he did not wish to press the charge.—Mr. Hall
asked the prisoner what he intended to do with the pole?—
Prisoner : Nothing, sir; I did not intend to rob him of his
pole.—Mr. Hall inquired if the "pole-bearer" was sober,
and was told by the officers that the man was sober enough.
The man himself said he was himself he was neither drunk
nor sober; he was " just middling"—which means mis-
chievously drunk.—Mr. Hall said he was afraid the prisoner
wanted the pole to exhibit at his own place.—The prisoner
denied this, and said it was a trick he bad often bad played
bins.—Mr. Hall advised him not to do so again, as he might
find he had got himsell into trouble the next time he tried
•such a trick. The prisoner promised he would not do so
again. The complainant shouldered his pole, and the two,
though of one trade, agreed tel settle the matter between
them, and cut their sticks out of court.
DRUNK Ott SOBER ?—THAT IS THE QUESTION.—It would
be highly desirable if some learned bibliographer would de-
fine the positive meaning of the word " drunk ;" and the po-
sitive meaning of the word "sober;" and also enlighten the
public, by informing them at what preciie point the former
quality of mind, or of stomach, or of both mind and stomach,
entrenched upon the precincts of the latter; for this appears
to be a matter of most difficult solution. For our own parts,
we have heard so many definitions of what means sober and
what means drunk," in our Police-court visits, and the state-
ments as to when men are in this "happy state," and when
not, are so very various, that we confess we have but a very
confused idea of the precise period when oblivion com-
mences. Mr. Hall, it _is true, has done much to produce
clear-headedness in the comprehension of this knotty point;
and the theory at present laid down at the Police court is,
that when a man has imbibed any portion of liquids to which
the term aqua pura cannot be applied, and thereafter gets
into any mess, or is productive of any mess whatever, the
liquid is guilty, not the individual, though it is a standing
rule always to punish the individual for the offences of the
liquid. The liquid being proved to be guilty, it is then as-
sumed that the individual is not perfectly sober; and not be-
ing perfectly sober, he is, therefore, quod erat demonstrandum,
drunk, and in a fitting state to be " booked for safety."
This appears, however, to be very far from the general un-
derstanding of what is meant by the word "drunk." We
have heard a sailor at the police-office after having betrayed
manifest symptoms overnight of liquid participation in
" Old Moll," or what has been dignified with the appellative
of " heavy wet," swear he was not drunk because he could
walk in a straight line. We have heard others swear they
were not drunk because they could recollect what they said;
others that they were not drunk because they knew what they
(lid ; but by far the greater portion that they could not be
drunk because they knew what they were about. There ap-
pears, however, to be a different scale applicable to different
classes of society, for the higher we go the more decided proof
of liquid " potation pottle deep" does it require to pronounce
a man to be drunken. We once heard a gentleman who had
been " booked for safety," who had been picked up out of
the kennel the night before, assert that he was not drunk
" because he could • lie on his back and call for a coach;"
and in Cambridge, amongst the students, a still higher order
of drunkenness exists, where no man can with any sort of
propriety be called drunk as long as he can lie tin bed after
he is put there. In fact, if we were to enumerate all the de-
finitions of what really is drunkenness and what is not, we
are afraid we should both weary our readers and crowd our
columns. But to proceed from this general digression to the
particular charge which has called it forth, a female, bearing
the euphonious name of Alice Gray, once most familiar to
the officers of Bridewell, and whose face bore that peculiarly
disgusting appearance of shrivelled, flabby yellowness which
is the consequence of gin drinking and debauchery, was yes-
terday placed at the bar, charged with being drunk and dis-
orderly, preaching in the streets, and creating a great crowd
on Sunday afternoon, till at length the officers were obliged
to remove her to Bridewell. The prisoner, of course, denied
that she was drunk, and the Bridewell-keeper, being sworn to
prove that she was, abiding by the definition of drunkenness
laid down by Mr. Hall, pronounced her, in monosyllabic
style, to be drunk." "Oh dear," said Alice, " I was not
drunk, because I could keep my legs." Alice's definition of
what was and what was not drunkenness did not, however,
satisfy Mr. Hall, and, though she could " keep her legs,"
she was ordered to pay ss. for being drunk, or take three
days to sober in the Borough Gaol.

A HELP MEET.—Yesterday, at the Polico ffice, a stout,
good-looking young woman, named Mary Williams, was
placed at the bar, charged be her husband, a mechanic, with
a long list of offences. The husband being asked to state his
charge said,' " I call her a very troublesome woman, and as
to living with her, it's out of the question." Mr. Flail.—
" What does she do ?" Complainant.—" She drinks every
thing she gets hold of." (A laugh.) Mr. Hall.—" Why
don't you lock her up in your own house instead of sending
her to Bridewell ?" Complainant.—" I can't keep her in
any house; I catch'd her with one of the men at the brew-
house, yesterday morning. Mr. Hall.—" Hadn't you better
separate from her; will you allow her ss. a week ?"—Com-
plainant.—" I think it is too much to allow her, considering
the circumstance yesterday morning—and that is'ut all.. She
pawns her boots, her shoes, her gowns, her stays, and every
think she has or drink, and what am 1 to do with the wo-
man ?" Mr. Hall asked the prisoner how old she was? She
said she was Mr. Hall said she was strong and able
to work for herself, and ought to do it. The woman here
began abusing her husband, and said he beat her shame-
fully—cause enough, if anything could justify a man beating
a woman—and exhibited her back which was marked with
many biuises. Mr. Hall (to complainant) well, are you
willing to pay her ss. a-week ? Complainant.—" It is too
much sir." Mr. Hall.—Discharge her.

IRISH COWARDlCE.,—lreftterdayjat the Police-office, two
Irishmen, named Murphy and Canon, were placed at the
bar, charged by a miler named Moore, working at one of
the mills in Kirkdale-road, with having knocked him down,
and kicked him, The complainant stated. that on ,Sundry
night, between nine and ten o'clock, tie was going into his
ewn house, on the .BoOtle.road, when a young girl ran up to
him, and claimed his protection from three Irishmen—the

, .-•
two prisoners and another, who were pulling her about. il.
let her into the house, and bhe got awa, when one a the
Irishmen walked up to him, and asked him it he wanted any
thing of hint—that he would pitch it into him for two pins,
and before he knew what he was about, he knocked him
down, and then ail three began kicking him, and jumping
upon him. He fought as well as he could on the ground, and
got one of the ruffians down, and pummelled him to his
heart's content, and he saved him from many kicks. At
length, some person coming to his assistance, they all ran
away. He had said or done nothing to them whatever to
provoke them. The policeman said he saw the three men
running down Bootle-road, pursued by the complainant and
another person, and stopped the two prisoners, the third
escaped. Carron was trying to hide himself in the hedge
from those following him, when he took him into custody.
The complainant said he was very stiff and sore from the
kicks he had got. Both prisoners are labourers about the
docks. Mr. Halt finedleach of them 20s. and costs, or to be
committed in default for sixteen days to the Boroughl goal.

COURT OF PASSAGE.-FRIDAY.

POTTER AND ANOTHER V. JONES.—This was an action to
recover the sum of £1 lOs , the value of ten boxes of lemons
which had been sold by Mr. Fletcher, a broker, to the defend-
ant, on account of Messrs. Potter and Co. It appeared that
the broker had followed the general practice of selling the
goods and drawing out the invoice in his own name; subse-
quent to the transaction, the defendant had fallen into diffi-
culties, and had prevailed upon certain of his creditors,
among whom was Mr. Fletcher, to sign a release; and Ls
the debt now sued for had been incurred in what, on the face
of it, seemed to be and was esteemed by the defendant a
bona fide transaction with Mr. Fletcher, the detendant pleaded
that the plaintiffs had to power to sue. Mr. Fletcher, on his
examination, admitted that he had released the defendant
from that part of the debt owing to himself, but not from that
due to Messrs. Potter, the principals. The plea of the de-
fendant was overruled, and a verdict for the plaintiffs, for the
amount claimed, given.
CASE OF TRESSPASS.—The plaintiff in this case was Mr.
Thomas Kenworthy, a rent and debt collector, and the de-
fendant Mr. Thomas Ayres, a watchmaker, in Itanelagh-
street. Mr. Murphy appeared for the former, and Mr. Cot-
tingliam for the latter. The facts of the case were as follow :

Between five and six o'clock in the evening of Tuesday, the
17th of April, a person entered the shop of Mr. Ayres on the
pretext of purchasing a gold seal, but left the shop without
having done so, and immediately after his departure it was
found that a gold watch had been stolen from a glass•case on
the counter. That evening, as an apprentice to Mr. Ayres
(who had been present when the individual who bad commit-
ted the theft was in the shop) was goini. home, he saw in
Whitechapel the plaintiff, whom he strongly suspected to be
the guilty person—followed him, and at last gave him in
charge to a police officer. 'Mr. Kenworthy was taken to the
Rose-hill lock-up ; but the keeper was unwilling to book the
charge unless Mr. Ayres was sent fur to speak to the identity
of the- prisoner. Mr. Ayres was sent for, and, having exa-
mined him both in a sitting and standing posture, said, "I do
not think that he is the man." Mr. Kenworthy, feeling in•
dignant at the manner in which he had been treated, threatened
to seek redress in a court of law, on which (according to the
testimony of Butler, the late brideweil-keeper—for the wit-
nesses varied in their account of what had occurred) Mr.
Ayres at once declared that, if such were the case, he would
follow up the charge, and, saying that " he believed that
was the man," then and there ordered him to be booked for
the felony. He was consequently brought .up before Mr.
Hall on the succeeding day, and that the case might be sifted
to the bottom, and for the satisfaction of all parties, Mr. Hall
remanded the prisoner until Friday. On that day he was
again brought up before the police magistrate, and Mr. Ayres
refusing to swear to his identity, he was dismissed, having
remained in custody about three days. The present action
was brought by Mr. Kenworthy to recover damages fur the
trespass, and for the injury sustained by him.
The plea of the defendant was that he had had good and
reasonable cause for suspecting Mr. Kenworthy to be the
person guilty of the felony, and his apprentice was called to
give evidence in support of the plea.
The learned Assessor, in summing tip, said that if the jury

thought that the defendant had made out his case—namely
" that he had had good and probable case of suspicion, and
vehemently suspected the plaintiff to be the party who had
committed the felony," they must give him a verdict ; but if,
on the other hand, they were of opinion that his charge had
arisen from the threat of the plaintiff to resort to legal pro-
ceedings, the would give a verdict for the plaintiff, and award
him damages as they should think fitting.
The jury, after a consultation of a few minutes, returned a
verdict for the plaintiff—damages, £lO.