The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-01-05 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL EPIPHANY SESSIONS

These sessions commenced in the Court-house, yesterday,
before James Clarke, Esq., Recorder.
The following gentlemen were sworn on the

JAMES COCKSHOTT, Esq., foreman, merchant
Ralph Abraham, salt proprietor.
William Armstrong, merchant,
. Thomas Barber, gentleman.
Charles Chaloner, merchant.
John Davies, merchant.
William H. Dolier, merchant.
Daniel Fletcher, jun., merchant
George Highfield, shipbroker.
William Hope, merchant.
Thomas B. Horsfall, merchant
Peter Hope, groc
' Thomas Jevons,
• Alfred King, enginee
S: 0. Percival, merchant
Alexander Parlane, merchant,
J. M. Priestman, merchant.
Charles W. Reid, gentleman.
Richard Rathbone, merchant
John Ridgway, merchant.
Thomas Shaw, gentleman.
The royal proclamationkagainst vice, profaner
morality having been read:by the Clerk of the Peace
The RECORDER proceeded to deliver the charg4 to the
Grand Jury. He said, that in the course of Saturday and
yesterday be had read most of the depositions sent in to him,
and, he was happy to inform them, that the cases were of a
description that would not cause them any embarrassment.
They were plain and ordinary cases of felopy. There was
one case, indeed, which would require some consideration,
buteven thathe thought would not give them much difficulty.
It was number 35 in the calendar ; the man was charged
with having received two bank of England notes, of the value
of £lO each, the-property of Robert Knott Carter, knowing
them to have been stolen. The felony upon these notes was
committed by a woman of the town, not, indeed, on these
notes only, but a great many more. The woman who stole
them welt the moment afterwards to the person now pro-
secuted, Richard Johnson, who kept a public-house, and it
seemed by the depositions that the man without making any
inquiry how they had been come by, immediately gave her a
sum of money for them. What the sum stolen was he could
not tell, but if the grand jury should be of opinion that
ordinary caution and prudence had not been exercised by the
prisoner, that lie had lent himself to the woman's views by
taking the notes from her without enquiry, it would be for
them to say that he had been guilty ofree.eiving them know-
ing them to have been stolen. They would bear in mind that
if women of the town who went about robbing
their money, could, b
the value of the notes
acted under the influence of excitement, encouragement to go
into the street for the purpose of robbing. And it' parties were
to be found, wholu'a moment afterviardS acid 'without hesi-
tation received the stolen property, that surely was giving
the greatest and most direct encouragement to the commis-
sion of felonies in the streets. He had no further observations
to make with regard to any particular case in the calendar.
He was very sorry to see that at least one half of the offenders
for trial at these sessions were young persons. Half of them
were under the age of twenty, and many of them even much
younger. No doubt there was great difficulty in training
these offenders after their first appearance in a court of jus-
tice, but he hoped that some means might be devised for
checking crime among this class. They were summarily con-
victed in the first instance, seven days imprisonment was
awarded, then a fortnight, and afterwards a month. Then
the magistrate finding that this had no effect, said to them
" I have shown you all the lenity I can in the hope that you
would amend, but you have not, and now I must send you
for the felony." The consequence was that when they were
convicted, and their cases reported to the Home Depart-
ment, they were sent out of the country. Now it was very
unfortunate that those children could not be reclaimed at an
early period. They had had, however, no education given
to them, consequently they were almost incapable of amend-
ment, and they encumbered the country with a tremendous
expense, for each prosecution cost between £3O and £4O,
and occurred three or four times a-year. This was of
course independent of the expense of their maintenance.
There was also another great evil in this. Half of this class
of criminals were described as not being able to read or write.
But although they were not able to read or write he ought to
tell the grand jury that they had a great deal of knowledge,
but, unfortunately, it was knowledge of the wrong sort: it
was the knowledge of evil instead of good. They were not
deficient in understanding, but it was not an understanding
of the ways of godliness. As a very excellent Mats had
said, they were full of knowledge, but it was the knowledge
of evil, and they had never been taught either religion or
the influence of religion. With these remarks he should
dismiss the grand jury to their labours.

ron merchant.

s, and im-

ping to

A PERSEVERING THIEF

William Jackson, (22,) was indicted for having feloniously
stolen a handkerchief, the property of Matthew Waring.
It appeared that the prosecutor was in the gallery of the
Queen's Theatre, in Christian-street, on the night of the
2d November last. The prisoner was also there, and
whilst the performances were proceeding several persons
missed their pocket handkerchiefs, and amongst them the
prosecutor. It was discovered 'chat the prisoner had committed
the robberies ; nine handkerchiefs were found upon him,
and forthwith the gods unceremoniously ejected him.
He then proceeded to the pit, where he commenced ope-
rations with about the same amount of success, but being
detected he was turned out. The stage was next selected
for. his operations, and from there he was also turned
out; but as he was leaving the place somebody gave
him in charge to a policeman for having stolen the prosecu-
tor's handkerchief. The jury found the prisoner guilty. He
was sentenced to ten years' transportation.

IMPUDENT T

William Piper, (16) was found guilty on an indictment
charging him with having stolen a firkin of butter, the pro-
perty of Mr. Alexander Robb, provision-dealer, of Shaw's-
brew, in October last. The firkin was left outside the shop
door for a few minutes, and the prisoner passing by took it
with him. His defence was that another lad had asked him t',
carry it. It appeared that he had been previously convicted
of felony, and the RECORDER in passing sentence told him
that there was evidently no hope of his amendment in this
place. He must, therefore, be sentenced to ten years'
transportation.

ROBBERY FROM THE RAILWAY STATION

Charles Coward, (19,) and Thomas tiensworth, (20,) were
indicted for having stolen 78 yards of Valentia and 23 yards
of Kerseymere. The goods, which formed the subject of the
indictment, were laid as the property of the Liverpool and
Manchester Railway Company ; of Mr. Robert Turner, ma-

nufacturer, of Huddersfield; aid of Mr. Matthews, forwarding
agent, of this town. From the statement of counsel and the
evidence of witnesses, it appeared that on the Ist of Decem-
ber last, the goods in question were forwarded by Mr. Turner,
by the railway, to Mr. Matthews; for the purpose of being
sent by him to Mr. Scott, at Mr. O'Gorman's, Dublin
Notice was given by the Railway Company to Mr. Matthew:
of the arrival of the goods at the Wapping Station : upon th 4
4th December they were seen there safe, but on the sth
when they were sent for, they were gone. The same nigh
the prisoner Coward left a pack of Valentia, some of which hi
also sold, at the house of Mr. Porter, a beer retailer ; and of
a subsequent day he anclthe other prisoner were there endea
vouring to effect sales. Their acting in concert was conclu
sively established. Mr. Turner identified the Valentia whicl
was found upon them as his property. They were both fount
guilty. They were each sentenced to seven years' transpor
tation.

None of the other cases tried during the day were of th
slightest interest. Most of all of them, indeed, have alread
been noticed in our police reports.

The calendar conta
charges of felony ; 18 for misdemeanours and assaults ; and
1 mint case ; total 103. Considered with regard to education,
it exhibits the usual results, demonstrating that crime is th

trial of

llsprlng of ignorance. There appears among the prisoners
a lamentable absence of the first elements of knowledge, to
say nothing of the want of religious and moral culture. , For
instance, out of the whole number charged with felony there
are only six who are able to read and write well, and of the
six there is but one female. Twenty-one are able to read,
but very imperfectly ; and thirty-three can both read and
write, but in a manner that scarcely deserves the name, whilst
the large proportion of twenty...four, or more than one-fourth
of the whole, are unable to read or to write. But in the
misdemeanours the state of education is still more deplorablt
Out of the eighteen not one can read and write well, o
reads imperfectly, five read and write imperfectly, v

thirteen are quite ignorant of both. The man N _
tried at the instance of the officers of the Mint can neither
read nor write. The oldest prisoner is a female aged 62, and
the youngest a girl aged 13 : the former has no idea of real.
ing or writing, but the latter is able to read imperfectly.

no is to be

SUMMARY.
Able to read imperfectly
Able to read and write imperfectly
Able to read and write well
Unable to read or to write

We can, from experience, highly recommend Mr. Eggle.
tton's Vegetable Paste as a cure for the tooth-ache.—See adr

TOWN COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS

A special meeting of the council washeld at the Town-hall
on Friday last, for the purpose of taking into cousideratior
and determining upqn the appointing of vari

MAYOR (

happy new y

!re were about fifty me

ened the proceedings by wish
[This was followed b

then proceeded to re
the Queen, Prince A

as from th

knd I have t

had the

Lnd a great in

Ls of Normanby

TVhitehall,
onour to lai

busty received by her majesty
" 1 have the honour

Your obedieUt

yor of Liverpool.
A' as from Lord a

commissior

them mar

general cries
of them."

s sent tc

a reply to t

MANDY

to the following effect
8, 1840

Palace

sve this-day -had the honour to

the congratulator

.ough of Liv

safe delivery of a princ

to convey to you,
the expression of his r

1 all who el
11 light.

atiments it

Your most c

before Princ

ded by th

CROSVENO

•
from Colonel Couper in reply to the

laying done myself the honour of submitting to
her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent the congratulatory

address from-the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of the
borough of Liverpool upon the joyful event of the_ birth of the

s Royal of England, I am commanded by her royal
highness to convey to you, and to all those whose sentiments
are embodied in this most gratifying address, the expression
of her royal highness's sincere thanks for it, and for the re-
newed assurance which it contains of loyal and affectionate
attachment to the queen.

" I have the honour to be, sir.
" Your most faithful humble servant,
" G. COUPER, Colonel

" Thomas Bolton, Esq., Mayor of Liverpool

• . .
The MAYOR then stated that a petition had been entrusted
to him, which., with the permission of the council, he would
read. By sending it at the present time, the petitioners had
in view the approaching quarter sessions. He then read it as
follows

`To the Mayor and Town-council of Liverpool

" Gentlemen,—We, the undersigned, residing in Shaw-
street and its vicinity, having unavailingly called the atten-
tion of the Liverpool and Harrington Water Works Company
to our complaints made many months ago, beg to ask your
- arising from the ex-
chimney of their steam-

interference in suppressing the nuisanc
cessive smoke issuing from t

engine, in William Henry-street. The injury our property
sustains is very considerable, and it is quite impossible to
leave a window open in our houses when the wind is from the
westward, without having our furniture covered with flake
of soot, and to such an extent as to be incredible if not wit
nessed.
duly vale

Your interferen,
aed by

on our behalf

[Signed by sixty of ti

herefore, be

,edient servant

inhabitants of :.',:liaw-street and the

The doc-ur
clerk. '

t was ord

red to 1

ft with the deputy town-

IAYOR then informed the council that their first duty
three commissioners, under the local act
x. an act of 3d William IV.
and otherwise itn-

would be to app
of 1 Victoria, cap.' 33, for
for paving, lighting, wat

proCing the townsgp or chaielr

The corn
gar, and Mr
and Mr. Morecroft were in the pr
Segar

be police thereof
Platt, Mr

not in it, three n

be appointed.
Mr. PLATT moved th
Wood and the re-

and for re.
rs last year
. Mr. Platt

commis

rs would have to

ipointment of Mr

John Net,

Mr. J. SMITI

Morecr

objections to acting, and would pre-

fer seeing another member appointed in his-place.
Mr. PLATT then moved the appointment of Mr. Barton.
The MAYou said Mr. Barton was not present, and asked
whether it was the pleasure of the council that Mr. Wood be
appointed. (Yes, yes.)

Mr. WOOD then consented to serve.
Mr. PLATT moved the appointment of Mr. Isaac Holmes

Mr. COOPER seconded the pr

MAYOR. put the C

position

)n, and it was carried unani-