The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-10-05 00:00:00

POLICE I NTELLIGENCE.

RUNAWAY APPRENTICES.—On Friday 'two lads named
Mitchell and Hemingway, were brought up before Mr.
Rushton, charged with having absconded from their mas-
ter's shop, at Halifax, and robbing him of about £3O.
They were ordered to be given into the custody of the
Halifax constable, who was in attendance.
COMMITMENT.—On Friday a young man of the name
of Thomas Knight, who had acted as a money collector
at the office of the Weekly News, was committed for trial
on a charge of having embezzled certain small sums of
money which he had received for the insertion of adver-
tisements in that paper.
GIVING, A FELONY.—On Tuesday, a prostitute, named
Ann Owens, was charged, by Wm. Stewart, a seaman, for
robbing him of £8 10s. 6d. His clothes had been carried
away from him upstairs whilst he was asleep, and his only
charge against the prisoner was, that she brought them to
him again with the money safely in the pockets. She
was, of course, instantly discharged.
A NEW DODGE IN THE SMUGGLING LINE.—On Friday
a man of the name of Brown, was brought before Mr.
Rushton, on a charge of having been found in possession
of a quantity of foreign manufactured tobacco. It ap-
peared that the prisoner was carrying a large case, in
which were half a dozen clocks, and that between the dial
plates and hacks of the clocks, about 16th of tobacco were
found concealed. The prisoner made out a good defence.
and was discharged.
SEEING LIFE.—An engine-fitter was, last week, brought
before Mr. Rushton on a charge of deserting his wife,
whereby she had become chargeable to the parish. It
appeared he frequently went off and left her in a state of
destitution. The willowed wife said the only reason he
alleged was, that, as they had no children, he considered
himself single, and wished to see life. " Very well,"
said Mr. Rushton, he shall see it in a new phase. Go
to gaol for a month !"
A CAUTION AND COMPLIMENT TO CARMEN.—On Sa-
turday, George Disley. a car-driver, was fined 10s. and
costs, for an overcharge of twopence. He had driven Mr.
W. F. Daveney from the stand, in London-road, to No.
4, York-place. The sum to which he was entitled was
ls. 4d. : he had demanded eighteenpence. Mr. Daveney
not having change, gave him 25., and the driver told him
he would give him the sixpence whenever he might pass.
On his applying, however, the defendant only laughed at
him.—Shortly after this case had been disposed of, Peter
Jenkinson, another car-driver, was fined 40s. and costs,
for abusing a police-officer, and attempting to create a
disturbance. Mr. Rushton, in inflicting the fine, took
occasion to pay an unflattering compliment to the class to
which the defendant belonged. He said. " You are the
worst fellows in Liverpool, except the thieves."

•
ERRONEOUS CHARGE OF EMBEZZLEMENT AGAINST
MR. THOMAS RAMSEY.—In our report of the business
of the police-court a fortnight back, we were the uncon-
scious instruments of injustice to Mr. Thomas Ramsey, of
Glasgow, and a sense of the injury we have been the
means of inflicting on that gentleman, demands from us
an explanation. Mr. Ramsey was placed at the bar on a
charge of embezzlement preferred by a party in this town,
and on that charge was sent to Glasgow, where it was in-
vestigated. His liberation followed, and there was nothing
it seems, to warrant the imputation. The affair at issue
between Mr. Ramsey and his prosecutor was simply a
matter of debt, which amounted to, the trifling sum of
£3B. Mr. Ramsey is unknown to us, and of course
we had not the slightest motive, of an unworthy kind, in
giving currency to what has since proved to be a most er-
roneous, and as it appears, a most vindictive accusation.
Such of our contemporaries as copied our statement, owe
this explanation to an injured man.—Chronicle.
THE SMOKE NUISANCE.—On Tuesday last a number
of parties using land and marine engines were summoned
at the Police-court, charged with permitting smoke to
issue from their chimneys, to the injury of the inhabit-
ants. Amongst the steam-boats were, the Queen of
Beauty, the Commodore, the Steam-Tug Company, the
Windsor, and the Seacombe boats. The informations
were laid by Mr. Superintendent Quick, under the smoke
prevention act. The first case, that of Mr. Thomas Bar-
ton, Bevington-bush, after being heard, was adjudged
against him, with £5 fine and costs. On Messrs. Mars-
den, of Duke-street, a fine of £5 and costs was also in-
flicted ; but in both cases in which the fine was imposed
the parties were informed that they might appeal to the
Quarter Sessions if they chose. None of the steamers
were fined. The information against the Commodore and
the Steam-Tug Company failed through an informality,
and, we presume, will not be renewed for the same offence.
The case of the Windsor was postponed, as was also that
of the Queen of Beauty. On Thursday, Mr. H. Hall.
the engineer of the Windsor, attended the court, and
denied that a dense smoke issued from the chimney of
the vessel at the time specified in the information ; he
further asserted that it was impossible, under any circum-
stances, for such smoke to be generated. Mr. Rushton
considered that the case had been proved by the officers,
ai'fined defendant £5 and costs. In the case of the
Queen of Beauty, from the fact of the management being
of the most excellent character, he should inflict only a
nominal fine, viz., 10s. and costs, accompanied by a cau-
tion to the engine-man.
SINGULAR CASE.—PUTTING A CAPTAIN IN IRONS.—
On Friday, Captain Kennedy, of the Gauntlet, was sum-
moned before Mr. Rushton, to show cause why he re-
fused to pay wages to Wm. Alcock, his chief mate, and
others of his crew. The statement of Alcock was to the
effect that the Gauntlet sailed from Liverpool for Acajutla,
in the course of last year, and that a lady and her servant
went out as passengers. The captain was almost continu-
ally drunk during the voyage, and was at last put in irons,
at his own request, with a view to 'the safety of his own
life, and the lives of the passengers and sailors, and also
with a view to the safety of the ship. The captain had
threatened to destroy the ship, by blowing her up with
gunpowder ; he had appeared upon deck with a case of
loaded pistols in his belt ; he had threatened to shoot day-
light through Alcock, and to fetch a sailor, of the name of
Chambers, down from the yard-arm like a crow, with one
of the pistols, and he had also said, many a time, that he
would make the Gauntlet ten degrees worse than the Tory,
Captain Johnson, had ever been. When the vessel
reached her destination, however, an investigation took
place before the English consul ; the Captain was liberated
from the irons in which he had been confined for five or
six days, and the mate and other hands belonging to the
vessel were sent home as prisoners, upon a charge of mu-
tiny. During the second mates examination, Mr. Rush-
ton stopped the case on account of the abundant discrep-
ancies in the evidence. Alcock had falsified the log,
and written new and false entries a month after the time
that the alleged occurrences were said to have transpired.
Mr. Davenport observed that Alcock and the carpenter
were claiming to the amount of £3B. Mr. Rushton said
he would not give them a farthing. The case was, there-
fore, dismissed.