The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-05-19 00:00:00

A BAD CHARACTER.

A rough-looking young fellow, named George Howell, was
placed at the bar for having been found stealthily ascending
the stairs in the dwelling-house of a lady who gave her name
Mrs. Farrer. The complainant stated that she observed the
prisoner going up stairs, and called out to him, whereupon
he turned round and knocked her down, and made his way
out of the house; she called assistance, and the prisoner was
followed and captured. The officer who took the prisoner
into custody said, in apprehending him he (the prisoner) be-
haved in a most violent manner, and drew a clasp-knife upon
him. Mr. Parkinson, the bridewell keeper, stated that the
prisoner was a most desperate character, and bad been ten
times committed and six charged; he was a most dange ous
man, for when any opposition was offered him he invariably
used knife or some other deadly weapon. The prisoner
was sent for three months to Ki kdale.
SATUKDAY.
A DISHONEST DELL-HANGER.

Mr. Walthew, a gentleman who resides in the country,
charged a mechanic with the following improper behaviour.
The prisoner was sent to Mr. Walthew's house by an iron-
monger, and his duty was to put the bells in order. While
there, Mr. Walthew directed him to repair a lock. When
he had departed, Mr. Walthew found that some one had been
at his cupboard, and that some of his wine was missing.
Next day the prisoner returned to the house, and, after he
had finished his job, he gave the girl a key, which he told her
would open Mr. Walthew's closet, so that she might go to it
whenever she liked. The girl refused the offer, and asked
the prisoner what he had taken. He replied, " A bottle of
porter." She did not tell her master of this, but as he missed
some other articles from the closet, he went to her, and
threatened to turn her away, if she did not inform him how
he had been robbed. She then told him what she had de-
tailed to the magistrates. He had used his utmost endea-
vours to induce her to come forward as a' witness, but he
could not persuade her, as she said she, should not like to
hurt the man. The prisoner first asked whether the servant
were still living with Mr. Walthew; but, receiving no an-
swer, he was proceeding to tell that he had procured the key
in Mr. Walthew's house, and what had passed i:etween hint
and the servant, when he was stopped by i he magistrate, who
ordered him to he remanded.

CAUTION TO CIGAR SMOKER.:

Several persons, dressed as sailors, have lately been in cus-
tody for defrauding smokers in the manner:which will be elu-
cidated in the following case. A young, handsome man,
named Richard Maione, was placed at the bar on Saturday.
A youthful excise-officer stated, that he was passing along
Dale-street,
on Friday evening, when the prisoner stopped
him and whispered in a low tone " Can you keep a secret ? "
" I can," was the reply. " Then," said the pretended
sailor, " 1 have been regularly in the trade-between New Or-
leans and Havana, and I have brought to England some prime
cigars, which, as they are smuggled, I can sell cheap." The
exciseman professed his willingness to become a purchaser.
The prisoner said he had four boxes which the other might
have for three pounds. lie also showed a shawl which he
had hidden within his breast, which he said was of foreign
manafacture. The exciseman introduced the prisoner to a
brother-officer and they purchased one box. In rop.ly to
their frequent and pretendedly anxious inquiries, the prisoner
protested that the cigars were " real genuine Havana, and no
mistake." " And are they so ?" asked Mr. Harvey. " No,"
replied the officers in a breath, " they are not foreign at all."
Such being the case, the magistrates had no power of pro-
ceeding but by information. The excise-officei:s seized tool-
boxes. The case, with one or two others of a similar nature,
was directed to be put into the hands of Lieut. Walker, of
the customs. The prisoners, in these cases, denied that they
had been guilty of any offence, as they had bought the cigars
honestly, and paid for them, and also had. permits with them .
They are, however, liable to penalties for hawking, and to
very heavy fines for offering British ::-oods as foi eign, anti for
offering any goods as smuggled. The prisoners were dis-
charged, in order that they may be regularly proceeded
against.

WITCHCRA.rT.-At the petty sessions held at Devynnock,
n 'fuesde
an application was made to the magistrates for
a warrant
against a person for threatening
to burn the com-
plainant man 74 years of age), for bewitching a mare of
o
the defendant's, and that his (complainant's) wife frequently
appeared in the form of a hare !—Silurian..
A MILHOMETER.—In the Italian states a small instru-
ment is used in the dairies, something like that in use by
brewers to ascertain the saccharine quality of their wort, by
which they discover if any water has been mixed with the
milk. What an useful instrument would this be in our little
island ?

PROTESTANT CHALLENGE —The Rev. T. Billington,
Roman Catholic Priest at Y(.rk, having put f firth some ob-
servations on the late visit of tee Rev. air. 111*Gliee to that
city, together with contradictory rema ks on his statements
before the Protestant Association, the latter gentleman, in a
letter which appears in the York Gazette, challenges tht for-
mer to a disputation in the following extract :—" Now, if
you be an honest man, and think I hare made a false state-
ment in York, 1 hereby invite you to meat me on the platform
in the Festival Concert Room, in this city. You shall have
the tickets of admission—say 500—for Roman Catholics;
let the Protestant Association have 500 more, and let the
assembly be distinctly separated, so that it trill be easy to
pass from one side to another if it is necessary to ascertain
the votes of the meeting on any question." :Mr. M'Ghee
further says, " I demand that you produce your ritual, and
whatever system of moral theology you will pretend to set
forward as the guide of yourself and your fraternity in the
confessional. 1 will produce whatever books I please, and
especially those which I have purchased at York, and wlfiell
I see you put into the hands of the Roman Catholic femeies
of that city, and which are the same wherever priests are to
be found. And, then, sir, I will put to a meeting of 1000
men, or any other number assembled in the Concert-room,
this resolution :--` That on comparing the ritual of the priests,
and the code of moral theology, produced by Mr. Billiaeton,
according to which priests are to direct the tribunal of con-
fession, with the books produced by Mr. M'Ghee, and those
sold in the shops for the use of females, in York. it is the
opinion of this meeting that the system by which the Roinish
priests examine their female penitents in the confessional is
cruel, tyrannical, immoral—not only totalty unauthorised by
the word of God, but in plain opposition to it ; that it is suck
a system as no father, husband, or brother ought to submit
to for his daughter, wife, or sister; that the bulls of the Pepe,
and the secret statutes of Popish bishops, prove that thvv
know how their priests abuse their power to licentiousneiis
and vice, while they impose this as a holy tribunal oil the
people; and that the Roman Catholics in this meeting deter-
mine to teach their wives and daughters in future to coufees
their sins to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great high.
priest, the hope_ and refuge of our souls, and that they will
at allow the tem eke of their tie; a POVZaII
riot again.