The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-03-23 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

ROBBERY BY A LUNITIC.—On Wednesday, Ann Moss
was brought up, charged with stealing a pig's cheek and
some eggs from St. Martin's Market. One of the market-
lookers witnessed the theft. On arresting her he found
a turkey, which had been stolen from a stand, in St. John's
Market, occupied by Mrs. Bean, who had, however, re-
fused to appear to prosecute. The prisoner's husband
handed in a certificate from Mr. Ellis, medical parochial
officer, to the effect that she was insane ; and Mr. Rush-
ton intimated that sbe should be taken care of.
EXTENSIVE SMUGGLING OF CIGARS.—On Wednesday,
two Spanish sailors were brought up on a charge of smug-
gling. They were second mate and cook of the Oscar,
from Matanzas, Isle of Cuba, which arrived in port on
Tuesday. On being rummaged by the excise-officer, 55
boxes of cigars were found concealed in the cabin. The
second mate, it was alleged, had acknowledged 41 of them
to be his property, and the cook seven. They could not
talk English, and when the officer was questioned as to
the nature of the acknowledgment, he said, they laid their
hands upon their breasts, and uttered something like
" mine." This Mr. Rushton deemed insufficient, and
ordered their discharge.

UNWHOLESOME FISH AND MEAT.—On Thursday
John Wheaton, fishmonger, appeared before Sir Joshua
Walmsley, having been summoned on information from
Andrew Tyrrell, inspector of fish, for having exposed for
sale, in St. John's Market. 101bs. of haddocks unfit for
human food : fined 14s. 6d. On Saturday Thomas Jones
appeared before the same magistrate, having been sum
moned by George Read, inspector of meat, for having ex-
posed for sale, in St. John's Market, 101bs. of mutton
unfit for numan food : fined ss. and costs. 'On the same
day Owen Jones, on information from the same officer,
was fined 10s. andi costs, for having exposed for sale, in
St. John's Market, 2571b5. of pork unfit for human food.

ILLICIT DISTILLATION.—On Saturday an old offender,
of the name of Mary Delany, who had come out of the
Borough Gaol that day week on a similar charge, was
brought up for having been found working an illicit still,
at the.top of Scotland-road. Mr. John Walker, supervi-
sor of Excise, stated, that, between the hours of ten and
eleven o'clock on the morning of that day, (Saturday,) lie
went into a cellar in one of the streets off the top of Scot-
land-road and found the prisoner attending a still at full
work, running off low wines. All the apparatus were
there, and all the materials for distillation, and there was
no one else in the place beside herself. Sir J. Walmsley
said he had no discretion in the matter, and that she must
either pay a fine of £35 or be imprisoned three months.
POCKET,PICKING OF A SERMON.—On Tuesday, John
Macdonald, Joseph Brown, and James Brown, were
brought before Mr. Rushton, charged with picking the
pocket of the Rev. Wm. Jones, of Crickhowel, in Breck-
nockshire, who was sojourning a few days in Liverpool.
Mr. Jones, it appears, was on the previous evening, among
a crowd who had been attracted to a fire in Whitechapel.
Constables Toole and Grisenthwaite, of the detective force,
observed the prisoners jostling him, and watched their
proceedings. They heard Macdonald say to Joseph Brown,
Have you got it ?" He said, " No, his big over was
buttoned up." Soon afterwards they went away. Gri-
sentwaite arrested Brown, and Toole arrested Macdonald.
James Browne made his escape, but was afterwards taken
at a public house in Gloucester-street. On Macdonald
was found a inemo:aandum book, (containing the heads of
•a sermon in Welsh,) which Mr. Jones had lost. They
were sent for trial at the present sessions.
CONCEALING BIRTII.—On Tuesday evening, a middle-
aged woman named Margery Green, who resides in Cir-
cus-street, was brought before Mr. Rushton, on a charge
of concealing the birth of a child. On Saturday morning,
the body of a new-born infant was found wrapped up in
an old dress, in an entry near Ben Johson-street. The
prisoner, who was a charwoman, had been several times
taxed with being in the family way, which she always de-
nied. The evidence which was called went to prove that
on Tuesday week, when she had been shut up in this cellar,
she must have delivered herself of an infant ; but a woman
who slept with her on Monday night, and knew her to be
ill, either was, or affected to be, entirely ignorant of the
cause. From the surgeon's evidence, it appeared that the
child had been born alive, but it probably expired imme-
diately afterwards. On Friday night she crime out of her
bed-room with a bundle; when two of her neighbours,
suspecting her motives, watched her proceedings, and saw
her make a circuit of the neighbourhood where the child
was found. She came home in an hour, but the bundle
had been disposed of. The old dress in which the infant
was wrapped was traced to be the property of the prisoner,
who was committed for trial on the charge of concealment.
EMBEZZLEMENT AT THE NEW GAS AND COKE OFFICE.
—On Friday, Edwin Cox, who has been acting as clerk
in the service of the New Gas and Coke Company for the
last twelve years, was brought before Sir J. Walmsley, at
the Police-court, on a charge of having embezzled various
sums of money. Mr. Dowling conducted the case on the
part of the prosecution ; the prisoner was defended by Mr.
Davenport. It appeared from the evidence that it was
part of his duty every week to pay certain labourers and
others connected with the works of the company, and that
a list, containing the names of the parties, the time they
had worked, and the amount owing to them, was regularly
handed him. Upon this last being shown to the cashier,
a certain sum, not the exact sum, but one approximating
to it, was handed him for the purpose of paying the wages.
It recently transpired that he had in various cases altered
the items in the list, representing men to be in the em-
ployment a longer time than was absolutely the case. He
had, in other ways, succeeded in defrauding the company
systematically, and, it was supposed, for some considerable
length of time. A number of witnesses were examined to
prove the case, which was principally confined to the in-
sertions of payments made in the last month. In one
case it appeared, that where a man was marked '" sick,"
the prisoner blotched the word over with ink, and that,
in another, he had erased it with a knife. He was com-
mitted for trial.

A REIVAR.D FOR TIIIEVERY.—On Saturday an Irish
lumper, of the name of Thomas Maguire, was brought up
under the following singular circumstances :—lt appeared
that he had been employed with a number of others to
discharge a quantity of rum from a vessel called the Ro-
ver. After they had been engaged in the hold for some
days, it was discovered by Mr. Shaw, the shipping-clerk,
that two of the puncheons had been broached, and that
somebody had been drinking pretty freely of the contents.
When the porters came to be paid their wages, Mr. Shaw
offered a reward of ten shillings to any one who would tell
him, in confidence, who the thief was. The prisoner as
soon as the backs of all his comrades were turned, ap-
proached Mr. Shaw, and, in a subdued tone of voice,
whispered with great gravity of countenance, " If you
Five me the 10s. you shall know the thief." Mr. Shaw
immediately began to count out 10s. ; but, before giving
it, and in order to make " assurance doubly sure," he
asked, in another whisper, " You're certain, of course,
that you know the right man ? " "Oh ! begor, I am
as certain of it," was the reply, " as I am of my own
existence; I know him better than I know my brother!"
Mr. Shaw was satisfied ; and in less than a minute the
half-crowns were jingling in Maguire's pocket. Mr.
Shaw then listened for the grand revelation, and Maguire
speedily satisfied and astounded him, by exclaiming,
"You see the thief afore you. I am the man. Me own
four bones broached the casks and drank the rum ; and
faix, betune you and me and the wall, blow the betther
gallon of it I had for •the last twelve months ! It's not
my saying alone ; all the neighbours in the sthrect will
tell you the same thing, for they all had a nip." Mr. Shaw
called a policeman and the fellow was given in charge; and
on being brought to bridwell, the turnkey booked him as
being drunk. Sir Joslina Walmsley said he had never heard
of a more barefaced act in his life, and ordered him to pay
a fine of five shillings and costs. The fellow was about to
pay the nine shillings and sixpence out of the ten shillings
he had received from Mr. Shaw, when the latter claimed
the money as his property, Sir Joshua said that he had
no power to order it to be refunded ; and Maguire having
paid the fine out of the reward, he was discharged.

CORRESPONDENCE.

ST. MARY'S CEMETERY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SlR,—Will you allow me, through the medium of your
widely-circulated paper, to draw attention to a dan-
gerous nuisance that has been too long tolerated. The
nuisance I have to complain of is, St. Mary's Cemetery,
(or what is mostly termed the " Parish Burial-ground,")
for it is a nuisance of an alarming character, and forms
an important ingredient in the unhealthy state of our
Town. Those persons residing in the immediate vicinity
are subjected to a horrible stench at times, one beyond
description, which arises from opening fresh graves
amongst the old interments; and yet within a few yards
of this Cemetery, reside some of our most eminent men,
indeed, the very elite of our Liverpool aristocracy, whose
apathy will, I am afraid, permit this evil to continue until
death has shown the necessity of self-preservation. '
Why does the Select Vestry defer closing the Cemetery
and purchasing ground for a new one ? Does it arise from
a principle of cheese-paring economy, or a shrinking from
the expense ? Whatever be the cause the evil day is fast
arriving, which will prdve, with fearful effect, that " delays
are dangerous," and narrow-minded men are not the
the wisest.
If a person complains of an evil he should point out a
remedy ; and I think it requires no great ,„(7enius to do so.
Let an extensive lot.of Land be purchased, and divided,
one portion for free interments, and the other for those
who can afford to pay. Let it be laid out on a correct
principle, and the ground purchased will eventually pay
fir that required for pauper interments. Probably a well-
conducted Cemetery, upon an extensive scale, might be
made a source of profit to the Rate-payers.
Moreover, the inhabitants would be anticipating a pro-
vision which the Legislature will shortly compel to be
made, and if they do not, depend upon it, some Joint
Stock Company will be formed to take advantage of the
opportunity.
In conclusion, I will add, for the purpose of preventing
any surmising as to the motive that actuates me on this
occasion, that the evil I complain of is rather a source of
profit than otherwise to me, for many of the parties at-
tending funerals at St. Mary's Cemetery, find a trifle to
spend with me, so that closing it would be a pecuniary
loss to myself, but it will confer a benefit on the public ;
and I am one of those who think individual loss should
not dictate opposition to public improvement.
If, Sir, you will oblige one of your subscribers with the
insertion of this letter, you will at least give him the op-
portunity of trying to arouse the slembering apathy of
his neighbours, and perhaps their energetic action may
prove self-preservation is yet a prominent feature in the
human character.
I am, Sir, yours respectfully,
A PUBLICAN IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD.
Mulberry Street, March, 22, 1847.

PROPOSED HARBOUR OF REFUGE AT
HOLYHEAD.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SlR,—Having had an opportunity of examining the
plan of a proposed harbour of refuge at Holyhead, pre-
sented with your paper, I beg leave to trouble you with
a few observations, relative to the selection of such an ex-
posed site for purposes fraught with so much importance
to the public.
In the first place, by reference to the chart of St.
George's Channel, I find the site of the harbour would be
quite exposed from W.N.W. to N. by E., with a roll of
sea from 50 to 90 miles, and a gale of wind from N.E.
would range direct into the harbour. Then the nature of
the bottom, which is nearly all rock, would render it
hazardous in the extreme for a vessel to run for shelter in
a gale of wind. I know by experience, if anchorage with'
rocky bottom such as this proposed harbou has is ever
so well sheltered, before sail could be taken off a vessel
she would be on shore, either on the rocks bounding
the harbour, or else on the breakwater, because no an-
chor could possibly have time to take hold of such bottom
with the pressure of a gale of wind acting on her mast
and rigging, not to say a word about the canvass she had
set to bring her in. For my own part, I would prefer
taking my chance in beating about in the channel, than
run for such dangerous anchorage. I can compare it to
nothing but a person attempting to run from comparative
safety into the very chaos of destruction.
I think it certainly behoves the underwriters one and
all to protest against the Government constructing a har-
bour of refuge in such an exposed situation, as ultimately
(if the plan is carried out) they will be amongst the prin-
cipal sufferers.
A COMMANDER OF A STEAM SHIP.
Liverpool, March 12th, 1847.

SCRAPS FROM THE MERCURY.

THE EDITOR OP THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SIRS I have just received the Index to the Liverpool
Mercury for the year 1846, and it has afforded me much
amusement. The egotism is perfect and inimitable. I
could have culled many samples to show that little minds
like little things, but must content myself with a few. In
one line I find " Museum' of the Mercury," and under
this title I will give the following items, taken from
various parts of the Index, as worthy of being placed
in it :

" Retrospective View of Adam and Eve,"
"Nest of ants in a gooseberry,"
" How to destroy bugs,"
" Long carrots,"
" Cat baked in an oven," and
" The number of stitches in a shirt."
Yours, &c., GEORGIUS.