The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-09-23 00:00:00

YESTERDAY.

ANOTHER DIS-DIGNIFIED POLICE-OFFICER. - Our
police-officers, 'of late, stand upon their dignity to such
an immense extent, as to make the matter a burlesque
and an absurdity, which, if countenanced,—as one or two
decisions lately given would warrant,— will ultimately lead
to the public time being wasted in listening to the fancied
grievances of every unqualified and uneducated and non-
instructed police-officer. It was only the other day that a
police-officer charged a drunken man with having wounded
his (the aforesaid policeman's) lionour, by having alleged
that he (the drunken man) paid for his clothes. This,
no doubt, was the fact; but then the utterer of the libel
was in that state of inebriation which all virtuous men
eschew. But did this—had the case been looked
into—alter the complexion of it'? "The man was drunk
and liable to a fine; but would the immaculate officer
have brought the charge had his dignity of office not
been offended ? Certainly not. And yet Mr. Mansfield
inflicted a fine. Had he had the .experience of our
late revered stipendiary, he would have dismissed the case
by telling the officer to look out for something better to
do than to take charge of such paltry and frivolous affairs.
See, now, the evil force of a bad example. Yesterday,
police-officer 295, (M'Ardle,) presuming, no doubt, upon
the judgment given in the case alluded to, preferred
a complaint against a married woman for having
been drunk and creating a disturbance on the pre-
vious night. The charge of drunkenness, by the officer's
own showing, was not very clearly established ; and,
in answer to Mr. Mansfield, he (the officer) said
that the disorderly part of the business consisted
in the prisoner's saying that her father paid for his (the
officer's) clothes. The prisoner, in defence, said the
officer had both pushed and struck her ; and that a young
woman, who was standing by, had told the officer that
she did not deserve this. She (the prisoner) being
unable to call this person [and how could she ?] was fined
and costs for being drunk. (The above is a correctly

Sorted case. If Mr. Mansfield listens to the state--
ment of every police-officer, who supposes that " his
dignity bath been offended," he may have little else to do,
and dignified justice to the public may be forgotten in the
experiment. No policeman, officially worth a fig, would
have preferred such cases as those to which we have alluded.
A VEGETARIAN.—A respectable-looking man was
charged with having broken through a fencing to a field in
the Park, and stolen a cabbage. The prisoner said he
took the cabbage because he had a rabbit. Mr. Mans-
field : " Well, but I don't see that because you keep a
rabbit, you have a right to break through a man's fence
and steal his cabbage ?" (Laughter.) Prisoner :" I can
assure your

_ worship I am no vegetarian ; I have not
ten a cabbage these seven years." (Laughter.) Ma-
gistrate : "No ; but you stole it for your rabbit ?" Pri-
soner: "No ; I had no reason to steal a cabbage—l don't
eat 'um." (Laughter.) Mr. Mansfield : "Well, I think
for the future you had better expend a halfpenny in the
purchase of one rather than steal it. You are discharged."
The prisoner left the bar amidst the laughter of the by-
-standers. •

MISADVENTURES OF A CALIFORNIAN SPECULATOR.
Mary Ryan and Jane Ingram were charged with having
stolen £226 from the person of E. D. Moore, at the latter
end of last month. Sergeant Carnes, of the detective
force, into whose hands the conducting of the case had
been entrusted, stated that in consequence of information
he had received, he went over to Dublin, in search of the
prisoners. On arriving there he found that the prisoners
had changed three £1 notes, which he traced to various
parties. The prisoner Ryan was the keeper of the house
where the prosecutor was robbed, and she (Ryan) alleged
that the money had been taken by another female. The
prisoner Ingram was in Ryan's company when he found
Ryan in Dublin, and he (Carnes) was prepared with evi-
dence to show that they had been acting in concert in
passing off the stolen property. The prisoners were
remanded for seven days.
A DRESSED-UP CASE.—A well-dressed man and a re-
spectable-looking female, who was described as his wife,
and whose names were stated to be Thomas and Alice
Bean, were brought before the magistrate for the follow-
ing foolish freak. Police-officer 667 stated that on the
previous night, between twelve and one o'clock, he was
on duty in Tithebarn-street, when he heard the screams of
a female. He rroceeded to the place, and found one
woman "drunk beyond anything," and another nearly
as bad, deploring over her, declaring, as distinctly as a
drunken woman could declare, that her prostrate com-
panion had been knocked down and robbed. Upon putting
some interrogations, the male prisoner emerged from a
recess, " dark as midnight," and, with an authoritative air,
declared to be (the veritable male prisoner) was a police-
officer. He (the bona fide guardian of the peace) disputed
his title to the honour ; and whilst doing so the female
prisoner, attired in male apparel, rushed forth, exclaiming,
in a husky voice, " Hold off ! unhand him ! he is an offi-
cer !" In consequence of an old woman in the neigh
bourhood having expressed her doubts as to the sex of one
of the prisoners, he (officer) took them both into custodi ;
and, on a delicate examination by a matron, the suspicion
of the old lady being verified, the two defendants were
locked up. Mr. Mansfield : " What sort of clothes were
these ?" The officer here untied a huge bundle, and dis-
played the habiliments in which the lady prisoner had
been attired. They were somewhat of the Bloomer school;
a pair of unmentionables, though not gathered with lace at
the ankle, a silk vest and skirted coat. The production of
these novelties produced loud laughter, in which the bench
and the prisoners joined.—Mr. Mansfield : " Were they
drunk ?"—Officer: "No, sir."—The male prisoner on
being asked what he had to say, replied that his compa-
nion in adversity and himself had been over in Cheshire,
and, for a little fun, she had assumed the male attire. On
coming home about half-past 12 o'clock they heard a person
call out, as deposed to by the officer ; And on going up,
were netted, as had been deposed to.—Mr. Mansfield :
" Who is this woman (the female prisoner) ?" Male
prisoner :"Itis my wife." (Laughter.)—Mr. Mans-
field : "Do you reside in Liverpool ?" Prisoner : " No,
sir ; we are on a visit from Manchester."—Mr. Mans-
field : " There are some articles of dress which I would
advise your wife not to wear. (Laughter.) You are
discharged." The gallant prisoner, with his platonic
wife, left the court, amidst much laughter.