The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-16 00:00:00

BRISTOL POLICE.

At the Council House, Bristol, on Wednesday, Mr.
Gregory, solicitor, appeared before the bench to prefer a
charge of assault against Police-constables 215 and 60. He
said, he had a most painful duty to perform, which was that
of appearing before them to prefer a charge against the two
policemen for a brutal assault upon his wife. The facts were
as follows :—On Wednesday his wife went into High-street
market to purchase a little fruit for one of the members of
her family, who was indisposed. She agreed for fourpenny-
worth of fruit, took her purse out of her pocket, and having
selected a sixpence, asked change. On looking at the six-
pence, Mrs. Gregory saw it was a darkish colour, and said,
" Dear me, this looks odd ; I will give you another," and
immediately took another one out of her purse, when she
found that the whole of the silver was of the same colour.
The moment this occurred, Police-constable 215 came up,
seized her by the arm, and snatched the purse with the
money out of her hand, saying, " You must come with me,
I take you on suspicion of attempting to pass counterfeit
coin." She was very much alarmed, and said, " Take me
to my husband, Mr. Gregory, the attorney." Now, bis
office was very little more than 100 yards from the spot
where this transaction took place; and the policeman might
have taken her there, but he replied, " Oh, no : you shall
go with me; you have plenty more about you." He then
took her through the market in High-street, passing by the
shop of Mr. Chinn, the butcher, with whom they were in the
habit of dealing. She said, " This is my butcher's ; let me
call in here, and they will confirm what I tell you." He took
her in there, but Mr. C. was not at home. His daughter
said, " Why, you have got Mrs. Gregory in custody," and
immediately sent to his (Mr. G.'s) office; but he and his son
having to attend a public meeting, were not to be found, and
they remained in ignorance of the circumstance for some
time. Several persons passed at the time she was in the shop,
who knew her, and informed the police who she was, but he
would not be satisfied with the representations of any one.
In the meantime police-constable 60 came up, and notwith-
standing every remonstrance of his wife and several other
persons, who knew Mrs. Gregory, the police dragged her
from the shop, through High-street, towards the station-
house; she was then almost fainting, and had not Mr. D.
Vickery very opportunely come to her assistance and sup-
ported her, she must have fallen to the ground. When she
reached the station-house, Mr. Bell, the inspector, insisted
upon knowing her name, when a person named Plummer
then said, "This is Mrs. Gregory, wife of Mr. Gregory, the
solicitor." Mr. Bell said, "That will not do ; I must dis-
charge my duty ; tell me your name, I must put it down in
the printed charge-sheet." Mr. Plummer then said, " Mrs.
Gregory, have you not had some quicksilver in your pocket ?"
and she immediately recollected that on the previous evening
she had put a small thermometer into her pocket for safety,
as they were removing from Itedland, and that probably some
s
of the mercury had escaped, and communicated with her
purse and silver; on that being known, and his eldest son
coming into tne station-house at the moment, Mrs. Gregory
was discharged.
After hearing evidence of the above facts, the magistrates
expressed their regret that Mrs. Gregory should havebeen
placed in so unpleasant a situation, but stated that in conse-
quence of the extensive circulation of bad money which had
recently been complained of, the Police had received orders
to keep a sharp look-out. Thinking, therefore, unfortunate
as the circumstances were, that the police had not exceeded
their duty, they dismissed the case.

A GOOD SIGN.—The doors of the prison in Moor-street.
were thrown open on the morning of Saturday se'nnight,
owing to there not being a single person in custody, Several
individuals availed themselves of the opportunity to inspect
the cells and other internal arrangements of the establish-
ment.—Aris's Birmingham Gazette.

UNION HALL, MONDAY.—Elizabeth Bailey and Benjamin
Lovell, both well dressed, were charged with stealing from
the person of Mr. Marquis, of Accrington, at Preston Guild,
the sum of 1:::,000, ou Sunday the sth instant. The only
evidence against them at presentwas some suspicious circum.
stances deposed to by Thomas Stowell, the informer; but,
as the police declared they had other traces, the magistrate,
Mr. Traill, remanded them.