The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-02-13 00:00:00

;:n 1.-14t1fni se; ,
—own—
lima:waft Ditaeorztesta.ae•At Um-street, yes.
torday, Mr. Birnie. the sitting Magistrate, was occa-'
. pied nearly tho whole of tbsiday in the itvestigatio■ of
a most eatensive system of robbery which had been
practised for a length of time with surprising success.
Jaw. Pitcher, a respectable looking young man,
was put to the bar charged with stealing silks, cottons,
and other goods, to the amount of several hundred
pounds. the property of Mr. Maltby, a draper in High
Holhorn, in whose employment be was. Johst Pitcher,
his brother, was also brought up charged with felo-
aionsly receiving.part of the said goods, knowing them
to have been stolen.
It appeared, by the evidence of several witnesses,
that the prisoner Jaw* Pitcher entered the service of
Mr. Maltby about two years ago, and quitted it on
the 13th of January last. Soon after that time a
gentleman residing at Reading, n•ho knew that James
Pitcher bad lived with Mr. Maltby, called upon the
latter, and informed him that John Pitcher was dis-
posing of considerable quantities of silk and cotton
goods in that place at very low prices. Mr. Maltby
went immediately to Reading, where he ascertained
sufficient to warrant him in causing John Pitcher
to he apprehended and lodged in prison. lie returned
to town, and with the assistance of Salmon and Smith,
the officers, he found the other prisoner at a public-
house called the Dover Castle, in Wernoutb-mews,
Portland-place, where he had been lodging for a few
days. They learned that when he came there he
brought three large boxes heavily laden, but had sub-
s,•,lnently prevailed upon a gentleman's groom in the
neighbourhood to allow him to deposit them in his mas-
ter's stables. There the officers found them filled with•
silks and other goods of the most valuable descrip-
tion, all of which 3lr. Maltby knew to be his pre-
pert?, aid to have been stolen from his shop.—
Having secured the prisoner, they went to the lodg-
ings of Sarah Pitcher, a sister of his, where they
found in her boxes several gowns made up, aid
some gown-pieces. She was much agitated, andsaid
her brother James had given some, anti sold the
rest of the pieces to her. One Pope. a milkman, a
distant relation to the prisoner, was the landlord of
the house in which the sister lodged, and when ques-
tioned by the officers, be made some admissions whirl'
served to show the enormous extent to which these de-
predations had been carried.
Salmon having also 'reared the sister, went to
Reading, where, in the house lately occupied by John
(who was still in prison,) be found a qnantity of silks
uordine, sod other goods, all recognised to be the pro-
perty of Mr. Maltby. The prisoner John was given
into his custody, and he brought him to town as the
receiver.
Pope, the milkman, was admitted an evidence for
the Crown, but not without considerable reluctance
on the part of the worthy Magistrate.
7he prisoners were (ally committed to Newgate--
James Pritcher for trial at the Old Bailey Sessions for
fel►ny ; and the other prisoner as the receiver, to be
tried at the ensuing assizes for Berkshire.

L.VQI7IST nv rus DOD). 01 Dlt. THOMPSON.

[MOM THE CARLISLE Jocnstat...]
The disappearance of this gentleman, and the sub-
sequent finding of his hat, stick, and handkerchief,
near the river Eden, excited a degree of interest in
this place which no local circumstance in our recol-
lection ever exceeded. Rumour, with her " thonsand
tongues," made herself peculiarly best'; and the nu-
merous causes assigned for his probable death were
eloquently and strenuously contended for by the dif-
ferent roiloquists, " their ends as various as the tales
they told,"--some. supposed that i.e had committed
suicide; others that he bad been robbed and murder-
ed ; others again that he had accideedgallen into
the river ; while a small but earnest y, in low
whispers and ambiguous language, threw out dark -
hints (particularly when the body was found with
' miner in the pockets) of some murderous ahtipathy,
on the part of a few individuals,against the legitimate
sons of iEseulapius, In consequence of their having
dissected the dead for the benefit of the living. In
the height of these contending opinions, the body of
the unfortunate Doctor was brought to the Gleaner
publit..ti.inse, and a Coroner's Jury summoned.—
After being charged they viet‘ed the body, which
lay in an upper apartment, for about five minutes ; on
their return, Mr. Carruthers, jun. of Stanwix, de-
posed that he knew the deceased—had known him
several vein. That deceased called at witnesses's
house about one o'clock at noon on the Thursday of
his disappearance--that he remained there until 10
at night—that he drank, before tea, four pints or ale
and one glass of gin, and afterwards four glasses of
ale—that he was well in health, and in excellent and,
joyous spirits during the time of his stay—that he
did not appear the least intoxicated when be left his
house; and that witness had not seen hint since —That,
examivatiou of It. Donaldson, of Carlisle, grocer, wait
then pet in by the Coroner, who excused the infor-
mality of the proceeding, by the peculiarity of the
circumstances. It stated that examinant had been at-
ten.iiog a sale, and. was returning across Eden Bridge
about 10 o'clock on Thursday night—that he pea
ceived two men of a suspicions appearance on the
bridge, one little and the other tall, the latter hap
bited in dark coloured clothes; that being somewhat
terrified, be swung his stick against the sides of the,
bridge to deter them from approaching ; bat that the
smaller did, notwithstanding, stare him full in the
face, but suffered hint to proceed forward unmolested.
Joshua Anderson, Surgeon, of Carlisle, depose' that
he bad etandoed thi body of the deceased—that there
were no marks of violence oo his person, or any thing
which might have led to his Math 1 that there were no
wounds, braises, or scratches' indicative of violesce.
Edward Hepe,.ot l..ldcoats, deposed that be went on
Tuesday last to look fur the body of the deceased ;
that he foams( it on an elder hush, about knei-deep in
water, opposite Cargo ; that he bad been searching
about au hour before lie made the discovery ;_ that he
called a boy and a liutitia; 'intik.' thole peesenesanOsibed
gaithe rhea
soettseto!,
3g.
sd
thedecesiedi •
silver,
that
m in
'he thou.'
• earlier; a
4.111114.
-lbetelwateettlit lallentear easser" hilligiotho Moll° the
andlife'all
iratt,
that be bad found---shah hil hod was the body
OS !rod •Po appearance of vin ioP Cot pot even a
otratelk on the face. The `tette ra anti lbs. pit iil. aoll