Country Watchhouses.
The Times, 1824-12-14T00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF TffE TIMES. Sir,-The manner in which ou have drawn the attentionf efthetub- licto the confiement of Dr. Eond's late servant girl, doesyou ifainite credit, butatthe same time sbows that you are-unaware ofthe use which ts tow too frequently made of country cages. indeed, no per- son acquainted with the construction of such miserable cells could suppose that a fellow-creature is sometimes doomed to pine in them for eight or nine dave and nights in the winter season, whten onlg suspected of a crime. The inhabitants of this district stWll shudder with horror, at the recollection of the untimely end of two brothers, in Lewisbarn cage; not- withstanding whichb the practice of confining persons for several days without any w ritten order from the Mlagistrates is still conti- nued. There can be no doubt but guilt is sometimes brou.bht home to an offender, in consequence of his being remanded to give time to procure evidence; but in all such cases, I submit, the person charged should be committed (as in London) to a place of safety, ahfording at the same time protebtion for his health, the loss of which at once throws the unfortunate individual a burden on the com- munJity. I have been led into these remarlks, from the eircumstance of a man having been discharged, by a Greenwich magistrate, on Friday last, after suffering an imprisonment. in DepLford watch-hou for eight days and nights, upon suspicion of having committed a felony in the last named parish. This man was apprehended at Deptford on the 2d instant, and on the following day (although *. magistrate was sitting in Deptford) taken before a magistrate in Green-wich, who gave a verbal order fur his incarceration in Deptford rage for ieven dlays, at the end of which he was again taken over to Green- wich, ond wasthen set at liberty. I am credibly informed that this man would have been without a fire during the whole period of his confinement but for the compassion of some personswho knew him. It has always been my opinion, Air. Editor, that a persont apprehended by the civil power. ought, for many reasons, to ba taken before the nearest justice, instead of which, the Deptford constables are now in the daily habit of taking their prisoners to the magistrates in Greenivich. To guch a degree is thi5i system parse- vered in. tlmt the most efficient officer in Deptford, who alone had the hardihood regularly to attend the bittings of the Deptford jus. tices, was dismissed by an order of the last quarter sessions at Maidstone! Only a few weeks ago, two fernales, apprehended in Deptford and confined in the cage there on a Sunday night, ivere taken on the following mbrniog to the magistrates' office _t Greenwich; and in consequence of there being no magistrate in the way, they were brought back to Deptford, and placed in the cage till the Tuesday morning, when they were again taken te Greenwich and discharged. What wil the publi,:think ofthis case, when they are infonned, that at the time the women were brought from Greenwich on tbe AMonday moming, a magistrate vas sitting in Deptford for the despatch of public business ? One word as to the illegality of such conduct would be an insult to the understand- ings of your readers, some of whom, in this neighbourhood, will, I hope, be able to account for such extraordinarv messur I am, Sir, &6., VERRITAS. Deptfard, Dec. 13. COU'.VTRF WVATCHHOMSS.