Police.
The Times, 1824-10-06T00:00:00

MANST OwN-soUs-e.-There having appeared in Thte Times news- papersome remarksfrom correspondents upon the numerousobstrue. tions in theriver Thames occasionedby thecrowdls,zofthelighters and other craftateach side oftbe river, bywlhich the currentofthestream is checked, and the navigation rendered in some cases impracticable, and in many dangerous, the LORD MIAYOR took notice of the subjectin the JuaticeRoom yesterday. His Lordship hoped, that on all occasions in which the power of the Chief IMIagistrate could be exercised in removing impediments to business in this great city, no delay vrould be made in mnaking the necessary communtcatiou, and whether that was made publicly or privately to him was of little im- portance. When he went down the river to hold courts of con. servancv, he had been obliged, in consequence of the illness of -tbe Recorder, to address the .iu,i-r' ik O of the duties they had to ne-" m-,- aoing so he took particular care to direct them To examine into the fstate of the navigation of the river. The juries were not inattentive to his diroction&. They reported in dk,A ti.og theresult of their obscrvations, and represented that there were obstructiona of the description complained of, which it was steces- sary to remove. The City Solicitor, who has been nc-.r knovwn to be tardy in eases where his professional assistance is re'uired, was forthwith instructed to vrite to the parties whose ^raft were the cause of complaint, inforniing thema that if the nuisance were not immediately abated prosecutions would be commencedL The City Solicitor soon after reported that many of the obstructions were at one removed, and that promnises were made of the speedy removal of all the rest It was only last week that this report had been made, and his Lordship was surprised at bearing that each side of the river was in such a condition as to need a peremptory notice. The Water Bailiffsbould be desired to inquire into the facts, and if any attempt was made to contitue what had been mach complained of, the most decisive measures should be at once adopted. The Chief Clerk told the Lord DV!ayor that he telieved that nothing short of an indictment would operate upon the lightermen and bargemen, who were like flocks of crows-when one Sock was driven away another succecded. ''l'hs LORtD MJA OR then intimnated that he should transfer them to the cre of the City Solicitor,who, if the river were not cleared im- niediately, should take them all into his hands. From a statement rnade yesterday by a tradesman, it appears that a swindler is at large in the city committing considerable depreda- tions by means of blank checks on bankers. By means of one sf those blank checks, he had defrauded the complainant of goods to the amount of lOI. He selected goods in the shop anounting to that prlce, sal desired that the boy might be permitted to accompany him (withe articles in his possession) to hit office in the citv, where lie wOUld pay the bill, as he happened to have no money iri kis pocket at the tinie. The shopkeeper was fool enough to agree to this pro- posal, atitd the boy followed the swindler, who walked into a su t of rooms, and appeared to bh quite at home. The boy was left outside, and presently the swindller came out without a lint (haviDg laid it down to favour the deeption), anded a check on Alessrs. Percival and Co. to the boy, and took the goods ilto his possession, there being nothing in his manner at all calculated to excite suspicion. On presenting the chle. at the banking-house, the messenger was informed that no such person was know%n there: and it was after- wards ascertained that tne swindler was equallv unkniown at the offices to whsEh he pretended that he belonged, anil that, at the tile, the fellow entetd upon some frivolous pretence. The only consolation the shopkeeper could r eceive on the occasion was the assurance that if. he could point out the cheat to the police, proper care should be taken to bring bin to justice, and that many other Nhopkeepers had been cheated in the same way. Dr. Sarchi, a French gentleman, of Brown's-buildirgs, was sum-. noned before the LoaD MIAYOR, for having refused to pay the driver of a hackncy-coach liis fare. The driver said the doctor had hired hini to drive front the neighbourhood of St. Paul's Church- yard to Shioc-lane, antd from thence to Allarylebone-street, and from thence to Shoc-lanie again, and after having gone over that great ex- tent of ground, upwards of five males and a half, offered to pav him no more thast 3P'., which of course he spurmied, as lie was entitled to 7s. The doctor then gave his. address, being detcrmined to pay by the time, andI not by the distance; bat as witness had his option, he cbose for dhistance, The Doctor said, the coachman agreed to take him all the way and back again for As., and that at the eud of the journey when he offered the cash, the man refused it, but very ciilly teok his ad dress, leaving it to be supposed that he would caU and tke his m1-. ney. He did call, but then it was to leave a.snmmons.a proceed. itg which the doctor thought shoutld not have been adopted, inas- much as he should have done -s. alU other gentlemen did, upon be- ing shown that lie had not offered a proper recompense. " As I am here," added the docior, "I beg your Lorship time justice that you give every body else." The LORD MAYOR. assured lhim be shoauld have it, but appre- hended that lie would not be well pleased at it ; for it looked as if some mistake took p.lace which would turn out to his di,advanta "is Lordship tien very closely questioneel the complainatt upt. nature of the agreement, and was assured by hliin that he hzti offer. ed to take the doctor o-n no other than the usual terms. Iis Lord- ship then told the doctor that the coachman had dQmalded no more than he was entitled to receive, and that the mistake maust have originated in the imperfect knowledge ca-p of tbcni had of the lan- guage of the other. The 'Doctor (bowing low).-I am content, my Lor. What am I to pay ? The o4n 1M AvoR.-The fare and expenses amount to l3s. Ild. The Doctor (with a screaul and uplifted hands.)-O God t hbir teen and sixpeuce ? What ! thirtten and sixpence ? The bOU1D M AYOR having explained the several expenses The Doctor again bowed, and pulled oat hispurse and said, " M Jy Lor, why did not he conme and speak to me i6stcaa of summoning tme? I have not the bonou,r of being an Englishman, but [ am not incapable of the delicacy which a'gentleman ought to observe. He should have come and told me I was wrong, and then your L-rship ,would not have had your ttme go long occupied on this occa$ion.,P Tbe Lo0D R sAlA t.--My time belongs to the public, Doctor. The Doctor.-And. therefore so much of it ought not to be wasted en tme. mhe LooD MAR.-I am sorry, Doctor, that you have lost so The Doctor (bowing to.,the ground.)-It could not bave been better employed than Ln watitiig upon the Lord Mayor.? The Doctor then paid the amouant of the demand, but told the coaclimrmcn that he ought to have treated lhiM with the respect dud to a genttlemani. MAARL Ito1 3UW-s'lET.-.Ychterday an elderly t7 , named idst ltiS, wtho presentee a very eccentric appearance, Wearing a pair of specta,les ef- about the fazshion of three ccnturdeB ago, wee b)roucht fqom dt. Giles' watch..louse, chrg.edby one Of ?e beades wit laxgbe on ying dymnk in the tree:. The beadle fur. eher stated, That therisdoner hfadl bteem rieed, as a casual pa.uper, T heTrisoner, ia his defencei said, that having beent fi-two days in a state of starvation, and laving drank a pint of pox' '- aae empty stomach, it quite ovcreame him. M tr. COxAwT, the magistrate, asked 33im why he Aid not t fiome- to his ow' parish, rather than be starving abrut the strcets here ? The prisoner said, that he had no parish in Nnglad; be wra ean American by birth, but having served in tFe British navy, and fought for thss King and country, the American Consul, to whomn he had applied, refused to send him home to his native country.- The beadle said, that the prisoner was weUllknDWP as a mendi- cant and impostor about town for several years ; he is known by the name of the Soayp Eatr, from his practice of afFecting t6 be in fitsia the street, and pUtting a Piece of soap in hisnmouth to crea-e a foam. Ele was oRe of those impostors particu I -)ips ed out in the evi. - dence before the Committee of the aro'0 bf Commons, ap. pointed to inquire into the state of vagrancyand inendicity in the metropolis. The Al agistrate said, that he was clearly ptoved to have been drunk, and he must pay a fine of 5s., and in default of so doing he wac locked up. Tlhomas Allison, the fellow who has been some days in custody upon a charge of an intam ous assault on a youth in Pyde-park, and who since his committ-al to Tothill-fields prison has attemuted' to coranmit suicid!e bycutting his throat with a piece of window.glass, bteng sufficientlv recovered, was vesterday brought up tbr final esa, amiination. We mentioned in our paper of Allonday, that tlhis man, who has been a butler itn ceveral famnilies, prosecuted a mnan named Arnold, about fotur years ago, for having, as he said, extorted a sum of money from him tinder a threat of charging him-. with uas abominable offence. Arnold was tried, convicted, and executed upon the evidence of Allison. Three of the Bow-street patrol, who apprehended the prisoner on this occasicn in the Park, gave such testinony as to leave no doubt as to the nature of the assault; and( their evidence, and his ownD pre- varications, so far implicated the bor also, that the Alagistrate did not deem it atdvisable to admit him as a witness, but to couple himl with the prisoner in the charge. The prisoner told a long imnprobable story, endeavouting to throw all the imputation npon the boy. 15lr. CONANT, in ellusion to the attempt made bv the prizoner to destroy himself, said, that had he succeeded, itwoudl be no proof at all of his innocence, and would be only heaping another dreadful crime upon his head. The Alagistrate said, that he hope he felt some compunction for having been the cause of a mamn's being exe- cuted some years ago. The prisoner said,that he had nothing to regret on that head. Both he and the boy were then fully committed for triaL Duringk the proceedings, a young man, of rather genteel ;appear-. anee, dressed in a. ble coat and trousers, and black'stock, was seen to be very atfentive to the case, and was leard by Reeves, one of the bcadleti of St. George's parish, to say, that if the Prisonler hadi evea doncas he was charged, P qit was a uno honorable act." RLeeves comnmunicatedtbLis extraordinary asserrior tO Pianr, the chif ofier,wh tmedately brought the young man no to the bench,and infornmed thertgistrarte of whazt hehad said- nan rteves came ferw ard, and repeated the obse-vation this person had made in us hearing, as rather addressed to him. MIr. COsra?'r now 'questioned the stranger as to wvhoentl what he was, and any knowledge he might have of the prisoner, when he gave the following account of himself :-HiVs naMe, he said, seas Hayden, had be resides at No. d, New-street near the Coisurg Theatre j hI had been captei'ti' stewaZrd On boar the tphigc;ria frig te, wimil commanded by Sir Robert Alends, and afterwards by Captain Parker; but that vessel is at present on the African station, and it is three years ince he quitted her. After some examination, which led to a great deal of prevarica tion, Hayden was dismissed. Whet be got outside the office.door th rw,hav-ing heard somnething of what had occurred., wema-'d posed to handle him rather roughly, had not the officers interfered d as it was, they applied no very flattering epithets to him. AtAitYLEBONE.OFFICE-Mary J1oncs vras charged with plun.. dering a Chelsea pensioner of the name of John Cox, under tbe-fol. low ing aggravated circutnarances :-'rhe prosecutor, who is at once old, infirm, and blind, had, about a twelvemonth ago, consented, at the request'of his wife, to afford the prisoner a tenmporary asylum, she being at that timne in great distress, and having been formesly known to his wife. For some weeks che shared witi them theiLr slepder pittance, and at last evinced her gratitude to her benefastors by- taking advantage of the absenee of the promecutor's wife, to pack up a bundle, eonsisting of al' the portable articles she could lay her hande on, and whichl were, in fact, almnost all her benefactors wrere possessed of, with which she decamped. For a long whiie nothing was heard of her, but the vengeance of abused hospitality at last overtook her; the veteran was walking along ti street, led by his little boy, when the prisoner happened to pass them, and was immediately recognized and pointed out by the laster; and, by the assistance of a person passing by at the time, was takem into custody. The legal evidence to bring the offence home to her wxa not very clear, but was strengtheDed by a voluntary confession wlhich the prisoner, conicience-.tricken, had made on being apprehended.She was f'ully committed. Thomas Wilskere and James Kintg were convicted of plundering the garden of Air. Webster, of Bayswater, and were fined each 20s, end indef4ult of payment they were committledto the [ouse oC Correc-tions. A sovereign has been received at this oEce in aid of George Jones, alias Fidlar, who was brought here last week o a charge of' felony, but vwhich charge was witlhdrawn bv the prosacutrix on nc- countof the distres in which the officer fouid him end his sick wife, as stated in our police report of last weak. UNJON-HALL..Yesterdav, Painter, theconstable of Berrond. sey, brought up in custedy, before the sitting Alagistrate (M. Swabey, Esq.) a boy of tender years, named WWiiam BaV, the history of whose depravity, from the lips of his ow n parents, who came forward in the nope that samething might be dolne with their incorrigible offspring to save him from the gallows, excited the sato* nishmer,t even of those who vwere in the habit of daily witnessing cases of crime. The prisoner did not appear to be more titan ii or gears of age, and, when placed at the bar, althongh perceiving he afiictio in which his father and mothler were or his zecount, did not betray the slightest emotion, or seem to care whatever might Painter stated, that he had bad n f k ,fa-:. *5- L.1 l~ay, ..s.- Inc reaeb 4,'o W prMion Rey, froym his evil courses; anal although he had beean ernittetl to Bri-ton fomr differ- ernt times, and worked at the mill, yet this discipline had not the desired effect of correctinsg his vicilous propensities; for the mornent of his liberaiJon from prison he commenced again as bad as ever, stealing every thiiag he could lay his hands upon from the people near to where he resided, as well as from his father and mother. The constable added, that notwithstaniding his parents treatedhim afrer.. tionately, and exerted their utmost to reclaim him, neither promises of forgiveness, nornall the entreaties they had used, had aty ef*ct upon the young delinquent. Thre Magitstrate observed that it was necessary to bring a specific chargegainodar the boy, in order tpunish hrbim now. Paitte said othatthe bay's father had given him inth custody that morningc forl absetrtihimself from honme. He (the boy) was beind,tt st n et-l hor i te morning coiled up in a corner of' an Uninhk.. pited houbse;rndtplat e sfr of this deg crirdtion, the constable said, he was more attached to than horne, and for weeks together he 'wcerl remain from his father's house, sleeping in out..hoisse8, e ol buld ings, wvhere he generally kept a stock of provisions, the plunder froas the shops of different tr:atlesmen in Bermontisey. Thengagistrate told the prisoner that he -ar,in the high rtaidto desruction, if hepersisted in for his presenteage,r and asked him, if h e w as tn o w d i s c h a r ge d, w o u l d h e p r o mi s e t o r e f o r mt,e nt i l i v a t hr o m e Then l fa the r h erdone sa id I o t ker c hi mn bom e evrow, he wi se rvem e as, theis bofte hdon hefare-he h illastriptme of eyery thing, and then The M nagistrate obsemred, that if the father did not take him homne, he would strip somebodyolae, and then he wouldh b triedand haneed. IThis observtion from the vagistrate did not make the slightest imrpression on the boy, who was callous to all sense of feeling. The boy was again asked, if he would go honie and reform. He rep;lied in a sullen tone, "Av-, may be I shall." T father repeated, that ft would be useless to take himthom TLas he h so often tried him before, that he was convinced nothingpocouild prevail upon him to remiain there. If it was possible to get him into th euefor thte Destitute, he miiglht stand some chance of being rh'e Alagistrate was certain that there was no prospect of his being admitted info that institution under the circumstances, and olseerv.. ed, that he thought the managers of it would be wrong ini admit-ting such a clainsasit The Fatlmer...Theu what can I do with him, S-it? He has an- other younger brother at 'home whose moerals he has corrupted; and I am afraid, that if he is'oow jiberatred, e will make my other boy as had as himself. The Mlagistrate here express-ed, his doubts that there mu-t be bomnething w-torig at hiome in the treatmnentroft he bay, whom he ob.. Ser-ed-aso as vicious a character, for his age, as ever bad beenr brougl.l' before bhim. The father declared, that. he had uniformly treted him as imduli. gently as he lied done his othier childiren ; but ever since his child- hood, this boy hadi a habit of stealing every thing he could, and the proaetisitj had increased with his yearts hlcia conequenes~prhapgthe evere. He thnodrdhmto sen hi tose, ad b tht ean sae hntfrom a fate to which POLICE.