Police.
The Times, 1824-07-02T00:00:00

AlAwSiOs.OUSR..o..-A gentleman named Gable applied to the LORD M2lAYOR for his interference to remove amostintolerable griev- ance. It was the practice of a number of boatmen when a steam- vcssel arrived in the river, to croWdT round her, and quarrel and fight for passengers, to the imminent hazard of human life. On ITucsdav last a party of about 400 had gone out in the Royal SovereIgn steam- boat, and'at about 10 o'clock at night they returned, and stopped near the Custom-house quay. About 30 watermen's boats imme- diately surrounded the steam-vessel and contended violently for pre- cedence. The waterinen, however, agreed in one point, and that was, never to take fewer passengers than eight ashore-a most dan- gerous number for boats of such a size, and in so thronged a part of the river, as the slightest inclination upon eitler side would overset them. An elderlv gentleman had fallen overboard in the midst of the confusion occasioned by this shameful contention : but the peril in whichpeople were placed had no effect whatever upon the watermen, who uniformly exacted at least 6d. a-piece from the passengers for putting them ashore. The river was. in fact, now in as bad a condi- tion in this respect as it was at one period of the last umayoraltv, when Aldlerman Heygate found it necessary to interfere, and sarc- ceedes in putting to the practice a conclusion which anfortunatey was but temporary. The LORD MINAYOR said that a case of this sort had come bef,,re him but the day before, and it was necessary that the public should be cautioned against submitting to the impositions oecasional!y prac- tised, and that the watermcn should look to their owrn conduct, in order to prevent the adoptioa of such a coarse as would diminish their profits considerably. Ir Gable said, that probably an act for increasing their fare would have the effect of putting a period to those disputes. The LoaD MIAORa said the watcrmen knew their own interest too well to wish for any act of the kind. The very circumstance of the smallness of the demand which it was well known the water-ren could make, ws a security for a very important addition to their fare upon almost all occasions. Indeed,they averaged three tdmes their fare, and wher, to a deputation from them, he proposed that something should be done to raise their demand, they immediately said, " No, no we'll not get a halfpenny -iore than our fare if it is made greater." So that he (the Lord AMayor) would advise the watermen to be quiet, or they would have their fares doubled. With respecc to the dan- gerous grievance complained of, the most e1Fectual means shoald be adopted to remedy that. He wondered that at a time when art was making such advances to the prejudice of the watermen, by ttiC erecting of bridges, and by excavations and steam, thev did not ra- ther endeavour to conciliate than to disgust the public. He repretted to say tlhat a lady could not consider herself secture from insult it she happe Red to go a short distance in a boat. This apprehension pre- vented numbers fromn venturing into a boat at all. His Lordship then directed tbat a letter upon the subject should be sent to the W atermen's Company, requesting that they would inquire into the circumstances of the complaint,and he begged that.lr.Gable would attend to give evidence. GUILD5IALL.-Captain Felix M'Ponogh, the author of The Hermtt in London, and H'enry/ Dr?Lid, were brought up for re- examination before the sitting Mlagistrate, Mr. Alderman T-rosp- sox, yesterday. The office was crowded almost to suffocation. A gentleman from the house of Messrs. Mlann (we believe), In- gram-court, Fenchurch-street, attended as solicitor for the prisoners, antd his first request tu the !tlagistrate was that all the witnesses, with the exception of Dlr. WVeaver himsel?, should be directed to withdraw. This was accordingly comp!ied with. The evidence taken on the previous day was then read over, of which the solicitor took very copious notes. Fogg, the Alarshalman, then stated, that he had ascertained that the Captain went to the Saracen's Hlead, Snowhill, early on Wednesday morning, and had a bed: he re- mained there between three and four hourg, and, on his departure, not having any money about him, the porter of the inn acc.mpanied him ta Mlr. Vaux's, Russell-street, where the Captain went in and sent down the money for the bed. Fogg had also seen the lad, the driver of the chariot, No. 722, which had brought the party from the Saloon to Holborn, who recollected seeing tlhe younger prisoner putting a pocket-book into his pocket iust at the tiuie that his chariot was called fromn the stand. He (?ogg) had shown him Mr. Weaver's pocket-book, and the lad said that was the one he saw- he would swear to it. This lad, whose name is Wim. Kirbv, was then called. lie corro- borated the previous evidence as to what had passed in Holborn, and Druid's producing Mr. Weaver's wateb. While he was on the stand, and the partyon the footway. near the Saloon door, he saw Druid putting a pocket-book into his pocket. Mr. WVeaver's pocket book being shown to him, he said he did not think that was it: the one he saw was more dirty.After much questioning,he acknowledged that the one Fogg ha(l sliown to him thedaybeforewasthe one Druid liad. but still persisted that the one now produced was not the same. Fogg said, that the boy described the sort of pocket-book accurately be- fore lie showed it him. He first showed him Druid's own pocket- book, a red one; he said directly that was not it; and on producing Mr. WVeaver's, " That's it-I'll swear to it; and the steel clasp was hanging loose at the time." The prevarication of the boy, who still said he did not believe itwas the one, led to the suspieion that he had been tampered with ; he, however, swore that he had seen none ofthe parties since he came to this office. The paper parcel was produced, and Mlarnocit Row stated, that during the scuffle lie saw it in the hands of each of the prisoners but when he picked it up, it had fallen from the liands of Mr. Weaver, or rather was thrown down by him, that he might have his hands at liberty to use in the row. This evidence put an end to the suspicion against the Captain as far as related to the steuling of the parcel. The prisoners' solicitor now desired to cross-examine Mr.Weaver, assuring the magistrate that he should be able to prove from him tle manner in which Druid became possessed of the pocket-book. His questions, however, did not at all go to that point. Their tendency was to draw froni him such facts as to the manner in which he had spent his time, arid what he had drank from dinner to the time they were taken in custody, as would warrant the inference that he was not in a state of nmind to render his testimony credible and secepta. ble, but nothing was gained tn shake his previous evidence. During the time the solicitor was ushlingliis cross-examination very closelv, as to whether he had notleft the saloon withi a female, lr. Weaver became much agitated, anl nearly fainted. On his recovery. heap- pealed to the magistrate He was ready, lie said to answer arny ques. titons that bore upoti the facts of the rolbery, bat objected to an. swering questions that affected his mnoral character. He thought he was not bound to give an account how or wlhere he spent his time or his money; hie would swear that no female that he was with took his pocket-book. Air. Alderman TtraarpsoN thought that he ought to answer all uestidns that went to forward the ends of justice, though he con. Peessed he did not see how this cross-examination vwas to account for the pocket-book being found upon Druid; and the course of exami- nation was not persisted in. Gaminage, another watnhman, was then called; but the only ma- terial factelicited fitom. him was, that the two prisoners went aside and conversed together for sorne miinutes, whilst Ur. Weaver was wiisputing with the coachman: the inference intended to be drawn from whrloh was, that tlhere had -been an opportunity of conveyinlg away the notes. - llr. Alderman ThomrsoN saiEd he had- undegstood, from what the. solicitor had intimated, that he would have acoounted how the pocket-book. ame into Drutid'a possession. In thst, however, be ad aie; nor hed he int his judgment, beent,able-to shake any part of teevidence in supportOf dte.ciayg. There wuas no doubt but that is rubbery had b@te-confibitied, and ~ a su#entrimafai ease had, he ihought9 been mde eouts to warrant hm3u irt sen&Ring both the prisoners before ajiure. They were both togetherthewholetithe, with (fe partv robbed, ana the picket-book was founi upon one of tlern. The Ciptain's coming voluntarily forward would have. iLs -weight with thejury. but he did not think it sufficient tojustify:hirnt iu making any distinction between the cases of the two. The pnsoners and their solicitor offered to caBl witnesses to the respecrability of their chamecters, butthe mag,istrate heddthat to be unnecessari in the present etage of the iaq ir, and both the pri- soners were accord4igly committed to Newgate, for rsiivately steal- ing froni the person. It was whispered in the office. that the prisoner Druid was Captain MI'Donogh's son, and the suspicion was singulairl st-engthened by thie solicitor nmore than once ca31ing hi-m M1r. M'Donogh. Somie letters found in his po3cket-book, with tbe name H. iM. D'D9rstogh to them, seemed also to confirm the fact; but nothing to that effect came out in evidence. RoW-sTTnest.-Bishop, Nicholls, 1orris, and Avis, of this es- tablishiment, have been actively engaged ever since the robbety at 'lr. Haines's, Lord Cowper's steward, in endeavouring tO obtain same trace of the daring ruffians concerned in it. and there iF everv reason to believe that thev have at length succeeded. These active officers have been out during the whole of the last three nights, in search rf tne parties, anti Yesterday morning, very early, they appre- hended five men at a coffee-shop in Chancerv-lane. Their naimies are-.Jemee Harris, allas Longt Ned, James Davis, Henri: Hod- let. Thor. Mfarsh, and David ySallivan. When thle;rigotters were putto the bar, Bishop stated, that thev were ap-pr?hended in consequence of private information of such ia nature as to leave no doubt, that they, with the exceptido of Sulli- van, were coneerned in the robberv. Harris was supposed to be the man who tied Mlir. Maines's bands. He (EIarris) had a cut on the nose, and one of his hands was vwounded. (This was apparent enough as he stood at the bar.-his hand was bound up.) There was another man, of the nanme of Collett, who was stated to be concerned in,the rehhery, hut he had been taken into custody on Wednesday night, in Fleet-street, for stealing a salmon, and would of course be takes before the sitting alderman at Guildhall. Wfith respect to Sullivan, Bishop berged lo state that his inforination did not extend to that prisoner, and he was taken into custody merelybecause he was found in the sane box with the others at the coffle-sSop. The four first named prisoners were questioned by Sir IL Bit- It , asv te their pursuits in life, and where they were on the night of the 8th of June, when the robbery took place. Thite answered flippantly, and stated that they believed they were at home, bat cound nut pre:end to recolleet with certainty at this distance oftime. Sullivanaditi he knew nothing of the other prisoneis. and that he merely westinto tic coffee-shop to take his brucak'ast, while on his wav to seek for a place in the (td Bailev. Sullivan was immediately discharged, and the other four were detained until a message was sent to the Alderman at GuildhaU, re- quiring to know if Collett cnuld be given tip, in order to be sent to Hertford with the rest of the accused. The answer returnel was, that Collett hiad been fully comnitted for stealing the salmon, (ra- Iied atone shilling), and therefore he could not be given up until he had been tried, buta detainer coild of coarse be lodges againsthita. This course was of necessity adopted, and tihe other four ',re eCon- vered by the officers to Hertford. to he further examined. .Iarnge rla ris, a carman, was summoned to answer the complaint of R. MaTtin, Bsq., M.P., for cruelty to a horse. Mr. Martin stated that lie was in the Strand when he saw the de- fendant driving two horses, which were duiwing an eneine returnmig from a fire. NVhen he got to the corner of Hungerford-street, he began to belabour one of his horses most cruelly, and his object ap- peared to be to get the horse to come neater to him, but the poor animal, as might naturally be expected, ran farther awav. Mr. Far1well, the owner of the horse, gave the defendant a good character for iuaianitv. He was a good-tempered man, and had driven the same horse 19 years. Mr. Mlartin.-Why, man alive, your wife told me a very different story when I called upon her. She said he was a very ill-tem;pered fellow. Mlr. Farnwell.-It's no such thing. She meant that the horse was ill-tempered and notthe man. Mr. m artit.-Now I will appeal to vou, Sir RiCiard, wvhether this defendant does not bear the outward and visible signs of a bad tem- ner. Any man who knows any thing of pkysiognomy can see that ina moment. MIr. Farnwell .-Now I Will make an appeal to Your Worsbip. Look at this man's (Mr. Martin's) fisonomy, and tell me if it is not worse than the fisonomy of my man 7 Sir R. BtRaIE declined to give any opinion upon so nice a peint, and being satisfied with the proof in the case, he fined the defendant IOs. and costs. WVhile M.r. Mlartin was upon the bench, the veteran comedian, Miunden, happened to look in, and was introduced by Sir t Birnie to the worthr' meniber for Galway. Mr. Martin did not ep- pear to recognize Mr. Munden, and Sir R Bt-ItN iE said, "Don't you know this gen-tleman ? His name is Joseph Alunden r" Oh, by G-, so it is," said tie worthy M. P. my dear fellow, I am very glad to see you," and he shook the retired actor heartilv by the hand. ';Pray, Mfr. lartin," said Sir EL BrRaiLE, " do you not knnow that vou are subject to a fine forswearingbefore a magistrate ?' " By G0-d, Birnie, you're right," answerl Mr. Martin, and in: stantly paid the 6s. and departed. HATTO'N-GARDEse.-W. Elton, late pot-boy in the senice of MIr. Samuel Lovic, landlord of the Portland Arms, Guilfb-A street, was brought up in the custody of Francis Fegan, etreet- keeper on the Foundling estate,under the followingcircumstances:- M r. Lovic stated, that the prisoner lived a few weeks as poztboy- in his service, but that in conRequence of his mixing water -withthe hecr he. carried oUt to his customers, he discharged him, but not ir time, for tany of his customers left him on account of the bad quality of his beer. The prisoner had served Alr. Nerno, a baker, in lIeathcote.street, with a pint of beer, three parts g ivhich wes water. Mr. Nemno brought back the beer, bv which the fraud was discovered, and on searching the prisoner's ttav, in whiWa he etatieVA out his beer, near a quart of water waa found; he dischurged the prisoner, who frequently collects a mob before his door bv his abusive language. He did not wish to punish the prisoner,'if he: promised not to comenear his hoase in futare. Tlte Magistrate lectured the young rogue: he promised not to molest Mr. Lovic in fature, and he was discharged. POLICE.