The Sun. — 1842-12-14 (London, England)

DEXTEROUS CAPTURE OF POACHERS.  A very short time ago, consequent upon a well-laid train, two of the most audacious poachers in this district were captured at Washington, in thii locality. Information having been obtained by the constituted authorities here, that two of the most notoriously desperate characters that have infested this range for some time past were prowling about near at hand, their lurking-place was ferreted out by our active rural policeman and assistants ; but from the daringly reckless character of the gang it was deemed advisable to delay any attempt to capture until a strong force was mustered, for which purpose a messenger was dispatched with the intelligence oftheir being found out, and, at the same time, a request was made to the agent of the Perthshire Game Protection Association here that a strong force might be dispatched without loss of time. Accord ingly, the recruiting party of the 93d Highlanders, stationed here, consisting of a sergeant and three privates, were sent off to the scene of action without a moment's loss of time, and very soon thereafter joined the policemen. After stationing a part of the force round the house to render futile any attempt at escape, the sergeant and his men went in and demanded if those they were in pursuit of were within ? and were answered by the inmate in the negative ; but, of course, discrediting this statement, their warrant was produced, and a search determined on, which proved unsuccessful in the first instance, but on their entering another apartment, in which was a closed-In bed, and on casting a glance in that direction, there the two delinquents were seen snugly ensconced, enjoying a very sound and no doubt refreshing sleep, as it appeared from the head of game stowed in a closet in the room that they had had a pretty hard, as it was certainly, a successful day's sport. The soldiers went close to the bed, presented their fire-arms, and demanded them to sit up in bed and allow themseives to be handcuffed. which they had no alternative but to submit to, although accompanied by a good many threats and shrugging of the shoulders. On their being bandcuffed, a search was made in the room ; and in the closet above referred to were found two doublebarrelled guns, both barrels of each gun loaded, six pheasants and five hares, procured of course by illicit means. On their being secured, they were ordered out of bed, unshackled, and requested to dress, which they did, and were then marched off to' this town, where they were kept in custody all night, and sent off to gaol next morning.—Perth Advertiser. In Scotland, therefore, where, as we learn from the report of the Renfrewshire meeting, people must starve or break the law, poaching seems by some classes to be considered tantamount to murder. If these men, instead of having killed a pheasant, or snared a hare, had slain a fellow-creature, what stronger language could be used than that of this paragraph, and what more vigorous measures could be taken than to call out the military to apprehend them. Does the Commander-in-Chief tolerate such an employment of soldiers ? Does the community submit to an incometax that an army may be kept up for the protection of the landlords' pheasants against starving men ? We have not of late met with many paragraphs more pregnant than this with the conviction that there is something essentially wrong in our political regulations.—ED. Sun.