The Sun. — 1863-01-08 (London, England)

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.  , How PICKPOCKETS LlVE.—Three young men named John Brown, Wm. Durant, and Joseph Hives or Shaw, all well: dressed, were charged before Mr. Knox with loitering in the Haymarket for the purpose of committing a felony Mr. Edward Lewis, of Great Marlborough-street, appeared for Hives. The evidence of Sergeant Cole, 23 C, went to show that on the previous night he saw an elderly lady and gentleman come out of an alamode beef shop, in Tichbournestreet, and saw Durant leave the others and go up to the side of the lady, end put his hand down by his side and feel the lady's pocket. He then followed the prisoners with the view of getting assistance, when he saw them walk up and down the Haymarket two or three times, and then met Sheen, 272 B, who had also been watching the prisoners pushing amongst persons in the Haymarket. The prisoners then all went into Barnes's public-house in the Haymarket, and they were on coming out all taken into custody. On searching the prisoners £lO was found upon them, and a pair of spectacles upon one of them. Sheen corroborated Cole, and said that he had known Brown four years, and had seen him convicted at the Lam • beth Police court, and in prison several times. He (Brown) always dressed very respectably, generally as a midshipman, and this season he had sported a saddle pony and a pony and trap. Sergeant Cola said—Durant had been convicted several times of picking pockets.  Mr. Lewis addressed the magistrate at some length on behalf of Hives, and said that he had only recently come from Yorkshire, and had accidentally fallen into the prisoners' company. He was in respectable employ and not known to the police. Mr. Knox committed Brown and Durant for three months each with bard labour, and said he would remand Hives for a week that inquiries might be made.  The Court of Assizes of the Aube has just tried a man named Bezain, aged 69, on a charge of poisoning a widow named Berthier, who had lived with him at Troyes. It appeared from the evidence that the woman Berthier, who had been separated from her husband, in 1840, soon formed an illicit connection with the prisoner, and had been living with him nearly 20 years at the time of her death. On her husband's decease she came into possession of about 16,000 f., one-half of which she advanced, without security, to the prisoner, who employed it in stocking and cultivating a small farm. In May last, the widow Berthier discovered that the prisoner had formed an improper connection with their servant, a girl named Courillon, and having determined to leave him, she demanded the repayment of her 8,000 f., but could not obtain it. On the 21st June, after breakfasting with Bezain, she was taken suddenly ill and died in the afternoon of the same day, apparently from the effects of poison, and the analysis of the contents of her stomach proved the presence of arsenic. Suspicion fell on Bezain and his servant, and both were arrested, but the latter was subsequently discharged and admitted as a witness. In his defence, the prisoner protested his innocence of the crime, and asserted that if the deceased had been poisoned, it was by her own hands. Several witnesses were examined, but their evidence threw no light on the question, and the jury having, after a short deliberation, brought in a verdict of not guilty, the court ordered the prisoner to be set at liberty.  The bank of MM. Guyon and Co., of Lyons, has bee❑ forced to suspFnd its payments. This disaster has indirectly arisen from the cotton crisis, the bank having had heavy business transactions with a manufactory at Taran (Rhone). The situation is now said to be not so bad as was at first supposed, and the bank has been formed into a joint-stock company, the creditors being the shareholders. The suspension has been followed by several distressing circumstances : a merchant of Lyons, who had 300,000 f. deposited in the bank, has since committed suicide, not being able to support the idea of his money being lost. The manufactory above referred to has since been closed, throwing from 1,000 to 1,200 workmen out of employment.