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Leader (1850-1860), 14th February 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 8, 152 THE LEADEB, [No. 360, Saturday 1 »^....

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      Aiitjsaed Embezzlement.—William Holtaway...

      servitude . —Six years' penal servitude was adjudged to two youths ( ticket-of-leave holders ) for stealing three gold rings from a shop—a charge to which they pleaded Guilty ; and the same sentence was passed on Thomas Leebridge ( also a ticket-of-leave convict ) for stealing a watch from , the person . —Michael Cummins , a miserablelooking youth , pleaded Guilty to stealing some beef from a shop . He said he did it through want , as he had been three times on that day refused assistance at the workhouse . It was stated in court that famishing creatures were constantly being turned away from the workhouse , and being driven by starvation into theft . The prisoner added that his parents were " too great a pair of drunkards" to help him ; in fact , they had turned him out . He was sentenced to twelve months' hard labour . Attempted Mubder at Dartmoor Prisox . — A young man , nineteen years of age , a convict at Dartmoor Prison , has made an attempt to murder one of the warders by striking him on the head with a spade . It is but a short time since a similar crime was committed at the same place . The Double Murder at Walwokth . —A further examination of Bacon and his wife took place on Wednesday , in connexion with the charge of child-murder , when the case against the man -was strengthened by evidence showing his flurried and distraught manner the day after the murder , and the contradictions which he made in speaking of himself in connexion with the affair . Both prisoners were again remanded . Crime in the West of Englajsd . —Accounts are received from the west of several outrages committed on the highways in Devonshire and Somersetshire . * Honest Paul ' s' Assistant . — Joseph William Hawes , an occasional assistant to Paul , who lias been found guilty of frauds on the City of London Union , has "been committed for trial on a charge of forging receipts for 290 ? . Workhouse Ttranny . — Four destitute young ¦ women were charged at Southwark with creating a disturbance outside the workhouse . They said they were starving , and had been turned out by the authorities . The magistrate discharged them , saying that the conduct of the parish officers was very harsh , and might have the effect of driving the young women to prostitution . Suspected Murder . —A man . named Richard Smith , who has been in custody for some weeks on suspicion of having caused the death of William ICieffe , a person employed at the Edinburgh Castle tavern at Peckham , has been discharged , the evidence against him amounting to nothing more than that he had given some contradictory accounts . The probability seems to be that the man Kieffe lay down in the stables while drunk , and that his trains were kicked out by a horse .

      152 The Leadeb, [No. 360, Saturday 1 »^....

      152 THE LEADEB , [ No . 360 , Saturday 1 »^ . — i ' " * .. _'_ !_ J . " ,-L ! _!_ J i ' _^ . _ — __ ~_ ~^ 1 ^ 1 . . — ^^^^ ^ ZlH" ^ ir _"_~~ *——— 9

      Gatherings From The Law And Police Court...

      GATHERINGS FROM THE LAW AND POLICE COURTS . A . mak -who is described as a beershop-keeper in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel , but who is known to the police as a bad character , has been examined before the Worship-street magistrate on a charge of being concerned , with another man -who has escaped , in attempting to break into a house in the Mile-end-road . A . policeman came upon them while stealthily at work , between five and six o'clock in the morning , on the street door , and , with the assistance of another constable , he succeeded in making one of them his prisoner . The man , ¦ when before the magistrate , asked whether it -was not after six o ' clock , in the morning -when the occurrence took place ; and he carefully drew the magistrate ' s attention t » the answer . The policemen , said no ; it was before that hour . Had they answered in the affirmative , the offence would have been removed from the class of burglaries , and made it a common attempt at robbery . The man was committed for trial . Alderman Wilson , at the Mansion House , has severely rebuked a police inspector for not allowing boys to pursue their trade as shoeblacks in the space between the Royal Exchange and Exchunge-buildings . The officer said the boys were thieves , and assembled for dishonest purposes ; but the alderman replied that , if they were hindered in getting an honest livelihood , they were very likely to become thieves . In the particular case in question , a gentleman who was going to a dinner party employed a boy to black his boots . One boot was finished when the police officer interfered , and the gentleman was obliged to go to his friend ' s house with one boot dirty and tho other cleaned— " which , " he sorrowfully pointed out to tlio alderman , " made him look perfectly ridiculous . " - The sympathetic magistrate thought that made tho case worse against tho inspector . A rather singular charge was brought forward at tlie Worship-street police court a few days ago , against an undertaker living in Park-street , Finsbury , named Charles Townley , the burial contractor , as was alleged for tho metropolitan police force . A police Borgcnnt while on duty ono night in tho locality , saw < lraWn up in front of Mr . lownley ' s promises a hearao and mourning coach $ and , on passing through the street again tho following morning , he found them still there , and was afterwards told by a constable on the beat that they had stood there tho wholo night . Ho subsequently learned that two coffins -were in the hearse , one of which

      contained the body of a policeman who had just died of a malignant fever . He called at Mr . Townley ' s house , and mentioned the circumstance , and lie believed that the coach and hearse were afterwards removed , but they were speedily succeeded by other vehicles of the same sort , which remained there for six days together ; and this caused euch an obstruction in the roadway , that the officer at last felt himself bound to summon Mr . Townley . The undertaker stated to the magistrate that , in consequence of the road being under repair , he had been unable for sevex * al days to obtain access to the stableyard in which he kept his carriages , and was therefore compelled to leave them in the open street . He had , however , made arrangements to prevent a recurrence of the nuisance complained of . Mr . Hainmill believed that Jlr . Townley had not committed the act with any bad intention , and therefore merely ordered him to pay the costs of the proceedings , without imposing any penalty . Two men named Mallan , alias Sykes and Paton , were charged at the Westminster police-office , on Tuesday , with an astoundingly impudent attempt at cheating . They went to the house of a Mr . Bannister , in Coleshillstreet , Phnlico , and , intruding themselves into the dining-room , were found there making themselves very much at home , the former lounging upon the sofa , and the latter warming himself in an easy chair . On Mr . Bannister ' s entrance , Paton , although a perfect stranger , familiarly extended his hand , which Mr . Bannister , in the surprise of the moment , took ; but , on recovering himself , he said he had not the pleasure of being acquainted with either of them . Paton affected much surprise that Mr . Bannister did not know him , and , haying introduced Mallan as a Crimean hero who had lost a leg , entreated Mr . Bannister's sympathy , and a private interview . Mr . Bannister declined the interview , and told the men they had better be off . They took him at his word , but had no sooner turned their backs than he missed his silver spectacles from the room . He went in pursuit of the fellows , and collared them , when Mallan dropped the spectacles , and both were given into custody . It afterwards appeared that they had made similar attempts at other houses . They were committed for trial . Some cases of cruelty to horses have come before the magistrates this week , and been met with appropriate punishment . An action brought by a tailor in the Court of Exchequer , on Tuesday , for the recovery of 10 . 7 ? ., alleged to be due for clothes supplied to a Mr . Propert , was remarkable on account of an admission made by the plaintiff . The defendant pleaded " infancy , " as he will not be of age till next September ; to which it was replied that the clothes were " necessaries . " It came out , however , that 13 / . 13 s . of the sum was money lent , but charged as clothes , in order to deceive the young man ' s father , a surgeon in New Cavendish-street . The Chief Baron expressed himself warmly as to " the gros 3 and abominable" nature of this fraud , which he thought was worse than picking a pocket ; and he told the tailor that , had he obtained the mone } ' , he would have been liable to fourteen years' transportation . The young man was at college , and appears to have been very expensive in his habits . Mr . Woulfe , the tailor , wrote some letters to him , promising that , if he would introduce customers , he ( Woulfe ) " would not fail to return the compliment when Mr . Propert was in need of assistance . " Ultimately , however , finding he could not get his money , he threatened to arrest the young man on the day he was going to be examined at college ; and , in the affidavit sworn by Woulfe on this occasion , he stated that the sum of 107 ? . was for goods supplied . At this point , the Chief Baron ordered the plaintiff to remain in court till the end of the case , and asked him if he was not aware he had committed perjury in that affidavit . He answered that he was not . The arrest , it appeared , was prevented by some arrangement . A verdict was given for the defendant . An action to recover 661 . 8 s . has been brought in the Court of Exchequer by a Mr . Simmonds , a silversmith , against a Mr . Hughes , alias O'Keith , and Miss Emina Stanley , tho proprietors of the entertainment called " Tho Seven Ages of Woman . " Mr . Siinmonds had fitted up tho room , and , after a large part was completed , he had to take tho things down and begin again , because Miss Stanley said it would not do . Ono of the witnesses called was Mr . Joseph Stammers , who said ho had been concerned in the speculation , but that Misa Stanley did not pay any one , except a few trilling sums . Nobody was paid but the landlord , and he tttopped the rent . Mr . Hughes and Miss Stanley , according to JMr . Stammers , were living together as man and wifo . " That is rather ungallant towards Miss Stanley , " said the Lord Chief ISurcn . " How do you lcnow it ? " Tho witness replied that it was notorious among tho musical profession ; and his statement was confirmed by the landlord of a house whero tho couple lived . The Chief Huron thought no case had been made out against the defendants , and tho plaintiff was accordingly nonsuited .

      Naval And Military. Cruiixtiks On Boaiid...

      NAVAL AND MILITARY . Cruiixtiks on Boaiid Amkkioan Siiijpb . —A special report from the managing committee of tlio Liverpool Society of Friends of Foreigners in Distress , adopted at

      a meeting held on the 4 th inst ., has been published . t 7 has reference to the cruelties frequently practised * board American mercantile vessels upon men who ha been induced to serve as sailors . Of these men we read —" Some of them have been , carried off by force n stratagem , leaving behind parents , wives , and children others are enticed by the promise of good wages- ami the great majority are turned away entirely destitute on their arrival in England . " The Society examined during the last year as many , as seventy-nine cases , and sinJ the beginning of the new year the cases have actuallv amounted to twenty-seven . " It is on record , " 6 ay ft * report , " that many have been offered work on board a steamer in the river , or to unload ships , and are thus prevailed upon to step into a small boat to be carried on board , which leaves them as soon as they are put on the deck of the ship , where they are retained forciblv Among the applicants for relief there have been coopers . ' carpenters , cooks , waiters , clerks , and surgeons , who have been carried off in this nefarious -way . The cruelties which are practised upon these poor unprotected men on board these ships would be incredible , had they not been of late frequently confirmed by the proceedings ia the Liverpool police court ; but unfortunatel y in redress for these ferocious assaults , committed upon the high seas , there is no practical remedy for these poor men on their arrival in this country . It has been proved in that court that on board the Ocean Monarch men have been forced to draw with their teeth iron , nails from the deck into which they had been driven for that purpose to the depth of two inches ; that they had been compelled literally to lick up the dust from the deck of the cabin floor and at the inquest held upon a Dutchman who had been beaten to death by the third mate and boatswain of the Guy Mannering , the surgeon who made thejwsi mortem examination deposed ' that the head presented an enormously contused mass , the face was completely battered in , and there were from , seventy so eighty contused wounds upon the feet , legs , thighs , and back . ' The hospitals of- Liverpool record many instances of the lamentable condition in which the majority of these victims of savage ferocity are brought in . . . . It is , however , but justice to exonerate the majority of the captains from any participation in the actual ill-treatment . This has been generally practised by the mates , boatswains , and crews . " Shipwiieoks . —The Anita steamer , belonging to the Magdalena Steam Navigation Company , has been wrecked off Moro Hermoso , which was some twenty miles to the south-east . Captain Hills , the commander , saved himself by clinging to a cask and an oair , aud le and eleven more of the crew were taken off by the Estrella , another vessel belonging to the company , which was pursuing the same course . Twelve of the crew .. however , perished ; half of -which numDer had formed part of the crew of the Tay , which was lost a few months ago in the Gulf of Mexico . The Anita left Savanilla on the 23 rd of December , for London . She had not been out more than two hours before a formidable leak was discovered ; a gale sprang up ; all efforts to reduce the in-ponring of the water failed ; the furnaces and boilers were speedily reached by the waves ; and , in five hours from the starting of the vessel , she foundered . —The Kavensbourne , London and Antwerp steamer , has been wrecked at Flushing , owing to a heayy sea stoving in her bows . —The French barque Sally , bound from Bordeaux to Liverpool , has been wrecked in Carnarvon Bay . Out of a crew of sixteen , only two were saved . The vessel broke up in fifteen minutes after she struck . —The Water Wyvern yacht , the property of James Edward Stopford , Esq ., " Vice- Commodore of the Roj'al Western Yacht < Jlub of Ireland , and managing director of the Royal Irish Fisheries Company , is a total wreck . She was on a voyage from Dublin to ( ialvay Bay , but , striking on a reef of rocks to the Avestward of Mutton Island , she went to pieces . —A Scotch commercial vessel , the Welsfortl , was wrecked at Capo Race on Christmas-day , and all hands but the mate and two men —in all , twenty-three persons—perished . The ship and cargo are totally lost . Reductions at Woolwich . —A great many temporary clerks , employed in the Government Department at Woolwich , are to be dismissed . Some two thousand labourers and artisans are also to be discharged at tho end of March . Many of those persons who are now engaged in tho store branch of the War Department , and who aro advanced in life , are to retire on tho superannuation list . Reports , also , are current to the effect that the majority of the artillery officers employed in superintending tho departments of Woolwich Arsenal aro to be superseded by civilians experienced in the duties of tho dcpartmcntH , tho services of the military officers having been demanded by the Cominander-in-Chief . Another Auctic Expedition . —Lady Franklin ha & addressed and published a letter to Lord ralmcrston , seeking to engage the sympathy of those in power m tho despatch of an expedition in search of the remains of the Franklin party . She endeavours to show that tho proposed search may bo made with flight hazard of life and very small cost ; and observes : " This final anil exhausting search is all I seek in behalf of tho first and only martyra to Arctic discovery in modern times , and it ia all I ever intend to ask . "

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 14, 1857, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14021857/page/8/