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Leader (1850-1860), 12th April 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 344

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      Untitled Article

      a marriage between his son I > on Pedro V ., the reigning sovereign , and the Princess Charlotte of Belgium . DENMABKThe British Government has definitively declined the proposal made by Denmark for the capitalisation of the Sound Dues , expressing , however , a willingness to receive fresh propositions . The latter have not yet been put into tangible shape . HAMBURG . A' strong majority of the assembly of burghers of Hamburg has rejected , for the third time , the new constitution proposed by the Senate .

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      A MEETING OF " SWELL MOBSMEN . " Mb . Henry Mayhew—one of the most courageous , practical , and truly Christian inquirers into vice and misery that the present age has produced—has followed up his gathering of ticket-of-leave men by an invitation to the " Swell-mobsmen" of London , which was responded to by about one hundred of them , who met on Monday evening at the "White Lion Tavern , Fashion-street , Briek-lane , . Spitalfields . In an account published in . the Daily News , we read that the

      meeting was convened for the purpose of taking the opinion , of such characters with respect to the working of an . institution which is intended to lend a helping hand to those offenders who xnay be disposed to " square accounts" -with society , and to lead an honest life-The room in which the meeting was held was well lighted and comfortable . A free and easy manner prevailed , but everything was carried on decently , the cries of ¦ ¦ ¦ * ' order" and " chair" being immediately followed by attentive silence .

      A stranger would have had no * su . spicion that the men there assembled were at war with society . They one and all appeared well fed , well clad , and at ease with themselves . In the course of the evening , several showily-dressed youths , who were evidently the " aristocracy -of the class , walked into the room . These were mostly habited as clerks or young men in offices , some wearing gold guard-chains , others with pisfcol keys dangling from their waistcoat pockets , and

      having diamond pins in their cravats . They were , however ; all- " mobsmen , " as they are called—men who , in some instances , we are assured / are gaining their £ 10 or even £ 20 a-week , by light-fingered operations . Indeed , several present were pointed out as "tip-top sawyers / ' " moviug in the best society , and doing a heavy business . " Besides these , there were a few notorious " cracksmen" ( house-breakers ) , and one or two "fences" ( receivers of stolen goods ) , who were JJftKJl to he worth their weight in gold . On the entry of one who was unknown to the rest , a cry was raised of " Only ' kenobes * there ! " " No square men in the room ! " which , being interpreted , meant onl y " nob ' s , " or first-class thieves—none who are following an h onest course of life to be present ; whereupon it was represented to the stranger that the meeting ^ was a pxivate one . Mr . Mayhew having addressed the meeting , several of the " naobsmen" related their experiences . Some stated 'that they were desirous to return to an honest mode of living ; others that they had done so all

      that the horrors of imprisonment and transportation axe more than sufficient to counterbalance the wild joys of the " kenob 6 ' s" life .-t They likewise all agreed that one great obstacle to the reformation of criminals is the brutality and perpetual interference of the police ¦ when the former have obtained situations . Mr . Mayhew afterwards , explained the nature of the proposed reformatory institution . A ticket-of-leave man , of very good address , concluded some obser vations with the exclamation , " Might God and good reason speed them I " which was received with applause . The meeting dispersed quietly .

      It is but right ; to add ( soya tho Daily Neivs ) that , ¦ while some of the persons present were pointed out by the others m being men anxious to " square it , " and who they knew to bo willing to work , others , on the contrary , were spoken of as being * ' incorrigible , " though , from tlie frank and even honest expression of many of those young men ( for they were mostly "between tweuby and thirty ) , it would have been difficult to have recognised them as habitual thieveu . A few indeed , candidly stated "they didn't seem to care " about reforming themselves , but they would gladly assist any of their body who wejro desirous of bo domcr .

      At the conclusion , a good-lookinpj boy -was introduced , -who wan in tho habit of gaining a ftnv pehoo by reciting scenes from Shalcspeare in publio-liouao purlours . The mow B « id it was a pity something could SaI , L f f ° l ; the poor lftd > as th ° y Relieved him to f 5 m » hf ° l r ' they feftred ' if not «» owed tlom his present oourees , ho would sooner or later bouome one of them .

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      «™™ w 1 ? A-rERlA . LS FOR CHOLERA . SLdT' f ° Oulwhoww , « d William » tapolton , « uat contractor , of Bolmont-wharf , Maidenlane , weremmunoned ^ t the Clerkenwoll pol co-court

      to show cause why they should not abate a nuisance which was injurious to the health of the neighbourhood , the nuisance being caused by sifting dust and other offensive matter . Several witnesses having been examined pro and con , the defendants denied the charge , and asserted that all the offensive matter was put into a cart every day . Mr . Tyrwhitt , in deciding the case , said the sanitary laws in their present shape originated from sheer necessity . The premises in . question lay alongside the Regent ' s-canal , which afforded great facilities for the trading in dust and other offals called " hard and soft core" collected in the metropolis . The sifting of the one , the separating of the others , and the

      accumulation of all , had , according to the evidence , sickened the neighbours ' . The defendants were not bound to submit to a magistrate ' s decision , for they could , if they had pleased , have taken their case before a jury ; but , as they had chosen to abide by his ( Mr . Tyrwhitt ' s ) decision , he was bound to say that , in his opinion , the nuisance was proved to exist , as charged , and that no measures had yet been taken to prevent or counteract danger to the he ' alth of the neighbourhood . Three cases of typhus , traceable to this cause , had occurred in one house , within seventy feet of one of the heaps of dust complained of . These heaps were estimated as containing fifty tons of " hard and soft core : " both of which were sworn to be offensive .

      Other parties when in possession of these premises made a like use of them , but they had been prosecuted , and then they removed the cause of complaint . Large heaps of "hard and softcore , " steaming and stifling , had again arisen , to the extent described by the witnesses . He was therefore bound to convict ; but , as the defendants , much to their credit as respectable men of business , had declared themselves ready to clear off the deleterious matter and to employ extra strength immediately to ship it off "by the canal , the object of the prosecution would be answered if that were done within three weeks . He also recommended that the sifting , which occasioned so much annoyance , should not be resumed on the premises .

      It was understood that , if the local authorities were satisfied with the state of the yards , &c , at the end of three weeks , the proceedings wo \ ild be discontinued .

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      AN EVENING BURGLARY IN THE CITY . The recklessness of ticket-of-leave men has received another illustration in a singularly daring burglary and attempt at murder , committed at half-past seven o ' clock last Sunday evening in Mitre-square , Aldersgate-street , City . At that hour , the police were passing by the house of Mr . Socketts , a dairyman , when a cry of "Police !" . and "Murder !* ' was raised from , the first-floor window , at which stood a man named Martin . He stated that there were thieves in the house ; but , on the police telling him to come down and open the door , he replied , " I'm afraid . " One of the constables again told him to come down , and , if any one offered to molest him , to call out , and the police would burst open the door . He then left the window , and the constables went round to the back of

      the house , and discovered a man in the yard . Several of the neighbo urs then assembled about the wali , over which one of the policemen climbed , and arrested a ruffianly looking fellow , supposed to b e a ticket-of-leave man . The house being then entered , it was found that the man Martin , whoso liead was covered with blood , had been beaten with a candlestick , and he now lies in a very dangerous state . A bag , containing some propery , was found in the dustbin . On his way to the station-house , Fitsswilliam , tho culprit who had been caught , said to the constable who had him in charge , " It was a lucky job you came . along at the time you did , as otherwise I should have thrown the man out of the window . " The accused was brought up at the Mansion House and remanded . Tho robbery was committed at a time when suoh depredations arc of frequent occurrence—during tho absence of the family at ohurch .

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      MMMHMMaMMMBHHavi ^^^^ l ^^ Commutation op Sentence . —rhe > entence of death passed on Ha ns Hansen , who has been found guiltv of murdering one of his comrades belonging to a German battalion quartered at Plymou th , has been commuted to transportation for life , owing to the state of drunkenness of both men at the time of the act , and to the apparent absence of premeditation The Killing op Bousfield . —The Sheriffs of Loadon and Middlesex have se nt in their report to Sir George Grey , in reference to the circumstanc es attending the execution of the murderer Bousfield , at the Old Bailey , on Monday week . The Sheriffs report that Calcraft , the executioner , was unnerved by the letter he had received , threatening his life on the scaffold , and that the lamentable circu mstances of the execution were aggravated by the physical prostration of the victim when brought up to the gallows .

      Depraved , but Religious ( by Profession ) . Mr . "Wharton B . Marriott communicates to tie Times , fro m Eton College , a story of an imposter , who trades upon a fiction of poverty , accompanied by profound religious sentiment . "A cer tain J . P . ( I will not name him , for the sake of his friends , who are , I believe , respectable ) wrote to me few days ago from Church-street , Deptford , stating in a letter of sis pages , closely written , that he was the son of a clergyman , and himself originally intended for holy orders , but that , owing to the embarrassed state of his father's affairs , he had been unable to complete his education at college ; that he was at this moment reduced by severe illness to the lowest state of destitution .

      and distress , but had , he thanked God , at last obtained a situation of 20 s . a-week at Messrs . Scott Russell ' s , a certificate to which , effect was enclosed , but that his clothes were pawned to the amount of 35 s ., his ^ * fondly-attached wife' extremely ill , ancV lie himself unable to work for want of clothes and a little nourishing Food . Then came a long quotation from Scripture as to the coming of that night when no man can work , and an intimation in the same sentence that a trifle , per post-office Older , would set Mm up for life and make him a truly Chappy man , &c . In answer to this , lam ashamed to say , I enclosed Mm a trifle , saying that it would depend upon tlie result of inquiries which I should make whether I

      could do anything more for him . By return of post I received a long reply , saying that tlie relief I had sent him , had , enabled him to buy a loaf of bread and a few coals , and entreating me to send a few old clothes and shoes and a trifle in money , if it were only 5 s . His most urgent -want was to be able to partake of the Holy Communion on Sunday , ' under the advice of his spiritual director , ' and he was very anxious to be * able to put a trifle into the alms-dish for the benefit of the poor . This was followed by an abundance of Scriptural quoto-tioris , and by the

      expression of most pious sentiments so worded as to excite far more of suspicion than of sympathy . Before writing to Mm again , I thought it as well to refer for information to the Secretary of the Mendicity Society , and I found , as I anticipated , that the man was well known to them . It appeared that he was a man of ' very depraved habits , ' a drunkard , and accustomed to illtreat his ' fondly-attached wife . ' This being the case , I have written to Mr . J . F . to inform him that I have sent £ X Is . for the benefit cf himself and his confreres to the Mendicity Society . "

      mgB , a children drop their booty , which amountod to nearly a pook of humnu bonoe , consisting of pieces of bouIIs , ribs , vertobrro , two thighbones and a great uumbor of smaller bonou . These he at once buried , and iu bo doing rom , ovocl a great many moro , though ho did not dig doopoi- than oighteon inches . Thia man assured mo that ifc was one parson's work to keep tho * young dovilu' from taking away tho bonos . " It appears that uomo of the contents of tho ohurohyard nro being removed to tho yard of Christ Church , Broadway .

      nd ho made the S / TAXH OS THE CHUUGIIYA 1 U > OB" ST . MaRQABET ' S , Westminster . — Somo correspondents of the 3 } Lmcs have been calling attention , during the past week , to the disgraceful state of this churchyard , whore children pick up tho bonos which are indecently scattered about , and carry them away in their pinafores , probably to some marine store dealer ' s . Upon weeing this revolting eight , on a visit to tho locality , one of tho correspondents in question " immediately called tlio attention of a workman to tho prooeocl

      Highway Robbery with Violence . —A murderous attack was made a few nights ago , between nine and ten o ' clock , in a low alley turning out of Shoroditch , on Mr . Sharwell , a warehouseman in the city . The watch worn by that gentleman was first snatched from him , and , on running after the thief , he was ferociously ill-used by two other men , and left senseless on tie pavement . Two men -were brought before tlio Worshipstreet magistrate , charged with this outrage ; and , although one made an apparently generous attempt to show that he was the only person implicated , both were committed for trial . ; i

      Central Criminal Couiwp . —Hoary Thomas , a young man of tweuty-five , has been sentenced to hro years' penal servitude for a garotte robbery , in company with two other men not in custody . — --Fow men and a woman have been found guilty of coining * and sentenced to various ternie of imprisonment and penal servitude . Fusedalo Blow Pope , a lad of thirteen , has pleaded Guilty to a ohai'go of stealing a cash-box containing securities . He tvoo alao charged with arson , , of which he waB Acquitted . Ho was Bcntonccd to six years' penal servitude . Froclorick Stapleton , a brass-finisher , and Francos Price , were

      Acquitted of n , charge of burglary in the Iiouho of Benjamin West , a jeweller , and stealing property to tho value of £ \ , 500 Ten Shillings a-Wjubk "Wages , and its Fhuits . —Thonma Clarkaon , a rospoatable-loolung young lnnn , nineteen years of ago , pleaded guilty at tlio Oontral Criminal Court to a charge of embezzling -i' 20 , property of hie employer . Mr . James Ogdoii , n M / mohoster warehouseman in Aldersgato-tttroot . In answer to a question from the Kooordor , tho prosecutor mid that ClarkBon ' n wages wore ton Blnllings a-wook . Tho Recorder asked if that was not rather a . low amount ; to which Mr . Ogdou eaid yos , but a certain oonimiaislan

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      " ^^^^^^ ¦ MB 344 THE LEADER . [ No . 316 , Saturday ,

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      GUK , CIVILISATION .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 12, 1856, page 344, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2136/page/8/