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    Untitled Article

    John Comptwnj a young- man -who had been in the poHee force , was tried fora butgiary in Welbeck-street , while he vraa-yet . a constable . One night , when h « was on his beat , he roused the owner of the premises , to ¦ wMchs some new buildings were- being added , told , him the outer door of that part was open , and , going in , callfed his attention to the-faet of a robbery having- been committed . Subsequent facts rendered it probable that dorapton was hitntelf the thief . He suddenly became very " flush " of cash , which , he spent in a- most pTofuse awl reckless manner ; he had been missed from his beat by his-brother constables about the time of the robbery ; he was . much agitated and confused when he returned to t&e station ; and he attempted to bribe one of his sergeants-who had perceived that he had a large quantity of silver . He was found Guilty , and sentenced to transportation for lifei .

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    MIDDLESEX SESSIONS . The January General Sessions commenced on Monday , when Daniel Sullivan was convicted of a brutal seadi unprovoked assault on William Draper , in Long Acre , the particulare-of which appeared in the Leader of Dec . 27 . He ^ -was sentenced to hard labour for a year . Thomas Beall , seven years of age , who was convicted last week at ClerkenweU of having stabbed another boy named Charlton , was brought up for judgment on Tuesday . It was stated , by the boy ' s father , when the case ¦ was tried , that the matter would never have occurred if his stepmother had taken care of him . and his brothers

    and sisters , five in number , but that she was given to dissipated habits , the result of which was that neither he ( the father ) nor the children had anything in the world bat what they stood up in . The prisoner ' s own mother died' of the cholera when he was but five months old . The Assistant Judge admonished the prisoner , and cautioned him not to use a knife against any one in future . He sentenced him - to sue days' imprisonment , which having , already expired h . e was discharged , and given over to his brother , a lad of fifteen years © f age , who was told to take him home and tell his father to give him a good flogging .

    Mary Hcrrigan and John Regan were indicted for unlawfully assaulting and beating William Thome , a constable of the metropolitan police force , while in the execution of Ms ; duty ; and Began was further indicted for unlawfully assaulting and wounding George Anderson . The facts of the case we have already published . Regan was sentenced to hard labour for eighteen months , and Horrigan . to imprisonment for four months .

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    An IuvAiai > Bi > Kuffiajt . —An instance of misplaced leniency , recently communicated to the Times in a letter from a correspondent , is made the subject of a leading article in , that journal on . Monday . A . convict , named George Holmesy has . been allowed to leave prison before the expiration of his sentence , on account of alleged ill health . " Thia poor invalid , " says . the Times , "is described in . the local journals as ' the terror of the neighbourhood , in which , he had long resided ; ' he was suspected of / the murder of Mrs . M'Knight . A few days after the muider , in the immediate neighbourhood of the spot where th , at murder had been committed , this worthy creature : ' met in broad daylight a child travelling on thei high . road . He dragged her up a dark lane , brutally

    nicates to the Times the following story : — A gentleman sitting-with two or three friends in his dining-room is all at once informed by one of his servants that ' somebody is trying . the door ! ' On cautiously listening-, he -finds that there is something going on at the door , and on issuing suddenly forth collars a man on the doorstep . The cook , who has been watching in the area , swears the man so collared . is the one who has been engaged for some time ' doing something at -tbe door . ' The man is given in charge , is recognized by many of the force as a thief and as a companion of thieves . Fortunately , nothing is found upon him but some silver , a pipe , a cigar , and some Iucifer matches . The presiding magistrate before whom he is taken , this morning is astounded to hear that any one could ever have been locked up on any such charge ! ' The men might have been lighting his ' cigar ! ' The cook swears to him , the

    not eat—if prisoners were conrpeHed by the produce of their own hands to pay the costs of their own prosecution and punishment—it would' be found that tie criminal class could maintain itself by a process that vrauld be at once primitive and reformatory . " Stating the various species of imprisonment by which a criminal graduates inwickedness , the City Solicitor continued : — "Humanity will not kill him , false kindness will not cure him , and the world will not receive him ; yet he h a man , and must be somewhere . It is bad legislation that has made criminals what they are : by its influence they have graduated from trifling offences to the gravest crimes , and such will ever be the case unless you provide industrial prisons in which they may be inured to labour , and

    never discharged until they have acquired fixed habits of industry , proving that they can and will maintain themselves . " The Lord Mayor asked the City Solicitor to put his opinions on paper . Mr . Pearson replied : — . " I am here , as your Lordship knows , upon other business , and am not prepared with documents to prove the statement ; but the fact is , that the present Government is unteachable and untractable on this subject . Seven years ago , Sir George Grey promised that my system of prison discipline should have a thorough investigation and a fair trial , and nothing has been done , that I am

    aware of , towards the fulfilment of the promise . It is the press and the public to whom I shall next make my appeal . The press is nobly leading the way by preparing the public mind , and the public must follow the course which the press is opening . In obedience to your Lordship ' s wishes , I will in two or three days lay before you a detailed statement of rny opinions upon prison discipline , transportation , and tickets of leave ; and if your Lordship will call a public meeting to consider these important questions , I shall be proud to take part in the discussion . "

    Ihe Aixeged Abduction Case at Ba . xh . —The hearing of . the case " Yescombe v . Roche and . another " in the Bath County Court , the particulars of which wire gave in our last paper , was resumed on Friday week , and concluded on the following day . According to Mademoiselle Koch , she left llr . Yescombe ' s house on account of ill-treatment , and -went to Mrs . Madocks ' s , where Mr . Roche treated her like a gentleman . The jury , after an absence from court of rather more than an hour , returned with a verdict against Mr . Roche , on the count for harbouring : damages , one farthing . They also expressed a unanimous opinion that the case ought never to have been , brought into court . The verdict was received with applause . The plaintiff then withdrew another action against 3 Ir . Roche foi trespass , of which he liad given notice . Mr . Walter Savage Landor gave evidence on Saturday ; biit his testimony did not materially affect the case .

    Coukty Police aetd the Gxrotte . —It was resolved at the " Worcestershire Quarter Sessions , 'on Monday , to make a small addition to the Dudley and Stourbridge districts . Some observations were then made on the prevalence of outrages against the person , on which Sir John Pakrngton remarked that undoubtedly a good deal of crime was being committed in various paxts oi the country just now ; but nevertheless he thought there wa 3 a panic in the public mind on the subject . Everybody was talking about outrages by ticket-of-leave men and of garotte robberies . He thought this arose from a panic , and that it would be removed and

    forgotten in three months . Lord Lyttelton agreed with Sir John Pakington that a great deal of alarm existed in the public mind on the subject , but said they must not forget that they had still the worst part of tlie winter to go through . Captain Bennett , who submitted the motion to the Court for the increase in the Dudley force , said that the inhabitants in that district vv-eio afraid to venture out after nightfall , and oven working men after receiving their wages dared not go home alone . He and his brother magistrates had had as many as seventy cases brought before them in one day . Sir Johin Paldngton resumed tlio subject the next day , and spoke to the same effect as before .

    The Samaritan Institution . —The charges against Mr . Suit Edward Pack Barber , the secretary to the Samaritan Institution , were proceeded with on several days during the present week , and a great deal of testimony against him was given by some girls -who had been in the habit of going to the place ; but what they statel one da } - they denied another . The girls stated that Mr . Barber had offered them remuneration if they would swear that they had received relief from the Institution ; but Mr . Alderman Garden said their testimony couli not for a moment be depended on .

    A Woman founi > Dead in a Railway Arch . —Tho body of a woman , about thirty years of age , was founi on Sunday evening lying dead upon a heap of rubbisli in an arch belonging to tho ISluckwall Railway Company . The poor creature , wlio was without shawl or bonnet , nufl appeared to bo utterly friendless and unknown , was aeon in tho morning alive by two other women > vlio entered the arch . They left for a short time to procure some food , an < l on their return she was dead . A medical man , -who had been callftd to see the woman , having given his opinion that death was causecl from destitution anrl exposure to tho wcatlicr , tho jury at tho iiiijucHt returned a verdict accordingly , tho coroner directing the police authorities to prevent

    deatimaster of the house collars him , and the police recognize him as an old acquaintance ; but at ten o'clock" at night he is only lighting a cigar at the lock of a street-door . The worthy magistrate is astounded at sucb a charge being insisted on , and the householder who made it and the policeman who took it are ignominiously dismissed . " Forgery and Embezzlement . — ' -Henry Autey , cleric in the ofiBce of Mr . Martin Cavrood , Secretary of the Leeds , Bradford , and Halifax Junction Railway , was placed in the dock of the Leeds Court-house last Saturday , charged with purloining three several warrants from the office of the company , forging the name of Thomas Thompson Cunliffe Lister , Esq ., of Beamsley Hall , near Skipton , to these warrants ,- paying them away , and appropriating the money to his ows . use . He was committed for trial .

    A Gakotter Killed in Edinburgh . —A youth who serves as a shopman at Edinburgh is now in custody under a chaTge of killing an Irish labourer , wlio , in company with four other Irishmen ( according to the account given by the young man ) , attacked him in the streets at night , on his refusing to give them money . It appears that they attempted to garotte him ; that he took out a clasp-knife , and struck about all round ; and -that finally he escaped , leaving one of the men dead on . the pavement . He was not then aware of the fatal catastrophe , but he told a policeman of the encounter , and he was subsequently apprehended . The other Irishmen are also detained , pending an inquiry .

    Embezzlement by C ommerciax Travellers . —William Sewell , a commercial traveller in the employ of a corn miller at Bramley , is now under remand on a charge of embezzling various sums , amounting to -upwards of 400 ? ., from his master . —Another commercial traveller , named Thomas Cullingworth , employed by a spirit merchant at Huddersfield , has been committee for trial , charged with embezzling three boxes of cigars . Voluntary Torturh . —A convict in the county gaol of Cardiff attempted a few weeks ago to muider one of the warders by striking him on the head with a large

    piece of firewood . A day or two afterwards , he endeavoured to strangle himself , but was rescued just in time . His- next feat was one of a most amazing character . It was f&und that the pupils of bis eyes were greatly Scratched . The medical man -was perfectly baffled in his endeavours to ascertain the cause ; but at length it was found that he had a small piece of glass in his pocket , with which he liad lacerated the pupils to sucli an extent that it is doubtful whether he has not destroyed his sight . His object , ho said , was to be sent out of the country . He is a tickct-of-leave man , and had been convicted of a burglary .

    The Crystal Palace Forger . —The convict Robson has been suffering in the infirmary of Newgate from severe illness , and for two or three days he -was entirely deprived of his mental faculties . He is under the caro of Mr . Gibson , the surgeon of Newgate , and U now improving . Dedea Redaniks . —Father Laurence , tno Roman Catholic priest who administered the last offices of religion to the convict Dedea Redanies , writes to the papers to say that some of the details of the execution of that culprit are incorrect . It appears that he did not give any evidences of a Mahometan fatalism , nor exclaim , a few minutes before Ins death , I shall soon be in the arms of my dear Caroline ; " that he made no mention of tlio names of hie victims for the last two days of his life ; that he slept well , instead of ill , on his last night ; and that he exhibited a very devout demeanour , and an appearanco of sincere sorrow for the crimes he had

    committed . His not taking any refreshment ou tho morning of his execution is referred to a religious feeling . Piuson Discipline . —Two young men , stated to be eighteen years old each , and both apparently active and powerful , vcro charged at tho Mansion Howao with attempling to pick pockets in the streets . They were well known to tho police ; and , after lutving been sentenced to three months' hard labour , tho Lord Mayor made soino remarks on the great increase of crime , and the necessity that exists for devising some hotter means of disposing of our convicts . He asked Mr . Pearson , the City Solicitor , what wns to be done ; and that gentleman replied : — " If our lcgialntors would have the courago to enforce a Bound system of prison discipline , no difficulty would arise in disposing of our criminals . If industrial occupation were provided in district prisons , nnd criminals wore taught that if they did not work they should .

    assaulted Jaer , and then robbed her . ' Strangely enough , the sentence pronounced upon this abominable ruffian wm one of ; imprisonment ibr only two years . It was pronounced by a barrister who was acting as judge for the day , to the very general disgust of all who heard it . Well , George Holmes was consigned to York Castle , but as soon as he found himself within tho walls of that building , hiai formerly robust health began to decline aapace . There was , no doubt , a craving after his accustomed beerahop aud the other littlo excitements in which his heart delighted , His liver was affected , and then his lunga , and . he contrived to make out so good a atory to the doctor , and tho > doctor to the Visiting Justices , and tho Visiting Justices to the Home Secretary ,

    that , in five ' months' time he- procured his freedom . Change of air and liberty wero the two indispensable conditions for preserving to society one of its brightest ornaments in tho person , of Goorgc Holmes . The Governor gare- him some money , and , no- doubt , every care was taken that tho interesting convalescent should be provided with every littltt comfort bin situation might require . Away he went , and wo hear of him in a very fa-cr days at a-boeraaop , where he was given into custody for endeavouring to pass away a bad half-crown . " Soma remarks on the subject : wero made at the West Riding Sessions : but no result was come to . It

    was also alhidod to at a meeting of the magistrates of the Bradford division , when a resolution was come to to the effect that , inasmuch as her Majesty ' s pardon had been conferred upon Holmes , nothing could bo done in hie case , but that , in the opinion of tlio bench , it would in future bo expedient if the Secretary of State for tho Home Department would first inquire into tho antecedents of a criminal before her Majesty ' s clemency was extended to him . Holmes , the pardoned convict , has returnod to his old haunts in tlio village of lluwkcsworth , and is living- a life of idleness . His presence causes great terror to tho poaccabta inhabitants . A Charitable Interpretation . —" Civia '' -commu-

    Untitled Article

    ? ANUARYlO , l > 8 ^ 7 : ] OPHB : E-B -lSifE , ' 31

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 10, 1857, page 31, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2175/page/7/