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Leader (1850-1860), 21st March 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 274

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      the jury to be discharged . The accused "will he kept in custody , and tried again . Attempted Suicide .- —A young woman of twentytwo , named Rosina Burns , was charged at the Thanses police-court with attempting to commit self-destruction . A policeman on duty aear St . Katharine ' s Dock , heard a violent splash in the "water just below the lock at the entrance . He then proceeded to the spot and saw the woman floating- on the surface of the stream which at that place is about two-and-twenty feet deep . An

      officer from the Custom-house was called , and he and the policeman , dragged the woman out of the water . She appeared quite dead , but after some time was restored to animation . On being- aske < i by the magistrate what had induced her to make th « attempt , she said that she had lived a life of degradation , of which she was weary , and had therefore determined to put an end to her miseries . She had since repented of what she had done . As shej stated that she had friends who would take care of her , she was discharged .

      " Gentlemen" versus Working Men . —Two young men , described by the reporters as leing " good appearance , " giving : the names of William Blakesley and Thomas S . Prestow , were charged on Monday at Bow-street with being drunk on the previous Saturday night , and committing several assaults . Two respectable men-were returning home with their wives at about halfpast nine o ' clock from the house of a friend -where they had been spending the evening , when they encountered Blakesley , Prestow , and another young man . The two " gentlemen" were excessively drunk ; the working men were quite sober . The former laid hold of one of the

      married women in an . improper manner ; and , on her husband interfering , the three young Bacchanals furiously assaulted the two working men . At length a policeman came , up ; and Blakesley and Prestow were secured , their companion escaping . During- the examination on Monday , a young man came forward , and said he was the third ; but the working men refused to have a warrant against him , as they did not feel certain as to the part he played in the business . Blakesley and Prestow , who said they had been at a supper-room , and had drunk too much , were fined 67 . each , which they inataatly paid .

      Stealing Gas . — -A rather singular case was heard last Saturday ]} at the Marlborough-street police-court , where Mr . Henry Tilbury , brass-founder and gas-fitter , a person in a large way of business in Upper Marylebonestreet , was charged with stealing gas from the Imperial Gas Company . The company , having reason to suspect that they had been defrauded , sent their inspectors to Mr . Tilbury" " s premises , where they discovered a pipe connected with the main , and passing through the house , where it was very ingeniously concealed by the-walls , into a back yard . Here it supplied a great many jets and melting stoves , and must have consumed a large

      amount of gas . Mr . Tilbury at first denied the fraud , but afterwards admitted that he had been burning the gas surreptitiously for two or three years He exclaimed that lie was a ruined man , and should become the inmate of a prison , and his wife of a . madhouse , where she had been before . The company said tliey could prove that they had been robbed in this manner for five years at the rate of at least one thousand cubic feet of gas a day . Mr . Tilbury , who seemed deeply humiliated , pleaded Guilty , and waa sentenced to two months' imprisonment . As he was being removed , several of his workmen who were in the court rushed forward , and shook hands with him . " ¦

      The Domestic Poisondjg Case near Southampton . —The maid servant who was apprehended last week for attempting to poison her mistress , Mrs . Read , of Bittern , in Hampshire , has "been committed for trial . The crime was accomplished by putting corrosive sublimate in some porter which Mrs . Head drank . The ^ servant , whose name is Harriet Vassingcoiube , confessed that she was guilty of the offence . A Strange Sxohy . —Somofov Saturdays ago , a Mr-Schlob , a German , living i n SpitalCclds , was going out of his house , when he saw a dragoon guardsman in the passage , who , in . a confused and hesitating manner , asked to seo Mr . Smith , of Oxford-street . Mr . Sclilob replied that ho did not know any such ersonbut

      Edp ; wards , the soldier , contrived to fasten himself on the German and hia wife , insiatcd on sending for drink C hough ho was a ready intoxicated ) , ami , after treating UZ * wf ^ S ^ f'y Sot rid of . The intruder being ^ tnr ' n * ^ " ^ WS Wif ° WCllt ° Ut , and , Oil tllOIX rIS nnTtY J i ° Un ( 1 tUat th 0 k 0 USO l »« a bccu 2 S ? v hnfllo * I > containing a good deal of propert } , hat ! bcon taken nway . Th is , however was sucedilv ^ stored by tho police ; for Edwavda , thoTa % > li d bcS seen staggering along with it , and had bSatopnS bv a

      that ho had pr ^ oualy m ^\^ J ^ LJ ^ £ Uio Crimea , luohng auxioua to recover Buch a token as ho Imd been recently allowed to embark for India ^

      a -volunteer in the 3 rd Dragoons , he went to the house for that purpose , but here he unexpectedly encountered the husband , of whose existence he was not before aware . He therefore feigned the inquiry for an imaginary Mr . Smith , in order to shield the woman from the consequences of her indiscretion . This story was in some degree strengthened by a woman living in the house of Mr . Schlob . Tho magistrate said it was manifest that the soldier had appropriated tie property to indemnify himself for the articLes he had lost ; hut , as he had no right to pursue such a course , he should commit him for seven days to tine House of Correction .

      Burglaxy . —The dwelling-bouse of Mr . White , a farmer of Hamsterley , a village in the county of Durham , was broken open on the morning of Friday week by a ruffian , who severely injured the servant-girl with a gun which he found in the house . The inmates being aroused , he fled precipitately with the weapon ; but for the next day ox two the country was scoured hy the police , who on Monday came up with the burglar in a field . He fired the gun at one of the officers , but missed him , though very narrowly . The policeman then closed with and overthrew him , and he was secured . On his person was found a loaded pistol at full cock . He is known to be an old offender , though but a young man .

      conflicting ; and it -was admitted m the defence that th * womanAms living Trader the " protection" of a sentV , man . The accused-was found Gtrilty , and ^ as ordered to pay a fine of 20 ? ., and to be imprisoned one week

      Embezzlement . —Mr . James Hill and Mr . Thomas Brough , coal-factors , carrying on business at 28 , St . Mary-at-hill , appeared before the Lord Mayor on Tuesday , in answer to a summons which had been issued at the instance of Messrs Harrison and Co ., owners of the Ratcliffe Colliery , near Newcastle-on-Tyne , and which charged them with having , as agents of Messrs . Harrison and Co ., converted to their own use two hills of exchange of the respective sums of 1 O 0 ? . 13 s . € d . and 100 / ., which had been entrusted to them for a specific

      purpose . Evidence having been received , the case was adjourned . —A gentlemanly-looking young man , named "William Henry Bonsor , was charged before the Lord Mayor with , embezzling various sums of money from his employers , Messrs . Ashurst , Son , and Morris , solicitors , in the Old Jewry . He was a confidential clerk , and it was a part of his duty to take money on account of the nrm , for which he gave receipts , the amount being always entered on the counterfoil of the receipt-book . He also had to enter the accounts in . the day-book , and hand the money over to the cashier . He had written a

      receipt for SOL , which he had neither accounted for to his employers , nor entered in the receipt-book ; and this led tho partners to suspect that he had appropriated the money to his own use . They therefore placed the affair in the hands of a detective officer , who took Bonsor into custody . Mr . Morris , one of the principals of the firm , applied for a remand , as he believed he could bring forward several other charges of embezzlement against the prisoner . The latter requested that the affair might be settled at once , and offered to plead Guilty , if that would | make any difference ; but the lord Mayor said that such a case could not he dealt with summarily . He therefore adjourned the case until Thursday , when Bonsor was committed for trial .

      Uttering Forged Cheques . —A young man named Robert Goodacro , formerly a clerk in the service of Mr . II . It . Abrahams , surveyor , of Hownid-street , Strand , was charged at Bow-street with uttering several forged cheques at Messrs . Druimnond ' s bank in Charing-cross . He was remanded . Respectability iu Trouble . —Samuel TVeddows , a very respectable-looking man , a clerk in tho employ of Mr . Bacon , of Neckinger-rond , Bermondsey , is under remand at Southwark charged with embezzling large sums of money , the property of Mr . Robert Tosswell , of Castlenau-villfl , Barnes , in whose service he had been as confidential clerk .

      Muit » isn in Canada . —Great horror has been excited in Toronto by the murder of a wifo "by her husband , a tailor named Return J . M . Ward . The remains of the woman wero found imperfectly consumed by fire on Ward ' s premises . The man is in custody . Tina Doujqle MuitDBit at W-AT-woktii . —Bacon and his wife wero brought up at the Lambeth police-court on Wedesday , for tho final proceedings ( which merely consisted of reading over tho depositions ) , and were committed for trial . When his wife ' s statement , charging him with the murder , was read over , Bacon changed countenance , and , on an allusion being made to one of his children , and to hia having said at the police station that ho " could not hurt a luiir of his doar little- head , " he nobbed loudly , tcrecning hia face on tho upper part of tho dock . Tho defence of both the accused was reserved for the trial .

      A Night Fracas . — John Betts , a butcher of St . Georgo ' s-place , Knightsbrid&e , surrendered on Wcdncs day to take Ijih trial nt tho Middlesex Sessions for assaulting a policeman in Trevor-squnro about one o ' clock in tho morning . Tho policeman found him drunk in tho square talking with a woman , who also was drunk . Ho abused tlio ofliccr in coarse language , then assaulted him , and finally was taken to the station . Tbo defence was that neither tho man nor tho woman was drunk , though both had been drinking ; that tlio abuao and the assault wero committed by tho officer on M ' v . Betts , and that tho latter was apprehended when simply endeavouring ( o take , tbo policainnu ' fi number , on account of the foul objurgation ho ( Mr . Betts ) hud received . Tho ' '' evidences was very

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      GATHERINGS FROM THE LAW AVn POLICE COURTS . Mr- Johnson , an inspector of nuisances under th . e Bo-it * of Health in Wakefield , seized some samples of flouron the 25 th of February , in the shop of Messrs . Jackson and Sons , and afterwards lodged informations before the magistrates , charging the vendors with , exposing for sale flour which was unfit for food . It was aubse fluently proved , however , by the evidence of Professor Taylor and other chemists of eminence who had ana lyzed samples of the flour , that it was perfectly good ^ whereupon , the informations were dismissed . Feeling himself aggrieved , as his business had considerably

      fallen off iu consequence , Mr . Jackson brought au action at York on Friday week against Mr . Johnson for trespass , and for the "breaking and entering of his shop and the carrying away of the flour . Mr . Baron Martin said that the law exempts from personal liability Boards of Health and their officers for anything done by them in the execution of their duty . The plaintiffs had clearly refuted the imputations against them ; and , their character heing thus vindicated , he should recommend that a juror be withdrawn . Both sides acceded to this suggestion , and thus the case terminated .

      One of those great will cases which occupy the attention of counsel , judge , and jury for days together with . their intricate and wearisome details , was brought forward at the Ayiesbury Assizes during last week , and spread over four days , the speeches of counsel alone taking no less than twelve hours in the delivery . The issue was directed hy the Court of Chancery to" try the validity of certain testamentary documents executed by the late Miss Elizabeth . Lovett , of Liscombe House , Buckinghamshire . The old lady was descended from One of the martial followers of William the Conqueror , and her estate at Liscombe , valued at from four to five hundred a year , had been in the family for upwards of five centuries . Being very proud of her ancestry , anxl desirous to keep the estate " undivided , she bequeathed it to one of her male relations . But she appeared , to have

      altered her mind several times , and to lave made fresh wills ; and to the last will there was attached a codicil . The ultimate effect was to take the estate awa j from th& relation to whom it was first of all left , and to devise it to another male member of the Lovett family ; and these two Lovetts formed the defendant and plaintiff in . the action . The points to be determined were whether the old lady , at the time she made thelast two wills and the codicil thereto , devising the estate to Cosby Lovett , was in a rational state of mind , and whether she was not unduly influenced by a Miss Marianne Xovett , her third cousin . In proof of her intellects being disordered , a letter of hers -was produced , which , certainly had a very incoherent character ; "but the medical witnesses differed as to the condition of the writer ' s rniud . As regards undue influence , Miss Marianne Lovett denied that slie had made the least endeavour to alter her relation ' s

      intentions with respect to the disposition of her property . The jury , after five minutes' consultation in their box , gave their verdict in favour of the validity of the two last wills and the codicil ; so that the estate will go to Cosby Lovett , who is a captain in the merchant service , instead of to the Ilev . Robert Lovett , as contemplated ty the original wills . A respectable young woman attended on Monday before Mr . Arnold , the Westminster magistrate , with a woeful complaint that she had not been christened , anil that , although she very much wished to be , she couldn't get any one to do it . Two of her sisters were in the

      same dreadful plight , and so she went before the magistrate to sco what he could do for them . llr . Arnold said it was a case for a clergyman , not for him . Tho young woman observed that ladies did not like the idea of having an unohristened servant in their houses ; and she therefore felt that the matter was of the utmost importance to her , and that no time should bo lost . Her father had not been married to her mother , she added , and the duty of the parents to the children was neglected . The magistrate again assured her lie couM do nothing , and she retired , protesting that it was " a very shocking thing . "

      Some further revelations of the discreditable money transactions of young gentlemen not yet of ngc were contained in an action brought at tho Lewes Assizes upon a bill of exchange- for 300 / ., drawn by the defendant , Mr . Fifo , a cornet in tlio 3 rd Dragoons , and accepted by Mr . Joseph Paxton , also a cornet in the same regiment , and which was endorsed to tlio plain lift ( a Mr . Wccdon ) by a person named Curlewis . Sivcral picas were put upon tho record by the defendniK ; but the only material ono wns that the bill in question- * had

      been fraudulently obtained by a person named John Charles Johns , and that no consideration had been g'ivcu for it by ( ho plaintifT . Mr . Paxton is a son of tho celebrated Sir Joseph Paxton . Ho in not of ngc , but until the last three or four weeks was in tho army , which he had left , according to hia own account , for private reasons that had nothing whatever to < lo with tho action . Ho ; idmittcd that he was a betting man , that he had bought horses , niul that he had had transac-

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      87 * ? HE LEAPEB , [ No . , SattopAT

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 21, 1857, page 274, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2185/page/10/