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A grand Court of Wardmote was held in the Guildhall, on Monday, by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, to receive the presentments of the several Wardmote Inquests. The neglect of resident traders to take out their freedom, and the filth of the streets, formed general topics of notice in many of the presentments. The Ward of Aldersgate pre- sented a long list of persons who were supposed not to have taken out their freedom : Sir Peter Laurie expressing a hope that it would no longer be treated as a mere matter of form, but that the City Solicitor would be instructed to proceed against the large dealers, who had hitherto evaded the obligation of a payment which, to the poor man, was a serious object. The presentment from Bassishaw Ward contained some observations on the point- " We present that, in obedience to the articles given us in charge, we have caused to be summoned upwards of eighty persons, now carrying on trade within this ward, and who were suspected not to be free of this city, and re- quired them to appear before us to produce and show the copy of their freedom under the seal of the office of the Chamberlain of this city; but that such summonses have (with two or three exceptions) been entirely disregarded by the persons to whom they were addressed, in consequence, as we believe, of the known inattention that has been shown to our former presentments. We therefore present our request that the decision of some competent tribunal may be obtained—first, whether wholesale dealers are compellable to take up their freedom in order to their carrying on trade within this city; and if not, then, secondly, what constitutes a lealing by wholesale. And we present our further request, that until those questions are decided, the articles given in charge to the Inquest may be so altered, as that the members of the Inquest may be re- lieved from the invidious inquiries which, under the solemnity of an oath or affirmation, are now so unavailingly cast upon them." Billingsgate Ward presented, that of sixty persons who had been sum- moned only one attended. Complaints on the same subject were pre- sented by the Wards of Bridge Within, Coleman Street, and Farringdon Without. Complaints respecting the filth of the streets were presented by the Wards of Billingsgate, Bridge Within, Candlewick, Castle Bay- nard, and Dowgate. Alderman Gibbs told the Inquest-jurors, that if the inhabitants would attend the Commissioners of Sewers on the fol- lowing day, and prove breaches of contract against the contractors for cleaning the streets, penalties should most unquestionably be inflicted. A petition was presented from Mr. William Wells against the return at the late election for Farringdon Ward Without ; praying that, instead of Mr. R. Taylor, Mr. Obbard, Mr. Gresham, and Mr. Hodgson, who were disqualified because they were not resident householders, the peti- tioner and three others might be returned. The Lord Mayor promised that all the presentments should receive due attention.
The Commissioners of Sewers held a meeting at Guildhall, on Tues- day, and heard many complaints against Mr. John Gore, the contractor for scavenging the City, for neglect in not properly cleaning divers streets and removing the dust from the houses. The Clerk was ordered to set forth the various places about which complaints had been made, and to fine the contractor for the neglect of one week's work therein. It is computed that the fines will amount to 2001. or 300/.
A public meeting of the friends of popular education was held on Wednesday, at Marlborough Chapel, in the Old Kent Road, to adopt measures for establishing schools in that district according to the plan of the British and Foreign School Society. Mr. Benjamin Wood, M.P., took the chair ; and Mr. Hawes, M.P., Dr. Bowring, M.P., Mr. Wire, and several reverend gentlemen, were present. The Factories Bill of last session was the subject of some vehement reprobation. The Reve- rend J. Aldiss boasted that the Dissenters had "prevented a gorged and tyrannical priesthood from laying hold of the minds of youth, snatching them from all hopes of Christian liberty, and dragging them back to the darkness of the middle ages." All the resolutions proposed were carried unanimously ; and Mr. Wood led off a liberal subscription with the sum of 50/.
A general meeting of the Royal Humane Society was held at their office in Trafalgar Square, on Tuesday ; Sir Edward Codrington in the chair. The report stated the receipts at 2,504/.; the expenditure at 2,2541.; leaving in the Treasurer's hands 250/. The number of cases of drowning brought under the Committee's notice during the past year was 170; rewards had been distributed to 156 persons. The Society had offered a prize for the best essay on the resuscitation of life in per- sons apparently drowned ; but five essays which had been sent in proved to be only compilations from previous works, containing no new sugges- tions. Thanks were voted to the Duke of Northumberland for his patronage of the Society ; and various persons were rewarded with the silver medal.
In Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce's Court, on Thursday, Mr. Charles Dickeas obtained injunctions against Mr. Berger, Mr. Strange, and Mr. Cleave, to restrain them from selling a pirated copy of A Christnias Carol in Prose, slightly altered, which they were selling in two num- bers of a penny publication called Parley's Illuminated Library.
An examination into a wholesale forgery of wills has lately occupied the Lord Mayor at the Mansionhouse, and the accused were reexamined on Tuesday. They are Mr. Barber, of the firm of Barber and Bircham, so- licitors, in New Bridge Street—the other partner being in no way im- plicated—and a Mr. Fletcher ; and yesterday, Mrs. Georgiana Dorey, the wife of a respectable shopkeeper in Oxford Street, was added to the list of prisoners. The first case was that of a Miss Ann Slack, who had property left her by her father, amounting to more than 6,000/. She seems not to have been very astute in business. Her guardian, Mr. Hulme, had the management of her affairs ; and he transferred stock to her name in two separate sums; furnishing her with money as she re- quired it. The guardian died in 1832; and the lady, who up to that time had lived in Smith Street, Chelsea, went to reside with a married sister and her husband, Captain Foskett. Miss Slack continued to re- ceive dividends at the Bank, on one part of the stock, while the rest remained forgotten ; and having been unclaimed for ten years, was, on the 6th Jane 1842, transferred to the Com- missioners for the Reduction of the National Debt ; and Mr. Bar- ber became aware of the transfer. On the pretext that he was em- powered to convey some funded property bequeathed to a "Miss Ann Slack" by a lady who had died six weeks before at Bath, he applied to Captain Foskett, apparently to settle some doubts as to the identity of his sister-in-law ; and thus obtained information respecting the owner of the unclaimed dividend, and also Miss Slack's signature. A will in her name was now produced at Doctors Commons, purporting to be- queath the unclaimed stock to her niece, "Emma Slack "; a note pur- porting to be from "Emma Slack" was addressed to the Governor of the Bank, requesting that the stock might be transferred to her ; and a person answering to that name attended at the Bank, and received the dividends due on the stock. Mr. Fletcher first appears in the business as introducing " Miss Emma Slack" to Mr. Barber.
In the next case, the forged will of a Mrs. Mary Hunt, of Queen's Square, Bristol, was proved at Doctors Commons by Barber ; who after- wards received the amount mentioned in the will, with the interest for ten years. Barber was accompanied on the occasion by a person who called himself Thomas Hunt, and who pretended to be the executor. That the document was forged there could be no doubt, as Mary Hunt died in 1806, while the will proved by Barber made it appear that she did not die before 1829. A book belonging to Fletcher contained an entry of the name of Mary Hunt, the amount of unclaimed money due, and the name of the solicitor ; and Fletcher is suspected of haying per- sonated Thomas Hunt ; but the evidence was not clear on that point.
The third case, which was just like those described, related to the will of Elizabeth Burchard, in which the property bequeathed amounted
to 2,000/. Mr. Barber and his client were again remanded until the 22d instant.
Yesterday, Mrs. Dorey was produced as the personator of Emma Slack, in which name she had taken lodgings in Francis Street, Totten- ham Court Road ; and at her own house were found some articles of dress which she had worn as Emma Slack, and a seal like that on the false will of Elizabeth Burchard. The prisoner was remanded till Monday week, to be examined with the others.
A painful murder and suicide were committed at Deptford, on Wed- nesday. A Mr. Dickenson, who formerly kept a publichouse at Par- son's Green, but has since been in distressed circumstances, returned to his home in Giffen Street, in the evening, after being out all day on busi- ness, and be went into the back-parlour to see his wifa. He found her lying on a bed, weltering in blood that flowed from a wound in her throat, but still alive ; and at her feet were two children, with their throats cat, quite dead. Medical assistance was afforded to the mother ; and it was thought necessary to remove Mr. Dickenson, who was dis- tracted with grief, to the Workhouse, for his personal safety. A Co- roner's Jury have returned a verdict of "Wilful Murder" against Mrs. Dickenson, who seems to have been instigated by despair at the pres- sure of extreme want.
A disagreeable scene occurred in the church of St. Stephen Wal- brook, on Sunday. Dr. Croly preached a sermon on the New Year, in the course of which he extolled the domestic virtues of the Queen. Suddenly, a person in one of the crowded aisles cried-" It is all a delusion! it is all a delusion! Why does she not go among the poor ? " The Rector paused, while some officers of the church removed the disturber ; who was conveyed to the Stationhouse. He proved to be a person who was once a substantial inhabitant of the parish, but whose mind had been unsettled by money-difficulties ; and he laboured under the notion that Sir Robert Peel has injured him by depriving him of some lucrative situation. The Police Surgeon pronounced him insane ; and there is no doubt that he will be properly taken care of.
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