FASHIONABLE AMUSEMENTS.—Four persons with the upper gar. ments of gentlemen,
two of them named " Knox," and one named " Thompson "—no Christian designations given—and the fourth with out appellative Christian or patronymic, were charged at the Marline. rough Street Police-office with creating a riot in Oxford Street Bazaar. The prosecutor, Mr. Wright, stated that the four prisoners, and two others not in custody, had, on Saturday afternoon, intruded into the picture exhibition room, where there were several ladies, to whom they behaved in the most scandalous manner, making use of obscene language, and forcing the ladies to quit the room with disgust and alarm. Mr. Wright remonstrated with them on the impropriety of their behaviour, and desired their to go away. To this gentle representation, Messrs. Knox, Thompson, and Co. replied by swearing they would fling Mr. Wright over the gallery. They then went into the sale-room, and there, having previously insulted the buyers, they thought fit to finish by insulting the sellers ; pressing behind the counters of the young women who were employed in the Bazaar, addressing them also inlanguage of most revolting obscenity, and in short, " throwing the whole Bazaar"—as may be well conceived without such an addition from Mr. Wright—" into the utmost confu- sion." Not wishing to proceed to any harsh extreme (for it is a rule, in all public places, never to proceed to harsh extremes with persons that sport the coats of gentlemen and the manners of scoundrels), Mr. Wright again urged the six offenders to retire quietly—but in vain. At length, even his patience was worn out, and the police were sent for ; when Messrs. Knox, -Thompson, and —, after a desperate attempt to run. away, were seized. Mr. Wright, who seems a very jewel of a man for young gentlemen to deal with, said, " even now, he was not desirous of pressing the matter against the prisoners if they would apologize for their conduct, and promise never to enter the Bazaar again,— for (mark the illative particle, good reader !) this was not the first oc- casion on which they had insulted some of the young females who had stands there." The gentlemen denied the greater part of the allegations of Mr. Wright ; which were, however, clearly proved by other witnes- ses. It was supposed by the Magistrate, and believed by Mr. Wright;, that they must have all been drunk ; they did not, however, plead that beastly excuse for their unmanly behaviour. Mr. Wright added, that some months before, some Portuguese refugees had behaved to the sales- women with great impropriety: they did not live improper language, for they did not know English—but on being threatened, instead of swearing at Mr. Wright and proposing to throw him over the gallery, du,'" IrrOralt nnay, ttild never returned. The Magistrate, Mr. Conant, said, " it was impossible to reprobate in sufficiently strong terms such disgraceful and unmanly conduct, whether practised by Englishmen or foreigners, and scarcely any punishment was too severe for it." He accordingly' fined one of the four gentlemen, who appeared to be " a fit. tle disguised," five shillings, and the other three one shilling each!
We know nothing about Messrs. Knox, Thompson, and , we Mention the names merely because we find them in the Times of Mon- day, in conjunction with a ,narrative of the facts which we have given "above. We do not repeat the statement for their sake. `:either do
we care any thing about Mr. Wright, of the Oxford St Bazaar. He may deem it a sufficient protection to the respectable who occasionally step into that establishment, when he hears and them
Outraged in a manner which a casual passenger in the st t would visit with a sound caning, to advise the ruffians who At . take ad- vantage of their weakness and his pusinauneity, to go quietly away. Respectable females will, in future, take care how they expose themselves to such assailants and Such a defender. But we must call the attention of Sir Robert Poct to thejudgment of the Magistrate: We said, before the New Pol 'ea era,s introduced, that the Magistrates ought to be changad. The pre- sent men were the worthy heads of the old watchmen, and diey ought to have vacated office with their assistants. Accustomed as they had long• been to hold with that most respectable set of guardians a divided empire of stupidity and slumber, it was cruel to compel them to live into an sera for which their perversity of ignorance and somnolency of disposition so wholly unfitted them. We have perpetual. occasion to advert to proofs of their utter incompetency for the new state of things, but the above is the grossest case that has come under our notice. Four persons go into a public mart, offer the most unprovoked and outrageous insults to modest • and respectable females, address them in language which no man who values his character wouldtuse to a prostitute ; when challenged, they threaten violence to him that challenges them they persist in their infamous con- duct; and when at last brought to answer for it before a Magistrate, they are fined at the rate of two shillings apiece ! Had they been found in the streets using the same liberties with the miserable females that pass the night there, they would have been lodged in the watchhouse, and fined five shillings each at least. Had they not been "gentlemen," the punishment would have been more severe, Now let Sir Robert Peel recollect, that the most honoured of his acquaintance might have been subjected to the violence of these fellows—that Lady Jane Peel might have been inspecting the pictures in the Bazaar, and have been exposed to the language of a brothel with no better protection than that of the gentle Mr. Wright ; let him reflect on this, and then say how long the public is to see persons in office who can finish a de- claration—that conduct such as they are reviewing is worthy of the se- verest punishment—by inflicting on its perpetrators a fine of a couple of shillings.
[Since the above was written, we have seen it stated, that the incul- pated parties have appeared before the Magistrates to repeat their denial of the conduct imputed to them.]
CAPTAIN IlEnsuaar.—It may be recollected that Captain Helsham, a considerable time ago, fought a duel with Lieutenant Crowther, at Boulogne, in which the latter fell. There were some surmises of foul play in the case ; but the accused was acquitted in the French tribunal, and also by a sort of court of honour which undertook to investigate the matter. Lieutenant Crowther's brother, the Reverend Mr. Crowther, was not, however, satisfied ; and has ever since waited for an opportu- nity of having Captain Helsham tried in England. A few days ago the Captain arrived in this country with his family ; and being traced to London, it was found that he had surrendered himself at Bow Street; where he was examined by Mr. Minshull on Thursday. His solicitor at first contended that the Magistrate had no jurisdiction; but gave up his argument on hearing the clause in Lord Lansdowne's act, which spe- cially provides for the trial in England of murders committed on land out of the United Kingdom. Captain Helsham was remanded for a fort- night, to give time for the production of witnesses who are now on the Continent.
APPREHENDED EFFECTS OF THE NEW BEER BILL.—A num- ber of cases of drunkenness were brought before Sir Richard Birnie on Holiday. Mr. Thomas, the Superintendent, said he did not know what the police would do when the licences were unrestricted ; they had so much to do already. Instead of telling the Superintendent to hold his tongue and mind his duty, Mr. Halls, like a true gossiping Bow Street Magistrate, responded, "Every other" house will then be an ale- house, and your labours will be at least doubled, Mr. Thomas ! " We submit a question to the sage, for solution :—As every drunkard drinks at present as much beer as he can buy, how will he, merely by " every other house" being made an alehouse, be enabled to drink more? and as there are at present quite enow of houses to make the whole community drunk once a day if they feel inclined, how will the increasing the num- ber of houses increase that of drunkards ?
The Duke of Wellington stated very distinctly the other night, in the House of Lords, that when the trade in beer should be thrown open, the new houses would be subject to very strict regulations with respect to order, and liable to severe punishment if they violated them.
CHARITABLE RESERVATIONS.—A very miserable female, about twenty-one years of age, was brought before the Magistrates of Worship Street on Monday, on a charge of vagrancy. It appeared that the young woman had been born at Boston in America. She was blind at her birth, but, by means of couching, recovered the sight of one eye. She had no friend nor relation in the world. Some time ago, she was so far reduced as to sell fruit for a woman who attended Birmingham market, who turned her to the street, for giving two apples more than measure to a greedy customer. She had subsequently lost the fingers of her left band by the frost, and the use, in a great measure, of her left hand and arm. She had been recommended to two asylums ; one of which would not receive her because she was not a prostitute, the other because she was subject to epileptic fits ! Had she lost her honesty, or kept her health, she might have found shelter in the one or the other • but being unfortunately virtuous, and sick, she was excluded from the limited sympathies or both. The Magistrate sent her to the Chelsea work.. house, as she hid, it appeared, slept in the parish of Chelsea for a few _nights.
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