An investigation has been carried on at the Lambeth Street
Police- office during the week into some very singular circumstances attending the abduction of Mr. William Gee, a solicitor of Bishop Stortford, and the forcible means used to obtain a check for SOO/. and an order for setae title-deeds from him. Mr. Gee was professionally employed by a person who stated herself to be a widow, Canning by name, to invest the sum of :2000/. in securities for her benefit. Of this stun, he in- vested HOU, and the remaining SOO/. he placed in his bankers' hands. A few days ago, he received a letter, signed " W. heath," in which the writer re quested to know when he would visit London, as he wished to consult hnn personally relative to some property in the neighbourhood of Bishop Stortford. Mr. Gee agreed to meet him on Monday last, at ten o'clock, at the Bull Inn, Aldgate; and accordingly he went there. Soon after his arrival, a person gave him a letter purporting to come from Heath, in which Mr. Gee was desired to go in a hackney- coach with the bearer of the letter to a house in York Street, Com- mercial Road, as the writer said he was too unwell to leave home. Mr. Gee, suspecting no harm, went with the messenger to the house in question. He had been there, however, a very short time, before he was seized by three men, and forced through the back kitchen into a hi el of den, walled with strong hoards and plastered with mud and sail. Pere lie was fastened by chains and cords to a board, which an- swered for a scut, and two pieces of wood, so that he could scarcely move. The men then compelled bi:n to give a cheek for Mrs. Can- aing's 8001., and un order upon her trustee to deliver the title-deeds of the troderty on which the 1200/. was invested. Ile only did this from the fear of being murdered. One of the men who was blind—Edwards, the prstended Heath—then went off with the cheek, and the other two left him. He contrived, by extreme exertion, after they were guile, to force up the chain across his breast ; and them having his hands at liberty, he unfastened the cords which bound his legs, and got out. He clambered over several garden-walls, escaped into the streets, went di- rectly to the agent of the Bishop Stortford Bank, and took measures to prevent the check being paid. In the course of the next day, the three men were all arrested. It appeared that the blind man, Edwards, who was said to be a teacher of music, had taken the house last week, and engaged a smith and carpenter to construct the den in question. A bag stuffed with wool or padding, evidently made to cover the head of their prisoner and to drown his voice, was also found on the premises. Edwards was traced to the residence of Mrs. Canning, at Old ford. He admitted the fact of his having inveigled Mr. Gee into his premises, and forced him to give up the money. This was done, he said, at the instigation and for the benefit of Mrs. Canning, whose money Mr. Gee unjustly held possession of, and could not be made to give up quietly. Mrs. Canning utterly denied that she had given any authority for the outrage. She was questioned as to her marriage with Edwards, who was known to be four days in the week generally at her house ; but positively declared that she was not married to him. It appeared, how- ever, that the Reverend Mr. Matthias, Rector of Whitechapel, who from curiosity to learn the circumstances of this affair, was seated on the bench, recollected having married Edwards to Mrs. Canning under the name of Maria West. Mr. Gee then stated a circumstance which throws some light upon the motives of those engaged in this strange business. Mrs. Canning had only a life interest in the property be- fore mentioned, which she was to retain as long as she remained a widow, and no longer. This accounts for her being married under a false name, and the necessity of resorting to violent means to obtain the money from Mr. Gee. She fainted in the Police-office, and was much frightened during the examination. Edwards was cool and im- pudent in his manner, and refused to answer any questions. All the prisoners were remanded, on Wednesday, till Tuesday next.
The extraordinary treatment of Mr. Gee, puts us in mind of a similar occurrence which happened in Westminster about thirty years ago. Mr. Coutier, who had been a hairdresser, and was possessed of great wealth, was enticed by a Mrs. Pliepoe to visit her at her lodgings. Soon after his arrival, he was introduced into a sombre apartment, where there were lying on the table a brace of pistols and a pair of candlesticks, both covered with crape. The door was instantly closed by Mrs. Phepoe ; who, presenting a pistol at his head, declared she would shoot him if he did not give her 1000/. Surprised and terrified, he gave her a promissory note for the amount ; which he refused to pay ; and she was tried for the offence, but acquitted on a point of law. The lame person some time after endeavoured to extort money from a
Jewess ; and, in consequence of some resistance, strangled her. This at
despere woman was afterwards tried and found guilty of the murder ut the Old Bailey, and executed in front of Newgete.—Glebe.
Mr. Henry Price was held to bail on Saturday, at the Queen Square Office, to answer any charge that might be brought against hint at the Sessions, for wounding Mr. Thomas. Williams in the face with a pair of shears. The particulars of this assault were given last week.
Yesterday, three men named Wheatley, Ayler, and Tice, the last a hackney coachman, were charged at chi, Office will an assault on Charles Norris, a cabinetmaker, whose parents live in 11 inway Yard, Oxford-street. Norris, the complainant, said, that on Friday evening ha .went to a tavern in Pimlico, to meet his father, with whom he had quarrelled, but was about to be reconciled. While in the parlour of the inn, the two first• named prisoners, and another man not in custody, seized him, and forced him into a hackney-coach at the door, and ordered the coachman to drive off. The two men in custoly went into the coach with him ; the other, who wore a cap and mustachios, got into a cab and followed them. With great difficulty Norris forced up the window of the coach, and called out to the Police ; who stopped the driver. The man in the cab, seeing this, got out of it, mid ran off. It appeared that all the parties were engaged by the man in mus- tachios, who had pretended to have some claim on the complainant for money due to him, and had said that he meant to charge him with felony. A sum of money was offered to the prosecutor before the case came on to stop it. The Magistrates committed the three prisoners, for a conspiracy.
John Cleave, the publisher :of the llreehly Mice Gazette, was com- mitted to prison from Guildhall on Tuesday, for three months, in default of paying a fine of 51. imposed upon him for selling his un- stamped newspaper. He declared that he should consider that man his foe who paid the fine for him ; and Mrs. Cleave, who was present, said that she would continue to sell the paper as long as any one would buy it.
A private still, which was worked in a cellar at a small house in Lower Northampton Street, Smithfield, exploded on Monday, with a loud noise, and blew out the windows of the lower part of the house. The excise-officers were shortly on the spot, and made a seizure of the remaining parts of the apparatus, which was of a superior description. The man who was engaged in this illicit distillery made hi: escap without receiving any injury ; and a woman who was found in the upper part of the house was taken into custody.
A most unprovoked and brutal attack was made by one of the Royal Guards on the evening of her Majesty's ball, on Mr. Holmes, an artist. That gentleman had accompanied some ladies who were going to the fête, as far as the Palace gate, where lie descended from the carriage, and proposed returning to his residence in Wilton Street, Belgrave Square, by the Park ; but on passing die house built for the late Duke of York, a soldier, one of a company of the Guards which was drawn up, without speaking a word, rushed upon him from behind, and nearly pulled him to the ground by the collar of his coat. On being remon- strated with on the incorrectness of his conduct, his reply was, " Well, you've no right this way ; if you want to go through the Park, go behind the soldiers—you can't pass afore 'em."— True Sun.
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