rue POLICE AND THE PUBLIC.—At Lambeth Street, on Tuesday, a
Mr. Pepper was fined 40.9. for furious driving. He declared, and his statement was corroborated by a respectable witness, that the mare he drove was restive, and had run off. When he pulled it up, he was within a hundred yards of his own door. He stated his willingness to attend at the Police-office, but resisted the attempt to lock him up in the station-house ; and, for so resisting, was brutally beaten, and locked up into the bargain. Mr. Hardwick said, those who opposed the police must taAe the consequences. We would beg to ask the learned magis' trate who sums up matters thus coolly, whether, when three policemen have hold of one man, the blow of a bludgeon, sufficient to fracture an ordinary skull, is to be looked on as a necessary consequence of his struggling ? We submit that the police have no right to use violence but for the purpose of securing a prisoner ; and if three of them cannot secure one man without felling him to the ground like an ox, they are very unfit for their trade.
SELF-DEFENCE.—A person named Gibbs applied at Union Hall, on Wednesday, for a warrant against a person who kept a ferocious dog that bad attacked the complainant, and who, on being remonstrated with, hounded not only it but other two on him. He was rescued by a police constable. Gibbs asked Mr. Swabey if he should be justified in shooting a dog that attacked him ? Mr. Swabey said, that although he should not go the length of giving his sanction to such a proceeding, yet were he to have been attacked by a dog of this description, be should have no hesitation in destroying it. At the same time, he must give the applicant to understand, that such a course must not be put into execution by his directions ; for he recollected being present at a trial at Lancaster, in which a magistrate and a constable were tried, the former for giving directions for the destruction of a dog, which was carried into effect by the latter, and a verdict attained against them both ; and the result was, that the magistrate had to pay very ample damages for the advice he had given on the occasion. [There is not the slightest doubt that a magistrate has no right to order, or an individual to execute an order, to shoot a dog which at some former period had attacked either ; but this was not the question Mr. Swabey was called on to answer. A man has not only a right to shoot a dog that advances to attack him but he has a right to knock its master on the head, if he cannot repel the attack by other means.] Rio T (MS AP r RENT ICES.—Two young ruffians, apprentices onboard the Five Sisters schooner, at present in the London Dock; were sentenced on Wednesday to six weeks' exercise on the treadmill, and to be soundly whipped at the expiry of their confinement, for a gross and brutal assault on the captain of the vessel. It seemed they had twice before been guilty of similar conduct.
Gaoss Assaumr.—On Tuesday evening, as a young gentleman named Delves was admiring the architecture of the London University, a white terrier dog, the property of a person passing, ran up to him, and seized his trowsers. As he was, from the many stories at present going about, not unnaturally alarmed at such an attack, he gave the animal a kick and drove it from him. Theowner, who turned out to be a bookseller named Lilly, instead of apologizing, fiercely interrogated Mr. Delves how he durst strike his dog.—calling him a puppy at the same time, by way of a finisher to the insult. The young gentleman, thus injured and insulted, replied with some bitterness, and was immediately knocked down ; on rising, he was knocked down a second time ; and in an attempt to get away, he was a third time struck to the ground, and severely kicked while lying there. On applying at the Stationhouse, though Mr. Delves bore the marks of the violent treatment on his person, the inspector refused to take the charge because the policeman had not witnessenhe assault ! On Thursday, the parties appeared at Bow Street ; when Mr. Lilly defended his conduct, on the ground that he was not a gentleman (a whimsical sort of downward am.. bition, in which John Bull not unfrequently prides himself), and therefore he had a right to knock down any man who called him a scoundrel. Besides, he was walking with his wife, and it was necessary to show his valour to her, by beating and bruising a sickly young man,
M . capable of defending himself. The M .
lings ; and Mr. Lilly expressed a wish that his case might appear in all the newspapers,—which we rather think it will. .
CHARGE OF Svribrimixo.—Captain Christie, son of Sir Archibald Christie, was charged on Thursday at Bow Street with an attempt to
defraud Mr. Tarrant, of the Quadrant Hotel, Regent Street, by means of a check on Cox and Greenwood ; where it appeared he had kept no account since May 1829. Mr. Thomas, the Police Superintendent, stated
that a similar fraud had been attempted to be practised on him some time ago, in which case also there were no effects to pay the check. A second attempt had been made, but in that case he refused to have any thing to do with the check. The first was paid by Captain Christie. The Captain said that Cox and Greenwood were indebted to him 701., but the account was disputed. He begged to be allowed to settle the affair with Mr. Tarrant ; and stated, in proof of his having no intention to quit London, that he had just purchased the Star newspaper. Mr. Halls" I have no objection, under the circumstances, that you should step aside and endeavour to come to an arrangement ; but I do so entirely upon this ground, that the evidence is not sufficient to detain you, as your servant is not here. I tell you plainly, however, that if I had ma. cient proof of the fraudulent intent, I could not have done otherwise but commit you for trial." Captain Christie had previously acknowledged every thing that bis servant, had he been present, could have proved. We give no opinion on the merits of this case ; but we would just ask Mr.Halls, if a man with a coat out at elbows and a rusty hat, and bearing no commission but what heaven had given him, had been so charged, whether he would not have remanded him until the servant was forth. coming ?
EXPENSES TO WITNESSES.■A long conversation took place at the Middlesex Sessions on Thursday on this subject, when a scale of allowances was ordered to be printed. The highest sum by this scale is 33.6d. per day, unless to medical men, who are to receive a guinea. Now we submit that an editor's time is worth a little more than 3s. fid. per day; his allowance ought to be raised in something like a fair proportion to that of the doctor. Idle gentlemen may attend as witnesses for nothing ; but we gentlemen who have something to do should meet with some small consideration.
GEORGE THE FIFTH; ANOTHER STAMP.—OR Thursday, the inmates of St. James's were frightened from their propriety by the sudden irruption of a person with the appearance of a servant out of place, into the palace. He burst open the outer door of Mrs. Hodgkin's apart. ment, and rushing past her, locked himself up in the apartments of a gen. tleman belonging to the Lord Chamberlain's Office. When brought to Queen Square, he gave his name as George the Fifth, and insisted on his right to enter his own house. He was sent to Tothill prison, and a medical man directed to inspect him.
Ansox.—The house of a Mr. Carman, 114, Newgate Street, was lately discovered to be on fire no fewer than three times in the aourse of four days. Mr. Carman has, we observe, inserted an advertisement in the daily journals on the subject. A workman of his was charged before the Lord Mayor with the arson ; but the evidence against him was extremely feeble, and he was discharged. Yesterday, Mr. Carman stated, at the Mansionhouse, that the witness in the former eharge—a little girl named Anne Davis, about thirteen years of age—had acknowledged that she was the guilty person. Mr.Murphy, an attorney for the child, contended that she had been terrified into a confession of crimes she had not corn. mitted ; but the Lord Mayor considered-that the case was too serious to pass without farther investigation, and she was accordingly remanded. There is not the slightest doubt that the girl was told she would be for
given if she said she was guilty, and sent to prison if she denied it.
Previous page
