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A Court of Common Council was held on Thursday, for the despatch of business. It was stated that the Sheriffs had nominated Mr. Thomas Burdon to be Keeper of Wliitecross Street Prison, in the room of Mr. Barrett, lately deceased. The Gaol Committee were instructed to in- quire into Mr. Burdon's qualifications. The Town-Clerk read a presentment made by the Grand Jury in the Central Criminal Court, complaining that a number of paltry cases had been submitted to them ; that several of those cases had been charges against persons not accused before, and that the Magistrates ought to have dealt summarily with them, instead of sending them to such a tribunal ; that the gaol of Newgate was crowded with female prisoners; that there was great want of accommodation for witnesses about the court ; that males and females were not kept apart from each other, and that the females were taken by the Police-officers to the public-houses In the neighbourhood, to the serious peril of their morals. The pre- sentment was referred to the Gaol Committee.
Reports were read of the preparations taken by the Lord Mayor to facilitate the Queen's departure for Scotland, and of the Lord Mayor's survey of the Thames.
The Reverend Edward Wakeham, of Eagle House, Brook Green, Hammersmith, has, at the suggestion of Superintendent Williamson, of the T division of the Police force, lately made a present of upwards of one hundred well-selected volumes of books, to form the nucleus of a permanent library. The design is to form a library at the station- houses, for the instruction and amusement of the reserve part of the force, and when the men are off duty • and the plan has been cordially approved of by the Commissioners.---ataxdard.
At Marylebone Police-office, on Monday, Mr. James Howell, of Stanhope Street, Mornington Crescent, was accused of having thrown some boards on the London and Birmingham Railway, on Saturday night. A Policeman saw him throw something over the bridge at the end of Stanhope Street, and heard the boards fall. Mr. Howell at first denied it altogether; but afterwards he offered an explanation. A neighbour had raised his ground so as to cause Mr. Howell's premises to be overflowed with water. On Saturday night, he was passing by, holding the palings to keep out of the mud, when his foot slipped ; and in a fit of exasperation, he tore up the palings and threw them away. It was proved, however, that the spot from which the pales had been torn was twenty or thirty yards from the bridge, Mr. Howell was fined the full penalty of 101.; which was paid.
Mr. Thomas Cribb, once the " champion " of England in the prize- ring, charged Mr. Robert Clark, at Marlborough Street, ou Wednesday, with assault. Mr. Cribb was standing in Great Windmill Street, on Monday, talking to an acquaintance, when he saw a woman step up to Mr. Clark and take hold of his coat ; and with a thick stick he struck her violently on the arm. Mr. Cribb cried out, "Hallo, young fellow, I shall not allow that in my presence! "—and he tried to get rid of two sticks which rheumatism obliges him to use for support ; but before he could do so, Mr. Clark struck him on the eye, and ran away ! The defendant said that it was "only his wife whom he struck ": when she took hold of his coat he gave her "a trifling tap on the finger "; and then Mr. Cribb put himself in a fighting attitude, upon which he offered him his card, and promised him "satisfaction." Clark was fined 41. for the assault on Cribb ; and not being provided with the money, he was sent to prison for a month.
Three Police Sergeants, John Lund, A 21, George Edward Good- man, A 1, and Arthur Webb, A 2, the only mounted Police present during the riotous assemblage in Clerkenwell Green on the 19th Au- gust, were sent by the Police Commissioners before Mr. Combe, the Police Magistrate, on Monday, in order that be might investigate a charge of violence. Superintendent Maisey made a preliminary re- mark, that the friends of the complainant had improperly interfered with the witnesses. Thomas Ripon Wallis, the son of a gentleman at Islington, who said that he was fifteen years of age, stated that he was going home from his father's place of business in Skinner Street to Is- lington, and that in crossing the Green, a mounted Policeman struck him on the head with such violence as to render him insensible ; and he remained so until he found himself lying on the step of a door in Jerusalem Passage. He did not recognize the person who struck him, but he knew by the lace on his collar that he was a Policeman. After he got home, the governess gave him some brandy, with which he rubbed his head; and she advised him to drink a little ; but be was too ill to do that. Miss Francis, the governess, said he came home pale and agitated : he was very sick, and she gave him a teaspoonful of brandy, which be took ; but he was falling into a state of insensibility, and gave no coherent answers to her questions ; and a quarter of an hour after he went to bed, having taken no supper. Mr. Thomas Wallis ex- plained the discrepancy, by saying that he could not take the brandy at first, but on going to bed he put it to his lips, though he could not swallow it. Policeman Churchyard, G 174, deposed that he saw a boy knocked down and entangled among the horses coming from Smithfield market. He carried the boy to a step round the corner, and asked him three times if he was hurt? to which he replied that he was not ; and getting up he walked away. Other witnesses corroborated this evidence. There were some discrepancies, such as contradictions as to the boy's having worn a hat or a cap. A witness was brought to prove that no person had been laid on the door-step in Jerusalem Passage at the time described. Mr. Combe expressed a belief that the boy had been hurt by accident, and had made up the story to screen himself from blame. He dismissed the case.
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