12 SEPTEMBER 1840, Page 2

A man named Henry Segrave, who said he is a

watchmaker at Green. wich, was charged at Union Hall, on Wednesday, with attempting to stab one of the Greenwich Railway Policemen. The defendant went to the railway on Tuesday afternoon, and insisted on entering the car- riages without a ticket, as he would pay at the other end. He jumped over the railings into the yard twice, and was twice pulled back. He then drew a knife, with which he was about to rush on the Policeman, when he was seized, and the knife taken from him. When the Magis- trate asked hint to explain his conduct, he said the public had a right to be accommodated on the railway, and that he had only acted in self- defence. He was remanded until inquiries. could be made respecting his sanity.

The master of the Diamond Gravesend steam-boat appeared before the Lord Mayor, on Thursday, to answer a complaint preferred by pas- sengers on board the Sons of the Thames, rival steam-boat, for having purposely run against the latter, on the preceding Friday, oft' Woolwich. The evidence was somewhat contradictory. '.I.'he passengers and mate of the Sons of the Thames stated positively that the Diamond ran par. posely against their boat, when there was plenty of room for four or five steam-bows to pass. The collision was very severe ; and if the engines of the Sons of the Thames had not been immediately stopped, the consequences might have been serious. The witnesses on the part of the Diamond, on the contrary, affirmed that the collision was caused by the other boat manceuvering to prevent the Diamond. from passing. The Lord Mayor said he had no power to inflict a fine, but he hoped the notice taken of the affair would operate as a caution. The only mode of punishment was to prosecute.

Three journeymen sawyers were charged on Thursday, before the Magistrates at Marylebone Police-court, with having violently attacked a workman in the same trade who refused to join their combination to raise wages. The complainant said he was met by the defendants and about twenty of their party, who, after abusing him, began to pelt him wide bricks and stones, one of which injured him severely on the eye. The defendant who took the most active part in the assault was fined 31., or in default was ordered to be committed for six mouths. The two others were directed to find bail to keep the peace.

At Lambeth Street Police-office, on Saturday, George Beer, alias Wilson, alias Cumming, alias Thompson, alias Shepheard, was com-

mitted to take his trial at the Central Criminal Court. liar making a false charge of robbery against Mrs. Harriet Reid, the wife of' a re- spectable master mariner ; by which means he extorted a sum of money.

Beer had paid his addresses to a lodger of Mrs. Reid's, arid was sup- posed to be a respectable man, engaged in some business connected with shipping. On the evening of the 18th of July, the prisoner got into conversation with Mrs. Reid, at her own door ; and afterwards contrived to invite himself into her kitchen ; and he sent out for wine and beer. After behaving somewhat rudely towards the females, he

pulled out his purse and talked of having lost half a sovereign, and he

went to make inquiry about it at a public-house in the neighbourhood, which he had previously visited. Ile returned, and soon after he

charged Mrs. Reid with stealing his purse. The police were called in, and all the parties were conveyed to the Stationhouse ; and next day to the Police-office. During the first investigation. Beer made very free

with the characters of all the females concerned, and procured Mrs. Reid to be remanded till the next day. While in custody, however, she was induced, partly by the advice (well meant, it seems) or a police officer, to pay the prisoner 13/. towards the 15l. which he said was the amount that he had lost in her house ; and Beer not appearing against her on the following day, she was discharged. Since then it has been dis-

covered that Beer is a person of very bad character, lie is a married man ; but under divers names Ile had passed himself off as a bachelor, arid pie collie to various women. One was a Mrs. I It he obtained 175/. 111 cosh at several tunes. 1 le ii}i'llildl'ils.len.::isl.:.:n‘z■111111111(1

45/, in difinrent sums from the landlady of a publie-house at Liiiieliouse,

where he had frequently lodged ; and at that lea, be wire trumped up

a story of hie baying robbed of 1:7e ; but the land Isd) 's srempt ap- peal In the police induced liii lii " timid'' the mmmi . a hIm equal prom ptinele. These eireilinstances coming to the knee ledge ef Meg. Iteid's legal adviser, through persons who had recogilized Beer mu the police reports of the first case, she was induced to bring forward the present charge.

A man was charged at Kensington Police-court on Tuesday, with having removed his goods from Brook Green Place, Hammersmith, at two o'clock on the same morning, for the purpose of evading the pay- ment of rent ; the carman was also charged with aiding and abetting. This was the first case of the kind brought before the Magistrates. The parties were apprehended by virtue of the new Police Act, one clause of which provides—

"'fiat it shall he lawful for any constable to stop and detain, until due in- quiq can be made, all carts and carriages which he shall find employed in re- moving the furniture of any how,e or lodging between the hours of eight in the evening and six in the lbHewing morning, or whenever the constable shall have good grounds for believing that such removal is made for the purpose of evading the payment of rent."

The Magistrate said the act gave no power to inflict a penalty, but merely to detain the goods until the landlord could be informed that he might distrait' on them. The amount of rent due in this case was only 2/. 10s.

Ott Thursday afternoon, a woman named Emma Barker attempted suicide in one of the cells attached to the Police-court, Worship Street. She was brought front the New Prison, having been remanded from Wednesday last by Mr. Grove, on a charge of stealing thirty-five knives front a hawker. On being taken out of the van she was placed in a cell, where there was also another woman. She had tied a silk-hand- kerchief tightly round her throat ; but her fellow-prisoner was so terror- stricken that she was unable to give any alarm. Sergeant Grove, one of the officers, accidentally went to the cell, and found her nearly strangled. He instantly cut the handkerchief with a knife ; when some restoratives were applied, and she shortly after recovered. She was Subsequently placed at the bar, but the charge was net preferred by the prosecutor, who knew her to have been once in the possession of pro- perty, and that her relations were respectable.

On Saturday afternoon, about four o'clock, property to the amount of 507/. in Bank of England notes, gold, and silver, was stolen from the Victoria Tavern, Liverpool Road, Holloway. The money belonged to Mr. Law, who formerly kept a public-house at Hackney. It was placed in his trunk, in his bedroom, preparatory to his leaving London for the North. The parties who committed the robbery had been aware of this, and laid a plot for obtaining the booty. On Saturday, Mr. Law re- ceived a note, purporting to come from Messrs. Whitbread and Co., on business, hut on his arrival at the brewery he found no such communi- cation had been sent. On his return home he learnt that four men had come to the house ; one ordered a mutton-chop, another called for a paper, and the third sent the servant and landlady in various directions ; while one of the thieves, it is supposed, proceeded to the bedroom and carried off the money. There were watches, plate, and other valuable property in the room, but nothing else was carried off. The party shortly afterwards quitted the house, but the robbery was not discovered till Sunday morning.

An inquest was held on Tuesday on the body of an Irishman, James Quin, who died the preceding Thursday, in consequence of a severe blow from a stone during a faction fight between two parties of Irish, at Chelsea, on Monday. The deceased was fighting with another man, when his brother threw a stone at his antagouist, but instead of hitting the person intended, it struck his brother and caused his death. The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against the brother, who was committed for trial.

During the last week, James Fowler, surgery-man at the King's College Hospital in Carey Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, and who was in the receipt of one pound a week for his services, received intelligence from New Orleans of the demise of his uncle, who has bequeathed him 10,000 acres of land and 7,000/ in ready cash.