POLICE OF LONDON.
Mr. Corfield, writing-desk maker, was from home last week : while his sisters kept the shop, they were waited upon by a soi-disant Mr. William Wemyss, "son of the Earl of Wemyss," who contrived to swindle them out of a dressing-case and some other articles. The same fellow has de- frauded Mr. Scaife, tailor, out of clothes to the amount of 651.; and Mr. Tilbury out of a horse and cabriolet. He has also practised with success in Canterbury, Margate, Windsor, and Richmond. In the latter place hein- duced a young female to purloin 1501. from her parents, and to elope with him, under a promise of marriage, which was broken, and the girl aban- doned. Mr. Conant, to whom Mr. Corfield made his complaint, granted a warrant for the apprehens'on of Wemyss, when he could be found.
A hackney-coachman has been held to bail for endangering the life of a passenger by reckless driving. James Murray, a well-known thief, with a companion, knocked down two gentlemen in Shadwell, on Monday evening, and robbed them of their money. Murray was afterwards taken to the Thames Police-office, and from thence sent to prison to abide his trial.
James Marrs, a sailor, tendered a valuable gold watch in pledge to a pawn- . broker in Bermondsey for 11. The pawnbroker's suspicions were aroused, notice was given, and the watch was claimed by the Honourable Mr. Pelham. That gentleman, while on board the Glasgow frigate, in the Mediterranean, laid the watch aside one night before going to bed; next morning it was miss- ing; nor could the most rigid examination, or the offer of a large reward, gain him the least clue to its recovery. Marrs was committed for trial.
A man named Brooks, in Goswell-road, reputed to be an informer, in- curred the displeasure of his neighbourhood: a mob assembled round his house on Monday, threatened violence to himself and his wife; and in the evening some of them threw a burning brand into his room. Some gun- powder was also found concealed in his house, which Brooks believed to have been placed there with the intention of blowing it up. Three lads and a man who were active in the riot were brought before Mr. Sellon ; who thought the charge of conspiracy serious, and held them to bail.
Captain Woodmaster, of the Baltic trader, Alfred, was charged with having ill-treated Captain Duff oa gieir voyage from Riga. The complainer had been wrecked in the Baltic ; and the loss of his vessel had so affected his mind, that he was confined two months in Memel. He had also drunk largely of gin on the passage, and was sometimes quite outrageous. These circum- stances, and the wandering and incoherent language used before the Magis- trate, led to the disMissal of the complaint ; at which Duff seemed wroth, declaring there was no justice in England.
Joseph Smith, formerly coachman to Lady Gresley, asked advice from Sir Richard Birnie as to the recovery of 491. 12s. 6d. for wages and various tri- fles he had advanced. With the scheme of some of the other servants to deprive her of liberty till their wages were paid, he had no content; yet he had been held to bail along with them, and subjected to the hardship and expense of defending himself. He was determined not to give up the coach and horses till lie was paid. A person named Williams, a married man, who lives with her ladyship, had offered him 401. to give them up ; but he re- fused. Sir Richard Birnie recommended recourse to any attorney; but the compla.'nant seemed to think his want of money would render the attorney unwilling to undertake his case.
A young man was charged with having attempted to pass a forged 51. note in an infamous house in the Strand, kept by a Jew. On hearing the explana- tions of the parties, Mr. Minshull, instead of committing the young man, held the woman to bail for an assault. John Power, a sooty, sottish, and reckless-looking tailor, was yesterday charged, at Bow-street, with cruelty to his child. His wife had been obliged to leave him from ill-usage ; and out of her earnings as a servant she gave 3s. a week to support her boy. But in place of applying this or any part of his own earnings for that purpose, he generally left it for days locked up in a lone room, with only a crust of hard bread, and a drink of water, while he was spending his time and money in the public-house. When apprehended, he was lying on the floor drunk. The wan and wasted infant was also there; but there was not a particle of food in the house. Power was sent to prison, and the infant to the workhouse.
Twenty-eight individuals, from eleven to sixty years of age, were yesterday brought to Lambeth Office, charged with an act of vagrancy—sleeping in the
open air, in a brick-field at Ratcliffe. They were part of a gang of 120 per- sons who were lying among the kilns. The prisoners (who were in a state of perfect destitution) were sent to the House of Correction for a month.
An attorney's clerk was yesterday brought to Guildhall, charged with having endeavoured to smuggle gin into Whitecross.street Prison. He did so, he said, to serve a friend who was there starving, and who sold it to the other prisoners. Sir Peter Laurie gave him the alternative of paying 101. to be distributed among the prisoners, as a better mode of saving them from starving, or of going to the House of Correction for two months. The money is to be paid.
A man was brought to Union Hall, charged with having attempted the same offence at the King's Bench. Being unable to pay 101. he was sent to prison for three months.
No fewer titan one hundred and fifty watermen were yesterday summoned before Mr. Drinkald, at Waternian's Hall, accused of various breaches of the regulations, to the inconvenience and annoyance of the public. All, with one or two exceptions, were fined; and the table was literally covered with money. Soon after the decision upon these cases, one of the com- plainants, who had succeeded in punishing a defendant, appeared at the Hall, and complained of a serious species of revenge resorted to against him.
The defendant, and two others, seized him as he was leaving the Hall, shoved him into a coach, and, entering along with him, ordered the coachman to
drive of as fast as he could. The coach flew along, and the defendant and his friends clapped their hands upon his mouth, and prevented him from call.. ing out. At last they reached a turnpike, where it was necessary for then to stop. The witness made a desperate effort to liberate himself, and he made the turnpike-man hear him cry out " murder." The coach was stopped, and the turnpike-man asked what was the matter ? They replied, that they were taking an unfortunate comrade, who was insane, to a madhouse. The witness cried out lustily as he could that he was not mad, but that he had just punished his assailants, who were about to "serve him out" for it. This put an end to the journey ; the assailants, opening the door, flung out the unfortunate witness head-foremost, and then returned in high spirits. The necessary measures were taken to punish the actors in this tragi-comedy.
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