Bow SraErr.—Thomas Cleashy, one of the officers employed by the
parish of St. Clement Danes, was summoned by a poor Irishwoman for illegally seizing: and detaiuing a basket and a quantity of cabbages, her property.
The complainant stated, that on Sunday morning last, about half-past nine • o'clock, she wasin Blackmoor Street, Chire Market, with a basket of cabbages, by the sale of which she WiLS endeavouring to support herself and two infant • children. She had occasion to cross the road, and left her basket on the pave- client; and in a moment it was taken away by the defendant and conveyed to the won khouse. She begged of him to restore her her property. He refused, unless she paid him 33. ; which she had no means of doing, and was compelled to take out a summons against him.
The defence of' the officer was, not that the cabbages were Dutch cabbages, and that in laying an embargo on the basket he was- s.mply obeying the directions of the Order in Council. The fact' is, the cabbages, coming under the head of "fruit and other perishable cargo," the officer would not have been entitled to detain the article. He therefore pleaded, first, the Sabbath, and next,. the obstruction in the pathway. The Magistrate' disregarded the
defence, and ordered the embargo to be immediately taken off..
The disputes between parish officers and costermongers are con- stant; and :t is a pity there should not be some general and well- understood regulation on the subject. May or may not a merchant,. dealing in Dutch cabbages or French apples, expose his goods on the curb-stone, and there establish his exchange in small? Either Permit them, or forbid them. It is distressing to witness such scenes as sometimes occur. A blue-coated, gold-laced fellow, with a brass-headed cane, is observed sailing down the pavement, with all the airs of a port admiral: presently he is seen to rush in among the enenly,and after breaking his line, set to work, slashing away at the baskets and boards, amidst the screams of the women and the cries of the children ; till, having effected a good deal of mischief, he leaves the herrings and oranges rolling in the kennel,. and ultimately sheers off with vast dignity and portliness, bearing, under his arm the grand prize of a basket, containing probably some poor costermonger's whole fortune.
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